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John was at his biting best on the state of play with Australia's Prime Minister. John however wrote *"Given this ‘leader’ [Abbott] can only speak in sound bites and three word slogans and these non-answers are all this unworthy custodian of the capitalist system can come up with, how much longer can idiot boy last? Do capitalists really still support him in all his splendid ignorance and irrelevance?You know it is a bleak time for capital when the alternative on offer is Bill Shorten. That must inspire the one percent with dread."* I am inclined to agree that a feeling of dread is in the air and that it is not confined to capital. But does the reality of Bill Shorten - right wing ex union leader fill the capitalists with dread? How could it? He is a sheep in sheep's clothing. He is to his very core the epitome of the non-commissioned officer, anxious to carry out every order from above. They all know that. The only source of dread may be that Shorten will never attempt to save capitalism from the capitalists. There is some slight evidence that a small section of capital want the state to do just that. For example recently in Queensland a group of capitalists penned an open letter begging for the state government to enact a fiscal stimulus. Would Shorten have the nerve to undertake such a task at the national level? I cannot see it. Yet we are in the dying days of the Abbott ministry. For two years now, a steady rejection in the opinion polls of his austerity offensive has left his government paralyzed. The Labor opposition has in no ways articulated an anti-austerity alternative. Shorten looks almost certain to become Prime Minister on the back of a "Anybody but Abbott" surge. The Labor Party look certain to come to power on a similar "Any party but the governing Coalition" tide of rejectionism. Yet no one in the parliamentary arena is contesting hegemony. And so parliamentary politics in Australia has a strange kind of *Waiting for Godot* irrelevance. Perhaps, that is the source of dread. comradely Gary On Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 8:17 PM, John Passant via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > Anything but the economy, stupid > > The two things Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has going for him are > that the opposition within his party hasn't coalesced around one candidate, > and the Labor Party Opposition has. > > http://enpassant.com.au/2015/09/10/anything-but-the-economy/ > > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/gary.maclennan1%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
