Alistair Darling, the British Chancellor, in the wake of ther massive bail out in the UK has assured the swindlers that "the government did not want to meddle in commercial operations", or so the Australian reported on Oct 14th.
This is a staggering statement considering the government, using taxpayers money, has not only "meddled" in commercial operations, it has prevented commercial operations from collapsing altogether. Darling made this statement purely to assure them that they wouldn't be punished for their actions and that their bonuses would not be threatened.
It is a reflection of the crisis of leadership that exists that the very same people who have robbed the working class are still in charge. The effects of this crisis will be felt for decades to come. The UN estimates that in the last two weeks alone 44 million people in Southeast Asia have slipped in to even further poverty. The UN's world food program spent $3 billion last year feeding 90 million people, that cost will double and they may not come up with that.
But contrast this to the original US bail out amount of $700 billion. Paul Risley, the UN WFP's spokesperson for Asia says that that figure would feed all of the world's poor for the next 100 years.
I was driving today and listening to the Australian Broadcasting Company on the radio. Teachers are threatening some work stoppages next week to protest the bad situation in the schools, they want an extra $44 million for supplies etc.
A government official responded by saying that to expect the government to pull 44 millionm out of the air like that is "unrealistic". That too is a staggering commetn given what has just been pulled from the air. Here in Australia the government just threw $10 billion at the problem; the amount of money, our money, that they are doling out in order to entice the owners of capital to come play is what is "unrealistic".
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