[Marxism-Thaxis] A Sin and a Shame
New York TIMES / July 30, 2010 / op-ed A Sin and a Shame By BOB HERBERT The treatment of workers by American corporations has been worse ? far more treacherous ? than most of the population realizes. There was no need for so many men and women to be forced out of their jobs in the downturn known as the great recession. Many of those workers were cashiered for no reason other than outright greed by corporate managers. And that cruel, irresponsible, shortsighted policy has resulted in widespread human suffering and is doing great harm to the economy. ?I?ve never seen anything like this,? said Andrew Sum, an economics professor and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. ?Not only did they throw all these people off the payrolls, they also cut back on the hours of the people who stayed on the job.? As Professor Sum studied the data coming in from the recession, he realized that the carnage that occurred in the workplace was out of proportion to the economic hit that corporations were taking. While no one questions the severity of the downturn ? the worst of the entire post-World War II period ? the economic data show that workers to a great extent were shamefully exploited. The recession officially started in December 2007. From the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2009, real aggregate output in the U.S., as measured by the gross domestic product, fell by about 2.5 percent. But employers cut their payrolls by 6 percent. In many cases, bosses told panicked workers who were still on the job that they had to take pay cuts or cuts in hours, or both. And raises were out of the question. The staggering job losses and stagnant wages are central reasons why any real recovery has been so difficult. ?They threw out far more workers and hours than they lost output,? said Professor Sum. ?Here?s what happened: At the end of the fourth quarter in 2008, you see corporate profits begin to really take off, and they grow by the time you get to the first quarter of 2010 by $572 billion. And over that same time period, wage and salary payments go down by $122 billion.? That kind of disconnect, said Mr. Sum, had never been seen before in all the decades since World War II. In short, the corporations are making out like bandits. Now they?re sitting on mountains of cash and they still are not interested in hiring to any significant degree, or strengthening workers? paychecks. Productivity tells the story. Increases in the productivity of American workers are supposed to go hand in hand with improvements in their standard of living. That?s how capitalism is supposed to work. That?s how the economic pie expands, and we?re all supposed to have a fair share of that expansion. Corporations have now said the hell with that. Economists believe the nation may have emerged, technically, from the recession early in the summer of 2009. As Professor Sum writes in a new study for the labor market center, this period of economic recovery ?has seen the most lopsided gains in corporate profits relative to real wages and salaries in our history.? [it's not really a recovery until the job situation improves!] Worker productivity has increased dramatically, but the workers themselves have seen no gains from their increased production. It has all gone to corporate profits. This is unprecedented in the postwar years, and it is wrong. [it's also the culmination of the trend since 1979 or so, the fruits of the on-going employers' offensive.] Having taken everything for themselves, the corporations are so awash in cash they don?t know what to do with it all. Citing a recent article from Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Professor Sum noted that in July cash at the nation?s nonfinancial corporations stood at $1.84 trillion, a 27 percent increase over early 2007. Moody?s has pointed out that as a percent of total company assets, cash has reached a level not seen in the past half-century. Executives are delighted with this ill-gotten bonanza. Charles D. McLane Jr. is the chief financial officer of Alcoa, which recently experienced a turnaround in profits and a 22 percent increase in revenue. As The Times reported this week, Mr. McLane assured investors that his company was in no hurry to bring back 37,000 workers who were let go since 2008. The plan is to minimize rehires wherever possible, he said, adding, ?We?re not only holding head-count levels, but are also driving restructuring this quarter that will result in further reductions.? There can be no robust recovery as long as corporations are intent on keeping idle workers sidelined and squeezing the pay of those on the job. It doesn?t have to be this way. Germany and Japan, because of a combination of government and corporate policies, suffered far less worker dislocation in the recession than the U.S. Until we begin to value our workers, and understand the critical importance of employment to a thriving economy, we will continue to see
[Marxism-Thaxis] The Proposed Bank of England Act
The Proposed Bank of England Act Call4Reform.org This is a reform that could prevent a future financial crisis, clear the national debt, and restart the economy. It cures the sickness in our economy and financial system by tackling the root cause of the problem, rather than just the symptoms. It would make the 'inevitable' cuts in public services completely unnecessary, reduce the tax burden by up to thirty per cent and allow us to clear the national debt. It takes control of the UK's money supply out of the hands of the commercial banking sector and restores it to the state, where it can be used to benefit the economy, rather than providing a GBP 200 billion annual subsidy to the banking sector. Who Are We? We're a group of economists, lawyers, engineers, former civil servants, university academics and business people who have realised that the root of the instability in the world economy, and huge burden of debt in every country, is due to the fundamental design of the banking system. What's The Problem? When money is created by the state, it is added to government revenue and reduces the amount of taxes that businesses and families need to pay. However, most money now is no longer created by the state. Instead, thanks to the rules governing banking, it is created by commercial, profit-seeking banks every time they issue a loan or mortgage. Rather than going to reduce the taxes that we have to pay, it is used to generate huge profits for the banking sector. This effectively provides a subsidy to the banking sector of up to GBP 200 billion each year - a subsidy that costs each of us over GBP 4,000 every year. It also makes the economy hugely unstable. Each time a bank makes a loan, it actually creates new money to fund new loans. The more the banks lend, the more money they have available to lend, but as soon as they stop lending, the economy is starved of new money and quickly goes from growth to contraction, causing unnecessary hardship to millions of people . This process - the creation of money by commercial banks - was the real root of the financial crisis, and if we allow banks to continue creating the nation's money, then we will soon be facing a crisis even more severe than the last. What's The Solution? We propose that the solution to the current financial crisis is to: * prevent banks from creating the nation's money supply (through a few small changes to the rules governing bank accounts) * restore the right to create the nation's money to a public agency of the state (the Bank of England under the direction of the Monetary Policy Committee) * use the newly created money to reduce taxes, fund better public services and reduce the national debt. These simple changes will withdraw the hidden subsidy that the banking sector has enjoyed for the last few hundred years. The banking sector will then need to generate profits by playing a significant role in the creation of wealth, rather than simply extracting wealth from the rest of the economy by charging interest on 97.5% of the money in existence. The benefits to the wider economy, businesses and families of the UK far outweigh the costs to the banking sector. Read the Act: The legal text of the Act, with notes http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/act/ Find out how it works in plain English http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/ http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Like Bank of England Act
Here is a link to something like a US version of Bank of England Act.com. http://www.swarmusa.com/vb4/content.php ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] The Proposed Bank of England Act - Part Three
The Proposed Bank of England Act - Part Three How It Works Addressing the Root of the Problem To find a solution, you have to start by looking at the root of the problem. In this case the root of the problem is the creation of new money (as debt or 'credit') every time a loan is made. As explained in the section before, this happens thanks to the fact that we permit banks to lend 92% of all the money that they receive from depositors, whether the depositors actually wish for their money to be lent, or would have preferred for the money to be kept safe and away from risk. When this money is lent and returns to the banking system via other depositors, it is recorded as new money, and can then be used to fund yet more loans. Preventing Banks Creating Money Our first step then is to prevent banks from creating money each time they issue a loan. This step is actually remarkably simple - we just set a 'universal rule' that banks can only credit (put money into) an account if they simultaneously debit (take money out of) another account by the same amount. As is explained in this guide, this prevents money being created (or destroyed) within the banking system. Creating a Public Source of New Money However, up to now the banking sector has been increasing the money supply by an average of eight per cent each year. While this growth rate is almost certainly too high, a growing economy does still require an injection of new money each year, in the same way that a car requires the regular addition of oil to keep everything running smoothly. Consequently, our second step is to give the Bank of England the power and responsibility to manage the money supply and create new money as and when the economy is judged to need it. We implement strict measures to separate control of the money supply from any political influence, and further strict measures that significantly reduce the risk of inflation, compared to the existing system. With new money now being created debt-free by the state, we need to ensure that this money is distributed by the most economically efficient and socially beneficial method possible. We recommend that the money be given to the government as a non-repayable grant, and used to reduce the overall tax burden, phase out the national debt and invest in public infrastructure. Phasing out the national debt has its own complications, and we have made recommendations to deal with these. Further Info: Best read in order, starting with Creating New Money, but you can skip to the section that interests you most. Section 1: Creating Distributing New Money Creating New Money http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/creating-new-money/ Guarding Against Inflation http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/guarding-against-inflation/ Distributing Newly Created Money http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/distributing-newly-created-money/ Clearing The National Debt http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/clearing-the-national-debt/ Section 2: The Required Changes to the Banking System (Technicalities and Details) Two Types of Customer Account http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/two-types-of-account/ Transaction Accounts http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/transaction-accounts/ Investment Account Guarantees http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/investment-account-guarantees/ Investment Accounts http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/investment-accounts/ Three Accounts at the Central Bank The Payments System http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/three-accounts-payments-system/ Making Loans http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/making-loans/ Ensuring Stability In Banking http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/ensuring-stability-in-banking/ Overdrafts General Liquidity in the System http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/overdrafts-general-liquidity-in-the-system/ http://www.bankofenglandact.co.uk/how-it-works/ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] The Benefits of the Reform
The Benefits of the Reform Call4Reform.org The benefits of implementing this reform are enormous. By returning the exclusive right to create money to the state, and using this newly created money to reduce taxes, clear the national debt and fund better public services (rather than simply pumping much of it into an over-inflated housing market), we get the following benefits: Government Spending Taxes: * The cuts in public services proposed by the main political parties could be avoided * There would be an alternative to implementing further tax rises * Taxes could be reduced by up to thirty per cent - or around GBP 200 billion per year. Put another way, income tax and council tax could be canceled completely. * The majority of the national debt could be phased out over the next fifteen years, saving up to GBP 200 million per day on interest payments, and freeing up money for public services such as schools, universities and health care. * The government and therefore taxpayers would save up to sixty per cent on the cost of infrastructure projects such as public transport, building of hospitals and schools. There would be no need to engage in costly Private Finance Initiatives (PFI), which usually result in taxpayers paying both the cost of the original project, and up to two times the original cost in interest fees. Economic Stability: * The currently-inevitable cycle of boom and bust would end, creating a stable economy and one of the best environments for business in the world. The current banking system creates economic instability - our reformed system would create stability. * There would be permanent and stable money supply. It would not grow too quickly in the boom times (fuelled by debt) and wouldn't contract in a recession (necessitating the need for the Bank of England to create billions of pounds of new money 'out of thin air' by a process known as 'Quantitative Easing', as it did during the recent global financial crisis). * Spending on the high street would remain relatively stable from year to year, rather than skyrocketing in 'good' years and crashing through the floor in a recession. * The Bank of England would no longer need to manipulate interest rates as a way of countering the inherent instability of the current banking system. The current system of raising interest rates to 'slow down' the economy and lowering them to 'stimulate' it is much like sharing the wheel of a car with a madman who presses the accelerator whenever you hit the brakes, and who hits the brakes when you try to accelerate. Lowering interest rates to 'boost lending' (read: increase debt) throws millions of pensioners into poverty. Raising them again when the economy is 'overheating' threatens to bankrupt the very people who started the recovery by borrowing when interest rates were low, all contributing to further economic instability. * The banking system can be changed from being pro-cyclical (constantly accelerating until we inevitably crash) to being counter-cyclical (regulating the 'speed' of the economy to keep it stable). Government Exposure to Banking Crises: * The reform would completely remove the exposure of the government to banking crises. The reform would allow the removal of the state guarantee on deposits, which is effectively a state guarantee on risk-taking by banks. The risks - and costs - of bad investment strategies would fall on those who endorsed the strategy. Debt: * The reform would lower the overall debt burden upon the UK public. Currently, 97% of money is created when loans are made. Consequently, almost all money is debt. This means that we - individuals, families and government - are paying interest to the banking sector on nearly every GBP in existence. This is the root cause of our current astronomical levels of debt. By injecting debt-free money into the economy, the reform would allow UK citizens, corporations and the government to significantly reduce their overall debt burden - something which is impossible under the current system. Real Economy vs the Financial Sector: * The reform would make the financial sector less of a drain on the rest of the economy. Contrary to what is commonly stated, the financial sector currently does not create much wealth - it merely extracts wealth from the rest of the economy. Our reform restores the financial sector to its proper role of facilitating the creation of wealth and value in the economy. The creation of wealth and value in the economy is primarily achieved by entrepreneurs working with engineers, scientists and salt-of-the-earth working people - who were all educated and trained by teachers and lecturers - all of whom are kept in a state of productive good mental and physical health by nurses and doctors and the health system, helped along the way by the recreation and entertainment industries. These are activities that add value to society, and a well-functioning banking system should enable (rather than hinder)
[Marxism-Thaxis] The new normal; THE OLD NORMAL: : The General Law of Capitalist Accumulation
http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/econ-j29.shtml The new normal: More than one in five Americans at risk of destitution By Barry Grey 29 July 2010 More than one in five Americans in 2009 suffered a household income loss of 25 percent or more over the previous year, according to a new report sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and entitled ?Economic Security at Risk THE OLD NORMAL: THE ABSOLUTE GENERAL LAW OF CAP ACCUM. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch25.htm http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/pen-l/2004w27/msg00072.htm http://myweb.lmu.edu/jdevine/AGLoCA.pdf http://www.marxists.org/archive/dunayevskaya/works/1979/outline-capital/ch12.htm Raya Dunavevskaya 1979 Lecture 12 Part VII Chapter 25 The Lot of the Working Class The concluding chapter of this part, The General Law of Capitalist Accumulation is by far the most basic to the theory of capitalist development. In reviewing it we must go rather slowly because in the treatment of the organic composition of capital Marx anticipates the treatment be accords it in the section on the Declining Rate of Profit in Volume XII, and thus |a full understanding of this chapter will help us when we get to that volume. Of decisive Significance in understanding what is the general law of accumulation is the recognition that the lot of the working-class is as integral a part of this law as the organic composition of capital. This is not ?mere? agitation, but can be expressed in the most precise technical terms. The organic composition of capital is the interrelationship between its value composition, or the proportion between constant and variable capital, and its technical composition, or the division between means of production and living labor power. The way this affects the lot of the workers is as follows: ?Production of surplus value is the absolute law of this mode of production. Labour-power is only saleable so far as it preserves the means of production in their capacity of capital, reproduces its own value as capital and yields in unpaid labour a source of additional capital.? (p. 678) Hence a wage rise could never reach the point where it would threaten the system itself: ?Either the price of labor keeps on rising because its rise does not interfere with the progress of accumulation...Or, on the other hand, accumulation slackens in consequence of the rise in the price of labour, because the stimulus of gain is blunted. The rate of accumulation lessens; but with the lessening the primary cause of that lessening vanishes, i.e., the disproportion between capital and exploitable labour-power. The mechanism of the process of capitalist production removes the very obstacles that it temporarily creates. The price of labour falls again to a level corresponding with the needs of the self-expansion of capital, whether the level be low, the same as, or above, the one which was normal before the rise of wages took place.? (pp. 678-9) Marx summarizes this in the following formulation; ?To put it mathematically, the rate of accumulation is independent, not the dependent variable, the rate of wages, the dependent, not the independent variable,? (p. 679) Or, in other words, the rise of wages therefore is confined within limits that not only leave intact the foundations of the capitalist system, but also secure its reproduction on a progressive scale. The law of capitalist accumulation, metamorphosed by economists into a pretended law of nature, in reality merely states that the very nature of accumulation excludes every diminution in the degree of exploitation of labour, and every rise in the price of labour, which could seriously imperil the continual reproduction on an ever enlarging scale, of the capitalistic relation. It cannot be otherwise in a mode of production in which the labourer exists to satisfy the needs of self-expansion of existing values, instead of on the contrary, material wealth existing to satisfy the needs of development on the part of the labourer. As, in religion, man is governed by the products of his own brain, so in capitalistic production he is governed by the products of his own hand.? (pp. 680-l) Growth of Constant Capital At the Expense of Variable Capital Marx now turns his attention to the conditions arising from a change in the organic composition of capital. The law governing this change is the progressive increase of constant capital in proportion to variable capital.(Labor-power or the wage-fund to buy it.) Accumulation of capital, it is true, means expansion of production and hence the growth of the working population. However, the demand for labor comes not from total capital, but only from its variable component, which is relatively the smaller part. Moreover, the value of constant capital does not fully reflect the change in the composition of its material constituents. In order to hire more workers, not only is a greater wage fund needed but greater investment in factories, in means of
[Marxism-Thaxis] James Allen Papers
Guide to the James S. Allen Papers TAM 142 Elmer Holmes Bobst Library 70 Washington Square South New York, NY, 10012 (212) 998-2630 gail.malmgr...@nyu.edu http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/allen_j.html Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives Collection processed by Peter Filardo and Elliot Silver, 2002 This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2009-06-30T15:45-0400 Description is in English. Descriptive Summary Creator: Allen, James S. Title: James Allen Papers Dates: Bulk, 1945-1970 Dates: 1920-1986, (Bulk 1945-1970) Abstract: James S. Allen, born Sol Auerbach (1906-1986), was an organizer, Marxist scholar, writer and editor for the Communist Party, USA. He was a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and was in the first American student delegation to the Soviet Union. In 1928, he joined the Communist Party and began writing for the Daily Worker. He was a leading party organizer in the south in the early 1930s, and edited the Labor Defender and Southern Worker. In the late 1930's, he travelled to the Phillippines where he helped to arrange the merger of the socialist and Communist parties. His books include: The Negro Question in the United States (1936), Atomic Energy and Society (1949), and Organizing in the Depression South: A Communist's Memoir (2001). From 1962 to 1972, Allen also headed International Publishers, the CPUSA publishing house. The collection includes his correspondence, Communist Party documents, and scrapbooks. Quantity: 7.5 Linear feet (8 boxes) Call Phrase: TAM 142 Return to top Historical/Biographical Note James S. Allen (1906-1986), an organizer, Marxist scholar, writer and editor for the Communist Party, USA, was born Sol Auerbach in Philadelphia in 1906, the year his parents, Jacob and Luba, who were Russian Jewish radicals, came to the U.S. A doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, he traveled in 1927 with the first American student delegation to the Soviet Union. In 1928 he was expelled from college for his radical activities, joined the Communist Party and began writing for the Daily Worker, and edited the Labor Defender. In 1930, he took the pen name by which he became known and, with his wife Isabel, founded and edited the Southern Worker, the first Communist weekly published in the South, which was circulated on an underground basis. As a member of the Party's Southern District committee, Allen played a prominent role in all of the CPUSA's major regional activities during the early 1930s; the organizing of Alabama sharecroppers, the Harlan, Kentucky miners' strike and the Scottsboro case. Three books by Allen, The Negro Question in the United States (1936), Reconstruction: The Battle for Democracy (1937), and American Communism and Black Americans (with Philip Foner, 1987), reflect his political concerns and southern experiences. By 1931, the strain of underground political work caused Allen to leave the South. In the late 1930s he was CPUSA representative in the Philippines, and a correspondent for The Nation (per a letter by editor Max Lerner), where he helped obtain the release of Communist prisoners and helped achieve the merger of the Communist and Socialist Parties. He served as foreign editor of the Daily Worker until being drafted in 1944. During the Cold War years, he served as foreign editor of the Sunday Worker and was compelled to appear as a witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee. During the years 1958-1966, Allen was the secretary of the Party's National Program Committee, which was charged with developing a new program for the CPUSA, and he authored the initial drafts of the program, which was not published until 1970, and corresponded with prominent communists including Herbert Aptheker, William Z. Foster, John Howard Lawson, Pettis Perry and Al Richmond. From 1962 to 1972 Allen headed International Publishers, the CPUSA publishing house, having assisted his predecessor Alexander Trachtenberg, over the previous decades. He later served as U.S. editor of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels, a joint undertaking with English and Soviet publishers, corresponding with the British Marxist philosopher Maurice Cornforth. Allen also wrote several polemical books and pamphlets, including Atomic Energy and Society (1949), which elicited a signed letter from Albert Einstein, and several unpublished manuscripts, including a memoir titled Visions and Revisions, a portion of which was posthumously published as Organizing in the Depression South: A Communist's Memoir (2001). James Allen Bibliography : Books Pamphlets American Communism and Black Americans : A Documentary History, 1919-1929, edited by Philip S. Foner and James S. Allen (Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 1987), 235 p. The American Negro (New York : International Pamphlets, 1932), 31p. Atomic Energy and Society (New York, International Publishers, 1949), 95 p. Atomic Imperialism:
[Marxism-Thaxis] Marx-Engels Collected Works Volume 3;Preface
Marx-Engels Collected Works Volume 3 Works 1843-1844 Preface The third volume of the works of Marx and Engels covers the period between March 1843 and August 1844, before their close collaboration began. The contents fall into two parts; the first consists of Marx’s works, letters and preparatory material from March 1843 to August 1844; the second contains Engels’ writings from May 1843 to June 1844. Included as appendices are biographical documents of Marx and letters which is wife Jenny wrote to him between June and August 1844. This period marked an important stage in the formation of the world outlook of both Marx and Engels, each of whom accomplished in 1843 the transition from idealism to materialism and from the standpoint of revolutionary democracy to that of communism. The development of each proceeded in the main independently of the other, although they showed a growing interest in each other’s writings and activity. By late 1843 and early 1844 Marx and Engels were alike opponents not only of the existing political systems of feudal absolutism and bourgeois monarchy, but of any kind of social system resting on private property and exploitation of the working people. They both saw in the emancipation movement of the working class the only way to free humanity from social inequality and oppression. It was at this time that Marx and Engels made their first contacts with the working class. After moving to Paris in October 1843 Marx found himself in an atmosphere of intense socialist agitation and activity of workers’ groups and secret societies. And during the same year, Engels, who had been living in England since November 1842, established close links with the Chartists and the Owenite Socialists and became a contributor to their periodicals. The main efforts of Marx and Engels during this period were directed towards working out the scientific basis of a new, revolutionary-proletarian world outlook. Each had arrived at materialist and communist convictions, and set about studying a broad spectrum of philosophical, historical, economic and political problems. Marx was engaged upon a number of theoretical projects: he began writing a work on Hegel’s philosophy of law, intended to write a history of the Convention, and was also planning works devoted to the criticism of politics and political economy; Engels, for his part, was studying social developments in England, the condition of the English working class. Each clearly realised the necessity to dissociate himself from current economic, philosophical and sociological doctrines; each considered the criticism of these essential if the theoretical principles of a new world outlook were to be arrived at. They both clearly understood the inconsistency of Hegel’s idealism, the narrow-mindedness of the bourgeois economists, and the weaknesses of the Utopian Socialists, but at the same time they tried to make use of all that was rational in the views of their predecessors. They were deeply impressed by Feuerbach’s materialism, but had already gone far beyond Feuerbach in their approach to theoretical and practical problems, particularly in interpreting the life of society. The works included in this volume register the completion of Marx’s and Engels’ transition to materialism and communism and the initial stage in synthesising the emerging revolutionary-communist and dialectical-materialist views into a qualitatively new theory. The contribution each made to this complex process may be seen. Evident too are the common features in their views which led them later to unite their efforts in the theoretical and practical struggle. The volume opens with Marx’s extensive though incomplete manuscript Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law (written in the spring and summer of 1843). The object of this study was not only Hegel’s philosophy. Marx studied a broad range of problems in the history and theory of the state and law, world history, the history of separate countries (England, France, Germany, the USA, Italy, Sweden), the English Revolution of the seventeenth century, and the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century. All this was reflected in his manuscript and in his notebooks of excerpts (the so-called Kreuznach Notebooks). Although he was strongly influenced by Feuerbach’s materialism, Marx did not approach the criticism of Hegel through an analysis of religion, as Feuerbach had done, but through an investigation of social relations. For this reason what interested Marx most in Hegel was his philosophy of law, his teaching on the state and society. In the process of criticising Hegel’s philosophy of law, Marx was led to the conclusion that the state is determined by civil society, that is, the sphere of private — first and foremost material — interests, and the social relations connected with them, and not civil society by the state, as Hegel had asserted. Marx wished to define the concept of civil society in
[Marxism-Thaxis] From Marx to Goldman Sachs: The Fictions of Fictitious Capital
http://michael-hudson.com/2010/07/from-marx-to-goldman-sachs-the-fictions-of-fictitious-capital1/ From Marx to Goldman Sachs: The Fictions of Fictitious Capital by Michael Hudson July 30, 2010 Tags: land, Marx As published in Critique, based on a presentation given at the China Academy of Sciences, School of Marxist Studies in Beijing in November 2009, and at the Left Forum in New York City, March 20, 2010. Classical economists developed the labor theory of value to isolate economic rent, which they defined as the excess of market price and income over the socially necessary cost of production (value ultimately reducible to the cost of labor). A free market was one free of such “unearned” income – a market in which prices reflected actual necessary costs of production or, in the case of public services and basic infrastructure, would be subsidized in order to make economies more competitive. Most reformers accordingly urged – and expected – land, monopolies and banking privileges to be nationalized, or at least to have their free-lunch income taxed away. In keeping with his materialist view of history, Marx expected banking to be subordinated to the needs of industrial capitalism. Equity investment – followed by public ownership of the means of production under socialism – seemed likely to replace the interest-extracting “usury capital” inherited from antiquity and feudal times: debts mounting up at compound interest in excess of the means to pay, culminating in crises marked by bank runs and property foreclosures. But as matters have turned out, the rentier interests mounted a Counter-Enlightenment to undermine the reforms that promised to liberate society from special privilege. http://michael-hudson.com/2010/07/from-marx-to-goldman-sachs-the-fictions-of-fictitious-capital1/ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Alfred Wagenknecht
Alfred Wagenknecht http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Wagenknecht Alfred Wagenknecht, 1905Alfred Wagenknecht (1881 -1956) was an American Marxist activist and political functionary. He is best remember for having played a critical role in the establishment of the American Communist Party in 1919 as a leader of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party. Wagenknecht served as Executive Secretary of the Communist Labor Party of America and the United Communist Party of America in 1919 and 1920, respectively. Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 The Socialist years (1904-1919) 1.2 The Communist Years (1919-1956) 1.3 Death and legacy 2 Footnotes 3 Further reading 4 See also [edit] Biography [edit] The Socialist years (1904-1919) Alfred Wagenknecht, called Wag (pronounced Wog) by many of his friends,[1] was born August 15, 1881 in Görlitz, Germany,[2] the son of a shoemaker. The family emigrated to the United States in 1884, and thus the German-born Wagenknecht essentially grew up as an American, living in Cleveland before departing as a young man for Washington state, on the West Coast. Wagenknecht was drawn to radical politics at an early age, elected Organizer of the Pike Street Branch of Local Seattle, Socialist Party of America in 1903. In this capacity he organized speakers for the branch, coordinated street meetings designed to bring socialist ideas to passersby by means of soapbox speakers, and organized social events such as music recitals and dances.[3] The next year saw Wagenknecht seving as the Press Agent for Local Seattle. He was an active member in the party's radical Pike Street Branch, which engaged in a long-running battle with the moderate Central Branch throughout the decade. In 1905 Wagenknecht was married to Hortense Allison, sister of his party comrade Elmer Allison. Wagenknecht was prominent in the ongoing free speech fights which Local Seattle had with city officials over the right to speak in public and hold meetings on city streets and sidewalks. Wagenknecht was elected to the State Committee of the Socialist Party of Washington (SPW) in 1905 and was the paid Local Secretary-Treasurer of a newly reorganized Local Seattle in 1906.[4] In 1907, with the return of Hermon F. Titus's left wing publication, The Socialist, to Seattle, Wagenknecht left the employ of Local Seattle and went to work for Titus as Business Manager for his publication.[4] Wagenknecht was a delegate of the SPW to the 1908 National Convention of the Socialist Party, where he fought a bitter battle with a representative of a moderate faction of the old Local Seattle organization which had been deprived of its charter by the State Committee for political fusionism late in 1906. The pair argued their cases on the floor of the convention for 20 minutes each, with the body ultimately deciding not to intervene against the left wing State Committee. In 1912 he was elected Assistant State Secretary of the SPW.[5] As was the case for many rank-and-file party members of the day, Wagenknecht was a regular candidate for public office on the Socialist ticket, running for US Congress in 1906, for Seattle Comptroller in 1908, and for Congress again in 1912 when the party's first choice, John Wanhope, stepped aside.[5] In July 1913, Wagenknecht became Editor of the Everett, Washington Socialist weekly The Commonwealth. Shortly thereafter, Wagenknecht went to work for the National Office of the Socialist Party of America for the first time, serving as a National Organizer. In 1914, he was elected to the governing National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party for the first time. After his stint in Chicago came to a close, Wagenknecht moved his family back to Ohio, where he was elected State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Ohio in 1917, serving through 1919. He was also a delegate to the pivotal 1917 Emergency National Convention of the SPA, held at the Planters' Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, at which the St. Louis Program against the war in Europe was adopted. After American entry into the war, Wagenknecht's unyielding antimilitarism brought him into conflict with the law. State Secretary Wagenknecht was indicted along with Local Cuyahoga County head C.E. Ruthenberg and Ohio State Organizer Charles Baker for allegedly obstructing the draft. The trio were tried together and found guilty and sentenced to 1 year in the State Penitentiary on July 21, 1917. This decision was upheld by the US Supreme Court on Jan. 15, 1918, and the three were not released until after completion of the sentence (less time off) on Dec. 8, 1918. Alfred Wagenknecht, c. 1918Upon his release, Wag was elected to the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party and worked for National Office running the party's Propaganda Department. He was an early and fierce adherent of the Left Wing Manifesto authored by Louis C. Fraina and was active in the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party, the organized faction seeking to win the
[Marxism-Thaxis] UAW's King: Stronger union is being born
UAW's King: Stronger union is being born Targeted companies will be asked to agree to union principles BY BRENT SNAVELY FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER Buzz up!TRAVERSE CITY -- UAW President Bob King said today that the UAW has a vision for the future that is very different from its past because it recognizes the need to work with management as partners rather than adversaries, but he also outlined a plan to put pressure on non-unionized companies to accept unions. In the last century, King said, the UAW sought to improve the salary and benefits of its workers in an automotive industry dominated by domestic automakers. Today’s UAW, King said, recognizes that there are at least seven top automakers in the U.S. and that it must work with employers to improve the quality of the industry’s cars and trucks. King said the UAW isn’t abandoning its core belief that unions protect workers and should work toward improving social justice for everyone, but said the strategies the union uses to achieve those goals have changed. “A more visionary and stronger 21st-Century UAW is being born,” King said during a speech today at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City. While King stressed that the UAW views corporations and management as possible partners, he also said the UAW has drafted a set of principles called the UAW Principles for Fair Union Elections that it plans to ask non-unionized employers to sign. The UAW principles would ban any threats or pressure by either the union or management as workers consider whether to form a union. “If a company agrees to adopt the UAW principles, and then abides by these principles, we will respect the decision of their workers whether they vote to join the union or not,” King said. King declined to identify the companies the UAW intends to target. He said the UAW has a board meeting scheduled for later this month and plans to iron out details then. “We will present them to the executives within the industry who are not currently unionized. We will ask them to sign on to these principles,” King said. “If a company agrees to adopt the UAW Principles, and then abides by these principles, we will respect the decision of their workers whether they vote to join the union or not.” The UAW has been putting pressure on Toyota for its decision to end production of the Corolla at its plant in Fremont, Calif. The plant, called New United Motor Manufacturing, or Nummi, was a joint venture with General Motors. The decision to develop and propose a set of principles and present them to non-unionized corporations is necessary because of weak labor laws, King said. The UAW supports the Employee Free Choice Act, which is proposed legislation that would make it easier for workers to form unions. But the legislation has faced strong opposition in Congress. “We will not passively sit and wait for its passage,” King said. “We will take direct action now in every way we can to protect all workers in exercising their First Amendment rights.” Over the past several years, King said the UAW has proved that it is willing to work with corporations to reduce costs and improve productivity. King said the UAW has agreed to contracts in recent years that have cut the average salary of its members by $7,000 to $30,000 and said the restructuring of the U.S. automotive industry caused the loss of 200,000 jobs. “The UAW of the 21st Century is a force for innovation,” King said. “We are committed to the success of our employers of our partners.” Contact BRENT SNAVELY: 313-222-6512 or bsnav...@freepress.com. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Comments: UAW's King: Stronger union is being born (2)
archivefolder wrote: Replying to osiris: Replying to KG_One: The UAW supports the Employee Free Choice Act, which is proposed legislation that would make it easier for workers to form unions. But the legislation has faced strong opposition in Congress. If EFCA makes it easier to join a union, how easy would it be for those same people to LEAVE that union when they are not being represented? If it's all about the workers, it should work both ways. If King really wants to accomplish anything, he needs to make the the UAW an example of what should be, not what is. Solidarity House needs a thurough cleaning and delousing. I have no issue with this. 8/2/2010 12:05:37 PM Replying to osiris:blockquoteReplying to KG_One:blockquoteThe UAW supports the Employee Free Choice Act, which is proposed legislation that would make it easier for workers to form unions. But the legislation has faced strong opposition in Congress.br /br /If EFCA makes it easier to join a union, how easy would it be for those same people to LEAVE that union when they are not being represented?br /br /If it's all about the workers, it should work both ways./blockquotebr /br /If King really wants to accomplish anything, he needs to make the the UAW an example of what should be, not what is. Solidarity House needs a thurough cleaning and delousing./blockquotebr /br /I have no issue with this. archivefolder Recommend(1)New Post Reply to this Post Report Abuse EbonyTatas wrote: Replying to CrazyBryan: Replying to EbonyTatas: You uneducated drunks This makes you part of the problem, not the solution. Over generalizing like this makes you sound like an idiot, with no real grasp of the topic being discussed. It also hints to some deep seeded repressed jealousy to a person who made a good wage performing a job that required minimal education at the time. any response you utter is now null and void. Why would I be jealous of UAW workers who now make $12 an hour before taxes and union dues? And the only problem in this state is the entitled mentality of our least skilled workers; no one deserves to be in the middle class just because they have a job. If you guys want to earn a better living, try aligning your skills to someone other than an illiterate peasant in a 3rd world country. 8/2/2010 12:02:51 PM Replying to CrazyBryan:blockquoteReplying to EbonyTatas:blockquoteYou uneducated drunks/blockquotebr / This makes you part of the problem, not the solution. Over generalizing like this makes you sound like an idiot, with no real grasp of the topic being discussed. It also hints to some deep seeded repressed jealousy to a person who made a good wage performing a job that required minimal education at the time. br /br /any response you utter is now null and void.br /br //blockquotebr /br /Why would I be jealous of UAW workers who now make $12 an hour before taxes and union dues? And the only problem in this state is the entitled mentality of our least skilled workers; no one deserves to be in the middle class just because they have a job. If you guys want to earn a better living, try aligning your skills to someone other than an illiterate peasant in a 3rd world country. EbonyTatas Recommend(1)New Post Reply to this Post Report Abuse texasbf wrote: Easy to say when u have a WH willing to scrreeww everyone owe $ by auto cos and then give it all to unions..what is that the new vision? if they wont join us we will sccrreew them..when will the unions recognize that all over america they are just as responsible for the countries demise as Washington..everybody is out to take advantage of the taxpayers and guess who that is..us.. 8/2/2010 12:02:50 PM Easy to say when u have a WH willing to scrreeww everyone owe $ by auto cos and then give it all to unions..what is that the new vision? if they wont join us we will sccrreew them..when will the unions recognize that all over america they are just as responsible for the countries demise as Washington..everybody is out to take advantage of the taxpayers and guess who that is..us.. texasbf RecommendNew Post Reply to this Post Report Abuse Mary411 wrote: So now we have UAW members joining the ranks of the Union bashers here posting on the Freep! If you are indeed a UAW member have no no shame that you would air your dirty laundry here?? 8/2/2010 12:01:50 PM br /So now we have UAW members joining the ranks of the Union bashers here posting on the Freep! If you are indeed a UAW member have no no shame that you would air your dirty laundry here??br / Mary411 RecommendNew Post Reply to this Post Report Abuse i_speak_truth wrote: I'm a Retiree. I worked 30 years. I have a love/hate view of the UAW. They knew exactly what they were doing all through the 30 years I was there. I begged the UAW to focus on the customer 25 years ago. They refused. Were we overpaid? probably. If you think that's wrong. I know of a chairman who made 4 times more than the line workers at doing nothing but screwing
[Marxism-Thaxis] Comments for UAW's King: Stronger union is being born (3)
Comments for UAW's King: Stronger union is being born Newest first Oldest first 1First234567891014Last osiris wrote: Replying to Mary411: Replying to i_speak_truth: Yes, it's very true that sacrifices have been made by labor. Again by LABOR, to keep the UAW heads in their personal gravy train. That's the part that makes me sick. IMO, a ...on vacation but he will go on vacation by himself. The UAW heads have gotten very greedy and they sacrifice the workers to keep themselves lined with more money and perks. This is the internal problems that Bob King needs to address. But I know he won't. The UAW is dirty but they are foremost dirty inside. If you clean the inside won't the outside shine as well? Won't ever happen. Bob is working it from the wrong angle. He's just as greedy as those before him. It's all about him and the kissers that kiss his behind. Just wondering are you a UAW member? If he isn't, I am...and I find absolutely no problem with what he wrote. Add in how international officers seem to get their kith and kin into cush jobs... 8/2/2010 11:55:53 AM Replying to Mary411:blockquoteReplying to i_speak_truth:blockquoteYes, it's very true that sacrifices have been made by labor. Again by LABOR, to keep the UAW heads in their personal gravy train. That's the part that makes me sick. IMO, a ...on vacation but he will go on vacation by himself. The UAW heads have gotten very greedy and they sacrifice the workers to keep themselves lined with more money and perks. This is the internal problems that Bob King needs to address. But I know he won't. The UAW is dirty but they are foremost dirty inside. If you clean the inside won't the outside shine as well? Won't ever happen. Bob is working it from the wrong angle. He's just as greedy as those before him. It's all about him and the kissers that kiss his behind./blockquotebr /br /Just wondering are you a UAW member?/blockquotebr /br /If he isn't, I am...and I find absolutely no problem with what he wrote. Add in how international officers seem to get their kith and kin into cush jobs... osiris Recommend(1)New Post Reply to this Post Report Abuse Atilathehun wrote: You'd not like to live in a world where everything was controlled by the companies. Re-visit history and you'll see that was the norm once. Decide for yourself if that's the level of consideration for the worker, environment, and society in general that you would want to return. If you think it would be different today you're a wide-eyed optimist. Unions are a necessary check and balance to the abuses that unrestrained business would bring. 8/2/2010 11:53:03 AM You'd not like to live in a world where everything was controlled by the companies. Re-visit history and you'll see that was the norm once. Decide for yourself if that's the level of consideration for the worker, environment, and society in general that you would want to return. If you think it would be different today you're a wide-eyed optimist. Unions are a necessary check and balance to the abuses that unrestrained business would bring. Atilathehun RecommendNew Post Reply to this Post Report Abuse osiris wrote: Replying to WolfReyet104: /And you would know that they often don't follow orders and build and pass junk along with their It's not my job attitude. Right. Being threatened with firing for stopping the line in order to address quality issues. Being told to ship the part, that it will be caught in the next operation, we'll fix it in the recall. The employee temporarily reassigned to the worst job in the department because they made an issue of a problem and shut down the line. Production supervision have but 1 objectivemake their quota. Management doesn't care about the problem, and will hang anyone responsible for dropping an asembly plant over anything so minor as a quality issue. For production supervision there is but 1 issueif you want to keep your job, make the numbers. Maybe you should try talking to someone on the inside before repeating the same muckraking garbage about the hourly employees. 8/2/2010 11:52:18 AM Replying to WolfReyet104:blockquote/And you would know that they often don't follow orders and build and pass junk along with their It's not my job attitude./blockquotebr /br /Right. Being threatened with firing for stopping the line in order to address quality issues.br /Being told to ship the part, that it will be caught in the next operation, we'll fix it in the recall. br /br /The employee temporarily reassigned to the worst job in the department because they made an issue of a problem and shut down the line. Production supervision have but 1 objectivemake their quota. Management doesn't care about the problem, and will hang anyone responsible for dropping an asembly plant over anything so minor as a quality issue. For production supervision there is but 1 issueif you want to keep your job, make the numbers.br /br /Maybe you
[Marxism-Thaxis] UAW wants nonunion companies to agree to fair treatment for organizing
UAW wants nonunion companies to agree to fair treatment for organizing http://detnews.com/article/20100802/AUTO01/8020389/UAW-wants-nonunion-companies-to-agree-to-fair-treatment-for-organizing David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau Traverse City -- United Auto Workers President Bob King wants foreign automakers to sign written agreements, allowing workers to organize unions. At the Center for Automotive Research's annual Management Briefing Seminars here, King said he wants nonunion companies to agree to a set of principles that would allow workers to organize without intimidation. The union is still drafting the set of principles and will start by asking foreign automakers who have nonunionized factories in the United States to agree. It plans to ask others in the future. We want workers to have a fair, democratic choice. That doesn't happen in America today, King said on the sidelines here. We're going to ask employers to join us in these principles. The UAW and other unions have been upset that efforts to approve the Employee Free Choice Act -- a bill that makes its easier for unions to organize new members -- have stalled in Congress. We can't wait on that. Just like the Flint sit-down strikers didn't wait on the law -- they did what was necessary to get fairness and justice, and we will do the same, King said. The UAW has seen its membership plummet over the last decade to a post-World War II low. It fell from high of 1.5 million in 1979 to 355,000 at the end of last year. Even so, the UAW continues to have significant clout on Capitol Hill. King said it's OK if workers decide not to join a union -- if that choice is made free of intimidation -- but not if companies use improper tactics. If employers don't live up to the principles or don't sign the principles, and try to threaten or harass workers, then we are going to be very aggressive in exposing that to the American public, King said. Workers are intimidated. They are threatened. Their plant is threatened with closure. King also said the UAW will continue to protest Toyota's decision to close a joint venture in Fremont, Calif., with General Motors Co. That move cost about 4,000 workers their jobs at the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.; it closed in April. Last week, the UAW protested at 52 dealers in California and plans to continue the effort. We feel that Toyota's a great corporation. We think that Toyota lost its way, King said. I have a lot of hope that Akio Toyoda will really change things at Toyota. He said the UAW was cautiously optimistic it could sit down with Toyota and resolve its issues. dshepard...@detnews.com (202) 662-8735 From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100802/AUTO01/8020389/UAW-wants-nonunion-companies-to-agree-to-fair-treatment-for-organizing#ixzz0vT4wLJvQ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Interest-Bearing Capital
In his draft notes on “Interest-Bearing Capital and Commercial Capital in Relation to Industrial Capital” for what became Vol. III of Capital and Part III of Theories of Surplus Value, Marx wrote optimistically about how industrial capitalism would modernize banking and financial systems. Its historical task, he believed, was to rescue society from usurious money lending and asset stripping, replacing the age-old parasitic tendencies of banking by steering credit to finance productive investment. The commercial and interest-bearing forms of capital are older than industrial capital, but … [i]n the course of its evolution, industrial capital must therefore subjugate these forms and transform them into derived or special functions of itself. It encounters these older forms in the epoch of its formation and development. It encounters them as antecedents … not as forms of its own life-process. … Where capitalist production has developed all its manifold forms and has become the dominant mode of production, interest-bearing capital is dominated by industrial capital, and commercial capital becomes merely a form of industrial capital, derived from the circulation process. [2] ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] James Allen Papers
James Allen was one of the better Marxist propagandist and top notch theoretical on the colonial and national question. To this day I enjoy his contributions. WL. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] The crisis of middle-class America
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/1a8a5cb2-9ab2-11df-87e6-00144feab49a.html The crisis of middle-class America By Edward Luce Published: July 30 2010 17:04 | Last updated: July 30 2010 17:04 Mark and Connie Freeman in front of their home in Minneapolis The Freemans Mark and Connie Freeman live in north-west Minneapolis. They have a joint income ? from several jobs ? of $70,000. Last year they fought off repossession Technically speaking, Mark Freeman should count himself among the ?luckiest ?people on the planet. The 52-year-old lives with his family on a tree-lined street in his own home in the heart of the wealthiest country in the world. When he is hungry, he eats. When it gets hot, he turns on the air-conditioning. When he wants to look something up, he surfs the internet. One of the songs he likes to sing when he hosts a weekly karaoke evening is Johnny Cash?s ?Man in Black?. Yet somehow things don?t feel so good any more. Last year the bank tried to repossess the Freemans? home even though they were only three months in arrears. Their son, Andy, was recently knocked off his mother?s health insurance and only painfully reinstated for a large fee. And, much like the boarded-up houses that signal America?s epidemic of foreclosures, the drug dealings and shootings that were once remote from their neighbourhood are edging ever closer, a block at a time. What is most troubling about the Freemans is how typical they are. Neither Mark nor Connie ? his indefatigable wife, who is as chubby as he is gaunt ? suffer any chronic medical conditions. Both have jobs at the local ?Methodist Hospital, he as a warehouse receiver and distributor, she as an anaesthesia supply technician. At $70,000 a year, their joint gross income is more than a third higher than the median US household. Once upon a time this was called the American Dream. Nowadays it might be called America?s Fitful Reverie. Indeed, Mark spends large monthly sums renting a machine to treat his sleep apnea, which gives him insomnia. ?If we lost our jobs, we would have about three weeks of savings to draw on before we hit the bone,? says Mark, who is sitting on his patio keeping an eye on the street and swigging from a bottle of Miller Lite. ?We work day and night and try to save for our retirement. But we are never more than a pay check or two from the streets.? Mention middle-class America and most foreigners envision something timeless and manicured, from The Brady Bunch, say, or Desperate Housewives in which teenagers drive to school in sports cars and the girls are always cheerleading. This might approximate how some in the top 10 per cent live. The rest live like the Freemans. Or worse. It only takes about 30 seconds to tour Mark?s 700sq ft home in north-west Minneapolis. Cluttered with chintzy memorabilia, it was bought with a $50,000 mortgage in 1989. It is now worth $73,000. ?At one stage we had it valued at $105,000 ? and we thought we had entered nirvana,? says Mark. ?People from the banks kept calling, sometimes four or five times an evening, offering equity lines, and home improvement loans. They were like drug pushers.? Solid Democratic voters, the Freemans are evidently phlegmatic in their outlook. The visitor?s gaze is drawn to their fridge door, which is festooned with humorous magnets. One says: ?I am sorry I missed Church, I was busy practicing witchcraft and becoming a lesbian.? Another says: ?I would tell you to go to Hell but I work there and I don?t want to see you every day.? A third, ?Jesus loves you but I think you?re an asshole.? Mark chuckles: ?Laughter is the best medicine.? . . . The slow economic strangulation of the Freemans and millions of other middle-class Americans started long before the Great Recession, which merely exacerbated the ?personal recession? that ordinary Americans had been suffering for years. Dubbed ?median wage stagnation? by economists, the annual incomes of the bottom 90 per cent of US families have been essentially flat since 1973 ? having risen by only 10 per cent in real terms over the past 37 years. That means most Americans have been treading water for more than a generation. Over the same period the incomes of the top 1 per cent have tripled. In 1973, chief executives were on average paid 26 times the median income. Now the ?multiple is above 300. The trend has only been getting stronger. Most economists see the Great Stagnation as a structural problem ? meaning it is immune to the business cycle. In the last expansion, which started in January 2002 and ended in December 2007, the median US household income dropped by $2,000 ? the first ever instance where most Americans were worse off at the end of a cycle than at the start. Worse is that the long era of stagnating incomes has been accompanied by something profoundly un-American: declining income mobility. Alexis de Tocqueville, the great French chronicler of early America, was once misquoted as having said: ?America is the best country in
[Marxism-Thaxis] Comments : UAW's King: Stronger union is being born
Comments for UAW's King: Stronger union is being born Newest first Oldest first 123414Last osiris wrote: Replying to LivinInTheBurbs: Well, I think we found the entiltlement mentality. College educated? Why then you DESERVE the big bucks, fancy cars, and vacation villa for simply showing up and putting your feet on your desk. Did you, by chance, work your way thru college? Have Momsy and Daddy pay for it? Or use my tax dollars for a loan that you have no intention of repaying? DESERVE has nothing to do with anything. A college education guarantees nothing other than OPPORTUNITY that might not be available otherwise. You assume big bigs, etc., by virtue of a degree alone, that simply isn't true. Have you heard about the job market? It's called sarcasmand my point was just that, a college education entitles you to nothing more than an opportunity. Unfortunately, I have met far too many pampered idiots that believe they are owed for having sat in a classroom engrossed in a fantasy about the student 1 row over. 8/2/2010 12:26:44 PM Replying to LivinInTheBurbs:blockquoteWell, I think we found the entiltlement mentality. College educated? Why then you DESERVE the big bucks, fancy cars, and vacation villa for simply showing up and putting your feet on your desk. Did you, by chance, work your way thru college? Have Momsy and Daddy pay for it? Or use my tax dollars for a loan that you have no intention of repaying?/blockquotebr /br /DESERVE has nothing to do with anything. A college education guarantees nothing other than OPPORTUNITY that might not be available otherwise. You assume big bigs, etc., by virtue of a degree alone, that simply isn't true. Have you heard about the job market?br /br /br /It's called sarcasmand my point was just that, a college education entitles you to nothing more than an opportunity. Unfortunately, I have met far too many pampered idiots that believe they are owed for having sat in a classroom engrossed in a fantasy about the student 1 row over.br / osiris RecommendNew Post Reply to this Post Report Abuse archivefolder wrote: Replying to Mary411: Replying to i_speak_truth: Replying to Mary411: Replying to i_speak_truth: One cannot air dirty laundry if the clothing is actually clean. There is always 2 sides to a story. Bob is not telling the truth. He's way off target. Who here can prove me a liar ? I have read your post before and IMO you are not a UAW member. Have a good day! I never said I was but I am retired from GM. SMIRK. I know all about the inside and all about the deeds of the UAW. I asked was if you were a UAW member and because you haven't answer I assume I was correct and you are NOT a Union member ... you have no facts to back up your claims , keep trolling darling .. Speaking of not answering a question, how would the American Revolution have taken place if your belief of not airing dirty laundry in public was in force when England had colonial rule over the colonists? 8/2/2010 12:26:26 PM Replying to Mary411:blockquoteReplying to i_speak_truth:blockquoteReplying to Mary411:blockquoteReplying to i_speak_truth:blockquoteOne cannot air dirty laundry if the clothing is actually clean. There is always 2 sides to a story. Bob is not telling the truth. He's way off target. Who here can prove me a liar ?/blockquotebr /br /I have read your post before and IMO you are not a UAW member. Have a good day!br //blockquotebr /br /I never said I was but I am retired from GM. SMIRK. I know all about the inside and all about the deeds of the UAW./blockquotebr /br /I asked was if you were a UAW member and because you haven't answer I assume I was correct and you are NOT a Union member ... you have no facts to back up your claims , keep trolling darling ..br //blockquotebr /br /Speaking of not answering a question, how would the American Revolution have taken place if your belief of not airing dirty laundry in public was in force when England had colonial rule over the colonists? archivefolder RecommendNew Post Reply to this Post Report Abuse Mary411 wrote: Boy I can smell the chit though my computer screen ... LOL be gone 8/2/2010 12:26:03 PM br /Boy I can smell the chit though my computer screen ... LOL be gone br / Mary411 RecommendNew Post Reply to this Post Report Abuse MaxStroheim wrote: Replying to osiris: Replying to Mary411: So now we have UAW members joining the ranks of the Union bashers here posting on the Freep! If you are indeed a UAW member have no no shame that you would air your dirty laundry here?? I don't like being unable to be present when votes are counted for a contract or election of officers. I don't like waiting for months on contract negotiations to complete and then be given a half hour review of the highlights befor being forced to vote. I don't like being told that we will have to walk out but that I am not alowed to know what issue is on the table that will possible require this action. Idno't
