How can a society so heavily based on mass consumerism manage the long haul if, at the same time, reasonable wages are denied to so many people?The decade that was ripped apart by one of the most biting crises since WWII is finally coming to an end.
What's more striking, however, is the fact that lessons are obviously not being learnt. In fact, quite the opposite. The last twelve months have been lined by one convenient red herring after the other, from MPs' expenses to bank bonuses (both no doubt outrageous, especially the latter), while the true roots of the recession seem all but forgotten.
What was kickstarted by the subprime scandal in the US, where hordes of desperados were fed the most toxic financial fodder, was symptomatic of the widespread economic management of the Western world, one based on a fast growing wealth gap on a scale not seen since Victorian times.
Like last week's knee-jerk reactions to Alistair Darling's pre-budget report demonstrated, even the feeblest and most useless attempts at redistribution are greeted by hysterical shouts of "envy", "class war" and "hatred for the wealth creators".
It's the same irrational fury that met the minimum wage, calls in favour of basic rights for agency workers, or any attempt at righting the wrongs of the most ruthless, unbalanced and ununionised labour market since the days of Charles Dickens.
Because beyond the howls that even a mini-tax relief for the low-paid is apparently tantamount to Lenin and Karl Marx doing a Lazarus, the cheerleaders for "filthy rich", "wealth creators", "bank bonuses" and "keeping the talent" are simply incapable of focusing on the broader picture.
During the Blair years, for instance, it was often said that exceptional wealth at the top would inevitably trickle down to the bottom of the pyramid.
The reality is that the only thing that trickled down was a shower of credit cards, insane mortgages and ridiculously irresponsible loans dished up to the desperate. But it was only a matter of time before the policy of further ripping off the most financially vulnerable was going to end up bursting like a swollen, pus-filled spot. The trite old saying that chickens come home to roost proved wiser than a hundred top economists lined up together.
Whether in catering, call centres, factories or shops, you can only have a mass of underpaid, unprotected workers at the bottom for so long.
How can efficiency, smiles, loyalty and professionalism be expected if the most casualised labour framework invites the exact opposite?
More to the point, how can a society heavily based on mass consumerism manage the long haul if, at the same time, reasonable wages are denied to, literally, masses of people? Sure, they can stick it on plastic, buy goods on HP, or get a 110% mortgage with a car thrown in for good measure too. And no doubt they'll feel parts of the vibrant professional classes for a while. Fantasy island, basically.
Yet it's the equivalent of stuffing a ton of manure into a handbag. For a while you may kid yourself that it's manageable, or even believe that a bigger shovel's gonna make the job easier, and yet in no time the handbag is going to be full to the brim, bursting at the seams, with nowhere for the dung to go except all over your hands, face and clothes.
We may keep ignoring all that, but at whose peril?
What's more striking, however, is the fact that lessons are obviously not being learnt. In fact, quite the opposite. The last twelve months have been lined by one convenient red herring after the other, from MPs' expenses to bank bonuses (both no doubt outrageous, especially the latter), while the true roots of the recession seem all but forgotten.
What was kickstarted by the subprime scandal in the US, where hordes of desperados were fed the most toxic financial fodder, was symptomatic of the widespread economic management of the Western world, one based on a fast growing wealth gap on a scale not seen since Victorian times.
Like last week's knee-jerk reactions to Alistair Darling's pre-budget report demonstrated, even the feeblest and most useless attempts at redistribution are greeted by hysterical shouts of "envy", "class war" and "hatred for the wealth creators".
It's the same irrational fury that met the minimum wage, calls in favour of basic rights for agency workers, or any attempt at righting the wrongs of the most ruthless, unbalanced and ununionised labour market since the days of Charles Dickens.
Because beyond the howls that even a mini-tax relief for the low-paid is apparently tantamount to Lenin and Karl Marx doing a Lazarus, the cheerleaders for "filthy rich", "wealth creators", "bank bonuses" and "keeping the talent" are simply incapable of focusing on the broader picture.
During the Blair years, for instance, it was often said that exceptional wealth at the top would inevitably trickle down to the bottom of the pyramid.
The reality is that the only thing that trickled down was a shower of credit cards, insane mortgages and ridiculously irresponsible loans dished up to the desperate. But it was only a matter of time before the policy of further ripping off the most financially vulnerable was going to end up bursting like a swollen, pus-filled spot. The trite old saying that chickens come home to roost proved wiser than a hundred top economists lined up together.
Whether in catering, call centres, factories or shops, you can only have a mass of underpaid, unprotected workers at the bottom for so long.
How can efficiency, smiles, loyalty and professionalism be expected if the most casualised labour framework invites the exact opposite?
More to the point, how can a society heavily based on mass consumerism manage the long haul if, at the same time, reasonable wages are denied to, literally, masses of people? Sure, they can stick it on plastic, buy goods on HP, or get a 110% mortgage with a car thrown in for good measure too. And no doubt they'll feel parts of the vibrant professional classes for a while. Fantasy island, basically.
Yet it's the equivalent of stuffing a ton of manure into a handbag. For a while you may kid yourself that it's manageable, or even believe that a bigger shovel's gonna make the job easier, and yet in no time the handbag is going to be full to the brim, bursting at the seams, with nowhere for the dung to go except all over your hands, face and clothes.
We may keep ignoring all that, but at whose peril?
4 comments:
I'm not a Marxist and I don't agree with some of what you say on this blog.
But I must add it's true that for the bottom half of society bad credit has been used as a form of wage supplementation.
This has become the norm, especially here in the US and from what I gather in Britain too.
Surely we can come up with safer ways for our society to function?
"Whether in catering, call centres, factories or shops, you can only have a mass of underpaid, unprotected workers at the bottom for so long".
At last something truly progressive like I haven't seen on this blog in months. It's time to revert the trend. Profit vs exploitation has been a one-way affair for the best part of thirty years.
Government will not allow it, New labour has failed mostly OK the min wage is set up but it's so low 64% of the nation needs to have some form of benefits.
I'm disabled after a major accident at work, it took 13 years for me to get compensation I was so in debt i had to accept the offer. It left me Paraplegic.
But now I live on hand outs from government which can be taken away from me when ever they want. I feel so bitter about Thatcher but worse over new labour.
socialist sam,
"At last something truly progressive like I haven't seen on this blog in months"
I trust you to be taking the piss.
Anonymous,
you're right; New Labour are as guilty as the Tories. It's pathetic to see ministers ten years later still brandishing the minimum wage as their biggest "Labour" achievement.
It's an implicit admission that it's the only openly worker-friendly measure they ever implemented and defended.
But it also tells you how worker-friendly policies ring popular to the electorate, otherwise the New Labourite would keep that quiet. If only thay had the guts and the freedom to persevere in that direction.
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