SliderOnTheBlack.com

From the Socialist Magazine - “Monthly Review”

The Socialist’s New Deal For America

http://www.monthlyreview.org/090201foster-mcchesney.php

By John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney

“With U.S. capitalism mired in an economic crisis of a severity that increasingly brings to mind the Great Depression of the 1930s, it should come as no surprise that there are widespread calls for “a new New Deal.”

Already the new Obama administration has been pointing to a vast economic stimulus program of up to $850 billion over two years aimed at lifting the nation out of the deep economic slump.

The possibility of a new New Deal is to be welcomed by all of those on the left, as promising some relief to a hard-pressed working population. Nevertheless, it raises important questions. What are the real prospects for a new New Deal in the United States today?

Is this the answer to the current economic crisis? What should be the stance of the left? A full analysis of all the issues would require a large volume. We shall confine ourselves here to a few points that will help to illuminate the challenges ahead…

A return to the kind of social programs associated with the real or second New Deal can be expected to come, if at all, only later, after the initial [stimulus bill] effort.

Under these circumstances, it is the specific responsibility of the left to urge not only the militant organization of the underlying population [Can you say ACORN?], but also the kinds of change, going against the logic of the system and relying on an expansion of government, that will contribute substantially to bettering the conditions of those at the bottom. In terms of demands this should include, for starters…”

“The Socialist’s Redistribution Of Wealth Manifesto.”

(1) government assume the responsibility for providing useful work at a livable wage to all who need it, utilizing existing skills.

(2) unemployment compensation be extended beyond its present inadequate limits.

(3) those in danger of losing their homes be granted government assistance.

(4) a crash housing program be initiated on behalf of those who are homeless or wretchedly housed (including mortgage relief and support to renters).

(5) a truly progressive tax system, incorporating a wealth tax.

(6) food stamps and food programs for the poor be expanded along with other welfare provisions and easier access.

(7) national health insurance (a single-payer system) be provided for the entire population.

(8) pension funds be guaranteed by government.

(9) Social Security be augmented and regressive payroll taxes eliminated.

(10) restrictive laws on unionization be removed.

(11) the federal minimum wage be raised.

(12) a thirty-hour working week be introduced.

(13) a nationwide program of mass transit be promoted.

(14) publicly owned and controlled communications systems be greatly enlarged and extended throughout the nation.

(15) public education funding be enormously elevated.

(16) environmental protection be vastly increased, in line with the ecological revolution now necessary to save the planet.

“Of course, given the existing power structure of U.S. society and the seven-decades-long ceiling on civilian government purchases as a percentage of GDP, all of this may appear to be pie in the sky. And our message is that it is, unless the power structure of U.S. society can be altered. Only a reform movement so radical that it would appear revolutionary within the context of the existing U.S. economic and social order, fundamentally reducing the field of operation of the capitalist market, holds any chance of substantially improving the conditions of most people in society. Needless to say, for such a struggle to succeed people will have to have a sense of real things to struggle for that will materially affect their lives.

These gains will only be made through an enormous class struggle from below. If won, they will not, we underscore, eliminate the evils of capitalism, or the dangers it poses for the world and its people. In the end, there is no real answer but to remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles. This is something that the great majority of the population will undoubtedly learn in the course of their struggles for a more equal, more humane, more collective, and more sustainable world. In the meantime, it is time to begin to organize a revolt against the ruling class–imposed ceiling on civilian government spending and social welfare in U.S. society.”

————————————————————————————————–
My comments:

So it was written, so it’s being done…

Obamacare, The Copenhagen Treaty, and Cap & Trade.

What do you think America?

Is this the kind of “Hope & Change” you were counting on?

Are you willing to give up freedom for a 30 hour work week?

Are you willing to trade democracy for socialism, and a constitutional republic for global government under an un-elected commissariat of UN Czars, in exchange for a higher minimum wage, subsidized housing, and Obamacare?

Freedom isn’t free America.

SliderOnTheBlack

So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.

– Voltaire