Fred Goodwin

They say it is against the law for the government to stop paying massive CEO pensions. But couldn't they just change the law? - they seem to overide the law on other things when it suits. It certainly would be interesting to see how Cameron and his hedge fund friends in the Tory party voted on such a law change. We would see how 'man of the people' Cameron was then.

The Economy - Let Them Eat Cake

They say you can't fool all of the people all of the time, but the wealthiest 0.5% seem to have managed to fool enough of the other 99.5% of the population into thinking that salaries in excess of £200k are justifiable on the grounds that 'the market has spoken' and that it is somehow possible for one person to be this productive and earn such ridiculous amounts.

The recent collapse of right-wing neo-liberal dogma has opened many eyes to the unjustifiable wages at the top. It now seems laughable to think that CEOs on these astronomical wages, that have driven us into such an economic mess, should now continue to get such largesse, yet still some argue that these very same people who have destroyed our economy are the ones we need to pay well to get us out of the mess we are in. Really? In what other sphere would an employer trust someone who has failed so spectacularly in his job to then put things right?

Why has the invisible hand of the market failed us? Maybe because, as Adam Smith knew well, the market can never be fair, because to do so, it would have to be perfect, and the first thing you learn in economics, though some on the right choose to ignore this inconvenient fact, is that perfect markets need perfect knowledge and perfect competition which needs an infinite number of competitors. This of course is impossible in the real world and the market is in fact full of imperfections and distortions and can only work well (and fairly) if properly regulated. This is why CEOs can manipulate pay structures and pay themselves such huge salaries - it has little, if anything to do with merit or worth, yet alone fairness. Democracy may be a direct challenge to the 'free' market, but the market can never be truly free anyway, it is just a convenient label for the rich to use to defend their unjust rewards.

David 'Dubya' Cameron And The Time Travelling Tories.

I really hope that David Cameron has learned to appreciate the value of the NHS and social services because of the care his son Ivan received. That is the line of the press and media and I hope they are right. But I have to say, just as Diana's death had no personal impact on my life, so too does Ivan's death. I feel more sympathy for those families who suffer or lose loved ones every day because of poverty around the world, I feel more sympathy for those who suffered and died as a result of the NHS and social service cutbacks under the last Tory government. I doubt David Cameron feels any of this, holed up in his £1.5m mansion bought without a mortgage.

Which is a real shame, because it now seems very likely that this man is going to be our next Prime Minister sometime in 2010.

There has never been a better time for this country to have a centre-left government. The right-wing, neo-liberal, laissez faire (couldn't care less for the poor) government that the Tories and their ideological friends the US Republicans stand for, is bankrupt.

As Joe Biden said recently "they are always quick to criticise but have nothing to offer in its place".

It is such a shame that Labour have been so spineless to let a loser and right wing ideologue like Brown be leader - he comes from the gutless centre of the party that is unable to stand up to the Tory press and establishment. Labour need ask themselves as a party not whether someone else could beat the Tories, but whether someone else could do better than the anihilation we are about to face under Brown. The polls now conclude almost anyone could do better.

The Tories continue to outline what they would do 'in the past' not the future - so they claim to 'stick to Labour spending until 2009'. Easy to do when they know they won't be in power till 2010. I looked for an analogy to mock this, but it is just so absurd I found it impossible to mock. The Tories are time travelling into the past to say how good they 'would have been'. This is a fantastic tactic to avoid saying what your future policies actually are. As Biden says 'all criticism and no alternative'. Is this really the future of the UK?

When Cameron replaces social service spending, public transport and NHS spending with tax cuts for those on over £100k (the top 2% of earners) and increases in military spending and inevitable continual growth in Quangos, consultants and managers (just like in the Tory 80s), I want people to think back to this moment, to Ivan Cameron sentimentality in the press, to the 'greenwash' Tory policies and 'civil liberties' guff and think, is this guy really any different to George W Bush? The cutbacks in London by Boris and the Tories here in Brighton give us a clue. Expect 'public services' to get very expensive for us mere mortals on the average wage of 24k!!! under the Tories and their hedge fund friends on massive salaries.

Billy Bragg's Surcharge

This is my Comment to Billy' piece in the Guardian.

The Right rarely anymore try to justify earnings that are exorbitant, they just claim that it is too difficult to tax the rich. In this they are currently correct, until we have a global crackdown on tax havens etc, Bragg's suggestion is not going to reap the revenues he suggests (although it will bring in some revenue, which is why the rich always squeal at such suggestions).

The sad thing about the inevitable return of the Tories to government (apart from the fact that Labour failed to honour its promise on electoral reform that would have protected us from such Tory minority rule) is that they are only going to cut taxes and public spending to benefit the rich.

Those of us earning less than the average wage of £24k are going to suffer most by the increase in the Defence budget and the scrapping of IHT and savings taxes for the wealthy. Social services and local amenities will be hit hardest and the poorest rely on these more than most.

Those who argue public spending is not good value should compare our NHS to the inefficient private sector healthcare in the US - a country with the highest per capita health spending in the world - but tens of millions uninsured and tens of millions more receiving poor cover. It is bogged down in ineffiencies - where even millionaires go bankrupt trying to afford health bills that have quadrupled in the last few years. Looking at the current mess in the deregulated financial sector only confirms that leaving it to 'market forces' is not always the best solution.

Reducing this argument to 'big' v 'small' government, 'high' v 'low' taxes is puerile. Lets facilitate the market where it works well and expand government where the market fails. Lets use 'high' taxation to redistribute wealth - which is the will of the majority (if only our electoral system and media would reflect that) - the best and most efficient way being to pay a basic decent income to all (not means tested) - something that both right and left can agree upon. Nobody 'deserves' salaries in the millions - the morality of the rich is far worse than the morality of the benefit cheat that gets all the publicity. To say £60 a week is too much because people are refusing to work, is perverse - nobody is living a comfortable life on such amounts. The real problem is that wages are too low at the bottom and too high at the top - when it is not possible to earn a living wage while working full-time it is little wonder that people turn idle or worse to crime and despair. It will benefit us all to increase the morality of the rich and make them realise how their greed is responsible for the poverty and morality of the poorest.

Israel Has A Good Electoral System, Unlike Us.

Israel has had 18 parliamentary elections since 1949, the UK not much different with first past the post at 16 parliamentary elections, Canada has had 20 parliamentary elections since 1949 under first past the post. We should start defending Israel's PR system not just giving in to the false propaganda in the media. Yes maybe the 2% threshold should be a little higher, but this is hardly a problem on the scale of the UK or Canada where the majority of voters are completely ignored because of first-past-the-post.

Racist Jobs For Racist Workers

History repeats itself - what do we expect from an ignorant country that feasts on a diet of Daily Mail lies everyday. That is all I have to say on this subject. Other blogs explain it all.