- by Marcus Browning
- The Guardian
- Issue #2129
The federal government has shown itself to be a tool of the big banks and corporations. These huge institutions are no longer prepared to be restrained by the federal government or the Reserve Bank. The banks have always made their own laws – a fact that is now screamingly obvious. It’s the same story in the United States, Britain and other “free market” capitalist countries. But the chickens are now coming home to roost.
RESTORE CONTROL
To restore some control by governments over the economic direction being followed it is essential that any further privatisation be stopped immediately and key industries and institutions be returned to public ownership. This must include telecommunications, transport, water, electricity supplies, main resources, education, universities, and hospitals.
A new public bank must be set up by the government in order to provide low-cost home loans. A massive injection of funds into public housing projects will provide jobs and affordable public rental housing and housing for private sale. These latter two mechanisms will force the private banking institutions and landlords to substantially lower their profit-gouging margins in order to compete in the market.
The tens of billions of dollars being spent on the military distorts the economy. The bulk of that money should be used to strengthen health, education and other vitally important services.
Public ownership would restore some power to regulate and control the economy, and plan the use of financial and other resources in the interests of the working people who comprise the overwhelming majority of the people in all developed countries.
The politicians and governments which continue to believe that capitalism is the best and only economic system are incapable of even considering the socialist alternative and, even if they did, they lack the courage and commitment to advocate and work for it.
As is reflected in the rhetoric in the current election campaigning by both major parties, rather than take serious measures to control the banks and corporations the response of governments has been to set up razor gangs to slash government programs. They will cut jobs and slash services while ploughing billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money into corporate coffers.
NEOLIBERALISM
The road to crisis started in Australia in the early 1980s when the policies of Milton Friedman were adopted and first implemented by the Hawke/Keating government. These policies became known as “economic rationalist” in Australia or “neo-liberal.”
It started with the floating of the Australian dollar against other currencies by Paul Keating when he was the Treasurer in the first Hawke government. This meant that the currency was pushed up or down according to the whim of the stock exchanges around the world with governments having no control over the outcome.
This was followed by the introduction of so-called “competition policy” which was really a cover under which publicly owned enterprises were privatised and incorporated into the capitalist system completely. Competition was never enforced when it came to the corporations. This is evident in the oil industry and, quite recently, in the interest rate rises imposed by the banks. The very small differences in the rate increases imposed by all the major banks show that competition is just a joke. There are many other examples.
In a number of other major industries the process of mergers and take-overs has gone on apace until the market is dominated by one or two major enterprises which make cartel agreements controlling prices or by carving up the market between them.
In the rush to privatisation in Australia, telecommunications (Telstra) has been handed over, Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank were privatised, airports, port facilities, power, water, railways, and many other vital industries or services have been wholly or partly privatised. Some government services have been handed over to be run by the private sector – euphemistically called “outsourcing.”
Underlying all these measures goes the systematic intensification of the exploitation of labour. This is behind the talk by governments and employers about increasing productivity – more production by fewer workers. The former Howard government followed the Labor governments’ introduction of enterprise bargaining and the gutting of awards by savagely attacking workers’ wages, conditions and rights.
The Albanese government is using the mantra of “fighting inflation” – not the inflation caused by banks putting up interest rates or the oil companies putting up petrol prices, instead claiming it is caused by trade unions and workers fighting for higher wages and the restoration of penalty rates, holiday pay and other conditions stolen by employers in recent years.
All these policies will be continued by a second term Albanese ALP government as has already been made clear by the empty platitudes and meaningless appeals made to the banks when the banks put up interest rates.
