April 30th - Growth is King!

Of course we all know that economic growth is the Holy Grail which must be pursued and for which everything and everybody must be sacrificed.  Once I began to think about opportunities for capital investment being the driving force of unregulated free-market capitalism so many things began to be come into focus … 

In times of austerity when investment opportunities are few then look to investing in services previously provided by the state – in the UK the NHS is prime target. Then there’s housing …  a huge number of those Council houses sold as part of  MT’s ‘right to buy’ policy are now owned by private landlords for rent,  with rent often paid by Housing Benefit!

All sorts of decisions are made clearer when I keep in mind industrial capitalism’s need for finding avenues for capital investment.  Isn’t nuclear power much more lucrative (think of all that cement!) than sustainable energy?  Isn’t much more money made out of selling cars and laying roads than in running buses and trains?  And once you open up new ‘undeveloped’ territories overseas forget the culture of indigenous peoples … No! Lend them money for roads (often making the lending country's building industry loads a money), introduce tv to bring in the images of the 'good life' and then turn them into consumers. Its profit all the way ... 

Perhaps I’m being overly cynical here but I have to say it helps me to make more sense of many of the decisions made by government even when legislation and policy fly in the face of so much public opposition.