Eight steps
Sir: 'The friend of Labour persuasion' whom Andrew Alexander (10 July) painfully educated in the ways of the real world is typical of the poor bourgeois who innocently votes socialist because he thinks it has something to:do with social justice. We have too often seen the bumbling incompetence of governments elected by such voters: the steps to socialism are predictable: 1, government overspends keeping electoral promises 2. inflation: government budget deficit financed through banking system (more inflation) or by direct borrowing (high interest rates) 3. industry hit by general inflation, high interest rates, unions getting higher wages, government price control 4. government fixed-interest stock deliberately made more attractive than industrial investment (to finance budget deficit)
5. socialist accusations of 'strike of capital': high unemployment continues 6. government takeover of investment and therefore of industry using money the creation of which caused the interest rates which prevented private investment 7. government takeovers require increased public expenditure hence permanent high interest rates 8. private industrial investment permanently discouraged—more cries of 'failure of capitalism' ! ! ! etc, etc, etc. The way out ? We either give all Labour MPs £20,000 (like Alexander's friend) or we start the long, painful process of education in economics. Mr Alexander's excellent tale may already have provided a first step. Rodney E. B. Atkinson
Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat, Mainz, West Germany
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