Dear Editor,
I would like to use our community paper as a forum to ask our local and national political representatives a direct question. Time and again, the political class, never get to the heart of the matter on questions about austerity and the national deficit. On programs such as Newsnight, Question time, et al, the ministers’ champion their leader’s rhetoric, and then sharply follow with criticism of the other parties’ in their sophistry.
The Conservatives say that Labour spent too much and the state needs to shrink. Labour will say investment creates jobs and the Conservatives cut too far, too fast. The liberals will talk of their moderating influence in the current coalition government.
Their class talk of policy and social demographics in the abstract, because, for them, governance is an intellectual exercise that does not impact on their lives in any substantial material way. I would like to set an unavoidable straight forward question for our local and national political representatives and candidates, a question that politicians who appear in our national media have hitherto managed to avoid using their highly polished evasive skills.
Here in Newton Aycliffe, rent, food and energy bills rise while factories and businesses close. I understand economics well enough to know what forces bring about these conditions; my question is a more radical one. The national deficit, in part, was caused by capitalism. A brand of capitalism that allowed money to be invested in other financial systems in highly complex ways, for example, American sub-prime mortgages. Money itself does not have agency, it cannot make decisions, thus money is invested and managed by agents i.e. investment bankers.
Since the greater part of the deficit is explicitly down to a vulgar form of gambling, why don’t the gamblers pay it? I’m talking about nothing less than the appropriation of private wealth. Those who created this debt are still rich, while we struggle to heat our homes and buy food.
So my question to each of our local and national political representatives and candidates is: why will you and your party not strip those who are responsible for the deficit of their wealth and assets to pay the deficit? Why are you and your party not championing a piece of legislation that would empower any government of this country to do so?
Mr W. Saunders,
Newton Aycliffe.
