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August 10, 2011
The urban riots in the UK, with their images of burning buildings, cars aflame, looting, kids in hoodies and stripped-out shops, are an indication of what happens when young people from the low income estates have no jobs, cannot afford education, are not part of local communities, live in poverty, and are constantly harassed by the police.
The backdrop to London burning is one of great inequality, large cuts to public services, and enforced austerity measures. Hence the rioters concentration on shopping and consumer goods? Their world is increasingly one of drugs, weapons, gangs--the world of The Wire.
Martin Rowson
People reduce the stock market to the market, the market to the economy, and then represent the market as independent of politics. The urban riots indicate that it is impossible to understand politics without economics or economics without politics, and so we need to think in terms of political economy. This is to think in terms of whether the political system is capable of resolving the financial and economic crisis and making the financial elite, who caused the financial crisis, accountable.
What has happened is that the political class has spent large sums of money to stabilize the financial system, generating massive debt in the process, and they have continued to allow the financial elite to manage the system to its benefit. So we have a political crisis generated by an economic one; a political crisis over the manner in which the political elite has managed the financial crisis and the subsequent recession. This, in turn, makes the economic crisis worse.
Ironically the judgement of the markets is that democratic elected governments cannot do what needs to be done, leaving it unclear what it is that needs to be done by the political class. More austerity? Cut large swathes through civil society, third sector bodies and community services? Britain becomes a less civil and more unequal place to live.
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Yes you are essentially right there Gary. Its tough in the UK at the moment as it is in a lot of places that arent burning.
The phrase " The people are revolting" has two meanings and in this case i think the latter is the correct one.