29th December - Eureka!

Over the past few months I've had a few 'Eureka' moments. I've begun to see that so many apparently complex social issues result directly from the conflict between the needs of capital and the needs of we humans and the environment.   That might sound obvious to some but, when you consider the lengthy newspaper columns and witness the heated TV and Parliamentary debates,  I think I can be forgiven for having been confused by the overload of information and the diversionary tactics used by politicians (backed, as they are, by big business) and the media.
In times of recession capital is looking for investment opportunities. When the income of most people doesn't leave enough cash for folk to continue shopping and when credit has been exhausted, capital looks towards the essential of life to invest for profit.
Housing:  House prices continue to rise because there has been a massive increase in buy to rent and because the needs of first time buyers are ignored as developers can make far more money from building large houses for the rich. 
Health:  The NHS is being taken over by private providers who must be salivating at the prospect of the lucrative investment opportunities and insurance companies are doing good business enrolling all those who, frightened off by the NHS scare stories, can afford private cover.
Immigration:  Capital will always welcome cheap labour. Presented with the picture of the 'American dream' on offer in 'developed' countries, enterprising and fit people suffering poverty will migrate.  They will work in their new country for lower wages with poorer working conditions and live in poor housing.  Landlords buying to rent can turn single-occupied homes into multiple-occupancy and make a quick killing.  Local cultures for the immigrants and the host countries suffer. People leave family and loved-ones behind. The migrants home country is left bereft of its most skilled and enterprising citizens.
It was interesting to read just this week of the hundreds of UK A&E doctors emigrating to Australia for better working conditions.  The cry goes up that the state had spent massive sums of money on training them and now they have gone.  Looks much the same to me as those doctors from abroad who now work in the NHS.
Fracking:  No doubt there is a better return on capital invested in oil than in renewables.  So, the lives of millions are disrupted, health undermined and the environment trashed so that healthy dividends can flow to support the lives of the rich
Simple really isn't it?!