Capital and Brexit

By Ed Conduit

Capital is money that is invested in the expectation of a profit. Investors inevitably move their money
towards the highest rate of interest and lowest risk of loss. The analogy of fungal growth is offered here.
A fungus such as wood rot will extend many hyphae. Where water and nutrients are abundant a new
fruiting body appears above ground as a mushroom – or a stock market. Dry spaces are a minor obstacle
to fungal growth, and national boundaries are minor obstacles to globalisation of capital.
“Socialisation of loss, privatization of capital” in 2008 led to the current £1.7 trillion debt, with another £100 billion soon to come from Greek and other EU debts.. The Conservative project of “rolling back the state” is now advanced, so no incoming government of the left can hope to have much revenue.
The world since 1991 forms a single substrate for capital. This seemed to be delivering prosperity to
most peoples, but problems appeared in 2008. A big problem in the UK is the loss of jobs in basic
industry. Capital has moved them to Asia and concentrated financial services in London. Other new
jobs are mostly poorly-paid in distribution and retail. The historical materialist basis of classes is analysed, particularly the role of UKIP for small business.

The expansion of Capital into property has created another problem for UK workers. Rents now take
40% or more of income and house ownership is out of reach for many.
A “people’s march for real jobs and affordable housing”, which could be addressed by an infrastructure spending on rail, road and cycle tracks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ed Conduit
• Release date: Aug 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370067176

Ed Conduit

Ed Conduit worked as a clinical psychologist for 43 years and has further degrees in lecturing, computer science and linguistics. He has no formal training in economics, but thinks that social democrats at the present time are obliged to try to understand money. His professional habit of trying to empathise with diverse peoples helps him achieve the national outlook of people in many nations.Ed's other e-book on politics and ecology is “Unsustainable Population”. He has also writtene-books on linguistics: "The Black Country Dialect", "Lakeland Language" and "The Iceland Bus”. His work on health psychology was printed in 1995 as “The Body Under Stress".

Book preview

Capital and Brexit

By Ed Conduit

May 2017 edition

ISBN: 9781370067176

Published by

Laghamon, Stourbridge

The Author

Ed Conduit worked as a clinical psychologist for 43 years and has further degrees in lecturing, computer science and linguistics. He has no formal training in economics, but thinks that social democrats at the present time are obliged to try to understand money. His professional habit of trying to empathise with diverse peoples helps him achieve the national outlook of people in many nations.

Ed's other e-book on politics and ecology is Unsustainable Population. He has also written

e-books on linguistics: The Black Country Dialect, Lakeland Language and The Iceland Bus. His work on health psychology was printed in 1995 as The Body Under Stress.

The author may be contacted at: [e-mail] 

The cover image:

Capital is compared to a fungus. It has a few fruit bodies above ground but a large mass of hyphae underground. This analogy shows money flows between all the countries on the planet to where it will give the best return. The urge to create new national boundaries will create only minor obstructions to the dominance of Capital.

Table of Contents

Preface

Harry Potter and the QE App

The alphabet and magic

Now read on

The triumph of Capitalism

Capital, surplus value, rents

Capital, Comecon, war communism

The European Union

Economic liberalism delivers the goods

Capital out-competes the economic plan; 1991

Privatisation

Commoditisation of housing

Energy, water, transport

Rolling back the state: what next for the NHS and schools?

Lending to consumers

2008: risky loans

US consumers, walk away mortgages

The Greek bubble

The return of patrimonial wealth

Lending to nation states

Socialisation of Capital’s losses

Public debt keeps on growing

Austerity

Printing money

Will the EU collapse under its debt mountain?

Migrant labour

The healthy worker

Wages and competition for jobs

Housing

Education

Scottish nationalism: resist austerity

The Norman conquest of Scotland

Scots ethnolinguistics

The Holyrood budget

English nationalism: resist migrant competition

The return of class struggle?

Labour’s lack of economic theory

Subjectively: give us back our country

Objectively: anti-Capital

What is to be done?

References

Preface

This little book attempts to put back the idea of Capital into political debate and offers a political-economic analysis of changes between the credit crisis of 2008 and the EU referendum vote of 2016.

The main driving force of the global economy is that investors can make money by lending. Capital is not a conspiracy, although it leads to conspiracies. It is more like a fungus, which grows where water and nutrients can be found. In the nineteenth century Marx and Engels described how capital accumulated by employing workers, whose work produced goods that could be sold for more than they earned in wages. At other Capital accumulates through rents; this means payment of money to use a house or workplace, but it extends to other forms of rental.

Lending capital to consumers so that they could buy goods on credit led to a major crisis in 2008. Governments everywhere felt they had no choice but to take on large chunks of Capital’s losses and add them to their national debt. The ongoing national debt of Greece is a persistent reminder of this period of risky lending. The private wealth of the richest 1% in the UK recovered rapidly after 2008, government public spending remains compromised by debt. The need to issue gilts is then a further investment opportunity for Capital. The French economist Piketty describes this transfer of public money to private pockets as the return of patrimonial wealth.

The Brexit result largely represents the votes of the native-born English working class, but following the lead of small capital. UKIP MEPs are mostly small capitalists such as shopkeepers, constantly under threat from big capital and struggling to keep down their VAT bill. While the subjective state of Brexit voters is merely angry and anti-foreigner, objectively it could