The Socialist 9 August 2016

Stand firm for socialism

#KeepCorbyn: stand firm for socialism

Liverpool: Corbyn slams "politics of the elite"

Wallasey Labour meet in resistance to the Blairites

Mood for unity but not with right-wing Labour infiltrators

Thousands attend Corbyn rally in Cornwall

Bristol: Jeremy Corbyn wins support from young people

Hull: Jeremy Corbyn rally the biggest for 20 years

Jeremy Corbyn attracts 1,000 in York

Fresh bank crash looms

No to new grammars

Fight to defend HIV drug victory

UK wage drop as bad as Greece

Privatised medical record chaos

Them & Us

Grunwick strike 40 years on - lessons of an epic battle

Fawley strike defeats 'race to bottom' exploitation of migrant workers

Low paid cleaners declare victory after 58 days on strike

Samworth Brothers step up bullying and intimidation of workers

Communication Workers Union backs Jeremy Corbyn

HMY Radford shopfitters strike against penny-pinching company

South Wales NUM supports Jeremy Corbyn

Paul Reilly for RMT EC

2011 riots: An outpouring of anger at the system

Axe the Housing Act: 'We can't pay, we'll organise and we'll stay'

Great reception in Hackney for Chicago 'Black Lives Matter' socialist

South London #BlackLivesMatter protest marches on Downing Street

Leeds Pride 2016: Pride must be political!

Sanctioned - a victim of government callousness

Food waste - the logic of capitalism

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Fresh bank crash looms

Interest rate cut shows bosses are out of ideas

Northern Rock was the first UK bank to suffer a run in 150 years during the last financial crash which started in 2007, photo by Dominic Alves (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge)

Tom Baldwin

The banksters are at it again. Despite huge public anger at their role in the financial crisis of 2007-8 it seems no lessons have been learned. A new report warns that "we're sailing blindly into a second global financial crisis."

It comes from right-wing think-tank The Adam Smith Institute, yet pulls no punches in criticising the finance industry and its regulators. "The Bank of England is asleep at the wheel." Its 'stress tests', which supposedly ensure the strength of banks, are "worse than useless" and "disguise the chronic weakness of the UK banking system."

The Bank of England has cut interest rates to a historic low of 0.25%, aimed at stimulating a faltering economy.

However, the benefit of previous rate cuts and quantitative easing (QE) hasn't fully been felt in the real economy and certainly hasn't reached the pockets of ordinary people. In fact, it has helped fuel further speculation and inflate dangerous bubbles in the economy. Rock-bottom rates leave no room for manoeuvre when there is another crash.

The working class would suffer most if banks collapsed. The report warns of "beleaguered banksters begging for bailouts" and that "the taxpayer will be ripped off yet again - but bigger this time."

Despite the Tories claiming their austerity programme put Britain on the road to recovery, none of the underlying problems that caused the last crash have been solved. This would be impossible on the basis of capitalism. Financial gambling has grown as bosses seek ever greater profits.

Only socialist solutions can prevent a new crisis. That means the banks and big businesses that dominate the economy should be taken into public ownership and run democratically by workers and service users. Only then can the economy be made to serve the needs of society - and not a mad dash for profits by a wealthy few, regardless of the consequences.

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