tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360280822012-02-03T10:03:58.412ZSOCIALISM OR YOUR MONEY BACKOur aim is to build a movement working towards socialism, a democratic society based upon co-operation and production for use, a world community without national borders. An end to buying and selling and money, where goods will be voluntarily produced and services voluntarily supplied to meet people's needs. People will freely take the things they need.
The Socialist Party of Great Britain is an organisation of equals with no leaders.prolerathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01698202497017246060noreply@blogger.comBlogger22611100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-26460070135308614412012-02-03T01:28:00.003Z2012-02-03T01:38:26.577Zcaged americaThe US has the highest rate of imprisonment in the world, with 743 people incarcerated for every 100,000 Americans. America’s prison population has grown from fewer than 800,000 in 1980 to more than 2.5 million by 2008 (over 25 percent of the globe's incarcerated population) , with the majority being nonviolent prisoners. One of every 150 Americans is cut off from society as a prison inmate. No ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-81859841217638193632012-02-02T03:00:00.003Z2012-02-02T03:08:19.738ZIt is not neglected diseases bu neglected peoplesSOYMB drew attention to this problem in September and now it appears that the great powers-to-be are promising action. 13 pharmaceutical companies, major charities and research groups including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) signed an initiative to combat "Neglected Tropical Diseases" (NTD). A new $14bn plan has now been drawn up to combat 10 of 17 ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-24956513930049122012012-02-02T02:01:00.004Z2012-02-02T02:12:49.848Zonly the right peopleThe immigration minister, Damian Green, will confirm on Thursday that ministers want to move to a more highly selective policy."We need to know not just that the right numbers of people are coming here but that the right people are coming here..." Green will argue in a speech to the Policy Exchange thinktank.Only migrants earning more than £31,000 a year will be able to settle in ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-26519026359691920872012-02-01T04:44:00.001Z2012-02-01T04:58:19.880ZUnhappy workersA report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development published today, examines working life in 1952 – and what it is like for workers in this country 60 years later.Dr John Philpott, the report’s author and chief economic adviser to the institute, said: "People do not seem much happier about their working lives. Many exhibit the symptoms of work-related stress...even though work hasajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-34238950289455745922012-02-01T03:22:00.000Z2012-02-01T03:24:59.574ZOpen for BusinessThe EU, the US and Canada are considering how and when they will ease sanctions imposed over the past 20 years on the brutal military authorities that rule Myanmar (Burma). Travel restrictions on senior Burmese officials were lifted by the EU. A full review of the sanctions is scheduled for April. Senior European politicians including William Hague, the British foreign secretary, and Alain Juppé,ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-55698589647473927982012-02-01T03:04:00.003Z2012-02-01T03:10:16.847ZSpending a penny is stealing a penny from the bosses?Managers are alerted by flashing lights if an employee is away from their desk for a toilet break or other "personal activities" beyond the allotted time. It is the latest example of lavatory rules in Norwegian companies. Last year the country's workplace ombudsman said one firm was reported for making women workers wear a red bracelet when they were having their period to justify more frequent ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-18709314521214554142012-02-01T01:24:00.001Z2012-02-01T01:28:08.771ZFrom fat cats to scape-goatsBankers are unpopular. Not the ordinary bank teller or the back-up IT staff, but the directors and top managers who award themselves huge salaries and big bonuses. So unpopular in fact that the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, Stephen Hester, has been forced to give up a bonus of nearly £1m while his predecessor, Sir Fred Godwin, has been stripped of his knighthood.The banks defend ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-46410405564602383502012-01-31T02:44:00.003Z2012-01-31T02:54:16.287ZCompetitive capitalism?A free market for labour? Not so. Google, Apple, and many other Silicon Valley companies entered into illegal “no poaching” deals, according to the Department of Justice, showing extreme measures technology giants take to keep top talent. The DoJ released evidence from its investigation into the hiring practices of top tech companies, demonstrating non-competitive hiring agreements existed.A ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-41045381282117244592012-01-31T01:54:00.004Z2012-01-31T02:01:18.685Zsnouts in the troughFormer Labour government foreign secretary, runner-up Labour leader, brother of Labour leader, David Milliband, has been channeling his income through a company in order to avoid tax.Milliband is earning up to £21,000 a day and channeling his earnings to a company jointly owned with his wife -- The Office Of David Miliband Limited -- effectively getting exemptions for half of his ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-67815368512891140152012-01-31T01:33:00.001Z2012-01-31T01:37:15.374ZThey said it - we didn't 3The usual criticism of economists is that they missed the crisis, preferring their models to reality, and those models took no account of the mischief that could be caused by unregulated bankers running wild. Of all explanations, this is the most comforting; all academics need to do , presumably, is try a little harder next time. But economists didn't just fail to spot the financial crisis – theyajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-44500454488044852472012-01-31T01:30:00.001Z2012-01-31T01:33:06.497ZRoyal ConnectionsPrince Andrew has once more been busy acting as the royal front for UK plc.The Duke of York announced last July that he would step down as the UK's special representative for trade following criticism of his business connections with dictators including Gaddafi. Nevertheless, he has remained at the heart of the UK government's export drive and has carried out 17 engagements in Saudi Arabia and ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-56215373893898681132012-01-30T14:32:00.001Z2012-01-30T14:34:14.652ZBankers' Bonuses Email received from a Socialist Standard reader: As the SPGB have always pointed out it's a total myth that banks create wealth. They make their profits by lending, borrowing or generally manipulating funds between sections of industry and private individuals which stemmed from profits via the wages system throughout the production of goods and services. In the light of the ongoing ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-41733830915646463152012-01-30T03:54:00.000Z2012-01-30T03:56:35.083ZNorth Korea's class divideThe “socialist" paradise of North Korea appears to be no exception to wealth inequality. The gap between its emerging entrepreneurial class and the rest of the country widening rapidly, experts say.The disparity stems from the North’s economic hardship in the 1990s, when its system virtually collapsed and the country suffered a disastrous famine that killed an estimated hundreds of thousands. Theajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-33720311521704159772012-01-29T03:23:00.003Z2012-01-29T03:30:41.104ZTucson, Arizona bans William ShakespeareAn Arizona state Law bans ethnic studies classes and facing a multimillion-dollar penalty in state funds, the governing board of Tucson’s largest school district officially ended its 13-year-old program.Along with Shakespeare's The Tempest, Rethinking Columbus - the Next 500 Years is on the banned list. Other banned books include “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Brazilian educator Paolo Freire ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-30477280288395491302012-01-28T05:48:00.001Z2012-01-28T05:56:41.883ZThere is thieving and then there is thieving!The media have been saying that Antony Worrall Thompson's repeat thefts are down to abuse in childhood. Whether or not this is true, the punishment handed out to Thompson is starkly different to that meted out to 23-year-old Nicolas Robinson back in August 2011.While Thompson got a police caution, Robinson was sentenced to six months in jail.Nicolas Robinson had entered an already-burgled Lidl ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-30251827903779571292012-01-28T04:08:00.001Z2012-01-28T04:10:33.899ZDestiny determined by birthAn American born into poverty is increasingly unlikely to be able to move up and out. The American Dream while did happen to a few famous individuals like Andrew Carnegie, the scenario was actually unlikely. A number of historical studies have shown that the ranks of the upper middle class to rich -- those who benefitted from the booming economy of the Gilded Age -- were drawn from members of ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-80156865973568114092012-01-27T03:00:00.001Z2012-01-27T03:02:02.629ZRemembering Republic DayYesterday was India's Republic day and we should not forget the 44 per cent of children less than five years old who are underweight nor overlook that 65 children die each day of malnutrition. In all, 21 per cent of all Indians are undernourished. The World Bank says that 42 per cent of India’s 1.21 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day while India’s 100 richest people own assets ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-81305063360342517092012-01-26T06:03:00.001Z2012-01-26T06:07:44.493Zthe class war - an update225 million people worldwide are unemployed 1 in 3 people on the planet are poor or unemployed 1% of the world's families own 40% of the wealth Wages as a percent of GDP are at an all-time low Corporate profits as a percent of GDP are at an all-time highIn the war between labour and capital, capital is, as usual, still winninghttp://www.businessinsider.com/ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-74383516746886113762012-01-26T05:16:00.001Z2012-01-26T05:17:24.323ZMinding the storeMore than half of the retail workers surveyed in a study last fall earn less than $10 an hour. Almost one in five earns less than $8 an hour, and almost 12 percent earn minimum wage. About 34 percent rely on public assistance.About one-third of the workers surveyed support a family member on their wages, but the median wage for the surveyed workers is only $9.50 an hour.Over 70 percent don’t ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-59015791561369238592012-01-26T05:03:00.002Z2012-01-26T05:07:45.432ZThe Sinking Houses of ParliamentSerious cracks have already appeared, UK politicians are concerned, and a considerable amount of money must be thrown at the problem in order to shore it up and prevent it collapsing completely. No, not capitalism. The Houses of Parliament. On 23 January, MPs on the House of Commons Commission, responsible for the upkeep of the Parliamentaryajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-66262859998661378762012-01-26T01:50:00.003Z2012-01-26T01:55:36.543ZThey said it - we didn't 2An Investment Manager's View on the Top 1%"...the bottom line is this: A highly complex set of laws and exemptions from laws and taxes has been put in place by those in the uppermost reaches of the U.S. financial system. It allows them to protect and increase their wealth and significantly affect the U.S. political and legislative processes. They have real power and real wealth. Ordinary ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-54104713396741841352012-01-25T04:59:00.001Z2012-01-25T05:01:51.338ZThey said it - we didn't"The transcripts of the 2006 meetings, released after a standard five-year delay, clearly show some of the nation’s pre-eminent economic minds did not fully understand the basic mechanics of the economy that they were charged with shepherding. The problem was not a lack of information; it was a lack of comprehension..."http://finance.yahoo.com/news/inside-fed-2006-coming-crisis-124207691.htmlajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-82262425730853006202012-01-25T03:27:00.004Z2012-01-25T03:47:04.830ZBurns Night - Remembering the Ploughman PoetRabbie Burns, poet; lyricist; freemason; anti-cleric; staunch republican; revolutionary democrat and advocate for the dispossessed; sympathiser with the American and French Revolutions and an inspiration to socialists. Acclaimed as the Peoples Poet. Except by those who argue that he was simply a hypocrite, aspiring to climb the social ladder, who had indicated his willingness to emigrate to ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-69121017229391013622012-01-24T17:55:00.004Z2012-01-24T18:05:03.489ZWe demand real changeIt’s the US presidential election year. The media circus is in full flow and the season is a long one. It appears the aim is to keep the public’s eyes as far away from reality and the real issues as possible. There are issues that should be engaging the media circus, placing them squarely in front of the electorate and the presidential candidates. But they aren’t and they won’t be because the ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-59774172276079699232012-01-24T06:32:00.002Z2012-01-24T06:41:30.535ZThe class struggle on the Costa ConcordiaReports in the press say that the wealthy paid “wads of cash” to get on the lifeboats as the Costa Concordia cruise ship was going down.A resident of Giglio, where the lifeboats made shore after the disaster, told German media: “I went to the boats as I saw them coming in expecting to see women, children and the injured but all I saw were healthy men and elegant women in evening gowns..."The ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-24208254316084678292012-01-24T06:10:00.002Z2012-01-24T06:13:27.939ZThe Throwaway WorkerTechnological advancements have minimized the need for employees to be as physically present in a traditional office setting, and employee relationships now extend across different time zones and geographies. From the four walls of an office to the online world; the emergence of new flexible hours that no longer require a nine-to-five clock-in. We now have the concept of the throwaway worker - ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-6496350536307805342012-01-24T05:18:00.001Z2012-01-24T05:21:56.574ZThe young sufferThe health of babies born in deprived areas could be damaged for the rest of their lives long before they have even left the womb, according to research.They have found stressful conditions experienced by expectant mothers in impoverished areas because of poor lifestyle choices could impact on their children’s DNA – leaving them with an increased chance of developing diabetes and cardiovascular ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-6508397163162943542012-01-24T05:16:00.001Z2012-01-24T05:18:42.926ZThe old sufferThe charity Age UK found in a survey that one in two pensioners, hit with fuel poverty, is not warm enough because he is trying to make savings. In other words, Half of British pensioners have been forced to give up their homes' warmth to save money. The charity also found that some two million elderly people are so poor that they go to bed earlier at nights in an attempt to get warm without ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-12322668243256216612012-01-24T05:13:00.006Z2012-01-24T06:19:32.369ZLand of InequalityOnce more SOYMB reveals the stark statistics of American inequalitybut the rest of the world suffer the same inequality. Half the world’s poorest people live within the G20. Inequality has increased in 14 of the 18 G20 countries since 1990 according to a recent Oxfam report, explaining “Contrary to popular myth, a rising economic tide does not necessarily lift all boats and can in fact sink ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-91551605021445242872012-01-23T04:59:00.002Z2012-01-23T05:02:12.688ZThe Price of Brazilian Profits Loggers in Brazil captured an eight-year-old girl from one of the Amazon's last uncontacted tribes and burned her alive as part of a campaign to force the indigenous population from its land.The child was said to have wandered away from her village, where around 60 members of the Awá tribe live in complete isolation from the modern world, and fallen into the hands of the loggers.Luis ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-39095182069091336862012-01-23T03:56:00.000Z2012-01-23T03:57:19.767Zmore doom and gloomThinktank says rich will prosper but ordinary families will not regain pre-recession earning power for eight years. The study, which focuses on the state of the "squeezed middle" and is produced by the independent Resolution Foundation, looks at the situation of 10 million adults, who crucially do not rely heavily on means-tested support from the state, and their 5.2 million children. Researchersajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-11812870464335159202012-01-23T03:50:00.002Z2012-01-23T03:55:58.329ZHunger is a Weapon of Mass Destruction"Every five seconds, a child under 10 dies of hunger. – Thirty-five million people die each year from hunger or its immediate aftermath. – One billion people are permanently and severely malnourished and the situation is becoming increasingly catastrophic." - Jean ZieglerIn his latest book “Mass Destruction – the Geopolitics of Hunger”, Jean Ziegler, ex-UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-7756310790782770462012-01-22T10:03:00.003Z2012-01-22T10:20:33.508ZA Happy Chinese New Year?The organisers of this year's London Olympics said they were investigating claims that cuddly toy versions of the Games mascots are being made by poorly paid workers in a Chinese factory.Golden Bear, based in Telford, central England, has a licence to produce Olympic products based on Wenlock and Mandeville, the official mascots of the Olympics and Paralympics. Allegations are that workers makingajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-51382004861540893342012-01-22T05:50:00.002Z2012-01-22T05:55:41.652ZSelling PeopleDr Francis Delmonico, WHO adviser on human organs donations and transplantation calls to ban trade in body parts. He called for a global co-operation in the field to suppress potential exploitation for the poor seeing that the main incentive for such trade is exploitation and easy money. “Organ trafficking and transplant tourism violates the respect for human dignity and the principles of ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-53234780517106102522012-01-22T05:01:00.003Z2012-01-22T05:06:59.507ZUnions fight backUnions in the US have hardly grown in more than 30 years. The private sector trade unions enroll but one out of every 14 workers. Meanwhile the strike has practically vanished from the American landscape - there were at least ten times more each year in the 1970s - and the negotiation of a new union contract, in both the public and private sectors, is considered a labor victory if the workers ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-3432898959126133822012-01-21T07:04:00.002Z2012-01-21T07:09:04.514ZSugar in your tea?In Guatemala government authorities, although legally having to prevent child labor, allow children under 14 years of age to work in their cane fields, which is a physically demanding and dangerous work.Children work in the sugar fields where workers are paid by tonnage cut. While most adult workers cut two to three tons, that doesn't even add up to minimum wage, about 7.5 USD per day. One ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-87599882448447856202012-01-21T06:06:00.002Z2012-01-21T06:10:47.045ZDinosaurs - pot calling kettle blackSo, you've got children, and they're eager to go and see a dinosaur. So where's the best place to take them? According to the Prime Minister, the best spot is "the House of Commons at about half past twelve". After long-standing leftwinger Dennis Skinner asked David Cameron when he might be going to the Leveson inquiry to face ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-21642195519551764112012-01-21T05:37:00.000Z2012-01-21T05:39:43.337ZCapitalism - not our cup of teaTea in Sri Lanka is one of the country's biggest cash crops. One-and-a-half million people - or some 5 percent of Sri Lanka's 21 million population - who work in the tea sector. But families working on tea estates are among the nation's poorest in terms of earnings as well as nutrition, say experts who back regional approaches to tackle nutrition disparity.One in every five children younger than ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-59423279530009365612012-01-21T03:31:00.001Z2012-01-21T03:34:20.935ZAmerica's Low WagesIn 2011, the US Department of Labor reported at least 10 million people worked and were still below the unrealistic official US poverty line, an increase of 1.5 million more than the last time they checked. The US poverty line is $18,530 for a mom and two kids. Since 2007 the numbers of working poor have been increasing. About 7 percent of all workers and 4 percent of all full-time workers earn ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-22134963978972497032012-01-21T02:21:00.002Z2012-01-21T02:28:40.438ZWhat capitalists really think of their workersApple manufacturing partner Foxconn's CEO Terry Gou said while introducing a zoo-keeper to his senior managers at a party that the zoo-keeper might have some good advice for his senior managers because "Hon Hai (Foxconn) has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache," adding that he wants to learn from Chin ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-50004863580796096872012-01-20T07:03:00.002Z2012-01-20T07:06:16.675ZSneers of a ClownWith unemployment the highest for 16 years, income inequality growing faster in the UK than any other 'rich' economy, cutbacks for decades to come, real wages in decline due to the rising cost of living, and the Euro heading for the rocks, David Cameron's speech, in defence of capitalism, at New Zealand House in London on January 19, must rank as one of his mostajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-43609166183123978842012-01-20T04:06:00.003Z2012-01-20T04:22:24.385Zdoom and gloomAround six million households would be unable to survive for more than five days if they stopped being paid, such are the low levels of savings among Britons, research shows. One in three UK households have less than £250 in accessible savings. A fifth of all households have no savings at all.£250 is the equivalent of three days’ average monthly household take-home pay. With average ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-76033963022028619572012-01-19T04:11:00.002Z2012-01-19T04:40:59.165Zthe rich and the poorGoldman Sachs will divvy up a $12.2bn (£7.9bn) pay and bonus pool among its staff despite a near halving in annual profits. . Even though the investment bank said it had cut its remuneration bill – salaries, bonuses and benefits – by more than a fifth, it still came out to about the size of the GDP of Albania. Based on a headcount of 33,300, which includes some 5,300 staff in the UK, the averageajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-65118554307872126902012-01-18T05:10:00.003Z2012-01-18T05:15:16.167ZWall St. - New York's market for slaves and wage slaveryDecember 13, 2011 was the three hundredth anniversary of the law passed by the New York City Common Council that made Wall Street the city's official slave market for the sale and rental of enslaved Africans. "1711 Law Appointing a Place for the More Convenient Hiring of Slaves Source: Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, vol. II, 458, December 13, 1711. Be it Ordained by theajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-19170867070121389852012-01-17T04:55:00.001Z2012-01-17T04:57:16.558ZiPads - cheap labourIt is disconcerting to remember that the low prices of iPhones and iPads — and the super-high profit margins of Apple — are only possible because iPhones and iPads are made with labor practices that would be illegal in the United States.It's also disconcerting to realize that the folks who make iPhones and iPads not only don't have iPhones and iPads (because they can't afford them), but, in some ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-4683687158727565622012-01-16T01:49:00.002Z2012-01-16T01:58:39.649ZLondon's air pollutionOlympic athletes could become ill as a result of London's unacceptably high levels of air pollution, leading respiratory scientists are warning. Fears are growing that during the Games, beginning in July, athletes, who take in much more air than a sedentary person, will take in high levels of pollutants such as particulates, nitrogen dioxide and ozone, and could suffer pulmonary irritation,ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-46827985216707957332012-01-16T01:27:00.004Z2012-01-16T03:50:25.098ZBees Before BusinessPesticide companies have been trying to protect their multi-billion pound businesses by lobbying internationally against bans on neonicotinoids, a group of toxic chemicals designed to paralyse insects by attacking their nervous systems.Now an authoritative, peer-reviewed research undermines the pesticide industry's long-repeated arguments that bees are not being harmed, and adds more ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-15160666818416439712012-01-15T00:56:00.003Z2012-01-15T01:18:11.852ZSNP hypocrisyPoliticians, national and local, are getting worked up over a referendum on Scottish independence and the media are encouraging the rest of us to get involved. But why should we?It is of no concern to workers in Scotland whether they are governed from London or by a separate independent government in Edinburgh. This is because the cause of the problems they face is the capitalist economic system ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-16615870652252759992012-01-14T05:56:00.005Z2012-01-14T06:22:15.531ZSoiled CapitalismOne-third of Earth's soil is degraded because of unsustainable farming methods, which could lead to a major food crisis. 25 per cent of the world's food-producing soils are highly degraded or are rapidly being degraded. Add to that other soils which they say are degrading "moderately", and the area under threat amounts to one-third of the Earth's endowment of cropland. Loss of productive soil, ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-81315809322215548342012-01-14T05:07:00.003Z2012-01-14T05:25:30.480ZTheir words, not oursEconomist Dean Baker writes:"Economists tend not to be very good at economics. We know this because almost none of them were able to see the $8 trillion housing bubble that was driving the economy from 2002 to 2007. This was an oversight of astonishing importance, sort of like a physicist not noticing gravity."From hereThere is nothing wrong with trying to understand capitalism, as long as the ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-79061724019062516782012-01-13T06:08:00.001Z2012-01-13T06:11:32.229ZWhy on Earth are there so many of us?The world population is now 7 billion – with no sign of the growth rate slowingAccording to the UN, the population of the world reached an estimated seven billion at the end of 2011. For most of humankind’s stay on Earth our numbers have been much below one billion (perhaps less than one million up to 26.000 BC). Just before Nelson finally copped it, the first billion is said to have been reachedajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-5057079297972468152012-01-12T04:58:00.001Z2012-01-12T05:05:09.939ZPreventable deathsNearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in a 2009 analysis.Overall American adults age 64 and younger who lack health insurance have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those who have coverage.Socialists have acknowledged that NHS made ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-42293830116684702392012-01-12T01:34:00.002Z2012-01-12T01:39:57.014Zthe cuts begin to biteTwo out of three workers have suffered a pay freeze in recent years, with around one in six had received no wage increase for at least three years. Only one in three are expecting a pay rise in 2012. Those believing they will get a rise predicted it would average only 2.1%, well below the rate of inflation.Three out of four of those questioned said they were worried about the rising cost of ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-20398022341672829142012-01-11T12:40:00.002Z2012-01-11T12:55:54.849ZPupils on ParadeAround 60 state schools and 200 independent schools currently have cadet programmes, which allow pupils aged between 13 and 18 to take part in military-style activities. Teenagers learn drill and are trained to fire weapons.Now all secondary schools in Britain could get cadet forces under plans being considered by Education Secretary Michael Gove. "I've tasked the Children's Minister to work withajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-9916742921781856372012-01-10T01:55:00.001Z2012-01-10T01:58:24.806ZLetting the Gini out of the BottleThe standard measure of inequality is the Gini coefficient. It is equal to one if all income goes to one person; if one woman owned everyone in an economy, fed them what she liked and made them work according to her will, if all income belonged to her and everyone else was her slave, the Gini coefficient in her monarchy would be one. If, on the other hand, everyone got exactly the same income, ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-84873053283170172632012-01-10T01:16:00.002Z2012-01-10T01:17:58.384Zexecutive salariesIn the latest year, Mick Davis of mining company Xstrata took home £18.4 million. Michael Spencer, the former Tory party co-treasurer who runs broker Icap, got £13.4 million. And Bart Becht, the just retired boss of Cillit Bang maker Reckitt Benckiser, earned £17.9 million.How can anyone be worth that?Between 1999 and 2010, the median remuneration of a FTSE-100 chief executive rose annually by anajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-13034759715304190032012-01-09T03:00:00.002Z2012-01-09T03:10:27.625ZBliar tax questionsWhen he campaigned for the Labour leadership in 1994, Tony Blair said "We must tackle abuse of the tax system. For those who can employ the right accountants, the tax system is a haven of scams, perks, City deals and profits... We should not make our tax rules a playground for revenue avoiders and tax abusers who pay little or nothing while others pay more than their share."Windrush Ventures is ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-80157991995160176282012-01-09T02:57:00.001Z2012-01-09T03:00:23.192ZA Not So Happy BirthdaySouth Africa's ruling African National Congress, Africa's oldest liberation movement, celebrates the 100th anniversary of its birth.Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a hero of the anti-apartheid struggle, has voiced his disgust at the cronyism, patronage and degenerating ineptitude of Zuma and his ministers by saying: "They stopped the gravy train just long enough to get on ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-70678764240302257492012-01-08T19:46:00.006Z2012-01-08T21:16:08.734ZMarx of a philosopherOne recent topic on the old WSM Discussion Forum concerns Karl Marx's Theory of History by G A Cohen. A review of this book first appeared in the Socialist Standard of August 1979... The basis of life under capitalism is the workers' sale of labour power to the employers, although this is not generally accepted as a true description of the world we live in. This is so for a number of reasons.hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-89290685122295335432012-01-07T04:12:00.002Z2012-01-07T04:18:20.573ZDirty capitalism is a wasteIn 1998, the municipal waste generated in England and Wales could, at 27m tonnes, have covered an area the size of Hyde Park with an 80-foot layer. A decade later, the amount of waste in England and Wales had risen to about 150m tonnes. In 2010, Americans produced 250m tonnes of rubbish – roughly the same weight as 685 Empire State Buildings. Even tiny Singapore puts out impressive volumes, ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-51764783547147506312012-01-07T03:52:00.000Z2012-01-07T03:53:56.929ZFeeding the world is possibleIn 1950, the U.S. there were 5.6 million farms and one farmer produced enough to feed 30 people. In 2010, there were only 2 million farms and one farmer produced enough to feed 155 people.“…The world has the technology to feed, on a sustainable basis, 10 billion people. The pertinent question today is whether farmers and ranchers will be permitted to use this technology.” — Norman Borlaug, 2000ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-89051221609528481582012-01-07T03:31:00.002Z2012-01-07T03:51:49.644Zno dreaming in americaNearly two thirds of Americans stay on bottom pay bracket throughout their whole livesThe idea of the American Dream – to rise from humble origins to become part of the wealthy elite – has become outdated as the rich become richer and the poor more mired in poverty.65 per cent born in the bottom fifth stay in the bottom two-fifths. 62 per cent of Americans raised in the top fifth of incomes stay ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-25017432325400465472012-01-06T18:55:00.003Z2012-01-06T20:26:15.191ZA duke distorts MarxDoes a man who is the subject of a biography by Gyles Brandreth have anything of note to say about Marx? Read on...."This, it seems to me, is Marx's legacy to theworld. For love, tolerance and compassion he has substituted hatred, envy and oppression. For honesty and justice he has substituted the interest of the party. Although it is a sad commentary on human nature that so many people are hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-70681080110760320482012-01-05T19:11:00.004Z2012-01-05T19:22:58.275ZThis Money BusinessOne of the most common difficulties encountered by anyone attempting to form an idea of life under Socialism is that connected with the necessary disappearance of money. People who are ready enough to agree with us in our criticism of capitalism and its effects become frankly incredulous when we point out that the abolition of production for profit will involve the end of commerce and its hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-14897745320702901622012-01-04T01:31:00.001Z2012-01-04T01:53:17.061Zthe rich get richerA non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) study on income inequality reaffirmed that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.“The poorest 20% of tax filers experienced a 6% reduction in income while the top 0.1% of tax filers saw their income almost double,” according the the CRS report.82 percent of income received by about 80 percent of the people comes from work in the form of ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-82542088368053670372012-01-03T12:48:00.003Z2012-01-03T12:52:05.303ZChanging jobsJust a third of British workers stick to their contracted working hours, according to a survey .40% of workers do not take a lunch break.A similar number for perform 5 hours or more of unpaid overtime.One in three employees regularly check work emails during their spare time.63% say work worries creep into their weekends.Nigel Wallace, development director at Lifetime, said:“Amid the tough ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-25604385288896232912012-01-02T19:35:00.007Z2012-01-03T13:01:33.899Z"Abolish money" - Sinead O'ConnorTracey Emin was asked recently to design a new £50 note.Sinead O'Connor was similarly inspired twenty years ago...The music business certainly contains some odd contrasts. On 5 November, the world's biggest music publishing company, Time Warner, handed a cheque for £26 million to Elton John and Bernie Taupin for the future marketing rights to all their songs from 1974 onwards, including the hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-73471645227965988892012-01-01T13:31:00.002Z2012-01-01T13:35:36.608ZSocialist Standard No.1289 January 2012Whole issue as print ready pdf: Socialist Standard January 2012.pdfEditorial: Neither London nor Brussels, but World SocialismPathfinders: The Speed of EnlightenmentLettersHalo Halo!Tiny TipsCooking the Books: The Gnomes of the MarketMaterial World: The Troubled-Teens BusinessGreasy Pole: Theresa May ... or May Not?Too Many People or Not Enough Food Production?Rouble-makers (part two)Revolution prolerathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01698202497017246060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-90147393205289988882011-12-31T17:10:00.003Z2011-12-31T17:30:11.039ZA Happy New Year?Socialists do not extend conventional New Year greetings. We do not expect that the next twelve months will be happy or prosperous for the majority of the world's population. Only relative degrees of poverty and misery await the wealth producers of the world in the year to come. As rational beings, we are aware that for the majority of the world's people, 2012 will not be a 'happy New Year' and hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-52762527320149029412011-12-30T03:18:00.001Z2011-12-30T03:20:37.781Zbrazil's child labourThe Center for Economics and Business Research released its latest figures showing that Brazil had surpassed Britain this year to become the world's sixth-largest economy. Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega says his country will overtake France to become the world's fifth-largest economy before 2015.But despite the economic advances claimed by Brazil , children from low-income families areajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-56833108794394275042011-12-30T02:45:00.003Z2011-12-30T02:57:53.776Zgetting poorerFull time workers across Britain have suffered a drastic drop of as much as 28 % in their living standards over the last four years, due to “bankers' recession” and delayed economic recovery, a study issued by GMB union revealed. The average fall for Britain is 5.9% and 6.2% for England when income rises were compared to inflation. Hammersmith and Fulham in London faced the highest figure of ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-25339643536166269542011-12-30T02:20:00.002Z2011-12-30T02:24:00.682ZMore on the RomaContinuing SOYMB's coverage of Europe's ethnic-cleansing policy (described as integration) of the Roma people we read at the Al Jazeera's website that when Hitler started his ethic cleansing of the Gypsies he inherited elaborate discriminatory legislation specifically designed to keep the Gypsies away. Germany had anti-Gypsy laws since the end of 19th century. During the early days of Nazism, ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-36959669418657689552011-12-30T01:38:00.001Z2011-12-30T01:40:30.998Zchickens come home to roostNearly two hundred years ago the poet, Percy Shelley, felt compelled to write of the cruelty inflicted on livestock:“How unwarrantable is the injustice and barbarity which is exercised towards these miserable victims. They are called into existence by human artifice that they may drag out a short and miserable existence of slavery and disease, that their bodies may be mutilated, their social ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-51101000506100458062011-12-30T01:17:00.002Z2011-12-30T01:20:03.455ZCapitalism - a depressing systemThe use of anti-depressants has risen by more than a quarter in England in just three years, amid fears that more people are suffering from depression due to the economic crisis. The number of prescriptions for anti-depressants increased by 28% from 34m in 2007-08 to 43.4m in 2010-11.Emer O'Neill, chief executive of Depression Alliance, said: "These uncertain economic times are linked to an ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-48969251725383875042011-12-29T06:28:00.002Z2011-12-29T06:32:51.763Zmounting debt or mountain of debt?"In these tough economic times, the most vulnerable families in society are being lured into an unaffordable debt trap by a morally-bankrupt lending industry," said Barnardo's chief executive Anne Marie Carrie. She called on the OFT to protect families from being "unwittingly pushed further into poverty by compelling these unscrupulous lenders to make clear their extortionate rates".Families ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-11806935932303418592011-12-29T03:10:00.000Z2011-12-29T03:12:18.760Zthe real cost of capitalism's wasteNearly 1 billion people in the world are hungry.Malnutrition contributes to the death of 500 million children under the age of five every year.In Africa, a child dies every six seconds from hunger.Between 250 million and 500 million children with vitamin A deficiency become blind and half of them die within 12 months of losing their sight.Within the United States, food retailers, food services, ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-78322984670237435762011-12-28T16:39:00.002Z2011-12-28T16:48:24.049ZSocialism and the Media“We don’t just criticise capitalism – we work to replace it with socialism.”The main features of socialism are – common ownership, co-operation to produce goods and services, democratic control, free access on the basis of need, a healthy and sustainable environment, no money, classes, national borders, wars, leaders.There are other aspects too, for example, the closely related areas of educationhallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-8639332109753359542011-12-27T20:11:00.003Z2011-12-27T20:29:54.096ZRising Costs of LivingWhilst many spent Boxing Day spending millions of pounds on mainly unnecessary luxuries, millions more working are bracing themselves for an even harder financial new year, as this report from This Is Money bears out....The price of basic purchases, such as food and fuel, soared by 43 per cent over the decade from 2000.These rising costs – far above general inflation – have already wiped out mostSussexSocialistnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-5356957631975999492011-12-26T04:29:00.001Z2011-12-26T04:31:30.290ZThe season of good cheer?A quarter of a million people aged 75 and over spent Christmas Day alone, according to a survey. And 40 per cent of those who were on their own had children living in the UK.And for the rest of the year - about 370,000 over-75s spend “zero hours” with other people on a typical day.The Centre for Social Justice executive director, Gavin Poole said: “For so many to spend Christmas day alone while ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-46548050598068835222011-12-25T03:13:00.003Z2011-12-25T03:20:00.182ZMerry MarxmasAlmost one in three people in the UK will go into debt over the Christmas period. 58% will rely more heavily on their credit cards and most of the remainder will cover their costs by using overdraft facilities.The lowest price for an acceptable Christmas for a low-income family with two children is £182, a study says. Most UK families will spend between £530 and £682 on gifts, decorations, food ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-60322282617707144992011-12-24T15:04:00.002Z2011-12-24T15:30:06.248ZAnnual Cheer or Blueprint For Future?Today is Christmas Eve. Traditionally, in the West at least, a time of high expectation for the coming feast, the annual orgy of gluttony and commercial greed. Every year, many commentators in the capitalist press bemoan that the religious significance is being lost (not mention that it is through the system of their making mind you), and that what the Bible and Jesus had to show us about SussexSocialistnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-38381893994487809372011-12-23T22:03:00.003Z2011-12-23T22:33:48.227ZCromwell, Lord ProtectorHere is an article, made available online for the first time, from the February 1954 edition of the Socialist Standard. JUST over three hundred years ago, on December 16th, 1653, Oliver Cromwell took the oath as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. The occasion of the ter-centenary of this event summoned forth a number of articles in the Press. Maurice Ashley, in The Times (15-12-53) hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-71285369318133519012011-12-22T02:15:00.003Z2011-12-22T02:25:00.412Zno crib for a bedAt this time of season we are often reminded of the mythical "Baby Jesus" having "no crib for a bed" as Mary and Joseph had to use an animal shed for accommodation.In these modern days Shelter has highlighted the plight of the 70,000 children they say will spend Christmas in temporary accommodation without a permanent home. They live in hostels, bed and breakfasts and refuges.Kay Boycott, ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-41547694556804092652011-12-22T02:11:00.003Z2011-12-22T02:26:13.037ZDying youngHomeless people in England die 30 years younger than the national average, research has suggested. The report for the charity Crisis found an average homeless person has a life expectancy of 47, compared with 77 for the rest of the population. the mean age of death for women was found to be even lower, at 43. Drug and alcohol abuse account for a third of all deaths among the ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-4558110540732185852011-12-21T03:27:00.001Z2011-12-21T03:30:22.143ZThe 1% Fight BackThe 1% is fighting back. It has created a public relations firm called the Job Creators Alliance, its mission is to "shape the national agenda" through op-eds and TV appearances to educate Americans on the vital role of free enterprise and entrepreneurship in creating jobs, spurring innovation and ensuring America’s economic success. Job Creators Alliance’s apparent job is to give a platform forajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-50761773518602639892011-12-20T03:09:00.000Z2011-12-20T03:10:31.366ZSome Stats#1 A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be "low income" or are living in poverty.#2 Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be "low income" or impoverished.#3 If the number of Americans that "wanted jobs" was the same today as it was back in 2007, the "official" unemployment rate put out by the ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-21991958508987774982011-12-19T12:02:00.002Z2011-12-19T12:07:26.223ZChristopher Hitchens RIPIt is a mystery to me how anyone can consider Hitchens a worthy advocate for atheism. It seems to me that, where Professor Dawkins is concise, sparing with his words and usually crystal clear in his meaning, Hitchens is the exact opposite. Hitchens gives me the impression that his main concern in addressing any issue or question is to reveal how clever and knowledgeable he is. He almost always ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-12344404807086701502011-12-19T03:12:00.003Z2011-12-19T03:17:39.659ZBeing poor begins young"With parents increasingly squeezed for time and money, this only creates more stress and even less positive environments for their children." Vidhya Alakeson, director of research at the Resolution Foundation, said .Children from high-income families start school with skills that are already five months ahead of their middle and low-income classmates. Wealthier parents were able to create a "ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-58313001837318859742011-12-19T02:59:00.003Z2011-12-19T03:04:51.934ZThe real cut-backsOne in five UK households saw a drop in income in the last quarter, a survey suggests. This was due to a unemployment, loss of bonuses, a reduction in overtime or more part-time working.Inflation is driving up the cost of essentials, with 44% of respondents spending more on food. Half said they were spending more on utility bills and 37% were spending more on transport costs.As a result, ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-30799046324920284752011-12-19T02:52:00.000Z2011-12-19T02:53:31.770Za picture tells a storyajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-85726888736536020402011-12-18T02:55:00.000Z2011-12-18T02:57:13.454ZRome v US empires1,500 years after the fall of the Roman Empire, the supposedly advanced and progressive United States of America is plagued by even worse income inequality. The Roman Empire, a society built on conquest and slave labor, had a more equitable income distribution. Around 150 C.E., Rome's top 1% controlled 16 percent of the wealth, compared to modern America where the top 1% controls 40 percent of ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-19532626031107755132011-12-17T07:20:00.002Z2011-12-17T07:23:48.321ZThe Chinese ClearancesLast year there were 280,000 so-called "mass incidents", including petitions, demonstrations and strikes, both peaceful and violent, in China. That's a huge rise on estimates for six years ago, when only around 90,000 such incidents were recorded. In many cases they were linked to anger over corruption and other forms of abuse of power such as illegal land seizures.Wukan, a reasonably well-off ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-35465561070516528012011-12-17T06:52:00.002Z2011-12-17T06:56:00.910Zcharity really begins at homeThe UK government has come under some criticism for continuing to give humanitarian aid money to India, a nation that has more billionaires than the UK, with a space programme, an economy growing at more than 7 per cent and the resources to offer aid to countries overseas itself.SOYMB need not look far for the ulterior motiveWith surprising bluntness, the International Development minister, ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-42855629153886707322011-12-16T18:09:00.002Z2011-12-16T18:17:42.260ZOccupy Brighton: The End?The Occupy Brighton protest camp has ended amidst storms, high winds and a fire. The BBC reports:Police said the majority of the Occupy Brighton protesters left peacefully but a minority set fire to furniture and the fire service was called.One of the officers was pushed to the ground while putting out the fire.The leader of Brighton's Green-run council, Bill Randall, said because of this he SussexSocialistnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-65739315779399801182011-12-15T03:11:00.001Z2011-12-15T03:14:15.217ZThe Jamboree Diamond JubileeSo you’ve paid off your mortgage and now you own your house and the land on which it stands. No, you don’t — the land still belongs to the Queen, who is the sole legal owner of land in the United Kingdom. In fact the queen also owns all the land in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and a number of other Commonwealth countries. the Queen of England is the titular owner of all the national soil. In ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-69042377717703176872011-12-15T02:44:00.000Z2011-12-15T02:45:48.267ZNew faces but no changeA survey shows America's CEOs enjoyed pay hikes of up to 40% last year – with one chief executive earning $145m yet wages for the majority of Americans are failing to keep up with inflation.This year's survey shows CEO pay packages have boomed: the top 10 earners took home more than $770m between them in 2010. As stock prices began to recover last year, the increase in CEO pay outstripped the ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-59645433602739485152011-12-14T01:00:00.001Z2011-12-14T01:03:32.495Zshopping for shopsMany readers of SOYMB be aware of the current fuss in the UK about the 'decline of the high street', whereby traditional shopping areas are being displaced by out-of-town centres and internet shopping. The BBC website has some coverage of this, including the following from ashop-owner in Inverness:Mr Nicol did add, however, that rents for premises were an issue.He said: "About a year ago I asked ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-26317335744556740452011-12-13T20:59:00.004Z2011-12-13T21:11:59.048ZSussex Business To The Rescue!Are you tired of running over homeless people? Sick of these wastes of time taking up valuable road space on the busy A27? Fed up with dodging the poor and the elderly? Well Sussex business are leading the way in solving this problem. Teaming up with the local Police and with much back slapping, patronising press releases and 'oohs' and 'aahhs' all round, the clever capitalists are now giving SussexSocialistnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-7639679501556659812011-12-13T19:57:00.003Z2011-12-13T20:40:47.759ZAdditive eatingLet them eat shit: restaurants using cooking oil collected from sewers, deadly fomula milk, bottled water containing worm eggs, pesticide pop, glow in the dark pork, or banned Clenbuterol added to animal feed by farmers impatient to get their meat to market and turn a profit.The capitalist class in China however eat organic food from exclusive farms. The tofu they consume will not be laced hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-11879917149572657672011-12-12T04:43:00.002Z2011-12-12T04:56:11.736ZBusiness before peopleAround 30 children die every hour as a result of AIDS. 34 million people around the world had HIV in 2010Patents held by drugs companies are a big reason why more than nine million people in the developing world are not getting the HIV medicines they need. ‘Recent studies have shown that people with HIV on antiretroviral treatments are 96 per cent less likely to pass on the virus,’ says Michelle ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0