Richard Mellor
11-07-25
As the stalemate continues over the government shutdown, the big issue is reducing federal spending, and in this case to repeal the Affordable care Act which itself is a rather weak attempt to fix some of the worst aspects of the barbaric and expensive US Health care system.
The immediate issue is over health care subsidies that are about to expire and that the Democrats want to extend permanently. Republicans are adamant that there will be no negotiations on this issue until the Democrats vote to end the shutdown.
The shutdown has contributed to a further drop in support for Trump as large numbers of federal workers have been laid off and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits known as SNAP, have been threatened. This benefit is crucial to the 42 million Americans that receive SNAP. It’s important to understand that the federal minimum wage in the US is $7.25 an hour though 34 states have introduced a minimum wage provision that is higher. Increasing food and energy prices are also contributing to the crisis for workers and the poor.
A court ruling just this week ordered the Trump Administration to begin paying November’s SNAP benefits by today (Friday Nov 7th). Initially, the Administration said it was going to appeal the ruling but has since backed down. Previously, the USDA announced on its website that “the well has run dry” and no benefits would be issued on November 1st and from what I understand is that some people received them today.
A few things spring to mind as I think about this process. It is bad enough the federal government denying millions of Americans the much-needed SNAP benefits that ensures they can put food on the table this month, but what’s even more astounding is why 42 million people are on it in the richest, most powerful nation on earth. They are all fakers, the right wingers will argue I suppose.
The whole back and forth, not knowing from one day to the next what will happen, this is the norm under capitalism and the so-called free market and it is magnified a hundredfold with the Trump crowd. Whether it’s food benefits, tariffs, a job, even a presence in the US that you’ve had for 40 years or even a missile hitting your fishing boat a thousand miles from the US coastline; fear and uncertainty are the hallmark of the Trump Administration. What the federal government is doing to its own people is terrorizing them, just as it is terrorizing the people of Venezuela.
With both capitalist parties, battling it out in Congress, the number of Americans needing assistance will no doubt skyrocket. US farmers are already being driven under due to Trump’s tariffs which have nothing to do with economics and everything to do with personal power and revenge. Trump is living The Apprentice in real life. The criticism thrown at Zohran Mamdani that he isn’t qualified to run a major city certainly applies to Trump by far. Pretty much every business he has had has been a failure and his biggest business venture, US Inc. is turning in to a disaster.
The longer the government shutdown continues, the worse things will get, and while it appears Trump and his menagerie are getting the worst end of the stick, the Democrats are not in the clear either. The reality is, we go through shorter versions of this deadlock every four years as the two parties of big business compete for which section of the US ruling class will govern.
In order to break the logjam over the health care subsidies being extended or not, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a proposal today that would, extend, “…healthcare subsidies for one year as part of a measure to reopen the government, in a move aimed at breaking the monthlong logjam.”* Democrats accepted the proposal, a concession from them as their position is to make them permanent but Republicans, apparently sensing weakness, rejected it.
Perhaps the effort was a ploy knowing the Republicans would oppose it and lose more support among the populace. But, what is certain is that the present goings on are classic example of the political crisis infecting US capitalism.
Extending the subsidies would cost $350 billion over 10 years, so that’s $35 billion a year that could bring some Americans a little relief when it comes to health care in the US. This is less than a third of the pay packet Tesla has given to Onan Musk. Beyond that, Trump has promised $20 to 40 billion to the failed regime in Argentina. Let’s leave out what the previous administration and the. the present one has spent to support Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the Ukrainian regime under Zelensky, a conflict the Biden Administration supported in order to weaken a competitor. The Ukrainian people need to reflect on what the US has done to them, have them fight a proxy war against Russia, as Blinken said, in order for the US to pivot toward China, the real enemy.
But let’s be clear, the Democratic party is no opposition party. Instead of trying to make a deal with the right-wing Republican Administration, many of them Evangelical Christians like Thune, an opposition party would be raising the need for a national health system or what we call Medicare For All. The US has the worst and most costly health care system of all the advanced capitalist economies.
Meanwhile, the US mass media has gone berzerk over the election of a left wing mayor in New York City, a self-described democratic socialist with a mild reform program that includes a liveable wage, affordable rents, free transportation etc. The Europeans think we’re nuts as Mamdani’s politics are the norm over there.
I can’t get that over that $35 billion a year for some subsidies to your health care expenses, the expenses for millions upon millions of Americans are the best idea that can come out of the Democrats’ playbook. There are many individuals that are worth more than that.
There have been many opportunities to mobilize the immense potential power of the working people of the US to put a stop to this robbery, this obscene situation. There was massive excitement over Obama the first time. Then Bernie Sanders, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and now Zohran Mamdani. Each time as opportunity knocked, the Democratic Party in conjunction with its allies atop organized labor, have ensured that the anger, the potential latent in such enthusiasm never amounted to an independent mass movement that could challenge the dictatorship of capital over US society and usher in a new era. The huge strike wave among educators during 2018-19 was another opportunity that was kept within the confines of respectability.
The recent excitement over Zohran Mamdani’s election as NYC Mayor is welcome, but it needs to have a different game plan to what we’ve seen in the past for significant change to come out of it.
Let’s hope we get it.
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