Showing posts with label unions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unions. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

French Revolution 2.0/American Revolution Nil



French Revolution 2.0/American Revolution Nil
by C.A. Matthews 

 

If a massive series of nationwide strikes and protests occur across France, but American mainstream media completely ignores them, or relegates brief mentions of them to the “back pages,” does this ongoing popular French uprising really exist at all? 
 
This point struck home this week after I had a conversation with a person who said “Huh? What?” when I mentioned the huge number of protests, strike actions, and other activist events happening since the start of the year in France. He didn’t know that France is literally on fire. 
 

It seems odd that an intelligent person who’s reasonably in touch with reality wouldn’t be following the story of how French workers are standing up to President Macron’s unilateral raising of the retirement age. But if you watch mainstream news channels and read rags such as Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post, you might have missed anything to do with the French building barricades and burning automobiles in the streets next to sky-high piles of uncollected garbage bags and brigades of baton-wielding police officers dragging protesters off to jail.
 
Some days I wonder if it’s all worth it. Should I keep following independent journalists and keeping up with what’s happening in the world? Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel and give in to the propaganda machine. What could it hurt? I could live in darkness and believe that things that average Americans believe, like how we haven’t had a series of war criminals for president and American intelligence agencies had nothing to do with either the 2014 Maidan Coup or the Nord Stream 2 pipelines bombing. 
 
 (If you have to look up any of these topics to understand what I mean, might I suggest you check out https://radindiemedia.com and use their search function? You’re welcome.)

Back to the French protesting and burning cars in the streets thing: I’ve wondered if this ongoing protest in France is somehow a chance for Americans to witness and learn what a real, honest-to-goodness revolution is like. Before you object and say, “Hey, Americans had a revolution in 1776!” I’d like to remind you that the French also had a revolution in the 18th century, around 1789. 

The thing is, the French working class actually toppled their monarch off his throne and marched him to the guillotine. American working classes (excluding enslaved Africans and despised/displaced Native Americans) simply followed a bunch of wealthy, white, slave-owning/land-owning males who threw a temper tantrum (or “Boston Tea Party”) over having to pay their fair share of taxes to the king back home in England—a king who never lost one hair on his head due to rude behavior in the colonies. 

If a despot is still sitting on his or her throne at the end of the day, you can’t say you’ve experienced a revolution, now can you?

The French have experienced a revolution on several occasions besides 1789, and it appears Macron is going to be out on his ear before too long if the people have anything to say about it. Sure, the militarized police and the armed forces are being used and will be used against the people, but the French seem bound and determined not to allow Macron to cross their line in the sand. They’re in it to win it, no matter how physically, financially, or emotionally damaging it could be.

What’s the difference between the French and Americans when it comes to standing up to injustices, such as forcing a raise in the retirement age? Independent journalist Patrick Lawrence in his piece, French Streets and American Sofas, puts it well:

...It is remarkable the world over to watch the French explode into the streets of dozens of cities and towns to protest the imperial president residing in Élysée Palace. It is altogether singular to follow the demonstrations against Emmanuel Macron as an American. The French are still citoyens and take to their streets and public squares. Americans long ago cashed in their citizenship to live as consumers—and take to their sofas no matter how abusively political elites treat them, no matter how many wars they start, no matter how corrupt the financial system, no matter how many people live in poverty, no matter how grotesque the “defense” budget, no matter how poisoned the environment, no matter… let me not go on.

Please pass the Fritos and turn on the big game.

Lawrence has wisely discerned the major difference between the French and the Americans that demonstrates why the French make revolutions and Americans make… simply a change in the TV channel and a choice of chips. The French still see themselves as one people, one body, one class of workers, standing up against the injustices of the king or the emperor or the president. The French don’t sit back and eat junk food and ignore the plight of their fellow workers. Instead, they stand up and take their righteous indignation to the streets and fight for justice for all workers, for all citizens, for all their people. 

Americans have, from time to time, attempted to do likewise—such as in the Civil Rights protests of the 1960s—but basically we’ve never been able to keep that level of righteous indignation going for very long. We profess that we don’t care all that much about our neighbors, particularly if our neighbor wears a red hat or votes “blue no matter who” or attends a different church or happens to use a public restroom we’d rather they didn’t use. Americans have been divided and conquered for so long that it’s as natural to us as breathing. We’d rather give in to the ruling oligarchy and turn on the game and tune out of life than stand up and fight for what really matters. 

Lawrence further elaborates on how the French see the raising retirement age problem as an indication of whose side their government is on: “Macron’s choice lay between raising taxes on the wealthy and the corporations or pushing the problem on the shoulders of the working class. He made the wrong choice.” 

Can you imagine American workers getting upset over the federal government raising the retirement age? Can you imagine American workers getting angry over how the wealthy and the corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes, so the poor and struggling workers are forced to make up the deficit? Of course you can’t imagine Americans having their noses put out of joint over this type of ill-treatment because these two things have already occurred in the US, and American workers have done nothing serious about them. Not. One. Thing.

You owe it to yourself to read the entirety of Lawrence’s article. Here’s one last quote that sums up where Americans have gone wrong in thinking that once we actually experienced a revolution:

The [French] Revolution was an attack on the vestiges of divine right, the notion that a monarch’s authority was God-given. It was about humanity, not the heavens, as the agent of its destiny. And it was class-conscious. There were no illusions in 1789 as to the nature of power. The fate of the French is in the hands of the French: This was the core thought then and it is the core thought now.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees this fault in Americans. We don't really believe in ourselves as a people. We don't universally believe in anything really, other than the oligarchs’ propaganda that we gladly consume from our mainstream media like a bag of chips. Americans are indoctrinated from a young age and propagandized throughout our adulthood to do as we're told by our bosses. We have a natural instinct telling us things aren't quite adding up, that they're wrong or unfair, but we can never quite put a finger on it. We are blind to our society's class conflicts and never lose faith in the powers-that-be, no matter how blatantly corrupt they are or how perverted the capitalist economic system has become. 

Oh, to be as class-conscious and community-minded as the French! Oh, to be able to rise up as one people and set the streets on fire to scare the corrupt politician-puppets out of power! 

Maybe one day we shall have the strength, wisdom, and courage to take our destiny into our own hands like the French have done. Maybe we’ll even experience that “First American Revolution” that our poorly written history textbooks tell us our ancestors once participated in. Until then, pass the Fritos and hand me the remote. It’s my turn to pick the channel.

 


Related Links:

UPDATE: The French People Battle Pension Reform in Paris (video)https://unicornriot.ninja/2023/the-french-people-battle-p ension-reform-in-paris/

Patrick Lawrence: French Streets and American Sofas
https://scheerpost.com/2023/03/30/patrick-lawrence-french-streets-and-american-sofas/

France Burns! What the F*ck is Going On?! (video) https://youtu.be/drIYG3J86tI

Protests Rage In France For A Tenth Day https://popularresistance.org/protests-rage-in-france-for-a-tenth-day/

'The Movement Has Spread': Strikes Across France Aim to Block Macron Attack on Pensions
https://www.commondreams.org/news/france-protests-macron-pensions-mar-7

Macron Loses Control - Train Tracks Blocked https://youtu.be/lnXOkJzP63U

Women’s rights at the heart of the fight over pensions in France
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/03/07/womens-rights-at-the-heart-of-the-fight-over-pensions-in-france/

Macron Faces National Strike in France (video) https://youtu.be/ChpZ3p6MT9A

Despite Government Attacks: Workers, Students In France Stay Strong  https://popularresistance.org/despite-government-attacks-workers-students-in-france-stay-strong/

Workers in France are still refusing to back down to Macron’s pension reforms  https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-news/2023/03/23/workers-in-france-are-still-refusing-to-back-down-to-macrons-pension-reforms/

Covering Up Anti-War Protest in US Media https://scheerpost.com/2023/03/31/covering-up-antiwar-protest-in-us-media/

How The Rich Are Prepping For End Times & Why (video about the petrodollar crashing) https://youtu.be/bW1bibPhJfA

CNN Pushes Propaganda on French Protests (video)
https://youtu.be/0_KtcRvxJnY

Fresh Clashes Rock France As Protests Shift To Water Dispute
https://popularresistance.org/fresh-clashes-rock-france-as-protests-shift-to-water-dispute/

No to French unions’ “mediation” with the state! Mobilize workers to bring down Macron!  https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/03/30/yyvw-m30.html


Rubbish collectors lead last-ditch strikes against France’s pension reforms https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-news/2023/03/15/rubbish-collectors-lead-last-ditch-strikes-against-frances-pension-reforms/

Massive Anti-NATO Protests Erupt in France (video) https://youtu.be/_sZcC8QAojU

Protesting French Students Denounce Trade Union "Mediation" with Macron https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/04/01/summ-a01.html

UN Security Council Won’t Probe Nord Stream Bombing
https://popularresistance.org/un-security-council-wont-probe-nord-stream-bombing/

Bad Faith UN Report On Nicaragua Whitewashes Violent US-Backed Coup
https://popularresistance.org/bad-faith-un-report-on-nicaragua-whitewashes-violent-us-backed-coup/

Congress Has Been Captured by the Arms Industry
https://scheerpost.com/2023/03/28/congress-has-been-captured-by-the-arms-industry/


The US Has Seen 50 Chemical Spills or Fires This Year, and It’s Only March https://truthout.org/articles/the-us-has-seen-50-chemical-spills-or-fires-this-year-and-its-only-march/

At Least 39 Asylum Seekers Dead After Fire at Migrant Jail in Mexico  https://truthout.org/articles/at-least-39-asylum-seekers-dead-after-fire-at-migrant-jail-in-mexico/

Google founder, former Disney exec to get subpoenas in JPMorgan Epstein lawsuit  https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/31/google-founder-former-disney-exec-to-get-subpoenas-in-jpmorgan-epstein-lawsuit.html

 

Seen on Twitter:

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Tuesday, December 27, 2022

2022: The Year Nothing Fundamentally Changed—Again

  


2022: 

The Year Nothing Fundamentally Changed—Again

At the end of each calendar year, we at TRC usually go over what’s happened in the world during the previous twelve months and make some predictions for the coming year. (Last year’s New Year's Eve piece: https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2021/12/2021-year-nothing-fundamentally-changed.html) This year illness around the holidays took its toll and there’s not enough time to review all 52 weekly posts for 2022, but if there is any one major thing that we can take away from this past year, it’s this: 

Nothing has fundamentally changed—again.

Here are some of the more blatant examples of things that are fundamentally the same—if not worse—than they were at the end of 2021. 

Build Back Better? Only if you work for the Pentagon or a military contractor such as Raytheon or Lockheed Martin:

The military budget deal just reached by Congress will put Pentagon spending at $858 billion — more than $118 billion higher than when President Biden came into office, and more than $180 billion higher than the last budget approved under President Obama. That increase would have been more than enough to cover the costs of the entire Build Back Better agenda. --Democrats Are Making A Devil's Bargain on Pentagon Funding.

In immigration news: Kids are still in cages.


Title 42, an archaic immigration rule resurrected in the Trump administration to flat-out deny asylum to asylum seekers, is still in effect. The Border Wall, started during the Trump administration, is still being constructed. Haitian asylum seekers were beaten with whips by Border Patrol officers on horseback, and they are still being deported at much higher percentages than other immigrants, particularly white and European undocumented immigrants. (Read Why All The Hate For Haiti?)

The student loan debt crisis hasn’t gone away. There may be a hiatus on repayments, but eventually it will go away and the trillion dollars of debt still owed will have to be repaid. Loans given to large businesses and corporations during the pandemic have been forgiven, however. 

COVID-19 is still rampant and mutating. People are still getting sick, being hospitalized, and dying from COVID and related illnesses, some now known as Long COVID. Most free vaccinations and testing clinics have been shut down. 

The major thing that has changed in regards to COVID-19 is that it’s no longer being reported to health departments regularly, and the mainstream media continues to downplay its lethality. This has only motivated some to stop wearing masks in public or taking it seriously, sharing the virus freely with strangers and loved ones alike.

Medicare For All—promised to be enacted by both Biden and "The Squad" on the campaign trail—has yet to come about. Medical debt is the number one reason Americans file for bankruptcy for yet another year. And we're still the only so-called "First World Industrialized Country" that doesn't guarantee health care to all its citizens. It's nothing to be proud of. It's all "Get back to work and get out and buy, buy, buy! Who cares if people are getting sick and dying? Our corporations have to turn a decent profit!"

Endless war continues. This time it’s a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, rather than a “hotter” war in Afghanistan. (Well, it could become hotter if the nukes start flying.) Meanwhile, Afghan refugees are still coming to the US looking for sanctuary. Promises made to the mostly Muslim Afghans seeking asylum (persons who helped the US forces along with their immediate family members) haven’t been kept as they should, but surprise, surprise! White, supposedly-Christian Ukrainians with no documents have had little trouble coming into the US and staying put. 

(Of course, this openness doesn't apply to members of the Russian Orthodox Church, a religion outlawed in Ukraine along with all opposition political parties. That's fighting for "democracy and freedom" American-style!)

Homelessness is on the rise. Mayors of cities such as Los Angeles and New York city have made it part of their winning campaigns promoting how they would destroy tent cities and stick homeless people into mental institutions against their will. Out of sight, out of mind, and more chances of gentrifying rundown areas to the delight of the developers and investment landlords.

In totally unrelated news (ha ha!), rents have more than doubled in many cities. Food and gasoline costs are spiraling ever upward. Empty shelves in grocery stores and discount places are because of “supply chain issues” or so we’re told. No mention is made in the mainstream media how most of our trade is with China, and that threatening war with China over Taiwan isn’t going to make goods any more affordable for the working classes. 

Railroad workers still don’t have the right to strike. They didn’t get the fifteen sick days they asked for either. So-called progressives such as AOC and most members of "The Squad" voted against them. (Read If The Workers Take a Notion...)

Over 48,000 University of California student workers went on strike this fall and are going back after the winter break, but they’re not satisfied with their tentative agreement. More and more America workers organized and joined unions in 2022, so it’s a good sign that most workers understand there is power in numbers and that CEOs are not gods and they don’t have to put up with their employers’ abusive behaviors. (Read Lab Rats of the World Unite!)

“Narrative control,” shadow-banning/censorship, and propaganda reached all-time levels in 2022. Recently the audacity of these propaganda tactics instigated by the FBI, CIA, and both major political parties were revealed in “The Twitter Files” released by independent journalist Matt Taibbi and others.  (Read Disinformation Wars, The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade and Atrocity Propaganda and Narrative Control for other examples of narrative control. Also, check out the articles from earlier in the year on our Ukraine War Series page to see the pattern of propaganda coming from the US government.)

Julian Assange still resides in Belmarsh Prison (UK). The US is still trying to extradite the Australian publisher of Wikileaks and charge him with treason. His physical and mental health continues to deteriorate. 

Policing? I'd like to tell you that there's been zero incidents of persons of color or poor folks in general being killed by cops in the US in 2022, but sorry. Deaths at the hands of cops continue. Police budgets are growing ever larger along with the military budget. Obviously, Biden or The Squad didn't take the "Defund the Police" movement seriously along with those who support Medicare For All. There's no money to be made by protecting the lives, health or safety of ordinary Americans.

This article title speaks for itself: "An Absolute F**cking Disgrace": Record 6,036 US Kids Killed, Injured by Gunfire in 2022 https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/28/an-absolute-fcking-disgrace-record-6036-us-kids-killed-injured-by-gunfire-in-2022

I’m sure you can think of other examples. 

So, what predictions do we have for 2023? An ever-growing number of unions forming and union members seems likely, and that’s a good thing. Possibly student loan repayments will be delayed again, but if not, many groups are already organizing for a mass boycott of student loan repayments. 

The more dire ordinary Americans’ situations become, as food and transportation costs spiral upward, the more likely they are to agitate for their rights to be paid decent wages, to have a roof over their heads, to have free access to health care and the knowledge of what’s really happening in the world without “Ministry of Truth” styled manipulation and censorship.  

 Is it a rosy outlook or a gloomy one? It’s up for us to decide. 

Sharing information from independent news sources (such as TRC) is an optimistic activity. Many have been brainwashed into believing whatever comes out of the mouth of the mainstream media pundits, so be gentle but persistent with them. Keeping up everyone's morale by sharing good news of peace breaking out and unions forming can go a long way. Financially and morally supporting other workers in their fight for safer and more just workplaces is another good step.

Remember: We’re all in this together. Happy New Year!


Related Articles:

"Disastrous": SCOTUS Upholds Title 42 Migrant Policy During Court Fight https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/28/disastrous-scotus-upholds-title-42-migrant-policy-during-court-fight/

Student Loan Debt is a Scam (video): https://youtu.be/pgPW926532E

Chris Hedges: The Democrats Are Now The War Party https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-democrats-are-now-the-war-party

The Claim That The Ukraine War Advances US Interests Discredits The Claim That It's Unprovoked https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-claim-that-the-ukraine-war-advances 

Democrats Are Making a Devil's Bargain on Pentagon Funding. It's Not Paying Off  https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/25/democrats-are-making-a-devils-bargain-on-pentagon-funding-its-not-paying-off/

Why All the Hate For Haiti?  https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/10/why-all-hate-for-haiti.html 

Biden Admin Plans to Expand Title 42 to Expel Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians https://truthout.org/articles/biden-admin-plans-to-expand-title-42-to-expel-cubans-nicaraguans-and-haitians

To Die On The Job Is To Die For America https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/01/to-die-on-job-is-to-die-for-america.html

Zelensky's Diaspora Delegation Led by Economic Hit-Woman Who Led Plunder of Ukraine https://thegrayzone.com/2022/12/23/zelenskys-diaspora-hit-woman-ukraine/

Whee! Let's Start World War 3! https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/08/whee-lets-start-world-war-3.html

Atrocity Propaganda and Narrative Control https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/06/atrocity-propaganda-and-narrative.html

Disinformation Wars https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/11/disinformation-wars.html 

If the Workers Take a Notion... (RWU Strike) https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/12/if-workers-take-notion-rwu-strike.html

Lab Rats of the World Unite! https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/11/lab-rats-of-world-unite.html

The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-ministry-of-truth-v-roe-v-wade.html

Ukraine War Series page  https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/p/ukraine-war-series.html 

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Twitter Files? https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/21/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-twitter-files/

Gov. Pressured Twitter to Find "Russian Interference", Ban Anti-US Accounts (video) https://youtu.be/sfsuYi72eVw

Chomsky, Hedges, Snowden, Stein and Greenwald on the Assange Case (video)  https://youtu.be/DM0WtQoKXd0 

Amid Inflation and Short Staffing Labor Organizers Demanded More in 2022  https://truthout.org/articles/amid-inflation-and-short-staffing-labor-organizers-demanded-more-in-2022/

Why You Should Be A Socialist in 2023 (video) https://youtu.be/thJ2ocejPko

Comrades, can you spare a dime? Or the cost of a cup of coffee? Help us keep The Revolution Continues going another eight years by donating once or becoming a regular supporter. You can do so via our Substack account or through the link below. 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TRCblog 

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Thank you and a Happy New Year to you and yours!

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Tuesday, August 2, 2022

The Boot


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.

 Whether they realize it or not, American workers have much more in common with each other than they do a billionaire clown like Bezos.  No matter where or how they work--white collar, blue collar, no collar at all--all workers are powerless to raise the federal minimum wage, which hasn't increased in decades and remains at $7.25/hour. Workers are powerless to move it even one red cent. The Haves make sure the Have-nots will never get ahead or even get close to their level of financial security. The Haves knowingly and without empathy for the workers' plight maintain their superiority in capital and political power at our expense.

 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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