riotjam

When you create a society that has no sense about it at all, you can't be surprised if people behave in destructive, irrational ways.  And if you set an example of unrestrained greed and freedom to behave vilely, you can't be surprised if people follow it.

David Cameron was involved in a shop window-breaking incident in Oxford when a member of the Bullingdon Club.  "Just youthful high spirits", of course.  He didn't spend any days in prison.  And bankers and company directors grab millions in pay and pension rights "to keep the best people at the top".

"What "utterly unacceptable,. criminal behaviour" actually means is "tug you forelocks and respect our property while we exploit society entirely to our advantage".   The government's own research has found that 64% of rioters came from the most deprived neighbourhoods, 42% were entitled to free school meals, 35% were on benefits, and two-thirds had special educational needs.

Forever debt

When businesses borrow to start producing, when they do so they have to charge a price for their products that covers the interest on their borrowings.  This means they are charging more for their stuff than they are paying out to their workers.  So there is always a perpetual shortage of buying power.  So consumers also have to borrow in order to purchase what they need.  This creates a continually-growing pool of debt, which makes it necessary for the economy to keep growing more and more which produces pollution and exhaustion of materials.  It also guarantees that some industries will have to go bankrupt as the demands for their products falls.  So we are condemned, by the continual creation of debt, to work longer and longer hours, have less and less time for our families, and endanger the planet's environment.

We need a different system, where the increasing productiveness of modern industry enables us to work LESS hours and use things up less fervidly.