by: Stewart A. Alexander
http://StewartAlexanderCares.com February 16, 2009
As the U.S. economic crisis continues to worsen, the corporate media is attempting to shift the blame for the failures of capitalism with claims that the U.S. economy is drifting toward socialism; the fact is nothing could be further from the truth. Socialist leaders, nationwide believe the present U.S. economic crisis is evident of the evolutionary cycle that occurs in a capitalist economy; and if the cycle runs its course, it will lead the U.S. to economic disaster.
Within the past week, the Democrats in Congress passed the largest government bailout in U.S. history with a price tag of $787 billion; a majority of the nation’s top economist, taxpayers and Congressional Republicans believe a better plan is needed than what the stimulus package has to offer. Also, within the past week, President Barack Obama admitted that the U.S. economy will require more government and private investments to prevent an economic catastrophe.
The Socialist Party USA and the Peace and Freedom Party, both socialist parties, have rejected the government bailouts to stimulate the U.S. economy. The Socialist Party USA recently stated that “The current financial crisis is not just a temporary setback, nor is it caused primarily by the lack of regulation in the financial sector. The collapse of the financial sector is indicative of the total failure of the capitalist economy.”
Within the past year the U.S. government has spent nearly $2 trillion to help rescue the U.S. economy; first with a $168 billion stimulus package that failed to produce any results, and directly injecting capital into banks and financial institutions to free up the credit markets. During the final weeks of the Bush administration, Congress approved a massive $700 billion bank bailout that has failed to free-up credit markets and financial institutions.
While this latest stimulus package makes its way to the President Obama’s desk, the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve are now taking additional steps that could throw as much as $3 trillion toward the frozen credit markets that are now crippling consumer spending and is fueling unemployment.
During this time, when the Democrats are spending trillions of dollars to help rescue the U.S. economy, the difference between socialism and capitalism could not be more apparent. The capitalists have their administrators in Congress giving the wealth of the nation to private banks and financial institutions with little accountability as to how the funds will be appropriated. The socialists absolutely oppose bailing out banks and spending tax dollars to protect the profits of the wealthy elite.
The wealthy capitalists will receive the greatest benefits from President Obama’s stimulus package over the short term and long term. Obama’s stimulus package will not create jobs in the near future for the 60 million plus women and men that are now unemployed or under-employed. Socialists believe it is necessary to create socially useful jobs that will benefit individual needs and the needs of society.
A forth-coming Newsweek article is entitled “We Are All Socialists Now;” not so, says the people with Socialist Party USA and the Peace and Freedom Party. Socialists are committed to socialist principles that share no relationship to the ongoing government bailouts that will only benefit the wealthy capitalists. Socialists are committed to the transformation of capitalism through the creation of a democratic socialist society. The socialists believe that socialism will establish a new social and economic order in which workers and community members will take responsibility for and control of their interpersonal relationships, their neighborhoods, their government, and the production and distribution of all goods and services.
Socialist Party USA recently stated that “there can no longer be any rational debate on the question of pursuing the “free market” as an alternative to the compelling urgency for a socialist transformation of society. The need of the largest capitalist firms to wipe out competition has already led to the centralization of economic power, but in the form of private ownership of an unaccountable ruling class of professional speculators, not of working people.”
Since Congress passed the first $168 billion government stimulus, the “S” word has become a favorite term for the corporate media in referring to socialism. It would be more appropriate to use the “S” word to refer to “stimulus” because it is evident that the capitalists are moving no closer to a transition to socialism; however, as the U.S. economic crisis continues to expand and the failure of capitalism become more apparent to the world, the wealthy ruling elite are now sustaining capitalism with one stimulus after another.
For more information search the Web for: Stewart A. Alexander
http://socialistparty-usa.org/statements/financialcrisis012509.html http://banderasnews.com/0901/edat-stewartalexander30.htm http://StewartAlexanderCares.com http://peaceandfreedom-sjv.org/home/ http://www.sp-usa.org/