Saturday, June 4, 2011

Europe's New Road to Serfdom

Click here to access article by Michael Hudson from CounterPunch.

The author explains how the capitalist predators in Europe are encircling what is left of a democratically controlled "commons" and preparing their working populations for a final attack that will leave them in complete debt servitude.
At issue is whether Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and the rest of Europe will roll back democratic reform and move toward financial oligarchy. The financial objective is to bypass parliament by demanding a “consensus” to put foreign creditors first, above the economy at large. Parliaments are being asked to relinquish their policy-making power. The very definition of a “free market” has now become centralized planning – in the hands of central bankers. This is the new road to serfdom that financialized “free markets” are leading to: markets free for privatizers to charge monopoly prices for basic services “free” of price regulation and anti-trust regulation, “free” of limits on credit to protect debtors, and above all free of interference from elected parliaments.