"This is the day that Capitalism has made, let us Revolt and be Mad in it!"
Its Monday, and if you are "lucky enough" to have a job? Chances are pretty good you are doing the work of 2 or 3 others who have been "downsized" and their load "streamlined" onto you. Chances are really good you have no benefits, aren't really making ends meet and are stressed to the breaking point. Chances are excellent that you are non-union, and if you have one, its probably in name only and you are losing pay and being forced to accept cuts that once were unimaginable to you. You hate Mondays, but feel obligated to feel lucky about your crappy work for your crappy pay, because, hey, "At least I still have a paycheck!"
Now, if you are unemployed? You live in daily fear. You likely feel marginalized; resentful and bitter that you are being painted as a slacker, inferior, and have no safety net. Hell, even if you had someone to take you and yours in, they are probably in much the same boat. Mondays are reminder that you have nothing to show for yourself. You may have had a dream... but now you have reruns if you can afford cable. You have the time to do all those projects you once hoped to do, but not the resources to pay for them. You're probably too depressed to feel like doing anything anyway. "Why fix a house the bank will end up with?" Mondays feel like guilt.
Either way? You probably look back with some sort of nostalgia to when it seemed there were jobs that paid well, people had excess income for things like boats, cottages, vacations and might even be able to send their daughters to college.
What you probably don't see is the difference between then and now, and how it came to be.
Capitalism here started as land barons, railroad barons, sweatshop owners and poor houses.
Every single benefit your family once enjoyed was put in place because of Socialist programs.
Not "regulated capitalism" programs, but SOCIALIST programs. Unions. 5 day work week. Vacation time. Cost of Living wage increases. Health care supplements. Safe workplaces. Public education. Banning child labor. Social Security. Unemployment. Fire Departments. Garbage pick up. Roads. Bridges. All SOCIALIST!
Every. Single. Thing. You once liked best was not the result of Capitalism working well for you, it was because some socialist or communist group organized people and forced the Capitalists to cave in and let us have a degree of Socialism.
Here's a little tidbit I learned today.
You know that 70 dollar pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans you want? They are made in Bangladesh by workers who get paid about about 40 cents to make them. In fact, their garment workers make an average $30.00 a MONTH. They do not get overtime, don't get time off, and the corporations have been bribing the local police to "off" people's advocates who try and organize them, or even bring suits on their behalf. (see page 4)
The American Mythos says that "That's a lot of money" to "those" people, when in fact poverty is rife in Bangladesh. Its also why they outsourced your job.
The average income in Bangladesh is $838 a year. 31.5% of their citizens live below world poverty rates (which is much more generous than US standards - in other words poorer than what we call poor) So, you cannot say in good faith, they are "lucky" to be working for us.
So, the point to all of the above is simple. You aren't doing better. They aren't doing better? So who is doing better? A handful of Capitalists at the Top.
This is not the result of a Democrat or a Republican, or any election ever held in public. This is not only the natural result of Capitalism, this is the INTENDED result of Capitalism.
This is exactly why those who do hold those Board of Director votes in private work relentlessly to eliminate any Socialist programs that stand in the way of their profits; work harder to rescind any gains made by Workers and Unions. Before the "global economy" allowed import and export, they needed US workers. They no longer do. They want to "shock" us into the belief that we MUST endure austerity and take less pay, live with less and work harder or ~gasp~ the "economy" will fail.
Here's a news flash for you. "Our" economy already has failed. "Their" economy has never done better.
It is Capitalism doing exactly what Capitalism is supposed to do. Enrich the Rich.
Socialism hates that shit. Socialism hates Poverty. Socialism is your brave big brother who beats the crap out of the bully who has been stealing your lunch money every day.
Socialism does not want to close your small business, and not let you buy whatever you want with the profits of your labor. It just ensures you cannot exploit anyone in the process. As a Socialist, you cannot have real Freedom unless you have choices. And you cannot have true choices until all your basic needs are met: Shelter, water, food, clothing, health and education. If you are insecure in any of those, losing your home, unable to feed your kids, unable to make educated decisions, etc - you are not free. You are imprisoned by fear and suffering.
We can no longer expect the Capitalists to give us anything back. We can no longer afford to be isolationist and just want the US to be rich again. In order to be paid a wage reasonable enough to buy the products we produce, someone at the top has got to give up that 140% percent profit.
The only way we do not become a world of serfs serving elites is to stand up and demand all People of the World be treated fairly. The world is not ruled by Politicians, my friends, it is run by those who control its resources, and all access to them. The Elites.
Point in case, this Australian Gem...
******************
"Blessed are the Peace Activists, for they shall End the ultimate Evils of War."
It may sound glib, but as Noam Chomsky says, "Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: Stop participating in it."
Lets talk a little about what being a "client state" means: A country that is dependent on the economic or military support of a larger, more powerful country.
We in the United States have been brainwashed with the "evils" of Communism and the worries of Socialism. Red Scare. Pink Tide. All words we have been taught to hate as reflexively as a mongoose faced with a cobra. We have fought countless wars against tiny nations like El Salvador, not because, as Reagan said we were worried about their nutmeg production. It was because rather than allow US businesses to take over that production, they set a precedent of autonomy with Socialist ideals that helped their poor. We fought an undeclared war against them for over 10 years, ending in 1992. (presumably, the CIA still is there)
Take a scroll through the list of our military operations and look for any name other than Hitler's that is not "pink" or unfriendly to US businesses? It gets way, way more obvious when you read the CIA Regime Change List. They flat out admit they will go to any lengths to ensure a US-economic friendly regime. By US-friendly, it doesn't mean they want to invite you to dinner. It means Survival of the Greediest Capitalist friendly.
Our military, our "intelligence" agencies are being used as the personal guard of the richest to ensure they get richer. And when anyone gets richer? They only do so by making someone else poorer. We didn't go to war to save lives. We didn't go to war because we were threatened. We went to war because someone wanted to go in, use the natural resources of a country and have cheap labor so they could reap a huge-ass profit off it, which they in turn used to donate to politicians that would send our military to do it again elsewhere.
WE HAVE BEEN IN THOUSANDS OF WARS OF ACQUISITION
Self-sustaining communities decimated, villages moved, water supplies polluted, generations bombed back into the stone age. Women burying their children, husbands burying their wives. All in the name of a system that seeks to fuck you as it fucks other. All in the name of stopping the ideal of Socialism that seeks to help you as it helps others.
Worse? They do it without our consent, half the time without our knowledge... and do it with our money and in our names.
Now they do it while telling us that any and all of the "Socialist" programs standing between us and the streets have to be cut.
Ending wars will not only stop the wholesale mass murder happening by us to the world, it will stop creating enemies where were once only families. It will bring back the collective buying power for the good of all the people to actually HELP the PEOPLE.
*******************
I want a World Revolution. We have to Unite. We have to stop teaching our children hatred, like these Israeli youths mocking a woman who was evicted from her home, so they could expand onto her land...
We have to end wars to create the unity to break the backs of the Elite Class and their Capitalistic Predation.
We need to look to one another and say this instead....
So everyone can have roads, homes, food, health care, fire departments, educated children, clean air and water... all those things we really loved.
Then, and only then, the Gospel of Gee shall read:
"This is the day that Socialism has made, let us Rejoice and be Glad in it!"
Its Monday, and if you are "lucky enough" to have a job? Chances are pretty good you are doing the work of 2 or 3 others who have been "downsized" and their load "streamlined" onto you. Chances are really good you have no benefits, aren't really making ends meet and are stressed to the breaking point. Chances are excellent that you are non-union, and if you have one, its probably in name only and you are losing pay and being forced to accept cuts that once were unimaginable to you. You hate Mondays, but feel obligated to feel lucky about your crappy work for your crappy pay, because, hey, "At least I still have a paycheck!"
Now, if you are unemployed? You live in daily fear. You likely feel marginalized; resentful and bitter that you are being painted as a slacker, inferior, and have no safety net. Hell, even if you had someone to take you and yours in, they are probably in much the same boat. Mondays are reminder that you have nothing to show for yourself. You may have had a dream... but now you have reruns if you can afford cable. You have the time to do all those projects you once hoped to do, but not the resources to pay for them. You're probably too depressed to feel like doing anything anyway. "Why fix a house the bank will end up with?" Mondays feel like guilt.
Either way? You probably look back with some sort of nostalgia to when it seemed there were jobs that paid well, people had excess income for things like boats, cottages, vacations and might even be able to send their daughters to college.
What you probably don't see is the difference between then and now, and how it came to be.
Capitalism here started as land barons, railroad barons, sweatshop owners and poor houses.
Every single benefit your family once enjoyed was put in place because of Socialist programs.
Not "regulated capitalism" programs, but SOCIALIST programs. Unions. 5 day work week. Vacation time. Cost of Living wage increases. Health care supplements. Safe workplaces. Public education. Banning child labor. Social Security. Unemployment. Fire Departments. Garbage pick up. Roads. Bridges. All SOCIALIST!
Every. Single. Thing. You once liked best was not the result of Capitalism working well for you, it was because some socialist or communist group organized people and forced the Capitalists to cave in and let us have a degree of Socialism.
<!--more-->"Blessed are the Socialists, for they shall be called the Saviors of all Mankind.."
Here's a little tidbit I learned today.
You know that 70 dollar pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans you want? They are made in Bangladesh by workers who get paid about about 40 cents to make them. In fact, their garment workers make an average $30.00 a MONTH. They do not get overtime, don't get time off, and the corporations have been bribing the local police to "off" people's advocates who try and organize them, or even bring suits on their behalf. (see page 4)
"Wealthy businessmen in particular have a history of buying police support to increase profit margins," the report stated, citing a human rights lawyer who complained of "numerous examples of garment factory owners bribing police officials to force workers protesting late wages to work."
The American Mythos says that "That's a lot of money" to "those" people, when in fact poverty is rife in Bangladesh. Its also why they outsourced your job.
The average income in Bangladesh is $838 a year. 31.5% of their citizens live below world poverty rates (which is much more generous than US standards - in other words poorer than what we call poor) So, you cannot say in good faith, they are "lucky" to be working for us.
So, the point to all of the above is simple. You aren't doing better. They aren't doing better? So who is doing better? A handful of Capitalists at the Top.
This is not the result of a Democrat or a Republican, or any election ever held in public. This is not only the natural result of Capitalism, this is the INTENDED result of Capitalism.
This is exactly why those who do hold those Board of Director votes in private work relentlessly to eliminate any Socialist programs that stand in the way of their profits; work harder to rescind any gains made by Workers and Unions. Before the "global economy" allowed import and export, they needed US workers. They no longer do. They want to "shock" us into the belief that we MUST endure austerity and take less pay, live with less and work harder or ~gasp~ the "economy" will fail.
Here's a news flash for you. "Our" economy already has failed. "Their" economy has never done better.
It is Capitalism doing exactly what Capitalism is supposed to do. Enrich the Rich.
Socialism hates that shit. Socialism hates Poverty. Socialism is your brave big brother who beats the crap out of the bully who has been stealing your lunch money every day.
Socialism does not want to close your small business, and not let you buy whatever you want with the profits of your labor. It just ensures you cannot exploit anyone in the process. As a Socialist, you cannot have real Freedom unless you have choices. And you cannot have true choices until all your basic needs are met: Shelter, water, food, clothing, health and education. If you are insecure in any of those, losing your home, unable to feed your kids, unable to make educated decisions, etc - you are not free. You are imprisoned by fear and suffering.
We can no longer expect the Capitalists to give us anything back. We can no longer afford to be isolationist and just want the US to be rich again. In order to be paid a wage reasonable enough to buy the products we produce, someone at the top has got to give up that 140% percent profit.
The only way we do not become a world of serfs serving elites is to stand up and demand all People of the World be treated fairly. The world is not ruled by Politicians, my friends, it is run by those who control its resources, and all access to them. The Elites.
Point in case, this Australian Gem...
******************
"Blessed are the Peace Activists, for they shall End the ultimate Evils of War."
It may sound glib, but as Noam Chomsky says, "Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: Stop participating in it."
Lets talk a little about what being a "client state" means: A country that is dependent on the economic or military support of a larger, more powerful country.
We in the United States have been brainwashed with the "evils" of Communism and the worries of Socialism. Red Scare. Pink Tide. All words we have been taught to hate as reflexively as a mongoose faced with a cobra. We have fought countless wars against tiny nations like El Salvador, not because, as Reagan said we were worried about their nutmeg production. It was because rather than allow US businesses to take over that production, they set a precedent of autonomy with Socialist ideals that helped their poor. We fought an undeclared war against them for over 10 years, ending in 1992. (presumably, the CIA still is there)
Take a scroll through the list of our military operations and look for any name other than Hitler's that is not "pink" or unfriendly to US businesses? It gets way, way more obvious when you read the CIA Regime Change List. They flat out admit they will go to any lengths to ensure a US-economic friendly regime. By US-friendly, it doesn't mean they want to invite you to dinner. It means Survival of the Greediest Capitalist friendly.
Our military, our "intelligence" agencies are being used as the personal guard of the richest to ensure they get richer. And when anyone gets richer? They only do so by making someone else poorer. We didn't go to war to save lives. We didn't go to war because we were threatened. We went to war because someone wanted to go in, use the natural resources of a country and have cheap labor so they could reap a huge-ass profit off it, which they in turn used to donate to politicians that would send our military to do it again elsewhere.
WE HAVE BEEN IN THOUSANDS OF WARS OF ACQUISITION
Self-sustaining communities decimated, villages moved, water supplies polluted, generations bombed back into the stone age. Women burying their children, husbands burying their wives. All in the name of a system that seeks to fuck you as it fucks other. All in the name of stopping the ideal of Socialism that seeks to help you as it helps others.
Worse? They do it without our consent, half the time without our knowledge... and do it with our money and in our names.
Now they do it while telling us that any and all of the "Socialist" programs standing between us and the streets have to be cut.
Ending wars will not only stop the wholesale mass murder happening by us to the world, it will stop creating enemies where were once only families. It will bring back the collective buying power for the good of all the people to actually HELP the PEOPLE.
*******************
I want a World Revolution. We have to Unite. We have to stop teaching our children hatred, like these Israeli youths mocking a woman who was evicted from her home, so they could expand onto her land...
We have to end wars to create the unity to break the backs of the Elite Class and their Capitalistic Predation.
We need to look to one another and say this instead....
So everyone can have roads, homes, food, health care, fire departments, educated children, clean air and water... all those things we really loved.
Then, and only then, the Gospel of Gee shall read:
"This is the day that Socialism has made, let us Rejoice and be Glad in it!"