The News In Shorts

How the news would look if everyone stopped waffling and told the truth.

Saturday 9 September 2017

How Neoliberlism Drove Our Leaders Insane.

Hurricane Irma is a fitting symbol for the end of neoliberalism as an economic "theory". Neoliberalism forced the greedy and selfishness to deny the reality of global warming since it threatened to undermine the profits to be made from the profligate use of fossil fuels. Global warning, they insisted, was either a liberal conspiracy or a Chinese conspiracy depending on which "enemy" they had in their sights at the moment. With the reality of global warming now bearing down on the United in the form of hurricane Irma and another one following close behind those Republicans who still embrace neoliberalism may soon have to deny aid to their own citizens once again. Twenty State Representatives and both Texas State Senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, have all voted against a $50.5 billion dollar relief package for victims of 2012’s Superstorm Sandy when it came before them in January 2013 despite the damage to their own state. Will they now vote against an even bigger relief package in the wake of hurricane Irma? Neoliberal "theory" says they must since greed and selfishness are more important than decency, humanity or even common sense. Much the same can be seen in the Brexit debacle unfolding in Britain. The chance to deny human and workers rights in the UK is far too important to the political arm of organised crime known as the Tory party. Nothing is more important than their "right" to grab whatever money they can in order to stuff their tax free overseas bank accounts. Not even the economic future of the country must be allowed to stand in the way of this goal. How else can they privatise the NHS and flog it off to American health care companies without undue interference from Brussels? In both the US and in the UK the vehicle that is being used to sell this insanity to the voting public is nationalism and its handmaiden, patriotism. With neoliberalism exposed as the fraud it always was this is the only way to hang onto its idiotic precepts long enough to squeeze out the last drop of profit. As Ben Johnson once observed, patriotism truly is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Saturday 2 September 2017

Brexit Comes Home To Roost.

We've had the lies - money for the NHS, taking back control of our borders, the sunny uplands of economic freedom - but now the reality of Brexit is finally arriving. The money for the NHS was the first thing the swivel-eyed Brexit nutters dropped. Then came the weasel words about the need for "controlled" immigration. Lately we've had various government ministers, including Theresa May, being rebuffed by America, China, India and Japan as these countries point out that the UK doesn't actually produce anything they either need or want. So what was the point of Brexit? First and foremost it gave David Cameron the opportunity to placate those Tory backbenchers who threatened his job. Second, it provided a platform for the nationalist knuckle-draggers who hate all foreigners as a matter of principle and allowed them to vent their pent up hatreds. Third it allowed those little Englanders who watch endless documentaries about how the plucky Brits defeated Hitler to thump their favourite tub. So much for the Tory party but what about the rest of the 52% who voted for economic oblivion? The vast majority probably voted for this idiocy because the "Daily Mail" told them to. Which is pretty funny since it is owned by a man, Rupert Murdoch, who hates the UK with a passion. Many voted for it because they thought in some perverse way that it was a blow to "the establishment". Unfortunately "the establishment" (mainly the Tory party again) merely saw it as an opportunity to be as stupid, greedy and selfish as they always wanted to be. They are already lining up to tell us how wonderful it will be when they take our human and working rights off us. Still, those who voted for Brexit can always fly off to the Costas to drown their sorrows in cheap lager and insult the locals for not allowing us to have our cake and eat it. Except that the £ has sunk so low against the Euro that the Costas are becoming rather expensive and the locals don't give a damn about the UK's Brexit delusions. Brexit is a mess, manufactured by the Tories for their own narrow political interests - an ideologically-led insanity that makes about as much sense as that other favourite myth of the Tory party, trickle down economics. The only good Brexit, it is now abundantly clear, is a dead Brexit.