alanjjohnstone
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“(In fact we now have Corporatism where most markets are dominated by a few very large businesses and cartels and they have the politicians in their pockets).” Isn’t this demonstrating a failing of a historical perspective on your part. Isn’t blaming trusts and advocating anti-trust legislation simply just an echo of the early 20thC dead-end solutions to the boom/slump problem. I am disappointed at you raising the straw-dog arguments of central planning of the old Soviet Union and that production and distribution will be decided by committees. Or that we seek some form of state nationalised economy – (public) ownership. I would have thought by your contact with the party and its members that you by now understand our vision of socialism is somewhat much more radical and fundamental than that and indeed you do touch upon how we would build on capitalism when you say that adaptations of Tesco’s data-bases (and logistics systems) would be invaluable tools. Part of our case. Can i recommend for a more detailed description of the socialism, you might, when you have time, add Robin Cox’s The “Economic Calculation” controversy to your reading list.http://www.cvoice.org/cv3cox.htm Also to be recommended is Adam Buicks (co-written with John Crump’s) own Alternative to Capitalismhttp://theoryandpractice.org.uk/library/alternative-capitalism-adam-buick-and-john-crump-1987
“That reminds me. I must rush to join the queue of people at my local branch waiting to withdraw their money. “- ALB Well that run on the Co-op bank has begun in earnest. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10404415/Co-op-Bank-puts-caps-on-internet-transfers-for-business-customers-blaming-heightened-security-threat.html The Co-op which is basically an internet/phone bank with very few actual branches to take large amounts of money out physically, have invented a spurious, imho, computer threat to itself and to “protect” customers have imposed a withdrawal limit on business accounts. A telephone call would be a bit harder to blame on fraud so that’s unaffected.
Billy Connolly…who became the Royal's official court jester with Elton John as the official court minstrel…Connolly had plenty of opportunity…erm… Connolly's 60th birthday party "The VIP guest list included not only Charles and Camilla, but Prince Andrew and a slew of variegated celebrities such as Sir Bob Geldof" .nawww…still a cynic
For those who think the Campaigns Committee to do a follow up try the contact for him Russell Brand John Noel Management Block B Imperial Works Perren Street London, NW5 3ED
This link is to his New Statesman article where his point i find to be most in line with my own thoughts is "But before we change the world, we need to change the way we think. ..Total revolution of consciousness and our entire social, political and economic system is what interests me, but that’s not on the ballot." http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/russell-brand-on-revolution Apart from that , all i really find is pub-talk. And all the kudos Brand is receiving is simply from his fame…goodness…a clown who has political ideas…as if that is even something unique. You and i and every member and sympathiser must have met and drank with Russel Brands of the world. Usually, their politics disappears when something more interesting comes on TV or becomes the fashion. I'm such a cynic. New Statesman and BBC Question Time know how to milk publicity with a personality so that boat is well and truly missed, Gnome.
Update: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/woman-bulgaria-girl-family-greece-maria A Bulgarian Roma woman claims to be mother. She herself is very dark skinned, and has another fair skinned, blonde child. There is no claim of kidnapping or selling the child (although she will be charged with this). She just couldn't afford raising her and an informal adoption took place. It also seems evidence of fiddling the benefits system is also evidence of child-trafficking according to Greek police.
i don't think anybody is denying that banks do issue loans before deposits in many cases. This was the issue in the Keen V. Klugman debate, IIRC. After all, i have never had an encounter with a bank where they said , "hang on , i'll just check if we have the money to lend you." If i had a billion in liquidity capital, of course, i could begin lending out cash without a deposit being made. Isn't this the basis of loan-sharking? I think the capitalist term is "shadow-banking". The fable being referred to is that central banks "direct exogenous control over bank expansion, based on a reserve supply function – which is a fiction." I think a position reflecting the websites anti-Fed, anti-government interference, even if the sites sub-title is "economics without politics" I certainly expected the articles "conflicting" statements to be highlighted. What the article's point is that the day of reckoning will always come when the balance sheets has to be provided to investors and regulatory authorities. Money in has to be at least equal to money out with a little bit extra held in reserve. There is no magical money/credit ""created" to point to to prove solvencyThe article indicates that "loans make deposits" is a temporary condition because it should be stressed that the banking system is never static, it is fluid. You may take a snap-shot but that will not be truly representative. My quote of Bloomberg's cash deposits exceeding lending is an example of that. It was just a moment in time. From the website Monetary Realism website:" ‘loans create deposits’ is correct as an observation. Nevertheless, there is a larger context for deposits, which includes their fate after they have been created. Deposits are used to repay loans, resulting in the ‘death’ of both loan and deposit. But there is more. As part of the birth/death analogy, there is the lifetime of loans and deposits to consider. This sequence of birth, life, and death in total may be helpful in putting ‘loans create deposits’ into a broader context. There is potential for confusion if ‘loans create deposits’ is embraced too enthusiastically as the defining characteristic, without considering the full life cycle of loans and deposits. Indeed, we shall see further below that ‘deposits fund loans’ is as true as ‘loans create deposits’ and that there is no contradiction between these two things." So perhaps we can put to bed any dispute between ourselves on this, as you say it is of less concern to you, and concentrate our argument on the cause of recessions. Some blame the banking world, as you apparently do, by presenting crises as financial instability. whereas the SPGB rather than directing culpabilty as the instigators of a bust to one section of business , views banking problems are just an effect that exacerbates the crises, and perhaps prolongs it rather than offer a cure This is the fundamental difference between you and ourselves. We blame capitalism's inherent unplanned anarchy and find the causes of repeated crises with the system as a whole. You maintain that only a sector of the capitalist economy are the reason for those slumps, therefore it can be reformed and there is no need for any talk of a socialist revolution to replace capitalism. I suggest that such an approach overlooks the variety of banking forms over history that has existed yet economic crisis still occurred. Capitalism too has had different manifestations as it evolved, but when Marxists look for the cause of recession in all those, it finds the shared root of rot within these crises. Monetary Realism describes "monetary system is basically a bookkeeping device for the intermediation of real economic activity." Marxists say that the real economic activity is the workers' labour in what he or she produces.
Bulgarian children who need families through international adoption are typically of Roma descent – or commonly referred to as a “gypsy” child. While the word “gypsy” to us may drum up images of romantic and colorful fortune-telling characters, in Eastern Europe it is an extremely derogatory term and the Roma people are highly discriminated against. They are often thought of as highly uneducated, thieves, or social parasites. These children are not typically adopted by Bulgarian families. In reality, these beautiful children with dark soulful eyes are born to families that may be uneducated, poor, and have little opportunity as a result of discrimination. Their parents receive very little access to basic public services, such as health care, public transportation, or sanitation. Due to poverty, the majority of Bulgarian children, upwards of 90% are abandoned at birth. [my emphasis]Read more: http://www.mljadoptions.com/Bulgaria.aspx#ixzz2icIw6Qrw “Three quarters of families who want to adopt a child refuse outright to take Roma children” – the data published by the National Office of Adoptions for 2012. The State-approved abduction of Roma childrenhttp://www.errc.org/article/forced-removal-of-romani-children-from-the-care-of-their-families/2290 http://www.romatransitions.org/roma-families-in-britain-scare-tactics-or-an-absence-of-professionalism/
I’m a bit confused…money supply of MO is by the Bank of England following government policy, not commercial banks, isn’t it? But that aside… i think the case is that banks cannot lend out money it does not have and of course that is not always provided by actual deposits from grannies. “Banks have come to rely much less on deposits as a source of funds and more on short-term wholesale funding (brokered CDs, asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP), interbank repurchase agreements, etc.).. .Second, it has become common for corporations to turn to markets rather than banks for short-term funding. In particular, before the crisis firms were regularly tapping commercial paper markets for funds. These corporations still had lines of credit set up with banks, but they used them more as a source of insurance. After the near collapse of the commercial paper market, however, firms took advantage of this insurance and banks had no choice but to provide the liquidity. Thus, firms’ use of credit lines during the crisis increased illiquidity risks for banks. Lastly, banks’ off-balance sheet programs (SIVs for example) relied on short-term ABCP to operate; when this market dried up, banks in some cases had to take the assets from these vehicles onto their balance sheets. All of these factors made liquidity risk management especially challenging during this time. In the past, checkable deposits were US banks’ most important source of funds; in 1960, checkable deposits comprised more than 60 percent of banks’ total liabilities. Over time, however, the composition of banks’ balance sheets has changed significantly. In lieu of customer deposits, banks have increasingly turned to short-term liabilities such as commercial paper (CP), certificates of deposit(CDs), repurchase agreements (repos), swapped foreign exchange liabilities, and brokered deposits.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbank_lending_market The importance of deposits still remains with the Loan-deposit ratio, also known as the LTD ratio, is a ratio between the banks total loans and total deposits.If the ratio is lower than 1, the bank relied on its own deposits to make loans to its customers, without any outside borrowing. If, on the other hand, the ratio is greater than 1, the bank borrowed money which it reloaned at higher rates, rather than relying entirely on its own deposits. Banks may not be earning an optimal return if the ratio is too low. If the ratio is too high, the banks might not have enough liquidity to cover any unforeseen funding requirements or economic crises. It is a commonly used statistic for assessing a bank’s liquidity. In 2012 Deposits at U.S. banks exceeded loans by an unprecedented $2 trillion. Deposits have surged 29 percent from $7.1 trillion in September 2008. The banking industry was lending 78 cents for every $1 it holds in deposits, below the mid-90 percent range cited as “optimal. Wells Fargo tries to run the company with $1 of deposits funding $1 of loans. The bank was at about 80 cents for every dollar. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-18/bank-deposits-surge-2-trillion-more-than-loans-credit-markets.html This website, Monetary Realism, tries to present the complex real world of banking has this to say “Some interpretations of the ‘loans create deposits’ meme overreach in their desired meaning. The contention arises occasionally that ‘loans create deposits’ means banks don’t need deposits to fund loans. This is entirely false. There is no inconsistency between the idea that ‘loans create deposits’ and the idea that banks need deposits to fund loans. Bank balance sheet management must respond to both growth dynamics and steady state conditions in the dimension of nominal balance sheet size. A bank in theory can temporarily be at rest in terms of balance sheet growth, and still be experiencing continuous shifting in the mix of asset and liability types – including shifting of deposits. Part of this deposit shifting is inherent in a private sector banking system that fosters competition for deposit funding…In summary, the original connection by which deposits are created by loans typically disappears at some point following deposit creation – at the micro bank level and/or the macro system level. The original demand deposits associated with specific loan creation become commingled as they move back and forth between different banks. And they not only move between banks, but they can change in form within any bank. They can be converted into term deposits or other funding forms such as bank debt or common and preferred stock. The task of dealing with this compositional flux falls under the joint coordination of bank asset-liability management and reserve management. The overarching point of observation is that both system growth and system competition for existing balance sheet composition are in constant operation. ‘Loans create deposits’ only describes the marginal growth dynamic at the inception of deposit creation. ‘Deposits fund loans’ is the more apt description that applies to a good portion of what constitutes ongoing balance sheet management in competitive banking.” [my emhasis] http://monetaryrealism.com/loans-create-deposits-in-context/
A worth a read article on EP Thompson http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/23/remembering-ep-thompson/
Our position recognises the failings and weaknesses of existing democractic procedures. Most countries in the world do have the ballot and constitutions that allow the people to choose representatives in Parliament, not always first-pass-the post, like our own , or America's electoral college. Some have proportional and transferable voting methods. The SPGB was set up in 1904 before women had the vote and when many men because of qualification rules still did not have the vote. Nevertheless, the numbers of workers who could vote could give them class power to capture the State. Our case is that we will endeavour to use an effective majority to achieve socialism which does not necessarily mean a numerical majority. My personal blog's post may be of interest to you. http://mailstrom.blogspot.com/2011/05/vote-as-weapon.html
“your pamphlet doesn’t explain how a socialist majority would get elected all at the same time.” Certainly different countries hold elections for their parliaments on different time-tables and for different lengths of office. Perhaps, there will be street demonstations about calling for immediate elections. We have always based our principles on historical materialism, that ideas are social. We expect the idea of socialism, or more accurately, its popularity, to grow socially too. Borders and frontiers do little to stem the flow of ideas, more true even today in the day of the internet and mass media. Like music tastes and fashion trends, politics too spreads via interactions of people as we see with Occupy and Arab Spring. There will be a world movement towards socialism, not a parochial national one. It has been said that there is two models of socialist revolution. The snow-ball effect and the avalanche scenario. There is also the theory of critical mass. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_mass_(sociodynamics) Certainly we cannot deny that there may be some places where there will be hold-outs, perhaps Saudi Arabia, but as they are relatively isolated we can work around them until they too eventually come aboard.
So the DNA results now confirm that the blue-eyed blonde girl in the Dublin Roma family is biologiclly part of the family . . confirming that blue eyed blonde Roma do exist.and that it was indeed possible for the Greek Roma Maria to have been informally adopted from another Roma. Another case in Ireland of the authorities taking into custody a 2 yr old also proved to be a false alarm.
Update: In the Dublin case Gardai were also told by the family that the girl was born at the Coombe Hospital in 2006, but preliminary checks could not confirm that. However, an independent examination of the Coombe records yesterday showed that the woman had given birth to a daughter on the day she mentioned in 2006.The child's first name on the birth record differed from the name used by the girl, but it was accepted that this was not unusual.The definitive DNA tests are now awaited. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/roma-couple-take-dna-tests-to-prove-that-dublin-child-7-is-their-daughter-29687513.html The police raid was initiated by a journalist obtaining information via Facebook.
If people remember how the satanic child abuse spread from one social services to another – Roma child abductions appear to be contagious, too, spreading to Ireland http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/22/irish-police-remove-blonde-child-roma-family One commentator has questioned why if the blonde Maria in Greece is suspected of being abducted, why the other dark-featured children in the family who also have questionable documentation have not also been taken away by the authorities as possible abductees…ahhh…they were not blue-eyed and blonde. Also see here for link to light skinned Roma with blonde hair and blue eyes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanichal
