I read with interest the article by Mr John Sharman of Unison, Letters and Opinion Lincolnshire Echo 15-21st March and offer the following thoughts. The Neo-Liberal model of economics which now blights the world economy was unleashed proper with the arrival of Mrs Thatcher as Prime Minister in our country and Ronald Reagan to the presidency of the United States. As national assets were sold off into private ownership, proponents of neo-liberalism argued that government "interference" of any kind was harmful and that free unregulated markets are natural, fluid and would bring about a natural order.
From the late 90's on, Messr's Bush and Blair stoked the fires of neo-liberalsim encouraging the illusion of wealth through credit debt. U.S, lobbyists spent billions of dollars encouraging politicians to do their bidding whilst at home"Quangos", remember that term? commissioned by the government, paid for by the taxpayer, and headed by businessmen whose sole aim was to de-regulate in favour of their own business interests, fed off the public purse whilst trying to help themselves to the family silver.
At this juncture I have to disagree with Mr Sharman, he is wrong to argue that it is the capitalist system not its operators who are at fault. That is akin to suggesting that because a car can be driven wrecklessly, it's not the driver's fault if it crashes. Following the financial crisis of 2008, it was widely anticipated that lessons would be learned and new regulation would prevent such a repeat. Clearly they haven't, nothing has changed significantly, the bankers and corporate elite get richer and have continued to manipulate the world's economy to suit their own ends galloping along in denial of the suffering and hardship they have brought about.
I state the obvious, businesses of this nature exist to make profit for shareholders and shareholders demand profit.Whilst free markets do have a role to play in our economic growth and development there are areas of modern society in which profit driven performance has no place. Health and social care, education and the rule of law are of prime concern and must be protected by government. Health and social care because, and don't confuse this with the desire to be effective and efficient, caring for our sick and needy should not be compromised by economically driven targets. Education because it is through the guarantee of an equal opportunity to learn that we all grow, develop and are valued as members of a society in which our involvement is positively encouraged. The law must remain free of private interests because if government cannot guarantee that citizens are treated equally regardless of their financial wealth and social position we should be concerned that civil unrest such as that witnessed last summer will likely become more commonplace.
Last week it was disclosed that Devon NHS Trust has put its children's services out to private tender. Can any right thinking person truly believe that young people trying to cope with varying degrees of personal trauma will be best served by a target and profit driven company. The NHS isn't perfect, it's a massive and expensive organization but it does pay its way, it's ours, it does work and it's a world envied national asset. If it wasn't any good why would private business want to be involved?
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