LETTER: Under capitalism you produce to destroy

File Picture: REUTERS

File Picture: REUTERS

Published Mar 12, 2020

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Durban - IN THE US, bourgeois politicians and media raise a hue and a cry about anyone who mentions taxing the rich.

President Barack Obama has been called a “socialist” by the Republicans and the right-wing media who accused him of trying to start a “class war”.

But as Warren Buffett commented: “There is class warfare all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

Under capitalism, when workers stop working, nothing gets done. Under socialism, he who does not work, neither shall he eat.

The infamous “mountains and lakes” of surplus food produced in the EU reached 13.5million tons of cereal, rice, sugar and milk products, and 3.5 hectolitres of alcohol/wine in 2007.

While this excess food is piled up and the EU’s common agricultural policy is used to pay farmers not to produce food, 6 million children die each year due to malnutrition - a crime against humanity.

The reason for this contradiction is profit. Under capitalism, you produce to destroy. The economic power of society is only used to produce goods which can be sold at a profit; if this cannot be done then nothing will be produced.

Global unemployment stands at 200 million officially, but in reality the number of unemployed and underemployed is closer to 1billion (Ben Gliniecki).

John Naidu Durban

Daily News

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