Lydia Callis is pretty hard to miss. She has been a fixture at Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s news briefings, bobbing and nodding her way through the words of city officials as she communicates for the hearing-impaired. Her expressiveness has caught the attention of the news media and the public.
Rabu, 31 Oktober 2012
Capitalism's legacy of misery and insecurity. An inefficient system
Back in 1986 when a group of coupon clippers, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, bought Safeway stores in a leveraged buyout, the New York Times wrote of these deals being all the fashion but untested as they were based on debt. At that time, KKR as the leveraged buyout firm was called, came under fire for eliminating jobs in the process. The Union leadership vilified Safeway for selling stores to non-Union owners as it reduced its operations from 2,326 stores to 1161.
The sale of Safeway's Dallas division stores to nonunion operators put the company in a spotlight it wanted to avoid. In a speech, the Rev. Jesse Jackson blasted the chain for eliminating 9,000 jobs. The company realized it would be better to make some sort of deal, the deals the Union officialdom are so eager to make. Safeway agreed to sell the remaining stores to Union operators in return for pay cuts so they could compete with non-Union (sound familiar). The Union hierarchy is very easy to please.
This disastrous tactic of the UFCW leadership and the entire leadership of organized Labor designed to maintain dues revenue, has brought us to the point where grocery workers with 41 years of service here in California can earn the dizzying sum of $21 an hour. New hires receive less pay and worse benefits than their co-workers creating all sorts of hostility and division within the workforce. What this collaboration with the bosses has meant for all workers is a declining standard of living and Union power in the workplace and society as a whole.
The bosses were quite pleased of course as it is profits that that matter to them, ''The fact that Safeway is healthier is due in large part to the cooperation the unions have shown us,'' said Peter Magowan, Safeway CEO at the time.
George Roberts, a KKR partner had this to say:
''We gave them the courage and the discipline to do what needed to be done. ''When you clear away the brush, you release the growth potential of the remaining trees, that's really what happened at Safeway.'' Sounds like a scene from Being There, the Peter Sellers' last movie.
William J. Olwell, a UFCW official and director of collective bargaining added: ''It's kind of like contracting a dread disease for which the cure is very, very painful, and you're never the same afterward, but you survive''.
Yes, we survive "brother" Olwell. Or some of us do. Susan Faludi wrote an excellent piece about the Safeway calamity pointing out that a few years later, KKR "...sold 10% of the company (but none of their own shares) back to the public---at a price that values their own collective stake at more than $800 million more than four times their cash investment."
Not bad, not bad at all. But what was the consequence of this for workers? Faludi shares some details: "Employees......have considerable less reasons to celebrate....63,000 managers and workers were cut loose from Safeway through store sales or layoffs." It's true that some were hired back by the new owners of sold stores but as she points out, "...at lower wages...". The rest were unemployed or forced in to part time work. When you add on the stress this causes to our families and our communities, the illness, depression, domestic violence, it is economic terrorism---it is class war.
Faludi shares one of the more extreme tragedies of this class war, a story about James White, "..a Safeway trucker for nearly 30 years in Dallas." White was still unemployed a year after the deal and "..marked the one year anniversary of his last shift at Safeway this way: First he told his wife he loved her, then he locked the bathroom door, loaded his 22-caliber hunting rifle and blew his brains out." "Safeway was James's whole life" said his widow. *
That's the market at work, it makes a man out of you. Makes you strong. And it's worth it isn't it? At least it is for the coupon clippers. From its start in 1976 through September 2004, KKR's profits stand at about $34.7 billion according to CNN Money. June 2005.
Firms like KKR, Goldman Sachs, Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway or Romney's Bain Capital are composed of parasitic gangs that suck the life blood from society. The production of human needs is the basis for life, without production, life cannot exist. The capitalist mode of production where production occurs not for need, not for the creation of use values, but for profit, is the most brutal and the most destructive. It destroys us as human beings and is on its way to destroying the planet making it uninhabitable along the way. It's progressive historic phase has passed. It can no longer take human society forward.
KKR along with Goldman Sachs and other bloodsuckers have their slimy little paws in all sorts of deals today. They bought the Texas utility TXU five years ago and we can see how destructive and inefficient these activities are for humanity. TXU produces an important social product, electricity. The coupon clippers paid $43.2 billion for it, money borrowed from investors. The deal is not making money for the investors as of yet due to what Business Week calls "the company's troubles".
But these private equity guys are raking it in.
For constructing the deal with this utility that should not be privately owned or managed, the coupon clippers paid themselves $528 million in fees. Meanwhile, TXU has changed its name to Energy Future Holdings and is still massively in debt. "The company is technically insolvent" says Bloomberg with $52 billion in liabilities and $44 billion in assets. Another group of social parasites, derivatives traders are betting that the company holding the debt will default within five years. No worries, taxpayers can always step to the plate on these matters.
Payments to the buyout firms so far include $300 million for their advice, yearly management fees of $171 million and $57 million for "consulting on debt deals".
This is an entity that produces energy for use in society. "This is a utility, and its product is electricity that it sells to the public, but its really a debt house", says Tom Sanzillo the director for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
This sort of activity is not production, it is gambling, it is crude exploitation of Labor and of the natural world. It is criminal.
As workers, we are taught from birth that the owners of capital, the private sector are the creators of jobs. That they take the risks. But as I have repeatedly pointed out, most of society's important developments have come from public, not private funds and institutions.
We are not taught to think of capital, of money in the bank as our product. But it is. The capital that is used to employ Labor power and put it to use has its origin in past Labor power, the life activity of previous workers. Sure, I can go mortgage my home which I partially own in conjunction with the bankers and if I have a job that pays anything decent borrow $50,000 and open a coffee shop and work for myself and maybe purchase the Labor power of a worker or two for $7.50 an hour. If it doesn't work out I can be homeless maybe or become a wage worker myself if I'm lucky. It's not likely I'll end up like Bill Gates.
But this capital is a collective product just like the billions that are borrowed to buy major corporations like Safeway that distributes food and other household products or utilities like TXU that provide us with a necessity like electricity.
We must transform our thinking about this stuff called capital which consists of the surplus value created by human Labor power over time. It is ours, not "the banks" or bankers or hedge fund managers and other coupon clippers to allocate and use for further production. Contrary to all the propaganda, capitalism is an inefficient and wasteful system. In the most successful and powerful capitalist economy in history it has never been able to provide the basic necessities for all and globally it has been a disaster. It has had its day as they say.
We are conditioned by their media, their schools, and their pulpits to think that workers can't govern society; that the capitalist mode of production, that they admit is flawed, is the end of civilization, the apex of human life and that there is no alternative. That's what the feudal aristocracy said about their system and their rule. We are collective creatures and gregarious by nature, it is what helped us survive generations, long before the capitalist mode of production dominated. A democratic socialist society is not utopian, it is possible but more than that, it is a necessity if we want our children to live on a planet that can sustain productive human life in harmony with the natural world.
Society needs new managers.
Here are Some prominent coupon clippers of various types.
Net worth:
Henry Kravis KKR : $4 billion Leveraged buy outs
George Roberts KKR: $3.7 billion Leveraged buy outs
Warren Buffet $47 billion
Ronald Pearlman $12 billion Leveraged buy outs
Carl Icahn $14.8 billion Leveraged buy outs
John Paulson: $11 billion Hedge fund manager
Koch Brothers $62 billion diversified swindlers
Walton Family (Wal Mart) $105 billion Idlers.
Source Forbes
* The Reckoning: Safeway LBO Yields Vast Profits but Exacts A Heavy Human Toll WSJ 5-16-1990 PDF
Hurricane Sandy is the October surprise
Every four years there is always talk about an October surprise, a news event staged within a few weeks of the Presidential election that tilts the outcome towards a candidate.
The term came into use shortly after the 1972 presidential election between Republican incumbent Richard Nixon and Democrat George McGovern, when the United States was in the fourth year of negotiations to end the very long and domestically divisive Vietnam War. On October 26, 1972, twelve days before the election on November 7, the United States' chief negotiator, the presidential National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, appeared at a press conference held at the White House and announced, "We believe that peace is at hand".
Ever since then the media and candidates have tried to label political announcements as an October surprise, mostly as a way to discredit them.
There have been October surprise conspiracy theories like in 1980 when rumours circulated that a deal would be made by Jimmy Carter to release the Iran hostages.
Well Hurricane Sandy will likely fall into the category of October surprise. The storm has provided President Obama with the opportunity to demonstrate leadership during a crisis. Always a good thing before an election. It doesn't hurt that Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (not a supporter of Mitt Romney) has been praising Obama since the storm hit.
Making things worse is that Romney has previously expressed a desire to gut FEMA and hand responsibility over to the states. Romney has been questioned continually over the past few days on where he stands on FEMA. The candidate refuses to answer.
It will be impossible to tell if the storm tilts the results of the election but it certainly has the potential to be a factor.
Euro blockage
by Michael Roberts
Europe’s political elites were hoping that the euro debt crisis might subside after they agreed at the end of June to a plan to introduce a single banking system. Immediately after, ECB president Mario Draghi announced that the bank would be willing to start buying the government bonds of distressed Eurozone states like Portugal, Spain or Ireland in order to get the cost of borrowing down for them when private sector investors refused to buy them at reasonable prices. This plan, called Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT), at first appeared to calm financial markets, and bond yields for the likes of Spain or Portugal fell, reducing the costs of servicing their debt. However, the complacency is beginning to wear off. Yields are on the rise again.
That’s because the politicians have announced these measures, but are very reluctant to implement them. The Germans are worried that a single banking system would mean that its banks would be forced to take on the debts of the weak Eurozone states and have to share in any default losses, while at the same time be subject to scrutiny by a non-German entity, i.e. the ECB. The German elite is finding it increasingly difficult to convince its parliament and the electorate that more funding for the weak states and more pan-European supervision is needed. It’s less than a year away before the German elections and Mrs Merkel wants to avoid having to commit Germany to more funds for the likes of Greece, Portugal or Spain. But it’s inevitable, unless Germany wants to call it a day. So Merkel is hoping that she can push through a package of funding for Greece, Cyprus and Spain in one swallow. In the meantime, she waits.
Spain too is in no hurry to ask for EU bailout funds. It has already reluctantly taken money to bail out its stricken banks; but Spain’s conservative prime minister Rajoy does not want to ask for a full bailout of its government finances because it may mean the imposition of even more fiscal austerity measures that will only rile the electorate even more and increase the danger of regional break-up. Already, the Basque country has voted for nationalist parties and Catalonian conservatives in a very rich part of Spain are talking of ‘independence’. So Rajoy too is trying to delay things and hoping that financial markets will not target its government bonds in the meantime.
Q3 2102 figures for real GDP in Spain came out this week and there was a further fall of 0.3% on the quarter – that’s five contractions in a row. And this is the rub for all these Eurozone economies. There is no economic growth to deliver more income, employment and tax revenues. The weak Eurozone states are in recession, while Greece remains in a long depression.
While Spain’s real GDP is contracting, inflation is accelerating due to increased VAT and other taxes on consumption and utilities. This year real GDP will fall about 1.5% and there will be a further fall next year. The unemployment rate is likely to hit 27% by 2014. It’s no surprise then that social unrest and opposition to fiscal austerity is mounting. It’s the same story in Portugal. Portuguese constitutional judges declared the recent attempt to raise social security contributions as against the constitution, forcing the government to impose higher taxes instead. Even these are under scrutiny by the judges (who have their own union!).
Only Ireland remains relatively quiet, even though the burden of bailing out its banks with public money and handling a collapse in property prices has been even greater than that for Spain. The reason is clear. The Irish are just turning out the lights in their busted homes and leaving the country to find work. This highly educated and youthful workforce is emigrating in droves, just as they did in the decades before the Celtic Tiger appeared in the 1980s, driven by American corporate investment, extra low business taxes and a credit bubble generated by risk-taking banks, Icelandic style. Emigration rates are back to levels not seen since the 1980s.
And then there is Greece. The dreaded Troika of EU, ECB and IMF officials has been negotiating yet another package of fiscal measures with the conservative-led coalition that narrowly won last summer’s election. The Troika want €13.5bn of austerity measures and, after tortuous negotiations, the coalition has come up with a package that it claims that the Troika will accept. It includes cutting the public sector workforce by a net 5000 people a quarter through to 2015, reducing pensions for all yet again (already down 40%), a programme of privatisation of government assets to raise €19bn etc. Most significant is another attack on the wages and employment of all Greeks that will end any job security and impose longer hours and poorer work conditions and benefits. It is these latter measures that forced the junior partner in this infamous coalition, the Democratic Left, to say they would not support this part of the package. The government intends to try and drive it through the Greek parliament anyway over the next week and thus convince the Euro leaders to agree to release funding by mid-November to keep the Greek government going. The government will run out of money by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, the horrific damage to Greece’s public services is being exposed daily. The New York Times produced a devastating report on the state of the health service. “About half of Greece’s 1.2 million long-term unemployed lack health insurance, a number that is expected to rise sharply in a country with an unemployment rate of 25 percent and a moribund economy, said Savas Robolis, director of the Labor Institute of the General Confederation of Greek Workers.The health care system itself is increasingly dysfunctional, and may worsen if the government slashes an additional $2 billion in health spending, which it has proposed as part of a new austerity plan aimed to lock down more financing.
With the state coffers drained, supplies have gotten so low that some patients have been forced to bring their own supplies, like stents and syringes, for treatments.Hospitals and pharmacies now demand cash payment for drugs, which for cancer patients can amount to tens of thousands of dollars, money most of them do not have. With the system deteriorating, Dr. Syrigos and several colleagues have decided to take matters into their own hands.Earlier this year, they set up a surreptitious network to help uninsured cancer patients and other ill people, which operates off the official grid using only spare medicines donated by pharmacies, some pharmaceutical companies and even the families of cancer patients who died.
In Greece, doctors found to be helping an uninsured person using hospital medicines must cover the cost from their own pockets.At the Metropolitan Social Clinic, a makeshift medical center near an abandoned American Air Force base outside Athens, Dr. Giorgos Vichas pointed one recent afternoon to plastic bags crammed with donated medicines lining the dingy floors outside his office.“We’re a Robin Hood network,” said Dr. Vichas, a cardiologist who founded the underground movement in January. “But this operation has an expiration date,” he said. “People at some point will no longer be able to donate because of the crisis. That’s why we’re pressuring the state to take responsibility again.”
In a supply room, a blue filing cabinet was filled with cancer drugs. But they were not enough to take care of the rising number of cancer patients knocking on his door. Many of the medicines are forwarded to Dr. Syrigos, who set up an off-hours infirmary in the hospital three months ago to treat uninsured cancer patients Dr. Vichas and other doctors in the network send his way. Dr. Syrigos’s staff members consistently volunteer to work after their official shifts; the number of patients has risen to 35 from 5. “Sometimes I come home tired, exhausted, seeing double,” said Korina Liberopoulou, a pathologist on site one afternoon with five doctors and nurses. “But as long as there are materials to work with, this practice will go on.”
The Greek coalition is hoping that the EU leaders will agree to extend the period of bailout funding by an extra two years so that repayments will not have to start until then. This is supposed to provide breathing space for Greek capitalism to get its house in order. I have shown in previous posts that austerity is working in Greece in the sense that massive unemployment, reduced wages and benefits and pensions have cut Greek unit labour costs for Greek capitalists so that by 2015, Greece should be ‘competitive’ in European markets. But that is still three years away and the hell is now.
Indeed, the reality is that there is no possibility of the Greeks meeting their fiscal targets, even with an extension of bailout period. As the IMF itself has pointed out, the target to reduce the government debt to GDP ratio from its current 170% of GDP to 120% by the end of this decade cannot be done. The IMF reckons even with the new fiscal measures and on the most optimistic assumptions about growth, the debt ratio will still be around 135%, way higher than anything else in the Eurozone. So Greece can never return to paying its way in financial markets, even beyond 2020.
Nothing is more obvious than that Greek public debt will have to be ‘restructured’ again. Already, there has been one Greek default engineered by the EU and the IMF when Europe’ s banks agreed to a ‘haircut’ on their holdings in return for very long-term Greek government bonds guaranteed by the EU. But that still left Greece with a huge debt burden and the economy in its fifth year of depression. The IMF now suggests that Germany and other Eurozone governments should agree to take a haircut on the money that they have lent Greece over the past three years. Only then could Greece get back on an even path. This is anathema to the Germans, Finns and Dutch and so is ruled out for now. But unless such a default is agreed down the road, Greece will fall behind its ‘targets’ again and then the issue of saving Greece (and protecting the euro) will be raised yet again.
I posed this issue in a previous post (No vacation for the euro, 24 July 2012) and I quote:
“It remains to be seen which way the Franco-German leadership want to go: to find more credit for Spain and Greece, or not. If they cough up more cash in the next few months, it will mean extra costs for Germany and a very weak euro for years (although that will help exports). But the alternative of a euro break-up is also very expensive. Defaults on loans made to Greece or Spain would hit German pockets directly through their banks and government finances. And if Italy, Spain etc reverted to their own national currencies and devalued heavily, then their exporters could start to take market share from German suppliers and thus hit German GDP growth, much dependent on exports. Of course, devaluation would mean that many corporations in Spain and Italy will default on their euro debts, causing wide scale business disruption and a huge jump in unemployment from already high levels. On balance, it would be marginally worse for Italian or Spanish capitalist sector to leave the euro than it would to stay in and suffer austerity. Either way, it is hugely painful for the average household.
There is the socialist alternative that I have also outlined in previous posts (An alternative programme for Europe, 11 September 2011). This is the adoption of a Europe-wide policy by governments through a fully publicly-owned European banking sector aimed at supplying credit for businesses and households. Debts run up by governments to bail out these would be written off at the expense of bondholders (i.e mostly banks and hedge funds). A pan-European plan for investment, employment and growth based on an expanded public sector would be drawn up. Of course, this alternative is not possible while there are no governments in Europe willing to back it and instead are committed to preserving the rule of capital in the Eurozone.”
What I said then still stands.
Europe’s political elites were hoping that the euro debt crisis might subside after they agreed at the end of June to a plan to introduce a single banking system. Immediately after, ECB president Mario Draghi announced that the bank would be willing to start buying the government bonds of distressed Eurozone states like Portugal, Spain or Ireland in order to get the cost of borrowing down for them when private sector investors refused to buy them at reasonable prices. This plan, called Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT), at first appeared to calm financial markets, and bond yields for the likes of Spain or Portugal fell, reducing the costs of servicing their debt. However, the complacency is beginning to wear off. Yields are on the rise again.
That’s because the politicians have announced these measures, but are very reluctant to implement them. The Germans are worried that a single banking system would mean that its banks would be forced to take on the debts of the weak Eurozone states and have to share in any default losses, while at the same time be subject to scrutiny by a non-German entity, i.e. the ECB. The German elite is finding it increasingly difficult to convince its parliament and the electorate that more funding for the weak states and more pan-European supervision is needed. It’s less than a year away before the German elections and Mrs Merkel wants to avoid having to commit Germany to more funds for the likes of Greece, Portugal or Spain. But it’s inevitable, unless Germany wants to call it a day. So Merkel is hoping that she can push through a package of funding for Greece, Cyprus and Spain in one swallow. In the meantime, she waits.
Spain too is in no hurry to ask for EU bailout funds. It has already reluctantly taken money to bail out its stricken banks; but Spain’s conservative prime minister Rajoy does not want to ask for a full bailout of its government finances because it may mean the imposition of even more fiscal austerity measures that will only rile the electorate even more and increase the danger of regional break-up. Already, the Basque country has voted for nationalist parties and Catalonian conservatives in a very rich part of Spain are talking of ‘independence’. So Rajoy too is trying to delay things and hoping that financial markets will not target its government bonds in the meantime.
Q3 2102 figures for real GDP in Spain came out this week and there was a further fall of 0.3% on the quarter – that’s five contractions in a row. And this is the rub for all these Eurozone economies. There is no economic growth to deliver more income, employment and tax revenues. The weak Eurozone states are in recession, while Greece remains in a long depression.
Only Ireland remains relatively quiet, even though the burden of bailing out its banks with public money and handling a collapse in property prices has been even greater than that for Spain. The reason is clear. The Irish are just turning out the lights in their busted homes and leaving the country to find work. This highly educated and youthful workforce is emigrating in droves, just as they did in the decades before the Celtic Tiger appeared in the 1980s, driven by American corporate investment, extra low business taxes and a credit bubble generated by risk-taking banks, Icelandic style. Emigration rates are back to levels not seen since the 1980s.
And then there is Greece. The dreaded Troika of EU, ECB and IMF officials has been negotiating yet another package of fiscal measures with the conservative-led coalition that narrowly won last summer’s election. The Troika want €13.5bn of austerity measures and, after tortuous negotiations, the coalition has come up with a package that it claims that the Troika will accept. It includes cutting the public sector workforce by a net 5000 people a quarter through to 2015, reducing pensions for all yet again (already down 40%), a programme of privatisation of government assets to raise €19bn etc. Most significant is another attack on the wages and employment of all Greeks that will end any job security and impose longer hours and poorer work conditions and benefits. It is these latter measures that forced the junior partner in this infamous coalition, the Democratic Left, to say they would not support this part of the package. The government intends to try and drive it through the Greek parliament anyway over the next week and thus convince the Euro leaders to agree to release funding by mid-November to keep the Greek government going. The government will run out of money by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, the horrific damage to Greece’s public services is being exposed daily. The New York Times produced a devastating report on the state of the health service. “About half of Greece’s 1.2 million long-term unemployed lack health insurance, a number that is expected to rise sharply in a country with an unemployment rate of 25 percent and a moribund economy, said Savas Robolis, director of the Labor Institute of the General Confederation of Greek Workers.The health care system itself is increasingly dysfunctional, and may worsen if the government slashes an additional $2 billion in health spending, which it has proposed as part of a new austerity plan aimed to lock down more financing.
With the state coffers drained, supplies have gotten so low that some patients have been forced to bring their own supplies, like stents and syringes, for treatments.Hospitals and pharmacies now demand cash payment for drugs, which for cancer patients can amount to tens of thousands of dollars, money most of them do not have. With the system deteriorating, Dr. Syrigos and several colleagues have decided to take matters into their own hands.Earlier this year, they set up a surreptitious network to help uninsured cancer patients and other ill people, which operates off the official grid using only spare medicines donated by pharmacies, some pharmaceutical companies and even the families of cancer patients who died.
In Greece, doctors found to be helping an uninsured person using hospital medicines must cover the cost from their own pockets.At the Metropolitan Social Clinic, a makeshift medical center near an abandoned American Air Force base outside Athens, Dr. Giorgos Vichas pointed one recent afternoon to plastic bags crammed with donated medicines lining the dingy floors outside his office.“We’re a Robin Hood network,” said Dr. Vichas, a cardiologist who founded the underground movement in January. “But this operation has an expiration date,” he said. “People at some point will no longer be able to donate because of the crisis. That’s why we’re pressuring the state to take responsibility again.”
In a supply room, a blue filing cabinet was filled with cancer drugs. But they were not enough to take care of the rising number of cancer patients knocking on his door. Many of the medicines are forwarded to Dr. Syrigos, who set up an off-hours infirmary in the hospital three months ago to treat uninsured cancer patients Dr. Vichas and other doctors in the network send his way. Dr. Syrigos’s staff members consistently volunteer to work after their official shifts; the number of patients has risen to 35 from 5. “Sometimes I come home tired, exhausted, seeing double,” said Korina Liberopoulou, a pathologist on site one afternoon with five doctors and nurses. “But as long as there are materials to work with, this practice will go on.”
The Greek coalition is hoping that the EU leaders will agree to extend the period of bailout funding by an extra two years so that repayments will not have to start until then. This is supposed to provide breathing space for Greek capitalism to get its house in order. I have shown in previous posts that austerity is working in Greece in the sense that massive unemployment, reduced wages and benefits and pensions have cut Greek unit labour costs for Greek capitalists so that by 2015, Greece should be ‘competitive’ in European markets. But that is still three years away and the hell is now.
Indeed, the reality is that there is no possibility of the Greeks meeting their fiscal targets, even with an extension of bailout period. As the IMF itself has pointed out, the target to reduce the government debt to GDP ratio from its current 170% of GDP to 120% by the end of this decade cannot be done. The IMF reckons even with the new fiscal measures and on the most optimistic assumptions about growth, the debt ratio will still be around 135%, way higher than anything else in the Eurozone. So Greece can never return to paying its way in financial markets, even beyond 2020.
Nothing is more obvious than that Greek public debt will have to be ‘restructured’ again. Already, there has been one Greek default engineered by the EU and the IMF when Europe’ s banks agreed to a ‘haircut’ on their holdings in return for very long-term Greek government bonds guaranteed by the EU. But that still left Greece with a huge debt burden and the economy in its fifth year of depression. The IMF now suggests that Germany and other Eurozone governments should agree to take a haircut on the money that they have lent Greece over the past three years. Only then could Greece get back on an even path. This is anathema to the Germans, Finns and Dutch and so is ruled out for now. But unless such a default is agreed down the road, Greece will fall behind its ‘targets’ again and then the issue of saving Greece (and protecting the euro) will be raised yet again.
I posed this issue in a previous post (No vacation for the euro, 24 July 2012) and I quote:
“It remains to be seen which way the Franco-German leadership want to go: to find more credit for Spain and Greece, or not. If they cough up more cash in the next few months, it will mean extra costs for Germany and a very weak euro for years (although that will help exports). But the alternative of a euro break-up is also very expensive. Defaults on loans made to Greece or Spain would hit German pockets directly through their banks and government finances. And if Italy, Spain etc reverted to their own national currencies and devalued heavily, then their exporters could start to take market share from German suppliers and thus hit German GDP growth, much dependent on exports. Of course, devaluation would mean that many corporations in Spain and Italy will default on their euro debts, causing wide scale business disruption and a huge jump in unemployment from already high levels. On balance, it would be marginally worse for Italian or Spanish capitalist sector to leave the euro than it would to stay in and suffer austerity. Either way, it is hugely painful for the average household.
There is the socialist alternative that I have also outlined in previous posts (An alternative programme for Europe, 11 September 2011). This is the adoption of a Europe-wide policy by governments through a fully publicly-owned European banking sector aimed at supplying credit for businesses and households. Debts run up by governments to bail out these would be written off at the expense of bondholders (i.e mostly banks and hedge funds). A pan-European plan for investment, employment and growth based on an expanded public sector would be drawn up. Of course, this alternative is not possible while there are no governments in Europe willing to back it and instead are committed to preserving the rule of capital in the Eurozone.”
What I said then still stands.
Selasa, 30 Oktober 2012
US politics, money, confusion, the best democracy money can buy.
I have not much experience of national political campaigns in other countries but here in the US it is just non stop. The presidential race starts a couple of years prior and here we are with a week to go and alongside the presidential election we have numerous local races and various measures and propositions to decide on, those that vote that is.
Voter turnout in the US is far lower than most advanced capitalist economies and in nonpresidential-election years, voter turnout has barely exceeded one-third of voting-age adults. I think that turnout for propositions and measures might be a little greater as people don't have to pick a candidate of one of the two Wall Street parties.
Every morning, my mailbox is filled with glossy campaign brochures for local candidates as well as local county and state measures. Billions of dollars are spent on political advertising, the total spent on television advertising by all presidential candidates was $168 million in 2000 and $564 million in 2004* Then there is television and they are coming fast and furious. The 40 minutes or so I have taken to write this I must have heard 25 or more different ads for various measures to raise taxes to save various public services or our schools. One person just came on urging me to vote for a proposal that will stop special interests from influencing politics. Another person came on telling me that this measure is a scam and was consciously written deceptively to fool us so I should vote against it.
If the public is presented with a proposal that they can vote yes or no on, and this proposal is purposefully deceptive and an outright "scam". What is is doing on the ballot? What sort of democracy allows that? But most Americans will tell you they are totally confused by it all. In 2008, businesses spent roughly $65 billion on television advertising for a range of products, politics being one of them. They deceive, coerce, lie and cheat their way in to our hearts and minds and this is what they call democracy and freedom.
I pay more attention than most workers probably and it overwhelms me also. I was talking to a woman the other day who said that she simply can't make up her mind and doesn't have the time to find out what with work, the kids and all. I don't vote for the candidates of the two Wall Street parties I told her, in California I can vote for a socialist candidate, in many states this option isn't there. But for measures and other legislative proposals I vote and if I'm not sure I simply check out what forces are supporting it. One just came up and I couldn't determine what I would do by the commentary until I looked at the "paid for by" piece at the bottom. I saw General Mills and Cargill and that's enough for me. There's no way these forces are up to any good.
With the creation of these super pacs even more money will be spent influencing people to vote against their own class interests, some reports I read say maybe $6 billion in the presidential race.
One article I was reading suggested that the low voter turnout in the US is due to "a passive vote of confidence". The complete opposite is true in my opinion. I think that the reason 90 million or so will not vote next week is due not to passive acceptance or apathy, but a complete disgust with it all. Millions of Americans have drawn the conclusion through experience that when it comes to the basics, food, housing, wages and a good job, in other words, their material well being, the two parties are very much the same. Coupled with the legal bribery we call lobbying over here and the rampant corruption, people have just given up; they see no way out. I don't not believe we can transform society through the ballot box, in fact, we have won very little in this way. The social legislation that arose in the 1930's for example was simply putting on paper what had already been won in the streets and workplaces. But we won the right to vote and should defend it. And we can have some influence with legislation that can benefit us, albeit temporarily.
The dictatorship that the two Wall Street parties have in the political arena and the failure on the part of the heads of organized Labor to challenge it, contributes to the low level of class consciousness in the US compared to other advanced capitalist countries. We are swamped 24/7 as we say here in the US, with ads, movies, shows, etc, that influence fewer and fewer people where electoral politics is concerned. I was checking out some details on the US electoral system and one site explained the difference between our two party system and multi-party democracies with proportional representation:
"In many countries with multi-party systems, the range of beliefs is greater, and disagreements run deeper. For example, in modern day Russia, one party advocates a return to communism, some offer modified socialism and/or capitalism, and one promotes ultra-nationalism"The US, has a bi-party dictatorship, we are led to believe because:".......Americans share a broad consensus, or agreement, of many basic political values. Both parties believe in liberty, equality, and individualism." **
So let''s not be perturbed that close to half of us have opted out of electoral politics, more in local races, as it's a vote of confidence in our political system and the politicians in it. We believe in liberty and the rest of the world doesn't, that's why they hate us remember.
As for me, I'll be glad when it's all over next week,
*Advertising E ffects in Presidential Elections , Brett R. Gordony Wesley R. Hartmannz
Voter turnout in the US is far lower than most advanced capitalist economies and in nonpresidential-election years, voter turnout has barely exceeded one-third of voting-age adults. I think that turnout for propositions and measures might be a little greater as people don't have to pick a candidate of one of the two Wall Street parties.
Every morning, my mailbox is filled with glossy campaign brochures for local candidates as well as local county and state measures. Billions of dollars are spent on political advertising, the total spent on television advertising by all presidential candidates was $168 million in 2000 and $564 million in 2004* Then there is television and they are coming fast and furious. The 40 minutes or so I have taken to write this I must have heard 25 or more different ads for various measures to raise taxes to save various public services or our schools. One person just came on urging me to vote for a proposal that will stop special interests from influencing politics. Another person came on telling me that this measure is a scam and was consciously written deceptively to fool us so I should vote against it.
If the public is presented with a proposal that they can vote yes or no on, and this proposal is purposefully deceptive and an outright "scam". What is is doing on the ballot? What sort of democracy allows that? But most Americans will tell you they are totally confused by it all. In 2008, businesses spent roughly $65 billion on television advertising for a range of products, politics being one of them. They deceive, coerce, lie and cheat their way in to our hearts and minds and this is what they call democracy and freedom.
I pay more attention than most workers probably and it overwhelms me also. I was talking to a woman the other day who said that she simply can't make up her mind and doesn't have the time to find out what with work, the kids and all. I don't vote for the candidates of the two Wall Street parties I told her, in California I can vote for a socialist candidate, in many states this option isn't there. But for measures and other legislative proposals I vote and if I'm not sure I simply check out what forces are supporting it. One just came up and I couldn't determine what I would do by the commentary until I looked at the "paid for by" piece at the bottom. I saw General Mills and Cargill and that's enough for me. There's no way these forces are up to any good.
With the creation of these super pacs even more money will be spent influencing people to vote against their own class interests, some reports I read say maybe $6 billion in the presidential race.
One article I was reading suggested that the low voter turnout in the US is due to "a passive vote of confidence". The complete opposite is true in my opinion. I think that the reason 90 million or so will not vote next week is due not to passive acceptance or apathy, but a complete disgust with it all. Millions of Americans have drawn the conclusion through experience that when it comes to the basics, food, housing, wages and a good job, in other words, their material well being, the two parties are very much the same. Coupled with the legal bribery we call lobbying over here and the rampant corruption, people have just given up; they see no way out. I don't not believe we can transform society through the ballot box, in fact, we have won very little in this way. The social legislation that arose in the 1930's for example was simply putting on paper what had already been won in the streets and workplaces. But we won the right to vote and should defend it. And we can have some influence with legislation that can benefit us, albeit temporarily.
The dictatorship that the two Wall Street parties have in the political arena and the failure on the part of the heads of organized Labor to challenge it, contributes to the low level of class consciousness in the US compared to other advanced capitalist countries. We are swamped 24/7 as we say here in the US, with ads, movies, shows, etc, that influence fewer and fewer people where electoral politics is concerned. I was checking out some details on the US electoral system and one site explained the difference between our two party system and multi-party democracies with proportional representation:
"In many countries with multi-party systems, the range of beliefs is greater, and disagreements run deeper. For example, in modern day Russia, one party advocates a return to communism, some offer modified socialism and/or capitalism, and one promotes ultra-nationalism"The US, has a bi-party dictatorship, we are led to believe because:".......Americans share a broad consensus, or agreement, of many basic political values. Both parties believe in liberty, equality, and individualism." **
So let''s not be perturbed that close to half of us have opted out of electoral politics, more in local races, as it's a vote of confidence in our political system and the politicians in it. We believe in liberty and the rest of the world doesn't, that's why they hate us remember.
As for me, I'll be glad when it's all over next week,
*Advertising E ffects in Presidential Elections , Brett R. Gordony Wesley R. Hartmannz
** UShistory.org
Facebook link helps break insurance fraud case
CDI spokesman Dave Althausen said Susan Lee, 24; Angelique Jones, 20; Angela Medeiros, 40; and, Krystelmaree Marquez, 23 denied knowing each other but investigators obtained Facebook records and determined the foursome did know each other as "friends" on the social media website.
CDI spokesman Dave Althausen said according to detectives, 23-year-old Krystelmaree Marquez rented a U-Haul truck Dec. 11, 2011 and purchased extra insurance protection. She was driving the truck the next day when she was involved in a collision with a Toyota Yaris drivien by 40-year-old Angela Medeiros with 24-year-old Susan Lee and 20-year-old Angelique Jones as passengers. The women all claimed crash-related injuries. Althausen also said Medeiros denied knowing the other involved parties to insurance company representatives and the other three women said they didn't know Medeiros.
However, Althausen said investigators obtained Facebook account records and determined the foursome did know each other as "friends" on the social media website.
Medeiros, Lee and Jones were arrested on suspicion of three fraud charges including providing false statements in support of an insurance claim and participating in a vehicle collision for the purpose of submitting a false insurance claim. Marquez, who faces the same allegations, hasn't been located.
Althausen said if convicted of all charges, the suspects face two to five years in state prison and/or a $50,000 fine.
source
12-year-old sues parents for drunk driving
Faith, now 12, is suing her parents for the physical and psychological injury they caused. Faith and her brother, John, sustained severe injuries when their alcoholic mother passed out while driving the children home from school. Ava, Faith’s 6-year-old sister, and friend Michaela Logan, 9, died when the vehicle crashed into an embankment.
The children’s mother, Mary Carberry, was “in the middle of a pub crawl and decided to pick up the four kids from school.” Mary remembers bits of the accident that killed her youngest daughter. “All I remember is the thump. Then the flashing blue lights,” she testified in court in 2007. “I did not know what I hit. I remember Ava, I remember her face, I just don’t know what happened. I don’t remember arriving in the hospital.”
After the accident, Mary was sentenced to six years in prison, but her time was later reduced to four years.
Now, Faith, with the help of her grandfather, is seeking justice for her sister. Faith was injured in the accident, undergoing surgery to her spine and spending ten weeks in a spinal cast at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital. Faith also suffered “severe psychological trauma and upset and she attended a child psychologist for three months after the incident.”
Mary Carberry had already been banned from driving at the time of the accident. After two previous DUIs, Mary had no license and no insured vehicle. Faith’s father – also being targeted in the girl’s lawsuit – claims that he bought Mary a car, but didn’t expect her to drive it. He’d merely purchased the car after Mary allegedly told him that the children were “wet and cold” walking to and from school.
“It pulled at my heart strings. She was seeking for me to provide transport, purchase a car and somebody who was insured and had a full licence would drive it,” Tommy Varden told the court, adding that he never intended for Mary to drive the purchased BMW.
Varden added that Mary was attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at the time, and “seemed to be turning a new leaf.”
The father recounts the night of the accidents, saying that he received a phone call from Mary. “She said Ava was dead and she thought Faith was dead too,” he said. Vargan notes that it was only when he arrived at the hospital that he discovered Mary had been driving the car. “I was angry. I am still very angry. No way would I have given the car to her if I thought she was going to use it that way. I trusted her,” he said.
Faith, however, still holds her father responsible. He did, after all, purchase Mary a car. Vargan insists that, although he’d purchased the vehicle, it was only later that he discovered Mary had insured it, forging his signature on a check.
The lawsuit was settled on Wednesday, but the official outcome has yet to be disclosed.
According to Yahoo!News, Faith’s story is not a unique one. In the US, more than two-thirds of children fatally injured in car accidents “were riding with drunk drivers.” Young children, unlike adults, often do not have the awareness or option to opt out of getting into a car with an intoxicated driver, especially if a parent is behind the wheel.
In March, a mom in Iowa was allegedly driving drunk, and her 15-year-old daughter called 911 from the passenger’s seat. In 2009, four young kids died in a crash after their guardian was found to have a “blood alcohol level of .19 percent.
source
The storm, climate change, capitalism and censorship. .
The devastating storm that has struck the east coast has left unprecedented damage behind. There has never been anything like it. Only an idiot or a bought and paid for capitalist politician or an oil and gas capitalist can say that this huge storm and the increasingly frequent storms are not linked to climate change.
There is the one you may be familiar with about the dog that did not bark in the night. That is something happened during the night and yet the dog did not bark. The point was this told you something. Well look at this. Until this morning there were 94 articles recorded in newspapers on the storm . Not a single one of them mentioned climate change. During the presidential debates there was not a single mention of climate change from the main candidates. These dogs are not barking in the night. This tells us something.
Capitalism has no way to handle this developing catastrophe of climate change so it cannot mention it. Driven by its addiction to profit and fossil fuels it can only barrel on regardless. As far as I know the Green Party candidate for President was arrested because she tried to get into and participate in the debates. These capitalists and their mass media and mass political machines are mad. They are tobogganing towards disaster with their eyes shut. They are taking life on earth as we know it with them.
And consider the so called liberal ones. Consider MSNBC. Where are all these trendy talking heads when it comes to climate change. They value their over paid spots on the shows where they limit their comments to strictly agreed guidelines. No talk of climate change and the catastrophe of the present fossil based fuel system. No talk of capitalism and mass poverty. No talk of the need for a minimum wage of $20.00 an hour for all. No talk of the need to break from the two capitalist parties, the Republicans and Democrats and build a mass workers party. What a bunch of cowardly bought and paid for degenerates, the capitalists, the politicians, the talking heads.
There were 14 candidates for President running in this election. But US capitalism with the help of its media, liberal and right wing censored all but two out of the mass view. This is supposed to be the land of free speech. And they are still torturing Bradley Manning and keeping over 2 million people in their jails.
Climate change is a reality and capitalism cannot deal with it so it censors it out of its mass media and mass political system. A new different kind of storm is necessary. A political storm which sweeps away the rotten repressive capitalists and their system and representatives which is taking life on earth as we know it to disaster.. And which lays the basis for a new society based on a democratic socialist plan which would meet the needs of life on the planet in a way which would be sustainable.
Sean.
There is the one you may be familiar with about the dog that did not bark in the night. That is something happened during the night and yet the dog did not bark. The point was this told you something. Well look at this. Until this morning there were 94 articles recorded in newspapers on the storm . Not a single one of them mentioned climate change. During the presidential debates there was not a single mention of climate change from the main candidates. These dogs are not barking in the night. This tells us something.
Capitalism has no way to handle this developing catastrophe of climate change so it cannot mention it. Driven by its addiction to profit and fossil fuels it can only barrel on regardless. As far as I know the Green Party candidate for President was arrested because she tried to get into and participate in the debates. These capitalists and their mass media and mass political machines are mad. They are tobogganing towards disaster with their eyes shut. They are taking life on earth as we know it with them.
And consider the so called liberal ones. Consider MSNBC. Where are all these trendy talking heads when it comes to climate change. They value their over paid spots on the shows where they limit their comments to strictly agreed guidelines. No talk of climate change and the catastrophe of the present fossil based fuel system. No talk of capitalism and mass poverty. No talk of the need for a minimum wage of $20.00 an hour for all. No talk of the need to break from the two capitalist parties, the Republicans and Democrats and build a mass workers party. What a bunch of cowardly bought and paid for degenerates, the capitalists, the politicians, the talking heads.
There were 14 candidates for President running in this election. But US capitalism with the help of its media, liberal and right wing censored all but two out of the mass view. This is supposed to be the land of free speech. And they are still torturing Bradley Manning and keeping over 2 million people in their jails.
Climate change is a reality and capitalism cannot deal with it so it censors it out of its mass media and mass political system. A new different kind of storm is necessary. A political storm which sweeps away the rotten repressive capitalists and their system and representatives which is taking life on earth as we know it to disaster.. And which lays the basis for a new society based on a democratic socialist plan which would meet the needs of life on the planet in a way which would be sustainable.
Sean.
David Letterman did his show in front of no audience last night
Hard to do comedy with no audience and therefore no laughs.
That was fun
Well we hunkered down last night and fortunately we weren't hit too hard by Sandy. Can't say the same for the Jersey shore and New York.
![The Hurricane Sandy death toll is now at 38, according to the Associated Press. The death toll climbed rapidly, and included 17 victims in New York State — 10 of them in New York City — along with five dead in Pennsylvania and four in New Jersey. Many of those casualties were the result of fallen trees, like the one in Brooklyn above. Prior to coming ashore here in the States, Sandy killed 69 people in the Caribbean. [Image via AP] -Cord](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcpxbshbqV1rk5d6vo1_1280.jpg)
![In a statement this morning, MTA chairman Joseph J. Lhota said the subway system has experienced the most “devastating” flooding in its 108-year history, adding that MTA employees “have never faced a challenge like the one that confronts us now.” Despite a false rumor going around that transit would be back to normal in four days, the MTA has yet to provide an official timetable for repairs. -neetzan [photo: Gravesend, Brooklyn (via HeyVeronica)]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcpplxkkrj1rk5d6vo1_1280.jpg)
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MARIKANA SUPPORT CAMPAIGN PRESS RELEASE
AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL
30/10/2012
Yesterday evening, the Amplats workers had a meeting to discuss the false allegations from the national media that they have signed an agreement with management on their conditions of reinstatement.
The management announced that it expected workers to resume their duties this week and that they have reached a compromise with the worker. Yet none of the strikers have showed up at work, they have crushed and disagree with the terms of the proposal.
Last night, the police disrupted the strikers' meeting outside Jabula village, dispersed the workers with rubber bullets and arrested 14 of them, going into people's shacks and harassing them.
This morning, the strike committee called for a general meeting in response. One of the shafts couldn't make it in time as it had already been dispersed by the police.
About 6000 workers met at the Bathopele shaft.
As they were leaving, the workers were confronted with a massive police blockade of about 40 police cars. The police shot heavily at them, and blasted their vehicles with live ammunition. They shot and wounded a worker in the legs. Most workers dispersed and fled as they were under heavy fire.
The workers are adamant that they will not go back to work unless they at least get a living wage for all of R12 500. After their meeting with management yesterday they called for a peaceful resolution of the issue. Again, the management is showing that they will only end the strike through brute force. This is the second time this week that rubber bullets, teargas and stun grenades are used against the Amplats workers in Rustenburg.
Donald Trump tries to bully BBC into not showing documentary about his bullying tactics
Donald Trump tried to force the BBC to drop the broadcast of a critically acclaimed documentary on his alleged bullying of residents near his Scottish golf resort. Lawyers for the New York property magnate contacted the BBC two days before the feature-length film You've Been Trumped was screened on BBC2, claiming it was highly defamatory, biased and misleading, and demanding a right of reply.
The BBC went ahead and screened the documentary and did not provide Trump with a right to respond to the allegations.
Residents now fear Trump will launch another eviction onslaught.
The BBC went ahead and screened the documentary and did not provide Trump with a right to respond to the allegations.
Residents now fear Trump will launch another eviction onslaught.
Senin, 29 Oktober 2012
Woman killed by Staples sign in Toronto west end
Police have found a dead woman in a lot parking lot next to a dislodged Staples sign off Keele St., just south of St. Clair Ave. W. This is why you don't leave home in a storm like this. Sure a tree could come down on your house but its easier to get wiped out walking around.
Prison inmates and their families victims of the powerful
 |
| California's Susanville prison |
by Richard Mellor
Some time ago I used to visit a guy up in Susanville State Prison in the high desert, it’s quite a way from where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. For the mother of the guy I used to visit it was a real slog as the family were from Watts which is in LA, 500 miles from where I live. This is not uncommon as they make life as difficult as possible for the families of prisoners. I’ve been to parole board hearings as well, they’re some cold bastards these people. My friend was one of the organizers of the gang truce in LA and was framed by the cops.
Anyway, he used to call his mum on and off and we all see those calls in the movies as the prisoners line up to call their loved ones. There are 1.4 million incarcerated in state prisons and about another million at the federal level.
But these phone calls, that cost normal people a few cents or are included in monthly charges are very expensive for inmates who are forced to pay as much as $17 for a 15 minute call according to Bloomberg Business Week. A fifteen minute call from Oakland to London costs me 63 cents.
The way these phone setups work is that the private companies that provide the service, or get the “excusive deals to provide service to inmates” turn a portion of their fees over to the prisons, about 42% of the total. According to BW, forty two states received $152 million in fees in 2008. The federal government charges 6 cents a minute for calls which covered costs and raked in $34 million in profit according to the US GAO.
This set up encourages prisons to award contracts not to lowest bidders but highest bidders in order to increase revenue; the victim being the inmate of course. Ten years ago, a group of prisoners and their families filed a petition to halt this exorbitant fee system and want the charges for calls capped at 20c to 25c a minute which is still fairly high for a prison inmate.
The prison phone system is a $1.2 billion business that is dominated by two private equity companies, American Securities, which owns Tel*Link and Castle Harlan which owns the other one, Securus. In other words, the same coupon clippers that want to get their dirty little paws on public education and privatize all public services are the link, or connection between prison inmates and their families. These companies say that the states force them to provide security features that increase the cost of doing business. Either way you look at it, the inmate and their families are the victims.
Here’s what one mother had to say about Global Tel*Link:
Some time ago I used to visit a guy up in Susanville State Prison in the high desert, it’s quite a way from where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. For the mother of the guy I used to visit it was a real slog as the family were from Watts which is in LA, 500 miles from where I live. This is not uncommon as they make life as difficult as possible for the families of prisoners. I’ve been to parole board hearings as well, they’re some cold bastards these people. My friend was one of the organizers of the gang truce in LA and was framed by the cops.
Anyway, he used to call his mum on and off and we all see those calls in the movies as the prisoners line up to call their loved ones. There are 1.4 million incarcerated in state prisons and about another million at the federal level.
But these phone calls, that cost normal people a few cents or are included in monthly charges are very expensive for inmates who are forced to pay as much as $17 for a 15 minute call according to Bloomberg Business Week. A fifteen minute call from Oakland to London costs me 63 cents.
The way these phone setups work is that the private companies that provide the service, or get the “excusive deals to provide service to inmates” turn a portion of their fees over to the prisons, about 42% of the total. According to BW, forty two states received $152 million in fees in 2008. The federal government charges 6 cents a minute for calls which covered costs and raked in $34 million in profit according to the US GAO.
This set up encourages prisons to award contracts not to lowest bidders but highest bidders in order to increase revenue; the victim being the inmate of course. Ten years ago, a group of prisoners and their families filed a petition to halt this exorbitant fee system and want the charges for calls capped at 20c to 25c a minute which is still fairly high for a prison inmate.
The prison phone system is a $1.2 billion business that is dominated by two private equity companies, American Securities, which owns Tel*Link and Castle Harlan which owns the other one, Securus. In other words, the same coupon clippers that want to get their dirty little paws on public education and privatize all public services are the link, or connection between prison inmates and their families. These companies say that the states force them to provide security features that increase the cost of doing business. Either way you look at it, the inmate and their families are the victims.
Here’s what one mother had to say about Global Tel*Link:
“I opened an account for $25 two months ago in order for my child to call me on my cell from prison. He can't ever get through because it is a "blocked" number, which is why I paid for a prepaid account. I called customer service, who all have very heavy accents (for their convenience I think) and constantly interrupt while you are explaining the problem. The first time I called I was told to be sure my child does not call collect. Still, he can't get through. I called again and I am told that I must supply GTL with a recent copy of my utility bill and a recent copy of my phone bill. This feels like a scam to me. Really, this company needs to be stopped. They will not return any money and I imagine the company is run out of someone's home. I think everyone who has a bad experience with this company should write their state attorney general and complain.”
 |
| John Castle, welfare recipient and general waster |
Castle Harlan, the group of coupon clippers that owns Securus is headed by John Castle, a 76 year old billionaire. Castle was sued by a waiter earlier this year for breaking his finger. He was upset that the waiter brought the check to the table apparently and twisted the waiter’s finger referring to him as a “schmuck”. It seems with super rich characters, because the club was a private club, members like Castle are often billed monthly for their dining. So to hand him a check at the table like us mortals experience all the time was “vulgar”. It’s amazing how they can get rich of the backs of others and be offended by such normal things. Vulgarity to the ruling class is different than our definition of it.
Forbes reported at the time that, “The incident hasn’t shocked many who know Castle, a personal friend and frequent Palm Beach host of U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch. Leverage buyout king Castle is known on The Island as an abrasive character who often snaps at the help, which in his case includes half a dozen servants, chauffeurs and yacht captain.”
We have commented on this blog many times about the horrific situation with regards to incarceration in the US. Most inmates are from poor working class families, more than 50% people of color. Many would not be in prison were society to offer different avenues and more opportunities for young workers as well as a guaranteed job and training when they completed their sentence; without a job and security, they find the milieu that will provide it, even if temporarily. One inmate explains:
“Over the years, I have lost most of my contact with my family and friends due to the increased cost of a telephone call from the prison setting. I come from a very poor family.”
Castle, like another coupon clipper, Mitt Romney, raids companies to extract value. His business activity acumen provides him with a nice lifestyle. A friend of Orrin Hatch, he purchased the Kennedy family's Palm Beach, Fla., compound in in 1995 and if famous for holding lavish parties and other events there.
Prions are not correctional centers at all; they are simply a place for warehousing human beings, especially the youth. Prisons construction and management is also a lucrative business and can revitalize rural communities where employment is scarce. They are generally constructed in rural areas that make it difficult for families to visit and protests to be held.
The prison industrial complex in the United States is a disgrace. No other country has as many people in prison as the US. Youth, the mentally impaired, the poor are executed or spend their entire lives behind bars here; it is a barbaric, brutal and racist system. And social wasters like the coupon clippers in this example accumulate great wealth through the suffering of others. We need to liberate their ill-gotten gains. We can guarantee them a society in which they can do productive labor and feel secure with a job, housing and a future----something they deny to us.
Prions are not correctional centers at all; they are simply a place for warehousing human beings, especially the youth. Prisons construction and management is also a lucrative business and can revitalize rural communities where employment is scarce. They are generally constructed in rural areas that make it difficult for families to visit and protests to be held.
The prison industrial complex in the United States is a disgrace. No other country has as many people in prison as the US. Youth, the mentally impaired, the poor are executed or spend their entire lives behind bars here; it is a barbaric, brutal and racist system. And social wasters like the coupon clippers in this example accumulate great wealth through the suffering of others. We need to liberate their ill-gotten gains. We can guarantee them a society in which they can do productive labor and feel secure with a job, housing and a future----something they deny to us.
The most pathetic storm headline
Only in New York would you have an article about dogs being denied access to a park during a major storm. While the rest of the world prepares for a hurricane by stocking up on batteries, candles and dry goods New Yorkers stock up on cigarettes, vodka and Starbucks VIA instant coffee. It's another world over there in the Big Apple.
A Closed Central Park Leaves Dogs at a Loss
John Blondel and Rollo, a white Labrador, were denied access to Central Park.
“I may have to carry him away,” said John Blondel, nodding to Rollo, a spry-looking white Labrador who was 10 and a half years old. Rollo decided to engage in a sit-down strike in front of the 79th Street entrance on Fifth Avenue.
Mr. Blondel, 56, who is in the investment management division for Goldman Sachs, had driven from his apartment in the West Village to give Rollo his daily constitution. Later, he would work from home. “This is going to be it for a while,” he said to his friend.
Soon, Rollo was joined by several other dogs dragging their walkers to yet another blocked entrance.
“They’re just amazed,” Mr. Blondel said.
When a gust of wind blew an opening in the temporary fencing, Rollo was wise to the opportunity. Mr. Blondel had to pull him back and head to the car.
The city’s parks had been closed since Sunday evening, and the morning scene was an abject one indeed. As joggers dashed by on the slippery, leaf-laden sidewalk adjacent to the park – some took advantage of the empty bus lanes to run in the street – they had to dodge the dogs, who were similarly displaced from their morning routine.
source
Capitalism. The class struggle: the phase through which it is passing.
 |
| Striking South African miners |
I have over the past period had the position that we lived in a phase of a capitalist offensive in which the working class were being driven back. I am inclined to think this is still the case. However there are I feel signs that this phase may be coming to an end. The struggles in South Africa, the recent retreat forced on the Chinese elite, the mass movements in Europe, the Arab Spring, the re-election of Chavez, the increasing decline of credibility of the bourgeois internationally through events such as the tax and other swindles in Greece and internationally, the phone hacking scandals in Britain, the recent child abuse scandals in Britain, the farce of the US elections . What will happen in the US in the immediate period i do not know. But in the medium and longer term there is no doubt in my mind that a massive explosion will erupt as the US bourgeois seeks to take the working class back to the 1930's. In fact sections of this class have openly stated that they are set on taking back all that was won in the 1930's and the 1960's.
 |
| Chinese protestors halt petrochemical plant |
To go back to Trotsky again. He wrote that the task of a revolutionary was to combine objective analysis with subjective action. So if what i write above about the objective situation has any truth to it what should our subjective action be. I think it should be to seek to build fighting mass action organizational structures, which would directly identify and take on through mass direct action the attacks of the capitalist offensive. I feel that such structures and struggles events are increasingly taking shape.
I also feel that they are increasingly taking shape outside the existing mass traditional organizations of the working class and taking on mass violent tactics. I think these tactics of mass violence are inevitable given the refusal of the leaders of the old traditional organizations to lead. These old organizations are to a great extent discredited.
However I do not think that such struggles will by pass entirely the older traditional organizations. So while giving our main emphasis to giving guidance to the mass movements on the streets and workplaces and helping these take organizational form we should do so in a non sectarian fashion. I think we should advocate and build for workers and peasants and students mass direct action committees in the workplaces and places of study. And also build united front structures around such issues as the repression which is increasing everywhere, see Pussy Riot, Bradley Manning, Assange etc.
I feel these fighting mass direct action structures should lead the movement forward. i feel that the movements from below will tend to go in that direction. But I also feel that great movements from below are unlikely to leave old organizations untouched, most likely leading to splits in these organizations, and some of these possibly being able to be won to the more vibrant fighting new structures. I may be wrong on this. I probably am wrong on this and would appreciate some help in discussing this. Pasok and the SACP and the Irish Labor Party etc, do not seem to be bearing out what i say. In fact so far the very opposite is the case at least not for now. But what would be lost in at least putting forward at least a propaganda call for a united front between the new fighting forces and those forces in the old organizations with the proviso that they would have to come out openly against the capitalist offensive.
Would these new fighting mass structure in the workplaces, the unions, the communities, the schools and colleges become the basis for a new workers parties, new workers parties? I think this is likely and that we should put forward this, not as our main emphasis but as part of general propaganda. The main emphasis I feel should be mass direct action taking on and defeating the capitalist offensive and in this way showing that victories can be won and the capitalist offensive halted and thrown back and a new workers offensive opened up.
Within this process of building these new mass structures, these new united fronts we should I believe build revolutionary scientific socialist currents. In the last analysis I believe the working class still needs a mass revolutionary international based on the ideas of revolutionary socialism to end world capitalism.
I know this is all a bit over simplified. Processes are a lot more complicated than this. However something to think about.
The major problem in the revolution becoming dominant, in the working class decisively halting and throwing back the counter revolution is the role of the mass organizations of the working class and the lack of any clear alternative, that is the failure of the revolutionary left to put down any significant roots in the working class. The result is that the working class explodes in rage here and then there, but it cannot get a mass international channel organization structure through which to express itself. and so far the movement has not the impetus to overcome this crisis of leadership and so subsides again for a while. While those of us on the left are correct to direct attention to the terrible role of the leaders of the traditional organizations. We must also look at the beam in our own eye. Why is it that after all these decades we have not been able to lay down mass roots in the working class. Is it only because of the combination of Stalinism, Social Democracy, and the the economic growth of capitalism. Or is it also, and this is my opinion due to the mistakes of sectarianism, ultra leftism and opportunism which have been part of the lives of the revolutionary left over the past decades. I am interested in discussing all these ideas including this last one.
Sean.
Some people are taking Frankenstorm seriously
This car spotted in Pennsylvania is headed out of the way of the storm. Knowing that his home might lose power for several days, he's not taking any chances and taking with his freezer with him, no doubt full of frozen pizzas, burgers and poppers.
As Hurricane Sandy descends on the Northeast, remember where Romney stands in disaster relief
Not trying to be cruel but conservatives are always quick to cut programs like disaster relief. So as many on the East Coast prepare for whatever Sandy has in store, think about how prepared a Romney admistration would be to provide relief. The answer would be "absolutely" nothing.
That's what Romney told CNN's John King last year in response to a primary debate question about dismantling FEMA and handing the responsibility of emergency management over to the states.
"Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better."
Romney went on to say that balancing the budget shouldn't be about "what we should cut," but rather" "what should we keep." When King asked if that included disaster relief, Romney responded affirmatively.
That's what Romney told CNN's John King last year in response to a primary debate question about dismantling FEMA and handing the responsibility of emergency management over to the states.
"Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better."
Romney went on to say that balancing the budget shouldn't be about "what we should cut," but rather" "what should we keep." When King asked if that included disaster relief, Romney responded affirmatively.
The NHL and NHLPA are about $300 million apart
So I sat down to calculate how far apart the owners and players from reaching an agreement and it's not much. The chart below shows that the two sides are about $327 million apart when comparing two offers tabled. The owners have offered a 50:50 split over a 6 year contract. One of the offers tabled by the players is a 5 year contract where the players drop from the current 57% of hockey revenue to 55%, then 53% in year 2, 51% in year 3 and 50% in the final 2 years.
So despite all the rhetoric, the difference is only in the first 3 years of an agreement. If the average NHL gate is $1.5 million (I'm just guessing) then the difference between the two is the equivalent of 200 league games or about 16% of a season's schedule. So if the season is shorter than 75 games, then each side stands to lose $150 million based on a 50:50 split. If the season is shortened to 68 games then each side Will lose as much as they could possible gain in this dispute.
This suggests that all those games cancelled by the league could likely be restored once the parties settle and that a settlement is likely soon. In the end the owners are not going to give up revenue for a moral victory. I think in this standoff the players can actually win.
So despite all the rhetoric, the difference is only in the first 3 years of an agreement. If the average NHL gate is $1.5 million (I'm just guessing) then the difference between the two is the equivalent of 200 league games or about 16% of a season's schedule. So if the season is shorter than 75 games, then each side stands to lose $150 million based on a 50:50 split. If the season is shortened to 68 games then each side Will lose as much as they could possible gain in this dispute.
This suggests that all those games cancelled by the league could likely be restored once the parties settle and that a settlement is likely soon. In the end the owners are not going to give up revenue for a moral victory. I think in this standoff the players can actually win.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 | |||
| Revenue | $ 3,300 | $ 3,330 | $ 3,570 | $ 3,827 | $ 4,102 | $ 4,398 | $ 4,714 | |
| Players' share (NHL's offer) | $ 1,881 | $ 1,650 | $ 1,785 | $ 1,913 | $ 2,051 | $ 2,199 | $ 2,357 | |
| Players' share (NHLPA's offer) | $ 1,881 | $ 1,832 | $ 1,892 | $ 1,952 | $ 2,051 | $ 2,199 | ||
| Diference | $ 182 | $ 107 | $ 38 | $ - | $ - | $ 327 | ||
| * All figures in $1,000,000 | ||||||||
Minggu, 28 Oktober 2012
More on South African strikes
We are putting a fair bit of South African stuff up but there really is a critical situation in that country as wildcat strikes in the mining industry continue following public sector disputes and the likelihood of further strikes in the transportation sector. The collaboration with international capital on the part of the leadership of the miner's union, Cosatu and the South African Communist Party (SACP) has led to the formation of independent workers' organizations and rival unions.
The South African working class returns to the forefront of the struggle against global capitalism and its collaborators. They need our solidarity and support. We are also facing a savage assault on our living standards which is being waged by the same forces that are shooting striking workers in South Africa.
The South African working class returns to the forefront of the struggle against global capitalism and its collaborators. They need our solidarity and support. We are also facing a savage assault on our living standards which is being waged by the same forces that are shooting striking workers in South Africa.
The article below gives an excellent account of the mood and the subsequent turmoil erupting within the traditional organizations.
RM
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This is from the Daily Maverick
Analysis: War is not going to return NUM to the top
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Sipho Hlongwane - 29 October 2012 01:57 (South Africa)
On Saturday, leaders of NUM, Cosatu and the Communist Party marched in Rustenburg to reclaim the territory. The march didn’t exactly go as planned; the tactic of confrontation rather than talks rarely brings lasting results. To find its way back to the top of the mining sector, NUM will have to do much more than just fight. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.
On 16 October, several thousand workers gathered on a hilltop inside of Gold Fields’ sprawling KDC West operation just outside of Carletonville. It was the day that the company handed down an ultimatum to all workers: quit striking or lose your jobs. Company reports stated that most obeyed, but about 1,500 didn’t. They were waiting for Senzeni Zokwana, the president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to come and formally make them an offer.
It was one actually made by the Chamber of Mines on behalf of the company, but the striking workers wanted their union to make the offer. Zokwana had also apparently promised to come and speak to the workers. What he didn’t seem to grasp was that this was Last Chance Saloon for NUM. He didn’t pitch up, but his opposite number – a fierce rival at the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) – did. Joseph Mathunjwa met the miners and managed to convince most of them to join his union.
Then came reports claiming that NUM had been booted from the premises. Management had come around and locked the offices, we were told, and the union was suspended because more than 90% of the staff had joined AMCU. It sounded quite improbable. For one thing, unions are usually given about six months to regain their 50% + 1 majority before losing the status of bargaining partner. Phone calls to the company and NUM quickly quashed that rumour. But the fact that the workers we phoned wanted us to believe that the old union was dead and gone away was telling in and of itself.
In many of the places where wildcat strikes have broken out, we have gone to talk to people, and very few of them are willing to entertain NUM anymore. At Lonmin, the sentiment is one of profound hatred. What had happened is that the old union negotiated a pay rise last year. Then a demand for R12,500 sprang up, and somehow the miners believed that AMCU were the people who could get it for them. Not NUM, whom they thought were a block to a better wage. That’s quite amazing. Things got to a point where people like Daluvuyo Bongo, the NUM secretary at Lonmin, were murdered.
Photo: Cosatu official Billy Zulu is beaten by Amplats strikers at Olympia stadium Rustenburg. 27 October 2012, Rustenburg, North West. Photo Greg Marinovich
The demand that NUM must go is an integral part of many of these wildcat strikes. The atmosphere in the area has been anything but peaceful. The decision by Cosatu to march in Rustenburg was therefore always a brave one, but not necessarily a clever one. Predictably, it didn’t go well. NUM people got engaged in a heavy physical struggle with striking Anglo Platinum workers. The rally only went ahead because of a heavy police presence that forced NUM's way through to the Olympia stadium.
Just before the rally commenced, Cosatu said: “Right at the heart of where the mining crisis began – Rustenburg – on 27 October 2012, we will be convening a Workers Rally, which will kick-start with marches on various challenges that beset our society. Through the Workers’ Rally, we will mobilise our members to stomp the length and breadth of the country, mobilising society towards solidarity protests which will be anchored around the Section 77 Notice, whose primary aim is to achieve radical transformation in the economy through the full implementation of the Freedom Charter.”
From the perspective of the striking Amplats workers, the decision by NUM and Cosatu to march in their newly-established turf was a declaration of war. The union is seen to be on the side of the companies and the government, and thus inherently opposed to the demands of the workers. Can they really be surprised that they were greeted with rocks and jeers?
It would have been a better idea for Cosatu and NUM to try to reclaim their majority and privileged position in the mining sector by negotiating their way back into the hearts of the workers. Exactly the things that they haven’t been doing since the uprising began.
Police pull a Marikana solidarity activist, Rehad Desai, away from Cosatu members who attacked and stripped him in front of SACP's Blade Nzimande, Cosatu's Zwelinzima Vavi & Sidumo Dlamini and NUM's Frans Baleni at Olympia stadium. 27 October 2012, Rustenburg, North West. (Greg Marinovich)
At the rally on Saturday, South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande said, “NUM is the only best capable union to represent mineworkers in South Africa.” But is it for him to say? The rejection of the “only best capable union” has been strikingly clear.
Cosatu’s aggression is understandable in the face of the persecution of its local leaders. The deaths of men like Bongo cannot go unanswered. But the march did not purport to mete out justice. Rather, it claimed the far more difficult task of regaining lost ground by reclaiming jaded and disillusioned hearts. And as such, it couldn’t have been a bigger failure. It simply served to reinforce the narrative of belligerence and arrogance that the workers have written of the mineworkers’ union.
If Cosatu and NUM are serious about reclaiming the platinum belt, then they need to go to the workers hat-in-hand and ask them how they want to be represented. The time for issuing orders and platitudes is over. If they don’t, AMCU will make sure that the workers know that the ANC-affiliated unions called for the police to arrive, rather than for the workers to get what they wanted. The very same way every miner in the country will find out that the NUM is supporting SAPS application to the Farlam Commission.
The truth is that AMCU is untested as a union. But NUM has been tested and failed, and workers are clearly raring for change. It will be almost impossible for NUM to force its way back to the hearts of the miners it lost. DM
Main photo: Police open fire on striking Anglo Platinum miners as they and Cosatu members clashed at Olympia stadium Rustenburg. 27 October 2012, Rustenburg (Photo Greg Marinovich
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