The Strange Death of Free-Market Globalisation
Sponge-Up: the Reagan / Thatcher legacy
1688: Parliament Without Democracy
Snippets
Israel and Iran – Glad to Hate Each Other
Come Fly With Me, With Fly-Blown Quality
Snow In Belgium, Caused By Global Warming
Modi’s India
Starmer and the Errors of Ramsay MacDonald
Housing Impossible
The Strange Death of Free-Market Globalisation
A 1935 book called The Strange Death of Liberal England is poor at explaining the sudden fall of Britain’s Liberal Party. But it makes a useful sound-bite.
Whigs or liberals, dominant since 1688, talked about liberty. Cheated to keep ordinary people serving the elite. Did this outrageously with the 1914-18 War, promising a ‘war to end war’.
They could not explain why much of the working population was normally unemployed, when jobs for every worker were found when the elite feared losing the World War.
The Labour Party, demanding something more rational, replaced them in a political system where first-past-the-post elections made it normal for there to be two dominant parties.
But liberal ideas became a toxic inclusion in the Tory Party. The dominant Tory idea had been that the elite had a right to rule, but also had a duty to look after the rest of the society. It was 19th-century liberals who wanted the poor to be punished for even existing. Designed the Workhouse system to do just that.[A]
Thatcherism also tried to punish the poor for even existing. Promised to shrink the size of the state, which hasn’t happened. Cut taxes for the rich – they remain high for ordinary people.
They promised that if the elite were given more freedom, they would create wonderful new wealth that would ‘trickle down’ to the lesser humans below them. Both in Britain and the USA, overall growth was not faster from 1979 to 2024 than it was from 1950 to 1978.
Slower now in Britain, with the disaster of Brexit.
Slower for Western Europe and Japan, where New Right ideas subverted successful Mixed Economy systems.
First China and now India succeed by ignoring New Right advice. Protectionism, but offering foreigners cheap well-educated labour. Chinese who grew up under Mao got basic free education. They and their parents got a habit of collective working when agriculture was collectivised.
Deng restored family farms, but families with a right to work the land rather than owners of that land. And he and later leaders have given Chinese self-confidence without narrow nationalism. They had already achieved spaceflight and H-bombs under Mao, but now succeed on many other fronts.
In India, self-confidence has sadly involved narrow nationalism. And while India has produced some outstanding mathematicians and theoretical physicists, it remains to be seen if they can master producing useful new devices in the material world. Still, they remain very confident with what they are.
China is denounced for winning under rules the USA designed. Trump gave the USA all sorts of protection. Biden continued it with phony national security claims.
The USA worked hard to split Ukraine into Russia-hating and Russia-friendly portions.[B] Based on a false belief that Russia was only anti-Western because of Putin.
I recently read a much-praised book called The Wizard of the Kremlin. It begins with a typical liberal moan about the failures they never expected. Then in the middle, it gives a fairly coherent explanation of why failures should have been expected. Yeltsin thought the West was now a friend, and they acted instead as an enemy. But the book then drifts back to liberal moans towards the end, avoiding the logic of what the author understands quite clearly. He sounds daring, but orthodox enough to win a string of awards.
Free-Market Globalisation is dying. But as with the earlier death of Classical Liberalism, what replaces it is disappointing.
Sponge-Up: the Reagan / Thatcher legacy
As I said, ‘trickle down’ was never real. The reality is what I’ll call Sponge-Up. The rich grab more and more of the wealth that the whole society creates.
In common usage, economic sponging is taking from those who do useful work. Most of the fancy speculation is just that. Any supposed advantageous effects from free market trading have been refuted by real events. It does not find the ‘right price’, even in crude economic terms.
The New Right system gave much bigger rewards for managers. A floating elite who can do long-term damage to the corporation, and move on before this becomes obvious.
The media praise it, of course. Papers and television channels dominated by those who’ve done well in a chaotic system.
Ask us to rally round against Authoritarian Regimes, supposedly a threat to us.
The Western elite expect people to tolerate any amount of injustice and bad government, if they still have a choice of alternative leaders every few years.
They find it puzzling that voters get disgusted with nice-sounding politicians when they actually rule badly. In Ukraine before the current war a whole series of Presidents achieved little, and were unpopular towards the end of their term. Zelensky was going the same way before the war. And would probably lose the scheduled election if he dares hold it.
Western commentators find it irrational when ordinary people are content with a political machine that chooses its own leaders, but has a good record of delivering what most people want. China, most notably. But it has been the functional system in Japan and Singapore.
They also twist words to deny the right of foreign countries to have Western-style elections that elect people the West dislikes. Expected to happen in the next few weeks in India.
The liberal-left under New Right influence is increasingly against governments and regulations. Which indeed may be wasteful, oppressive, bureaucratic. Or which may be efficient, but for policies you see as repressive. But the ‘natural flow’ is mostly worse.
The rich make short-term gains. Mostly they lose long-run, as the society gets worse.
Sew the winds, reap the whirlwind.
Having worked hard to encourage selfishness and mistrust of experts, they now find it damagingly out of control. As with Brexit.
The social results are anything but conservative. And not usefully radical either. Libertarian ideas make people angry and frustrated, not liberated. Pop music has been an example:
“Song lyrics getting simpler, more repetitive, angry and self-obsessed – study
“Researchers analysed the words in more than 12,000 English-language songs across several genres from 1980 to 2020.”[C]
1688: Parliament Without Democracy
Born in Wimbledon of Yoruba parents, Olukemi Adegoke spent much of her childhood in Nigeria and in the USA. But as Kemi Badenoch, this Tory Junior Minister is very much part of Upper London. The not-entirely-white elite who rule the rest of us, repeatedly short-circuiting our right to replace them through a democratic franchise.
She was a serious candidate for Tory leader when Boris Johnson fell. Eight of them stood; she lasted till the 4th round and got 59 votes. And as MP for securely-Tory Saffron Walden, she will definitely be there when Rishi Sunak goes after the expected Tory defeat.
The New Right has always been an oddity. Almost an offshoot of Leninism, transitioned to become fans of the imaginary capitalism of Adam Smith. So she’s no worse than other members of the elite when she denies past sins of a system that has taken her in and given her privilege:
“It worries me when I hear people talk about wealth and success in the UK as being down to colonialism or imperialism or white privilege or whatever.
“It matters in other countries too, because if developing nations do not understand how the west became rich, they cannot follow in its footsteps.”[D]
They need the votes of racists. But in Britain, they take in non-whites and women.
I explained earlier how today’s Tories don’t understand how the West became rich. Rather, they are full of false beliefs. They helped wreck Russia in the 1990s by applying their ideas in a way that was never allowed at home.
It’s absurd to deny that colonialism, imperialism, and white privilege all contributed to Britain’s rise. Hardly anyone would deny that home-grown forces also existed. Steam engines, canals, mechanisation for cotton and wool. But cotton was grown by slave labour, and sugar from the West Indies had been a huge source of wealth. The combination of free white labour and enslaved black labour was unjust, but for a time it was very successful. And West African rulers sold slaves in exchange for British industrial goods, a useful extra market.
Another major source of wealth was the continuing plunder of the Indian Subcontinent. Turned into a market for British goods. Compelled to grow opium that was sold to China, ending a drain of silver that was needed to buy tea.
To maintain this system, the top jobs were held by a white elite who sent their children back to be educated in Britain. Who ostracised anyone who dared intermarry with the natives. This contrasts with Spanish America, where the children of Spaniards and Native Americans could be part of the elite. Who chose independence, though with a strong racial bias.
Badenoch credits the Glorious Revolution of 1688 for British success. Not mentioning that most House of Commons seats were controlled by a couple of hundred rich families until the 1830s, when the upper middle class got the vote. It wasn’t until the 1880s that a majority of men in the British Isles got the vote.[E]
You could also argue that Britain rushed into something that was happening anyway. Machines were widespread in the 18th century, but Marx has a lot about how they were limited by European governments that were keen not to destroy the jobs of honest and mostly-loyal workers. But in Britain, a parliament representing the rich fought against governments that tried to curb their aggressive accumulation of wealth. And destroyed small independent farmers through Enclosure, which didn’t happen elsewhere.
The Industrial Revolution came on top of a scientific revolution in which Italy, France, the Netherlands and Germany played a significant role. Extinguished in Italy, but there was a general trend towards advanced industry.
It was Spain and Portugal that first sent ships all round the world, connecting places that previously developed separately. And undermined respect for tradition by finding continents that the Ancients had known nothing of.
Economists tend to be ignorant of the scientific revolution, and averse to learning anything about it. Although many economists ape science with the use of maths, it is aping rather than real knowledge. More knowledge of science would have told them that fancy maths may have nothing to do with real-world systems.
Snippets
Israel and Iran – Glad to Hate Each Other
One of the less-noticed details in Orwell’s 1984 is the slogan War Is Peace. Three global super-powers fight each other and thereby justify themselves. But they are not seriously out to win.
Between Israel and Iran, each side hopes for the evential destruction of the other, but do not expect it soon. For now, hard-liners in Israel and Iran find each other convenient against their own moderates.
Iran held off a pro-Western protest, with hard liners winning recent elections – Iran is a place where the opposition can and does win if they convince the people. But it is only now, with everyone’s eyes on Gaza and Iran’s willingness to risk the wrath of Israel, that they go on the offensive:
“Violent arrests seen in Iran as ‘morality patrols’ resume in nationwide crackdown”[F]
“Iran morality police arrests dead protester’s sister, mother says.”[G]
Western power politics has let down genuine believers in spreading a version of Western culture to the Global South. Had the Mixed Economy and Welfare State consensus been maintained, spreading those Western values would have been much more likely.
But never forget that Iran became Islamist because British and US influence defeated Moderate Radicalism in 1953.[H] The general hostility to Arab Socialism. And an inability to realise that Islamists were nothing like the Christian “Fundamentalists”, who became docile and abandoned social justice during the 20th century.
Anyone seeking to expand women’s rights in the Global South should accept that Western ‘help’ is worse than useless.[I] Must make arguments based entirely on the traditions of their own civilisation.
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Come Fly With Me, With Fly-Blown Quality
“‘Shortcuts Everywhere’: How Boeing Favored Speed Over Quality
“Problems have plagued the manufacturer even after two fatal crashes, and many current and former employees blame its focus on making planes more quickly.”[J]
“A Boeing engineer has told a US Senate hearing that the company is ‘putting out defective airplanes’ due to improper manufacturing methods.”[K]
It is a growing scandal, whereas Europe’s Airbus seems to have been wiser. Which however has not yet dented deference to the US by British and other European politicians. They still defend New Right values, which let the rich carry on sponging up far more than their actual skills earned them in the so-called Keynesian era.
An elite that the politicians can hope to join. Much family wealth for Tories. The prospects of ministerial office for Labour, and glittering careers among the rich.
The Western system was saved after 1945 by taking in many socialist ideas. Throwing out those ideas has not even served the longer-term interests of the rich.
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Snow In Belgium, Caused By Global Warming
Before the 1980s surge in global temperatures, very cold air in the Arctic was usually kept in place by a stable Jet Stream.
That’s no longer the case:
«The Arctic is warming faster than any other region on Earth. As well, land masses warm more quickly than the oceans. These two factors have led to the overall temperature difference between the two — essentially the fuel for these jet streams — to decrease.»[L]
Arctic air is now much more likely to flow southwards. In Europe, it causes the Belgian snow. Last year in East Asia, and as far south as Texas for North America
It’s easy to be offended by Deep Green arguments against the modern world. Less easy to concede that some of the criticisms are true, but other solutions are possible.[M]
But note that Peoples’ China does accept Climate Change, and is acting strongly to limit it and be ready for it. Doing so while broadly hostile to the Western liberal trends that most Greens favour. Not at all ‘woke’. No Gay Marriage, and gays stay inconspicuous.
Whether or not you approve of the social issues, please don’t confuse them with the fact of a growing climate disaster.
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Modi’s India
Anyone lamenting the rise of a hard-line version of Hinduism should also regret that Indira Gandhi retreated from the State of Emergency of 1975-77. She allowed a free election and lost it. With hindsight, it was the start of the decline of Secular India.
But I’m sure few will agree with me. Western values are seen as normal. People are baffled by several very different cultures going their own way, as the West’s example looks worse and worse.
I was unsurprised to find a wiser view expressed in the Financial Times. Business people have to adapt to unwelcome realities. So do newspapers that advise them:
“I think what we are seeing is a kind of tacit deal, in which swing voters accept a democratic recession under Modi, so long as he delivers economic progress. While the hardcore supporters of his Bharatiya Janata party were always going to stand by their leader and the party’s Hindutva ideology, Modi has significantly expanded its traditional base by offering a deal that appeals to an increasing number of young and new voters.
“This is reminiscent of east Asia after the second world war, when countries such as South Korea and Taiwan put together long runs of rapid growth with low inflation under autocratic leaders, who gave way to genuinely free elections only after their nations reached a middle-income level.”[N]
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Starmer and the Errors of Ramsay MacDonald
From The Guardian, some surprisingly sensible advice:
“Britain was wise to cleave to Europe as the empire began to disintegrate. It’s time to do it again…
“Global capitalism was reeling from the 1929 crash and the collapse of the global currency order and the collapse of the international currency order. Would Britain strike out, as the US and Sweden were to do, and organise a state-led reconstruction of capitalism, supported by great programmes of public works and investment, and repudiate free-market thinking? Or would it look to empire and imperial preference to try to preserve existing structures and ideas, and so protect itself from recession and slump?
“Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald and his chancellor, Philip Snowden, in power in the summer of 1931, had no doubts. The party’s mission was to return capitalism to its 19th-century glories by following the tried and tested policies of laissez-faire, only this time determined to ensure that, when recovery was established, the working class gradually got a much fairer share of the spoils. There was to be no fundamental reshaping of the economy. When adhering to the gold standard proved indefensible, they would lead a national government to preserve as much as possible of what had worked hitherto, and look to Britain’s vast empire to protect its stricken capitalism from high-risk ‘socialist’ reform.”[O]
But fails to mention the left-led rejection of Incomes Policy and Workers Control: policies that met the widespread desire to improve the system while stopping short of overthrowing it.
And The Guardian played a big role in undermining Jeremy Corbyn, when he insisted that Labour need not accept Thatcherite values.
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Housing Impossible
“Councils now sell off more houses than they build. Thatcher’s legacy, right to buy, is a failure.
“Of all the policies imposed on Britain by Conservative governments, few have reshaped the country’s fortunes as enduringly as right to buy. For a lucky few, the policy has meant colossal windfalls and the chance to snap up some of the best properties in the country on the cheap. For the rest, right to buy has meant rising homelessness, spiralling rents and local authorities facing bankruptcy as the social housing stock dwindles, year by year.[P]
“Britain’s housing offers the worst value for money of any advanced economy, combining high prices with old, cramped, poorly insulated buildings and long commutes, according to an influential think-tank.”[Q]
My generation could mostly buy a house if we had a decently paid job. Today you get nothing unless your parents can buy you one.
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Old newsnotes at the magazine websites. I also write regular blogs – https://www.quora.com/q/mrgwydionmwilliams
[A] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Law_Amendment_Act_1834
[B] https://mrgwydionmwilliams.quora.com/Ukraine-Punished-For-Rejecting-US-Values-in-2010
[C] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/29/song-lyrics-getting-simpler-more-repetitive-angry-and-self-obsessed-study
[D] https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/18/kemi-badenoch-uk-wealth-not-from-white-privilege-colonialism
[E] https://labouraffairsmagazine.com/m-articles-by-topic/40-britain/665-2/
[F] https://observers.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240417-violent-arrests-seen-in-iran-as-morality-patrols-resume-in-nationwide-crackdown
[G] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68849736
[H] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93United_States_relations#Prime_Minister_Mossadeq_and_his_overthrow
[I] https://labouraffairsmagazine.com/problems-magazine-past-issues/the-west-fails-in-five-civilisations/the-west-fails-in-five-civilisations-2/
[J] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/business/boeing-quality-problems-speed.html – pay site.
[K] https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/4/18/boeing-whistleblower-says-firm-is-putting-out-defective
[L] https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/changing-jet-stream-extreme-weather-linked-humans-1.4043390
[M] https://labouraffairsmagazine.com/problems-magazine-past-issues/as-p46-how-to-fix-climate-change-and-keep-modern-civilisation/
[N] https://www.ft.com/content/509b30c4-8033-4984-afce-eed847b903a0 – pay site.
[O] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/21/britain-was-wise-to-cleave-to-europe-as-the-empire-began-to-disintegrate-it-is-time-to-do-it-again
[P] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/26/councils-sell-off-more-houses-right-to-buy-failure
[Q] https://www.ft.com/content/bef934b4-7474-4381-8195-447d5346dc1f – pay site.
Labour Affairs 