Monetarism; Global v Local/National

Thatcherism/Monetarism and my questioning of the 'wisdom' has been at the heart of my writings since the idea for Sheep No More first came to mind more than a decade ago. Some people don't like my criticism of the 'Iron Lady' and point out that she took on and defeated the unions when they were out of control and behaving irresponsibly, the dead being left unburied immediately prior to her coming to power often being sited. Quite so and disgusting that was, but also true is that the monetarism she was happy to lend her name to back in the day, is still the only game in town where todays politicians are concerned, meaning that thirty-five unbroken years of it is responsible for the condition of the country now. Deindustrialised, deskilled, bust, under the control of overseas politicians, bureaucrats and business interests, asset stripped, public services in meltdown, and the social fabric in tatters, she and her cronies legacy; FACT!

If we compare Britain now to how it was pre-monetarism and before the circumstances that propelled Thatcher into Downing Street came to dominate, the dead left unburied etc, the difference is startling. In the mid 1960's Britain was highly creative, we had full employment, millions of high quality jobs, no benefits culture, no reason to fear the country was insecure, migration was controlled with criminals denied entry, no dictation from Europe, and those are just some of the features that helped make the country feel safe and stable. No one is claiming heaven on earth, of course not, but if the happiness and contentment of the population then could be measured and compared to that of today, there would be no comparison. Put it this way; had Alex Salmond tried to play the separatist card fifty years ago, Scots would have told him what to do with it and that is an undeniable truth.

It has been suggested that fighting globalisation is undoable, prices regarding the likes of grain, oil, platinum, plutonium etc being set on world markets and there being precious little we can do about it. Maybe so, but, what's to stop you buying your daily loaf of bread, pint of milk, potatoes and cabbages from your local farm and artisan baker rather than Tesco? Nothing! If you want to fight globalisation at that level at least, you can.

If we can fight back at the base level why not take the fight a stage further? The picture at the top of this blog depicts what is quite frankly a perversity of monetarism we should be questioning and demanding an end to forthwith. What is criminality? Is it a social disease we need to find a cure for or is it a money making opportunity to be exploited by businessmen? Plainly it is a victim creating social disease to which treatment/cure must be striven for. Make crooks into business assets instead, and we are guaranteed the problem will grow and grow because it is in the interest of boards of directors that it should be so. What is the mantra of the business model we live under? Growth, which in this case is sick.

If we concentrate on the globalised model it is easy to be daunted and become defeated. However; at the most local level we can fight back and if we refuse to accept such a perversity as crooks treated as business assets and the stealthy way in which the NHS is being privatised, the fight is very definitely on!