Not only is he on top form here, but Michael Meacher
On budget day this Wednesday (18 March), I and 16 other contributors are launching in the House of Commons our book What the Three Main Parties are not Telling You: A Radical Way out of Stagnation and Inequality as a counter-blast to Osborne’s demand for another 5 years of austerity.
Mariana Mazzucato refutes the conventional idea that the role of the State is simply to redress market failures; rather it funds not only the rate of innovation but also generates its direction.
Ha-Joon Chang notes the tide of public opinion is steadily moving against privatisation and in favour of renewed public control, and he cites many international examples to confirm this.
Michael Burke argues that with the continuing strike by private investors and the failure of the banks to lend to industry, public investment is now critically needed to kickstart the economy on the path to sustainable growth (not the temporary uptick now fading which is all that Osborne has conjured up).
David Blanchflower sets out a medium-term plan to cut the deficit and a short-term plan to boost growth driven by tax cuts to firms focused on job creation, especially for the young.
John Mills demonstrates that with the balance of payments deficit spiraling upwards to probably £80bn this year, while net borrowing by consumers is still limited by falling wages and business investment remains flat, the government deficit (the balancing item) can hardly reduce and may well get higher.
In my own contribution I stress that the Tories are so hell-bent on semi-permanent austerity because it offers them the pretext, which otherwise they would never have, to shrink the State and squeeze public services into a fully marketised private system, and that the alternative of job creation and rising wages should be pursued by forcing RBS and Lloyds to prioritise investment in British industry, by quantitative easing target not at the banks but directly at manufacturing, and by taxing the super-rich.
Kelvin Hopkins spells out a detailed programme for restoring public ownership across a range of sectors.
Prem Sikka outlines the casino mentality which still pervades both investment and retail banking 6 years after the crash, especially the very real continuing risk posed by toxic derivatives, and lays out a comprehensive set of reforms.
Costas Lapavitsas (now a Syriza MP in Athens) explains why the failed Eurozone monetary union is fundamentally flawed.
Andrew Cumbers exposes the convenient fiction of the property owning democracy, and spells out how the return to public ownership must enhance democratic and decentralised forms of participation as opposed to the State-run nationalisations of the 1940s.
Len McCluskey pinpoints the very sharp decline in workers covered by collective bargaining from 82% in 1979 to 23% now as the major factor behind the falling share of salaries and wages from 65% in 1980 to 53% in 2012, and posits a stronger trade union presence as the only way to create more just and equal workplaces with proper employment rights.
Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett return to their theme of The Spirit Level in setting out the social cost of inequality and how to reduce income differences.
Austin Mitchell spells out in florid style the current political impasse, as well as demanding the urgent restoration of a full-blown house-building programme.
Richard Murphy presses the issue of tackling tax avoidance/evasion as an essential prerequisite for social democracy.
Alan Simpson in a scathing essay makes the case for a profound energy revolution, and Caroline Lucas urges the replacement of consumerism and obsession with GDP growth at all costs by a commitment to the real goals of equality, security and quality of life.
The book will be launched at a meeting in the Wilson Room in the House of Commons at 6.30pm this next Wednesday (18th). The speakers will be John Mills, Ann Pettifor, Richard Murphy, and myself.
Everyone is welcome: I look forward to seeing you there.
And I for one am very sorry to be missing it.
On budget day this Wednesday (18 March), I and 16 other contributors are launching in the House of Commons our book What the Three Main Parties are not Telling You: A Radical Way out of Stagnation and Inequality as a counter-blast to Osborne’s demand for another 5 years of austerity.
Mariana Mazzucato refutes the conventional idea that the role of the State is simply to redress market failures; rather it funds not only the rate of innovation but also generates its direction.
Ha-Joon Chang notes the tide of public opinion is steadily moving against privatisation and in favour of renewed public control, and he cites many international examples to confirm this.
Michael Burke argues that with the continuing strike by private investors and the failure of the banks to lend to industry, public investment is now critically needed to kickstart the economy on the path to sustainable growth (not the temporary uptick now fading which is all that Osborne has conjured up).
David Blanchflower sets out a medium-term plan to cut the deficit and a short-term plan to boost growth driven by tax cuts to firms focused on job creation, especially for the young.
John Mills demonstrates that with the balance of payments deficit spiraling upwards to probably £80bn this year, while net borrowing by consumers is still limited by falling wages and business investment remains flat, the government deficit (the balancing item) can hardly reduce and may well get higher.
In my own contribution I stress that the Tories are so hell-bent on semi-permanent austerity because it offers them the pretext, which otherwise they would never have, to shrink the State and squeeze public services into a fully marketised private system, and that the alternative of job creation and rising wages should be pursued by forcing RBS and Lloyds to prioritise investment in British industry, by quantitative easing target not at the banks but directly at manufacturing, and by taxing the super-rich.
Kelvin Hopkins spells out a detailed programme for restoring public ownership across a range of sectors.
Prem Sikka outlines the casino mentality which still pervades both investment and retail banking 6 years after the crash, especially the very real continuing risk posed by toxic derivatives, and lays out a comprehensive set of reforms.
Costas Lapavitsas (now a Syriza MP in Athens) explains why the failed Eurozone monetary union is fundamentally flawed.
Andrew Cumbers exposes the convenient fiction of the property owning democracy, and spells out how the return to public ownership must enhance democratic and decentralised forms of participation as opposed to the State-run nationalisations of the 1940s.
Len McCluskey pinpoints the very sharp decline in workers covered by collective bargaining from 82% in 1979 to 23% now as the major factor behind the falling share of salaries and wages from 65% in 1980 to 53% in 2012, and posits a stronger trade union presence as the only way to create more just and equal workplaces with proper employment rights.
Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett return to their theme of The Spirit Level in setting out the social cost of inequality and how to reduce income differences.
Austin Mitchell spells out in florid style the current political impasse, as well as demanding the urgent restoration of a full-blown house-building programme.
Richard Murphy presses the issue of tackling tax avoidance/evasion as an essential prerequisite for social democracy.
Alan Simpson in a scathing essay makes the case for a profound energy revolution, and Caroline Lucas urges the replacement of consumerism and obsession with GDP growth at all costs by a commitment to the real goals of equality, security and quality of life.
The book will be launched at a meeting in the Wilson Room in the House of Commons at 6.30pm this next Wednesday (18th). The speakers will be John Mills, Ann Pettifor, Richard Murphy, and myself.
Everyone is welcome: I look forward to seeing you there.
And I for one am very sorry to be missing it.
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