The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly News of the Day

by Norman Markowitz

It looks like the rescue plan will go through, with significant but not crippling cuts (although we will have to look at the details to see if we can find a devil). The comical Republican media "anti-pork barrel" counter-offensive has apparently failed (comical in the sense that the term "pork barrel" goes back to good old 19th century U.S. politics in which both parties but especially the Republicans were legendary for turning the rivers and harbors bill and other federal legislation into money pots for their districts and the Republicans. Also through pensions for Civil War veterans and widows,they established the first continuous federal "welfare" program for people, as against the land grants, tariffs, leases to exploit minerals on public lands, and other federal and state aid to private businesses, which in land grants alone amounted to more territory(my liberal professors used to tell me long ago) than the country of France.

According to press reports, 110 billion will be removed from the 900 billion House bill, which was actually greater by billions than what was originally asked for, and will be spent in major increases for social benefit programs, aid to states and localities, a large increase in overall federal programs, and finally, "tax cuts" whose scope and beneficiaries will probably be the details where the devil comes in.

The bad news is that 598 jobs were lost in the U.S. in January and everyone, including the usual apologists for our system of corporate state monopoly capitalism expect worse to come. Unemployment is already approaching 8 percent and no one whom I have spoken to privately believes that it will not reach double digits.President Obama is on the brink of a significant victory, but his administration, will stand or fall on its ability to both ameliorate the crisis and also enact pro labor and social welfare legislation that will give working people greater security and a sense of empowerment even if their money incomes don't rise so rapidly. Under capitalism, the only real guarantee that workers money incomes will rise significantly in periods of "growth" is a strong labor movement. The fact that the Dow Jones Average of the New York Stock Market increased by 10 times over the last 30 years before the present collapse which has cost it around a third from its high while inequality mounted and real wages stagnated in the context of a weakened labor movement is a good example.

The Dow Jones average didn't fully regain its 1929 speculative high until the early 1950s. The fact that U.S. incomes and living standards had risen sharply from 1920s levels thanks to both progressive government policy re-enforced by a vastly more powerful labor movement is a good example of the opposite effect.

The ugly news concerns Vice President Joe Biden making "tough" foreign policy speech about U.S. missile shield plans which can only help to pick a fight with Russia at at time when it is becoming clear to many analysts, including those who don't have a progressive bone in their bodies or heads, that the U.S. may very well need Russia along with China and India as it seeks to find a solution to the disaster and potential military quagmire that is Afghanistan-Pakistan.

To add to the ugliness, Mr. Khan, the Pakistani "hero" who developed Pakistan's atom bomb (with U.S. assistance many Indians believe) has been freed from a luxurious house arrest in Pakistan, which the former government put him under when it was discovered that he had sold
nuclear technology and information to Iran, Libya and North Korea) Khan, who is contemptible egotist who constantly praises himself and invokes Islam as a defense of everything that he does, is an extreme example of the profoundly dysfunctional U.S. Pakistani relationship. Khan's actions have facilitated nuclear proliferation and nuclear weapons are the weapons of mass destruction which can kill millions in minutes and still threaten human survival. The U.S. under Bush gave billions to Pakistan to "fight terrorism" which Pakistani authorities used, it is very widely believed, to promote terrorism against India in Kashmir and most recently Mumbai. At a time when the Pakistani government was aiding and abetting the U.S. in kidnapping and
capturing people whom the CIA later sent to Guantanamo or to other countries for "rendition," it was refusing to let the CIA interrogate Khan and getting away with it.

Khan is now "free to enjoy his wealth outside of his executive suite house arrest. He is making anti-U.S. statements to the effect that Americans don't like Islam so who cares what they say. One should remember that he previously said that he had sold this nuclear technology to help Muslim countries defend themselves, even though Korea, to the best of my knowledge, does not now nor has it ever had a Muslim population of any size.

Economic recovery and reform should be the first priority. The development of a consistent peace policy (which will bring major reductions in U.S. military spending which remains more than half of the world's official military spending) is the only rational foreign policy. Unless President Obama want to use Vice President Biden to play a game of "good cop, bad cop" with the world (that that wouldn't be too smart for a very smart President) Biden should avoid such statements, which both distract and detract from the administration's priorities.

SACP STATEMENT ON UP COMING NATIONAL ELECTIONS

from Umsebenzi Online
Red Alert
Communist cadres to the front…. For an overwhelming ANC victory and the defense of our revolution

Blade Nzimande and Jeremy Cronin

The year 2009 is indeed upon us. Like the years since 1994, our revolution is faced with a contradictory reality of seeking to advance, deepen and consolidate a radical national democratic revolution on a terrain of the dominance of the capitalist system, globally and domestically. Capitalist domination, by its very nature poses a serious obstacle to the attainment of the many goals of our democracy, especially the struggle to overcome class, gender and racial inequalities.

However the major difference between the early- to mid-1990s period and 2009 is that in the former period capitalism was on a triumphalist path after the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist states, but we enter 2009 with a capitalist system that is in severe crisis. As the SACP has correctly pointed out, deep as this crisis is, it does not herald the imminent collapse of the capitalist system. Instead, and ironically, both the triumphalist dominance and the current crisis of the capitalist system still pose serious challenges for a developing country like ours.

Nevertheless, we need to fully explore opportunities that maybe presented by the current global capitalist crises to, amongst other things, deepen progressive international solidarity and build an interventionist, developmental state in our country; and transform the current colonial capitalist trajectory. Capitalist ideologues, the likes of Iraj Abedian,[ South African economist, university professor and Board Member Development Bank of Southern Africa, formerly with the IMF--tr] are conveniently using the current crisis to try and (ideologically) blackmail the Left into passive submission to the current logic of capitalist accumulation. Yet the fundamental challenge we face is how, without underestimating the very serious dangers posed by the current capitalist system, we use this crisis to challenge the colonial capitalist trajectory underway in our country.

For instance, the high food prices require that we intensify land reform, reverse the 'willing seller, willing buyer' model, and release more land for food production, especially for the poor; regulate and redirect moneys in the hands of the financial sector towards productive investement; etc. Yet, the likes of Abedian tell us not tto [ rock the boat, but continue with a market driven land reform and a highly monopolized, white owned financial capitalist sector. We need to ensure that it is progressive policy debates that dominate our own internal political debates and also seek to consistently put these in the public discourse. Unfortunately, South African mainstream media, as we will further point out below, is hopelessly incapable of assisting us to properly understand the current global economic crises and debate the possible threats, options and opportunities for our country in the wake of the global capitalist crises.

One of the key tasks of the SACP this year and beyond, and indeed that of the Alliance as a whole, is to try and focus our structures on some of these key policy questions and debates, and seek also to place these in the broader public arena, not only just through the media, but also through closer ideological and policy engagements with the mass of the people of our country. Fortunately the ANC's Election Manifesto provides just such an opportunity to engage both our structures and broader society in intensive policy discussions and debates. The ANC NEC 2009 January 8th Statement, as delivered by the ANC President, Cde Jacob Zuma in East London on 10 January 2009, poignantly emphasizes the same challenge:
"We have to acknowledge that the ANC has not been doing sufficient political education in the recent past. Branches must make political education part of the process of campaigning for the elections. The most important task of the beginning of the year is to ensure that the ANC returns a decisive elections victory. Members must be knowledgeable about our Manifesto and programmes, and be an active part of the campaigning process"

This should not only be task of the ANC and its structures, but communists must make sure that they take an active part in ensuring thorough engagement of our structures and the working class on the many important policy issues as contained in the ANC's Election Manifesto. It is therefore important that as part of our elections effort in support of the ANC, we also ensure that communists properly understand the contradictory global and domestic realities facing our revolution, and the challenges they pose for policy development in our country.

That is why we say, Communist cadres to the front, to deepen ideological and policy engagements with the working class and broader South African society!

[Edited and abridged for space reasons by Thomas Riggins]

Fidel Reflects on Barack Obama

Reflections by Comrade Fidel

DECIPHERING THE THOUGHTS OF THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

It is not too difficult. After taking office, Barack Obama said that the decision to return the territory occupied by the Guantánamo Naval Base to its legitimate owner requires weighing up the extent to which the defensive capacity of the United States would be or not in the least affected.

Soon after that he added, with regards to the return of the territory occupied by the Base to Cuba, that he would first consider under which concessions Cuba would accept that solution, which would be tantamount to demanding a change in its political system, a price against which Cuba has been struggling for half a century.

To keep a military base in Cuba against the will of our people is a violation of the most elemental principles of international law. The US President has the faculty of abiding by that rule without exacting any condition whatsoever. Non compliance with it would be an act of arrogance and an abuse of his immense power against a small country.

For a better understanding of the abusive character of the power of the empire, please consider the statements published by the US Government’s official website on January 22, 2009, after Barack Obama took up his post. Biden and Obama have decided to resolutely support the relationship between the United States and Israel, and believe that the irrefutable commitment in the Middle East should be the security of Israel, the main US ally in the region.

The United States will never distance itself from Israel, and its president and vice president "firmly believe in the right of Israel to protect its citizens", as was stated in the declaration of principles which takes up again in those aspects the policy followed by the government of George W. Bush, Obama’s predecessor.

This is the way in which our friend Obama shares the genocide against Palestinians. Similar sweeteners have been offered to Russia, China, Europe, Latin America and the rest of the world, after the United States turned Israel into a major nuclear power which absorbs every year a significant share of the empire’s booming military industry exports, with which they threaten, with extreme violence, the population of all Muslim countries.

Similar examples abound; there is no need to become a fortune teller. For further illustration, please read the statements made by the new Chief of the Pentagon, an expert in war affairs.



Fidel Castro Ruz

January 29, 2009

Who to replace Daschle as HHS nominee?

I don't know if Michigan families can afford to lose a real advocate, but:

From the National Organization of Women:

NOW Urges Nomination of Sen. Debbie Stabenow as Secretary of Health and Human Services

February 3, 2009

With the withdrawal of Sen. Tom Daschle from consideration, the National Organization for Women urges President Barack Obama to nominate another strong and consistent advocate for universal health care to the position of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has long focused on health care as a priority, and with her background as a social worker she is well positioned to take the helm of this agency that is so critical to women and families.

Sen. Stabenow's first bill in the Senate was the Medical Equity and Drug Savings Act to lower prescription drug prices by encouraging competition, and she has been a stalwart champion of full health coverage. The National Association for Home Care named her a Home Health Hero, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare bestowed on Stabenow their highest award.

With the nomination of Sen. Judd Gregg, the fourteen filled cabinet departments will be headed by eleven men and three women. Adding a highly-qualified woman, such as Sen. Stabenow, would increase the representation of half the population at the cabinet table, while adding health care and human needs expertise to HHS.

Daschle's Withddrawal

by Norman Markowitz

Tom Daschle's withdrawal as President Obama's choice for Health and Human Services Secretary is a setback, one that shows that the GOP and much of the media (including those sections of the media that can't decide whether they want Obama to follow Roosevelt or Clinton) are doing everything they can to push the new administration back, force it to retreat on both appointments and issues.

In a half hour I will go to listen to a scholarly talk on rightwing legal groups and foundations which sued the Department of the Interior during the Carter years in attempts to cripple its regulatory activities. A key figure in those groups was James Watt, whom Ronald Reagan appointed to head the Department of Interior with limited opposition in spite of his record. I mention this because it provides a bit of context for today's events. Reagan's deregulation and privatization policies also led to an exponential increase in both lobbying government and in private consulting contracts for government. Reagan and later Bush tax policies also made both legal and not so legal tax evasion a lot easier, along with, of course, sharply reducing taxes on the wealthy and glorifying the pursuit of wealth. There is more than a little hypocrisy to be very charitable in the Republican attacks on lobbies, private consultants, and of course, close scrutiny of individual's tax returns.

If I were President Obama I would immediately nominate a candidate clearly associated with the rapid establishment of a universal health care program. I might nominate, if he were willing to accept the position Representative John Conyers, the most important advocate of HR 676, the best of the universal health care proposals.

Now is the time for President Obama to make it clear to the Republicans and to his own party that he will not retreat on policy or on appointments---if they force out a cabinet member that they don't like on these kinds of issues, he will give them another candidate without these problems but one even less to their liking. Franklin Roosevelt often did that when he had the votes and it worked. Obama, while his majority is not as great or as clear as Roosevelt's was, does have the votes. And, the enactment of policies like Universal Health Care, the Employee Free Choice Act, a national economic rescue plan that provides jobs and protections the living standards of working people will get him, his policies, and the progressive members of his party many more votes while constructing a new politics in a more secure more humane and more advanced nation.

Employee Free Choice Act

From American Rights at Work:

Pass the Recovery & Reinvestment Act

Layoffs, home foreclosures, stagnating wages, benefit cuts, bankruptcies, vanishing retirement security and more. We are facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Yet some lawmakers are playing politics with the economic recovery bill.

President Obama and Congressional leaders are pushing a recovery and reinvestment plan that addresses immediate economic needs, creates jobs and invests in the infrastructure America needs for recovery. The package could include funding for state programs that benefit working people, like extended unemployment benefits and providing health care for workers who are laid off.

But conservative activists and some lawmakers are trying to derail this legislation or weigh it down with unnecessary provisions, like costly corporate tax cuts, or requiring use of the flawed E-verify database, which discriminates against some workers and will delay getting people back to work.

URGENT ACTION IS NEEDED TO PASS a recovery bill that works, without more corporate welfare, cuts to the social safety net, or anti-immigrant requirements.

CALL YOUR SENATORS AT: (202) 224-3121

Super Bowl, Steelers, Rooney and Obama

Sports Entertainment: Rooney, the Super Bowl and the New Administration

by Eric Green

Just a note on the 6th Super Bowl for Pittsburgh Steelers.

Dan Rooney, the owner of the Steelers, the Rooney family owning the Steelers for its entire life, a life long Republican Party member in a Democratic stronghold Pittsburgh, Pa, this year, campaigned with other Steelers for Barak Obama for President.

He also hired Mike Tomlin a young defense coach to be only the 3rd head coach in Steeler history, since its1969 when Steeler history should have started. In fact, prior to that date the Steelers were the pro football doormat.

Oh, by winning the Super Bowl, Mike Tomlin is the second African-American coach to do so.

The Super Bowl

We are bombing and killing children and yelling and shouting about the Super Bowl. What a wonderful ciivilzation we represent.

Good Economic News

Thomas Riggins

With the economy tanking, unemployment growing, businesses going under, and whole segments of the economy in crisis, automotive, banking, retail sales, etc., I am happy to report that one area is still prospering. Under Democrats or Republicans, in good times or bad, in peace time or war time, this area will never lack in profit making. It is of course the Military-Industrial Complex. The headline in the 1-30-09 Wall Street Journal says it all: “Military Contractors Expect to Avoid Defense-Spending Cuts”, by August Cole.

Cole writes, “Even as companies across the U.S. are laying off thousands of workers, defense (sic) companies expect to maintain much of the momentum they built up during the Bush administration’s sharp increase in weapons spending.” There is never a slack in demand for war and killing, no matter who runs the good old USA.

The warlords are gambling that Obama won’t cut any weapons programs (lets hope they are wrong) since “they are propping up” employment and manufacturing. Manufacturing plants that make useful items that people really need are closing, but plants making weapons are still doing well. The WSJ reports that RAYTHEON and L-3 COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS have no plans to lay off workers (73 and 64 thousand people respectively). LOCKHEED MARTIN had “the best year” ever in 2008.

But the good times may not last. The economic collapse will sooner or later begin to impinge on the defense budget. But this may only concern new programs. There are plenty of meaty programs in the pipeline to feed the beast for years to come. General Dynamics CEO Nicholas Chabraja says, “I can’t imagine, based on the rumblings I’ve heard or the situation in the economy, that they’re going to be looking to cut in-production programs.” BOEING alone has $73 billion dollars in back logged contracts to feast upon. LOCKHEED is looking forward to its share of the $300 billion coming down the line for the new F-35 fighter.

So it’s nice to know we have a prospering sector of the U.S. economy. Now if only the government would close it down and spend all that money on people friendly useful programs we could really be happy.

Attacking the New Deal to Attack the Obama Program

by Norman Markowitz

An old student of mine and a progressive activist sent me an excerpt for CNBC's"splash page" trivializing the New Deal's role in the great depression. The excerpt, aptly, was from Money magazine, but it reflected in a simplistic and factually inaccurately way what conservative historians have sought to argue about the New Deal, namely that it made the depression worse by its intervention in the economy, from the conservative perspective, but undermining business confidence and preventing a revival

The excerpt states that "The New Deal was actually a combination of socialism and cartelization of industry with price controls. These policies failed to stimulate growth and actually helped plunge the economy into a "Depression within a Depression" in 1937." The excerpt then goes on to say that it wasn't until 1938 when those policies were reversed and the NRA was "relegated" to a minor role that "growth returned." Finally, the excerpt dredges up Milton Friedman's old contention that the Federal Reserve monetary policy played a significant role in the the depression crisis,

Actually the statement reflects Milton Friedman's view of the depression along with the Bush-Rove fidelity to factual accuracy. The NRA was abolished by the Supreme Court in 1935 and simply didn't exist when it was supposedly relegated to a minor role after 1937. New Deal policies did bring about a significant revival of the economy in the period 1933 to 1937 from the disastrous lows of 1932. The "recession" of 1937 (the term was coined then) most non conservative historians contend and have contended for generations was the result of the administration's attempts to reduce spending and restrict deficit (its failure to "pump prime" as the term went then or "stimulate" the economy enough).

"Growth" didn't return in 1938 (it didn't return in the sense that it is understood today anywhere in the capitalist world until WWII) and Congress in 1938 sharply increased spending for jobs programs like the WPA which did overcome the "recession," even though the "recession" and a massive counterattack by big business against the CIO organizing drives and strikes(which conservatives at the time also blamed for the "recession") enabled Republicans to make significant gains in the 1938 congressional elections and strengthen their "conservative coalition" with many Southern Democrats. These conservative coalition then opposed new progressive legislation and also sought to undermine existing New Deal programs like the WPA, the National Labor Relations Act, the Farm Security Administration, and other agencies and policies, policies that hurt working people and did nothing to stimulate "economic growth."

While there were aspects of "cartelization" certainly in the NRA, it lasted only two years. The New Deal also was not "socialiism" although it borrowed specific social programs from the Communist and Socialist parties like unemployment insurance, old age pensions, support for public housing, protection for workers rights to join unions, along with progressive capitalist programs to regulate industry and finance in order to both save and reform the existing capitalist system. Most of all, it did work, in that its policies improved the quality of life for the majority of Americans, overcame the worst of the depression, and established institutions that would enable the working class to benefit from the wartime and postwar economic expansion (however the war economy and rightwing cold war ideology compromised those gains in the long-run and set the stage for the last thirty years of reaction)

We can expect mass media and selected pundits of the right, including academics, to seek to denigrate the history of the New Deal today, since, as the old progressive historian Charles Beard understood, history is always about finding a "usable past," or rather the struggle to use the past to influence the course of events in the present. And Marxists, who understand that fully, also understand that history, like everything else, is history for whom? For those who see the New Deal as a failure and want to see the Obama administration also fail, it is history for the exploiting classes. For those who see the New Deal as an example of major victories for labor and the people, it is history that the working class can and must learn and a history that can help teach the Obama administration to succeed and help to forge a new politics in the U.S.