Sting in the Tail: Who are the crazies? (1995)

The Sting in the Tail column from the April 1995 issue of the Socialist Standard

Who are the crazies?

Capitalism is a crazy social system. It takes food out of production to keep up prices, while people go hungry. A recent example of this market madness appeared in the Observer (5 February):

"Every morning, farmer Brian Nicholas carefully collects 800 litres of milk—fresh, creamy and frothing—and then tips it all into his muck spreader. . . Mr Nicholas, a small dairy farmer is one of hundreds of producers forced by European Union milk quotas to throwaway his produce this year, following deregulation of the milk industry in November."

Defenders of capitalism are always telling socialists that production for profit is the only sane way to run society. Are we crazy because we think milk should be produced to satisfy human needs?

Sense about race

The racist ideas currently coming out of America are being countered by American scientists. An article in the Independent (21 February) reports that ‘‘the concept of race is out of date and has no biological basis, according to scientists”.

Professor of anthropology Loring Brace told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Atlanta that the division of people into separate races was “an historical hangover from the days of colonial conquest”. Indeed:

"There was no race concept prior to the Renaissance. There is no race concept in the Bible or other writings of antiquity. The best way to refer to people is to use geographical designations. Thus people can be identified as African, or Australian, or European. and the like."

And another anthropologist, Professor Kay, summed it up:

"There is just no valid reason for using existing racial terms. This isn't politically correct, it's scientifically correct. "

The back scratchers

After Labour’s 1945 election victory, the Tories bitterly attacked its policy of wholesale nationalisation. They soon came to accept that, however distasteful, a greater degree of state ownership did have widespread public support and probably was necessary to set post-war British capitalism back on its feet.

Thus Labour did the Tories’ dirty work for them, but see what is happening now. Following the Tory victory in 1979, Labour threatened to return each privatised industry to state ownership, but because this was now a vote-loser and had (as we always said it would) proved to be a flop anyway, these threats have been dropped one-by-one. Now, even water and coal are to stay privatised.

So history is repeating itself: just as Labour after 1945 took the steps which the Tories shrank from taking themselves, the Tories are returning the favour for a future Labour government.

NatWest’s dodgy future

NatWest Bank's 61 percent increase in pretax profits in 1994—up from £989 million to £1.6 billion—was less than well received by the bank's workers. They were furious because the directors will cop huge bonuses, shareholders pocket bigger dividends, while staff get rises averaging 3 percent.

But the City of London wasn’t happy either as the big jump in profits wasn’t due to an improved performance by the bank. Income was down and costs were up while UK banking profits actually fell by £109 million despite savage staff cuts and branch closures.

In fact, the increased profits were almost entirely down to the big drop in bad debt from £1.25 billion to £616 million and is probably a one-off.

The City knows that ever-increasing competition, plus limits to what can be saved by cost-cutting, mean that NatWest’s future profits growth is under threat. Banking is not, as many people imagine, a licence to print money.

Nothing is forever

After World War Two that grand old British institution, the small shopkeeper who was “open all hours”, was decimated by the High Street chainstores which were cheaper and provided greater choice.

The High Street in turn became an institution but is now in trouble. Many of its shops lie empty and Rumbelows entire chain is to close shortly. The recession and high prime-site rents are among the reasons for this, but the main one is the growth of Shopping Malls and edge-of-town Superstores which offer even greater choice plus easy parking.

But nothing is forever. Already Malls and Superstores in America are being challenged by TV shopping which means shoppers don’t even have to leave their homes.

So everything that appears to be stable and permanent is merely in a state of temporary equilibrium and is in the process of becoming something else. This applies not just to capitalism’s hallowed institutions but to the very system itself.

Madras madness

In the Calcutta newspaper, The Telegraph (5th March) we read of the booming trade in kidney selling down in Madras. Like every other market in capitalism, when there is an increase in supply there is a fall in price, in this case from 80,000 rupees to 30,000 rupees. This is approximately from £1,600 to £600.

This macabre trade is defended by a local leading nephrologist. K.C. Reddy is quoted as saying:

"We have a group of people dying and desperate for a kidney. Then there is a group, much below the poverty line, willing to sell anything for some money. For them, selling a kidney is a more altruistic option — at least they are saving, not harming anyone. There is no question of exploitation here."

The newspaper reports that most of the kidneys are going to patients in Germany, Japan and the Gulf. One recipient from Yemen is reported to have paid $10,000 for his transplant.

The whole sordid business is typical of capitalism. Wherever there is human misery there is always “entrepreneurs” quick to cash in. Only in socialism will the best possible medical and health care be free to the whole of the world’s population.