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NEW APPROACHES TO ECONOMICS

October 19th, 2011

 

The Editor
The Adelaide Review
GPO Box 651

ADELAIDE SA 5001

editor@adelaidereview.com.au

Dear Sir/Madam
RE: LETTER TO THE EDITOR – NEW APPROACHES TO ECONOMICS

Along with others who want to see our international economic
system adopt more humane and fairer economics, I was  interested to read John Spoehr’s article, Debt and the Global Financial Crisis (The Adelaide
Review October 2011) about Ann Pettifor, a co-founder of Jubilee 2000 and the Green New Deal Group. 

I was particularly pleased you printed John’s article as I had
intended being at her Adelaide meeting, but was unable to do so. John’s article inspired me to do some further reading about Ann’s work and I discovered that she is also a fellow of nef (The New Economics Foundation) and that she shares ideas about the current international economic crisis on her blog Debtonation.org.
nef is an independent think-and-do tank with the slogan “economics as if people and the planet mattered” and it aims to improve quality of life by promoting innovative solutions that challenge mainstream thinking on economic, environment and social issues. It works in partnership with many sections of the UK society and internationally to create more understanding and strategies for change that increase the well-being of people and the environmental sustainability of the planet. 
It seems that there are now a number of groups of internationally renowned economists who have similar aims and are campaigning for better economic outcomes for “the wretched of the earth”.
Another initiative that I discovered recently is a group promoting what they term as the Robin Hood Tax. This campaign is being promoted by NGOs (Non Government Organisations) and progressive economists and politicians internationally.

One of its major supporters should be well known to Adelaideans. I refer to Professor Geoff Harcourt, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Adelaide and Emeritus Reader in the History of Economic Theory at Cambridge University. He was well known as a leading figure in the Campaign for Peace in Vietnam and the Vietnam Moratorium in SA during the 1960s and 1970s.
Geoff is also known internationally for the major contributions he has made to
the understanding of the ideas of the economists, Maynard Keynes and Joan
Robinson as well as his commitment to international economic justice.
The Robin Hood Tax is a package of financial transaction taxes which supporters say could be implemented globally, regionally or unilaterally by individual nations.  But there is another way. Thousands of Robin Hood Tax
campaigners believe that banks, hedge funds and the rest of the financial sector should pay their fair share to clear up the international economic mess they helped create.
Currently, the main proposals are:
* A Financial Transaction Tax (FTT)
  This type of tax involves a very small tax of about
0.05% on transactions like stocks, bonds, foreign currency and  derivatives. It is thought this
  could  raise £250 billion a year globally. Its proponents say it has the advantages of being well tested, cheap to implement and hard to avoid.

  It is also thought that Transaction taxes  will reduce the number of the most risky transactions occurring which helped to trigger the recent financial  crises.

*  A Bank Levy

This is basically a flat-rate levy imposed on large financial institutions. Under huge pressure from their voters and from campaigners, a number of countries, including the UK, France and Germany have already introduced a bank levy, but at rates that have not raised nearly enough to be effective in helping the poor and the planet.

* The Financial Activities Tax (FAT)

  Supporters of this tax claim that it could raise billions through taxing excess profits and remuneration. Broadly, it is equivalent to a GST-type tax, but that it is only levied on the financial sector. It is estimated that it could raise £3.9 billion a year in the UK alone – and up to $93 billion across the OECD countries. The UK government has said it is open to implementing a FAT tax, but only together with a group of other countries, for example at EU level.

I believe that if we want to develop programs that will effectively combat world poverty and protect our environment, these initiatives should be strongly supported. Such taxes would not impose an extra financial burden on the poorest in the world community, but would ensure that super wealthy individuals and corporations, including those who currently pay very
little or no tax because of legal loop-holes, would contribute their fair share into combatting

poverty and improving the world’s environment.  

Yours sincerely

Andrew (Andy) Alcock



Posted in Environment, Humanitarian Aid, International Politics, Social Justice, Socialism
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Letter to the Editor – The Guardian Weekly – There is No Peace or Reconciliation without Justice

November 1st, 2009

Congratulations to Duncan Staff for his very thoughtful and heart rending article about his encounter with Srebenica Massacre survivor, Hasan Nuhanovic (No peace without justice TGW 30.10.09).

I thought that the article was very aptly summarised by the comment Hasan made after he had described his harrowing story about trying to find the remains of his father, who was a victim of the massacre and his positive feelings that it was good to see that Karadzic is now on trial. “There can be no reconciliation without justice”.

This is an important principle that many world leaders refuse to acknowledge. All too often, the very unfair expectation is that victims of genocide and human rights abuses will just have to forget the horrors they have endured and get on with their lives.

It would be wonderful if Hasan Nuhanovic could communicate this principle to a fellow Muslim, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, and to many other leaders in the SE Asian and Pacific regions who want to forget the crimes committed by the Indonesian military (TNI) over the past 40 years  because they feel it would upset relations with Indonesia or because it would expose their complicity.

It is well known that there are scores of senior TNI officers as well as members of the terrorist militias the TNI established over the years who may never face justice. To allow this to happen is to deny justice to their victims.

If the international community thought it necessary to institute tribunals to investigate war crimes in Europe during WW2 and Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, why should there not be a similar tribunal to investigate the crimes committed by the TNI  in East Timor, West Papua, Acheh and Indonesia itself?

There are many Indonesians who feel the same way as Hasan.  On 10 September this year, a leading Indonesian human rights organisation, KONTRAS, welcomed the announcement by the Australian Federal Police that it would undertake an investigation into the deaths of the five journalists killed at Balibo in East Timor during October 1975 by the TNI during the early days of its illegal invasion. KONTRAS Coordinator, Usman Hamid, said that the war crimes investigation would add weight to calls for an international tribunal to look into crimes against humanity committed in East Timor and would remind the Indonesian public about the crimes committed by the TNI.

We must remember as Duncan Staff’s article emphasised that there can be no reconciliation or lasting peace in the world unless victims of human rights abuses have received justice.


Posted in Acheh, East Timor, Indonesia, Peace, Social Justice
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AA’S comments on Questions & Answers – ABC TV – 28.5.09

May 29th, 2009

One commentator felt that there was a pro ALP bias with the way the program’s panel was organised:

I actually think that Q&A programs are better when there is a Greens politician or someone else who has a different stance to the 2 major political parties.

The fact is that the ALP & the LP are very close. Rudd got rid of Workchoices in name, but there are elements of it in the Fair Work Act.

On climate change, the LP still wants to delay and the ALP wants to make the most minor of changes.

On racism, the Howard Government adopted an  incredibly racist policy by targetting people who were escaping tyrrany. When Nick Bolkus was Immigration Minister, he showed no compassion to East Timorese boat people who were on Indonesian military (TNI) death lists following the Santa Cruz Massacre of 1991. He put them in Port Hedland.

He also started the policy of detaining asylum seekers.

The ALP & the LP were equally culpable in supporting Indonesia in its invasion of East Timor. Leaders of both parties lied and deceived while a third of the population was wiped out by the TNI. They both played a shameful role in stealing Timor’s oil which continues to this day.

Another important issue for Australian workers is the national review of OH&S laws. The LP has always supported the worst employers to ensure that the laws are not very strong. Deputy PM Gillard promised there would be OH&S laws of the highest standard. The fact is that the ALP is set to go along with laws that are the lowest common denominator.

We need to face the fact that our 2 major political parties are extremely conservative and adopt policies that appall Australians who have a strong sense of social justice and value human rights.

We need politicians that look after ordinary Australians and pursue policies that make us good and responsible international citizens.


Posted in Asylum Seekers, Australian Politics, East Timor, Environment, Human Rights, Indonesia, Reviews, Social Justice
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