The rioting and looting in London and other cities in the UK in August is a sharp reminder of what a powder keg this world is becoming not to mention how easy it is for such situations to be exploited both by people and governments. It makes some SF realities look tame in comparison and a sharp reminder that there are rarely simple answers to such problems and probably why we rarely see stories about economics in our own genre.

Hello everyone

The rioting and looting in London and other cities in the UK in August is a sharp reminder of what a powder keg this world is becoming not to mention how easy it is for such situations to be exploited both by people and governments. It makes some SF realities look tame in comparison and a sharp reminder that there are rarely simple answers to such problems and probably why we rarely see stories about economics in our own genre. No doubt someone will say that we want something different from real life in Science Fiction but when so much of today’s world are things that were once thought of as SF, it does make me wonder.



Arbitrarily, what I have found interesting and learnt from all of this is how much all countries, even the ones who are supposed to be financially affluent like the United States, are in debt to banks and probably why there has been so much leniency in control in the past and even today. Logistically, I suspect any person or government would be afraid to bite the hand that gives you credit.

With the entire world in recession, which also means the banks profits should also be substantially reduced, the threat of some banks going somewhere else makes an interesting question as to where? I mean is any country safe in this recession? If this were Science Fiction, just in case you thought you were on the wrong website, the options would be a lot larger and probably even more devastating. Whole worlds could be impoverished if the banks decided to go off-world.

Then again, would it? I’m reminded of Robert Heinlein’s ‘Time Enough For Love’, where his long-lived man, Lazarus Long, bankrolls new planetary colonies by joining them being their bank and explains to the colonists that paper money is something any group of people can set up as a simple bartering system before burning his and walking or rather flying away with gems as collateral profit. Heinlein’s views were often very right wing, but in this one there was a strong telling point. That is, if banks didn’t exist then we’d have to make them to run an economy. If you didn’t have the money yourself, you’d get a loan from someone else and pay interest so they got a profit from them helping you out. From such beginnings and basic economics, banks developed and hardly surprising that so many bank names derived from the people who started such schemes. It works in all kinds of life with some unfortunate consequences where illegal money-lenders demand interest rates far beyond the original investment. In that respect, are the recognised banks any different? I mean, it’s in their interest (sic) to make a profit after all. It’s when the recipients don’t have the means to re-pay there are problems or when banks ask for too much in return, making them no better than unlicensed money-lenders. When it’s on a country size, as with Greece, recently, all countries realise they are on a sticky wicket and nothing you have would truly be yours if you haven’t completely paid for it. I think the banks have realised this, too, to some extent in offering one hundred per cent loans without some basic collateral up front. Greed has its limits. Whether too much restraint is good very doubtful. Economies and all businesses need some loans if they are to succeed, including banks. Interest can’t be made by doing nothing after all.

Greed, unfortunately, is also in human nature. It’s one of the seven deadly sins although clearly not that high up the list. Fifth, in fact. Yet without that in human nature, a key motivation in expansion and change would be severely curtailed. In the modern world, it just needs a different form of control. It is one thing to bankrupt an individual, quite another to do the same to a country. Control is needed from both sides, not to mention a reason tax rate that matches all earners to be fair in keeping the amenities of a country running smoothly. Let any of these things slip and like a house of cards, they all fall down in a single swipe. What makes it inexcusable is to let greed make you make mistakes, although that can happen in all professions.

Although I doubt if banks would like to run a country, even as a form of chancellor making decisions, the change into corporate control is something that has been displayed in Science Fiction, mostly with indirect control of corporations calling the shots and their own power base. Then again, is that too far from reality when a certain Australian magnet has been doing such things around the world? Sometimes fiction and reality aren’t that far apart.

Such insights aren’t always helpful. Even Science Fiction hasn’t given much insight into solutions to corruption and economics other than wiping it out the former because few writers know their way around the subject. All we’ve ever shown is the delegation of power and responsibility to a single individual risks dictatorships and decisions for the wrong reasons. But that’s true of real life as well. It’s been played so much in fiction of any genre, than it’s become a cliché than a means as a reminder of poor control. Interestingly, SF rarely examines what happens after the rebels win and have to sort out the financial dealings of the previous rulers, let alone why some decisions were made.

Governments these days tend to look at plans that other governments use to sort out their own problems as templates to use for their own, neatly forgetting that each country has its own circumstances and one size definitely doesn’t fit all. The Internet brings us all socially together but, in physical reality, there are still vastly different differences between us all in both finance, laws and religion. The more we learn, the more we find the differences. If we all strive to a single currency, as European Commonmarket did with the euro, there is an odd shift in balance should anything happen to its value against that of other currencies.

If such things were applied as we make colonies off-world or even meet alien societies with their own economic systems, Earth society could easily run foul of more experienced players and we find ourselves run by an extra-terrestrial who bought out our loans and bought the Earth. Now that is something we have encountered in Science Fiction. Have a look at Cordwainer Smith’s ‘Nostralia’ and his wealthy protagonist, Rod McBain, buys out everything.

With crisis like we have today, we need better thinking and resolve to ensure that not only are bank loans met but also ensuring that there are sufficient jobs for people to have work. Without the latter, any government will look foolish in trying to pay for anything.

Who said you could never have a serious diatribe in the quiet month of August?

Thank you, take care, good night and don’t over-spend.

Geoff Willmetts
editor: SFCrowsnest.co.uk

PS. For those following my resurrected Windows software. If you ever have problems watching things on UTube, what I discovered was check your computer and if you installed SpeedBit’s DAP software before Adobe software, you need to remove these first and re-install Adobe first and then SpeedBit. Quite why that order beats me but does the trick.

A little plug for a change: Have a look at some of the SF ‘How It Should Have Ended’ clips in UTube or www.howitshouldhaveended.com and have a chuckle. Love the ends for ‘Aliens’ and ‘Predator’.

A Zen thought:The money in your pocket is worth only as much as what people are prepared to give you for it.

Anyone interested in reviewing books for me, especially fantasy and military SF, as we have a surfeit of books, and lives in the UK should contact me through the normal channels in the contacts list on the opening page. I’m always recruiting and details are through a link on the top of the SFC main page and in the SFC Forum. If you’ve on a budget, a book for a review is a good bargain and I can teach the nervous how to do it by seeing what you do when you present a sample. It’s a good deal. We get books in a variety of formats these days so all things are possible.

PPS Don’t forget to join on in the new SFCrowsnest Forum. Join up and express your thoughts in leaving typed words that make sentences. I’ve noticed many of you are joining up but the Forum isn’t supposed to be a passive site. Remember the editorial above. I’m not advocating a vow of silence. Are you going to be a lurker or a typer??!! Remember the editorial above, passivity is for sheep not a sentient species. Write something and others will respond. Equally, you could just be a guest and look around but the more the merrier when you have something to say. We haven’t been spammed since inception with this new version now so you should feel safe to come and communicate on anything Science Fiction. I’m dying to see you people fill in the survey polls. They won’t bite y’know and are active when you sign in and you must be dying to find out why I consider Element Lad the most powerful Legionnaire. It’s postponed another month due to my knee hitting the ground after slipping on some ice and can’t get in the attic to check some vital information.

Speaking of the Forum, if you want up-to-date info of book signings and such, have a peak. You don’t have to sign up to have a look as to when these things are happening and I’ve yet to hear of a flash crowd turning up for such things but there’s always the first time. We’re not libel if you do such a thing, just to keep my boss happy.

Don’t forget, I’m always on the lookout for new reviewers as well as articles, interviews and stories and after some recent changes, let’s see if the full details about that appears below. If they don’t then look in the new Forum or on the link line at the top of the main page. For potential book reviewers in the UK, it’s a good way to keep up your reading habit and show you can write. There are detail links scattered over the website and on the forum. If you don’t think you’re up to scratch, you’ll discover why I’m the dutch uncle.

Another real Zen thought but this time for potential writers: If you can express an opinion independently of others and aren’t likely to bend to the masses then you might show potential as a writer.

Zen for those who are scared by all the instructions below: Many of the instructions are things you should be doing automatically if you’re developing your writing skills. If you do them already then focus on the ones that you don’t get right. They are there to help you as much as me to get the best writing from you. If you think you’re 80% there then I’ll help you get the final 20%. Trust me, I’m an editor and I can get things right.