Saturday 15 August 2009

Economy of Principle

Economy of Principle

Such a beautiful phrase, 'economy of principle', employed by the philosopher Nietzsche, is rather poignant in the context that I feel most typifies the behaviour and practices of our politicians and the capitalist systems that expect the tax payer to fork out billions for nothing so that they can wallow in troughs of our money. It really has to stop.

We, the taxpayer, paid out money on the premise that the banking system got it wrong and having learned from their mistake would accept a bail out in return for better practices and less reckless gambles for obscene bonus payments.

To put it mildly, we were conned.

Not only does the practice of bonuses continue but it continues despite the losses incurred. Financial bosses complain that there is a need for the bonus culture to attract the most talented of staff. Now don’t get me wrong, I can see the logic in the argument. What I can’t see is how the hell that affects the tax payer who got none of that bonus before the credit crunch of 2008 and will get none of it now. So why should we pay for something that gives us nothing in return? Where is our compensation for keeping the banking systems alive?

It is certainly not in the savings interest or mortgage lending system; not only is it impossible to get a decent mortgage at present but our savings attracts almost nothing by way of interest. Why is that? Perhaps the reports are true that the banking houses are going hell for leather to shore up their balance sheets. Once again, why should the tax payer pay for someone else’s mistake? We only have to go one penny into the red and the bank would slap us with a bank charge. So where are our tax payer charges against the banks? Where is our golden handshake for getting the country out of the soft and smelly?

The answer, apparently, is higher taxes, a cut in public services and spending and painful decisions possibly for the next ten years. I, for one, cannot accept that we deserve this treatment.

But that is what we will get, whether we vote for Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat. We couldn’t possibly upset the institutions that no doubt bankroll the major political parties. How this must stink to any right thinking person.

Recently a Conservative MP, you know, the party that the British Public will inevitably vote for in 2010 because their heads have been shoved either in a political vat of apathy or the conservative faithful actually do make money out of everyone else's misery, said that if the expenses system changed, or if his salary was reduced, he would not be able to give to charity. Excuse me? How many millions of poor tax payers stick money regularly into charities, raising millions? Not that they can in any way afford such extravagances but so many people cannot afford to give to charity because they are too bogged down paying taxes to overrated politicians and bonus grabbing talented stock brokers. This is an example of the planet our politicians are on – and it sure isn’t ours.

The tax payer does not ask for much. The people who run our country have to take taxes, but only to pay for the things we need: good health care, emergency services, utilities, roads, education and so on. However, whilst I have an aversion to violence, I would rather pay £27 million on a helicopter for our armed forces in Afghanistan than the billions the government spent to enable financial houses to continue paying out bonuses to ill deserving parasites. The tax payer cares nothing for greed-driven gamblers in financial houses. Politicians have a duty to look after our soldiers, otherwise the point of shoring up the money system beggars explanation.

Or maybe it doesn’t need explanation. Politicians have acquired the habit of putting a spin on everything they do. Business management do much the same nowadays. In fact, the world seems to be running on the spurious results of targets and tick boxes. Reality takes a back seat to statistics while the poor tax payer is punished again. As long as the boxes are ticked it doesn’t matter what suffering is meted out. The true reason for running the country is lost to the effort to gain power under any circumstance. So unless we, the electorate, change the cycle by voting – and we all must vote – for any party other than Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat, we will continue to experience an economy of principle that places our modest ideals beneath the horizon of achievement. We have become nothing more than iron filings to a magnet when it comes to election time – and as soon as the vote is complete the magnetism disappears.

When are we going to learn? Shall we make a real difference in 2010?

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