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Political Stance


DornochCaley

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Hayek's Road to Serfdom is a book I read a while ago - I now own a copy. While I may not like what Hayek believes, I must admit that it pretty much hits the nail on the head.

To talk of the working class is inaccurate. Many working class people perceive themselves as middle class, while we have a burgeoning underclass who care for little or next to nothing - let alone politics. The mainstay in many people's lives are programmes such as x factor and the like. Political ideals have no place. In this situation, there is so much apathy, many people don't care about politics and what's going on around them. In terms of people in Scotland being leftward leaning and therefore the electorate being 'to the left', I disagree. Many voted for the SNP. I don't count the SNP as a party. I view it as a politcal movement with the sole aim of destroying the United Kingdom. (I'm on the wind-up before you start!) The SNP are disparate group with voters electing representatives of all political persuasions. Fergus Ewing being one. I heard of him being referred to as being a 'tartan tory'.

If you ever see a survey of how people view themselves, most people say they are working class, although going by income groups most people are not DEF/working class.

If you take the Marxist line on class then I'd say about 95% of the population are proletariat, in that they sell their labour as their primary source of income.

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People who have bought the council house they rented for years and have semi-skilled jobs tend to classify themselves as middle class. This was a key group who Blair needed to reach out to in order to win in '97. Class dealignment has been going on for a long time. Margaret Thatcher even went as far as to say we live in a classless society.

I take your point in regard to those who own the MoP and those who are members of the proletariat. Who actually owns the MoP today though? The men who Marx and Engels considered as owning the MoP were the factory owners etc - producing tangible, physical goods to be sold. On this basis, could people like Fred Goodwin be considered proletarian in so far as that he doesn't own the MoP?

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Freedom? What is freedom?

According to this piece of right-wing propaganda, these are the 10 components of economic freedom:

Business Freedom, Trade Freedom, Fiscal Freedom, Government Spending, Monetary Freedom, Investment Freedom, Financial Freedom, Property rights, Freedom from Corruption, Labor Freedom.

What they're talking about is freedom from regulation, freedom from social responsibility, freedom to make as much money as they can and fluck the consequences.

The most amusing category is 'government spending'. Yes, freedom from government spending, that is, freedom from welfare, freedom from health care and freedom from education. Freedom form any collective action or responsibility whatsoever.

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More to the point, if we're advocating complete free Market economics, then surely the government was wrong to intervene when the banks were about to go under. There has to be some degree of social responsibility. I believe the GDP of the USA would be higher if they had a comprehensive healthcare system.

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More to the point, if we're advocating complete free Market economics, then surely the government was wrong to intervene when the banks were about to go under. There has to be some degree of social responsibility. I believe the GDP of the USA would be higher if they had a comprehensive healthcare system.

No-one really advocates a fully free market system. However, plenty of free market economists have argued against the bailout of the banks. Personally, I think it's a difficult one - it's easy sitting outside to say that it would be better in te long run to allow RBS to fail but the consequences could have been so catastrophic that it would be a brave government who'd have done it. On the other hand, the long term effects of such a huge government intervention could be disasterous. The government are banking (ho ho) on being able to sell RBS on to but the constant political pressure on decisions means that the banks competitiveness could be harmed and any sell off could end up being at a loss.

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Regardless of what happens with the banks the top cats will still be quids in and will scoop big salaries and big bonuses. Just look at other bankers wading in to the argument stating they think that hestor of the rbs should get a ?1.8m bonus. For what? What does he do on a daily basis which makes his contribution warrant such a massive bonus?

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Regardless of what happens with the banks the top cats will still be quids in and will scoop big salaries and big bonuses. Just look at other bankers wading in to the argument stating they think that hestor of the rbs should get a ?1.8m bonus. For what? What does he do on a daily basis which makes his contribution warrant such a massive bonus?

To be fair to Hester, he wasn't one of the board who basically ruined the company. I don't think he should be denied anything on the basis that other people cocked things up. The political pressure on him has forced him to refuse his renumeration, which was contractually obliged to him.

In terms of the staff members of RBS who are in line for bonuses, well the investments arm of RBS made a reasonably big profit last year - the only way that the bank will be removed from government control is if it becomes a going concern, able to operate in the market. Generating profits is the only way that this will happen and it will be far more difficult for the state to sell off RBS in the future if the government refuses to allow successful staff to be properly rewarded. The employees who have worked to generate these profits are obvious targets for other financial companies, both in the UK and abroad. Rewarding them at the market rate is a way to work towards easing the public debt that threatens to cripple our country.

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