Too big to fail, too weak to lead (tags)
Through the World Bank and IMF, they were able to push through privatization and the dismantling of social benefits and trade union rights in the over-indebted countries of the South. They also pursued this policy domestically, while corporations and the upper income brackets were spoiled with tax gifts. There were also massive arms orders.
Authoritarian Capitalism (tags)
The banks and auto corporations were bailed out and rescued and the ensuing public debt was invoked in order to cut public expenditures on health care, education, pensions, and public salaries. Furthermore, a new race to the bottom has started.
Car Plants Are Making Medical Equipment - And Things Should Stay That Way (tags)
The time has come for progressive nationalization and socialization. This includes the financial sector, because only if we gain control over the financing of socially necessary areas of production will it be possible to ensure that we as a society can plan our future.
"One must expect a tsunami of global inflation, further impoverishment and mass migration (of cheap labor) - and all of this will be blamed on Putin. One must expect the return of pandemic threats that support ongoing efforts to globalize vaccine passports and the digitization of life."
The subjectless rule of capital and Working class hero (tags)
Fortunately, his death did not silence him. The opposite is the case. Because John Winston Lennon became more immortal through the assassination than he already was as a member of the most successful band of all times. Not a martyr - but a working class hero.
Spiral downward and No exit! (tags)
The austerity dictates imposed on the Eurozone are only exacerbating the crisis they are supposed to be fighting. The austerity measures are leading to a collapse in domestic demand.
Degrowth - not just Green New Deals! (tags)
We live in a time of many and accelerating crises. Climate breakdown is breathing down our neck. Biodiversity is collapsing in ecosystems around the world, and many natural safety nets – water cycles, soil fertility, fish stocks, microbial diversity – are unraveling.
Plunder less and do more to preserve the one world (tags)
It is downright absurd that in our latitudes, half a century after "Limits to Growth" and a cascade of catastrophic ecological reports, every dip in economic growth rates is perceived as negative, even dramatic. Immediately shore up, revive, that's what politicians and the media agree on.
US: Domestic political gridlock and The Ukraine War (tags)
The Ukraine War: In Asia, Africa, and the Arab world, the prevailing view is that Europe is heading for disaster - and that the international order is falling apart. In much of Asia, Africa & the Middle East, the reaction to the war in Ukraine has been restrained. It is resounding silence.
Destrosying what is destroying the planet? (tags)
The decisions of the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow are a disaster. They seal the course for a drastic and irreversible heating of the earth, which threatens the survival of hundreds of millions of people and countless animal and plant species.
System Transformation or Barbarism (tags)
Overcoming capital is thus a necessity for survival. Consequently, the climate question is not a question of burden sharing, it is not a question of social security. The global exploitation process of capital, in which resources and energy are burned to make more money...
Capitalist crisis policy is ultimately in a crisis trap... The central banks' billion-dollar "quantitative easing" may have prevented the collapse of the world financial system in 2020, but it is only a postponement of the crisis.
Capitalist dilemmas and The Greed for More (tags)
The overexploitation of nature did not remain without resistance. However, these were ignored by both the left and the right. The "requirements of shipping and agriculture" destroy original functions of the floodplain landscapes. "And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find,maybe we should change the system"
Lessons from the First New Deal for the Next One (tags)
Shrinkage means the voluntary downsizing of the national economy, including a reduction in gross domestic product. "Voluntary" here indicates a preference for voluntaristic solutions - though not as individualistic and unplanned where well-to-do opt out of the consumerist market model.
Alternatives to capitalism: Buen vivir (tags)
Capitalism is seen primarily as a system of institutional and racist oppression, and it implies a way of life that sees nature only as a raw material to be exploited. The claim is thus to break with the capitalist mode of production and life in order to create "other forms of life."
What moves the "Generation Greta"? (tags)
The global economy is in free fall. Social life and public debate are largely paralyzed, the usual protest and organizing formats of the social movements are completely blocked. Decisive decisions are made in the mode of emergency decrees and huge rescue packages. The politically unthinkable becomes possible,
Saving the planet by disempowering the elites (tags)
Humanity is at the final crossroads of becoming aware of the drama of the ecological and peace crisis in which it finds itself. The book "The Eco-Catastrophe" is a wake-up call to take note of the seriousness of the situation, to accept the Herculean tasks ahead, to understand the growth ideology of global capitalism.
Noam Chomsky Without Regrets (tags)
We learn more about human beings and their nature from 19th-century novels than we do from academic psychology. It’s a way we not only enrich our lives, but enrich our understanding and conception of what it is to live a good life. Literature, arts, music or painting are some of the most profound ways of understanding.
New Deal means The Courage to Conflict (tags)
What we can learn from Roosevelt's reform policies of the 1930s today From 1929 onwards, as in many other capitalist countries, the US economy plunged into disaster. Between 1929 and 1933, GDP halved and unemployment rose eightfold to 12.8 million.
Pandemic leads to massive concentration in the marketplace (tags)
“We need a much more democratic system, we need to democratize all bits of the state – we need collective power" https://theface.com/culture/the-corona-crash-grace-blakeley-interview-coronavirus-economy-uk?token=44
What could change with Biden and Harris? (tags)
The next few years will be all about democracy in the U.S., about the social cohesion of a diverse population, about stopping environmental destruction, and about a successful structural change of the economy that goes hand in hand with the creation of sufficient, well-paid jobs and humane working conditions.
The New Deal and Self-destructive Donald Trump (tags)
From 1929 to 1932 industrial production halved and in a chain reaction over 5000 banks went bankrupt. Farmers' incomes shrank by 70 percent, unemployment rose to 25 percent, and there were no welfare state measures to cushion the misery.
Treading in Deep Waters (tags)
As one good reason for voting for Biden: should he win, Democrats will not be able to continually blame all of our sorry politics and capitalism’s contradictions on Trump. And the experience of a Biden government might well hasten the defection from a moribund Democratic Party.
Kamala Harris seals Trump's re-election (tags)
The appointment of Kamala Harris as Biden's vice candidate is now the result of the Democratic establishment's pathological fear of anything that could even begin to smell left. The cause of this pathology lies in the historical shift to the right of the US party system described by Chomsky.
The economy for faith healers (tags)
Due to the sharpening contradictions of late capitalist socialization, barbarism, not reason, is increasing. Reason is not advancing in the overall historical movement, as once postulated by Hegel. Only the overcoming of this false whole, would offer humankind a chance of survival.
The Job Guarantee in the Corona Pandemic (tags)
If the tax system is not reformed in an equitable manner, this will probably mean 10 to 20 years of cutbacks, starving basic services such as education, health, and care, as was the case in many European countries after the 2008 financial crisis.
The chances of the Corona crisis (tags)
Public debt only became a problem after the bank bailouts...Crises cause fear and reinforce deep-seated anxieties.. The market under capitalism is not an efficient distribution mechanism, but a means to enrich private corporations at the expense of society and its environment.
Corona and the collapse of modernization (tags)
Corona is the trigger but not the cause of the worsening crisis situation. It will accelerate the disintegration of capitalism. Pragmatism and cooperation on an international scale are called for. Infrastructure socialism takes health care from the market and insists on the common good
Super Tuesday and Standing up to Racists (tags)
Sanders said you can't beat Trump with yesterday's recipes and figures. That would be Biden's strategy to evoke the nostalgia of the Obama years. It would work for a lot of black people and some of the "urban" upper class. In fact, however, these forces have already lost.
Bernie Sanders in Las Vegas: Being free, being high and eminent domain (tags)
The proclamation of a national climate emergency, the ban on oil and gas exports and the import of cheap medicines from Canada are to be implemented by means of the so-called "Executive Order"
11-point Plan for a New Socialism (tags)
The break with the old neoliberal and new authoritarian policies becomes a necessity in the face of the multiple crisis. An impending economic slump would exacerbate this situation.
Uncle Joe and the Violence of the Liberal Middle (tags)
To many, Joe Biden represents the feelings of normality and reconciliation. Many Americans seem to like this mix of nostalgia and belief in progress, a kind of tranquilizer-patriotism. Whoever listens to Biden will hear vague promises, conjurations and Obama anecdotes
Time for a Real Green New Deal w/Green presidential hopeful Howie Hawkins, Sunday Sept 22 (tags)
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and the Wealth Tax (tags)
Warren's proposal earmarks a 2% tax on wealth between $50 million and a billion dollars and a 3% tax on wealth over a billion. Between 1930 and 1980, top incomes were taxed at 81% and top inherited wealth at 74%. Obviously, this did not destroy American capitalism.
Public Good or Private Wealth (tags)
The deep and growing chasm between the rich and the poor is not an accident. This gulf is the result of political decisions. Many rich countries have lowered or abolished property taxes. Governments reduce spending on education and health care.
Markets as a Fetish, Globalization, and Dissent Management (tags)
Economic inequality must be reduced and democratic participation regained. Resisting tax avoidance, financial market regulations, climate policy, and globally combating poverty should be priorities.
Capitalism is the Problem (tags)
Prosperity in large part is based on the ecological and social exploitation of poor countries in Africa and Asia. Today 20% of humanity consume 80% of global resources. The poor are played off against each other while the richest hide billions in tax havens.
On the End of Capitalism (tags)
The bridge from capitalism to the new "post-growth economy" is lacking. Hardly anyone reflects about the process of transformation...If the climate should be spared, flying cannot be a human right. The R-word will be unavoidable again: renunciation.
Dr. Jill Stein for President (tags)
Imagine a presidential candidate not stuffing her pockets and legitimating the status quo of lobbyists writing laws, unending wars, tax evasion by corporations in the Cayman Islands and exploding inequality! Alternatives of community centers and reduced working hours are possible!
Growth Euphoria and Distribution Reality (tags)
The chasm between poor and rich opens even more. The uncoupling of growth and quality of life on one side and productivity and work volumes on the other side make clear that "business-as-usual" leads to growing problems. German GDP grew 300% with 20% fewer workers.
Why Organized Labor Must Stand Against the Keystone XL Pipeline (tags)
Spurred by real urgency over the corporate driven ruin of the environment, a growing social movement is taking shape that will be on display this Sunday, February 17, when tens of thousands descend on the streets of Washington, D.C. in a show of power titled “Forward On Climate.”
Economist Richard Wolff Supports "Lesser" Evil Voting (tags)
We finally heard from the self-proclaimed Marxist economist, Richard Wolff, on the presidential elections, on KPFA, 94.1 FM, 6 p.m. news, 7/15/12, on his view of the elections and it was a shameful, anti-Marxist, lesser evil line, especially considering Wolff is a founding member of the Connecticut Green Party.
In the Towrope of the Financial Markets (tags)
"High growth has a well-known hook. Surpluses are only possible when natural resources from clear water to rare earth are available, when the energy supply is guaranteed and when the pollutant sinks are sufficient.. The debtors are now those states that had to become indebted.."
What's Left for the Left? Building a Blue-Green Coalition (tags)
To build a strong electoral base for the Left, Green Party activists can build coalitions to pass ranked choice voting in cities throughout LA County, elect Greens to every non-partisan office - from neighborhood council to union leadership - and strategically support anti-war progressive Democrats running for state and federal office. From the ground up, we must build a diverse Green Party to protect our planet beyond the age of empire.
Book Review: "The Great Crash or the Century Crisis" by Elmar Altvater (tags)
Capitalism is at an end and the whole world is drawn into the mess. Preventing this is an ethical imperative and a political duty. The multiple crisis has dragged on for years. The political class allows this to happen. Political answers to the debacle can only be found with clarity on causes.
The Crisis of Financial Market Capitalism as a Challenge for the Left (tags)
The crisis of neoliberal financial market capitalism broke out in its center and has one central systemic cause. This crisis was triggered by the independence of the financial sphere... A solidarity mixed economy, democracy and peace are alternatives.
Fukushima Mon Horreur - The Dream of Economic Reason Gives Birth to Tremendous Catastrophe (tags)
In "Anti-Duhring," Frederick Engels explained that nature also has a history and that capitalism tends to destroy its own foundations and nature. The negative is bound to the positive as conservation of energy is bound to transformation of energy.
"Beyond Growth" congress in Berlin, May 20-22. 2011 (tags)
A "Beyond Growth" congress will be held in Berlin, May 20-22. 2011. The driving forces of growth, the limits of growth, the crisis of the work society, an economy beyond growth, justice and the globalized world, sharing and the good life will be discussed.
The neoliberal growth strategy ofr reducing the price of labor led to a system change from Keynesianism to neoliberal capitalism. Neoliberals never sought full employment. Rather their policy aimed at the permanent division of society.
AP: California candidates support 'Green New Deal' (tags)
Green Party candidates for statewide office come out in support of fiscally responsible policies that emphasize job creation, environmental protection, and social justice.
Worldwide Economic Crisis: Two Opposite Models as Answers (tags)
In a large part of the population, there is a consensus that capitalism has no answers to the great social challenges of social security, hunger and climate change. An alternative investment program (emphasizing children, culture and climate change) gives a long-term answer.
Alternatives to Capitalism (tags)
Neoliberalism, financial market-driven capitalism, intensifies the crises. However the root of evil lies in the developmental laws of capitalism. Neoliberalism is based on double standards and double speak where CEOs are job creators and workers are cost factors.
20 Theses against a Green Capitalism (tags)
Is a Green New Deal possible? These theses were published in an English translation in: Prager Fruhling (Prague Spring) in December 2009.
Climate Justice, Not Growth Mania (tags)
"In green capitalism, the bio-crisis is at the center of the growth strategy. The Green New Deal represents a kind of ecological inversion of Kennedy's famous sentence: Ask not what you can do for the environment but what the environment can do for you..."
All Cards on the Table: For a Social Ecological New Deal (tags)
The neoliberal and fossilist finance market capitalism has become a discontinued model. With his New Deal, Roosevelt introduced state pensions, unemployment insurance and the minimum wage, reduced working hours and strengthened unions.
Worldwide 136 cities of millions at the coasts are directly endangered by the rising sea level.. The president cannot win a two-front war against the conservatives.. Over 100 German regions resolved to be completely renewable by 2025.
"We are moving into a world-historical situation where all the points of social, economic and political life will be reset..A revolutionary process is only possible when a radical reform gets going.. A radical redistribution from top to bottom must be fought for.."