Where has all the money gone?

An unpublished letter to the Guardian on where all the money has gone:

“Each time I turn on the BBC I hear that difficult decisions have to be made, by whoever is elected. This comes down to: Do we want to give all our money to pay for the bankers this year or would we rather wait a bit? In all this debate no one has asked the obvious questions of how much wealth there is in the country, and who is best able to pay.

The focus groups which we conduct, light up when such issues are raised, but heaven forbid that politicians should be asked about such indelicate topics. The total UK wealth is £ 9 thousand billion, the top 20% own between 5 and 6 thousand billion of this, nearly all in property and pensions.*

Remember in a single year the denizens of the city paid themselves £21 billion in bonus payments and now we know where these went. The deficit is a mere £150 billion or thereabouts. But instead of discussing who could pay without missing it too much, public debate is constrained to issues like vat rises, which would hurt the poorest, who have no wealth, only debts.

Or alternatively we can choose if we want less schools and hospitals or more potholes. The class who caused all this will not be bothered in the least by the consequences of their actions, let alone be told on the BBC that they should pay for them.”

Where has all the money gone?

Three strikes and you’re out, Mr. Obama. Your government stands for preemptive killing and missile strikes on people living in countries with which America is not at war, lets torturers and torture enablers go free, and has asserted the right to assassinate its own citizens anywhere in the world based on secret evidence. Ronald Reagan once described his vision of America as a shining city on a hill. Over the past ten years the shining city has become the ultimate rogue nation, pumped up with power and hubris in spite of the clearly visible signs of decline and moving inexorably towards a catastrophic fall.

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A WORLD TO WIN: Manifesto of Revolutionary Solutions

We are in a global emergency, one that is marked by an insoluble economic crisis, runaway climate change and the failure of political systems to meet the needs of ordinary people. That is why we are publishing this draft Manifesto of Revolutionary Solutions.

The crises are interconnected. Each feeds the others, reinforcing and deepening the problems facing humanity. Nowhere was this more harshly demonstrated than at the Copenhagen conference in December 2009. World political leaders could not even agree on the smallest of cuts in levels of carbon emissions responsible for global warming.

While they summoned up the will to bail out the banks in order to save capitalism from collapse, the same leaders were unwilling to put the interests of ordinary people first. The message was clear: humanity, you are on your own because your political leaders are simply the messengers of powerful corporate and financial interests.

The unsustainable, profit-driven growth of the last 30 years – the period of corporate-driven, free-market globalisation – is the cause of the sharp rise in greenhouse gases that accelerated climate change. Ever greater levels of debt that financed the expansion lay behind the meltdown of the financial system and the onset of a new Depression.

No single crisis can be solved in isolation. Drastic cuts in overall carbon emissions cannot be achieved within the capitalist model of production. It is equally unimaginable that the political system will yield to pressure because the state is inextricably linked to maintaining capitalism.

Bold, ground-breaking ideas are being discussed around the world that offer alternatives to global warming, economic and financial chaos, global poverty and lack of shelter. They challenge political systems that lack credibility, democracy and legitimacy as well as oppose renewed dangers of international war.

Placed alongside each other to form a coherent whole, such ideas and proposals assume a revolutionary character for the stark reason that they cannot be carried into practice within the present socio-political framework.

So the Manifesto starts from a reality that points to revolutionary change to break the impasse that confronts humanity in every country. Our goal is to create a new, vibrant democracy that places real power in the hands of ordinary women and men so that pressing problems can be dealt with in a collective, co-operative way.

New political organisations will have to be built internationally to open this new chapter in history.They will have a unique opportunity to learn from history, from the unfinished struggles for democracy, self-determination, human rights, against Stalinism, for climate justice and for socialism. They will have to articulate the needs and aspirations of the powerless majority in creative and new ways.

In Britain, the state itself is heading towards bankruptcy, loaded down with mountainous levels of debt by the New Labour government in a futile bid to rescue the banks. The levels of cuts in public spending needed to “balance the books” are so draconian that they will destabilise society and effectively wreck free health care, education, social support, benefits and pensions.

This points to a major political crisis in Britain after the forthcoming General Election, whatever the outcome, and with it, a potential breaking point for bourgeois parliamentary democracy. The question of power – who rules Britain for what purpose – will become the most significant of issues.

This Manifesto does not seek your vote – in fact, there is a strong case for withholding your vote at the general election – but rather your commitment and support. Shape the future by taking part in the launch of A World to Win as an international organisation in spring 2010.

A World to Win
February 2010