WHO WILL LEAD HUMANITY AND BY WHAT STAR?

In ancient times mariners found their way by observing the stars, the constellations at night. The north star was particularly useful since it always stayed in the same spot. What kind of star should humanity guide itself by?

Of course we humans like finding things that we can rely on, certain constants so to speak. We look for something that is solid and reliable. Hence we have various religious groups referring to their faith in geological terms, rock of ages and all that. Then there is the big meteorite in Mecca which is somehow regarded as holy because Muhammad did something there, was it ascend to heaven? That is the story anyway. Anyway the huge meteorite, towering above everyone in a beautiful and impressive tent must give believers a sense of solidity.

Unfortunately or not the world is constantly changing. We relied on cheap gasoline a year ago. Now we suspect that gasoline and other carbon fuels may never be cheap again.

For one thing we cannot ignore facts without potentially serious consequences. I wonder if some believers deny the meteoric origin of the huge stone at the Kabba? Of course that would probably not be a very dangerous belief! On the other hand we have those who are denying that global warming is a problem, they attack the science indicating this trend and they create pseudo-science and propaganda to oppose this science.

Why does the bourgeoisie oppose science and deny facts? Why do they lie to the public and buy politicians to do their bidding? They do it to make money, so profit apparently trumps reality, even if we all suffer beyond our imaginations later.

Frankly, the capitalist motto is "screw the other guy and all future generations". I think the "other guy" should neither be raped economically nor politically. As for future generations they deserve the best world we can deliver to them, not a hellish hothouse on a barren planet!

Seek the truth from facts. Science is a great source of understanding and if we have understanding we can guide ourselves much better than if we don't have a scientific understanding of ourselves, our society and the world.

Today the firm rock of the free market appears to be splintering into thousands of shards, not unlike Plymouth rock! Can all the bourgeoisie's economists and politicians put it back together again? What is needed is some economic super glue. Has anyone invented that? What would economic super glue look like? Is it hard core fascism? Will there be block formation and world war? Will capitalism develop international financial controls that work for the capitalists? Will the sailors of Petrograd storm the Winter Palace only to find no one is there?

Of course the "free market" rhetoric should stop! The federal government is nationalizing private corporations and financial institutions to guarantee the wealth of the super rich! All the fat cats are lining up for membership in the club of investors who cannot lose! These are the same clowns who say they are going to reduce taxes! Where will the first trillion dollars come from, Mr. Paulson, Mr. Bush, Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain? Not from the fortunes of the most fortunate! Now there is a CONSTANT as long as we are on the capitalist road.

Since WWII the involvement of the federal government in the economy has grown by leaps and bounds. The military budget is so vast and its operations so strategically located that the entire nation's political elite are beholding to military contractors and Pentagon spending. So there is a sort of military socialism because so much of the nation's so-called wealth is in terms of weaponry and military spending, things that are rarely useful without a war.

ASIDE: [It reminds me of Condoleeza, the human not the oil tanker, and how she noted something to the effect of "What do we have all these magnificent weapons for unless we use them." So if you have a gun, start a war! This is the way the national security people think. McCain is clearly eager for war!]

Then the Federal Reserve and other institutions have been designing and creating an economy and this is an institution that may even be above government, but they clearly have access to the powers of the Treasury and control money policy. Now, with so many investments being underwritten by the federal government during this economic meltdown it looks like the average American is going to be expected to pay a high price for casino capitalism. I suppose we could cynically put
a bumper sticker on our car, "Free Enterprise Isn't Free, Bail Out the Rich!"

Of course the current economic collapse is not entirely unprecedented. Its inevitability was guaranteed, if not by Marxist theory, then by a probability model, chaos theory, quantum mechanics, military realities, or naturalistic observation. Then there is common sense. Anyone could see that not every shack is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. At least it seemed like a bunch of crap to me. The very idea that these shacks could then be bundled into a security, called a derivative is absurd. Then, apparently, derivatives were bundled to create a derivative of a derivative. This apparently went another step and derivatives of derivatives of derivatives were also traded! I guess this is supposed to have something to do with derivatives in calculus but it looks like MATHEMATICS ABUSE to me, ie. the use of mathematics to misrepresent reality in order to manipulate consumers and citizens.

The mainstream economists and those they serve never predicted this catastrophe, nor did they prevent it. I guess they were too damn busy trying to help the rich make money and keep the capitalist contraption working as long as they could. The Federal Reserve is crucially responsible here. Frankly, I see these efforts to keep an unstable system from breaking down as having a long history. This may simply be as far as they could take the machine of the capitalist economy.

Whether or not the desperate measures taken in recent days will prevent a complete collapse of the financial system is yet to be scene. What is emerging is a policy of nationalizing enterprises that would otherwise go bankrupt. This bails out certain investors holding the bad securities, the first, second and third derivatives! (How transparently absurd!) We are underwriting idiocy, but I guess it is pretty sweet to invest in securities the government will insure against failure.

Of course we are likely to hear more drivel about the "free market" from libertarians. Whatever the validity of markets and the tools created to understand and control them there is more to life than the free market and what we need is a system that provides an opportunity for a wholesome life with fulfilling work and a humane social contract for all people in all nations, period!

So relentless criticism of all the bourgeois ideas and all the bourgeois exploitation that have led to this debacle is in order. Of course the workers of the United States and the world need to wake up to this opportunity to throw off their chains. Let's get rid of this cannibalistic capitalist system and create a world with a sustainable way of life, a high level of culture and real peace with real prosperity.

NO PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE RULING CLASS

After deregulating the economy for nearly thirty years the bipartisan consensus has been, pretty much, free market fundamentalism. Of course, tens of thousands of economists and other keepers of the economy have been on duty, but there has been a deregulatory effort which ran amok, as the regulators and financial geniuses knew it would.

Republicans and the blue dog Democrats determined that it was essential that the fox be allowed to freely prey upon the hen house because that fox helped finance this or that pandering politician.
Well, there was a lot of chicken and eggs for a while. Now most of the chickens are dead and there are a few rotten eggs. Time to call in the workers to clean up the mess with their taxes and with inflation and with more sacrifice than ever. Still, the fox had a good time and the super rich are being bailed out! Who is bailing them out? You are!

So hurry up and pay off this debt for the rich! The ruling elites and investors want a nice hen house running again. When the hen house is up and running the rich and super rich hope to return as investors with tax dollars in their pockets. They plan on continued rule from Wall Street and on high. Investors.

Since capitalism is as much about robbery as it is about actually producing and selling something of value, deregulation was essential. Many made out like bandits and for those who took risks that didn't workout for them are now to be coddled by the nanny state. Yes, you and I and our children and grandchildren are going to be bailing out the rich. It's the new bipartisan consensus! So don't worry. The corrupt and corrupting are going to be O. K.. Taxes will obviously pay for this. You wouldn't want those mansions to be empty do you?

The imbecility of both bourgeois candidates has been especially clear during this intensifying capitalist meltdown. This unprecedented crisis of capitalism is unlikely to be effectively managed by a political class that knows only how to pander to the super rich and deceive the public.

Taxes must pay for the trillions of dollars of debt now being imposed on the working people of the United States. Big business and big government agree, you will pay for this whether you like it or not. The working people of the United States have not been even allowed a democratic discussion. There is no transparency about what is really going and "we the people of these united states" are not allowed to have any influence on the outcome. We didn't ask for the debt, it is a gift of our capitalist elite. Enjoy your future as a debt slave for the rich or start thinking about what all this free enterprise rhetoric has been all about, your slavery and slavery for your family for generations.

Of course the workers will need to deal with this one way or another. Perhaps they will realize the fox is just ripping them off and start running the whole damn farm themselves. Or they can be share croppers, yaza boss slaves and loyal Democrats and Republicans.

THE SLOW TRAIN WRECK GOES ON AND ON AND ON

More than a year ago it became evident that the United States economy was in serious trouble. It turns out that the securities created from bundled mortgages are wrapped up in something called derivatives. Derivatives are supposed to be a mathematically more sophisticated financial instrument. Sophisticated maybe, but a pig in a poke is still a poor investment. You keep on hearing investors don't know what a derivative instrument represents. No one knows what kind of pig is in that poke!

It seems that realtors, appraisers, county tax assessors, brokers, fund managers and Wall Street in general all collaborated to falsify the actual value of real property. Hence property values and county tax revenues sky rocketed. It was an investment bubble but for a while everyone was making money.

Now we see that the whole housing boom was largely a fraud bilking millions and tens of millions of people into taking out loans they couldn't possibly pay in the long run. By the time homeowner couldn't pay the loan originator had disappeared with the profits and investors wound up taking the bullet. These profiteers sold these securitized mortgages to investors all over the world. Investors of all kinds are finding that their wonderful investments are squeling to high heaven. A pig in a poke named "Derivative" appears to have brought capitalism to its knees. Now we taxpayers get to bail out the Chinese government which invested in these mortgage based securities. Yes for a year or more housing bubbles have been bursting one household and one institution at a time.

With the bipartisan endorsed multi-trillion dollar obligations now imposed on you and me for the bailout of private corporations Freddie Mac and Fannie May the crisis is being resolved at our personal expense. Yet, even that bailout, and the bailout of AIG there seems to be no effect on the falling stock market. How many other bubbles are out their just waiting to burst as well?

Yes, something rather serious is going on. Billionaires, millionaires and big investors all around the world are picking the pockets of the little guy.
Of course, if the little guy tries to get that money back the rich folks will point out just how wrong it is. Yes the owners of our Society believe they have a right to take the money of the workers and use it as their own.

Apparently various national banks around the world are trying to pour money into investment rat holes hoping against hope that no one will start looking for the rats! Only two investment banks remain standing in the United States. Then they keep on saying that one bank won't lend money to another bank. The banking system is in peril.

All the policy wonks on television have lost their professional air and look more like Alice hurtling down an apparently endless rabbit hole. Then wasn't it Greenspan who said it was a hundred year decline! That means worse than the so-called Great Depression. Will it be referred to as the Greater Depression?

What can the little guy do besides listen to Adam Bold on PBS? All the workers and small entrepreneurs can do is unite to fight for their rights and their freedom against the big bourgeoisie. Housing rights could be a multiracial civil rights issue/movement. Imagine a homeless camp of a million in Washington, D.C. demanding the restitution of foreclosed homes!

BAILOUT THE SCAMMED HOMEOWNERS FIRST!

BAN AND PROSECUTE PREDATORY LENDING!

OUTLAW USURY!

Of course, here in the United States, the people need to be united and mobilized in mass movements that remove the stranglehold of big oil, big coal and big gas from the throat of our economy. The economy and society must be modified so it can cope with the challenges of global warming, economic collapse and other damning features of capitalism.

The mass movements should start building a new society even as this one is falling apart. Parallel institutions to serve the people must be formed by activists because the United States government and state governments are walking away from their own citizens. Look at New Orleans and now
Galveston and Houston. Look at the health of our citizens. The government just walks away. Progressive mass movements can provide help, services and support that the government cannot or will not provide. This is not to say that appropriate government aid should be opposed or refused by people in need.

The time has come for progressives to begin filling this needs vacuum and to do this by mobilizing the masses and to help them struggle for genuine power so they can run society in their actual self-interest. The working class should basically own and operate society and we can see if the results are better than the last five hundred years of capitalism.

The biggest challenge seems to be that there are a lot of reactionaries who don't want the kind of liberating change we need. How can we organize so these reactionaries can be persuaded to support working class rule? Of course, if some remain adversaries then how can working class movements effectively defeat these reactionary leaders in political contests such as elections or campaigns of one sort or another.

Naturally a feminist group might take a different approach than an ecology focused one in contributing to human survival and social revolution. Of course, opposition to imperialism and support for
working class democracies running the country and the world are two
essential components of any progressive trend.

Bush and Cheney want bourgeois democracies everywhere, or at least they say they do. This is not the same as working class democracies inasmuch as capitalists rule the first type of society and workers rule the second type.

A powerful, indigenous, anti-capitalist majority can now be formed if millions of progressives unite in supporting and leading such a mass movement. It is a once in a hundred year capitalist collapse. With the very viability of the Earth at stake we need to move on and put capitalism in the history books!

OLYMPIC CELEBRATIONS HERALD WORLDWIDE CAPITALIST CRISIS

The Olympic Games were not just about the big bourgeoisie of China celebrating their glorious rule. It was even more an international ruling class festival. The grand plan to exploit the workers of the world for maximum profit was celebrated in the heartland of world production today. They even turned off the factories so the ruling classes and their adherents would not have to breathe the normally soot laden air. What a treat!

Of course the air of Beijing is unbreathable again and yet there may be fewer smokestacks pouring out the carbon dioxide that is causing global warming. The casino of capitalism is hurtling towards its doom! The roulette wheel flew off its axle and the black jack table caught on fire.
Even the dice don't seem to work any more!

Unfortunately the ecological catastrophes that are the direct result of capitalist development and a worldwide economic meltdown has followed the party. Capitalism is disintegrating before our very eyes. We need an alternative that allows for human life and breathable air. We need an alternative that allows all to flourish, not just a gaggle of Murdochs and other billionaires. The meltdown is real. The opportunity is real. Fascists will step in if anarchist, communists and socialists do not engage in serious mass work.