The problem with the world as it is going is the growing inequality gap between rich and poor. As the Oxfam Report tells us, 85, a mere 85 people in the world own as much as the poorest half of the world. (See interesting Guardian report on this).
We see that even the Davos annual binge is “slightly” concerned about this development. And so they should be. However, before we go bashing the filthy rich and condemning them for their successful grab of global wealth and the suppression and pauperisation of the 99%, we should perhaps beware of falling into the pernicious propaganda game we are being subjected to.
That is, simply put, that had politicians, governments and above all the Media functioned in accordance with their “mandates”, none of this would ever have happened. And this is where the “moral self righteousness” comes in. In order to justify and enable the great wealth snatch, the “Greed Creed” was invented. Okay, the “greed is good” mantra was at least up front if totally cynical, but the moral self righteousness employed is positively pernicious.
I think this dates back to Dickensian days: the poor are only poor because of their own fault! They are lazy, they don’t want to work and… here it comes… that is why all welfare must be scrapped! All it does is encourage the lazy layabouts to scrounge off the state!
Second moral self righteousness mantra: Competitiveness!!! We can’t keep living above our means! Workers in the so called developed countries must realise that they cannot expect to be paid such enormous wages and to enjoy such extravagant welfare if “we” are going to compete with the sweat shop slave labour of the emerging countries.
It is the selfishness and false feeling of entitlement of the western middle classes down. It has got to stop! We cannot afford these expensive welfare programmes! We must cut down and ultimately scrap all this molly coddling nonsense! Otherwise we shall not be able to compete!
And this has become the moral high ground. The deceits we are fed day after day, night after night from the media, from debates, from experts, from economists, politicians and everywhere else.
It is hardly ever pointed out that the wealth amassed by the 1%, if taxed reasonably and fairly would be more than enough to fund civilization as we have built it. Or to set trading rules, that we shall not import from countries not applying fair labour laws for instance. All the talk of human rights is hot air and always disappears when it comes to “profitability”.
Quite apart from the obvious. Why is it ‘right” as implied for the rich to keep getting richer and the poor poorer? Why is it immoral for the poorer echelons to enjoy a comfortable life, that is with adequate food, heating and shelter, and is it not considered obscene for the rich to have more housing space each than they can walk around in a year? And so on. I also fail to comprehend why it is always the poor that are “undeserving” and not the rich. Why the welfare defrauders should be condemned so roundly when the Wall Street and City defrauders at best get a rap on the knuckles but are nevertheless really admired, and hugely rewarded, for their intellectual capabilities. And so on and on. Common sense as it should be.
So who is responsible fro the Greed Creed having acquired the high moral ground? The wealthy businessmen and women? Come on, they are just doing what they always did. The trouble is they have succeeded in, as the joke has it, having established “the best congress that money can buy”, which of course applies around the globe. For instance, had Frau Merkel for one (she is hardly alone in this) shown half the concern for European ideals and European citizens as she did for European banks, most of the tragedy would have been averted. (But then she did get re elected for a third time…)
And of course, had the press and the media not been so inclined to use populism and arrant disinformation, the best governments money can buy in Europe and elsewhere, would still have been unable to so utterly destroy civilization as they have done. But then of course the media have also been bought up by those whose interests are not with civilization, still less with the people they are supposed to serve.
So what now? The Greed Creed has become gospel truth and you do not dare contradict it on pain of being burnt at the stake. The politicians have become the hand maidens of the wealthy and the Media a tool of the wealthy not least in keeping the politicians on the straight and narrow. Yet nevertheless, the Davos crowd admit to being slightly uneasy about growing inequality.
And so they should be. Capitalism is unsustainable with such inequality. (See Larry Elliot’s excellent article). Consumption disappears, and though profitability went slightly up when it was decided to pay workers below subsistence wages, very soon profits plummeted and firms started to close down one after another because… well, because there was no one left who could buy enough of the stuff they were churning out.
That is why they are beginning to feel a little uneasy. Though the plan has worked admirably, it turns out it has a sting in the tail, as I do believe Marx, for one, analysed quite well the century before last.