The Government needs to act urgently to protect the British people against the economic turmoil that was not of their making, but is now resulting in them losing their jobs, and struggling to pay their rent or mortgage, and fuel bills. There should be no blank cheques to bail out the banks that contributed to this crisis.
We are calling upon the Government to implement a people's programme to protect our people from the crisis not just the bankers, including:
1) nationalising the banks and establishing democratic control over banking decisions, ensuring democratic representation on boards, ending the bonus binges, controlling executive pay and share holder rewards;
2) Cutting interest rates significantly and immediately, restoring democratic control over key economic decisionmaking by not only widening the remit of the Bank of England beyond ensuring price stability to advising on the wider economic health of the country but also reverting the bank's role to being one voice amongst many others to be taken into account;
3) Securing people a home by converting repossessions to social rentals so that people have a 'right to stay' in their homes and embarking on a massive council house-building programme;
4) Enhancing security in employment by ensuring people have a say over the future of the companies by strengthening rights and representation at work;
5) Bring fuel bills under control with price controls on the consumer price of gas and electricity, so that people are not being forced to choose between heating and eating this winter, with the threat of nationalisation if needed.
We call on all people to support these measures and to campaign to the Government for their implementation.
If you would like a speaker from LEAP at your union or CLP meeting, please email LEAP.
I see Richard Murphy is backing this programme too.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem is government it's not good enough, New Labour has failed as did Thatcher and Major, but with little minds they have no idea what to do if the Global cash cow was to end.
ReplyDeleteLabour is New Labour which is something I've never understood, it became a carbon copy of the Tories, The Tories are a Thatcherite group, we do not have anything worthy of voting for it's a mess, we now vote for personalities not polices because both Parties have nothing to offer. What is the difference between Labour and the Tories answer Brown and Cameron, nothing else.
Throwing money at Banks is not the answer, and that what Nationalization will end up doing, does nobody remember the railways when they belonged to the people for god sake, British Leyland I do.
What a rubbish argument, Robert.
ReplyDeleteDo you remember when the railways were privately run? Either in the 90s or before the 1940s? They were rubbish.
The answer is to nationalise and run better, with proper investment, not leave things up to the casino of the market.
Thats the problem the dream of having the right person, the right people the right funding, it was always the same, and it always worked out the same, because it was tax payers money nobody gave a shit, I know I worked on it
ReplyDeleteYou're still not reading the suggestions, are you?
ReplyDeleteThe old nationalisations relied on governments to fund and run the industries, thus they were at the mercy of budget cuts and managers brought in to run the service on the cheap.
That is not what is being put forward.
Just heard on BBC News the figure being talked about for the bail out is £400bn.
ReplyDeleteHave I got my sums wrong or does this work out at £6,666.67 per person in the UK? I am assuming a population of 60 million people in the UK. This would mean my figure, if correct, would have to be multiplied by the number of family units if I am correct?
I am aware that the bankers are not going to get this sum “up front” but it does represent the amount we are prepared to lend bankers, so therefore this is money that we are potentially liable to have to pay via, Income Tax and vat etc
The irony is, the govt are having to borrow these incredible sums which they will then have to pay interest on. So any money made from the banks, who borrow the money from the govt, should theoretically bring money back into our coffers but which will then have to be paid back to the people the govt borrowed it from in the first place. The banks and speculators win again! Lunacy! All this borrowing and bailing still does not address the underlying problem.........the global division of labour. Recession in the west will reduce the demand for commodity production in the east. Mass unemployment on a global scale is what is looming. Ignoring the money matters for a moment, it is the "real" human costs of all this that will be significant. And therein lies the powerhouse of revolutionary change! Socialism is now, no longer an abstract idea, but a real and practical historical task which confronts humanity. Public ownership of the means of production is now no longer just a Marxian utopia, but a real and practical choice laid before the masses of the planet!
ReplyDeleteWhat is not being said is that this did not happen by accident. Markets, where unstructured, magnify the feedback loops that arise from the most basic elements of social psychology. It was not an unhappy set of circumstances that led to this, it is a systemic problem. Markets, in the sense of relatively unregulated commercial exchange cannot do the job society needs: i.e the provision of real financial services to the economy. Markets are not self-regulating mechanisms, they are not efficient, and there is no "natural" level for prices any more than there is a natural level for the murder rate!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous (Emma):
ReplyDeleteI assume my figures are correct for the UK?I live in the 26 County Rep of Ireland where I estimate the Dublin Bail Out, (grand giveaway), of €485bn to be €121,250 per person. Everyone from George Bush downwards, or rather upwards, says we have to have an international response, which is correct, only not the international response he and his kind mean.
I therefore suggest a 7th part to the LEAP Document “To facilitate co-ordination and co-operation with other nationalised national banks in other countries and liaise with private banks in other countries as and when necessary”.
I believe the situation to be more of a rip off than Steve Brown says, take the Anglo Irish Bank which specialised in dodgy property loans. Lets assume it makes 10 x €10,000m loans to 10 property companies and they all go bust, guess who pays?
Sean Fitzpatrick, Chair of the AIB addressed a conference of business people the day after the grand Dublin hand out and advised Brian Lenihan on his budget to be presented tomorrow, (Tuesday the 14th Oct), did he apologise?; no not quite, he advised that a correct budget strategy would be for the Rep of Ireland to abolish “universal state pensions”, childrens’ allowance and free medical care for people over 70. He continues with his Salary of €485pa.
In case anyone thinks I am exaggerating please refer to the Sunday Tribune, (about the same politically as the Observer), an article by Justine McCarthy on http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2008/oct/12/an-open-letter-to-the-minister-for-finance/
Justine McCarthy gives figures for homelessness in the 26 Counties as 43,000 families. Empty properties are 216,585 plus all the new build properties financed and unsold as a result of AIB etc.
I think we need international solidarity for workers, not bosses
Emma
PS In case the Blog Script does not pick it up my figures are Euros not Pounds Sterling