by: Stewart A. Alexander
StewartAlexanderCares.com

May 22, 2009

The corporate media asked the question, “Where is socialism working today?” Socialists are asking the question, “Where is capitalism working today?” Since the 2008 General Election, the corporate media is making the argument for socialists nationwide; Washington and capitalism is in shambles.

Since President Barack Obama took office in January, the U.S. economy has gone from bad to worst. Nationwide, home foreclosures continue to climb, consumer spending is down due to the credit crisis, more than 6 million Americans remain unemployed, and while paychecks are shrinking, inflation and gas prices are on the increase. The U.S. economy and capitalism is in a total mess.

In January of this year, President Obama received the balance of the $700 billion stimulus that Congress approved on the urgent request of the Bush administration; however, with the $350 billion balance of the $700 billion, and $787 billion added to the pot, President Obama is still asking Congress for more.

The president has introduced an oversized budget of $3.6 trillion that has baffled the economic experts; and the 2009 budget has ballooned to a whopping $1.8 trillion deficit. While the president is asking Congress to approve his 2010 budget, there is little evidence that any creation of jobs will keep pace with the escalating numbers in unemployment

Already the 2010 budget will promise more red ink; beginning in October, the 2010 budget is projected to have a $1.3 trillion deficit. It is likely that the deficit will rise as the occupation expands in Afghanistan, and the cost for bank failures and unemployment benefits creates a demand for additional deficit spending.

With ballooning deficits and deficits spending, the nation’s health care crisis has already left nearly 50 million Americans without health care coverage, and as unemployment climbs to record levels, millions more will be without medical coverage. Also, as millions of baby boomers enter retirement, the nation’s health care crisis will worsen. It is already estimated that Medicare may be depleted by 2017.

The job market has also prevented the housing market from gaining any traction during this recession. As the unemployment numbers approach double digits, it is estimated that more than 2 million Americans will lose their homes to foreclosure in 2009. Banks and financial institutions have remained reluctant to loan money on homes and automobiles while the unemployment numbers remain high.

As of today, the only solutions that President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are offering to get the nation back to work and to stimulate the economy is to spend more and more money. Unfortunately, the Obama administration and House Speaker Pelosi are relying on unrealistic assumptions that the red ink spending will payoff and the economy will rebound near the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010. The Obama administration is also making the assumption that with a growing economy, revenues will be up thereby reducing the huge deficits.

Socialists are dismissing all of this to wishful thinking. Socialists believe the economic model for the nation must change from capitalism to a democratic socialist economy; a change from a “free market” economy that is based on competition and profit, to a system that is based upon assuring that the basic human needs of all are met. Socialist Party USA, a nationwide socialist party, says “Socialism will establish a new social and economic order in which workers and community members will take responsibility for and control of their interpersonal relationships, their neighborhoods, their local government, and the production and distribution of all goods and services.”

The capitalists have nothing to say to their credit because capitalism in America and the world has suffered one setback after another since the Great Depression of 1929; and the recession of 2009 will likely rival or possibly over shadow the economic crisis of the 1930s and trivialize the gains of capitalism during the past 80 years.

For more information, search the Web for Stewart A. Alexander

U.S. Socialists: Obamanomics offers little hope for working people.
banderasnews.com/0903/edop-stewartalexander26.htm

Socialists Confront the Economic Crisis
socialistparty-usa.org/statements/financialcrisis012509.html

Capitalists Attempting to Redefine Socialism
www.phillyimc.org/en/capitalists-attempting-redefine-socialism

StewartAlexanderCares.com
peaceandfreedom.org/home/
www.sp-usa.org/