We need more variations on this theme

Posted on February 1 2015

I am not a member of a political party.

I will not be endorsing any party in the run up to the election.

I want them all to promote tax justice.

I want them all the oppose austerity.

I want them all to promote equality.

I want them all to invest now in our futures.

But it is fair to say some deliver the message more clearly than others right now:

 

It would be good to see many variations on that theme.

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8 Responses

  1. Tony_B says:
    February 1 2015 at 9:36 am

    I want them all not to engage in secret transnational deals.
    I want them all to be honest.
    I want them all not to engage in war and violence.

  2. David says:
    February 1 2015 at 10:44 am

    I too am not a member of any political party.

    I am a capitalist.

    I believe that business exists to serve society, not the reverse.

    I want them to be successful.

    I want them to share the reward of success with their staff and shareholders.

    I want them to pay tax in the societies where they trade, proportionate to that trade.

    I want them to upskill their workforce.

  3. Mark Burton says:
    February 1 2015 at 11:06 am

    I want them to take seriously the real threats of ecosystem collapse and runaway global warning.

    I want them to act in the interests of the global majority of the poor and dispossessed.

  4. Mark Crown says:
    February 1 2015 at 1:09 pm

    Richard, Tony B, David & Mark

    I want what you want plus:

    I want them to support small businesses more.

    I want them to enforce the minimum wage.

    I want them to get us out of NATO and to become neutral.

    I want them to look at interest rates for money and allocate for the full gamut of different rates for different uses that money is actually used for. Why should those who save be punished by low interests rates because they are tied to interest rates used to rate credit (debt)? Or vice versa. This is not choice; it is market manipulation. This system is too simple and manages money for the financial system and not people. I’m influenced here by Richard Douthwaite and his Schumacher Briefing No. 4 ‘The Ecology of Money’.

    I want a nationalised bank.

    I want more interventions in the housing market to get the balance right between housing being a good AND an investment (which it is). They are priced too much as investments at the moment and not as places to live. If the state built houses to sell or rent using the low interest rates its income stream attracts, housing would be cheaper for everyone as there are less noses in the trough on the financing side.

    I could go on. But obviously that’s enough.

    • Mark Crown says:
      February 1 2015 at 1:23 pm

      P.S.

      I also want them once and for all to sort out the pension system in a way that benefits people and not the finance sector. We could afford pensions if we took more time to allocate money properly throughout society. End of.

      Richard – I’ve just read your section on pensions in your book ‘The Courageous State’.

      If you don’t mind me saying, it is the most well-written part of the book yet – a sinuous but easy to follow expose of how it works and what the system needs to survive – lots of brave decisions that could sort it out are needed. Pensions is a topic I have hitherto overlooked in my learning about current financial/economic orthodoxy. I’m not sure if I could read anything better unless you have some recommendations of your own?

      Many thanks.

    • Richard Murphy says:
      February 1 2015 at 2:24 pm

      It’s a fair list