Worker's News

Month: January 2018

  • US declares trade war at Davos

    The US has gone to Davos to tell the rest of the world it is declaring a trade war.

    The US Commerce Secretary declared, ‘Trade wars are fought every single day. Every single day there are always parties violating the rules and trying to take unfair advantage of things. So a trade war has been in place for quite a little while. The difference is US troops are now coming to the ramparts.’

    The US has decided to go on the offensive after its attempt to scupper the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) were undermined by its own allies and trading partners. Japan, Australia and Canada were party to the decision to reinstate the TPP but without the USA as a partner.

    Another US representative, Steven Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary, helped boost US competitiveness by downplaying the significance of a recent drop in the value of the dollar. As a result the dollar dropped even further, presumably because traders interpreted his attitude as indicating the administration were comfortable with a lower valuation to assist them in trading overseas.

    The US onslaught comes at a time when their allies are increasingly frustrated at American attempts to block new appointments to the WTO (World Trade Organisation) court, weakening the ability of the institution to adjudicate on international trade disputes.

    The WTO has been in existence since 1995 when it replaced the GATT (General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade). They represent an attempt in the post-war era to minimise the disruption caused to international capitalism by trade disputes. The US decision to put pressure on it, and to declare trade war on its allies, is a measure of how much trouble the world economy is at the moment. The US administration is preparing to go to war, and the last thing it needs is a court prepared to rule that it is taking advantage of weaker countries.

    As the economic crisis develops, US capitalism is positioning itself to try and destroy its major trading competitors. The breakdown of post-war international agreements is only part of the general instability in international capitalism. The contradictions created by the creation of hundreds of billions of new dollars/GB pounds/ Euros by central banks following the banking crisis is coming to a head.

    For the working class the issue we face is how to prepare for the shocks that are coming. There is only so much the ruling class can expect the workers to sacrifice before they reach an impasse. At it feels like that impasse is fast approaching.

    For us the issue is to develop a working class leadership that recognises the size of the task ahead, and is prepared to take the necessary steps to end the chaos of capitalist economics. We do not need Labour’s social democrats with their plans to tweak capitalism to make the crumbling system fairer. That sort of blind alley plays into the hands of a ruling class who want workers to believe there is no alternative to capitalist chaos.

  • Tories discriminate against mental health patients. Official.

    The Tories discriminate against mental health patients. It’s official.

    The Tory government wanted to save money on benefits. The Tories have a record of attacking the poor Cameron and Osborne claimed they were making difficult decision when they launched their anti-working class offensive, codename Operation Austerity.

    In March 2017 the Theresa May government decided to accelerate those attacks by depriving people with serious mental health issues of the right to claim additional benefits for travel. The PIP scheme, which is supposed to assess the genuine needs of people with health issues, contains provisions for additional payment to people who have difficulty travelling, for example with using public transport. People who have mobility issues are assessed and given a score. Claimants who have more than 8 points get a mobility allowance of £22 per week. Claimants with a score of 12 points get an enhanced rate of £58 per week.

    So the post-Cameron Tory government, the new caring Theresa May government, the one who makes speeches about caring and supporting the genuinely needy, thought up a great wheeze to save themselves billions of pounds. In early 2017 they introduced regulations that meant people with mobility problems as a result of psychological distress could not get more than 10 points on their assessment. So, no matter how severe the mental health issues affecting their ability to get around, they could not get the higher rate as a direct result of their psychological state.

    Why introduce such a specific regulation, unless it was to discriminate against people with mental health problems? No reason. Or at least, that was the finding of the High Court. In December 2017 the court ruled that the regulations were ‘blatantly discriminatory’.

    Blatantly discriminatory.

    It is estimated that about 164,000 people are affected by these regulations. The government itself estimates that their the ruling against their discriminatory regulations will cost them £3.7bn between now and 2022. Not that cost was an issue for the anti-working class government. They reason they give for their attempt to discriminate against people with psychological medical issues? In the words of Esther McVey, Work and Pensions Secretary, “Our intention has always been to … provide the best support to claimants with mental health conditions.”

    By discriminating against them? Saving billions was just a lucky bonus.

  • The uncaring side of Theresa May

    The British Prime Minister cares about the excesses of capitalism. We know, because she told us so. Just not enough to do something about it.

    Her most recent foray into the world of faux caring is an article she wrote in today’s Observer. Boardroom excesses can no longer be tolerated, she tells us. So what is she going to do about them? Nothing.

    Well thanks for squat, Mrs May.

    Perhaps the rhetoric reminds you of the day she stood on the steps of Downing Street  just after she came to office. She told us she would ‘make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us’. And then did nothing about it. She reached out to the ‘only just managing’ with a sympathetic hand, only for them to realise it was an empty gesture: the hand patted them on the head condescendingly and gave them nothing..

    The working class is not taken in with saccharine words. They have heard it all before. If the recent changes in the political environment tell us anything, it is that workers are more cynical about traditional politicians than ever before.

    And trite words get an appropriate response from workers who are tired of being treated like fools.

  • Osborne’s pathological hatred

    George Osborne, ex=Chancellor of the Exchequer

    It must be hard for George Osborne to hide his hatred and disgust for the woman who sacked him: Theresa May. Or else he just does not try to disguise it at all.

    Since taking the plum job of editing the London Evening Standard, a job he does on a part-time basis for a full-time salary, the paper has hardly missed a chance to lay into his former colleague, and at the same time to attack the Brexit process she is trying to negotiate..

    Today’s headline in the business section of the Evening Standard is no exception.

    Before the June 2017 referendum Osborne and his Treasury lackeys were making dire predictions for the economy if the result was Leave. And sure enough the British working class gave this class warrior the hearing he wanted. They listened. And they decided, if George Osborne wants us to stay then we had better vote Leave. And they did.

    The economy did not collapse. The end of the world was not nigh. Life went on.

    Every snippet of the economic news now has to be spun by Osborne in the most negative way possible. Let me quote the article word for word:

    “The Chartered Institute for Procurement & Supply’s latest health-check on the sector [manufacturing] was short on New Year cheer after a surprise downturn for UK industry in December. Its activity index – where a score over 50 indicates growth – dropped to 56.3 from November’s six-year high of 58.2.”

    According to our curmudgeonly journal, failing to maintain what they admit was a 6-year high is a ’loss of momentum’.

    Suck it up, George. Admit you got it wrong. You were prepared to lie, exaggerate and cajole to get the result you wanted, and the working class still gave you a bloody nose. Do the honourable thing. Tuck your tail between your legs and go hide in a corner.

    We have got your number.