If you haven’t said it yourself, chances are a family member or friend has: “When are they going to come and bail me out?” Mostly we’ve been thinking about the proposed $700 billion buyout for the financial industry (yes, when it started out it was a buyout for the American mortgage industry but now apparently it includes just about any big corporation, anywhere in the world, whose CEO ever had lunch on Wall Street). But when the capitalist politicians explain to you in their oh-so-patient way that the bailout is really a unique event to deal with a specific problem and that therefore you don’t get any of it, remind them about the $25 billion U.S. automaker bailout that the congress just voted on and that Bush signed into law.
That’s right, because the auto industry is feeling the credit crunch, the feds are extending $25 billion in low interest loans, allegedly to help them develop more fuel efficient cars.
We’re witnessing the largest government intervention in the capitalist economy in history. And yet, even as you read about the 10,000 foreclosures a day, or the $35 million in new budget cuts for human services here in Connecticut, or the possibility that employees in companies like Washington Mutual may lose not only their jobs but also millions of dollars in stock options and maybe even their pensions keep in mind that no one in Congress is discussing a bailout measure that would protect you, your family, or your community from economic devastation.
This is a time when the capitalist government shows its true purpose: to safeguard the interests of the capitalist class. In crisis, it’s the corporations that will always come first.
Already the business pundits are telling us that demands for protections for working people will only muck up this oh-so-important bailout. They are pressuring congress to ignore our needs in order to more quickly salvage their huge fortunes. That’s why it is so critically important that working people begin to consider our own interests first and demand that politicians act to protect those interests.
What would further the interests of working people in this crisis? Start with broadening and lengthening unemployment benefits, so that more workers are able to collect for longer periods of time. Start with a two year moratorium on all residential foreclosures and evictions so that the financial crisis doesn’t result in millions more homeless people. Start with federally funded jobs programs like the Depression-era WPA and CCC, so that people can work and feed their families while also saving the country’s infrastructure. Start with a commitment not to cut existing human services that are vital to the survival of working people.
If a year ago you had asked any mainstream economist if they could imagine the federal government spending $700 billion to help financial corporations write off their bad debts, they would have said it was impossible. But the impossible became possible when the organized capitalist class demanded it. Today they say that measures to protect working people, such as the ones I described above, would be impossible. To make them possible will take an enormous struggle by the organized working class.
Filed under: Economic crisis
[...] If you haven’t said it yourself, chances are a family member or friend has: “When are they going to come and bail me out?” Mostly we’ve been thinking about the proposed $700 billion buyout for the financial industry (yes, when it started out it was a buyout for the American mortgage industry but now apparently it includes just about any big corporation, anywhere in the world, whose CEO ever had lunch on Wall Street). But when the capitalist politicians explain to you in their oh-so-patient way that the bailout is really a unique event to deal with a specific problem and that therefore you don’t get any of it, remind them about the $25 billion U.S. automaker bailout that the congress just voted on and that Bush signed into law. (more…) [...]
Helping out the auto industry is helping out “me” out.
Think about it for one second. Jobs!
Cars are not made bought and repaired sold by robots.
If everyone keeps working in all industries that is a good thing for all of “me”.
For years, the unions and the government have been “helping out” troubled manufacturers with give-back contracts, tax cuts, tax breaks, bailouts, etc. And often the companies have responded to this generosity by using it to invest in technology that cuts jobs or relocating overseas or busting unions.
So there is no direct connection between give-aways to corporate America and benefits for working people. Maybe it does make sense for the government to help automakers develop more fuel efficient cars . . . but if that’s the case it is in our interests to say “Okay, but the bailout comes with strings: no lay-offs for 12 months . . . or no offshore outsourcing of product x.”
Does this seem so unreasonable? When Business comes to the table it says “Me first.” It’s time for the working class to come to the table and say “Me first.”