Market is master

THE G20 summit in Toronto, where pledges were made to reduce national deficits by half in the next few years and praise was heaped on austerity measures being pursued by many countries, merely provided a reminder of how beholden to private finance are the elected (and unelected) political class.

Any measures to curb excess in the financial industry were watered down and the concept of an international tax on financial transactions has been practically abandoned by allowing its implementation to be at the discretion of individual countries.

This means it will probably not see the light of day as governments will be scared off by the threat of an unhappy market. Instead what we see in many countries is the privatisation of social services and hardship foisted on the most vulnerable people in society – all to pay for the greed and hubris of international bondholders and speculators.