New Article / Red Sky at Night

Red Sky At Night
By Chris


Money is like muck, not good except it be spread

- Francis Bacon, Essays, 15, ‘Of seditions and Troubles’

A great industrial Nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the Nation and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world ~ no longer a Government of free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men.

- Woodrow Wilson, 28th US President


Something is wrong with the world economy, and it is because, not for the first and probably not the last time, we have been betrayed by our politicians. Capitalism, which has been consistently praised as a system of total economic freedom, has resulted in vast monopolies run by small, unelected groups of men (and I say men because that is the truth, this system promotes and encourages few, and those few tend to be male). Money, we are all aware, is power, and that power sits in the hands of these oligarchs, who can control and manipulate governments, not for some bizarre occult purposes or because they are space lizards, but merely for the fact that they want to preserve their awesome wealth. In 2006, the UN released a report stating that the richest 2% of the world's population control over half of the household wealth of the world. In contrast, the poorest 50% own less than 1%.

Obviously something is wrong here, when the manipulators of capital who have not lifted a finger in their lives control the world. Their policies are egocentric, anti-human and greedy, and have contributed to this economic crisis that dominates our news. What have the governments done about it, our elected representatives? They have, on multiple occasions, thrown money at the elite bankers, who have used the influx to buy out smaller banks, give themselves pay raises and generally continue the policies that have led to this crash. However, what do we care if our chocolate bars cost a little more? The majority of people are too ill-informed to realize that this system itself is the reason for the meltdown, and certainly they do not care for those who are hit worst: third world workers, those responsible for bearing the brunt of our economic cruelty throughout the latter half of the twentieth century.

What is the alternative, though? Communism? Derision floats around that system like flies around shit, or perhaps more topically, bankers around money. However, the sharing of wealth, and the granting of the means of production to the workers seems a positive boon in this dark economic age. Why should African farmers toil to produce cocoa and then be sent increasingly small pay packages by the corporate fat cats that buy their crop? Negative climates demand positive action, and the unionizing of these workers could prevent exploitation, or at least lessen it. At home, the sharing of wealth seems a greater idea, too. Health care that all can afford, state-sponsored, and a chance for children of all backgrounds to attain the highest education. Surely such a thing is possible, and perhaps it would have been within the U.S.S.R. had it not been for the corrupt policies of the U.S.A. and its allies drawing states away with the temptation of money, using greed as a weapon against a system which seeks to destroy the self-same principle.

Communism and Socialism demands an international approach, though, and it is this where the U.S.S.R. faltered. In an unfriendly world, the Socialist Republics were besieged, forced to spend ridiculous amounts on defense and policing, leading to paranoia within the government, who famously brutalized the populace. However, Cuba has avoided this mostly, and Vietnam too. Indeed, most of the states used as examples of Communism's failure seem to be corrupt anti-Socialist states that collapse inward due to outside, usually American pressure. Perhaps a world in which the U.S.A. leads a Socialist renewal, or at least adopts some more left-leaning policies we might all get along better?