More political ranting, I'm afraid!
Y'know, a lot of people believe in 'conspiracy theories'. Many sound totally absurd: 'Shape-shifting lizards', the 'Illuminate', the Anti-Christ bringing together the "One World Government", even the 'Bildeberg Group'. They know something is terribly wrong, but they can't quite put their fingers on what is actually wrong. They just know there's a conspiracy. Each try to explain it in a way that suits their passions. And each get publicly ridiculed and bamboozled. What's wrong is Capitalism. More precisely; the corporate dollar.
Neoliberal Americans are the force behind all that's wrong with the world! Upset their apple-cart and you face the full force of American aggression, whether you're friend or foe! They don't like "American Interests" being disturbed, even if the country 'disturbing' their interests faces bankruptcy! Starving millions across the world are of little concern to these corporate monsters who value cash more than human life.
The banking crisis baffled us all. I blamed Thatcher for deregulating the financial sector and allowing these greedy imbeciles free reign over the economy. In many ways I was right to be concerned. Ever since her tenure, we've lost our manufacturing base, we've lost our nationalised industries, we're losing our Royal Mail service and our NHS to private ownership. And, more importantly, we're losing our sense of social pride! Communities have been desecrated, families split, and constant media pressures to divide the whole of society by creating tensions that were only mildly worrying. Young blaming the old, old blaming the young, Muslims portrayed as potential terrorists, unemployed portrayed as 'benefit scroungers', pensioners, infirm and ill seen as an unnecessary 'burden'. We're all ready to kill someone for the mess we're in! But the mess we're in was created purely by greed. British and American greed.
It seems this problem has persisted for more than a hundred years and was started with the first flushes of industrial globalisation. Tax evasion and avoidance. (Apparently, there's a difference: Evasion is illegal, avoidance is legal!) The rich - and especially, but not limited to, the American rich - have found ways of avoiding tax in any country on the globe simply by claiming that they've paid their taxes elsewhere! It seems strange to me but, apparently, the best country in the world for tax avoidance (and evasion) purposes is not the Cayman Islands, or Switzerland, or the Channel Islands - its Britain! The City of London is THE place to offload your tax burden. We have such complex webs of deceit around the globe that we can attract money from global corporate giants, the USA, Russia, and any other criminal leviathan or country that wishes to hide huge sums of money from the prying eyes of governments who might have the audacity to claim some legitimate revenues from their ill-gotten gains! The City of London possesses its own internal governing body and appears to be above the law of ANY land! The "square mile" boasts an historical claim to this 'honour' dating back to William the Conqueror, apparently. Rather like the Vatican, it can claim an independence from the government yet influence government policy as it so desires. From private and shadow banking systems, the City has accrued a massive US$5.5 trillion! Untouchable!
As private banks suck in monies from all and sundry, they lend money which isn't really there. Then they discover that money is moved in great swathes, at a constant and rapid rate, and isn't available when governments actually need it! So WE all fill the gaps with "austerity" measures to ensure the country stays afloat. But it was never our problem in the first place! The IMF, OECD and other global financial "police" just shrug their shoulders and claim any 'internal' problem lies with the over-stretched mortgage borrowers and credit-card holders who are to blame. Rubbish!
Who was it said: "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely"? We need to wake up.
Who was it said: "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely"? We need to wake up.
