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item0079D 1096, 1097 1096 4 July 2005
Pressure to
Interest rates are a key political phenomenon, indicating the balance of power between owners and workers. America, a land of low interest rates, is one in which (contrary to popular belief) workers, including active management, are more powerful that the owners of capital. If you want to earn a fortune, from scratch, you must get up and do something. In the UK, owners have traditionally been more powerful than the active workers, thus sustaining the UK's high interest-rate regime. But I suspect that is changing, the world over. It now seems that, contrary to expectations, the UK Bank Rate (the "Government" borrowing rate) will peak at 4.5%, and the next move will be downwards. That means that the owners of money can in practice cannot ask more than about 7% pa, when lending their money to those with the skills and drive to make use of it. The ability to make profitable use of capital is growing in importance, while the mere ownership of money confers less power upon its owners. The price mechanism has spoken, and delivered a key political verdict. And I am optimistic about that. Do you share my fascination with interest rates? Drop me a line
1097 10 July 2005 Please approach with cautionExtract from Tribune June 1997 Roger Warren Evans
In principle, the project is a wise and constructive one. New Labour has correctly perceived that its relationship with the corporate sector must be re-thought. Old Labour was preoccupied with the conflict between capital and labour - which is now old hat. Governments need corporations, if the requirements of a modern consumer society are to be met. In fact, governments have become the ultimate guarantors of the consumer society. Labour has many friends in the corporate sector and the supporting professions, but these remain alien territory for elected politicians, particularly those from the Left.
The corporations must be persuaded to pay a greater share of the national tax bill. They will not like it - but they need a Labour Government, as much as it needs them. Corporations need access to markets, both governmental and domestic. National governments call the shots on public health and safety, law enforcement, the environment, planning, pollution, company law, monopolies and restrictive practices. Corporations exist to trade, and their leaders will comply with clear instructions, if compliance is the price of market access.
The new British Government must be on its guard. The corporate sector may applaud some of its actions, but is part of a system which is far more powerful than Labour Ministers, and has values which they may not share. The abuse of private property power through the global corporate sector remains the most destructive factor in the modern worlds.
Roger Warren Evans is a member of the Gower CLP and the Labour Finance & Industry Group, but he writes in a personal capacity. Tribune Vol 61 No 25 21 June 1997
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I feel like an anxious mother with a
pregnant daughter. The impulse to give advice is overwhelming.
And so it is for Labour's long-standing business supporters, in relation to
the Labour Cabinet. Faced with Labour's new partnership with
"business", one feels impelled to advise on the risks that lie ahead.