Some $981 million in "pre-approved" (sort of like a car loan isn't it.) budget cuts are about to kick in including $200 million from the state universities and $100 million from home health care fir the elderly.
The 1 percent's politicians like Brown and Obama regret that they inflict such pain on America's workers and the poor. After all, these are the people whose Labor contributed to the great wealth and advances the nation made over 200 years and their sons and daughters are those who sacrificed their lives defending the interests of US capitalism abroad, slaughtering fellow workers who they have no real quarrel with.
Brown shares his grief at savaging the lives of the elderly, "None of this is pleasant" he whines. "But the alternative is to do what we've done for years. which is to borrow and obfuscate."
Well thanks Jerry, that will make that 83 year old woman relying on state aid feel more secure, knowing it's not pleasant for you. Unfortunately, it's Jerry's class brethren that encourage debt, make lots of money off the interest on it and are increasingly making it harder to acquire any of the products we make without doing so through debt. In numerous states, due to the refusal of the capitalist class to break their strike of capital and invest in the real economy, cash strapped workers are be able to buy lottery tickets with their credit cards in the hope they can win a few bucks in the absence of productive Labor.
John A Perez, another California Democrat and Assembly Speaker is really hurt, remarking that the cuts are "painful" but, he adds, "responsible".
These people are thugs. Our jails are full of working class people who, if given an opportunity would have taken a different path but capitalism cannot provide the basic necessities of life or the work to provide them in this richest country in the world. More billionaires live here than any other country. In California the school cuts can be avoided the thugs tell us but only by "trimming other parts of their budgets". The mayor of Oakland calls the port shutdown violence but what is this? We are terrorized and blackmailed by these people. One section of the working class can avoid cuts only if we agree to forcing them on another section.
The Occupy movement which is still very much alive in California has an opportunity to put forward from within its ranks an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans in the political sphere. Each area where the Occupy movement is strongest like here in Oakland the movement can put candidates forward with a clear platform that speaks to the immediate needs of workers and youth; candidates rooted in a grass root movement, independent of all corporate influence and monies with a platform that would include:
Jobs for all at Union rates with Union rights and benefits
A $20 per hour minimum wage
No cuts in education--fully funded education at all levels
Class sizes of fifteen in all public schools
Fully funded health care
No foreclosures, return stolen homes to the occupants
Bring all troops home.
Increase taxes on corporations, tax all stock market transactions
Public access to the books of all corporations claiming hardship.
Public ownership under workers/consumers control and management of the major corporations, agriculture, finance industry, health industry and transportation etc that constitute a dictatorship in US society.
These are just some suggestions. Health care, jobs and education, the basic insecurity of life in the US, these are some of the the main things on people's minds. Politically, workers in the US are crying out for an alternative. The formation of a mass workers political party is an objective development that will occur whenever the ranks of any movement become saturated with the millions of workers and youth in this country whose voices have been silenced or who have given up through the lack of any real alternative. The Occupy Wall Street movement has begun to change this situation but is focused entirely on action it seems. A genuine mass working class movement which will attempt to reform the system will inevitably throw up organizational political form in the shape of a mass workers party.
The 1% will attempt to avoid taxes in many ways including shifting their capital abroad. Their politicians in the two Wall Street parties will not, excepting the possibility of ruin, introduce measures that prevent this. In the aftermath of the crash the capitalists themselves called for the nationalization of the banks. The mortgage industry is pretty much nationalized. The auto industry was temporarily nationalized so that the industry could more easily be rescued by public funds. Losses were taken in to public ownership and profits remained private. They simply made workers and the middle class pay for their crisis. The taxpayer foots the bill but the same guys are in charge and determine the direction of the resources under their control.
Meanwhile, Paul Allen, the co-founder of Micrsoft has announced he will commit $200 million of what he calls "his wealth" to build the world's largest airplane that will be a mobile platform for launching satelites and hopefully speeding up the privatization of space. This money is not "his wealth" it is the collective product, the surplus value generated by the Labor of workers, primarily those in the third world or "emerging economies" the Bill Gates, Paul Allen and the now deceased Steve Jobs theater of operations. We have to ask ourselves if this is the best allocation of capital and the right of Allen to own and to determine its allocation. The obvious answer is no on both counts.
When the special election took place in California due to Gray Davis' recall, there were some 28 candidates vying for the job of governor from former porno stars to small business people and others. The leaders of the potentially powerful California Labor movement threw their weight and their members money in to Gray Davis' hat and they will do the same in the coming election with Obama.
The Occupy Movement can begin to transform the political scene in this country by offering an alternative to workers at election time. It can present and argue for a different economic structure, for different solutions than cutting medical care, slashing jobs and imprisoning millions of workers and youth. It can present a different face of America to the world that won't increase recruits for al Qaeda whatever al Qaeda is.
Mass direct action on the ground coupled with independent political action will be able to transform the balance of class forces in a serious way and transform also the consciousness of the working class, opening the door to the revolutionary process that can end the rule of capital and introduce the rule of the collective, a global society where production is for human need not profit and is carried out in harmony with the natural world in which we live.
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