The credit crunch: an effect not a cause

Robert Henderson  How did we get  into this economic hole? What we are experiencing is a direct consequence of the dominant economic ideology of the age, laissez faire, an ideology which underpins the general political ideology of political elites in the West, the form of liberal internationalism we call globalism. This neo-Liberal mentality has brought [...]

Robotics and the real (sorry, Karl, you got it wrong) final crisis of capitalism

Robert Henderson Humans and Robots Robotics is advancing rapidly. Probably within the lifetime of most people now living – and conceivably within the next ten years – there will be general purpose robots (GPRs) capable of doing the vast majority of the work now undertaken by human beings. When that happens international free trade and [...]

Japan and The Big Society

The response of   Japan to the triple  disaster of a massive  earthquake, gigantic  tsunami and nuclear  power failure  has been surprising. One of the most advanced industrialised states  and the third largest economy in the world has struggled desperately to deal with what is admittedly a dramatic and unusually devastating multiple disaster .  Not only [...]

Why did auditors fail to blow the whistle on the banks?

1. Audit Failure 2. Why does the failure of large concerns matter? 3. Why false accounting happens 4. The incestuous relationship between auditor and audited 5. How collusion may arise between the auditor and their client 6. Is it possible to audit companies meaningfully? 7. The scarcity of IT skills 8. The responsibilities of directors [...]

Market economies and the illusion of choice

One of the prime arguments for introducing business practices, private money and private business into public provision is that it improves choice. British citizens, increasingly referred to as consumers or customers rather than patients, passengers or any other appellation which emphasises the public nature of the provision, supposedly want choices of schools for their children [...]

Most people cannot make provision for the future

Cameron’s  Big Society is predicated on the idea that people are generally able to provide for  themselves.  This is clearly not the case in vital  areas such as healthcare, education and pensions, not least because most people do not earn enough to pay for such things for themselves and their dependants.  Nor, particularly in the case [...]

What shall we do about the old?

The most problematic of all public provision is what to do about the old. The value of actuarial calculations – the statistical analysis of risk based on instances of the risk occurring – made sense for pension calculations when life spans from generation to generation were fairly stable. Because of our ever increasing ability to cure [...]

All British banks are “too big to fail”

The media is alive with politicians, bankers and economic commentators saying British banks must be broken up so they are not “too big to fail”.  The Governor  of the bank of England  Mervyn  Kingof England Mervyn King was at it last week (htttp://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23927727-well-let-banks-fail-says-mervyn-king.do) and the new chief executive of Barclays, Bob Diamond, has had his say today. [...]

Selling Britain by the pound: the immorality of privatisation

Does a British government have the moral and legal right to sell off industries and property owned by the state? In Britain the answer m is that it can legally do so. Barring restrictions agreed to in treaties, most particularly the Treaty of Rome and its successor treaties, a British government may legally do what [...]

What should be provided directly by the state?

 Certain things should be reserved to the state as a matter of absolute principle. They are defence, foreign policy, policing, justice, the implementation of judicial sentences and decisions and the administration of welfare. They should be reserved absolutely because either they involve the use of force or the threat of force, punishment or the distribution [...]