Something from Worker's Power on the U.S. budget........

[socialist_n_TN]

It's long, but worth the read:

http://www.workerspower.net/budget-friction-in-washington-a-tocsin-for-things-to-come

Mostly my work, with edits from the board. I'm proud of it.

[libodem]

1. It was long

But worth it!

[socialist_n_TN]

2. Thanks for taking the time libodem......

I appreciate it!

[libodem]

3. Thsnks for posting it

[Teamster Jeff]

4. Very good read

Crystal clear.

[socialist_n_TN]

5. Thanks Jeff. That's what I was going for.....

I wanted to take something that is sometimes opaque for an average person and make it clear. Of course, it IS a Marxian analysis of the whys. Hopefully that was clear too. Thanks again for taking the time.

[limpyhobbler]

6. good.

I pretty much agree with all of it. Very to the point.

As far as what is the reason for the obsession with debt, I think it's mostly just a "Shock Doctrine" style attempt to cut Social Security and other safety net programs. The national debt is a real problem, but the austerity solutions being pushed are not even real solutions. Sane capitalists would try to grow their way out of debt via Keynesian options, like a gov't jobs program. Austerity is class war and theft masquerading as an economic theory. Also yes we should have a popular working class movement to make changes. Good article.

[socialist_n_TN]

7. Thanks limp. And I totally agree that .......

austerity is class war and theft masquerading as an economic theory. That's a pretty good agitational line. Yes it is "Shock Doctrine" stuff, but from a Marxist perspective, it's mainly a means of restoring profit margin to the capitalists.

Thanks for taking the time to read it. I appreciate it.

[limpyhobbler]

8. no prob. these are fun to read.

Capitalists must want it all. Here go some charts...


http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/03/28/u-s-corporate-profits-soar-in-2012-workers-get-little-of-it/

Corporate profits as a percentage of GDP

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=cSh

For profits the recession is over. Not surprising since that's what government policies were designed to do.

Not a coincidence that income lost in the recession has not been recovered. Unemployment is still rampant. And jobs being created pay less than they used to. Red line is median income->


Still they use debt as an excuse to restructure our society, by cutting pensions, privatizing schools, etc.. Another way to say the same thing I guess is that rich people want to cut services so they won't be asked to pay more in taxes. Taxes are a flip side of profits.

[socialist_n_TN]

9. Overall profits are high, BUT.......

the RATE of profit is down (high point hit in '97 I believe). Which is why there's no investment in jobs OR in the productive sector of the economy. As I've said before, profit is like water in that it will find it's own level. But whereas water will find the lowest level to pool, profit finds the highest, which is why most of this surplus value goes into financial instruments or fictitious capital. Right now these financial investments pay off the with the highest rate of return for investors.

Michael Roberts is a blogger and Marxist economist that I follow regularly. He's got the easiest and most understandable explanations of economic matters from a Marxist perspective and explains the ins and outs of capitalist investment patterns more completely than I ever could, while still making it readable.

Thanks again limp.

[socialist_n_TN]

10. Oh yeah in regards to the "Shock Doctrine", I look at that as a POLITICAL strategy........

which uses economic, natural, and man made disaster situations to implement various neo-liberal economic tactics to increase profitability for the private sector. Of course since labor costs are the biggest impediment to profitability under capitalism, then these tactics and this strategy's main goal is to hamstring the working class from organizing for a bigger piece of the fruits of the surplus value created by their toil.

[limpyhobbler]

11. interesting,

I'll have to check out Michael Roberts blog at some point.