We've got to get this structure of equality much more deeply embedded in our society. I think that means more economic democracy, or workplace democracy, of every kind. We're talking about friendly societies, mutual societies, employee ownership, employee representatives on the board, cooperatives—ways in which business is subjected to democratic influence.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Want the Good Life? Your Neighbors Need It, Too
from Yes! website.
Murray Bookchin on Growth and Consumerism
a condensed reprint of an article by Murrary Bookchin from Climate and Capitalism.
It’s not enough, however, to blame our environmental problems on the obsession with growth. A system of deeply entrenched structures — of which growth is merely a surface manifestation — makes up our society. These structures are beyond moral control, much as the flow of adrenaline is beyond the control of a frightened creature This system has, in effect, the commanding quality of natural law. ….
Unless growth is traced to its basic source — competition in a grow-or-die market society — the demand for controlling growth is meaningless as well as unattainable. We can no more arrest growth while leaving the market intact than we can arrest egoism while leaving rivalry intact.
Déjà vu, all over again. And again. And again.
by Russ Baker, investigative journalist extraordinaire, from his blog, Who What Why.
The disappearance of harmful documentation and related amnesia is a leitmotif of the George W. Bush administration, but also of his father’s political career.
Bolivia: Women a driving force in the revolutionary process
from International Journal of Socialist Renewal.
In January, Bolivia’s left-wing President Evo Morales began his second term by appointing a new cabinet in which women are equally represented for the first time. Morales, Bolivia’s first president from the nation’s long-oppressed Indigenous majority, is leading a revolutionary process of transformation. The 10 women ministers are from a wide range of backgrounds, and three of them are Indigenous.
The right kind of bigotry
by Glenn Greenwald from Salon. Nowadays in the freedom loving country of USA, bigotry is becoming socially acceptable, even fashionable if its directed against the right people.
Those Salem Witchs - I mean, American Terrorists
from New American. A rather different view on an alleged terrorist that the US government is targeting in its "war on terror", and the methods they use--but then it's okay when they are Muslims.
Whose Bank? Public Investment, Not Private Debt
from Yes! website.
The public bank concept is gaining ground on the state level, attracting proponents across the political spectrum.
Friday, March 5, 2010
The Story So Far on the Gov’t Loan Mod Program
from Pro-Publica.
The administration’s foreclosure prevention program began operation last April.
We at ProPublica have been closely covering the problems that homeowners have encountered since the program’s launch. Delays and frustration [4] have been common: Homeowners and housing counselors frequently complain that servicers lose financial documents [5] and make mistakes [6]. Many struggling homeowners have waited several months [7] for an answer from their mortgage servicers.
March 5: Building a Movement, Starting Today
from the Daily Californian.
Today our newspapers will be dominated by the headlines that March 4 was a historic day for public education. They will say that never before have so many people from all the sectors of education mobilized across the state and country.
They are right that March 4 should be remembered for all of these things. Unfortunately, the real history-making day will have been misquoted. It is our actions and decisions on March 5 that will truly mark just how determined we are to transform our broken education system.
Economists: Another Financial Crisis on the Way
from ABC news service.
Even as many Americans still struggle to recover from the country's worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, another crisis – one that will be even worse than the current one – is looming, according to a new report from a group of leading economists, financiers, and former federal regulators.
Mexico Subdued by the Empire
from Strategic Culture Foundation.
The resistance to privatization is mounting. The oil sector is actively defending itself. The electric power industry trade union is fighting against personnel cuts. Over 44,000 protesters who had lost their jobs put tents at the El Zokalo square in Mexico City. They are determined to continue struggling despite the threat of repressions from Calderon and the business who believe “social peace” should be ensured across the country, if necessary by force.
Nobel Prize-Winning Economist: Federal Reserve System is Corrupt and Undermines Democracy
from Washington's Blog.
Joseph Stiglitz - former head economist at the World Bank and a nobel-prize winner - said yesterday that the very structure of the Federal Reserve system is so fraught with conflicts that it is "corrupt" and undermines democracy.
The European strikes and the trade unions
from World Socialist Web Site. The author uses the current European economic crisis to illustrate how unions under capitalism collaborate with capitalists to maintain the system.
Last week was marked by two significant developments. [First] A strike wave hit Europe as workers in a series of countries began to demonstrate their opposition to the austerity measures demanded by the European Union and the banks.
[Second] In all countries, the trade unions responded by isolating and suppressing the workers’ actions and closing ranks with their respective governments and the European financial elite. The central concern of the unions was to prevent the working people of Europe from uniting in a common struggle against their common enemy—the European bourgeoisie and its agents in the national governments and the European Union.
Study Says Undersea Release of Methane Is Under Way
from the NY Times.
Climate scientists have long warned that global warming could unlock vast stores of the greenhouse gas methane that are frozen into the Arctic permafrost, setting off potentially significant increases in global warming.
Now researchers at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and elsewhere say this change is under way in a little-studied area under the sea, the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, west of the Bering Strait.
DoD Releases Records of Illegal Surveillance
from Truthout.
Much of the improper activity consisted of intelligence gathering on so-called "US Persons," including citizens, permanent residents and US-based organizations.
Consumers Are Sleeping With the Enemy
from Toward Freedom
In the same way consumers have become captive to the social networking industry, we have likewise become captive to the telecommunications, satellite television, pharmaceutical, fossil fuel, fast food and credit card industries (to name a few). We may not like the ways in which these corporate behemoths treat us, but we’re too addicted to their products to do much about it. Those addictions to everything corporate may offer the only cogent explanation of why we remain paralyzed in the face of apparently unlimited corporate power.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Max Keiser Interviews David DeGraw — The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the USA [video]
originally from RT, but carried here on Amped Status. Be sure to activate the 13m video at approximately 13:26m into the video. As you may be aware, six previous segments on DeGraw's views have been presented in articles on this website. Unfortunately, his conclusions at the end of the interview suggest that he thinks that the system can be fixed or reformed to work better.
"It is Not Because Things are Difficult that We Do Not Dare; It Is Because We Do Not Dare that They are Difficult.”
from Washington's Blog. This astute blogger offers a re-post of an earlier article of his to those of you who occasionally get discouraged about changing the world.
I don't know about you . . . but I don't have the luxury of giving up hope. When I get depressed, overwhelmed or exhausted by the stunning acts of savagery, treason, and disinformation carried out by the imperialists, or the willful ignorance of many Americans, I will myself into finding some reason to have hope.
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