Worth discussing
The question most worth discussing now and in coming years is whether the fall of communist structures from Tirana to Vladivostok implies that "worker and peasant governments" cannot be created and operated effectively by people as they are constituted, or is this fall an historical phenomenon which eventually will be changed by political means, and if it is such a phenomenon, what is a realistic prognosis for the future.
David Martin
Beechworth Vic
Bush at Rio
US President Bush has made one thing clear at Rio. Even the lumpen should be able to see it.
Capitalism is nothing but institutionalised egotism. Bush has acted to throw away the whole world's future at Rio — to make sure he wins the next US election.
The plain people of Russia and Eastern Europe recently proudly hailed their change of system. Before, they had bureaucratic state capitalism. Now they get the full thrust of ours.
Bush may have left them with little time in which to go on complaining about the results. Human kind could end while they are still whimpering.
In the US, they would waste their time in kicking out Bush. The viable alternatives are Claytons. Clinton only makes the right noises. Perot hadn't even heard of Rio.
It's different in Australia. Here, we still have some hope. At the next federal election we may see Left groups, Greens and Democrats holding a strong balance of power. If so, at least we might push Bush out of this 51st state. Ordinary people will still have to make the running, though. We can help a lot with a successful anti-US bases action all through this country next year.
Ron Guignard
Stepney SA
Service and jobs
The absolute failure of the Federal Government and the Opposition to understand the present economic situation was encapsulated in Senator Collins' recent response on ABC radio 8DDD to Telecom's intention to charge for 013 telephone number enquiries.
Senator Collins was aghast at the fact that people ring 013 to get a telephone number while they have a phone book at their side.
So what? Telecom is there to provide a service, even if some aspects of that service are running at a loss. Besides that, it provides jobs on the service end of the phone. Throwing another 4000 Telecom workers out of work is one of the effects of improved technology, greater efficiency and higher productivity, greatly loved goals of our politicians.
It is the obsession that everything must be produced at a profit or not s caused a large part of our present unemployment numbers. It is obvious to any rational person, but not to our leaders, that if technology continues to improve so that we need less and less workers to produce the same amount of goods, the excess workers must join the unemployed.
The present solution, attempting to increase exports of manufactured goods and retraining workers has not only been proven unsuccessful, but, even at the best of times, could offer only short term benefits. it is rather like reducing per capita energy consumption without curbing population growth — the slack is soon taken up.
The Federal Government should, but won't, re-impose tariff barriers to protect Australian industries, should, but won't, replace the export drive with a drive to produce goods that we now import, and should, but won't, reshape its economic philosophy so that we produce goods for use, not profit. In so doing, they would discover that over-manning and feather-bedding are not such abominations as they presently think.
C.M. Friel
Alawa NT