ALB

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Viewing 15 posts - 6,301 through 6,315 (of 10,417 total)
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  • in reply to: Marx and the bluebooks #121585
    ALB
    Keymaster
    mullrae wrote:
    Did Marx falsify what he found in the blue books to suit his own ends.

    Who makes this claim and what is their evidence?

    ALB
    Keymaster

    Re the group in Turkey that has contacted us, for obvious reasons both sides have suspended communication for the time being.

    in reply to: Varoufakis on Negative Interest rates #121517
    ALB
    Keymaster
    Young Master Smeet wrote:
    We already have negative interest, given inflation is below most available interest rates

    I think you mean "above" not "below" don't you? All current accounts have been paying negative real interest (where what you get back will buy less), the money in your bank account being in effect (and law) a loan to the bank. What is now new is that we are entering the territory of negative nominal interest too (where you actually get less money back). I've already got some krugerrands under my bed.

    in reply to: Michael Albert goes for the lesser evil #121174
    ALB
    Keymaster

    How can you take seriously someone who advocates that your neighbours and/or your work colleagues should have a say in what clothes you buy and what magazines you subscribe to?  Not participatory democracy but a totalitarian nightmare.

    in reply to: Jill Stein and the American Green Party #121494
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Fair enough but these people standing in the US presidential elections seem more likely to talk about Debs than the Greens:http://vote-socialist.org/Hopelessly reformist of course.

    in reply to: Jill Stein and the American Green Party #121492
    ALB
    Keymaster

    I didn't think Jill Stein could have said this so I followed the link. And of course she didn't.

    in reply to: Labour MPs revolt against Corbyn #120338
    ALB
    Keymaster

    You can still be a political party without being registered with the Electoral Commission. Only, if you are not, you cannot contest elections under your party name. The SWP, for example, is not a registered party.

    in reply to: Labour MPs revolt against Corbyn #120335
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Someone else who sees Owen Smith as a mere stalking horse:http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/miners-hero-tyrone-osullivan-given-11666739

    Quote:
    “I'm disappointed Owen has done what he did,” he said. “He’s from a socialist background, his father was [Labour historian] Dai Smith, he comes from Pontypridd and he doesn’t seem to realise that he’s a stalking horse.“If, for whatever reason, Jeremy gave up tomorrow, Owen would find he’s not top of the list – he’d be forced down to about 25th…“Even if by the most impossible luck he won this election, I can promise you he will not be standing as the leader of the party in the next election… If the right wing are just using him, what a tragedy."

    He's using "socialist" in the sense of Old Labour of course (which wasn't socialist in our sense)..As "David" Smith, Owen's father was the joint author of The Fed, the official history of the South Wales miner's union. Hence, no doubt, Tyrone O'Sullivan's admiration for him.

    in reply to: European Single Market: Will Britain stay in? #120181
    ALB
    Keymaster

    According to the BBC, the City of London has given up hope of deal allowing the UK to have continued full access to the single market (like Norway) because they see this as politically impossible and is going for the second best option in the circumstances : bespoke deals on particular financial services (like Switzerland):

    Quote:
    There are, of course, plenty of business leaders in financial services who think the UK can now prosper even better outside the EU. But as an industry, the City lost the argument at the ballot box and it is now debating what deal the UK government can negotiate to ensure its future.The options come down to something the well-dressed City slicker knows all about. Does it go for an off-the-peg arrangement, or have something made bespoke?Off-the-peg would be best for many in financial services: they would prefer that if the UK is to leave the EU, it should at least stay in the single market, which would include that all-important passporting.However, it is looking increasingly likely that the off-the-peg solution is just not an option. That is because membership of the single market has always come at a high price, allowing the free movement of people from across the EU and paying money into the coffers of the EU.The City, which has been testing the waters, seems to have decided that is just not going to happen.As prime minister Theresa May said, "Brexit means Brexit". And with many voters deciding to vote Leave to keep "our money" and to reduce immigration, the price of membership of the single market would be unacceptably high.That leaves a "bespoke" solution, one based on the Swiss Model (pun intended), one where the UK negotiates a series of deals with the EU covering different industries.This is what Switzerland has done and it is a very prosperous country, but it does raise several areas of concern for the financial services industry in the UK.For a start, the City will want a better deal than the Swiss enjoy. The perfect illustration of that is the fact that one of the reasons the City is so successful is that it has attracted all those banks to London to do business in the EU, including all the major Swiss ones.That's because Switzerland's deal with EU does not provide its banks with that "passport" the UK enjoys, so they have to base a lot of their staff here. A great gain for our economy and a bit of blow for the Swiss economy.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37129715More on Switzerland's relationship to the EU here.

    in reply to: What sort of democracy? #121191
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Why not just choose the "politicians" (by which is presumably meant people to carry out certain administrative functions on behalf of a community, better a committee than a single person of course) "from the public by ransom selection", i.e by lot? In socialism of course. Under capitalism it doesn't matter who is chosen or how — they still have to apply the economic laws (the logic) of capitalism in the end.

    in reply to: Editorial: Donald Trump – No Workers’ Champion #121104
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Bonaparte Trump ! Alan I think you been looking at too many conspiracy-type sites I don't think Trump has any chance of being elected. Remember Barry Goldwater, the last way-out rightwing bugbear who stood for president? He got thrashed by LB Johnson in the 1964 presidential elections. I expect Trump to meet the same fate. America isn't that backward. But then I was wrong about Brexit …

    in reply to: Labour MPs revolt against Corbyn #120329
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Of course there are Trots in the Labour Party. Entryism is now back on the agenda for most of the groups. They are parasites who need a host. Not sure they'll get anywhere though. But let's hope Taaffe is allowed back and his so-called "Socialist Party" disappears.Not a bad article, actually. I liked this bit:

    Quote:
    The practice of Trotskyist politics has long been built around the idea of the “transitional demand”, a rather cynical manoeuvre whereby you encourage people to agitate for this or that – a hugely increased minimum wage, perhaps, or the end of all immigration controls – knowing full well it is unattainable within the current order of things, but that when the impossibility becomes apparent, the workers will belatedly wake up. In other words, the herd gets whipped up into a frenzy about something you know it won’t get, while you smugly sit things out, hoping that if everything aligns correctly, another crack will appear in the great bourgeois edifice.

    Spot on.

    in reply to: Quantitative Easing #108873
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Maybe that's why the latest round allows the Bank of England to buy up corporate bonds as well?

    in reply to: Labour MPs revolt against Corbyn #120327
    ALB
    Keymaster
    Quote:
    There are simply not enough delusional Leninists in Britain to make up the entirety of Corbyn’s support

    I think that's manifestly right.

    in reply to: Tony Chater (1930-2016) #121167
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Yes, I was wondering too what interest the death of an old Stalinist hack could have for Socialists.

Viewing 15 posts - 6,301 through 6,315 (of 10,417 total)