THE FIRST DAY OF OBAMA’S FIRST TERM HE GATHERED AROUND HIM
ALL THE BANKSTERS HE COULD AND HANDED THEM NO-STRINGS BAILOUTS AND PROMISES OF
NO PRISON TIME!
DURING HIS FIRST TWO YEARS IN OFFICE, BANKSTERS MADE MORE
MONEY THAN ALL 8 UNDER BUSH.
NO PRESIDENT IN HISTORY HAS TAKEN MORE MONEY FROM BANKSTERS
THAN BARACK OBAMA.
AMERICA IS RULED FROM WALL STREET. OBAMA IS THE PRESIDENT
FOR WALL STREET CRIMINALS AND LA RAZA ONLY… THE REST OF US GET THE TAX BILLS TO
PAY FOR THEIR CRIMES.
The
“fiscal cliff” fraud
27
November 2012
As the US Congress
reconvenes following the Thanksgiving Day holiday, the media is once again
ratcheting up its propaganda offensive over the so-called “fiscal cliff.”
Behind the
orchestrated wrangling between the Obama administration and congressional
Republicans over averting the supposed catastrophe of automatic tax increases
and budget cuts due to take effect January 1, the details of plans to impose
unprecedented cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are being worked
out behind the backs of the American people.
There is bipartisan
agreement between the two corporate-controlled parties to slash social programs
upon which tens of millions of working people rely for health care and
retirement income. The main issue under debate is how to package the cuts so as
to best confuse public opinion and obscure what is really happening.
In this, President
Obama is taking a leading role. His primary concern is to make the slashing of
social programs that keep millions out of poverty seem necessary, while
providing this reactionary attack with a fig leaf of “fairness.”
The bipartisan
conspiracy against the American people was highlighted by the announcement from
Republican House Speaker John Boehner that Republicans would be meeting with
Erskine Bowles, the former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton and
co-chair of the deficit commission set up by Obama in 2010. Bowles and his
Republican counterpart, former senator Alan Simpson, proposed $4 trillion in
deficit-reduction measures, mainly in the form of regressive changes to
Medicare and Social Security and huge cuts in other social programs, together
with a tax “reform” that would slash rates for corporations and the rich.
For his part, Obama
has “balanced” his demand for drastic social cuts with a call for the
“wealthiest Americans” to “pay a little more in taxes.” The Republicans have
said they are willing to accept increases in revenues, but have balked at
increasing tax rates.
Obama’s call for a
token increase in taxes on the highest earners, whether in the form of an
increase in the top tax rate or some lowering of deductions, is nothing but a
smokescreen. Any slight tax increase that might initially be imposed on the
rich would be more than offset by the “comprehensive tax reform” supported by
both parties.
Meanwhile, the
Republicans and some Democrats are calling for an increase in the eligibility
age for both Social Security and Medicare as well as the introduction of “means
testing” for these basic programs.
The latter proposal
is particularly insidious. It would initially be justified as a way to save
money by reducing benefits for wealthy seniors. But its real purpose would be
to transform Medicare and Social Security from universal programs into
anti-poverty programs, setting the stage for ever more onerous funding cuts and
the eventual dismantling of the programs. Social Security and Medicare would
likely go the way of welfare, a means-tested program that was eliminated under
another Democratic administration—that of Bill Clinton.
On Monday, White
House spokesman Jay Carney refused to rule out the Obama administration’s
acceptance of this radical transformation of government health care and
retirement programs.
The universal claim
that there is “no money” for social programs is a lie. US corporations are
currently sitting on a cash hoard estimated at between $2 trillion and $9
trillion. They are refusing to use this money to hire workers under the pretext
that there is too much “uncertainty” regarding health care costs and business
regulations. In plain language, the corporate-financial elite is blackmailing
the American people to force through its agenda of destroying all of the social
gains achieved in a century of working class struggle.
Trillions in taxpayer
funds have been handed over to the banks in government bailouts, and trillions
more have been squandered on imperialist wars in the Middle East, Central Asia
and north Africa. Corporate profits, CEO pay and the fortunes of the top 1
percent have never been greater.
The official
discourse on the “fiscal cliff” is based on a set of unstated assumptions,
including:
* The wealth of the
ruling class is inviolable. The full burden of the debt piled up by the ruling elite
must be imposed on the working class.
* There can be no
significant reduction in the hundreds of billions of dollars consumed every
year by the massive military/intelligence complex.
The unstated premises
behind the “fiscal cliff” are bound up with the fundamental class interests
that underlie the austerity drive. The deficit and debt are expressions of the
crisis of American and world capitalism. The real issue is which class is to
pay for this crisis—the working class through impoverishment and repression, or
the ruling class through the abolition of its stranglehold over society’s
productive forces.
The working class
must advance its own program. It must insist that all people have the right to
the necessities of life: a secure and decent-paying job, economic security,
food, housing, education and medical care. The realization of these rights,
however, is not compatible with the continued rule of the corporate and
financial elite.
Between these two
conflicting principles—the right of the rich to amass their fortunes and the
right of all people to a decent life—there can be no compromise. In the words
of Karl Marx, “Between equal rights, force decides.” The question of who will
pay for the crisis of capitalism will be decided by the struggle of classes.
If the ruling class
succeeds in its efforts to roll back the gains of the preceding century, the
working class will be pauperized and reduced to outright industrial slavery.
The strength of the
working class, the great mass of mankind, stands in the way of this agenda. But
the working class can defend its interests only insofar as it is armed with the
program of socialism and led by a revolutionary party. The aim must be the
abolition of private ownership of the means of production and the reorganization
society on the basis of social need, not private profit.
Andre Damon
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