STORY OF MONARCHY: A king’s riches

A Journal of People report

The monarchy in the UK is subject to scrutiny, questions and ridicule.

A New York Times report – King Charles Inherits Untold Riches and Passes Off His Own Empire – by Jane Bradley and Euan Ward on September 13, 2022 said:

“King Charles III built his own empire long before he inherited his mother’s.

“Charles, who formally acceded to the British throne Saturday, spent half a century turning his royal estate into a billion-dollar portfolio and one of the most lucrative moneymakers in the royal family business.

The arrests of anti-monarchy protesters show why the left must reclaim the battle for free speech

Morning Star | September 12, 2022

A protester before the Accession Proclamation Ceremony at Mercat Cross, Edinburgh, publicly proclaiming King Charles III as the new monarch. Picture date: Sunday September 11, 2022.

AS KING Charles is proclaimed in towns and cities across Britain, the police are removing — and in some cases arresting — people who protest at this.

A woman escorted from the Palace of Westminster for holding up a small A4 sign saying Not My King. A woman arrested in Edinburgh for holding up an anti-monarchy placard. Peace activist and frequent Morning Star contributor Symon Hill arrested in Oxford, for shouting: “Who elected him?” during the proclamation there.

This reflects a dangerous authoritarianism on the part of the police.

Protester arrested after holding anti-monarchy placard outside Charles’s proclamation ceremony in the UK

Morning Star

A protester before the Accession Proclamation Ceremony at Mercat Cross, Edinburgh, publicly proclaiming King Charles III as the new monarch. Picture date: Sunday September 11, 2022.

APROTESTER was arrested today for breaching the peace ahead of the accession proclamation of Charles Windsor as King in Edinburgh – by holding up an anti-monarchy placard.

Police Scotland said the 22-year-old woman was arrested outside St Giles Cathedral, after holding up a sign reading: “F*** imperialism. Abolish monarchy.”

Officers appeared behind her and took her away, with the crowd gathered for the royal events cheering.

One man shouted: “Let her go, it’s free speech.”

Controlling Inflation at the Expense of Working Class

Prabhat Patnaik

Economists distinguish between two kinds of inflation: “demand-pull” and “cost-push”. Demand-pull inflation is said to occur when there is excess demand in a situation where supply cannot be augmented, because full capacity output has been reached in one or more crucial sectors. War-time inflation is a classic example. In India during the pre-neoliberal, dirigiste period, inflation was often the result of insufficient foodgrain output relative to demand, arising from a poor harvest.

Cost-push inflation on the other hand occurs when supplies can be augmented, as the economy is nowhere near full capacity in key sectors, but one of the classes tries to raise its share of output, by demanding a higher price for the input it provides, while other classes are unwilling to lower their shares, giving rise to a tug-of-war, which manifests itself through inflation.

ECONOMIST RICHARD WOLFF: SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA, INFLATION & CLASS WAR

Mintpress News | September 12, 2022

European countries, as well as the United States, continue to be imperiled by an economic crisis following the imposition of sanctions on Russia. The policy has backfired spectacularly and has had worse economic ramifications on those levying the sanctions, than those being sanctioned. In this week’s episode, Lowkey speaks to respected U.S. economist Dr. Richard Wolff, discussing the links between the war in Ukraine, inflation, and the class war at home.

Before exploring the people’s definition of inflation, Dr. Wolff contextualizes the economic crisis currently unfolding across the West.

Life expectancy and human development in the 21st century

Michael Roberts Blog | September 11, 2022

Life expectancy is one of the best measures of human development.  In hunter-gather societies, on average, about 57-67% of children made it to 15 years. Then 79% of those 15 year-olds made it to 45 years.  Finally, those remaining at 45 years could expect to reach around 65-70 years. So we can see that life expectancy at birth in these societies was very low, given high child mortality. But some 40% did make it to about 65 years on average.  It seems to have been worse in the class-based feudal and slave societies.  The average medieval life expectancy for a peasant was only a mere 35 years of age at birth, but it was closer to 50 years on average for those who made it beyond 15 years. 

You can see that measuring life expectancy at birth is not a perfect guide to how long humans did live in pre-capitalist societies.  Nevertheless, there is no doubt that life expectancy on average rose sharply once science came to bear on hygiene, sewage, knowledge of the human body, better nutrition etc.  Of course, there were sharp inequalities in life expectancy in class societies between rich and poor.