Thursday, December 1, 2022

Shock, horror, Chancellor tells it like it is! (2022)

From the November 2022 issue of the Socialist Standard 

On Monday 17 October Jeremy Hunt faced the truth and declared that 'No government can control markets' (bbc.in/3yMdtml).

We could quibble with the accuracy of what he went on to say ‘but every government can give certainty about the sustainability of public finances’ (think pandemics /‘surprise’ wars, etc.) but it’s not our job to argue about the way the capitalist class funds state functions.

The fact is that markets eventually control any government elected to administer these functions. Those markets in turn are governed by the capitalists’ drive for profit, and when Hunt talked about maintaining or restoring confidence, he meant that the capitalists need reassurance that states won’t hinder that drive. Building ‘confidence for investors’ is part of Starmer’s ‘mission for economic growth’ too (Link).

Workers should remember this when reformist parties (right or left) promise to introduce order to the system. They won’t. They’re liars or they're deluded.

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