Would Congress- esp. the Senate- give up its salary and benefits? No.// The reduced price of oil/gasoline will delay change of habits and a real effort to address energy issues.//American Express also needs a bailout.//Bailouts are becoming a new heavenly salvation! Soon, no one will pay their bills- why bother? Sad.
On Nov 12, 2:17 am, "\"Lone Wolf\"" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Bailouts for banks: Layoffs for workers > 12 November 2008 > > Working people in the United States are confronting a wave of layoffs > that is sweeping through every sector of the economy, with devastating > social implications. The same prospect confronts workers in a host of > other countries. > > With the US economy now shedding approximately a quarter million jobs > a month, the ranks of those officially counted as unemployed have > swollen to more than 10 million. Over 6 million more have been > relegated to involuntary part-time work, and nearly 2 million have > fallen off the charts because they have ceased actively looking for a > job. Younger workers trying to get their first job are increasingly > finding the door to entry-level employment slammed shut. > > Nearly one out of eight American workers is now unemployed or > underemployed, and this at what most economists acknowledge to be only > the onset of a recession and the beginning of what looks to be a very > cold winter. > > In the first week of this month alone, a range of companies announced > a combined total of 15,000 layoffs. The past several days have > provided ample evidence that the pace of job destruction is > accelerating. > > • The German-owned parcel delivery company DHL Express announced > Monday that it is ceasing domestic shipping operations in the US, > wiping out 9,500 jobs and threatening to turn Wilmington, Ohio, where > 7,000 of those jobs are located, into a ghost town. > > • On the same day the electronics retailer Circuit City filed for > bankruptcy, laying off another 700 workers on top of the 7,000 layoffs > it announced a week ago, together with the closure of 155 stores. > > • Financial analysts and industry executives told the Financial Times > of London that soon-to-be-announced budget plans for the financial > industry will entail another 70,000 layoffs in the US. > > • In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced last Thursday > that the city will cut 3,000 jobs from its workforce. Similar actions > are being taken by local and state governments and other public > agencies throughout the country, as they face declining tax revenues > and increasing difficulty obtaining credit. > > Among the sectors hardest hit by the deepening financial crisis is the > auto industry, with the Big Three US carmakers—General Motors, Ford > and Chrysler—all teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. > > GM Tuesday announced that it will place nearly 2,000 more autoworkers > on indefinite layoff in the first quarter of 2009. This comes on top > of another 3,900 workers who are facing indefinite layoff as of this > Friday. Ford announced 2,600 job cuts last Friday. > > GM's announcement came as the company's stock price plunged by 15 > percent, hitting the lowest level since the middle of the Second World > War. Following third-quarter losses totaling $4.2 billion, the > country's biggest auto company reported that it is running dangerously > low on cash needed to maintain operations, prompting fears that it > could soon go bankrupt. According to some estimates, such a bankruptcy > could result in the destruction of up 2.5 million jobs as the impact > spreads from GM and its own 325,000 employees to its suppliers, > dealerships and related sectors of the economy. > > In the face of this unfolding catastrophe, the political establishment > has begun discussing an extension of the government bailout of the > major US banks and Wall Street finance houses to the auto industry. > Democratic President-Elect Barack Obama reportedly discussed such a > proposal with President Bush at their White House meeting Monday, and > Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that the House will > convene next week to vote on a proposal to provide the Big Three with > aid from the Treasury Department's $700 billion financial rescue > program. > > While Democratic politicians are pitching the proposed aid to the auto > companies as a matter of spreading the bailout from "Wall Street to > Main Street," the real aim on both streets is the same: Rescuing the > private fortunes and property of capitalist investors and executives, > while forcing the working class to foot the bill. > > The social interests being defended by this vast outlay of taxpayer > funds were spelled out in a column written for the New York Times last > week by two prominent Harvard University economists, David Scharfstein > and Jeremy Stein. They warned that the bailout of the banks placed no > restrictions on the payout of dividends to their wealthy shareholders— > not to mention the absence of any other requirements on how the banks > use the hundreds of billions of dollars in public funds they receive. > If such dividends are paid out at current levels, fully $25 billion of > the $125 billion in taxpayer money going to the country's nine biggest > banks will be paid out in the form of dividends to these shareholders > in the first year alone. > > The government's outlay to prop up insurance giant AIG was nearly > doubled to $150 billion Monday. It was also revealed that the Federal > Reserve's lending topped $2 trillion for the first time last week. In > this ever-expanding bailout, seemingly unlimited funds have been made > available to secure Wall Street's fortunes, while Washington has > failed to make available any significant aid to the millions of > unemployed or the millions more facing the loss of their home. > > There should be no illusions that a bailout of the Big Three would be > any different. Its aim would be to restore profitability, and it would > be conditioned on demands for a sweeping rationalization and > downsizing of the auto industry, together with new attacks on wages > and on health and pension benefits for both active workers and > retirees. > > The answer to the jobs crisis created by the parasitism of Wall Street > and the looming bankruptcy of the auto industry and other sectors of > the economy lies not in the bailout of their owners, but rather in the > struggle for socialist policies, including the nationalization of > these giant corporations and their transformation into public > utilities, subject to the democratic oversight and control of the > working population. > > Instead of pouring billions more dollars into the private coffers of > America's financial elite, the huge bonuses and compensation packages > that the executives have awarded themselves while leading their > companies into bankruptcy should be confiscated and utilized to > improve conditions of life for those facing unemployment, the loss of > their homes, the shutoff of their utilities and the loss of their life > savings. > > Nationalization under workers' control would establish the foundations > for reorganizing economic life in the interests of the majority and > protecting working people from the return of conditions not seen since > the Great Depression. It would create the framework within which > production could be geared to the satisfaction of human needs, rather > than the generation of profit and the accumulation of personal wealth > by the financial aristocracy. > > It would allow the rehiring of the unemployed and the provision of > jobs to young people by reducing the work week to 30 hours, with no > reduction in pay. > > The incoming Obama administration will carry out no such measures. It > will be committed to the defense of the corporate and banking > interests which dominate both the Democratic and Republican parties > and which financed the Obama campaign. It will impose whatever > conditions are required to defend these interests at the expense of > working people. > > The struggle for nationalization under workers' control can be > advanced only through the mobilization of working people independently > of the Democrats and the entire two-party system, through the building > of a new mass political movement based on a socialist and > internationalist program. This is the aim of the Socialist Equality > Party. > > Bill Van Auken --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
