Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99% — Only the 1% Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From Austerity! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico
Unlike Malcolm X, who never got the opportunity to act upon his convictions, Martin Luther King was organizing a movement to obtain his stated goals when he was assassinated in Memphis. He was in Memphis to build “the coalition of an energized section of labor, Negroes, unemployed, and welfare recipients” in support of striking municipal garbage workers. If such a force had been launched, the whole power of the antiwar and civil rights movement in the 1960s could have transformed the labor movement and become “the source of power that reshapes economic relationships and ushers in a breakthrough to a new level of social reform.” Such a coalition, as King envisioned it thirty-three years ago, is needed today. The best tribute to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X would be to begin anew to build a movement based on the ideas and the concepts that they had developed at the time of their untimely deaths. Unfortunately, the civil rights movement, after Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, subordinated independent mass struggle in the streets to electoral activity: to elect Democrats. Black Democratic politicians under the slogan: “vote for me and I’ll set you free,” began distributing “war on poverty” money to Black organizations. What W.E.B. DuBois called the “talented tenth” got government jobs and became comfortable. This whole process demobilized the civil rights movement of the Black masses, who were subsequently left behind. Today, the bankruptcy of this policy has come home to roost upon all workers as pensions, wages, our standard of living, etc., are under attack and devalued by inflation. Blacks and other minorities especially have faced the brunt of these attacks. They are disproportionately among the ranks of the unemployed and the underemployed. On the question of civil rights, conditions have reverted to the 60s for the Black masses and for Latinos. According to the Harvard Civil Rights Project www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/ the nation’s schools have become re-segregated along Black, Latino, and economic lines. Throughout this country, the inner cities are being gentrified as Blacks and the poor are forced out and scattered throughout the land. The action in response to Hurricane Katrina and the explosion of the immigrant rights movement; a reflection of the rise of the indigenous people of all of Latin America for their rights, bring hope for a better future and are just a hint of what’s to come. As we make a balance sheet of the Civil Right’s Movement against the backdrop of the world and domestic situation at the opening of the 21st century, clearly Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Dream” is not possible under the “Nightmare” of capitalism. The modern-day tyranny of the multinationals and their beholden representatives in government is based on dividing working people worldwide on the basis of race, nationality, and gender. The modern-day tyranny of the multinationals and their beholden representatives in government is based on dividing working people worldwide on the basis of race, nationality, and gender. There is no way forward for Black and Latino workers, or even for their white counterparts, under capitalism. If the system of capitalism is based on the exploitation of Labor, and one of the foremost methods of capitalist exploitation of Labor is the weapon of racism, how can any lasting solution to this problem of humanity be achieved under capitalism? As Malcolm X said: “…. Racism is profitable, if it wasn’t profitable it wouldn’t exist. — Why the Government Assassinated Malcolm X And Martin Luther King Jr.
Videos of the Day:
Wilkerson: The Trump-Netanyahu Iran Plan Means War As Benjamin Netanyahu threatens war, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson says that in targeting Iran, the U.S. and Israel are threatening wider conflict in Syria and Lebanon
Why is a Russian Troll Farm Being Compared to 9/11? Robert Mueller’s charges against 13 Russians and their troll farm for “information warfare” against the U.S. has prompted comparisons to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Max Blumenthal breaks down the indictment and the overblown reaction
Is Russia a Threat? Alleged election-meddling aside, there is a great deal of exaggeration of Russia’s power and of its threat to the U.S., says author and scholar Vijay Prashad
Liberal-FBI Love Fest Recalls 1950s: The current liberal and “progressive” love affair with the FBI “is a way of affirming the status quo,” in which both Democrats and Republicans are participants, said scholar Ward Churchill
The Underground Struggle Continues: Shannon Jones and her comrades in Bronxites for NYPD Accountability have taken the struggle against police repression underground, into the subway system, where they encourage folk
Mumia on Rule of “the Good Ol’ Boys”: The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, told audiences for his Prison Radio broadcast that white supremacy really means white MALE supremacy.
Sentencing Reform Bill Moves Forward on Capital Hill: The Senate Judiciary Committee’s passage of a drug sentencing bill is a significant step forward for criminal justice reform, said Kara Gotsch, of The Sentencing Project, especiall
U.S. Prepares Armed Intervention in Venezuela: Ajamu Baraka, lead organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace, believes the U.S. is actively preparing a military intervention against the elected government of Venezuela
Labor:
Shadow Government Statistics Real Wages Keep FallingRobber Barrons Don’t Rob With a Gun — They Rob With a Pen: ‘Shady Bosses’ Stealing $15 Billion in Wages from Low-Income Workers: Report “Wage theft is the rule, not the exception, for low-wage workers.” —Michael Hollander, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia “Wages are far too low to begin with, so when money is stolen right out of workers’ paychecks, we have to have effective tools in place to get that money back.” With American workers already struggling against stagnant wages, declining union strength, and vicious attacks by the Trump administration, a new investigation by Politico published Sunday found that low-wage employees in the United States are also contending with wage theft on a massive scale — a crisis that many states lack the resources or political will to address. By Jake JohnsonEconomy:
Shadow Government Statistics: Retail Sales Keep DroppingHow Does the Washington Post Know that Trump’s Plan Really “Aims” to Pump $1.5 Trillion Into Infrastructure Projects? This is an assertion in a major Post article on infrastructure, but it doesn’t fit with the evidence. Trump is actually only proposing to put up $200 billion (0.09 percent of GDP) over the next decade towards his infrastructure initiative. The rest is supposed to come from state and local governments and private investors. As the piece notes, many are dubious whether anything like this amount will be forthcoming. Also, Trump is proposing large cuts to Amtrack and a wide range of other areas infrastructure spending, so his proposed increase in spending is far less this $200 billion figure. by Dean Baker
Alarm Bells Sounded on Wall Street’s Derivatives On February 14, the week after the Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced two separate days of more than 1,000-point losses, the House Financial Services’ Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities and Investment convened a hearing to discuss various legislative proposals to return to the wild west era of derivatives trading on Wall Street. (Many, including Wall Street On Parade, believe that we’ve never left that era — the risks have simply been hidden behind a dark curtain. (See related articles below.) By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Bailed Out Citigroup Is Going Full Throttle into Derivatives that Blew Up AIG Having closely observed how Citigroup collapsed under the weight of its own corruption and risk-taking hubris in 2008 and spread its contagion across Wall Street, a headline we never dreamed we would see in our lifetime is shown above from Risk Magazine’s web site. The article under the heart-stopping headline is dated January 27, 2016 and informs readers that Citigroup is now viewed by clients as one of the top-three market makers in single name Credit Default Swaps in both North America and Europe. Credit Default Swaps are the instruments that blew up the giant insurance company, AIG, in 2008, requiring the U.S. government to bail out the company to the tune of $185 billion. The bailout money went in the front door of AIG and was then funneled out the backdoor to the big Wall Street banks that had used AIG as their counterparty to guarantee their bets on Credit Default Swaps. The AIG bailout was effectively a backdoor bailout of the biggest banks on Wall Street.
World:
Instability Mounts in Puerto Rico Amid Privatization Efforts and Power Authority’s Cash Shortfall “If this is not disaster economics and this is not setting the stage for commercialization of services that are there to promote equality, I don’t know what is.” As nearly 250,000 Puerto Ricans remain without power five months after Hurricane Maria struck the island territory—the longest blackout in U.S. history—the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) said Sunday it will reduce its operating reserve to save money, as the island’s government moves toward privatizing the authority. By Julia Conley
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: 1. Austerity, 2. Scapegoating Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal Immigrants’ for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel.
Bendib: 
Quote of the Day:
Robber Barrons Don’t Rob With a Gun — They Rob With a Pen: 
Economy:
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
