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By Michael Roberts
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Thursday, 12 July 2007 |
Last week, the Bank of England hiked its
interest rates, yet again, to 5.75%. This
was the fifth rise since August 2005.
And the head of the bank, Mervyn King, said that "further action" on
interest rates could be necessary. Most
observers reckon the interest rate that most borrowing and mortgages are based on
- the bank rate - will go to 6% or more by the end of this year.
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By Michael Roberts
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Wednesday, 04 July 2007 |
The world's stock markets having been hitting all-time
highs in their prices, especially the markets of India and China,
where there seems no end to the upward spiral of the burgeoning capitalists
economies and their accompanying stock markets. Only the US economy is slowing as its
housing market collapses.
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By Mick Brooks
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Friday, 01 June 2007 |
Gordon Brown wants the UK to be 'the most
attractive location to do business.' He has a problem. Every other finance
minister in the capitalist world wants the same for their own country. What is happening is a race to the bottom. The rich get richer, the poor pay more.
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By Mick Brooks
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Tuesday, 17 April 2007 |
Socialists have always been opposed to all forms of discrimination, not only because it is unfair to a part of the working class, but because discrimination divides us as a class and weakens us as a result.
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By Michael Roberts
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Friday, 13 April 2007 |
Michael Roberts takes a look at the role played by the US Federal Reserve Bank and what its chairman, Ben Bernanke, has had to say about the inequality of income in capitalist society.
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By Mick Brooks
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Wednesday, 04 April 2007 |
Behind the term "private equity" hides good old "asset stripping". It is not about making things. It's about making money from money, buying up companies, stripping them and selling them off with a mountain of debt. Or to use a simpler term, it's capitalism.
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By Michael Roberts
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Thursday, 22 March 2007 |
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The announced income tax cuts in reality are being taken back by increased tax rates for some of the poorest households while the richest income earners would benefit the most.
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By Mick Brooks
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Tuesday, 13 March 2007 |
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This is an updated version of an educational piece on Marxist economics that was produced in October 1974. It is an introduction to what often seems a complicated subject. It includes recommendations for further reading and should be read by all those interested in deepening their knowledge about Marxism.
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By Michael Roberts
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Thursday, 01 March 2007 |
China hints at a tax on capital gains and the Shanghai stock exchange falls by 10%, but then the fall affects all the other major stock exchanges. What does all this indicate? Michael Roberts gives his view on the question.
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By Socialist Appeal
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Monday, 19 February 2007 |
The World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University has carried out what it declares the 'most comprehensive study of personal wealth ever undertaken'. Unsurprisingly it concludes that the wealthy few are getting richer and richer at our expense.
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By Michael Roberts
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Friday, 16 February 2007 |
All the figures on the British economy reveal the underlying sickness of the whole system. The indebtedness of the population has reached record levels. Now all the signs are there of a coming serious slowdown. This is what Gordon Brown will inherit as he prepares to become the next Labour Prime Minister.
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By Chris Kaihatsu
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Monday, 29 January 2007 |
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A reader has objected to some of Michael Roberts' criticisms of Andrew Glyn's latest book. Among others it deals with the question of whether profit rates in the post-war period were affected by wage increases. Roberts replies showing that the fundamental reason for the decline was the same as that stated by Marx.
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By Michael Roberts
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Friday, 12 January 2007 |
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Andrew Glyn is an economist at Oxford University. In his new book, Capitalism Unleashed, Glyn attempts to explain how capitalism moved from the crisis of the 1970s to recovery in the 1980s and 1990s. However, although full of interesting information, the book fails to provide an overall analysis and misses some essential aspects of Marxist theory.
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By Sherry Shamsi (Edinburgh)
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Monday, 18 December 2006 |
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While no money is available for spending on healthcare,
education, pensions, etc., billions of dollars are spent on building up massive
security systems. Each terror scare adds to the profit margins of the big
security companies. It is an indication of the sickness of the society we live
in.
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