Capitalists argue over their Crises

The RNC in Cleveland is over (thankfully) and the pillar of hot air that was spewing out from over that city is now dissipating. Hopefully this means that this heat wave is going to be over soon.  (Yet another cause of global warming - politicos talking.)

What is not over and won't be over is the two capitalist parties arguing over the crises that they created.

Speeches in Cleveland focused on the problems that America is facing and who is to blame.  Republicans want to blame the Democrats for everything under the sun,  such as:

The deficit: Well, in the 1980's President Reagan tripled it. President GHW Bush added more to it. President WJ Clinton knocked it down on the backs of the poor and middle class. And then the President (sic) GW Bush jacked it up to the sky with unfunded tax cuts, two + wars in the Middle East, and unfunded insurance mandate, and other misguided policies that made the rich richer and everyone else worse off than before. President Obama just followed in GW Bush's footsteps with the bailouts of the banks and Wall Street, more wars (undeclared), and the Un affordable Care Act (which forces Americans to buy insurance from private insurance companies).

And top that off with the world's most expensive military with weapon programs and systems that don't work at all – the anti-missile system, the F-22, the F-35, the USS Gerald Ford (a sitting duck of a non-working aircraft carrier), the littoral combat ship, and so many other boondoggles.

So, who is to blame for the deficit? Looks like the two capitalist parties to me.

Then there is the issue of jobs. Are jobs being created or lost? Well, low paying jobs without benefits are being created. I'm talking about minimum wage jobs at fast food restaurants, home health service aides, cleaners, and other menial task jobs. There are jobs being created that do have high salaries and benefits, but you need a college degree for that and, well, college tuition is going up faster than inflation. That rules out most people's ability to go to college to get those jobs.

And jobs are being lost. Through NAFTA (signed into law by Democratic President WJ Clinton) and CAFTA (Signed into law by President (sic) GW Bush) and a host of other so called “free trade” agreements. The only thing “free” about these trade agreements is the capitalist's ability to move to where labor costs are the lowest and the ability to escape tariffs. Among a host of other benefits for the capitalist corporations and their owners.

So, who is to blame for the jobs crisis? Looks like the capitalist parties to me.

And then there is the military. The world's most expensive military. Republicans claim that it is weaker now than ever before. Well, before the disastrous invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq it may have been pretty strong. But America went head long into the graveyard of empires (Afghanistan) and foolishly into a second war (Iraq) based on the flimsiest of pretences (non-existent WMDs) under the Bush administration. President Obama is re-escalating Iraq and Afghanistan, dragged us into Libya – where we created an international disaster and crisis, supported the crushing of democratic uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, and Yemen, and is now working to drag us into Syria. This is on top of expanding the military's work in Africa with the development of AFRICOM and sticking our noses into Somalia, Nigeria, and other places.

All that is on top of expanding NATO and threatening Russia with war games on the Russian border.

America is weaker militarily because of the capitalist parties going overboard on actions that, if they listened to President George Washington, we wouldn't be involved in. Remember that “entangling foreign alliance” thing? Seems to me like this is it.

So we have two arsonists arguing over who set a house on fire.

At the same time they are stopping the fire fighters from getting into put out the blaze.

Third parties are kept out of the media by the capitalist owned press. The same capitalists that created this mess that we are in.

If we want to address these problems, we need:

-a single payer health care plan that would cost us 3% of our income rather than the 13% we pay now

-implement fair tax plans that eliminate loopholes for the wealthy

-to cut wasteful military spending on weapons systems that don't work and reign in cost over runs

-close all foreign military bases and bring all troops home now

-cancel all “free movement of capital” trade agreements 

-implement a $15 minimum wage now for all workers and cut excessive wages & benefits for the 1%

-expand worker owned & run cooperatives to reduce and end unemployment

-shut down Wall Street & distribute all profits to the workers and unemployed

And so many other policies and practices.

Read the SocialistAction 2016 Platform for a more complete list of socialist ideas that need to be implemented to end the capitalist crises that we are locked in.

Join us in winning the fight against the capitalist controlled parties and their contrived and created crises.

Socialism NOW.