During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and The Iron Heel.
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.
Top U.S. officials — from President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, National Security Adviser John Bolton and special envoy Elliot Abrams of Iran/Contra infamy, to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and pretend socialist Bernie Sanders — almost daily take to the airwaves, with the world’s corporate media cheering in lock step, insisting that “all options are open,” including overt war via direct U.S. military intervention. — Sanders demanded that Venezuela open its borders to “humanitarian aid,” while DSA Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez waffled on the issue. — There are only two sides in the present conflict, period. One either supports the victory of the Maduro government over the U.S. onslaught, or one sides with the imperialist aggressors. There is no third option! And since the imperial U.S. war machine serves the same wealthy 1% that is responsible for cutbacks, austerity, exploitation, repression, and devastation in the U.S., the effects of a defeat of the Venezuelan people would be keenly felt by all working people here at home. This is why we must mobilize to demand: U.S. Out Now! End the Sanctions! Hands Off Venezuela! — Jeff Mackler, U.S. Gears Up for War on Venezuela
After a prolonged period of relative class peace and rising living standards, the Finnish workers are experiencing first-hand the effects of the world crisis of capitalism and their consciousness is already being transformed. The one-day political general strike of 2015 against austerity was only the beginning of the beginning of this process. As the experiences of the past and the present are digested, hundreds of thousands will be open to revolutionary Marxist ideas. This puts the building of a revolutionary Marxist tendency in Finland on the order of the day. To be successful, such a tendency must thoroughly understand the true lessons of the Finnish Revolution. Above all, a revolutionary tendency in Finland must help the Finnish workers break decisively with reformism and adopt a revolutionary perspective. At a certain stage, the heroic traditions of the Finnish working class will be revived – including the mass general strike, the creation of workers’ councils, and the fight for workers’ political and economic power. Contact the IMT and get involved in the fight for a better world! — Lessons of the Finnish Revolution of 1917–1918
We now know that how those Wall Street shills got all of that power in both the Obama and Trump administrations happened during what is benignly called the “Transition Team.” What happens during the “Transition Team” process is that the elected President of the United States effectively surrenders power and control to the big money that put him in office. It’s that “team” that picks the cabinet and subcabinet heads that will run the government on behalf of Wall Street interests. There is hard evidence of this in both the Obama and Trump transition teams. See Trump Transition Team Emails: Here’s Why Washington Insiders Are Freaking Out. Equally problematic is that investigative reporting in America today deals mostly with the symptoms of this malignancy – not with the disease itself. That disease is how political campaigns are financed in America. Until that changes, we’ll all continue to be Wall Street’s serfs. — Pam Martens, A Look Back at How Reforming Wall Street Failed So Miserably Under Obama
United States: Both Democratic and Republican Parties Threaten Venezuelan Coup Capitalist-party politics in the United States remains in turmoil. There are investigations into Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia to steal the 2016 elections, as well as into his corrupt business practices on one side, and Trump’s mobilization of his white racist base on the other. Republicans and Democrats are at each other’s throats. Factionalism exists in both parties. It may seem surprising, then, that almost all Democratic members of Congress (with exceptions like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who is a member of Democratic Socialists of America, and Afro-American Muslim Ilhan Omar and a few others) are joining with the likes of Donald Trump, Mike Pence, John Bolton, and Elliot Abrams in support of the Washington-organized attempt at a coup to overthrow the government of Venezuela. The reason for this grand alliance is obvious – the whole U.S. ruling class has sought to overthrow the Venezuelan government ever since Hugo Chavez was overwhelmingly elected in 1998. In 2002, the U.S. organized a military coup that for two days ousted Chavez. At the time, the New York Timeshailed the coup, claiming it was a step forward for democracy to have what amounted to a military dictatorship. The military junta was quickly smashed by a mass popular uprising that had the support of most soldiers. By Barry Sheppard. Republicrat War Party
Billionaires Have Their Own Laws and Rules: Donald Trump’s Companies Destroyed Emails in Defiance of Court OrdersOver the course of decades, Donald Trump’s companies have systematically destroyed or hidden thousands of emails, digital records and paper documents demanded in official proceedings, often in defiance of court orders. These tactics—exposed by a Newsweek review of thousands of pages of court filings, judicial orders and affidavits from an array of court cases—have enraged judges, prosecutors, opposing lawyers and the many ordinary citizens entangled in litigation with Trump. In each instance, Trump and entities he controlled also erected numerous hurdles that made lawsuits drag on for years, forcing courtroom opponents to spend huge sums of money in legal fees as they struggled—sometimes in vain—to obtain records. By Kurt Eichenwald
Border Security: What and Who is it Good For?With few exceptions, America’s borders were open, at least to Europeans, before passage of the Johnson-Reed Act in 1924. Before that, nativist animosities were often acute. But with transportation into and out of the country difficult, and labor in chronically short supply, efforts to keep people out never gained much traction. This was as much the case along the southern border as at Ellis Island. By Andrew Levine
Gender, Class and Capitalism A half-century ago a capitalist coup was launched in the U.S. to shift power from labor and the liberation movements of the 1960s to the lords of capital. The political trajectory since then has gone in only one direction— to the right. The populace— starting with those most likely to develop revolutionary tendencies according to official logic, has been mass incarcerated as the police have been militarized. A simulacrum of democracy was created through oppositional political parties that serve a single master— capital. By Rob Urie
Trump Dethrones Obama As ‘Droner-in-Chief’ With New Civilian Killing Policy The U.S. President recalled a policy of reporting on civilian deaths by U.S. drone strikes in areas outside war zones, started by Obama. The United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday revoking the Obama-era policy of reporting on civilian deaths in drone strikes outside of active war zones. Former President Barack Obama enacted a policy in 2016 that required U.S. intelligence officials to report civilian deaths in a bid to be more transparent about drone strikes, after having increased them to combat religious extremist groups.
Trump Renews Obama-era Emergency Over Venezuela, Maduro Calls It ‘Historic Error’ Donald Trump says he believes that Venezuela “is a threat” to the United States, while the U.S. continues to promote aggression against Maduro’s government. The United States government has renewed it’s declaration of a national emergency over Venezuela for another year, which former President Barack Obama initially decreed in March 2015.
Environment:
As the World Burns: Hurtling Towards an Unlivable PlanetIf the global warming cataclysm – already significantly underway in vast swaths of the planet – isn’t averted and soon, then nothing else we care about is going to matter all that much. We’ll just be arguing about how to fairly slice up a badly overheated pie – how to turn an overcooked world upside down (or right-side up) and how to properly manage a living Hell. You’d hardly know this from the reigning U.S. media and politics culture, where the climate crisis and other critical environmental issues are pushed to the margins of public discussion. It is chilling (no ironic pun intended) to behold. With every passing fossil-fueled day, the specter of “man-made” ecological calamity looms ever closer and larger. By Paul Street
Big Energy:
A report released Monday by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and Earth Justice revealed that 91 per cent of the 250 coal-powered power plants in the US have leaked toxic chemicals into local groundwater. The chemicals are leaked by way of ponds and landfills holding coal waste from the power plants. The report found elevated levels of arsenic, lithium, and chromium in nearby groundwater and were “far higher” than the acceptable limits, or Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In some cases, toxin levels were hundreds of times above the EPA’s thresholds. — Alarming levels of toxins leaking into US groundwater from coal ash ponds
New Warnings on Plastic’s Health Risks as Fracking Industry Promotes New ‘Plastics Belt’ Build-Out A new report traces the life cycle of plastic from the moment an oil and gas well is drilled to the time plastic trash breaks down in the environment, finding “distinct risks to human health” at every stage. Virtually all plastic — 99 percent of it, according to the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) report — comes from fossil fuels. And a growing slice comes from fracked oil and gas wells and the natural gas liquids (NGLs)they produce. By Sharon Kelly
When I was a working painter, I was told that the average retired painter, who retireded at 65, only collected 13 monthly checks! Are We Working Ourselves to Death?: Retire At 55 And Live To 80; Work Till You’re 65 And Die At 67. Startling New Data Shows How Work Pounds Older Bodies.“Ten working years could cost you twenty years of your Retirement!” A study by Dr. Ephrem Cheng, a leading American scholar, on the relationship between life expectancy and retirement age ( Age at Retirement Vs Life Span) The investigation report. The report netted several pension plans for U.S. supermajority groups, including Boeing, AT&T and Ford Motor Co., and found that the later the executive retires, the shorter his or her life! The statistics are as follows:Britain: where is Labour’s civil war going? A ferocious civil war is going on inside the Labour Party – one that will determine its future. The party’s right wing, largely confined to the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), have unleashed a torrent of lies, abuse and misinformation. They are backed up to the hilt by the hyenas in the capitalist media, creating a climate of McCarthyite fear and intolerance over allegations of anti-semitism. It was Joseph Goebbels who said that if you repeat a lie often enough and loud enough it becomes accepted as the truth. This is what the establishment are attempting to achieve in relation to this witch hunt against the Labour left. The ranks of the Labour Party, we are constantly told, are a hotbed of anti-semitism. Failing to dislodge Jeremy Corbyn since his election in 2015, the Labour right wing have stumbled on the toxic question of anti-semitism to relentlessly attack Corbyn and his supporters. The fact that Corbyn is a lifelong campaigner against racism is brushed aside. By Steven Reynolds
A Deepening Deficit in Revision Has Negative Implications for Revised GDP Growth. The trade-deficit revisions and full initial December detail implied pending downside revisions to the level of real fourth- quarter 2018 GDP (see Graph 1), but due to a quirk in the revisions, it possibly could end up increasing the relative annualized real fourth-quarter GDP growth by 0.1% in its “final” reporting of March 28th. What happened was the level of third-quarter real deficit revised lower by an amount greater than was seen in the fourth-quarter downside revision, boosting the relative growth (narrowing the relative decline) in fourth-quarter versus the third-quarter activity. Nonetheless, those same numbers should generate downside revisions to the annual 2018 and first- and third-quarter GDP growth rates, come the July 26th annual GDP benchmarking, as calculated/estimated by ShadowStats and reflected in Table 1. The trade deficit revisions to the inflation-adjusted Goods Sector (Real Merchandise Trade) reflected a correction to the November 2018 numbers, along with an annual revision to seasonal adjustments so that that annual total of the seasonally-adjusted numbers was made equal to that of the unadjusted numbers. The actual revisions and prior levels are reflected in Graph 1. Graph 2 reflects the Net Exports Account for Goods as reported with the “Initial” estimate of Fourth-Quarter 2018 GDP, which should be revised in tandem in the “Final” estimate of Fourth-Quarter 2018 GDP to be released on March 28th. Graph 3 reflects the updated full Real Merchandise Trade Deficit detail since 1994, while Graph 4 reflects the GDP’s full Real Net Exports Account for Goods and Services (only the combined Goods and Services is available back to 1994), which again should revise with its March 28th “final” Fourth-Quarter GDP, and then more fully with the annual benchmarking of 7/26.
World:
International Women’s Day:
Marxism and the emancipation of womenMarxism has always been at the forefront of the cause of women’s emancipation. The 8th of March (International Women’s Day) is a red letter day for us as it symbolises the struggle of working class women against capitalism, oppression and discrimination throughout the world. In this article, we outline the first steps given by Marxism to fight for women’s rights, what the first successful revolution meant for the emancipation of women, conditions of women under capitalism both in advanced and Third World countries and pose the question of how to eliminate inequality between men and women for good. By Ana Muñoz and Alan Woods
Spain grinds to a halt as millions of women join unprecedented strike for gender equality Millions of Spanish women joined an unprecedented nationwide strike on Thursday to call for equality in the workplace and home, an end to macho culture and greater action against gender-based violence. Called under the slogan “Without us the world stops”, the strike on International Women’s Day saw demonstrations in towns and cities across Spain as well of walkouts of up to 24 hours. Larger marches were also planned for this evening.
International Women’s Day: Strikes, protests and holidays BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Marches and protests were held Friday across the globe to mark International Women’s Day under the slogan #BalanceforBetter, with calls for a more gender-balanced world. The day, sponsored by the United Nations since 1975, celebrates women’s achievements and aims to further their rights. By Almudena Calatrava And Debora Rey
A trio of women hold a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “See how we end up,” during a demonstration commemorating International Women’s Day, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, March 8, 2019. Latin Americans took the streets on Friday to shout louder than ever against male violence and show their determination to conquer free, safe and free abortion. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Health, Education, and Welfare
The government of the United States can pass laws in a few days to spend tens of trillions of dollars for war and the bailout of wall street and the bankers. Yet those who ‘govern’ pass universal healthcare for themselves, but they cannot spend even one trillion dollars for universal health for those who are ‘governed’! This is what is considered, by the powers that be a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let The People Vote on Healthcare!
Britain: where is Labour’s civil war going? A ferocious civil war is going on inside the Labour Party – one that will determine its future. The party’s right wing, largely confined to the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), have unleashed a torrent of lies, abuse and misinformation. They are backed up to the hilt by the hyenas in the capitalist media, creating a climate of McCarthyite fear and intolerance over allegations of anti-semitism. It was Joseph Goebbels who said that if you repeat a lie often enough and loud enough it becomes accepted as the truth. This is what the establishment are attempting to achieve in relation to this witch hunt against the Labour left. The ranks of the Labour Party, we are constantly told, are a hotbed of anti-semitism. Failing to dislodge Jeremy Corbyn since his election in 2015, the Labour right wing have stumbled on the toxic question of anti-semitism to relentlessly attack Corbyn and his supporters. The fact that Corbyn is a lifelong campaigner against racism is brushed aside. By Steven Reynolds
AP Photos: International Women’s Day, March 8 Women march in front of Montevideo City Hall as they attend a rally marking International Women’s Day in Montevideo, Uruguay
