Twelve Year Old Girl Solves World Debt Crisis.

Everyone needs to hear this. Check it out at http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/30-1.

Does Paul Krugman Read "The News In Shorts?"

Paul Krugman made an appearance on "Newsnight" tonight and, much to Jeremy Paxman's amusement, made mincemeat of the right wing opposition to his ideas. In quick succession he routed Ken Ragoff, Paul Mason and Allegra Stratton, all of whom trotted out the tired and discredited mantra that austerity and deregulation will cure our economic woes. In one telling illustration he compared the present politicians, both here in Britain and in the rest of Europe, to Medieval doctors intent on bleeding their patients white - a comparison made by "The News In Shorts" in its report entitled "Tories Continue To Kill The Patient" on May 24th. So does Paul Krugman read "The News In Shorts?" We asked the nobel prize-winning economist; "The News In Shorts? Never heard of it. And stop pinching my metaphors before I use them." Oh well, chagrined as the editor was by this, this reporter is more a fan of Mr.Krugman than ever. After two years of complete failure, with economies shrinking across the world, unemployment rising through the roof and no sign whatsoever of the private sector magically expanding to save us all from an impending depression, all Ken Ragoff, Paul Mason and Allegra Stratton could say is that debts have to be paid off double-quick no matter what disasters befall us, that young people are straining at the leash to establish new vibrant businesses and are held back only by excessive employment regulation and that tax cuts for the rich are the key to prosperity. In other words more of the same. As Mr.Krugman pointed out this is merely ideology masquerading as economics as right-wingers scrabble to shrink the state while they have the opportunity. Everywhere the neoliberal-supporting establishment have tried to curb democracy, here in Britain by insisting on a full five year term for this woeful coalition government, in Greece and Italy where elected heads of state have been replaced by bankers and even in Canada where attempts have been made to outlaw student protests over rising university fees. Defending the indefensible, trying to save an economic system broken beyond repair, moronic national leaders have prevaricated, tried their best to have the poor pay for the mistakes of the rich and, after two years of utter idiocy, are now facing the prospect of a disorderly exit from the Euro by Greece -an event that any moron could see coming from a mile away.

Tax And How It Is Spent.

Yesterday Christine Lagarde was lecturing the Greeks about paying their taxes. Today it has been revealed that as an employee of an international organization she actually pays no tax whatsoever on her salary, which is in excess of £300,000 a year plus fringe benfits. Unlike the Greeks she has no need to dodge paying tax. Meanwhile, here in Britain the right-wing think tank, Centre for Social Justice (now there's a misleading title), has said that the government should scrap targets to reduce child poverty on the basis that "the poor are always with us." Or at least they will be if the Tories have anything to do with it. Though the British super-wealthy have made tax dodging into the only growth industry in the country and George Osborne seems to become strangely incompetent when it comes to closing loopholes, the rest of us have to pay our taxes whether we like it or not. Still we can take solace in the fact that our tax money is being diverted away from the undeserving disabled, unemployed and feckless and is now being spent on more worthwhile things. Can't we? Well, that depends on whether you think that the Wildlife minister, wealthy landowner and keen shot Richard Benyon, should spend your money on shooting buzzards in order to increase the number of pheasants available for the wealthy to take pot shots at. His ministry, by the way, has no brief to help out gamekeepers in their struggle to provide suitable targets for their rich masters and her certainly has no brief to kill a protected species like the British buzzard for the benefit of a tiny minority of Tory landowners. Not to worry though because Michael Gove has used his appearance at the Leveson Enquiry to air his belief that our shools, and presumably our schoolchildren, should generate profits for corporations making room for more tax cuts - not for you of course, but for his rich mates. The "News in Shorts" has one question. How much longer are we going to have to put up with these latter-day robber barons, spivs and conmen?

Where Has All The Money Gone?

"I'm afraid there's no money left," Liam Byrne told his successor at the Treasury as he left government. But what does "there's no money left" actually mean? Did it all disappear in a puff of smoke? Did it all leave for a holiday in the sun? No, it had all gone to the banks because they'd lost theirs. So what happened to it next? It was paid to shareholders and executives to reward their complete and utter failure. So where did this money to pay the banks for their incompetence come from? From you and me, from the ordinary taxpayer. In other words it was transferred from ordinary people to bankers who were utterly useless at their jobs in order to maintain their lavish lifestyles. Where is it now? Still with the banks who are hoarding it to protect themselves against the recession they caused in the first place. So why austerity? Because our governments are too incompetent themselves to get it back from the banks and because they really do not want to tax rich people to replace the loses. So, having made ordinary tax payers save the banks, they are now withdrawing support and services from the poorest in our society to make up the shortfall. The upshot of all this is that governements across world have been busily transferring money from the poor to the rich under the rubricks that "there is no alternative" and "we're all in this together." Enter democracy stage left. Ordinary people, unconvinced by the facile argument "there's no alternative," decided that they didn't want to give rich people all their money to fix a system that was broken beyond repair. So, in places like Italy and Greece, democracy was suspended and bankers were placed in charge as an "interim administration." In other words the banks were allowed to repossess entire countries. Of course there was an alternative to all this. The banks, who have spent the last 30 years lecturing us on the benefits of untrammeled capitalism, could have been allowed to fail like any other business that makes a serious mistake. But that would have meant that a lot of rich people would have lost their money as administrators called in all the debts. House prices would have collapsed, trade would have evaporated and most of us would now be out of work. Given then that the banking system had to be saved to avoid economic meltdown, what alternatives were open to governments other than pauperising the already poor? They could have fully nationalised the banks to take them out of the hands of reckless banking executives. As for austerity, they could have aimed that at the people who have gained more than anyone else out of the madness of the last 30 years - the rich. That governments chose not to do so nails the lies that "there is no alternative" and "we're all in this together." We, the people, have no money because they, the greedy and stupid, have stolen it all.

Lagarde Parades Double Standards.

Nothing could demonstrate the double standards practised by world leaders under the influence of the neoliberal economic thesis than Christine Lagarde's outburst against the Greeks. Writing on her Facebook account she said that she had more sympathy for Africans than for Greeks who should pay their taxes and shut up. It is "payback time" for Greece she said gleefully, suggesting that the austerity measures imposed on the country are some sort of punishment. Like most ordinary working people in the world ordinary working Greeks have no choice about paying tax. Choosing not to pay tax is solely the preserve of the rich who benefit from tax systems that deliberately allow loopholes that can be exploited by anyone rich enough to retain the services of a battery of accountants. Dodging tax when you are an ordinary person is a dangerous course that can and does end in a prison sentence. Dodging tax when you are rich is a lucrative income stream that is often rewarded with medals, honours and increased influence. Lagarde has now revealed the utter arrogance of the new super-class that has sprung into existence across the globe. Utterly selfish, greedy, irresponsible and without any sympathy for those not rich enough to share the rarified atmosphere of their world, these are the people who see it as their divine right to order the lives of the rest of us. If austerity is called for then, perhaps, it should start with those who have too much rather than those who have too little. There is, however, no sign that this is happening. Fatcats started this crisis and it is the fatcats that are ordering events to make sure they get fatter at our expense. The Greeks should take note of this outburst and walk away from the "deal" they are being offered. They should do what Iceland has done - tell the banks to shove it, arrest their political leaders and bankers who led them into this mess, get out of the Euro and tell the Germans to clear up the mess that they so eagerly promoted when it suited them.

Tory Bullying In The Spotlight.

The extent to which the Tory party under David Cameron is little more than a gang of bullies has been thrown into sharp relief this weekend. Their policies in terms of the sick, the dying, the disabled and the unemployed are clear enough and it is to the eternal shame of Britain that more voices of protest have not been raised against it. However the extent to which Tories stand revealed for what they are began to become clearer in the report of employment law authored by Adrian Beecroft in which he outlined the case for bullying in the workplace in order for bad managers to hide behind those who work for them. More details were revealed of their tactics in the wake of the scandal over Baroness Warsi's expenses when Wafik Moustafa told reporters that not only did she not pay any rent to him for using one of his flats but that she had also vilified him in order to "to monopolise the Asian and Muslim voice...when the Conservative Arab Network (I) founded was told to severe its connections with the party and threatened with legal action by Baroness Warsi." "She doesn't want anyone taking the limelight. She's very obsessed about image," he added. Meanwhile it was revealed by the "Telegraph" today that the Tories have been orchestrating heckling of Ed Milliband in direct controvention of the 1693 rule against chanting and booing in the House. Cameron's recent embarassment over his "LOL" messages to Rebekah Brookes was a particular target for this with Tories being ordered to create "a wall of sound" to divert attention when the subject was brought up in parliament. However, they were also ordered to heckle Ed Milliband whenever he rises to speak, especially during PMQ's. Unable to rule except by trickery, knowing that their policies are unfair and inexcusable, unable to win the economic argument and unable to hide their true nature from the electorate, the Tories have reverted to type - spolit posh boys who regard everyone else with disdain.

Nick Clegg Forgets To Blame Labour.

Nick Clegg appeared on the Andrew Marr show today and seems to have forgotten to bring his usual script with him. Waking up to the public mood which doesn't see why it should pay the banker's bill and face austerity while the rich get away with it scot-free, he actually admitted that the current economic mess was caused by the banks and not by Labour. Frightened that he may have gone too far he couldn't resist saying that Labour only taxed the rich at 40% for most of their tenure in government, though he failed to point out that that was during a period of prosperity when ordinary people were not being asked to bail out the banks. As such it was the same old story - austerity for the poor is necessary while it doesn't apply to the rich becuase they're too important to tax. He was quite relaxed about the protest outside his house, saying only that his children were frightened. The fact that the protestor's children have been frightened and bullied in their own homes by this government didn't seem to register. Which is more than can be said for those sharing the sofa with him. They were "outraged" that ordinary people should target those who, from the safety of a security-cordoned cocoon, make their lives a misery.

Louise Mensch Insults LibDems And Protestors Alike.

Louise Mensch, the hatchet-faced Conservative MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire, has today insulted protestors who held a street party outside Nick Clegg's London home. The protestors, tired of being completely ignored by the political establishment, decided to bring attention to the shameful way this government is targetting the disabled to pay for the crimes of the banks by targetting Nick Clegg in his £1 million pound house. This, according to the shameless Ms.Mensch on Twitter, amounted to the "intolerable bullying" of a poor defenceless politician and she appealed for Tories to send £5 each to the LibDem party by way of compensation. We asked the smug, self-centred MP for a further statement; "It is completely unjustified for unemployed and crippled scum to give politicians a dose of their own medicine. Working class people only exist to be abused and their fighting back is simply not acceptable. Bullying is a terrible crime, unless practised by me and my rich mates, and I feel its only right that these people should be intimidated to the full extent of the law. As for the appeal to send the LibDems £5, you have to understand that I only value money and I'm pretty sure that the newly corrupted LibDem colleagues now feel the same. I'm sure that if we can get all Tory supporters to contribute we should be able to raise at least £25."

Baroness Warsi On The Fiddle.

Baroness Warsi has today joined the ever-growing number of MP's and Peers who have "inadvertently" fiddled their expenses. She neglected to inform the register of Lords' interests that she had moved out of one of her many London properties and was renting it out. "I take full responsibility for this rather lucrative oversight on my part and I informed the register of Lords' interests just as soon as they had already found out about it. This is completely understandable if you take into consideration that I am rather forgetful and confused when it suits me. I am not dishonest, I am a Tory." The House of Lords has issued a statement that no action will be taken against her. As a spokesperson for the Upper Chamber told our reporter; "Like any citizen who makes an honest mistake on, lets say, their income tax return, we take a relaxed view and feel that fair play should take precedence over the law - unless of course you happen to be unemployed, crippled or sick."

The Truth About The Beercroft Report.

Our editor was able to get his hands on a copy of the Beercroft report today and, to say the least, it is a shocking document. Shockingly bad that it is. In the first place the report is just fifteen pages long and, surprisingly, contains no solid facts and figures or any kind of proof whatsoever. The reason is not difficult to find - all studies that have been carried out both here in Europe and in the United States demonstrate quite clearly that Beercroft is wrong. There is absolutely no evidence - none -that taking worker's rights off them aids productivity. In fact Germany has employment laws that are far more stringent than those in Britain and yet it has still managed to grow by 3% this last year which compares very favourably with our 0%. The only country in the western world that has less worker's rights is the United States and their performance, though better than Britain, is not particularly outstanding. Beercroft states that taking British worker's rights away would increase GDP by 5%. His proof? None, not one word, not one figure or statistic. In fact the document is nothing more than Beercroft's completely uninformed opinion and is based entirely on his prejudices, a view of the world as he would like it to be rather than as it is. As such it is a typical Tory document - long on simplistic opinion and short on any kind of evidence whatsoever. The Telegraph has reported today that nearly 80% of businessmen support Beercroft because they find worker's rights a "worry" when they seek to hire people. Oh dear, boo-hoo - pity the poor businessmen who have to face such "worries." Beercroft, after several months of what for him constitutes intensive effort, has managed to produce a document so thin it would shame a schoolchild and seems to be nothing more than a whinging complaint that he's not allowed to bully anyone he likes. A disgusting document, produced by a disgusting individual for a disgusting political party.