People who are ideologically prohibited from seeing capitalism as the
obvious source of society's ills are forced to make up other things to
blame those ills on like elite pedovore cabals, Jews, immigrants, the
LGBT community, and Satan.
Vastly outnumbering your rulers but choosing not to overthrow them
because you think the status quo might someday make you wealthy is the
same as having all the power in the world and trading it away for a
lottery ticket.--Caitlin Johnstone, For Warmongers It's Always 1938
The Boot
by C.A. Matthews
Have you ever felt like you
had the weight of the world on your shoulders? How about the weight of the
world resting upon your neck like a giant yoke? A yoke you're forced to wear in
order to keep pulling and pulling a heavy load uphill without ceasing?
Most Americans have learned since
the BLM Summer of 2020 just how dangerous having an immense weight resting on
your neck can be. But can you imagine having this weight resting on your neck,
crushing your shoulders, breaking your back without reprieve since the day you
were born, perhaps even before you
were born? Can you imagine never experiencing freedom from this immense weight
in your lifetime or even in your children's or grandchildren's lifetimes?
That's what "the
boot" of capitalism feels like for most Americans. We realize as we grow
older that we can never escape the boot's weight no matter what we do. We
discover through life experiences, for good and for ill, that we'll never be
rich enough or white enough or the "correct" gender or connected to the
movers-and-shakers of our society enough.
We learn that there's no way for
a poor worker to get ahead of the day-to-day grind to survive in a society run
by insanely wealthy oligarchs (or billionaires if you like to think of them
that way). There is no one in a position of leadership who can stand up and
plead our case, either, because these self-same oligarchs own the vast majority
of our political leaders. It's a most effective form of slavery, too.
Our political leaders love to
be owned by these capitalists. Cash passes freely from the briefcases of the
corporate lobbyists and into the pockets of our elected representatives at all
levels--federal, state, and local. The oligarchs, emboldened with how easy it
is to own the US government, openly mainstreamed this activity through a
Supreme Court ruling known as Citizens United. The courts state that spending
massive amounts of money to influence politicians is "free speech." We
who struggle find now that we have no voice.
Money--or capital--talks. And
many people who are struggling seem to listen to the money/capital rather than to
their own insights or those of their
fellow strugglers. These misguided folk somehow think that they're what John
Steinbeck called "temporarily embarrassed millionaires." Tomorrow
they'll be flying around the globe in their own luxury jet or sailing the seas on
their own $500 million yacht just like Amazon's Jeff Bezos. Just you wait and
see.
And still, some struggling American
workers idolize these tormentors, praise their persecutors. Perhaps you're one of
them. I've got to ask you a question then: What has a billionaire ever done for
you personally? Why do you think they'll care about you enough to do anything
for you in the future?
Has Bill Gates ever walked up
to you and given you food when you were hungry and didn't have a penny to your
name? Has Elon Musk ever offered to make good on your past due rent or mortgage
payments? Is Jeff Bezos currently paying off your medical debt or student
loans?
If you answered
"yes" to any of those questions, then I could see why you'd sincerely
love that person. They were kind and helped you out when you needed it. Otherwise,
why do you assume oligarchs (or Haves) like Gates, Musk, or Bezos give a rat's
ass about you or any other working class American?
Wake up and smell their stinky
foot fungus!
The Haves wear "the
boot" of capitalism. They will continue to rest that boot heavily upon
your neck until you do something to stop them from doing so. What can you do? You
must learn to work together with your fellow strugglers to throw off the
billionaire class that oppresses all workers, everywhere.
Stop pretending you're better
(or worse) off than others who live under the tyranny of capitalism. Reach out
and join or form a union with your fellow workers. Propose and establish workers'
co-ops and the like. Be creative!
Practice caring and support
for one another through mutual aid societies. Don't leave anyone behind. Why? you ask. Easy--would you like to be
left behind? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Workers organizing and coming
together to demand fair pay and fair treatment is what the oligarchs fear the
most. United, workers have the power and ability to kick "the boot"
off each others' necks. Freed from tyranny, they can build a fair and just
society for all.
Together we can create a beautiful
and healthier planet where the weight of the world will be shared by all, not only
by those without capital.
Very revealing quote of the week:
"A Bank of America executive stated
that “we hope” working Americans will lose leverage in the labor market
in a recent private memo obtained by The Intercept. Making predictions
for clients about the U.S. economy over the next several years, the memo
also noted that changes in the percentage of Americans seeking jobs
“should help push up the unemployment rate.”
The memo, a “Mid-year review” from June 17, was written by Ethan
Harris, the head of global economics research for the corporation’s
investment banking arm, Bank of America Securities. Its specific
aspiration: “By the end of next year, we hope the ratio of job openings
to unemployed is down to the more normal highs of the last business
cycle.” (...)
The memo is an uncanny demonstration that the economist Adam Smith was right when he described the politics of inflation in his famed 1776 work, “The Wealth of Nations.”
“High profits tend much more to raise the price of work than high
wages,” Smith argued. “Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain
much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price. … They say
nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with
regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only
of those of other people.”
Thus, exactly as Smith would have predicted, Bank of America
complains loudly about the bad effects of high wages in raising prices,
but appears to be silent about the pernicious effects of high profits.
This is especially remarkable given the role that corporate profits
have played in the recent increase in inflation. After-tax corporate
profits stood at 8.1 percent of the economy at the beginning of 2020 but
have since shot up to as high as 11.8 percent of the GDP. In an economy
the size of the U.S., that equals an increase of more than $700 billion
in profits per year. These higher corporate profits have been the cause of over 50 percent of recent price increases.
Instead, the memo is focused on the enticing prospect of the Federal
Reserve raising interest rates, slowing the economy, and bludgeoning
workers back into line. (...)
The memo therefore tells us what we suspected all along: The most
powerful economic actors in the U.S. — entities like Bank of America and
its clients — do not like working people to have power. But it’s nice to have it in their own words." --from Bank of America Memo, Revealed: “We Hope” Conditions for American Workers Will Get Worse
Related Articles:
Bank of America Memo, Revealed: “We Hope” Conditions for American Workers Will Get Worse https://theintercept.com/2022/07/29/bank-of-america-worker-conditions-worse/
For Warmongers It's Always 1938 https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/for-warmongers-its-always-1938-notes
Moby Dick and the Soul of American Capitalism https://popularresistance.org/moby-dick-and-the-soul-of-american-capitalism/
Europe's "Apocalypse of Heat" Highlights Capitalism's Climate Crisis https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/19/aesc-j19.html
Child Labor Is Alive And Well in the US https://popularresistance.org/child-labor-is-alive-and-well-in-the-united-states/
The Age Old Wealth Problem:The Rising Age and Bank Accounts of the US Congress https://jesseventura.substack.com/p/the-age-old-wealth-problem
Trapped in the Slaughterhouse https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/trapped-in-the-slaughterhouse
Almost No One Trust the US Media After Decades of War Propaganda and Lies https://popularresistance.org/polls-show-almost-no-one-trusts-us-media-after-decades-of-war-propaganda-and-lies/
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