HALF OF ALL JOBS IN CALIFORNIA ARE
HELD BY ILLEGAL USING STOLEN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS. CA PUTS OUT $20 BILLON
PER YEAR IN WELFARE TO ILLEGALS. LOS ANGELES COUNTY ALONE PUTS OUT $600 MILLION
PER YEAR IN WELFARE TO ILLEGALS, AND LA RAZA ENDORSED GOV JERRY BROWN JUST
SIGNED INTO LAW A BILL MAKING IT ILLEGAL FOR EMPLOYERS TO USE E-VERIFY,
CLEARING THE WAY FOR EVEN MORE OF HIS LA RAZA PARTY BASE OF ILLEGALS TO TAKE
OUR JOBS!
*
*
A portrait of America in decline
31 October 2011
A series of reports over the
past ten days—on poverty, wages, income inequality and social mobility—have
painted a portrait of America starkly at odds with the official mythology of
the United States as the land of unlimited economic opportunity, the country
with the world’s highest standard of living.
The
World Socialist Web Site has naturally drawn attention to these reports,
but Marxist critics and opponents of American capitalism did not collect this
data. On the contrary, the figures come from US government agencies like the
General Accounting Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security
Administration, the Bureau of the Census and the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York.
That
makes the picture of the real state of affairs in the America of 2011 all the
more damning. Even agencies controlled by political representatives of the
financial aristocracy are compelled to admit that the conditions of life for
the vast majority of the American people are disastrous.
These
figures demonstrate that America is a country of mounting social disparities,
in which those who labor and produce all the wealth have less and less to show
for it, while those who collect the profits of this labor, while playing a
parasitic, destructive and thoroughly reactionary role, see their wealth
accumulate to astonishing levels.
Two
reports frame the dramatic social polarization in America, not so much between
the rich and the poor, as between the rich and the entire rest of society.
According
to figures published by the Social Security Administration on October 20, the
median income for American workers in 2010 was $26,364, not much more than the
official poverty level of $22,025 for a family of four. Given that a family
making even twice the official poverty level faces real hardship and
insecurity, it is no exaggeration to say that the SSA report shows that the
“poor,” by any reasonable definition, constitute the absolute majority of the
American people.
On
the other side of the spectrum, a Congressional Budget Office study released
October 25 shows that the richest 1 percent of US households saw a 275 percent
increase in their income between 1979 and 2007 and more than doubled their
share of the national income. While the income of this layer nearly tripled,
the income of the middle 60 percent of the population rose only 40 percent over
28 years, and the income of the poorest 20 percent rose by only 18 percent.
Some
other revealing statistics:
The
unemployment rate for workers aged 55 or older has doubled since 2007, and the
average period spent jobless has tripled. One third of employed workers 65 and
older make less than $11 an hour, while the rates of poverty and food stamp
dependence have increased sharply for this sector of the population.
The
dollar amount of student loans taken out in 2010 topped $100 billion, the
largest ever total for a single year, and total student loan debt has passed
the $1 trillion mark in 2011, exceeding the total of credit card debt. Students
are borrowing twice as much as they did only ten years ago to pay for their
college education.
Geographical
mobility in America has fallen to the lowest level reported since 1948, one
reflection of the loss of opportunity particularly for the young. People cannot
sell their homes or buy new ones, and the majority of young college graduates
are being compelled to move back in with their parents because they cannot find
work that pays enough to set up on their own.
The
Gallup poll found that three times as many American workers are worried about
being able to feed themselves or their families, 19 percent of the population,
compared to only 6 percent of Chinese workers with similar concerns. Gallup’s
measure of access to basic social necessities showed that American workers were
finding it more and more difficult to obtain food, adequate shelter and decent
medical care.
What
these figures demonstrate is both a profound social crisis, and an immense
historical transformation. The United States has gone from leading the world in
most social indices, including working-class living standards, to a new status
as the leader, at least among the industrialized countries, in condemning the
majority of its population to conditions of deprivation and misery.
The
decline of American capitalism is shown in the decay of its once powerful
industrial base, the crumbling of roads, bridges and other social
infrastructure, and the closing of schools, libraries, hospitals and other
public services. It is no wonder that more than 80 percent of the American
people, according to most recent polls, feel that the country is on the wrong
track.
Presiding
over this decline is a financial aristocracy whose relationship to the rest of
society recalls the ancien régime of pre-revolutionary France.
The
reports and the portrait they provide of American society are a particularly
damning indictment of the Obama administration and all those who presented the
election of Obama as a transformative event in American politics. The real
content of the past three years has been a colossal redistribution of wealth,
overseen and encouraged by Obama, from the working class to the finical elite.
And it only continues.
The
overriding political necessity is for the working class to grasp the source of
the social and economic decline. It is capitalism that has failed in the United
States, and on a world scale. The system of production for profit has indeed
produced record profits for the tiny minority at the top, but it has become a
dead end for the working people who comprise the vast majority.
The
working class must advance its own program in defense of jobs, decent
education, a secure retirement and other basic social rights. This is only
possible by breaking free from the grip of the official trade unions and the
Democratic Party, which uphold the interests of the banks and corporations,
while falsely claiming to defend the workers.
The
growing opposition to inequality and corporate control of the entire political
system underlies the rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the mass
support it has won in less than two months. But this is only an initial
expression of what is to come.
The
answer to the crisis of capitalism is a bold attack on the capitalists. The
working class must fight for socialist demands: the expropriation of the
billionaires and the entire ruling financial oligarchy, the public takeover of
the major banks and corporations, and using the vast wealth produced by working
people to meet social needs, not private profit.
The
decisive issue in carrying forward this struggle is the building of a new,
revolutionary leadership in the working class—the Socialist Equality Party. We
urge young people and workers who are entering political struggle today to join the SEP and fight for this perspective in the international working
class.
Patrick
Martin
The
author also recommends:
Record low
mobility reflects US social crisis
[29 October 2011]
[29 October 2011]
Government report
says richest 1 percent doubled their share of US national income
[27 October 2011]
[27 October 2011]
Majority in US
earn near-poverty wages
[22 October 2011]
[22 October 2011]
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2012/01/occupy-wall-street-looting-of-american.html
THE LOOTING OF AMERICA
POVERTY RISES AS WALL ST. BILLIONAIRES WHINE!
These guys profited from puffing up the housing bubble, then got bailed out when the going got tough. (Please see The Looting of America for all the gory details.) Without taxpayer largess, these hedge fund honchos would be flat broke. Instead, they're back to hauling in obscene profits.
These billionaires don't even have to worry about serious financial reforms. The paltry legislation that squeaked through Congress did nothing to end too big and too interconnected to fail. In fact, the biggest firms got even bigger as they gobbled up troubled banks, with the generous support of the federal government. No bank or hedge fund was broken up. Nobody was forced to pay a financial transaction tax. None of the big boys had a cap placed on their astronomical wealth. No one's paying reparations for wrecking the US economy. The big bankers are still free to create and trade the very derivatives that catapulted us into this global crisis. You'd think the billionaires would be praying on the altar of government and erecting statues on Capital Hill in honor of St. Bailout.
*
While 43.6 million Americans live in poverty, the richest men of finance sure are getting pissy. First Steve Schwartzman, head of the Blackrock private equity company, compares the Obama administration's effort to close billionaires' tax loopholes to "the Nazi invasion of Poland." Then hedge fund mogul David Loeb announces that he's abandoning the Democrats because they're violating "this country's core founding principles" -- including "non-punitive taxation, Constitutionally-guaranteed protections against persecution of the minority, and an inexorable right of self-determination." Instead of showing their outrage about the spread of poverty in the richest nation on Earth, the super-rich want us to pity them?
Why are Wall Street's billionaires so whiny? Is it really possible to make $900,000 an hour (not a typo -- that's what the top ten hedge fund managers take in), and still feel aggrieved about the way government is treating you? After you've been bailed out by the federal government to the tune of $10 trillion (also not a typo) in loans, asset swaps, liquidity and other guarantees, can you really still feel like an oppressed minority?
You'd think the Wall Street moguls would be thankful. Not just thankful -- down on their knees kissing the ground taxpayers walk on and hollering hallelujah at the top of their lungs! These guys profited from puffing up the housing bubble, then got bailed out when the going got tough. (Please see The Looting of America for all the gory details.) Without taxpayer largess, these hedge fund honchos would be flat broke. Instead, they're back to hauling in obscene profits.
These billionaires don't even have to worry about serious financial reforms. The paltry legislation that squeaked through Congress did nothing to end too big and too interconnected to fail. In fact, the biggest firms got even bigger as they gobbled up troubled banks, with the generous support of the federal government. No bank or hedge fund was broken up. Nobody was forced to pay a financial transaction tax. None of the big boys had a cap placed on their astronomical wealth. No one's paying reparations for wrecking the US economy. The big bankers are still free to create and trade the very derivatives that catapulted us into this global crisis. You'd think the billionaires would be praying on the altar of government and erecting statues on Capital Hill in honor of St. Bailout.
Instead, standing before us are these troubled souls, haunted by visions of persecution. Why?
The world changed. Before the bubble burst, these people walked on water. Their billions proved that they were the best and the brightest -- not just captains of the financial universe, but global elites who had earned a place in history. They donated serious money to worthy causes -- and political campaigns. No one wanted to mess with them.
But then came the crash. And the things changed for the big guys -- not so much financially as spiritually. Plebeians, including me, are asking pointed questions and sometimes even being heard, both on the Internet and in the mainstream media. For the first time in a generation, the public wants to know more about these emperors and their new clothes. For instance:
• What do these guys actually do that earns them such wealth?
• Is what they do productive and useful for society? Is there any connection between what they earn and what they produce for society?
• Did they help cause the crash?
• Did these billionaires benefit from the bailouts? If so, how much?
• Are they exacerbating the current unemployment and poverty crisis with their shenanigans?
• Why shouldn't we eliminate their tax loopholes (like carried interest)?
• Should their sky-high incomes be taxed at the same levels as during the Eisenhower years?
• Can we create the millions of jobs we need if the billionaires continue to skim off so much of our nation's wealth??
• Should we curb their wealth and political influence?
How dare we ask such questions! How dare we consider targeting them for special taxes? How dare we even think about redistributing THEIR incomes... even if at the moment much of their money comes directly from our bailouts and tax breaks?
It's true that the billionaires live in a hermetically sealed world. But that doesn't mean they don't notice the riffraff nipping at their heels. And they don't like it much. So they've gotten busy doing what billionaires do best: using their money to shield themselves. They're digging into their bottomless war chests, tapping their vast connections and using their considerable influence to shift the debate away from them and towards the rest of us.
We borrowed too much, not them. We get too much health care, not them. We retire too soon, not them. We need to tighten our belts while they pull in another $900,000 an hour. And if we want to cure poverty, we need to get the government to leave Wall Street alone. Sadly, their counter-offensive is starting to take hold.
How can this happen? Many Americans want to relate to billionaires. They believe that all of us are entitled to make as much as we can, pretty much by any means necessary. After all, maybe someday you or I will strike it rich. And when we do, we sure don't want government regulators or the taxman coming around!
Billionaires are symbols of American individual prowess and virility. And if we try to hold them back or slow them down, we're on the road to tyranny. Okay, the game is rigged in their favor. Okay, they got bailed out while the rest of us didn't -- especially the 29 million people who are jobless or forced into part-time work. But what matters most is that in America, nothing can interfere with individual money-making. That only a few of us actually make it into the big-time isn't a bad thing: It's what makes being rich so special. So beware: If we enact even the mildest of measures to rein in Wall Street billionaires, we're on the path to becoming North Korea.
Unfortunately, if we don't adjust our attitudes, we can expect continued high levels of unemployment and more people pushed below the poverty line. It's not clear that our economy will ever recover as long as the Wall Street billionaires keep siphoning off so much of our wealth. How can we create jobs for the many while the few are walking off with $900,000 an hour with almost no new jobs to show for it? In the old days, even robber barons built industries that employed people -- steel, oil, railroads. Now the robber barons build palaces out of fantasy finance. We can keep coddling our financial billionaires and let our economy spiral down, or we can make them pay their fair share so we can create real jobs. These guys crashed the economy, they killed billions of jobs, and now they're cashing in on our bailout. They owe us. They owe the unemployed. They owe the poor.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was no radical, but he accepted the reality: If America was going to prosper -- and pay for its costly Cold War -- the super-rich would have to pony up. It was common knowledge that when the rich grew too wealthy, they used their excess incomes to speculate. In the 1950s, memories of the Great Depression loomed large, and people knew that a skewed distribution of income only fueled speculative booms and disastrous busts. On Ike's watch, the effective marginal tax rate for those earning over $3 million (in today's dollars) was over 70 percent. The super-rich paid. As a nation we respected that other important American value: advancing the common good.
For the last thirty years we've been told that making as much as you can is just another way of advancing the common good. But the Great Recession erased that equation: The Wall Streeters who made as much as they could undermined the common good. It's time to balance the scales. This isn't just redistribution of income in pursuit of some egalitarian utopia. It's a way to use public policy to reattach billionaires to the common good.
It's time to take Eisenhower's cue and redeploy the excessive wealth Wall Street's high rollers have accumulated. If we leave it in their hands, they'll keep using it to construct speculative financial casinos. Instead, we could use that money to build a stronger, more prosperous nation. We could provide our people with free higher education at all our public colleges and universities -- just like we did for WWII vets under the GI Bill of Rights (a program that returned seven dollars in GDP for every dollar invested). We could fund a green energy Manhattan Project to wean us from fossil fuels. An added bonus: If we siphon some of the money off Wall Street, some of our brightest college graduates might even be attracted not to high finance but to jobs in science, education and healthcare, where we need them.
Of course, this pursuit of the common good won't be easy for the billionaires (and those who indentify with them.). But there's just no alternative for this oppressed minority: They're going to have to learn to live on less than $900,000 an hour.
Les Leopold is the author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance destroyed our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity, and What We Can Do About It Chelsea Green Publishing, June 2009.
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