Jim 'Motorhead' Sherwood R.I.P.

Playing the Blame Game

EXTRACT: Despite the endless succession of ‘rescue packages’ and ‘make or break’ summits, there is still no sign of a resolution to the euro zone crisis. Quite the opposite. Though it would be mistaken to think that a catastrophic break-up of the euro is inevitable, it is equally true that the momentum remains towards malfunction. If so, it is beyond doubt that such an occurrence would trigger an economic slump or depression at least on the scale of the 1930s. We are confronted by the possibility that the world capitalist-imperialist system could descend into general chaos.

The warnings are all there. On December 9 the Moody’s rating agency downgraded France’s three major banks (BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole) on the basis that liquidity and funding conditions had “deteriorated significantly” due to a “continued lack of investor appetite for bank debt”. Then, perhaps more seriously, a week later it downgraded Belgium’s credit rating by two notches, citing “sustained deterioration” in funding conditions for euro zone countries with relatively high levels of public debt - plus the economic woes associated with the dismantling of the troubled Franco-Belgium banking group, Dexia.

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Cameron's Euro Veto Con Trick

EXTRACT: Playing the part of Winston Churchill, or at least in his imagination, David Cameron went to the Brussels lair on December 9 and showed the British bulldog spirit. Standing up for the plucky underdog, he vetoed any amendments to the Lisbon treaty. Naturally, Cameron was defending Britain’s interests against the creeping advance of the Hydra-headed Euro-bureaucracy.
Of course, what Cameron actually said he was doing was protecting the City and its interests - in whose name he exercised his veto. Not you and me. He made no bones about that. The very same bankers, speculators and spivs who have grown obscenely rich and privileged whilst British workers - just like European workers - face a regime of increasing austerity and steady immiseration. Indeed, the very same people - as servants of capitalism - who have been rewarded for their part in bringing the world economy to the brink of catastrophic collapse. They get fabulous bonuses beyond the dreams of avarice, whilst we get a pay cut or have to work longer for less when it comes to our pensions.

In short, Cameron was standing up for the interests of UK capitalist club and the predatory City - against the capitalist bureaucracy of the European Union ‘superstate’.

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Slaughter by Austerity Butchers

EXTRACT: "One thing is for sure: any “fiscal union” from above carried out by the Eurocrats and bankers (even if such a thing is possible, which is extremely doubtful) will require more attacks on the working class; more ‘balancing of the books’, more austerity drives. That has been made more than clear by the likes of Merkel, Schäuble, Rompuy and Draghi. Hence the Greek, French, Irish and Italian parliaments have approved another round of vicious, anti-working class, austerity measures - even if Italy’s welfare minister, Elsa Fornero, had the semi-decency to start crying (with shame?) at a news conference unveiling the latest attacks. Unlike the capitalist robot, Edna Kerry, who in a TV address on December 4 told the working class that the 2012 budget “will be tough” (on workers and the majority) because “it has to be”; therefore VAT will be hiked to 23%, a new household tax imposed, child benefit reduced and social welfare slashed even more.
In or out of the euro, with or without “fiscal union”, the only ‘solution’ on offer is to make the working class pay for the failings of capitalism."
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