FAILLITE The world and the British economy are at present in their worst economic slump since the 1930s. nevertheless its most direct expression, flowing directly from the crisis of profitability, is as a collapse of markets and a crisis of investment. The Healey measures will actually make the situation on these fronts worse. By cutting wages Healey decreases the market for consumer goods, through cutting public expenditure he decreases markets in the social sector, and he will produce no significant increase in demand for investment goods in a situation where investment is likely to fall by 15 per cent this year.
As for the one area where the Healey measures are supposed to have their effect - - an increase in exports - - a policy based on an increase in trade is a ridiculous strategy in a situation of world depression, where every capitalist country is under the absurd delusion that it can export itself out of its depression. Healey's measures in fact have the same dynamic as the wage cuts of the 1930s they will cut back demand and add to the tendencies to slump and mass While this is rooted in a crisis of capitalist profits and exploitation protect living standards is a sliding scale of T CR