The Anti-Capitalist Rant

I’ve felt it brewing, festering – like the two bags of rubbish our neighbours left in our bin right after it’d been emptied and my housemate was too afraid to take out again. Another rant. Building up inside, contracting my innards, squeezing away my sanity like a wet cloth.

A couple of weeks ago my car broke down. It was old and had served me well but its time was done. Even the garage gave up on it. I had to buy another one and thus was forced to talk to my insurance company. As someone dedicated to writing, money is always a problem for me so I try to make savings wherever I can. I’d expected my insurance to go down with a newer (only 12 years old!), more reliable car but oh was I naive.

It was the same naivety that got me into this mess in the first place. One day, the doorbell went and it was a guy from the used-car dealership next door, telling me a lorry had smashed my rear light as it passed my house. My car was parked right on the street outside. He’d been kind enough to write down the number plate but the lorry hadn’t stopped or perhaps even noticed. In trying to do the sensible thing, I phoned my insurance company and told them about the incident, not realising I had just set myself up for increased payments for at least another year.

One of my few qualities is that I try to be honest at all times. This is very important to me. It’s where my self-respect comes from and I need that to pursue this difficult career. I need to believe in myself. Not only that but ethically it’s just the right way to be. If I act honestly, no one can question my integrity. Right?

Sadly, our Western World, as great as it can be, is also set up to exploit such habits. If I hadn’t reported the incident to my insurance company, they wouldn’t have known. My payments wouldn’t have increased. I wouldn’t have lost my no claims. It cost me £50 to repair the damaged light. I assumed (again, naively) that when an accident was someone else’s fault, it didn’t affect me. That surely makes sense? Apparently not. The main issue was I tried to track down the lorry and found the company’s insurance company. It took them 3 months to deal with my claim and all they said was that they were no longer the insurer. I also tried to get a receipt for repairing the light. I phoned 3 times and the guy kept promising to send my one. He never did. Awkward.

A part of the fault was mine for not understanding the importance of following the process through to the bitter end but how much effort should really be placed on the individual. Life is stressful enough already. What are we paying insurance companies for, exactly?

I should point out that I don’t actually have much of a problem with Capitalism. I’m still undecided whether the human condition can cope with everyone being equal. It’s hard to know how much of our thirst for progression is natural and how much is informed by the world around us. The problem is, as one of my close friends put it, what we have is a corruption of Capitalism. Whenever you have a system that punishes honesty (therefore promoting dishonesty), it’s already failed.

Greed seems to be the main cause. In February this year, my insurance company reported a record profit of £405 million before tax. Now, a company has every right to make a profit but how much is too much? This huge figure shows to me that my insurance didn’t need to rise. According to that reliable source – the internet – the company has 4 million customers. So, let’s say they decided to lower everybody’s insurance by £10 a month, an unprecedented move of generosity. They still would have made £365 million (gross). So how much is too much?

The company reports to employ 10,000 staff. Let’s say they decide to pay their staff £2 more per hour AND decrease members’ fees by £10 a month. Going off the average working week of 37 hours, this would have cost them an extra £38.5 million (37hours x£2 x 52weeks x 10,000staff). So they still would have made a profit of well over £300 million and think of all the lives they would have positively affected.

This greed spreads through most of our modern society and this is my main gripe with Capitalism. Ever heard someone say, “It’s just business”, or “The business has to come first”? This is the kind of thing that makes my blood boil. People should always come first. Everything we do is about people (unless it’s about wildlife or the natural environment) so to grow a business just for growth’s sake is ridiculous. The two can co-exist quite comfortably.

Let’s think about the incredible growth of supermarkets. You always hear their spokespeople quote how many more people they can employ by opening a new one. Yes, you may be able to employ more people. Most likely more poorly paid people. And if your business hadn’t ruined many other smaller businesses people could still have got jobs elsewhere.

Now, suddenly, self-service tills appear, replacing people with lower-cost machines. Where is the employment argument now? Seriously, if one more of those machines thanks me for shopping…You don’t give a **** about me, machine! You’re not capable of caring. AHHHHH!

This rant has been sponsored by nobody. Perhaps I should approach the cardiac unit of a local hospital?

As always, feel free to like, dislike, comment and generally express yourself.

A.J. Austin