With unemployment the highest for 16 years, income inequality growing faster in the UK than any other 'rich' economy, cutbacks for decades to come, real wages in decline due to the rising cost of living, and the Euro heading for the rocks, David Cameron's speech, in defence of capitalism, at New Zealand House in London on January 19, must rank as one of his most ludicrous.

Farcical claims and assertions came aplenty. Cameron said markets "are the engine of progress, generating the enterprise and innovation that lifts people out of poverty and gives people opportunity". That "the fundamental basis of the market is the idea of something for something - an idea we need to encourage..." That capitalism was the "best imaginable force for improving human wealth and happiness". That he admired "more than almost anything the bravery of those who turn their back on the security of a regular wage to follow their dreams and start a company". That he wanted to see "socially responsible and genuinely popular capitalism". When has capitalism ever been socially responsible or popular with the working class majority during the last 200 years? Oh yes. I remember. Never!

Does this multi-millionaire politician with a silver-spoon background believe this utter tripe? Of course not. It's just meant to help prop up the outdated clapped-out profit-driven economy, to buy time by suggesting better times ahead, and try to increase UK competitiveness when global capitalism is in crisis.

Cameron stated that "capitalism will never be genuinely popular unless there are genuine opportunities for everyone to participate and benefit", but when has everyone benefited in capitalism's long history? It has always been, and always will be, a system that primarily benefits whichever tiny minority of people own the means of production and distribution. It can work no other way, and past attempts by leftwing statist governments to try to make capitalism fairer have always resulted in failure. From this fact, you can see that what Cameron is therefore actually saying, is that capitalism will never be genuinely popular!

In reality, it isn't markets which are the "engine of progress", but human ingenuity, planning and effort. A society is perfectly capable of deciding what goods and services it needs, making plans to provide these, and undertaking the required work, all completely without both markets and money. Far from bringing progress, capitalism's markets and its money mechanism frequently bring regression, increasing levels of poverty and deprivation. There are millions of people on the unemployment scrap heap because capitalist employers have got no need for them. In the UK alone, there are also millions more people in money-related jobs producing nothing of real benefit for society (those in finance, banking, insurance, sales, benefits, mortgages, accountancy, the manufacture of money/ATMs/postage stamps etc.). All these millions of people are either being ignored or misused. The notion that this is "progress" is lunacy.

By completely eradicating backward capitalism, and replacing it with a new moneyless socialist economy, all of those currently jobless or doing fundamentally unproductive money-mad work will all then be available to contribute something of real value. That's progress!