Economic crisis in Britain

This video is called Brits Saw Economic Downturn Coming.

From British daily The Morning Star:

How it all came to this

(Monday 08 September 2008)

PAMPHLET: The Politics of Britain’s Economic Crisis by John Foster
(CPB, £2)

MARTIN GRAHAM looks deeper at the economic crisis.

The capitalist press is full of superficial explanations of the current economic crisis.

They are not necessarily wrong in identifying the immediate trigger for problems in the British economy as the collapse of the US sub-prime market, brought about by pitiless exploitation of low-income borrowers in the US and the subsequent drying up of the inter-bank money market when these loans were repackaged and sold on to gullible banks keen to recycle their own commission-driven business.

Such explanations can, however, only address the short-term and superficial aspects of the problems facing the British economy.

But, for a deeper understanding and an appreciation of where we are heading, it is necessary to take a much longer view. This is exactly what John Foster does in this excellent pamphlet.

His analysis begins in the 17th century with the ending of feudal relations, the dispossession of the peasantry and the creation of a majority labouring population.

He then traces the twists and turns of Britain’s capitalist ruling class as, in an effort to protect and accumulate capital, it participated in various tactical alliances, culminating in the present parasitic dependence on the US.

The result, Foster demonstrates, is a society which is insecure, intolerant and unequal.

The pamphlet concludes by calling for an alternative economic and political strategy that can find support beyond the core working class and trade union movement while opening up the way for more fundamental change.