This morning on the BBC radio news, there was much talk of the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, the seventh Prime Minister in ten years. There was talk of an increase in “government intervention” in the economy to solve some of the UK’s chronic problems. This talk of intervention is always a one-way street. Any time government takes action to correct chronic income and wealth inequality and consequent insecurities for the vast majority, it is described as intervention. Somehow, when the rich and corporations spend $billions to shape laws and regulations to fill their bank accounts, this is not intervention?
The economy is always described using terms like free markets, efficient allocation of capital, efficiency, individual accountability, and so on. Strangely, the media and our politicians never mention that the rich and corporations are continuously intervening in the economy to their benefit. But then, the media is now substantially controlled by the rich and corporations.