Wall Street Got One TRILLION Dollars of Our Tax Money
When do WE get bailed out?
That's the question that people everywhere are asking. In the Hartford area, the recession means that the real unemployment rate of 12% could double in 2009, while thousands of people lose their homes and the state slashes social services, education and health care.
The federal government spent a cool trillion dollars bailing out the big corporations. Now Governor Rell plans to slash jobs and social programs instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share. Who's looking out for OUR interests? Come to a community meeting, speak-out and strategy session to talk about what we can do to fight for our survival.
COMMUNITY MEETING FOR A PEOPLE'S BAIL OUT
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7 FROM 1pm - 4pm
HARTFORD CITY HALL, 550 Main Street
No Cutbacks - No Lay offs - No Foreclosures - No Evictions
Make the Wealthy and the Corporations Pay
www.peoplesbailoutct.wordpress.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
A People's Bailout
Building a Movement for Economic Justice in Connecticut
Excerpted from The CT People's Economic Justice Coalition page: http://peoplesbailoutct.wordpress.com/
Posted on January 11, 2009 by pdgoselin
This is a coalition of which I'm proud to be a member and strongly urge others to join! -Todd
...
Hurricane Katrina was not a natural disaster. It was a dangerous situation that became a man-made disaster because of the government’s neglect, indifference and downright hostility toward the people in its path. It was a human catastrophe fueled by contempt for working and poor people and in particular by straight-up no chaser racism. The problem wasn’t that there was a lack of sandbags or not enough buses to evacuate people from the City of New Orleans: the problem was that those in power didn’t give a damn if people drowned as long as it couldn’t be blamed on them.
We believe that the economic situation facing working people and poor people isn’t just a “downturn” or a “recession.” Those are clean, clinical-sounding terms that the politicians use to mask the suffering that’s in store for us and for our communities. What we see on the horizon is the economic equivalent of Hurricane Katrina: an emergency situation that will become a disaster if clear-headed, urgent action in defense of the fundamental rights and basic needs of the people is not taken.
That’s the reason we formed the People’s Economic Justice Coalition and it’s the reason we are calling for a people’s bailout budget for Connecticut. Because the same indifference and contempt is at work in our state, and the assembled media circus of politicians, experts, bureaucrats, talking heads, policy wonks and commentators are more concerned with having their pictures taken lifting sandbags than they are with protecting us from drowning.
At the national level, president-elect Obama has said loud and clear that in this period of intense economic crisis, the answer is not to cut government spending but to increase it. Fund “green” jobs programs. Fund infrastructure. Fund human services so that people who are losing their jobs don’t lose their homes and don’t lose hope. Even so, there are serious questions about whether Obama’s economic stimulus package will go far enough or be implemented fast enough to actually slow much less stop the recession.
But Governor Rell and her big business allies plan to do just the opposite. “Sacrifices” must be made, says Rell. She means that working people and poor people, children and the elderly, those who are most vulnerable all get thrown into the volcano while she and her rich friends feast. Their plan is to use the recession as an excuse to do what they have always wanted to do: slash state services, slash funding for local community-based programs, lay off state workers, eliminate agencies that help people keep their heads above water. And in their greed and venality, they are hoping that the federal stimulus package will provide just enough of a cushion for poor people that it doesn’t unduly embarrass them to have too many residents of the richest state in the U.S. unemployed or homeless.
The question is: what are we proposing in response? Simply this: the only responsible answer to this economic Katrina bearing down on our communities is to say No to any budget cuts, No to any layoffs, to fully fund the needs of our communities for education, health care, housing and for relief from evictions and foreclosures. And as part and parcel of keeping working class people afloat, the State of Connecticut must shift the tax burden from working people who are barely surviving to the wealthy and the big corporations that are barely struggling.
Now, we don’t expect that we’re going to convince Governor Rell or the legislature with economic arguments or appeals to their decency. But we believe that if we organize and stand together and demand what we need, we can win a people’s bailout budget.
We’re starting with a Community Meeting for a People’s Bailout in Hartford on February 7 (1pm-4pm at Hartford City Hall). We’re inviting everyone who is worried or frightened or angry about the economic crisis to come together on that day and share their concerns, and to be prepared to talk about what we need to do to fight back and get what we need to survive. Coming out of that meeting we want to be able to articulate the most pressing and critical demands of our different communities for a genuine People’s Bailout.
Next steps? Well that depends on what people have to say on February 7, but we want to build a series of highly visible - and maybe highly confrontational - events that will highlight the urgency of this situation. And we want to be able to respond to not just the budget but every critical development that affects our communities as the economic crisis unfolds. Taking the lead from groups in other cities that have taken on this fight, we should be targeting the institutions that are profiting from the economic crisis at our expense, such as the banks and mortgage companies that foreclose on peoples’ homes even as they line their pockets with money from the federal bail out.
We in the People’s Economic Just Coalition believe it’s time to get serious about putting the needs of working class people first. We will not allow the corporations, the rich and their flunkies to force the economic crisis onto the backs of working people. February 7 is the first step. We invite you to come out and join us as we work to build a movement for justice.
---------------------------------------------------
The 5 Organizing Principals of the PEJC:
1. Agenda and Strategy Driven by the Community Members most
directly impacted by the economic depression.
2. Flexible and Mobile enough to respond to a variety of attacks
on the Working Class.
3. Demanding the Impossible: that which has been considered
Outrageous or "off-the-table" by mainstream reformist politics.
4. Politically Independent so as to be able to Demand the
Impossible.
5. Solidarity with all Oppressed Peoples: An Injury to One is an
Injury to All!
You can learn more and get involved with the coalition by visiting the website: http://peoplesbailoutct.wordpress.com
Excerpted from The CT People's Economic Justice Coalition page: http://peoplesbailoutct.wordpress.com/
Posted on January 11, 2009 by pdgoselin
This is a coalition of which I'm proud to be a member and strongly urge others to join! -Todd
...
Hurricane Katrina was not a natural disaster. It was a dangerous situation that became a man-made disaster because of the government’s neglect, indifference and downright hostility toward the people in its path. It was a human catastrophe fueled by contempt for working and poor people and in particular by straight-up no chaser racism. The problem wasn’t that there was a lack of sandbags or not enough buses to evacuate people from the City of New Orleans: the problem was that those in power didn’t give a damn if people drowned as long as it couldn’t be blamed on them.
We believe that the economic situation facing working people and poor people isn’t just a “downturn” or a “recession.” Those are clean, clinical-sounding terms that the politicians use to mask the suffering that’s in store for us and for our communities. What we see on the horizon is the economic equivalent of Hurricane Katrina: an emergency situation that will become a disaster if clear-headed, urgent action in defense of the fundamental rights and basic needs of the people is not taken.
That’s the reason we formed the People’s Economic Justice Coalition and it’s the reason we are calling for a people’s bailout budget for Connecticut. Because the same indifference and contempt is at work in our state, and the assembled media circus of politicians, experts, bureaucrats, talking heads, policy wonks and commentators are more concerned with having their pictures taken lifting sandbags than they are with protecting us from drowning.
At the national level, president-elect Obama has said loud and clear that in this period of intense economic crisis, the answer is not to cut government spending but to increase it. Fund “green” jobs programs. Fund infrastructure. Fund human services so that people who are losing their jobs don’t lose their homes and don’t lose hope. Even so, there are serious questions about whether Obama’s economic stimulus package will go far enough or be implemented fast enough to actually slow much less stop the recession.
But Governor Rell and her big business allies plan to do just the opposite. “Sacrifices” must be made, says Rell. She means that working people and poor people, children and the elderly, those who are most vulnerable all get thrown into the volcano while she and her rich friends feast. Their plan is to use the recession as an excuse to do what they have always wanted to do: slash state services, slash funding for local community-based programs, lay off state workers, eliminate agencies that help people keep their heads above water. And in their greed and venality, they are hoping that the federal stimulus package will provide just enough of a cushion for poor people that it doesn’t unduly embarrass them to have too many residents of the richest state in the U.S. unemployed or homeless.
The question is: what are we proposing in response? Simply this: the only responsible answer to this economic Katrina bearing down on our communities is to say No to any budget cuts, No to any layoffs, to fully fund the needs of our communities for education, health care, housing and for relief from evictions and foreclosures. And as part and parcel of keeping working class people afloat, the State of Connecticut must shift the tax burden from working people who are barely surviving to the wealthy and the big corporations that are barely struggling.
Now, we don’t expect that we’re going to convince Governor Rell or the legislature with economic arguments or appeals to their decency. But we believe that if we organize and stand together and demand what we need, we can win a people’s bailout budget.
We’re starting with a Community Meeting for a People’s Bailout in Hartford on February 7 (1pm-4pm at Hartford City Hall). We’re inviting everyone who is worried or frightened or angry about the economic crisis to come together on that day and share their concerns, and to be prepared to talk about what we need to do to fight back and get what we need to survive. Coming out of that meeting we want to be able to articulate the most pressing and critical demands of our different communities for a genuine People’s Bailout.
Next steps? Well that depends on what people have to say on February 7, but we want to build a series of highly visible - and maybe highly confrontational - events that will highlight the urgency of this situation. And we want to be able to respond to not just the budget but every critical development that affects our communities as the economic crisis unfolds. Taking the lead from groups in other cities that have taken on this fight, we should be targeting the institutions that are profiting from the economic crisis at our expense, such as the banks and mortgage companies that foreclose on peoples’ homes even as they line their pockets with money from the federal bail out.
We in the People’s Economic Just Coalition believe it’s time to get serious about putting the needs of working class people first. We will not allow the corporations, the rich and their flunkies to force the economic crisis onto the backs of working people. February 7 is the first step. We invite you to come out and join us as we work to build a movement for justice.
---------------------------------------------------
The 5 Organizing Principals of the PEJC:
1. Agenda and Strategy Driven by the Community Members most
directly impacted by the economic depression.
2. Flexible and Mobile enough to respond to a variety of attacks
on the Working Class.
3. Demanding the Impossible: that which has been considered
Outrageous or "off-the-table" by mainstream reformist politics.
4. Politically Independent so as to be able to Demand the
Impossible.
5. Solidarity with all Oppressed Peoples: An Injury to One is an
Injury to All!
You can learn more and get involved with the coalition by visiting the website: http://peoplesbailoutct.wordpress.com
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Economic Democracy Now!
What is Economic Democracy?
Economic Democracy is real socialism, period. It is a state of society in which all people work cooperatively as equals for the common good of all. It is achievable only when democracy has been extended from the political sphere to also include the economy. The titles democratic socialism, economic democracy and participatory economics have been used lately to distinguish “true socialism” from the authoritarian and undemocratic states which have wrongly mislabeled themselves as socialist.
Here Are A Few Simple Principals of Democratic Socialism:
* Production for human use, not for profit.
* Classless society where no person should exploit any other person.
* Conservation of natural resources through sustainable production.
* Changes in society and government should be made by free and open elections.
* Widespread and full public education is essential to guarantee the equality of people.
* People must have access to information and be allowed to communicate their ideas in order to make informed democratic decisions.
* Public, collective ownership of the means of production and distribution, as well as the democratic management thereof. (Not state ownership of every human enterprise)
* Food, housing and healthcare are basic human rights and should be guaranteed to all.
* Democratic socialism must be achieved democratically.
“Socialism” Misused
Many societies have disguised themselves by using the term socialism. Countless dictators and despots have been able to rally people around the egalitarian ideals of socialism in order to take control of their governments and then never put these ideals into effect. "National Socialism" for example advocates a one-party dictatorial capitalist society, aka fascism. "Communism" has been used by one-party authoritarian states with centrally planned economies, aka state run capitalism. The Soviet Union was neither democratic nor socialist. A real socialist society would have to arise by democratic means and remain completely democratic in order to remain truly socialist.
The Socialist Party, USA
Todd has been endorsed by The Socialist Party, USA and will appear on the CT ballot as the socialist candidate. The Socialist Party, formed in 1901, strives to establish a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own control - a non-racist, classless, feminist socialist society...where working people own and control the means of production and distribution through democratically-controlled public agencies; where full employment is realized for everyone who wants to work; where workers have the right to form unions freely, and to strike and engage in other forms of job actions; and where the production of society is used for the benefit of all humanity, not for the private profit of a few. We believe socialism and democracy are one and indivisible.
A Note To “Nervous” Voters
You agree with Todd’s views on the major issues but are reluctant to vote for a socialist candidate? Please consider this: One socialist representative on the floor of the House of representatives will obviously not transform America into a democratic socialist society. What it will do is place a very progressive (liberal) voice in congress that will fight for the interests of the working class (middle class) and the poor, not the corporations. The wealthy already have more than 400 voices representing their interests in congress.
If you are afraid of being put on some kind of “government list” then you need to reconsider your belief that we live in an open and free society. I encourage everyone to learn more about socialism and what it really is. It is NOT the bogeyman trying to take your stuff and eliminate your freedom… it is actually the opposite. Please visit some of the links below to educate yourself on a subject that is always mislabeled and suppressed by the ruling capitalist class in order to maintain the current world order that is very profitable for them at the expense of the rest of us and the planet.
Learn More About Democratic Socialism
The Socialist Party, USA
http://www.sp-usa.org
Text Descriptions of Democratic Socialism:
A Primer on Democratic Socialism, by Edwin Laing (PDF)
http://daschaich.homelinux.net/SP/Saint.pdf
The Renewing of Socialism: An Introduction, by John Bellamy Foster
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0705jbf.htm
Approaching Socialism, by Harry Magdoff and Fred Magdoff
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0705magdoffs1.htm
Parecon: Life After Capitalism, by Michael Albert
http://www.zmag.org/ParEcon/pelac.htm
Audio Descriptions of Democratic Socialism:
A Primer on Democratic Socialism by Edwin Laing (mp3)
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=14518
Video Descriptions of Democratic Socialism:
Parecon Description Pt. 1 of 3 by Michael Albert
http://www.zcommunications.org/zvideo/6
Introduction to Participatory Economics Pt 1 of 5
http://www.zcommunications.org/zvideo/11
Economic Democracy is real socialism, period. It is a state of society in which all people work cooperatively as equals for the common good of all. It is achievable only when democracy has been extended from the political sphere to also include the economy. The titles democratic socialism, economic democracy and participatory economics have been used lately to distinguish “true socialism” from the authoritarian and undemocratic states which have wrongly mislabeled themselves as socialist.
Here Are A Few Simple Principals of Democratic Socialism:
* Production for human use, not for profit.
* Classless society where no person should exploit any other person.
* Conservation of natural resources through sustainable production.
* Changes in society and government should be made by free and open elections.
* Widespread and full public education is essential to guarantee the equality of people.
* People must have access to information and be allowed to communicate their ideas in order to make informed democratic decisions.
* Public, collective ownership of the means of production and distribution, as well as the democratic management thereof. (Not state ownership of every human enterprise)
* Food, housing and healthcare are basic human rights and should be guaranteed to all.
* Democratic socialism must be achieved democratically.
“Socialism” Misused
Many societies have disguised themselves by using the term socialism. Countless dictators and despots have been able to rally people around the egalitarian ideals of socialism in order to take control of their governments and then never put these ideals into effect. "National Socialism" for example advocates a one-party dictatorial capitalist society, aka fascism. "Communism" has been used by one-party authoritarian states with centrally planned economies, aka state run capitalism. The Soviet Union was neither democratic nor socialist. A real socialist society would have to arise by democratic means and remain completely democratic in order to remain truly socialist.
The Socialist Party, USA
Todd has been endorsed by The Socialist Party, USA and will appear on the CT ballot as the socialist candidate. The Socialist Party, formed in 1901, strives to establish a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own control - a non-racist, classless, feminist socialist society...where working people own and control the means of production and distribution through democratically-controlled public agencies; where full employment is realized for everyone who wants to work; where workers have the right to form unions freely, and to strike and engage in other forms of job actions; and where the production of society is used for the benefit of all humanity, not for the private profit of a few. We believe socialism and democracy are one and indivisible.
A Note To “Nervous” Voters
You agree with Todd’s views on the major issues but are reluctant to vote for a socialist candidate? Please consider this: One socialist representative on the floor of the House of representatives will obviously not transform America into a democratic socialist society. What it will do is place a very progressive (liberal) voice in congress that will fight for the interests of the working class (middle class) and the poor, not the corporations. The wealthy already have more than 400 voices representing their interests in congress.
If you are afraid of being put on some kind of “government list” then you need to reconsider your belief that we live in an open and free society. I encourage everyone to learn more about socialism and what it really is. It is NOT the bogeyman trying to take your stuff and eliminate your freedom… it is actually the opposite. Please visit some of the links below to educate yourself on a subject that is always mislabeled and suppressed by the ruling capitalist class in order to maintain the current world order that is very profitable for them at the expense of the rest of us and the planet.
Learn More About Democratic Socialism
The Socialist Party, USA
http://www.sp-usa.org
Text Descriptions of Democratic Socialism:
A Primer on Democratic Socialism, by Edwin Laing (PDF)
http://daschaich.homelinux.net/SP/Saint.pdf
The Renewing of Socialism: An Introduction, by John Bellamy Foster
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0705jbf.htm
Approaching Socialism, by Harry Magdoff and Fred Magdoff
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0705magdoffs1.htm
Parecon: Life After Capitalism, by Michael Albert
http://www.zmag.org/ParEcon/pelac.htm
Audio Descriptions of Democratic Socialism:
A Primer on Democratic Socialism by Edwin Laing (mp3)
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=14518
Video Descriptions of Democratic Socialism:
Parecon Description Pt. 1 of 3 by Michael Albert
http://www.zcommunications.org/zvideo/6
Introduction to Participatory Economics Pt 1 of 5
http://www.zcommunications.org/zvideo/11
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