Monday, June 24, 2019

Facebook censorship

So, Facebook has denied me the right to create a new page entitled, “Let’s Talk About the Politics and Economics of Livelihood.”


I set up the page and made a post and they shut the page down about half an hour later.
This is what I had posted as the first post:


Any legitimate electoral struggle mobilizes people for action at the polls and mass action in the streets and at work and in the schools and neighborhoods.


This is where I think Bernie Sanders and other Democrats claiming to be liberal, progressive or left show us they are not actually interested in building real people’s movements.


Bernie Sanders claims a circle of one-million supporters but makes no attempt to mobilize these supporters to do anything except go to the voting booth.


Every one of those people have a circle of family, friends, neighbors, fellow students or workers... so the influence goes way beyond the one-million.


Any legitimate people’s electoral movement must bring people into the streets to back up its demands.


This is the only way struggles are ever won.


In fact, the Democrats don’t want people in the streets because those people will take on Democrats as well as Republicans over issues of peace, social and economic justice... we saw this with LBJ.


If one examines history we see this during the 1930’s, the movement against the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, too.


It takes persistent and sustained struggles to win.


Now, consider if Bernie Sanders was to help organize a new party which viewed things in this way.


We would have a huge movement of well over twenty-million people which would grow even larger the more we pushed our demands.


Notice: I never said “pressing the flesh was without merit” in the electoral arena... but, it must be combined with mass action.


And the reason for using social media like Facebook, blogging and blogtalk is to mobilize people for mass action... mass action, something Democrats want to contain to electoral struggle.


Because, again, these Democrats are afraid that a fully mobilized people will act against their own neo-liberal imperialist Wall Street agenda.


We need to build socialist political education and action committees to initiate these kinds of struggles based around the politics and economics of peace and in defense of our rights and livelihoods.


We need real health care reform. Medicare for All is a concept conceived for well-heeled upper middle class people... what we working people really need is a National Public Health Care System:


Publicly financed.


Publicly administered.


Publicly delivered.


Not for profit.


Free for all.


Any government with such a bloated military budget that can afford war after war and over 800 military bases dotting the globe certainly can afford to place a public health care center in every single neighborhood and community providing free health care for all.


The model of public education works for health care, too. But, instead of funding it through regressive taxes fund it with a huge peace dividend.


Then look at Social Security. No one should receive less than $2,700.00 a month and the age of retirement should be lowered to 58.


As far as this $1.4 trillion student loan debt there should be no garnishments of wages on anyone with an income under $40,000.00 a year.


No more wars, tariffs or sanctions.


People and our living environment before profits.


Think about this... we can’t continue to allow a bunch of greedy Wall Street millionaires and billionaires along with their over-paid pundits and muddle-headed upper-middle class management stooges to do our thinking for us.

Friday, January 4, 2019

And the search continues for a philosophy and ideology capable of refuting Marxism.

The Wall Street backed “scholars” and “intellectuals” are searching for a philosophy beyond “pragmatism” to support wars while trying to feed us the idea that we must be content with reforms promised incrementally in baby steps never intended to materialize but keep us ensnared in this two-party trap.


Anything but Marxism will suffice provided the ideology keeps us away from the working class struggle.


Leave it to publications like the New Yorker to promote this worthless itsy-pitsy crap of confusion that there is a philosophy which brings together the left and the right... claiming they have studied Marx for us and we need not bother picking up a copy of the Communist Manifesto to read for ourselves and share the thoughts with family, friends and fellow workers.


I remember when these well-heeled muddle-headed upper middle class intellectuals on the college campuses tried pushing Herbert Marcuse down our throats in order to disorient us from the class struggle... and so the Wall Street ruling class frantically continues its search for those “philosophers” and “ideologists” who have the ability to distract and disorient us as capitalism collapses all around us and on top of us... anything but the real socialist alternative:


https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/07/the-philosopher-redefining-equality?mbid=nl_Daily+010219&CNDID=51976680&utm_source=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily+010219&utm_content&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=Daily+010219&hasha=f7ff02049de2bb08d3e1bbc9f5ce7707&hashb=66afe8fd2a1e7fbb4e0e5518140f55ae456436f7&spMailingID=14888875&spUserID=MjM4NDQzNDM0NDA5S0&spJobID=1560125925&spReportId=MTU2MDEyNTkyNQS2&fbclid=IwAR1UkrAnAbWP05YVqCiWazb1rNBgT1tGxYrWDOO6QUO7SON0xdmrgrqZzuE

Everyone knew Trump was lying, again.

Trump is now backing out of withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria... and it is the Democrats providing Trump the cover to back away from his claim that he was going to withdraw the troops.

About parameters and democratic debate

The Democrats and Republicans establish the parameters for “debating” all issues from war and peace to health care reform, the Minimum Wage and Social Security... and no one is allowed to voice an opinion outside of these parameters... and this is what is passed off to the rest of the world as democracy.


But, go outside of these Wall Street dictated parameters and you get placed on a shit list.

Free Meng Wanzhou

The United States has just four days to fabricate a reason why Canada should extradite Meng Wanzhou to the United States where she can be framed on trumped up charges.


Every decent minded person should be demanding Meng be set free so she can be on her way to doing business with the rest of the world, in over 170 countries, seeking Huawei’s world class products manufactured in an employee owned enterprise.


Trump and Justin Trudeau are engaged in a most heinous hostage-taking situation as a means to stifle mutually beneficial free and fair trade as a means to maintain Wall Street monopoly in the marketplace.

About the Democrats

The Democrats like to take credit for the New Deal reforms only when they are accused of not doing anything for working people. But, if they aren’t put on the spot they won’t bring up the New Deal reforms. Why is this?


Because people would want to know why these Democrats have not defended these reforms but why they have not advocated improving these reforms.


For instance, take Social Security.


The Democrats haven’t lifted a finger since 1935 to defend the integrity of Social Security. No one polices employers to make sure these employers are paying into the system what they are withholding in wages.


Nor does any government agency make sure employers are paying the full amount withheld and accurately reporting the hours being worked.


On top of all of this, Democrats have refused to legislate lowering the age of retirement... since 1935 one would think the age for receiving full Social Security benefits would be around 55 years old with a real living income of at least a minimum of $2,500.00 a month being provided for everyone in Social Security.


We could go through and assess what Democrats have done with the Minimum Wage and with the rights of workers to organize and protecting the rights of workers in the workplace.


We could assess Medicare and analyze what happened to the rest of LBJ’s “Great Society.”
If we honestly look at reforming health care, we would consider that most people don’t want any kind of private for-profit health care.


Most people in this country, if asked- and they aren’t asked, would tell you they want a health care system based on the model of public education:


Publicly funded. Publicly administered. Publicly delivered.


Even single-payer and Medicare for All remain for-profit driven health care systems; but, when the truth be told, the Democrats pushing even these mild reforms are only pushing them as campaign gimmicks with no intent to deliver when elected... while the majority of the Democrats are satisfied to maintain the present “free enterprise” profit gouging system of health care with all their greedy campaign donors sticking their fingers in the public trough.


Democrats view health care as a for-profit venture to enrich the greedy few, not at all unlike the Republicans.


Democrats don’t want to get into the specifics of any of this because they have been schooled to bring forward “properly framed progressive sounding policy directives” rather than being engaged in bringing forward specific solutions to the very real problems being experienced by living breathing human beings... the solutions which would require directing resources to solving these problems instead of squandering the tremendous wealth the working class has created on war after war and imperialist interventions intended to protect Wall Street’s profits derived from cheap labor extracting natural resources and using cheap labor manufacturing goods and providing services... the cheaper the labor the greater Wall Street’s profits.


Democrats detest being reminded about the Peace Dividend they promised.


And Democrats just hate being challenged about their bellicose foreign policy which they share with the Republicans.

The future of J.C. Penny

This is from the financial news:


“The buzzards are circling the wounded carcass of JCPenney.”


I wonder how many more companies will be going out the same way before this economic mess comes to an end?


I wonder if J.C. Penny will be giving its employees the shaft like Sears Canada has done?

Government shutdown

Those unions which endorsed Trump for president are now crying because they aren’t getting paid during this government shutdown.


And they haven’t even learned their lesson; they are still supporting him!


In fact, these unions were so stupid they signed contracts saying they would stay on the job and forego their pay should there be a government shutdown.


I don’t feel sorry for them; they didn’t care about the rest of the working class when they endorsed Trump.

Jimmy Carter on relations with China

Jimmy Carter wrote a fairly thoughtful piece here about U.S.-China relations.


However, Carter fails to call for the release of Meng Wanzhou.


Carter also says the United States should continue bringing shortcomings in China to light.


Apparently Carter doesn’t consider that China could bring numerous problems here in the United States before world public opinion...


https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jimmy-carter-how-to-repair-the-us-china-relationship--and-prevent-a-modern-cold-war/2018/12/31/cc1d6b94-0927-11e9-85b6-41c0fe0c5b8f_story.html?fbclid=IwAR3oEAbJtiN2uMspsnGzipb1YQNg9XJO4hVtc3Kyo_5Nf4GVljk96mJfmMk&noredirect=on&utm_term=.62d9aefa4f7d

Are we in for a full-fledged banking crisis?

Finally a little honesty from the Wall Street bankers...


They have acknowledged they, and the government consisting of the politicians they bribe, are not prepared for a full-fledged banking crisis.


You might want to ponder this little unusual sliver of truth that has slipped through.


Why are they even contemplating they might have to deal with such a crisis when we are having it pounded into our heads day in and day out that the economy is doing great?

Here we go again...

So, here we are again; another election upon us and people are being sucked in to supporting a bunch of Democrats, most of whom are only running to suck money from people and to keep people trapped in the Democratic Party, knowing they have no chance of winning and the candidate chosen by hook and by crook irrespective of what most people want will be beholden to wealthy Wall Street oligarchs whose money comes from exploiting workers and profiteering from wars.


And those of us looking for alternatives will again be badgered, bullied and called names in an attempt to intimidate us into supporting these worthless Dumb Donkeys.


These Bernie Sanders supporters are really gluttons for punishment... you would think after being burned before they would have learned what is going on and how they are being manipulated.