As ratings
agency Moody’s considers the possibility of cutting the US AAA debt
rating, concerned that the US could default on its debt obligations, we
publish a recent editorial statement of the US Socialist Appeal on the
forthcoming wave of massive cuts in public spending in the United
States. As the article points out, “the capitalists must impose a new
normality on the U.S. working class. The crisis of their system means
that small cuts or adjustments are no longer enough. The hatchet is out
now…”
As ratings
agency Moody’s considers the possibility of cutting the US AAA debt
rating, concerned that the US could default on its debt obligations, we
publish a recent editorial statement of the US Socialist Appeal on the
forthcoming wave of massive cuts in public spending in the United
States. As the article points out, “the capitalists must impose a new
normality on the U.S. working class. The crisis of their system means
that small cuts or adjustments are no longer enough. The hatchet is out
now…”
Placards on February 26 protest in Madison. Photo: Fibonacci Blue“Death
by a thousand cuts” was a horrific form of torture originated in
Imperial China that slowly bled the victim to death. No individual cut
by itself was enough to cause the victim’s demise, but the accumulated
effect of the blood loss, pain, shock, and trauma of hundreds of small
cuts eventually did the job.
Some have called this kind of
phenomenon “creeping normalcy,” whereby small, almost imperceptible
changes gradually build up over time, leading at a certain stage to a
fundamental and qualitative change of state. Or as the saying goes,
“Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile.”
In a similar way, the
American Dream has been whittled away over the last few decades. A small
health care premium increase here. A smaller wage increase there. A
401k instead of a traditional pension. Fewer days of paid sick leave.
Small cuts in essential social services, starting as far back as Carter,
continuing under Reagan and Bush Sr., and accelerating under Clinton,
Bush Jr. and now Obama. The accumulated effect of these “small” cuts
have left the social safety net in tatters, not to mention the quality
of life Americans had come to expect as “normal.”
But these cuts
were just the proverbial “tip of the iceberg.” Now the real pain begins.
As we have explained before, the capitalists must impose a new
normality on the U.S. working class. The crisis of their system means
that small cuts or adjustments are no longer enough. The hatchet is out
now, and even programs that seemed “untouchable,” such as Medicaid,
Medicare, and even Social Security are fair game. Because under
capitalism, nothing is “untouchable.” As long as there are profits to be
made and the working class does not wage a mass struggle of resistance,
the bosses will always demand more. More cuts. More concessions. All in
the pursuit of more profit.
The scale of the coming cuts is
mind-boggling. Ordinary workers cannot possibly have any real conception
of the tsunami that approaches. Even more in shock are the labor
leaders, who hoped against hope that they could somehow reach a
“gentleman’s agreement” with the bosses and their political parties. But
money talks, and big business has a vice grip on all levels of
government, no matter which of the two main parties is in power.
Many
thought Scott Walker in Wisconsin was an anomaly, a particularly
vicious representative of the “Tea Party.” But it’s the same story
everywhere: cuts, layoffs, furloughs, rising health care costs, tuition
and fees. In California, Democratic Governor Jerry Brown is imposing a
truly staggering series of cuts. In New Jersey, the Democratic
legislature is cheering on the cuts imposed by the Republican governor.
In Minnesota, a standoff over the budget has led to a state shutdown,
with billions in cuts already conceded to the Republicans by the “worker
friendly” Democratic governor.
Here is what we wrote about the coming budget debate in the January 2011 issue of Socialist Appeal:
“The
bipartisan Bowles-Simpson Commission, which outlined sweeping cuts in
social spending and advised an increase in the retirement age, will be
the blueprint for the cuts to come. Obama will inevitably find a
‘compromise,’ which will mean serious cuts in our already precarious
standard of living. From the impending battle over increasing the
federal spending debt ceiling to repeal of the anemic health care bill,
the Republicans will continue to bully the Democrats, who will continue
to cave and compromise, selling out the futures of millions of
Americans. The reason is simple: the ruling class needs to drive down
wages and cut social services, and they don’t care which capitalist
party gets the job done for them.”
The perspective we
outlined six months ago have been entirely confirmed by events.
However, the scale of the impending cuts is even worse than those
envisioned by Bowles-Simpson (which was cynically referred to as the
“cat food” commission, as the poor and elderly will have to resort to
eating pet food if they also want to pay the rent and buy medicine!).
As
CNN.com put it, “Obama plays nice, GOP turns tough.” In other words,
the “bad cop” has the upper hand over the “good cop,” and the “inch” has
now turned into a “mile.”
CNN.com continues:
“The
debt ceiling negotiations have amounted to a succession of retreats and
concessions by President Obama. The president opened negotiations by
offering $3 of spending cuts for every $1 of tax increases. His current
offer tilts even further to the GOP: $6 of spending cuts to $1 of tax
increases … Spending cuts [would] come from programs Republicans
dislike, like Medicaid, rather than programs they like, like the farm
budget. The tax increases meanwhile are designed to be as acceptable as
possible to the GOP: no increases in tax rates, but instead trimming
some of the less defensible deductions in the tax code.”
The
rich and corporations are richer than ever, taxed less than the average
worker, and more free to exploit loopholes in the system than at any
time in history. And still they want more.
Parroting the Tea
Party, Obama says the government should “live within means.” We say it
needs more means! Even a modest progressive overhaul of the tax code
would produce a massive budget surplus—but the rich would fight against
this tooth and nail. Only a mass political and social movement, headed
by the unions and fighting in the workplace, on the campuses, and in the
streets, can win even this most basic demand.
The Democrats are
absolutely incapable of fighting the Republican “cuts and concessions”
juggernaut. They are just as tied to big business as their partners
across the aisle. We have beaten the “build a labor party!” drum for
years, but the need has never been more urgent. The 1.3 million
signatures collected in Ohio to put a referendum on the anti–public
sector worker legislation on November’s ballot is just one example of
how the labor movement could mobilize its forces to build a such a
party.
We are told there is no money for a mass program of useful
public works, while the military spends $400 on a single gallon of
gasoline in Afghanistan and $1 million per year to keep just one soldier
stationed there. We are told there is no money for health care and
education, and yet the Pentagon spends an incredible $20.2 billion a
year on air conditioning alone in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s more than
NASA’s entire budget and more than it cost to clean up the Gulf Coast
oil spill.
In Minnesota, the Republicans called the governor’s
bluff and forced a state shutdown. It cannot be ruled out that they will
also call Obama’s, leading to a default of the U.S. government, which
would make a Greek default look like a garden party in comparison. It
may seem impossible that Wall Street would let things go this far, but
the ruling class must fundamentally retool the federal government and
what citizens can expect from it. They want to roll back the clock 100
years or more, to squeeze ever more out of the workers while providing
as little as possible in return, and they don’t mind imposing a
little—or a lot—of pain to achieve their goals.
But the
capitalists disregard at their own peril the Marxist tenet that
conditions determine consciousness. Just as conditions 100 years ago
eventually led to an almighty fight back by the working class, so too
will this be the case in the not-too-distant future. Tremendous
explosions of the class struggle are on the horizon: the workers have no
other choice!
The material basis of the American Dream is being
completely undermined. And as the illusions in this fairy tale continue
to erode, so too will illusions in the capitalist system itself. This
will provide enormously fertile ground for the ideas of revolutionary
Marxism and socialism, as workers look not only for an explanation for
the crisis, but a way out of it.
The time to fight back is now! No to bipartisan cuts! No to concessions! Build a labor party! Fight for socialism!
Source: Socialist Appeal (USA)
