Jobless? Blame the System, not Yourself!

By Alan Bradshaw

[This article is reprinted from New Unionist Nr. 302, August 2003. More articles can be found on http://www.newunionparty.org.]

Polls show that most people in the US blame the individual for his or her unemployment. To them, those with ambition find a job and those without ambition don’t.

This idea has been nurtured by the employers and their media mouthpieces for many years. And they have been very successful. Harry Mauer in his book “Not Working” says, “But what astonished me – more than any other discovery in the course of writing this book – was the degree to which unemployed persons blame themselves.”

The truth is, however, that the economy decides how many jobs are available.

If the economy calls for so many machinists or coal miners, workers will step forward to fill these positions. Workers will get the necessary education to be teachers, nurses and engineers, and step forward to fill these positions. Millions of low-wage jobs are also filled, even though they don’t pay enough to get these workers out of poverty.

It follows that the economy also dictates how many will be unemployed because no jobs are available. 10% of the workforce don’t get lazy at a certain point of the business cycle while just 3% are lazy at another point in the cycle. Each downturn sends millions more into unemployment. Their willingness to work, their ambition, doesn’t save them.

Unemployment is a social problem, not an individual failing. Worldwide it is a scourge. It is a result of the operation of capitalism.

Indeed, it is very desirable from the point of view of the capitalist class. Unemployment keeps wages, which vary according to supply and demand, lower than otherwise. It also means there will be workers available when needed for industrial expansion.

If the unemployed were to correctly blame capitalism for their plight, the system itself might come under attack. They might even demand decent jobs as a right. They might even agree with Martin Luther King Jr. who said,

“In our society it is murder, psychologically, to deprive a man of a job or an income. You are in substance saying to that man that he has no right to exist.”

Workers need to reject the false claim that the individual is responsible for his or her idleness when they are not allowed to work. It is the system that decrees that hundreds of millions worldwide will not find jobs.

Unemployed workers have a choice. They can join those who blame themselves for their jobless plight. Or they can join those who want to create a system that allows everyone to work, a system owned and controlled by the workers themselves, who enjoy the full fruits of their joint efforts.

>

=-_-&$#@!__This is The Losers Mentality_-----_

No, yours is an exploiter's mentality, or perhaps the mentality of someone who has been indoctrinated into accepting exploitation. We all know that pop psychology b.s. - there are no victims, you are responsible for everything that happens to you, never blame the system, blame yourself, the sky's the limit and so forth. If you are into reading fairy tales, try the children's room at your local public library; you will find tales there that are much more entertaining and better written.

This "it's never my fault, the world owes me a living" mentality is a train crash waiting to happen.

The train crash waiting to happen is called capitalism, which cannot exist without a permanent reserve of unemployed people ready to replace workers who don't make sales or production quotas, complain about bad working conditions, low pay or sexual harassment, are over forty and not promoted to a managerial position, are not humble and obsequious enough, don't have the right political views, or who demand being treated with ordinary respect.

The train crash which already happened is called socialism/communism, which cannot exist without a permanent reserve of enslaved people ready to work where the politburo tells them to work, have no avenue by which to complain about bad working conditions, low pay or sexual harassment, are over twenty and not promoted, are not humble and obsequious enough to realize they should just be happy to be a member of the Party, don't have the right political views (which means imprisonment or death), or who dare to demand that they be treated with ordinary respect (of which complaining means certin imprisonment or death).

If you were better informed, you would know that none of this is true of Cuba, which is only 90 miles from the US. And enthusiasts for capitalism migh ponder the condition of Russia today, as well. Remember all those promises about how a "market economy" (the prefered euphamism for capitalism at the time) would make for a better life? How is it that the coming of capitalism has brought a vastly lower standard of living for the masses of people, while enriching a few millionaires, gangsters and yuppies? Can one imagine what would have happened if Italy or France had gone Marxist in the early 1990's and the economy, health care, housing, education and other necessities of civilized life had declined as much as they have in Russia? Every capitalist publication in the US would be trumpeting the "final proof" that socialism cannot work. In fact, they did this after Salvador Allende was in office for a few months in Chile.

Ah, Yes! Cuber. The workers paradise. Where the people either cow-tow to the wisheds and demands of Fidel Castro, or they are murdered.

"If you were better informed,.."

And are you saying that communist Soviet Union provided a superior way of life than the USA?

I am informed. That's why I don't agree with you. If you don't like it that people don't see things the way in which you would like for them, if you believe that people who disagree with you are less informed than you, then that's your problem. I assure your attitude does not appeal to a member of the working class like myself, and your continuance to speak to others as though you are one to be listened to will continue to receive a cold reception.

the millions of cuban expatriats in the u.s. Cuba's so great they try to get here on a fucking inner tube, through shark infested waters, by the hundreds every year. Or my favorite the converted 53' chevy boat.

I wonder why all those millions of pro-USA enthusiasts didn't rise up when their liberators showed up at the Bay of Pigs.

Sons of bitches paddle over to Florida by the boatloads. Fuck 'em, they had their chance!

I wonder why all those millions of pro-Cuba enthusiasts don't rise up and swim or otherwise boat out to prevent their fellow countrymen from boarding rickety boats to foolishly leave the worker's paradise of Cuber to go to the evil American shores.

Meyer why don't you be the first one to float from florida to cuba on an inner tube. You'll be a hero to all talk-do nothing douchebags everywhere. Then you can enjoy all the great medical care and education before you flee on another inner tube.

Why didn't they rise up? Maybe because any dissenters were summarily shot with their entire families. America would be so much better with communist death suads.

Ah, yes. American capitalism is such a wonderful system. Too bad it can maintain its existence only by invading third world countries and and stealing their natural resources, the recent massacre in Iraq being just the latest in a long chain that goes back to the near extermination of the Indians and the theft of their land. As a matter of fact, it is very unfortunate that its original foundation was based on profits from slavery, land theft, and piracy. Of course everything is -er- different today. Isn't it?

>>>invading third world countries and and stealing their natural resources, .... the near extermination of the Indians and the theft of their land ..... based on profits from slavery, land theft, and piracy
The Persians did it,

The Greeks did it,

Even sophisticated Romans did it,

Let's do it,

Let's fall in love.

"Too bad it can maintain its existence only by invading third world countries and and stealing their natural resources"

I would simply like Meyer London to name a single occurence of this in American history, excepting of course the recent invasion of Iraq, which he outcome has yet to be historically determined.

I can't think of any, Meyer. As far as my recollection goes, the USA has returned to its rightful inhabitants, each and every nation that it ever conquered, that desired to remain under its own accord.

"the recent massacre in Iraq being just the latest in a long chain"

I challenge you to elaborate on this so called "long chain" of conquered and pilfered nations used and abused by the United States.

"that goes back to the near extermination of the Indians and the theft of their land."

Indians really had no formal government, therefor they do not count as a "nation". They were more like anarchists and socialists that couldn't keep it together enough to keep the white man out.

"As a matter of fact, it is very unfortunate that its original foundation was based on profits from slavery,"

Slaves were not a natural resource of any third world nation. Their own countrymen typically sold them into slavery, so those nations were pillaged from within by domestic means.

"land theft, and piracy."

You really are pretty far out there Meyer.

... people like Meyer are not given a seat at the political table. And for good reason. They have nothing to offer worth consideration.

They want a seat. But like everything else in life, they want it given to them. The idea of actually having to work for something is a foreign concept. But I will agree in this, that in their desperation, they have only the slightest of abilities to try and snip at the ankles of those whom they are unworthy to unlace their shoes.

Try Mexico - on third of it stolen in the 1840's. Invasion marked by brutal massacres of Mexican civilians. Or the trumped up attack on Spain, whose real purpose was to gain economic control of Cuba and the Phillipines. Or the War of 1812, whose real purpose was to conquer and seize Canada - this time the US failed because it had to face professional soldiers, not badly trained peasant conscripts. Or the numerous attacks and invasions of Latin American and Carribean nations that the US carried out from the late 19th century to just a few years ago - Panama, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and others. Or the CIA-engineered overthow of a nationalist government in Iran in the 1950's because that government would not turn over control of its oil industry to US corporations. Or the brutal war in Vietnam. Or the deliberate destruction by carpet bombing of virtually all cities of any size in North Korea.

Or the entrance of the US into World War I, whose puposes were to prevent JP Morgan and other banks from losing their loan payments if Germany defeated Britain and to keep German industries from competing with US industries. Or the arming of Iraq with chemical weapons after the US pressured Saddam Hussein into launching an unprovoked war against Iran. Or the vicious war against Filopino independence fighters in the early years of the 20th century. Or the shelling of Lebanese villages by the battleship New Jersy; shells that weighed as much as Volkswagon Beatles were lobbed at defenseless peasants in a deliberate attempt to terrorize that nation's population by killing as many civilians as possible. Or the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the Japanese had already made clear their willingness to surrender. Read some history instead of watching Fox News and you will find a lot of other examples.

Your disgustingly racist comments about Native Americans clearly show where you are coming from - the same sewer from which crawled Hitler and Jefferson Davis.

Mexico? As far as I know, Mexico is still a country under the control of it’s own (pathetic) government and the only thing brutal was the way those cretins obliterated our American brothers at the Alamo. You do remember the Alamo, don’t you Meyer? You certainly should. It was that place in modern day San Antonio, Texas where, when rebelling against repressions of Mexico's self-proclaimed dictator, Santa Anna, a band of 189 Texas VOLUNTEERS defied a Mexican army of thousands for 13 days of siege. The Alamo defenders died to the last man, among them such storied names as William Travis, Davy Crockett, and Jim Bowie. Cost to Mexican forces was dreadful. While Santa Anna dictated an announcement of glorious victory, his aide, Col. Juan Almonte, privately noted: "One more such glorious victory and we are finished". You really should review your history before spouting off.

And most of the wars you cite were fought long before the USA was ever even a Superpower. If anyone goes back and reviews history, it’s transparently clear that American involvement in ALL of those wars, including Korea and Vietnam, were justified.

And I don’t think you can argue that we’ve ever entirely lost a war. I mean even in Vietnam we only lost 40,000 troops. The VC lost nearly 1.4 Million combatants. Not much of a comparison, now is it?

And no one ever hears people like you discussing why we fight these wars in the first place. You want to proclaim that America is somehow inherently evil and up to no good, that its all about stealing natural resources and such hogwash. Tell us all about our evil intentions in Vietnam Meyer. Tell us about the untold riches in that God-forsaken hell-hole, that America was out to take from the start. You can’t do it because you know, as well as anyone that studies history, in Vietnam we were fighting against Communist aggression. Seriously, who was arming all those North Vietnamese troops that were killed in battle? It couldn’t have been the Communist Russians, Chinese, or the Czechs now could it? But you’ll never hear people like Meyer utter a derogatory syllable in opposition of the Governments of those nations because that’s contrary to his agenda.

Meyer, instead of being a potpourri of useless knowledge and a one trick pony, you should try offering Americans some constructive criticism occasionally, regarding how to make things better. Then maybe someone would take you seriously, and not just discount your self-marginalized position, based on your lack of honesty in presenting historic facts, your prevarication and the permeative stench of bitterness and deep seeded ill-will that all of your pennings suggest. It's as if you are nothing more than an acrimonious, closet Communist, angry that your side has been losing stride against Capitalism each and every day for the last fifty years.

Is all your history knowledge from comic books and John Wayne movies?
Just between us,,, you're not really very rich, are you?

No, I'm not rich. My name is Rich, but I am not. In fact, I make enough to keep my family sheltered, fed, and clothed. We take a vacation once per year. We don't live a very extravagant lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination. But we are very happy, and I am thankful that America affords us the opportunity to live in a freedom loving and tolerant place, that is unquestionably the greatest nation the likes of which this planet has ever known.

And there is quite a lot of historic facts that are contained in John Wayne movies. Not like Meyers obvious deceptive slants and mis-statings. I suppose you'd suggest I read some Noam Chomsky, Adam Kotsko, Paul Krugman or some other such America-hating historians work in order that I may become as obsessively bitter as all of you.

Well my friend, that is not going to happen. Dream on, and by all means, continue to studiously consume you steady diet of hate and caffeine. I imagine that you'll find that one day, it may be consuming you instead of you, it.

The shills offer no rebuttal of the posting, only ad hominem comments disguised as attacks.

Here's a little lesson plan for all you liberals that oh so love hating America. you can find YOUR history lessons. Don't bother watching sill John Wayne movies or reading comic books. You won't find America-hating subject matter there. This synopsis was written by a leftist, for a leftist:

>>>>>>

The time is now.

As a leftist, I am well acquainted with hating America. Often, my America-hating activities begin over my morning coffee. I realize that America is one of the main bulwarks of morality in a world of relativistic Frenchmen, but as a liberal, I am so completely depraved that I actively long for the destruction of all that is good and holy.

There is a rich collection of literary and theoretical resources for those who wish to hate America. In a testament to our national sickness, many of them are likely prominently displayed in your local Barnes and Noble. I have assembled a brief list here, in the hopes that true patriots everywhere will learn to know their enemy through an unbiased look at the very worst leftist demagogues who are currently placing our armed forces at risk. I will attempt to use rhetoric that will make my conservative brethren feel comfortable in what is probably uncharted territory for them.

'9-11' by Noam Chomsky is essential to all America-haters. To follow the usual conservative practice of criticizing a charicature of a book I've never read, in this partisan screed, Chomsky argues that the victims of 9-11 each personally had it coming and regrets that he was not there to drink their blood. He confesses that he molests children and that he prays to a statue of Lenin. Finally, he tells an interviewer that he plans to assassinate George W. Bush with a sawed-off shotgun. In the middle is a valuable discussion of his theory of generative grammar, for which he is rightly famous.

'Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace' by Gore Vidal is also essential to all America-haters. Punning off the title of the neoconservative philosopher Immanuel Kant's essay "Perpetual Peace," Gore Vidal (a distant relative of Al Gore and a high-culture "novelist") instructs us in the many evils of American imperialism. His simplistic polemical "arguments" remind one of the question-begging of "gay rights" activists and those who favor legalized discrimination (i.e., affirmative action). In short, Gore Vidal is a classic Clintonian hack writing an uninformed, semi-Pelagian piece of yellow journalism.

'The Spirit of Terrorism: And Requiem for the Twin Towers' by Jean Baudrillard is a touching apologia for the insane murders who attacked our nation in the most cowardly possible way -- by using only the most primitive weapons in hand-to-hand combat with a huge crowd of people that vastly outnumbered them and then sacrificing their own lives. In classical French fashion, he rambles obscurely about Heidegger while neglecting to point out that so-called "capitalism" is the only thing standing between Africa and mass starvation on a catastrophic scale. A truly scandalous piece of trendy, poseurish "postmodern" garbage, perpetrated by a closeted homosexual.

'The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century' by Paul Krugman is a textbook example of the intractable leftism of the American academy. His Royal Shrillness indulges in his trademark "criticism" of the Bush administration, which those of us who grow tired of politically correct euphemisms would prefer to term "hate-mongering" and "outright treason." How do I know he does this when the book wasn't even yet published at the time I wrote this list? I don't "know" that, of course, since only lesbian-loving liberals claim to "know" things -- I prefer to use overblown rhetoric as a mask for my a priori emotional convictions.

'Reading Capital' by Louis Althusser and Etienne Balibar might seem like an unusual choice, given that no one in the Soviet Union is likely to have read it. I chose this book, however, because Althusser and Balibar are French, and posting anything critical of Marx would likely seem anti-Semetic. Unlike 100% of all liberals, right-wing demagogues are extremely careful to avoid even the appearance of anti-Semitism, and indeed any playing of the "race card" whatsoever. If we are dealt a "race card" in the card game that is politics, we immediately lay it face down on the tableand attempt to make the best possible hand out of the remaining cards. Oh, also, Althusser strangled his own wife! Did you hear that: he strangled his own wife! It's all too common in France, where The Family has been dealt a critical blow.

'The Politics of Jesus: Vicit Agnus Noster' by John Howard Yoder is a shameless attempt to hijack Jesus and the Bible for the left-wing/communist cause. Claiming that Jesus supposedly advocated an obscure principle called "non-violence," Yoder's pernicious screed reads like an apologia for a romantic tryst between Hitler, Stalin, and Ho Chi Min. To be avoided at all costs, unless you want to be infected with romantic ideas about the supposed "injustice" of capitalism and war.

And finally, if you really want to hate America, I suggest you pick up a copy of 'A People's History of the United States : 1492-Present' by Howard Zinn. A textbook, classic example of the historical blindness of bleeding-heart liberals, Zinn will stop at nothing to destroy America's resolve and sense of purpose by appealling to irrelevant ideas such as discrimination and injustice. A terrifying look into the heart of darkness that is the hatred that liberals bear toward America.

So there you have it. If you wish to hate America, these books will help you along the way. If you wish to defend America, you can read these books and recognize their pernicious and fallacious arguments, or failing that, you can watch for people who have read them and just assume that they hate America.



>>>>>>

Sad, isn't it? People devote such time to such utter ridiculousness.

did you have it ready?
Heh,heh.
Just probing for responce. thank you.

blah.................

Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War Billions Moron this War
thank you

The only "oppression" that the American settlers in Texas were suffering was the attempt by the Mexican government to force them to live up to their agreement not to expand slavery into the Mexican province of Texas if they were allowed to settle there. A decade or so later, the US launched a brutal and unprovoked war whose only purpose was to steal land from Texas. If you are posting from California, you are on some of the land that was stolen.

As for Vietnam, it stands as one of the most important victories against imperialism in history. It is still an inspiration for people all over the world, which should not be judged by the standards of Orange County or Bakersfield.

Capitalism is a disease, an affliction on the human race and, for that matter, on other species as well. The racist arguments you make to defend it are symptoms of this disease. Diseases are sometimes awfully difficult to get rid of. But they are eventually eliminated, and this one will be, too.

The second sentence in my posting The Alamo and other Adventures should end with the word Mexico rather than Texas.

Communism - good

Socialism - good

Hitler - good

Stalin - good

Castro - good

Killing Jews - good

USA -evil

In war, you cannot steal land. There is no such thing.

The land belongs to whoever can conquer and defend it.

nasty.
Can YOU hold it or do you need help?

who is this question directed to?

You tell 'em, Adolf baby.

But I thought that Davy Crockett caps were only popular for a few months in 1956 or 1957. Must get hot in the summer - I remember mine was when I was six years old. Do people stare at you when you go into banks or stores? Do you sill have your plastic replica of Davy's gun - Old Betsy? Better not take that into a bank - you could get in loads of trouble. How many imaginary Mexican soldiers did you murder today with your plastic gun? Must be loads of fun - and you don't have to worry about being blown up with a rocket-propelled grenade, like those troops you want to keep over in Iraq.

It doesn't matter who it is. Julius Ceasar. Alexander the Great. William the Conquerer. Peter the Great. The Spanish, Italian, Dutch, English, French, Portugese, etc... explorers in North & South America.

Ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force.

And you obviously think that is a good idea. Do you have any disagreements at all with Herr Hitler?

I do. Hitler was a Socialist that wanted to exterminate all Jews and non-Aryan races based upon his beliefs that they were inferior. He's an example of what would happen should we refuse to challenge the likes of someone like Meyer London and allow him to be put in charge. Zieg heil. And I suppose he's never played the game "Risk" as it would seem that most of you leftist have not. Certainly try the experiment of being a pacifist in a game of Risk. Sit back and be an isolationist and pass your turn every round while the opposition builds it forces and steamrolls over you like your name was Rachel Corrie. The USA will not sit idly by while the opposition mounts its attack.

Why is it that you lefties read into statements meanings that were never offered?

That which seems "obvious", has nothing to do with anything I said. So, you goofed up. Again.

If something seems "obvious" to you from now on, do us all a favor and not assume that what seems "obvious" to you has any foundation in reality. If you want to know, just ask.

In this case, you should have done the following:

"Do you believe a world governed by the aggressive use of force is a good thing?"

See how simple that was.

Now to answer your question as it should have been presented:

I didn't say it was a good thing. I didn't say it was a bad thing. I just said that's the way it is.

Just because I say that it is necessary to exterminate the Jews and invade numerous countries, causing tens of millions of deaths, does not mean that I am actually in favor of that kind of thing. You leftist meanies are all alike.

Just because I discovered the principle of gravity when that apple boinked me on the head, doesn't mean I think it's necessarily a good thing...

These leftists want to call people like "v" a nazi for stating an axiom. They're the same ones screaming that Nicolai Copernicus was a heretic.

Attention unwashed masses we will protect you from all unauthorized thoughts.

We know what is best for you.

Let us do your thinking for you.

"Ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force."

What is it about that statement you believe is historically innaccurate?

Meyer you have yet to explain the hundreds of thousands of cubans that have fled Cuba since Fidel took power. Why do they risk life and limb to get here? I mean cuba is a paradise with the perfect government right. For that matter why do the citezens of all communist nations, past and present, continually migrate here and not the other way around. Every major city has a "china town" yet not one "america town" exsist in any chinese city. Lastly, why don't you go to one of these "paradises". Because anyone with a semblance of realistic thought would realize communism will never happen here. Never.

I still want to know what those untold riches and natural resources were in the Me-kong jungle that the USA went over there with the intent to plunder...

It's so obvious!

The Illuminati told 'em to!