A new quality of crisis (tags)
From the systemic urge to self-destruction arises the survival necessity of the emancipatory overcoming of capital. The capitalist regime of constraint must be transformed into history. The struggle for the transformation of the system has to be the central moment of left practice.
26 Ways Trump Has Increased The National Debt By 4 to 5 Trillion Dollars (tags)
The corporate media boycott of Kevin De Leon, abolitionists of the death penalty, animal rights activists, vegans, and antiwar experts, There is a little more discussion about Trump's savaging of our national treasury.
22 Ways Trump Has Increased US Deficit By 4 to 5 Trillion Dollars (tags)
Despite cutting money for the health of hundreds of millions of Americans, education, bridges, mass transit, environmental enforcement, etc Trump has added trillions to the deficit.
Banks Enriched By Trump Deficit Increase Of 4 to 5 Trillion $ (tags)
The Trump regime under the guise of cutting government costs has increased them. Between 4 and 5 trillion dollars in costs have been added to the deficit enriching Chinese, Swiss, Japanese, British and American banksters.
Trans-Pacific Partnership Guarantee (tags)
TPP
Paul Krugman on "Truthiness" and the Deficits (tags)
"We all know how democracy is supposed to work. Politicians are supposed to campaign on the issues, and an informed public is supposed to cast its votes based on those issues, with some allowance for the politicians’ perceived character and competence."
When Theory and Reality Diverge (tags)
Politics forces crises and prevents their ending every day by holding to its ideological blinders. The state is not a private household and spending cuts always strike back on other actors of the economy. When theory and reality diverge, the theory is wrong, not the reality.
Austerity When Stimulus Is Needed (tags)
class war
More Evidence of Chupacabra than Bipartisan Fiscal Cliff Hype (tags)
The bipartisan hype over the so-called "fiscal cliff" is an attempt my the status quo to institute severe austerity measures that would effect seniors, disabled and other people dependent upon the social safety net that is set up on the chopping block by BOTH Democrats and Republicans. There may be more evidence of the mythical chupacabra (goat sucker) than there is proof of any upcoming fiscal cliff. Either way we are dealing with some really mangy bloodsuckers!
Portland Anti-Austerity Protest Draws 1,000 Despite Police Violence (tags)
It’s difficult to build a pre-election protest with so many labor and community groups busy campaigning for Democrats. Nevertheless, over 1,000 people marched the streets in Portland, Oregon against austerity cuts to education and other public services and the consequent debt accumulated by students.
Five Easy Post-Election Predictions (No Matter Who Wins) (tags)
It’s true that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have many political differences. But they also agree on many essential policies; enough to make the next four years easily predictable, no matter who wins.
Portland, Oregon Prepares for Pre-Election Anti-Austerity Protest (tags)
On November 3rd Portland community and labor groups will declare “enough is enough” by organizing a first for the U.S. — a large demonstration against government austerity cuts.
Paul Ryan's Socially Destructive Agenda (tags)
class war
The Systemic Causes of the Crisis (tags)
The crisis is 30 years old, not 4 years old. The causes of the crisis can be found in the real goods-producing economy, not in the financial markets. The wildly proliferating financial markets did not drag the industry into crisis but kept alive the industry through credit-financed demand.
BTL:European Economic Crisis, Austerity Measures, Resistance Portend Future of U.S. Econom (tags)
Interview with Richard Wolff, economics professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, now visiting professor at the New School University's graduate program in international affairs, conducted by Scott Harris
BTL:Demands for Transparency Target Money Flowing to Members of Congressional Deficit Supe (tags)
Interview with Ellen Miller, co-founder, executive director of Sunshine Foundation, conducted by Scott Harris
The crisis is 30 years old, not three years old. The causes of the crisis should be tracked down in the real goods-producing economy, not in the financial markets. The financial markets were keep alive up to the collapse of the speculative bubble by credit-financed demand.
The Flaw and Words Can't Magic Away the Trade Deficit (tags)
One recurring delusion in the controversy over America's free-trade-induced trade mess is the idea that our gigantic trade deficit, which fluctuates around $500 billion a year, somehow "doesn't matter." Systemic and structural contradictions are often repressed; economic problems are trivialized.
Obama-Style Deficit Reduction (tags)
class war
Sen. Bernie Sanders Reads the Riot Act (tags)
Bernie Sanders Reads the Riot Act, Senate Transcript: The Rich Get Richer, the Poor Get Poorer, and the Middle Class Disappears
"We will not abandon our committment to Social Security" (tags)
"This is my vision for America-a vision where we live within our means while still investing in our future; where everyone makes sacrifices but no one bears all the burden; where we provide a basic measure of security for our citizens and we provide rising opportunity for our children.."
The U.S. is More Greek than Greece (tags)
Deficit economies were organized mainly by finance capital. The expansion of this credit-financed mass demand went along with the expansion of the financial sector. Trillions of dollars and Euros were pumped in the stabilization of financial markets.
BTL:Ending Tax Giveaways to the Rich is Key to Reducing U.S. Deficit (tags)
Interview with Chuck Collins, director of the Institute for Police Studies' Project on Inequality and the Common Good, conducted by Scott Harris
Republican Plan to End, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (tags)
ending vital rights
Video: Austerity Budget Means More Unemployment (tags)
Obama is arguing on the Republicans' turf; he has lost control of the debate. Obama has internalized the deficit hawks' frenzy; jobs and unemployment are eclipsed by the sole focus on reducing the deficit. We are arguing about cuts instead of reordering the economy.
Who's Behind the Deficit Crisis (tags)
From the U.S. to Europe media and politicians are singing the same tune: "budget deficits must be drastically reduced -- by cutting social programs -- so that global bond investors do not threaten the economy." Not since the "war on terror" was announced has government policy been so shrouded in confusion and unanswered questions. In the same way we are not to ask how U.S. foreign policy has angered millions in the Middle East, we must remain equally silent about questioning the recent history behind the current "deficit crisis.”
Ruling on Behalf of Wall Street's "Super Rich": The Financial End Time has Arrived (tags)
"Alas, the Obama administration has backed the Geithner-Bernanke policy that “the economy” cannot recover without saving the debt overhead. The reality is that it is the debt overhead that is destroying the economy. So we are dealing with the irreconcilable fact that the Obama position threatens to lower living standards from 10% to 20% over the coming few years – making the United States look more like Greece, Ireland and Latvia than what was promised in the last presidential election. Something has to give politically if the economy is to change course. More to the point, what has to give is favoritism for Wall Street at the expense of the economy at large. What has made the U.S. economy uncompetitive is primarily the degree to which debt service has been built into the cost of living and doing business. Post-classical “junk economics” treats interest and fees as payment for the “service” for providing credit. But interest (like economic rent and monopoly price extraction) is a transfer payment to bankers with the privilege of credit creation. The beneficiaries of providing tax favoritism for debt are the super-rich at the top of the economic pyramid – the 2% whom Mr. Obama’s tax giveaway will benefit by over $700 billion. If the present direction of tax “reform” is not reversed, Mr. Obama will shed crocodile tears for the middle class as he sponsors the Deficit Reduction Commission’s program of cutting back Social Security and revenue sharing to save states and cities from defaulting on their pensions. One third of U.S. real estate already is reported to have sunk into negative equity, squeezing state and local tax collection, forcing a choice to be made between bankruptcy, debt default, or shifting the losses onto the shoulders of labor, off those of the wealthy creditor layer of the economy responsible for loading it down with debt."
Obama Team's Deficit Cutting Proposal: Benefit the Few, Harm the Many (tags)
Obama's Robin Hood economics
The Democrats Prepare to Move Right (tags)
On the eve of the Republican-dominated mid-term election, working people were told to vote Democrat to prevent a "truly dangerous" Republican party from taking power. There is an element of truth in this: the Republican Party has been sprinting to the far right for decades, to the point where they are incapable of speaking sensibly about political issues. But in a close second place in this rightward scramble are the Democrats, who've spent decades racing into the arms of the corporations that dominate both political parties unchallenged.
French Lessons for U.S. Workers (tags)
The world watches as France once again erupts in protests, demonstrations, and strikes. So much is at stake. If France's corporate-dominated government is able to increase the retirement age, other governments will be empowered to follow through with their plans to do the same. If labor, student, and community groups succeed in stopping the pension reform -- or toppling the government -- workers in other countries will likewise be inspired to fight back and organize in the French fashion.
VIDEO: Bush tax cuts suck (tags)
Tax cuts do not pay for themselves, grow the economy or help balance the budget. George Bush Sr debunked Reagan's voodoo economics that pretended tax cuts would help balance the budget.
What “Jobless Recovery” Means in Capitalism (tags)
The phrase “jobless recovery” entered the capitalist lexicon in 2002. But since then nobody want to be associated with these phrase. Although a lot of economist tried to use this term as a byword. Still noboy want to own up to this infamous phrase. The term “jobless recovery “ had been associated with the terms of momentary statistical growth and corporate profits on books of accounts and in the stock market rather than in terms of production, employment and improvement of the people's living conditions.
Deficit Hysteria: Wrongheaded in Times of Depression (tags)
proposed policies are wrecking economies
PRESIDENT OBAMA NEEDS ALL OUR PRAYERS WITH THIS CABAL OF SELFISH WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS ~ (tags)
TAX CUTS & TAX FREE SLUSH FUND FOUNDATIONS FOR OUR WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS AND LOSS OF HOMES,CARS, APARTMENTS etc...4 OUR MIDDLE~CLASS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS.....
Dependence paralyzes superpowers. Washington urges Peking to upgrade its currency which China's economy cannot handle. China-bashing is an absolute necessity in the upcoming election campaigns.
Eclectic Los Angeles Tea Party Stages Tax Day Protest at Feinstein's L.A. Offices./ Set 2 (tags)
On Deadline Day, A potpourri Of West L.A. Tax Revolters Railed Against Massive Deficits and the Cost of Social Welfare Programs as Possible Candidates Rally For November Elections Photo Set 2 of 2
The Democrats are Coming After Social Security (tags)
It’s official: the Democrats are coming after Social Security and Medicare. How refreshing that all the backroom scheming and political conspiring is finally out in the open. Before, the corporate elite had been having this conversation in private, via right-wing think tanks and business journals. Now, mainstream media is promoting these ideas, including the Democrat’s media mouthpiece — The New York Times. In a three-page editorial, entitled The Truth about the Deficit, The New York Times gives its solution to the country’s debt problems. The main idea is summed up here:
Elite democracy leads to corruption of wealth distribution, language and community. "We must be wounded to be healed" (Dorothee Soelle).
How to Lower the U.S. Deficit Without Killing Social Security (tags)
When it was recently announced that the federal deficit was $2 trillion higher than previously estimated, corporate vultures — after years of high-altitude circling — began their descent. The dying entity they’re after is the U.S. social safety net — Social Security, Medicare, etc. Years of waiting have finally paid off; the long awaited pretext for scavenging has arrived in the huge federal deficit.
"Crises belong to capitalism as the cyclone belongs to the weather.. A social division went along with the neoliberal turn. The welfare state mutated to a repressive crisis management of a growing mass poverty..Greenspan's dollar glut kindled a global deficit economy.."
Argentinization of the US and Currency War (tags)
"After the great killing of the bison, the basic food of Indians, the great killing of the US dollar, the basic food of today's credit-junkie, could now be imminent.. A deficit amounting to 13% of the GDP is more than four times what was established as the convergence criterion of the European Union."
Socialist Stewart Alexander: Washington and Capitalism in Shambles (tags)
Since President Barack Obama took office in January, the U.S. economy has gone from bad to worst. Nationwide, home foreclosures continue to climb, consumer spending is down due to the credit crisis, more than 6 million Americans remain unemployed, and while paychecks are shrinking, inflation and gas prices are on the increase. The U.S. economy and capitalism is in a total mess.
EPCC COMMENDS CALIFORNIA VOTERS FOR REJECTING ANTI-PEOPLE BUDGET MEASUREs (tags)
The Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) highly commends and congratulates the California voters for rejecting a package of budget-balancing measures that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said were needed to keep a $15 billion deficit from widening to $21 billion. Only the proposal to limit lawmaker pay passed. Five of the propositions failed with 64 percent of the votes counted, according to California’s elections office. Despite threats from lawmakers and fear mongering that the crisis would aggravate because of the a record $42 billion budget gap, the people voted against the measures. The losing proposals would have capped spending and
The California Budget and Class War (tags)
On February 19, the California legislature, after weeks of wrangling, passed a special budget to address the historically high $42 billion deficit. It represents an unadulterated washout for working people who are attacked on almost every front by the Democratic Party, which controls a broad majority in the legislature.
Monetary Policy and Stagflation (tags)
50 countries already show double-digit rates; 42% of the world population is affected. Monetary policy reacts helplessly to stagflation. The financial bubble economy is an excess. When consumers finally spend the money they don't have, everything will be just fine.
Is the "Mother of all Financial Crises" Imminent? (tags)
A trade-weighted devaluation of the dollar of around 25 percent is necessary allowing the US currency to ski "gradually and orderly" against free-floating currencies. The IMF could establish a "substitution account" with "special drawing rights" to avert a dollar panic.
The US Will Experience Its Big Surprise (tags)
The dollar devaluation has to do with many things, above all with the double deficit. The US must become indebted more and more. China and Dubai could go on a shopping spree and buy oil companies. The US must earn euros to pay for the oil to be imported.
The Dollar and US Hegemony (tags)
The dollar devaluation since 2001 is a necessary adjustment for the twin US deficits, the national budget deficit and the foreign trade deficit. US imports are nearly double US exports. A drastic change of lifestyles is imperative where modesty and simplicity are encouraged.
Global Capital Flows to the Rich (tags)
The global imbalance seems more dangerous for all other countries than for the US. A fundamental reform of the international monetary system is overdue. The US dollar is no longer the stable anchor of the world monetary system.
The New World Currency Crisis (tags)
The US lost its absolute superiority as an industrial- and export-state..The US balance of payments deficit has nearly doubled since the 1980s..A hard landing of the dollar becomes more likely the longer the Asian exchange rate correction is delayed.
De-industrialization reduces the long-term wealth-formation of broad sectors of the population. An extremely high indebtedness of private households also contributes to the disastrous total deficit of the US.
U.S. TRADE DEFICIT DEVASTATING ECONOMY (tags)
The U.S. economy is being sold to the highest bidders in the world trade markets and our trade deficit is destroying our economy. Americans risk losing everything due to poor leadership in Washington D.C.
Bush Administration in a Budget Dilemma (tags)
The continuation of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to a doubling of the budget deficit in the next ten years..In 2006 the reduction or elimination of 150 federal programs is lined up.
"The US economy grows but depends on the rest of the world supplying hundreds of billions of more goods to the US every year than come from the US.. This will not last forever.."
Mr. Greenspan and the German Way (tags)
Greenspan's dilemma is that interest rates must rise to reduce the trade deficit ($617B in 2004) and keep foreign investors ($2B a day) though this could burst the real estate bubble and raise consumer prices. US prosperity is a credit-b ased prosperity.
In the fight for the future, CEOs are MIA (tags)
America faces a huge set of challenges if it is going to retain its competitive edge. As a nation, we have a mounting education deficit, energy deficit, budget deficit, health care deficit and ambition deficit. The administration is in denial on this..
Weak Dollar and Strong Bush: China and US Debts (tags)
To stabilize the value of the dollar, the US needs a daily currency inflow of $1.8 billion.. The budget plan of the White House rests on unrealistic assumptions.. The Bush administration assumes higher revenues by means of the tax cuts.
Hard Landing of the Dollar (tags)
The decline of the US dollar signals the economic weakness of the superpower and the structural crisis of capitalism. Since 1985 the US has become heavily indebted fo foreign countries. This foreign indebtedness amounts to 35 percent of the GDP.
The deficit can only be lowered by devaluing the dollar at least 20 to 30 percent.. In 1963 the deficit amounted to five percent of econo-mic output. This changed within eight years into a surplus of one percent. Economic growth, tax increases andspending discipline
With multiple crises—war, budget deficits and a collapsing dollar—on the horizon, the holier-than-thou Bush administration in the second term is likely to find itself facing a disaster of biblical proportions.
The immanent planned collapse ... US Silent As Euro Screams Higher
RECORDS FALL UNDER BUSH: THE BIG PICTURE (tags)
The U.S. Dept. of Commerce projects a record $631 billion annual trade deficit for 2004.
Politicians need to know... (tags)
What every politician ought to know before taking office
America's Job Wonder is Pure Statistics (tags)
"Everything is only marketing.. The new statistical methods only help marketing to keep the high deficits in the US finacable. The data does not reflect reality in the US.. America wrestles with a so-called double deficit.."
Freedom Rings Only In Our Ears
Study: Most tax breaks go to wealthy, add to federal deficit (tags)
Most of the benefits of tax-advantaged retirement accounts go to the highest wage earners. The poorest 40 percent of households have only about 5 percent of all the assets in these accounts, while the richest 10 percent have more than half.
Digging a hole in our treasury (tags)
You thought 12 years of Raygun/Bushit were bad? Hell, they were just warming this trainwreck up. Despirate people are more likely to follow the leader into fascism.
The Biggest Shell Game For Theft In This World's History!
Gnome$ for peace- How to Stop the Attack (tags)
Boycott the dollars and bring peace to the world. The more people you can persuade to join you in becoming a Gnome for Peace, the better the chance there is of weakening the dollar and the American economy by enough to prevent or limit a war.
Terror Level Threat to be Sponsored By Looney Toons (tags)
A satirical news story about one possibile way to reduce the federal deficit.