Socialists beat 1% in Scandanavia

By George Lakey=Nation of Change

While many of us are working to ensure that the Occupy movement will have a lasting impact, it’s worthwhile to consider other countries where masses of people succeeded in nonviolently bringing about a high degree of democracy and economic justice. Sweden and Norway, for example, both experienced a major power shift in the 1930s after prolonged nonviolent struggle. They “fired” the top 1 percent of people who set the direction for society and created the basis for something different.

Both countries had a history of horrendous poverty. When the 1 percent was in charge, hundreds of thousands of people emigrated to avoid starvation. Under the leadership of the working class, however, both countries built robust and successful economies that nearly eliminated poverty, expanded free university education, abolished slums, provided excellent health care available to all as a matter of right and created a system of full employment. Unlike the Norwegians, the Swedes didn’t find oil, but that didn’t stop them from building what the latest CIA World Factbook calls “an enviable standard of living.”

Neither country is a utopia, as readers of the crime novels by Stieg Larsson, Kurt Wallender and Jo Nesbro will know. Critical left-wing authors such as these try to push Sweden and Norway to continue on the path toward more fully just societies. However, as an American activist who first encountered Norway as a student in 1959 and learned some of its language and culture, the achievements I found amazed me. I remember, for example, bicycling for hours through a small industrial city, looking in vain for substandard housing. Sometimes resisting the evidence of my eyes, I made up stories that “accounted for” the differences I saw: “small country,” “homogeneous,” “a value consensus.” I finally gave up imposing my frameworks on these countries and learned the real reason: their own histories.

Then I began to learn that the Swedes and Norwegians paid a price for their standards of living through nonviolent struggle. There was a time when Scandinavian workers didn’t expect that the electoral arena could deliver the change they believed in. They realized that, with the 1 percent in charge, electoral “democracy” was stacked against them, so nonviolent direct action was needed to exert the power for change.

In both countries, the troops were called out to defend the 1 percent; people died. Award-winning Swedish filmmaker Bo Widerberg told the Swedish story vividly in Ådalen 31, which depicts the strikers killed in 1931 and the sparking of a nationwide general strike. (You can read more about this case in an entry by Max Rennebohm

in the Global Nonviolent Action Database.)

The Norwegians had a harder time organizing a cohesive people’s movement because Norway’s small population—about three million—was spread out over a territory the size of Britain. People were divided by mountains and fjords, and they spoke regional dialects in isolated valleys. In the nineteenth century, Norway was ruled by Denmark and then by Sweden; in the context of Europe Norwegians were the “country rubes,” of little consequence. Not until 1905 did Norway finally become independent.

NationofChange fights back with one simple but powerful weapon: the truth. Can you donate $5 to help us?

When workers formed unions in the early 1900s, they generally turned to Marxism, organizing for revolution as well as immediate gains. They were overjoyed by the overthrow of the czar in Russia, and the Norwegian Labor Party joined the Communist International organized by Lenin. Labor didn’t stay long, however. One way in which most Norwegians parted ways with Leninist strategy was on the role of violence: Norwegians wanted to win their revolution through collective nonviolent struggle, along with establishing co-ops and using the electoral arena.

In the 1920s strikes increased in intensity. The town of Hammerfest formed a commune in 1921, led by workers councils; the army intervened to crush it. The workers’ response verged toward a national general strike. The employers, backed by the state, beat back that strike, but workers erupted again in the ironworkers’ strike of 1923–24.

The Norwegian 1 percent decided not to rely simply on the army; in 1926 they formed a social movement called the Patriotic League, recruiting mainly from the middle class. By the 1930s, the League included as many as 100,000 people for armed protection of strike breakers—this in a country of only 3 million!

The Labor Party, in the meantime, opened its membership to anyone, whether or not in a unionized workplace. Middle-class Marxists and some reformers joined the party. Many rural farm workers joined the Labor Party, as well as some small landholders. Labor leadership understood that in a protracted struggle, constant outreach and organizing was needed to a nonviolent campaign. In the midst of the growing polarization, Norway’s workers launched another wave of strikes and boycotts in 1928.

The Depression hit bottom in 1931. More people were jobless there than in any other Nordic country. Unlike in the U.S., the Norwegian union movement kept the people thrown out of work as members, even though they couldn’t pay dues. This decision paid off in mass mobilizations. When the employers’ federation locked employees out of the factories to try to force a reduction of wages, the workers fought back with massive demonstrations.

Many people then found that their mortgages were in jeopardy. (Sound familiar?) The Depression continued, and farmers were unable to keep up payment on their debts. As turbulence hit the rural sector, crowds gathered nonviolently to prevent the eviction of families from their farms. The Agrarian Party, which included larger farmers and had previously been allied with the Conservative Party, began to distance itself from the 1 percent; some could see that the ability of the few to rule the many was in doubt.

By 1935, Norway was on the brink. The Conservative-led government was losing legitimacy daily; the 1 percent became increasingly desperate as militancy grew among workers and farmers. A complete overthrow might be just a couple years away, radical workers thought. However, the misery of the poor became more urgent daily, and the Labor Party felt increasing pressure from its members to alleviate their suffering, which it could do only if it took charge of the government in a compromise agreement with the other side.

This it did. In a compromise that allowed owners to retain the right to own and manage their firms, Labor in 1935 took the reins of government in coalition with the Agrarian Party. They expanded the economy and started public works projects to head toward a policy of full employment that became the keystone of Norwegian economic policy. Labor’s success and the continued militancy of workers enabled steady inroads against the privileges of the 1 percent, to the point that majority ownership of all large firms was taken by the public interest. (There is an entry on this case as well

at the Global Nonviolent Action Database.)

The 1 percent thereby lost its historic power to dominate the economy and society. Not until three decades later could the Conservatives return to a governing coalition, having by then accepted the new rules of the game, including a high degree of public ownership of the means of production, extremely progressive taxation, strong business regulation for the public good and the virtual abolition of poverty. When Conservatives eventually tried a fling with neoliberal policies, the economy generated a bubble and headed for disaster. (Sound familiar?)

Labor stepped in, seized the three largest banks, fired the top management, left the stockholders without a dime and refused to bail out any of the smaller banks. The well-purged Norwegian financial sector was not one of those countries that lurched into crisis in 2008; carefully regulated and much of it publicly owned, the sector was solid.

Although Norwegians may not tell you about this the first time you meet them, the fact remains that their society’s high level of freedom and broadly-shared prosperity began when workers and farmers, along with middle class allies, waged a nonviolent struggle that empowered the people to govern for the common good.

Voter Democracy

<Following the French elections once again, we find how a democracy in voter democracy is suppose to work. First lets look at American Elections. America is not a democracy in this fashion because. We have ballot access suppression and restrictions that only the Democrats and Republicans have access too.
The 2011 French Socialist Party presidential primary was the first open primary (primaires citoyennes), jointly held by the French Socialist Party and Radical Party of the Left for selecting their candidate for the 2012 presidential election. Voters had to donate at least one Euro and sign a pledge to the values of the Left to be eligible. The filing deadline for primary nomination papers was fixed on 13 July 2011 and six candidates competed in the first round of the vote. On election day, 9 October 2011, no candidate won 50 percent of the vote, and the two candidates with the most votes contested a runoff election on 16 October 2011: François Hollande won the primary, defeating Martine Aubry.
All political party’s have a primary a year before. In the United States, primaries happen the same year but only two parties participate. Two parties with similar management schemes. Normally the front runner is the designated winner. There are ten political parties (in France) that will run and the top three will be in the general elections. But there are multiple party philosophies. The Conservatives, Socialist Party, Workers Struggle. These parties have no restrictions and there are ten candidates.
In Germany as in other Countries there can be seven candidates and five parties sharing the Bundstieg. Some parties form coalitions for shared interest.
In America, if the American Labor Party held 1/3 of Congress and Senate, and ½ of the Democrats where progressive and republican have an equal amount to Blue Dog Democrats. The ALP can form a Coalition with The Progressives and out vote the Blue Dogs and Republicans. In America issues can last 40 to 100 years. In many nations the problems are solved and finished only once.
After the three candidates are left for the general election, the winner has the highest vote. But if the is a near tie or close race among two or three candidates, the one is eliminated for an instant run off election. The remaining two candidates are in an instant runoff and the winner gets elected.
Instant-runoff voting or transferable voting, is an electoral method used to elect one winner. It is a form of preferential voting (or ranked choice voting) in which voters rank the candidates in order of votes, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a majority of votes cast, that candidate wins. The candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated. A new round of counting takes place, with each ballot counted as one vote for the advancing candidate who has thehighest votes on that ballot. This process continues until the winning candidate receives a majority of the votes against the remaining candidates. In 2006 the U.S. city of Burlington, Vermont, held a mayoral election using instant runoff voting. Progressive Bob Kiss won in two rounds with 48.6% of the first round ballots, defeating Democrat Hinda Miller who achieved 40.7%. 10.6% (1,031) of the ballots were exhausted before the final round, because those voters (largely backers of Republican candidate Kevin Curley) offered no preference between the final two candidates, Miller and Kiss. After the first round, all but two candidates were eliminated, as their combined vote total (2,863) was less than Miller's, so that none could pull ahead of Miller, even by receiving every vote from the other minor candidates. The votes for these candidates were recounted and redistributed between Kiss and Miller. After the second round count, Kiss was declared the winner as he had obtained a majority (54.4%) of the remaining unexhausted ballots.
This eliminates the myth of spoiler and vote stealer. The myths undermine democracy because who cold force anyone to vote for them. It is like the myth of stealing jobs.
If a person can steal votes then they can teal all the votes and get elected. Spoiler is a myth because people vote their free will. Many will not vote for two part candidates, and the turnout is less anyway. Besides what if the spoiler wins? Buy locking the electorate in a two party system aren’t the Democrats and Republicans steal the vote?

Single Payer Health Care

Over than half of Americans say President Obama’s health care law is unconstitutional as it heads to the Supreme Court. At the same time, Congress’ official scorekeeper says the law could cost a bit more and leave more people uninsured than predicted.
The issues of bad news comes as both sides in the health care debate are raising the level of rhetoric before the historic court argument, which will consume six hours over three days March 26-28.
A new poll by the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation found 51% of those surveyed say the court should rule that the law’s individual mandate is unconstitutional. That’s the linchpin of the law, the requirement that most Americans buy insurance or pay a penalty.
Which is a form of coercement.
The Congressional Budget Office has altered its official estimates of the law’s impact, both demographically and fiscally.
A new CBO report found that the law would increase the number of Americans with health insurance by 30 million to 33 million and would leave up to 27 million uninsured. The resulting in 93% insured is below the previous estimate of 95%.

Single-payer is defined to describe a type of financing system. It refers to one entity acting as insurance payer.” In the case of healthcare, a single-payer system would be setup such that one entity—a government run organization—would collect all healthcare fees, and pay out all healthcare costs.
In the current US system, there are literally tens of thousands of different healthcare organizations=HMOs, billing agencies, etc. By having so many different payers of healthcare fees, there is an enormous amount of administrative waste generated in the system. (Imagine how complicated billing must be in a doctor’s office, when each insurance company requires a different form to be completed, has a different billing system, different billing contacts and phone numbers—it’s very confusing.)
In a single-payer system, all hospitals, doctors, and other healthcare providers would bill one entity for their services. This alone reduces administrative waste greatly, and saves money, which can be used to provide care and insurance to those who currently don’t have it. 53 million without health care 63,000,000, without dentistry.
Hospital billing would be virtually eliminated. Instead, hospitals would receive an annual lump-sum payment from the government to cover operating expenses—a “global budget.” A separate budget would cover such expenses as hospital expansion, the purchase of technology, marketing, etc.
Doctors would have three options for payment: fee-for-service, salaried positions in hospitals, and salaried positions within group practices or HMOs. Fees would be negotiated between a representative of the fee-for-service practitioners (such as the state medical society) and a state payment board. Government would serve as administrator, not employer.
His is what we where cheated out of with Obama Care.
A 2004 economic study published in The New England Journal of Medicine determined that a national single-payer healthcare system would reduce costs by more than $400 billion a year even with the expansion of comprehensive care to all Americans. No other plan projects this kind of savings.

Koch Brothers 101

The Koch family ( /ˈkoʊk/ coke) of industrialists and businessmen is most notable for their control of Koch Industries, the second largest privately owned company in the United States. The family business was started by Fred C. Koch, who developed a new cracking method for the refinement of heavy oil into gasoline. Fred’s four sons became involved in litigation against each other in the 1980s and 1990s. According to the Koch David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch—the two brothers still with Koch Industries—are affiliated with the Koch family foundations. Annual revenues for Koch Industries have been “estimated to be a hundred billion dollars.”
David and Charles have funded conservative and libertarian policy and advocacy groups in the United States. Since the 1980s the Koch foundations have given more than $100 million to such organizations, among these think tanks are the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, as well as more recently Americans for Prosperity. Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks are Koch-linked organizations that have been linked to the Tea Party movement.

The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes (Fair Tax: which is Unfair)), minimal social services for the underprivileged, and de regulation industry. Especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of libertarian foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many of The Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.
There’s no denying the Koch brothers’ connections to Americans for Prosperity, a tea party group that’s funded by the Kochs’ billions and organizing around the GOP presidential nominations.
The Kochtopus” is what some call Charles and David Koch’s widespread, many-tentacled funding effort to shrink the federal government. Their efforts to suppress voters, dismantle public schools, and get rid of the Environmental Protection Agency and Social Security,
About 150 protesters marched through downtown Wichita on Saturday afternoon as activists from across the country gathered for the weekend Occupy Koch Town rally. Although the block-long line of protesters temporarily blocked several major intersections, the march was peaceful, More research can be found at Koch Brothers Exposed . http://kochbrothersexposed.com

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.” Abe Lincoln

Bank Crisis 101

On October 3, 2008, the Senate passed the $700 billion bank bailout bill. The crux of the bill was the same as the three page document submitted on September 21, 2008, by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. He Requested Congress to approve a $700 billion bailout to buy mortgage-backed securities that were in danger of defaulting. Paulson wanted to take these debts off the books of the banks, hedge funds and pension funds that held them. The bill manifested the Troubled Assets Recovery Program (TARP). It originally gave troubled banks the right to submit a bid price to sell their assets to TARP as part of a reverse auction. Each auction was to be for a certain asset class. TARP administrators would select the lowest price for each asset class, which was to help assure that the government didn’t pay too much for distressed assets. However, it took too long to develop the auction program, so instead Treasury lent $115 billion to banks by purchasing preferred stock
The bill contained an additional $150 billion in tax breaks, to be phased in over 10 years. These included an extension of the AMT patch, tax credits for research and development, and relief for hurricane survivors. The bailout was triggered by a record $140 billion being pulled out of money-market accounts, usually considered the safest of investments. That’s because investors were moving the funds to U.S. Treasuries, causing yields to drop to zero. To stem the panic, the Treasury agreed to insure these funds for a year. In addition the SEC banned short-selling of financial stocks until October 2 to reduce volatility in the stock market.

“I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the Bank. … You are a den of vipers and thieves.”
—Andrew Jackson in 1834 on closing the Second Bank of the United States.[

Andrew Jackson was the “ Tail of Tears” President, but he was right then. But as today we seem to save people with seven homes, two indoor swimming pools (In each), and multi million dollar golden parachutes.
While many people are homeless, hungry, and poor, average people lose their homes, and are turned into slaves when they need public assistance. While average peoples homes are stolen through immanent domain and other schemes the wealthy are always rescued.

Foreclosures 101

There are complexities to offer r explanations for what has caused such a meltdown in the mortgage industry and steep declines in property values. Many of the reasonings offered are well thought out. Obviously it is the essence of vulture capitalism.
 
The most commonly cited cause among economic analysts is simply greed and corruption on the part of nearly everyone in the mortgage and real estate industries. And, of course, there were massive levels of greed among the lower level workers and participants in the market.  This is appearent with American Deamers who want home their way.

Appraisers over-valued homes, Realtors listed them for these unwarranted prices, and loan officers provided loans at higher values in order to reap higher commissions. Homeowners were also not innocent, as many of them lied on mortgage applications to increase their incomes and qualify for homes they knew they could not afford. Banks provided incomprehensible mortgages with low teaser interest rates, basing the qualifications on the applicant’s ability to pay the artificially low rate, not the reset payment even based on current market conditions. These circumstances all combined to create a highly over-valued real estate market and vast numbers of homes sold families who simply could not afford them. especially in NJ where people canot afford the home they grew up in. Others who amke a high income and insist on McMansions and rural development and destruction.

A another cause is the falling value of the dollar, decreasing the purchasing power of ordinary Americans. Devaluation of the dollar causes imported goods to increase in price, contributing to higher energy prices, food prices, and expenses for nearly every good sold by the largest retailers. Homeowners are also robbed of their money in the form of inflation caused by the federal government borrowing money and printing money to wage war and provide social programs, thereby devaluing the dollar further. Once Congress passes a budget and realizes it will not bring in enough money to pay for every program, they rely on borrowing money. When this does not make up the shortfall, they simply print the money and have the first use of it. This inflation takes away the wealth of citizens, as their once precious dollars become as common as confetti and worth about as much. Lets not forget low wage workers and people who have no empowerment to maintain their dreams of owning a home.

Again, the causes leading up to the declines in the real estate market can conclusively explain the effects. But, homeowners, whether they are in danger of losing their homes or not, would do well by researching some of the reasons their family and neighbors may be facing foreclosure. Only by learning from the mistakes of others, and the American Dream trap is designed to facilitate the loss of their homes,  this is not new, but it is more epidemic.

 

For information http://foreclosurefish.com

War and Money

What ever happened to World Peace, where we not seeking The War to End All Wars? Now we are a warrior nation. Eisenhower in his Cross of Gold speech SAID:” One day the military Industrial Complex and Oilmen will crucify the worker on a Cross of Gold.”

Here is what our Military Jumta is dong:

The hundreds of the records are missing.’ 29 Jan 2012 The U.S. Defense Department cannot account for about $2 billion it was given to cover Iraq-related expenses and is not providing Iraq with a complete list of U.S.-funded reconstruction [sic] projects, according to two new government audits. The reports come from the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The Iraqi government in 2004 gave the Department of Defense access to about $3 billion to pay bills for certain contracts, and the department can only show what happened to about a third of that, the inspector general says in an audit published Friday.

Navy sending commando ‘mothership’ to Middle East 27 Jan 2012 The Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, ‘al-Qaeda’ in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats. In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs, procurement documents show.

Pentagon Seeks Mightier Bomb vs. Iran 28 Jan 2012 Pentagon war planners have concluded that their largest conventional bomb isn’t yet capable of destroying Iran’s most heavily fortified underground facilities, and are stepping up efforts to make it more powerful, according to U.S. officials briefed on the plan. The 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” bomb, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, was specifically designed to take out the hardened fortifications built by Iran and North Korea to cloak their [alleged] nuclear programs. Doubts about the MOP’s effectiveness prompted the Pentagon this month to secretly submit a request to Congress for funding to enhance the bomb’s ability to penetrate deeper into rock, concrete and steel before exploding, the officials said.

Fmr. Homeland Security Sec Ridge calls for Regime Change in Iran 28 Jan 2012 “Regime change, regime change, regime change.” That is what Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (R-Bush/Home Depot wh*re) said Saturday in an interview with Fox News, referring to the Obama Administration’s need to take action against Iran. A United Nations nuclear agency team is traveling to Tehran to investigate the progress of the country’s uranium enrichment. Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania warned that inaction from the administration could be detrimental to our U.S. long term security, in recent Fox News op-ed.

Obama administration using loophole to quietly sell arms package to Bahrain 27 Jan 2012 President Barack Obama’s administration has been delaying its planned $53 million arms sale to Bahrain due to human rights concerns and congressional opposition, but this week administration officials told several congressional offices that they will move forward with a new and different package of arms sales —

20012 State of the Union Address

The State of the Union Speech delivered by Barack Obama Tuesday smatters as a further milestone in the decay of American hopes and dreams.
Mmedia pundits call this a “populist appeal” by the Democratic president, effectively kicking off his reelection campaign, there was virtually nothing in the speech that even acknowledged the severe social crisis in America, let alone offering no solution. Proving Obama is a imperialist,
the sickening appeals to national unity and militarism. More cheerleading
The new depression years offer the biggest financial collapse since the Great Depression, the US economy remains mired in slump and the world economy is rapidly approaching a new cataclysm. Yet neither Obama nor his Republican opponents can acknowledge the overriding fact being experienced by hundreds of millions of working people: the desperate crisis of the capitalist system.
The Wall Street crash of 2008 plunged the country into a social crisis: mass unemployment, increasing poverty, the collapse of local and state government budgets, the shutdown of public services, the spread of hunger and homelessness. Yet for both Obama and the Republicans, the only solution proposed is to increase the profits of American corporations at the expense of the working class. Every so-called “job-creation” measure proposed by Obama was, in reality, a tax break or government subsidy for corporate America.
Obama’s speech not only slciked over the causes and results of the 2008 collapse, but entirely avoided any mention of the bloating financial crisis in Europe, which threatens to break up the euro zone, with incalculable consequences for the EU.
White House demand that auto workers take a 50 percent pay cut, along with the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs, major cuts in pension and health benefits for retired workers, and a ban on strike action, solidified the role of the United Auto Workers union as the company police force inside the plants.
While auto workers paid the price, the auto bosses reaped the profits.

Obama Stated:

“Today, General Motors is back on top as the world’s number one automaker,” Obama boasted, “the American auto industry is back.”
He continued with the following extraordinary words: “What’s happening in Detroit can happen in other industries. It can happen in Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Raleigh.” This statement should be taken as a threat to the jobs, living standards and democratic rights of every worker in the United States.
He made a brief reference to the 2008 financial crash, admitting that the banks were to blame, mainly for the purpose of excusing himself and his administration of responsibility. The president then announced that he had just ordered the attorney general—four years after the fact—to “expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis.” This election-year stunt will likely send no Wall Street CEOs to jail. It will fool only those who want to be fooled.
Obama emphasized that his social policies on education and health care were based firmly on the capitalist market and reiterated his commitment to further drastic cuts in social spending. He cited the deal he reached last summer with House Speaker John Boehner to slash funding for Medicare and Social Security in return for slightly higher taxes on the wealthy, which was derailed by opposition from the House Republican caucus.
He forgets to mention how he threw us under a bus during National Single Payer Health Care and said’ You get Health Care, get hit by a bus, and go to the Hospital for a Free lunch“.
The president repeatedly beat the drums for economic nationalism, focusing particularly on China as an alleged practitioner of predatory trade practices.
In the course of a long paean to American military strength and foreign policy “successes” like the overthrow and murder of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, Obama cited “the enduring power of our moral example.” Actually, under Obama even more than Bush, America is identified with a policy of global bullying and Mafioso tactics with murder, carried out by drones, death squads and hired assassins.
In final analysis, he is no different from Reagan. The Bushes, or Clinton.

Corporate Work Place

In America the joke would be going to work is like leaving America for
8 hours. And Human Rights Watch determines most workers have no rights
in the work place.  We owe that to the Democrats and Republicans who
are in the back pockets of there owners who invest in their campaigns.
What the system does is make people atomized and fearful. Security is
out of the question because we live in a cold cruel capitalist dog eat
dog society with no respect for no one
It is determined that the happiest employees work for Co-operatives
and Democratic Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPS) That the Peace
Dividend never took effect and the better jobs where never created.
Teenagers should be doing many of these jobs, but adults should have
progressed for something better. This never happened.   Between
outsourcing, downsizing, and a future jobless society anyone lucky
enough to get 40 hours, is stuck where they are at low paying mindless
mind numbing jobs.
Hostile and negative work environments become the norm because the
employers know they have us where they want us and they have full
advantage. There are solutions. in one way we can create jobs with
justice for adults, with a living wage and guaranteed workers rights.
A Thirty Two Hour work week so jobs can be made buy anyone who wants,
perpetuate a  mixed economy, and introduce the livable, unconditional
Basic Income for all. I saw a sign at the occupied movement saying I
lost my job and gained an occupation, people do work they are not even
paid for. Ask any mother. People are creative enough to create their
own work.
We need to create a livable future and a real alternative. It would be
nice of the occupied movement had leadership, solidarity, and a way (a
Political Party). There are answers, we need the courage to perpetuate
them.

2011 worse year for the poor

2011 sees a society of mass poverty, and vast wealth on the other—tens of millions of people are impoverished and desperate, while a relative handful enjoy a quality life.
Government agencies and social service organizations document the tidal wave of human need in statistics that are increasingly mind-boggling: 50 million Americans live below the official poverty line, while another 100 million live in “near-poverty,” struggling to support themselves on incomes so low that they are one misfortune away from destitution.
Some 25 million workers are either unemployed or underemployed, 50 million live without health insurance, one out of every seven Americans receives food assistance. The number of self-employed Americans has fallen by two million over the past five years. Nearly six million of the jobless have been out of work for more than six months.
The jobs crisis has steadily worsened, not only year-to-year, but decade after decade. American capitalism continues to generate record corporate profits and wealth for the super-rich, but is less and less able to provide employment for working people.
According to a study by the McKinsey consulting firm, it took six months for the US economy to return to pre-recession job levels after the 1982 recession.
The duration of mass unemployment is the driving force of a social crisis that blights the future of young and old. One out of every four American children depends on food stamps. Some 1.6 million children were homeless at some point or other during this year. For young workers aged 18 to 24, jobless rates exceed the Depression level of 20 percent. Nearly 20 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.
The minimum wage is just as important now as it was in 1938, when the wage law was enacted as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act, with a promise of guaranteeing
workers “a standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general wellbeing.”
Now we must fight for a living wage

The federal rate was 25 cents an hour, with states and local governments free to set their own minimums, as long as they are above the federal rate. Today’s rates are much higher, of course, although barely adequate. The federal rate is $7.25 an hour,
only about $15,000 a year for full-time workers before taxes and other deductions. Eighteen states, more than 100 cities and counties and the District of Columbia
have higher rates, but their rates also are clearly inadequate.

During his 2008 election campaign, President Obama proposed raising the minimum to $9.50 an hour by 2011. But even though that would merely adjust the minimum
wage for inflation, Congress and the White House have and will done nothing to make it happen.

Some of Obama’s Republican and Libertarian opponents in Congress actually have called for the minimum wage to be abolished, largely because their big money backers in
the restaurant business, who employ about 60 percent of all minimum wage workers, are against it, as are many other business and corporate interests

Meanwhile, those nearer the end of their working life have little to look forward to: according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.
Four million American families have seen foreclosure since the sub-prime mortgage crisis first erupted in 2007. 54 Million children live in poverty and harmlessness.
Nearly 12 million families occupy homes that are under water, financially speaking—the mortgage debt is more than the dwellings are worth in the depressed housing market.
The entire political segment , the Obama White House and Congress alike, are callously indifferent to the suffering of the population. These wealthy people cannot even relate to us filling us with American Dream non-sense.
While the vast majority of the American people confront increasing difficulty in meeting their basic social and economic requirements, the financial oligarchy lives in a different universe. These people have no empathy or understanding or even a acre about the human condition.
We needed to get rid of the two party-(one with two wings for a long time. We must change now and have a good Democratic Socialist Party in Office. The new American Revolution and change can only come from electing new political representative. Think American Labor Party=http://go.to/amlabor