Davos Shmavos

"I have a cunning plan."

I've been running some Baldrick economic theory round my head lately and I think it is fair to say that my proposal, outlined below, probably makes as good sense as anything our so-called political/business leaders have come up with. So here goes.


We all start spending our arses off. Every single man, woman and child spends as much as they possibly can starting now. Not cash mind, but credit funded (where you can get it obviously). Credit cards, store cards, whatever - get them up to their limit. PLEASE remember to hang onto some cash! You will need to eat after all. This is credit spending we are after.

This massive increase in spending generates huge demand for goods - doesn't matter what. Try not to spend on holidays but on consumables - the more the better. Upgrade everything you own. New car? Go for it! Caravan? Why not. What do you mean you don't own a 600" widescreen, plasma TV? It's your duty to go and buy one - NOW. Go from a PS2 to a Wii. Fuck it - buy 2 and give one to your neighbour.

This demand is then passed onto our flagging manufacturing industries both here and abroad. Hey presto! Factories can't produce enough so they have to hire workers and expand their businesses creating jobs and rebuilding that elusive "confidence". Shareholders become less angsty and so on as profits start to re-emerge. Still with me so far?

Now, you start to get the bills in but DON'T PANIC. And this, I think, is the genius part. You can't pay the bills so what do you do? Easy. You enter into an IVA! But it won't just be you, it'll be everyone. So what happens? Our creditors have to start writing off tons of debt using their Magic Debt Eraser™. It's kind of like the Government Bank Loan Black Hole™ but it applies to the little people. So, no more bills - whoopee!

This massive increase in IVA requirements generates, you guessed it, more jobs within the finance industry. More jobs means more lovely cash sloshing around the economy which, of course, will mean more profit to keep the shareholders and owners happy plus spare cash for the workers to spend on crap they don't need luxury consumer goods which generates more demand from factories and so it goes on!

Now. All that old shit you just upgraded has to go somewhere doesn't it? It can't go in the ground 'cause we're just all so environmentally friendly these days. So we have to recycle it somehow. Bingo! More jobs in the recycling industry which needs more workers which means more money, etc.

There will come a point - I like to call it the IVA Interregnum™ - where we will be able to start to pay our bills again because my amazing model will have made everybody rich through the power of market-driven consumption. So we will have to do the right thing and pay up for the profits. But thats OK as we will just drop back into the loop and miss out the IVA stage.


...Hold up a mo', did I just describe capitalism? And that seems to be a bit 'broken' at the moment. Bugger. Plan B anyone?

Zig Zag Jul 1982 - Crass, Angelic Upstarts & Gene Loves Jezebel

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy - Again

Ye, ye, I know the picture is American in origin but given that we are the 51st State it is appropriate. And you can bet your bottom dollar (Oh, I'm on fire with these US crossover references!) that whatever we suffer they either already are or will be shortly...

Guess what people? It is no longer profitable enough to employ you. That's right, you heard. Clear your desk, your cubicle or whatever and get your sorry ass out of my sight. Don't give me any bleeding heart stories about "a roof over your head" or "mouths to feed" because I have heard them all before. My CEO needs to renew his golf club membership and our shareholders are shitting bricks over the falling stock market so you have to make sacrifices.

As for the rest of you, you can expect extra work, your expenses cut and unpaid overtime and if you don't like it you know where the door is. And do not let me catch any of you taking time off sick - however genuine. We are all in this together - apart from the politicians, the Royals, the board members, the landed gentry, the rich and the powerful of course. They're special: you ain't. We need profit people (well, you don't need profit - you just need a wage) and that profit is gonna get flayed out of your skin whether you like it or not. Just shut the fuck up and get on with it.

And do not even think of unionising. All I am doing is using this downturn to provide "a ready-made external rationale to justify painful decisions that would appear extreme in better times." Now get back to work.

The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight (Video)

The Jesus & Mary Chain - Rollercoaster (EP)

A round up of news stories and my own particular very brief response:

Rebuilding the Gaza Strip after Israel's three-week offensive will cost billions of dollars - Send the Israelis the bill then. They caused all the damage.

Peter Hain get's £100k in undeclared donations - but, surprise surprise, the CPS decide not to prosecute him and he gets a slap on the wrist from the House Of Commons because he apologised quickly, aaawww. One rule for them...

Repossessions double in 12 months - so all those banks that we now have a share in are taking our homes from us. But its OK because the government are going to "do everything possible to provide real help". Ye, giving the banks more money to lend to people already in debt and unable to pay it back should do it.

British Gas announce 10% price cut - well, whoopee! Prices went up by 35% last year alone and the cut doesn't come in until 19th February. So still 25% to go and the price reduction timed nicely to coincide with the end of Winter (you know, when you stop using your central heating so much). Good work British Gas, I'm sure those freezing pensioners and households facing repossession are eternally grateful.


The Jesus And Mary Chain - Rollercoaster (EP) (Blanco Y Negro NEG45T 1990)

1. Rollercoaster
2. Silverblade
3. Lowlife
4. Tower Of Song

Rollercoaster - pwd: c4ctusm0uth

Out With The Old...

8 years of Dubya in 8 minutes.

Record Mirror 17th May 1986 - We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It

We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It - Bostin' Steve Austin (LP)

While you are listening to the joys of Fuzzbox why don't you get yourself over to Anarchoblogs and:

- admire the good work of Rad Geek
- read the views of assorted anarchists, syndicalists, libertarian socialists and other "-ists" who blog 'til their fingers bleed
- if you're inclined, submit your blog for inclusion... where relevant obviously ;)
- get agitated, get educated and get organised!


We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It - Bostin' Steve Austin (LP)
(Vindaloo UKFBOX1 1986)

1. Love Is The Slug
2. Wait And See
3. Jackie
4. Spirit In The Sky
5. XX Sex
6. Alive
7. What's The Point
8. You Got Me
9. Hollow Girl
10. Console Me
11. Rules And Regulations
12. Preconceptions

Sharebee: We've Got a Fuzzbox... - pwd: c4ctusm0uth
Multiupload: We've Got a Fuzzbox... - pwd: c4ctusm0uth

How Long, O Lord?

This one is for all the religious zealots busily killing each other the world over.

How Long, O Lord?

How long, O Lord, how long, before the flood
Of crimson-welling carnage shall abate?
From sodden plains in West and East the blood
Of kindly men steams up in mists of hate,
Polluting Thy clean air: and nations great
In reputation of the arts that bind
The world with hopes of Heaven, sink to the state
Of brute barbarians, whose ferocious mind
Gloats o'er the bloody havoc of their kind,
Not knowing love or mercy. Lord, how long
Shall Satan in high places lead the blind
To battle for the passions of the strong?
Oh, touch Thy children's hearts, that they may know
Hate their most hateful, pride their deadliest foe.

Robert Palmer killed in action 1916

Mutual Aid

The government have produced a report indicating what any socialist or anarchist could already tell you - that people need a sense of belonging and that, more often than not, that sense of belonging is tied to the locality in which they live. Indeed, in areas where that sense is nurtured or strong then community involvement tends to be reflected accordingly - be it in local schemes, neighbourliness, voluntary assistance or the challenging of anti-social behaviour.

Or, as Kropotkin put it, Mutual Aid.

Humans are, by necessity, social animals and, just as in the Animal Kingdom, our history and evolution has been furthered by societal relations. The myth of the individual determined by self-interest is just that - a myth (oh, and a misguided Tory belief). It is a fabrication founded on the belief of 'every man for himself' generally put forward by those in positions of power or wealth who have little insight into, or involvement in, the community ethos. Their Social Darwinism ethics allow them to feel comfortable about their privileged status while consolidating their power through the accumulation of, what should be, common 'property' - be it money, land, industry or food. Further, it also allows them to argue that 'everyone can have what they have' through hard work or ingenuity. In a country where hereditary wealth and property rights play a huge part in class definition that is clearly a lie.

If the only determining factor in the existence of humanity were our struggles against each other for the very basics of life, then we would have died out a long time ago. The fact that we are still here, and that you are reading this, is testament to our ancestors realisation that in working together the individual benefits through the good of the whole.

Throughout his masterpiece Kropotkin draws on numerous examples of Mutual Aid to illustrate the benefits that societal living brings - from the social animals through early civilisation and then onto Medieval life and finally up to the present day (at time of writing - circa 1900). The evidence is unarguable and I would urge you to read it for yourself if you haven't done so (given that you are here there is a pretty good chance you already have - and I am preaching to the converted).

Not only that but Kropotkin argues that the influence of power, via the State or apparatus thereof, plays a negative role and actively contributes to undermine good societal relations and development. Again, this is compelling - how many times have you heard the rhetorical question "What are the government/police/council doing about it?"

It is strange then that New Labour appear to have cottoned onto a tenent of socialist libertarianism at a time when they are trying to extend their power to all aspects of UK life (ID cards, DNA databases, more and more legislation, benefits threats through welfare reform and so forth). What's next? 'The New Labour Guide to Common Ownership of the Means Of Production' perhaps? One of the most interesting statistics contained within the report states that "Fifty-six per cent of the population identify with their locality first, compared with 25 per cent that identify with the nation." Nations are ruled by governments so the smaller figure must also surely reflect people's attitudes to centralised institutions of power - they don't identify with them. (Again, this is borne out by further evidence of mistrust of politicians and their motives)

In conclusion then, the case for localised anarchist communism - federated by geography or industry - is strengthened by the governments own research. As a result of such you can expect voluntary initiatives, strong local communities, good neighbours and, though I detest the word, empowerment. In short - Mutual Aid.

Ex-Israeli Air Force Captain Speaks

When Is A War Crime Not A War Crime?

When it "appears to have all the elements of war crimes" but has been carried out by a Western 'allie' in the name of the War On Terror™ of course.

And wasn't the US brave for abstaining from the UN vote on an immediate ceasefire...

In The Ghetto

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Tart's clever, but rather oblique, reference to Godwin's Law in the 'Fuck Off' comments inspired this post. So I thought I would go for the all-out comparison between the massive ghetto that is Gaza (bombing schools now? Way to go Israel!) and the infamous Warsaw ghetto of WW2.

Victims Of The Pestilence - Born To Leave (EP)

I know for a fact that Nuzz has already posted this but I don't think he was able to provide a cover scan so I have done the necessary. He also promised to post the 'A Common Purpose' EP but that was nearly a year ago - wonder what happened to it.... (hint, hint)

Also inspired by Nuzz, I filched the Blue Ribbon link to the EFF's web site (link further down on the right) and would urge any and all readers to have a look at their continued good work.


Victims Of The Pestilence - Born To Leave (EP) (Illegal Records ILST1002 1988)

1. Born To Leave
2. Flowers
3. For Me
4. Never Never
5. Give Me Nothing

Victims Of The Pestilence - pwd: c4ctusm0uth

Fuck Off

Fuck Off to the Israeli government
Fuck Off to the British government
Fuck Off to the American government
Tell you what, Fuck Off to all governments
Fuck Off politicians
Fuck Off global corporations
Fuck Off fascists
Fuck Off celebrities (especially you Tommy Sheridan you Tango'ed prick)
Fuck Off to the nobility
Fuck Off to the Royal Family (of whichever country)
Fuck Off terrorists - I don't give a fuck what you're fighting for
Fuck Off to the established media
Fuck Off RIAA and whoever the fuck is associated with you
Fuck Off advertising
Fuck Off religion - and that means all of you - New Age, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jew... I don't fucking care
Fuck Off police - where ever you are
Fuck Off capitalists, the sooner the fucking better
Fuck Off bankers (though you do seem to be getting on with this suggestion)
Fuck Off private hospitals
Fuck Off private schools and the Old School Tie
Fuck Off lawyers and take the judges with you
Fuck Off prisons
Fuck Off wage-slavery

Might as well start the year as I mean to go on.

Record Mirror 2nd May 1987 - Ian Astbury, Wire, The Man From Delmonte & Zodiac Mindwarp