Showing posts with label global financial crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global financial crisis. Show all posts

Friday, 6 February 2009

Financial Crisis Notice of Meeting

YOU ARE PAYING!
WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE?
THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
—your questions answered.
THIS GREED WAS BEYOND IRRESPONSIBLE!
Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre Conference Room
Saturday 7th February, 10.30am– 12.30pm
Facilitated by the SSP co-convenor,
Frances Curran
Speakers—Raphie de Santos— was head of Equity Derivatives Research and Strategy at Goldman Sachs International. He was an advisor on derivatives and financial markets to the Bank of England, London Stock Exchange, London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange and the Italian Ministry of Finance. Raphie has been a guest lecturer on derivatives and financial markets at Harvard and New York universities and the London School of Economics and has spoken at the annual Nobel Foundation conference in Stockholm.
Bill Newman spent most of his working life in banking, latterly as head of economics and then as Assistant General Manager of a City of London bank. For some 15 years he was also editor of and wrote for a journal on international monetary economics.
Bill was also on the Executive Committee and the Management Committee of the Banking, Insurance and Finance Union (BIFU) and a delegate to the TUC.

THE CAMPSIE BRANCH SSP invite your participation in this important discussion. How will this crisis effect YOU?

About the Scottish Socialist Party
While it fights to defend jobs, working conditions and living standards and for houses and health the SSP also demands a new economy.
Such an economy would start the task of harnessing the stupendous technological and material resources which already exist to meet the needs of society rather than the greed of the few.

Link to Campsie Branch of the SSP in the sidebar

Friday, 12 September 2008

Nationalisation of Financial Institutions

Now that the UK has effectively nationalised Northern Rock (almost the first birthday of the nationalisation) and the USA has effectively nationalised both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we can only applaud this new spirit of public ownership. It's just a pity that the taxpayer always seems to get lumbered with the losers rather than the shareholders who were paid large dividends rather than creating reserves to see their companies through financial crises. It's also a pity that the same spirit of providing a safety net for investors couldn't have been brought to bear on the problems of Farepak, but then their investors weren't already the rich so they don't count for much to Big Gordy.

Just a further comment on the global financial meltdown. Money doesn't just disappear, so if everyone is going to get poorer, who is going to get richer? Capitalists are fighting like ferrets in a sack each trying to save his own arse at the expense of the rest and, as usual, the poorest will pay the price and the rich will get richer. Banks are queueing up to buy each other at bargain basement prices and it's about time the national and international regulators stepped in and sorted out this fucking mess they have allowed to be created by pure greed.

Friday, 20 June 2008

Free Public Transport

On Thursday 19th the SSP launched its week of action on free public transport by leafleting and posting around stations and other transport hubs.

I've put a link to the site in 'Some other views from the left' in the sidebar.

Public reaction was very positive, as you might expect from people who are about to have to buy a ticket for an inferior service at an extortionate price to feed the fat cats who operate and mis-manage public transport for their own and their shareholders benefit.

Perhaps more surprising was the number of people who took the opportunity to express their support for our other policies on abolition of the council tax and its replacement by a fair system of taxation, on ending our involvement in American wars, on council housing, and on independence in a socialist Scotland.

It seems that it has taken a global financial meltdown to get across the message that capitalism is destroying itself through its own greed and to make people seriously consider an alternative 'not for profit' system which puts people before profit.