Obama’s State of Delusion ... OR JUST ANOTHER "Hope & Change" HOAX?
22 January 2015
”The delusional character of Obama’s State of the Union
address on Tuesday—presenting an America of rising living
standards and a booming economy, capped by his declaration
that the “shadow of crisis has passed”—is perhaps matched
only in its presentation by the media and supporters of the
Democratic Party.”
“The general tone was set by the New York Times in its lead editorial on Wednesday, which described the speech as a “simple, dramatic message about economic fairness, about the fact that the well-off—the top earners, the big banks, Silicon Valley—have done just great, while middle and working classes remain dead in the water.”
OBAMANOMICS:
The report observes that while the wealth of the world’s 80 richest people doubled between 2009 and 2014, the wealth of the poorest half of the world’s population (3.5 billion people) was lower in 2014 than it was in 2009.
In 2010, it took 388 billionaires to match the wealth of the bottom half of the earth’s population; by 2013, the figure had fallen to just 92 billionaires. It fell to 80 in 2014.
THE OBAMA ASSAULT ON THE AMERICAN MIDDLE-CLASS
“The goal of the Obama administration, working with the Republicans and local governments, is to roll back the living conditions of the vast majority of the population to levels not seen since the 19th century, prior to the advent of the eight-hour day, child labor laws, comprehensive public education, pensions, health benefits, workplace health and safety regulations, etc.”
“In response to the ruthless assault of the financial oligarchy, spearheaded by Obama, the working class must advance, no less ruthlessly, its own policy.”
New Federal Reserve report
US median income has plunged, inequality has grown in Obama
“recovery”
The yearly income of a typical US household dropped by a
massive 12 percent, or $6,400, in the six years between 2007 and 2013. This is
just one of the findings of the 2013 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer
Finances released Thursday, which documents a sharp decline in working class
living standards and a further concentration of wealth in the hands of the rich
and the super-rich.
New Federal Reserve report
US median income has plunged, inequality has grown in Obama
“recovery”
The yearly income of a typical US household dropped by a
massive 12 percent, or $6,400, in the six years between 2007 and 2013. This is
just one of the findings of the 2013 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer
Finances released Thursday, which documents a sharp decline in working class
living standards and a further concentration of wealth in the hands of the rich
and the super-rich.
The report makes clear that the drop in a typical
household’s income was not merely the result of what is referred to as the 2008
recession, which officially lasted only 18 months, through June 2009. Much of
the decline in workers’ incomes occurred during the so-called “economic
recovery” presided over by the Obama administration.
In the three years between 2010 and 2013, the annual income
of a typical household actually fell by 5 percent.
The Fed report exposes as a fraud the efforts of the Obama
administration to present itself as a defender of the “middle class”. It has
systematically pursued policies to redistribute wealth from the bottom to the
very top of the income ladder. These include the multi-trillion-dollar bailout
of the banks, near-zero interest rates to drive up the stock market, and
austerity measures and wage cutting to lift corporate profits and CEO pay to
record highs.
The Federal Reserve data, based on in-person interviews,
show a far larger decline in the median income of American households than
indicated by earlier figures from the Census Bureau’s Current Population
Survey.
In line with the figures on household income, the report
shows an ever-growing concentration of wealth among the richest households. The
Fed’s summary of its data notes that “the wealth share of the top 3 percent
climbed from 44.8 percent in 1989 to 51.8 percent in 2007 and 54.4 percent in
2013,” while the wealth of the “next 7 highest percent of families changed very
little.”
The report states that “the rising wealth share of the top
3 percent of families is mirrored by the declining share of wealth held by the
bottom 90 percent,” which fell from 33.2 percent in 1989 to 24.7 percent in
2013.
The ongoing impoverishment of the population is an
indictment of capitalism. There has been no genuine recovery from the Wall
Street crash of 2008, only a further plundering of the economy by the financial
aristocracy. The crisis precipitated by the rapacious, criminal practices of
the bankers and hedge fund speculators has been used to restructure the economy
to the benefit of the rich at the expense of everyone else.
Decent-paying jobs have been wiped out and replaced by
low-wage, part-time and temporary jobs, with little or no benefits. Pensions
and health benefits have come under savage attack, as seen in the bankruptcy of
Detroit.
Not surprisingly, the Fed report has been buried by the
American media, confined to the inside pages of the major newspapers.
Measured in 2013 dollars, a typical household received an
income of $53,100 in 2007. By 2010, this had fallen to $49,000. It hit $46,700
by 2013. At the same time, the average income for the wealthiest tenth of
families grew by ten percent.
While median income fell between 2010 and 2013, mean
(average) income grew, from $84,100 to $87,200. The report noted that, “the
decline in median income coupled with the rise in mean income is consistent
with a widening income distribution during this period.”
For the poorest households, the drop in income has been
even more dramatic. Among the bottom quarter of households, mean income fell a
full 10 percent between 2010 and 2013.
The report reveals other aspects of the social crisis. The
share of young families burdened by education debt nearly doubled, from 22.4
percent to 38.8 percent, between 2001 and 2013. The share of young families
with more than $100,000 in debt has grown nearly tenfold, from 0.6 percent to
5.6 percent.
These statistics reflect both a historic and insoluble
crisis of the profit system and the brutal policies of the American ruling
class, which is carrying out a relentless assault on working people and
preparing to go even further by dismantling bedrock social programs such as
Medicare and Social Security. The data undercuts the endless talk of “partisan
gridlock” in Washington and the media presentation of a political system
paralyzed by irreconcilable differences between the Democratic and Republican
parties.
There has, in fact, been a seamless continuity between the
Bush and Obama administrations in the pursuit of reactionary policies of war
abroad and class war at home. The two parties have worked hand in glove to make
the working class pay for the crisis of the capitalist system.
The Federal Reserve has itself played a critical role in
the growth of social inequality in the US. The bailout of the banks, estimated
at $7 trillion, has been followed by six years of virtually free money for the
banks.
Every facet of American life is dominated by the immense
concentration of wealth at the very top of society. The grotesque levels of
wealth amassed by the parasites and criminals who dominate American business,
and the flaunting of their fortunes before tens of millions struggling to pay
their bills and keep from falling into destitution, are fueling the growth of
social anger. This anger will increasingly be directed against the entire
economic and political system.
The figures released by the Fed reflect a society riven by
class divisions that must inevitably trigger social upheavals. The explosive
state of social relations is itself a major factor in the endless recourse by
the Obama administration to military aggression and war, which serve to deflect
internal tensions outward.
The growth of inequality likewise underlies the relentless
attack on democratic rights in the US, including the massive domestic spying
exposed by Edward Snowden and the use of militarized police to crack down on
social opposition, as seen most recently in Ferguson, Missouri.
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