Oct 29 2008
Original article, subtitled Their system creates recession, hunger and climate chaos, but they want you to pay, via Socialist Worker (UK):
Until A few weeks ago, supporters of free market capitalism were confident enough to proclaim that their system was the only way that the world could be organised. Now their certainties have vanished.
Oct 26 2008
I was born in ’48 and grew up in the time after WWII and the rapid growth of not only a Great Economic Expansion but the Envy of the World to the American Worker and our Products and Services. We had the power and wealth hungry who tried to suppress but we also had intelligent business minds and workers willing to fight that brought about growing wages, safety in the work place, respect for the worker, and so much more, which gave respect and expansion to not only the employer but the companies, The company owners, the executives, the worker, and for those public companies shareholders were all reaping the rewards of that wealth sharing, that’s what built the strong and ever expanding middle class and helped some break out of that and join the upper crust of the wealthy. It was the Only Successful way a true capitalist society that can achieve and expand further. Decent expanding wages for a workers hard work and company dedication gives them the ability to purchase goods and services which in turn gives growth and prosperity to other companies and workers.
Oct 18 2008
Original article, by Glen Ford, via blackagendareport.com:
“…in many respects, working with [Barack Obama] will be very much like working with President Clinton…. I think he will be just fine.”
– Top Obama adviser Robert Rubin, former Clinton Treasury Secretary and Goldman Sachs chair, currently an executive with Citigroup, August 28, 2008.
Oct 16 2008
Original Article, titled Jamie Oliver: food for thought and subheaded Jamie Oliver has hit our screens again, this time teaching people how to cook. Amy Leather welcomes his take on food and class, by Amy Leather via Socialist Worker (UK):
In the last few years a moral panic over food has taken hold in Britain. Working class people are given rubbish to eat. This can mean a lifetime of health problems such as diabetes, obesity and even early death. We are then blamed for these effects.
The government and the media have made food into a personal and moral issue. What we eat – we are told – is down to decisions made by individuals. So if we make the wrong choices, it’s our own fault and we deserve the consequences.
Oct 12 2008
I’m not an economist and the only real numbers I crunch are my personal expenses and when bidding construction jobs putting together those costs and percentages which in these latter years of my life, preferring more to do the work, I have done very little of, except while doing the work to bring a better quality for hopefully a bit cheaper cost in material and professional skill.
Watching what is now taking place in banking and the dream new capitalist economy that’s been sold for a number of years isn’t really a big surprise to this common man, many were forecasting exactly what would happen if we followed the sales pitch.
Oct 10 2008
The US must increase its nuclear arsenal in response to China’s growing military might, according to a State Department report.
Oct 10 2008
I hadn’t been to an AIDS demonstration so far this year (my bad) but the prerecorded announcement from the ACT-UP phone tree Wednesday night haunted my sleep and got me out of bed and headed for midtown Thursday morning. The demo here in NYC was part of an international week of actions (including Arizona, Thailand, France, Switzerland and more) targeting pharmaceutical giant Roche. The demand was simple: Roche must negotiate with the South Korean government to lower prices on bulk orders of lifesaving AIDS drug Fuzeon for its national healthcare system.
What got me going was hearing the quote from Urs Fluekiger, marketing director for Roche Korea, who explained the company’s refusal to budge on their $22,000 price tag for one patient/year of this vital medication:
We do not do business for saving lives but for making money. Saving lives is none of our business.
I thought to myself, okay, that tears it. It’s getting harder and harder to find anyone saying a kind word about good old freemarket capitalism, what with the mounting wreckage that is the global economy these days and the hurt that will be put on everyday working people here in the US and around the world in order to rescue the bloodsuckers who have benefited from this system.
There’s every reason we should make a point of kicking ’em while they’re down.
So I did my little bit yesterday, leafleting at a characteristically lively and imaginative action by ACT-UP’s New York and Philly locals and other AIDS groups. Scores of people grabbed fliers as they rushed to work in the skyscraper housing LifeBrands, Inc., the ad agency that Roche employs to promote Fuzeon.
There’s plenty more detail to deepen your rage at Roche–how they bought out the company that was given the rights to this drug by the governmen (which sponsored the original research), how their executives have shut down all AIDS and HIV research, how their profits last year exceeded 30%. But that one quote tells the story, about Roche and about the whole system they have made themselves such a success in.
We do not do business for saving lives but for making money. Saving lives is none of our business.
(photos: Kaytee Riek)
Crossposted from Fire on the Mountain, where there are other photos of the demo.
Oct 06 2008
Several diarists have already suggested during last week’s debate about the bailout bill that the “real” crisis facing America is that of abrupt climate change. This is an attempt to take them seriously.
The discussion of what to do about abrupt climate change is, in this author’s opinion, at an extremely preliminary level — this diary is intended to forward the conversation in conformance to what can be realistically expected from climate change.
(Crossposted at Big Orange)
Oct 05 2008
Original article, titled Slumps and struggle and subheaded The writings of Leon Trotsky shed light on the complicated relationship between booms, slumps and class struggle, writes John Rees, by John Rees via Socialist Worker (UK):
George Bush’s apocalyptic televised address in the US last week will have signalled the seriousness of this economic crisis – even to those not already aware of it.
Oct 03 2008
Boy does this hit the Nail on the Head, at least in this Part 1.
Robert Parry: After 28 years of drunken optimism and blind nationalism the US wakes up to a grim future
Oct 03 2008
An editorial from Socialist Worker (UK):