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Billionaires are often squeezed by autocrats
Billionaires who support autocrats have no guarantee that the autocrat will grant them benefits once elected. Having an autocrat’s ear does not necessarily last. It is quite common to see autocrats discard their supporters. “He who can destroy a thing has the real control of it.” Dune, Frank Herbert. This means that when you bring…
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Societies that choose solidarity are those where people want to go
“One for all – all for one” Self-interest at the expense of the general interest doesn’t pay off. Societies in which each individual acts in his or her own interest rather than in the general interest live less well than those that choose the interests of the group. Paradoxically, those who think of their personal…
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Financialization, deregulation and securitization transactions
Before the 1980s, banks couldn’t use people’s deposits as collateral for investments. Banks were not allowed to use their customers’ deposits to invest them. Up until the early 1980s, when you owned a share in a company, a building or a field and wanted to buy or sell other shares, the state levied transfer duties.…
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Useful Ecology
We’re hearing about a whole range of ecological measures. We need to buy eco-friendly cleaning products, insulate our homes, change our boilers and have a Canadian well, buy less plastic, sort our waste, drive eco-friendly cars, limit our speed on the roads, do not fly, limit our water consumption when we shower or flush the…
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The workers
“Saluez, riches heureux, /“Salute, you happy rich, Ces pauvres en haillons / These poor in rags Saluez, ce sont eux, / Salute them, they’re the ones Qui gagnent vos millions” / Who earn your millions” Song by the Penn Sardin of Douarnenez, 1905. Wealth in Europe and America has been and continues to be built…
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The richest 1% are at war with the rest of the world
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Warren Buffett – Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/123058-there-s-class-warfare-all-right-but-it-s-my-class-the “Terrorism is the war of the poor. War is the terrorism of the rich.” Ustinov Peter: https://www.grainesdepaix.org/fr/ressources/sinspirer/aphorismes/le-terrorisme-est-la-guerre-des-pauvres-la-guerre-est-le-terrorisme-des-riches What does this war involve? In France, as elsewhere, the role of national education…
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A slice of the cake
It’s not going well. Purchasing power is melting away, the standard of living is falling, and doctors are less and less available, drugs less and less reimbursed, and so on. Pouvoir d’achat : ce que disent les chiffres… et ce qu’ils ne disent pas – Radio France: https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/la-bulle-economique/pouvoir-d-achat-ce-que-disent-les-chiffres-et-ce-qu-ils-ne-disent-pas-7969607 There is clearly competition for resources. If…
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Retirement pensions
Why should we pay pensions higher than average incomes to people who have earned their money by polluting without any solidarity with the rest of the people or with future generations (oil, nuclear, pharmaceutical industries, banks, etc.)? If they earned more than the average salary when they were working, they were able to invest their…
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Drugs
At the end of the 1970s, the neo-liberal idea developed that if you work hard you can succeed, but if you fail it’s because you haven’t given yourself the means. In the 1980s, under the Thatcher/Reagan era, Western countries became deindustrialised and mass unemployment emerged. In the 1990s, the “cool Britannia” left-wingers such as Tony…
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Rob the poor to feed the rich
rob the poor to feed the rich Prince John and Sir Hiss in Robin Hood (1973)