Democrat - Editorial - March-April 2009 (Number 113)
Manufacturing or "The road to hell"?
Disagreement on how to resolve the fiscal and economic crises is causing disarray and headaches within the EU and with the US. A financial recovery plan put up by the US and Britain has been called "the road to Hell" by the Czech Prime Minister. The Czech Republic holds the Presidency of the EU.
So far efforts to resolve the fiscal crisis by a re-capitalisation of banks has taken place in EU Member States using enormous sums of taxpayers’ money. In Britain this has caused a huge deficit and deflection of money away from the public sector. EU Member States in eastern and central Europe are in dire economic circumstances. Latvia and Hungary are now burdened with IMF loans. Other Member States including Ireland, Greece and Portugal have economic problems. Like Britain they all have growing unemployment.
Neither the euro nor the European Central Bank has been of any help and shows clearly that the single currency has failed most Member States.
Advantage of the unfolding situation is being pressed by privateers, big capital and the stronger larger Member States. The introduction of ‘liberalisation’ and the ‘free market’ into all areas of life is behind the problems of the NHS, Royal Mail, Railways and public sector.
Germany is seeking to use the crisis to exert more control over Eastern and Central Europe which is a long held aim!
The “free movement of capital, goods, services and labour” applies not only to the EU but most of the globe. It is simply a move against all forms of democracy and especially the right to self determination of nation-states. The call for a global regulatory system to control banks and money is to take these key controls away from national governments and therefore accountability.
Putting more tax payers money into the banks takes money out of that loaned for safe keeping and prudent spending by the Government. In effect it is a simple transfer out of our pockets and purses into that of the bankers. The inevitable and forecast high inflation rate will reverse gains on wages and diminish the value of money. The crisis is disguised under special phrases to make people feel ignorant in financial affairs. This is in order that they leave these things alone and for the myriad of experts to pontificate endlessly upon. The phrases include quantitative easing or printing money, toxic assets where governments buy near bankrupt accounts, and deflation where prices fall, goods pile up and unemployment rises and spirals.
Protectionism has been called a dirty word by most government leaders whose countries are in difficulties. This is a system where tariffs and quotas can be used to protect a particular or several home industries. Protectionism goes against the free movement of all things and would stop big capital moving factories or whole industries across the globe to make bigger profits. It could also stop the free movement of labour and social dumping of the unemployed from one country to another. It could also be used to prevent the export of capital say out of Britain and instead have this capital invested in industries here. Britain has to return to a manufacturing based economy. There are plenty of opportunities for manufactures and infrastructure items to be exported to developing countries.
To carry this out Britain needs to extricate itself from the EU and keep out of the single currency. That will go a long way to retrieving the right to govern our own affairs instead of being subject to the decisions taken by bankers and all the unelected EU officials. It will also stop Britain taking the “road to Hell”.