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BUSH'S MELTDOWN AND THE US DEFEAT IN IRAQ He's on the floor, but can the Democrats Save Him? They're sure trying. Scorching reports on the "new jobs" myth and the end of America's housing bubble. Savage dissection of Council on Foreign Relation's Plan to "Contain" AIDS and Throw Money at the Drug Companies. Why the Military-Industrial Complex Wants U.S. Out of Iraq. What the US Press Missed about the War. Get the facts you're looking for in the subscriber-only edition of CounterPunch ... CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
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December 17 / 18, 2005 Gabriel Kolko December 16, 2005 Tom Kerr Mark Engler John Bomar Patrick Cockburn Pierre Tristam William S. Lind Cyril Neville Robert Jensen Saul Landau Website
December 15, 2005 Oren Ben-Dor Stan Cox Joshua Frank Ben Terrall Patrick Cockburn Monica Benderman Walter A. Davis Vijay Prashad Website of
the Day
Patrick Cockburn Paul Craig
Roberts Lawrence R. Velvel Wayne Garcia John Sugg Gary Leupp Ray McGovern Alan Maass April Hurley, MD Kevin Alexander
Gray
December 13, 2005 Stephen T.
Banko, III Patrick Cockburn Laura Carlsen Karl Grossman Niranjan Ramakrishnan Kevin Zeese Norman Solomon Michael G.
Smith Stew Albert Bob Dylan Phil Gasper Website of
the Day
December 12, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Lawrence R.
Velvel Jessica Stewart George Bisharat Nate Mezmer Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Alison Weir Seth Sandronsky Patrick Cockburn Website of
the Day
Alexander Cockburn Landau / Hassen Ralph Nader Linn Washington, Jr Bill Christison Mike Ferner Elizabeth Schulte Neve Gordon / Yigal Bronner Linda S. Heard Ingmar Lee Ray McGovern John Chuckman John Ryan Dick J. Reavis Christopher
Brauchli Behzad Yaghmaian Aseem Shrivastava John Ross Ben Tripp St. Clair / Pollack / Vest
/ Despair Poets' Basement Website of the Week
December 9, 2005 Linn Washington,
Jr. Dave Zirin
/ Mike Stark Patrick Cockburn Alexander Cockburn Lila Rajiva Gary Leupp Jason Leopold Bruce K. Gagnon Andrew Cockburn Website of the Day
December 8, 2005 Kathy Kelly James Petras William S.
Lind Laura Carlsen Justin Akers Thomas Graham, Jr Norman Solomon Tariq Ali /
Robin Blackburn Website of
the Day
December 7, 2005 John Ryan Gary Leupp Fran Quigley Jeremy Brecher
/ Brendan Smith Joshua Frank William W.
Morgan Dave Lindorff Patrick Cockburn Harold Pinter Website of
the Day
December 6, 2005 Ron Jacobs Patrick Cockburn Yifat Susskind Mike Whitney Pat Williams Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
December 5, 2005 John Walsh Brian Cloughley Mokhiber /
Weissman Robert Jensen Norman Solomon Peter Rost, MD Lila Rajiva Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn Lawrence R.
Velvel Rev. William Alberts Saul Landau Ralph Nader Paul Craig
Roberts Mike Whitney Allan Lichtman Dave Lindorff Brian Concannon,
Jr. Fred Gardner Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Carol Wolman St. Clair /
Vest / Walker / Pollack Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
December 2, 2005 Stan Goff Mike Ferner Christopher Brauchli Niranjan Ramakrishnan Manuel Talens Peter Phillips J.L. Chestnut,
Jr. Website of
the Day
December 1, 2005 John Walsh,
MD Ron Jacobs Jenna Orkin Joshua Frank Tiffany Ten
Eyck Missy Comley Beattie Eli Stephens Elaine Cassel Website of
the Day
November 30, 2005 Allen / D'Amato Mike Whitney Kevin Zeese Norman Solomon Ramzy Baroud Dave Lindorff Stephen Soldz
November 29, 2005 Phil Gasper Behzad Yaghmaian Joshua Frank Walter A. Davis Gary Leupp Len Colodny Jeffrey St.
Clair Bill Quigley Website of
the Day
November 28, 2005 Chris Reed David Isenberg Ron Jacobs Norman Solomon Justin E.H. Smith Mickey Z. Mike Whitney David Swanson Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
November 26 / 27, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Ralph Nader Brian Cloughley John Ross Gary Leupp Fred Gardner Christopher Brauchli Dave Lindorff P. Sainath Timothy J.
Freeman Lila Rajiva Eric Ruder Seth Sandronsky Joaquin Bustelo Lewis Alper Will Youmans Phyllis Pollack St. Clair /
Vest Barbara LaMorticella Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
November 25, 2005 David Price Brian McKenna Jeff Halper Ray McGovern Leigh Saavedra Ingmar Lee Website of the Day
November 24, 2005 James Petras Bob Shirley Mike Fox Niranjan Ramakrishnan Greg Moses Alexander Cockburn
November 23, 2005 Ramzy Baroud Mike Whitney Stan Cox Linda S. Heard November 22, 2005 Kevin Gray
/ Mike Hersh Ralph Nader Michael Donnelly Mike Ferner Pierre Tristam Marshall Auerback Website of
the Day
November 21, 2005 Mike Marqusee Josh Frank Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Russ Baker Robert Jensen Paul Craig
Roberts
November 19 / 20, 2005 Fred Gardner Rep. Cynthia McKinney Ron Jacobs David Vest J.L. Chestnut,
Jr. John R. Bomar John Ross Phillip Cryan Dave Lindorff Dick J. Reavis Jeremy Scahill Dan Wright John Stanton St. Clair / Vest / Walker Phyllis Pollack Dr. Susan Block Poets Basement
November 18, 2005 Michael Neumann Dave Lindorff Michael Donnelly Mark Chmiel
/ Andrew Wimmer Don Monkerud Tom Kerr Trish Schuh
November 17, 2005 John Walsh Rep. John Murtha Brian J. Foley CounterPunch
News Service Dave Lindorff Mark T. Harris Cockburn /
St. Clair
November 16, 2005 John F. Sugg Noam Chomsky Dave Lindorff Evelyn Pringle Sam Husseini Pierre Tristam Greg Bates Farrah Hassen Bill Christison Website of
the Day
November 15, 2005 Todd Chretien Leah Caldwell Frederick Hudson Harry Browne Jason Leopold Ingmar Lee Diana Barahona Tom Andre Website of the Weekend
November 14, 2005 Diana Johnstone Paul Craig Roberts Conn Hallinan Joshua Frank Christopher
Reed
November 11 / 13, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Gwyneth Leech Elmas Mallo Michael Neumann Saul Landau Sam Husseini Brian Cloughley Ron Jacobs Lila Rajiva Michael Donnelly Joe Allen Roland Sheppard Justin E.H.
Smith Ben Tripp St. Clair /
Vest Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
November 10, 2005 Peterside,
Ogon, Watts and Zalik Pat Williams Steve Higgs Jimmy Massey Lucson Pierre-Charles Anthony Newkirk Lawrence R.
Velvel Website of the Day November 9, 2005 Gary Leupp Tariq Ali Chris Floyd Elaine Cassel Joshua Frank Alison Weir Diana Johnstone
Paul Craig
Roberts Roger Burbach Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Jim McGrath David Bloom Stan Goff
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December 17, 2005 Stealing from Workers and the PoorThe Class War EconomyBy LEE SUSTAR Rising profits and a smart 4.3 percent annual growth rate in third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) are happening side-by-side with falling wages, sinking family income, evaporating pensions and a failing health-care system. This is the face of the real "new economy" in Bush's America. It comes without the bubble of the late 1990s economic boom and Bill Clinton's political salesmanship in the White House. Back then, mainstream economists marveled at rapid growth and low unemployment as evidence of a technology-driven "miracle economy," with profit rates peaking at levels not seen since the 1960s. In that long boom following the Second Word War, steady economic growth and rising productivity allowed for regular increases in real wages and a rising standard of living for most workers--giving rise to the belief in an "American Dream." By contrast, the 1990s boom was very different for working people. The rise in family income came not from increases in wages, but mostly from growing numbers of women working--and more hours on the job for all wage earners. Today, however, family income can't compensate for the decline in wages since the recession. According to an Economic Policy Institute (EPI) analysis of the latest available figures, pre-tax income for married-couple families with children fell by 3.1 percent between 2000 and 2003. That's due in large part to the downdraft in wages. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in October that average weekly real earnings--in constant 1982 dollars--were $275.85, down from $279.94 in 2003 and way below the peak of $331.59 in 1973. As Business Week's Michael Mandel points out, nonfarm business productivity increased at a 4.7 percent annual rate in the third quarter of 2005, "yet very little of the efficiency gains is being directly passed on to workers. Since the end of 2003, average real wages have fallen by 3.2 percent, while productivity is up by 5.1 percent." Where is the money going? Profits. The share of profit in the national income reached 12 percent in the first quarter of 2005, higher than even the peak of the late 1990s boom. As for jobs, while the 5 percent unemployment rate looks good in the abstract, the number is low because so many have abandoned their search for work. As a recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showed, "employment has grown at an average annual rate of only 0.5 percent since November 2001, as compared with an average for previous comparable post-World War II periods of 2.6 percent" during economic recoveries. The jobs that are being created in today's "new economy" are nonunion and low-wage, with few--if any--benefits. Defined pensions--fixed monthly payments to retirees, one of the mainstays of the American Dream--are on their way to extinction. Just 20 percent of companies offer them today--down from 40 percent in 1980. And the federal corporation that's supposed to insure those pensions is $450 billion in the red. Workers are also being forced to bear a share of the fast-rising increases in health care costs--and just 60 percent of employers offer coverage at all, down from 69 percent in 2000, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The devastating impact of the one-sided class war can be seen in the auto industry, once the benchmark of the American Dream, thanks to a strong union, the United Auto Workers (UAW). These days, business headlines are dominated by talk of the "restructuring" in auto--a euphemism for job cuts of 30,000 each at General Motors and Ford, multibillion-dollar union concessions in retiree health care at both companies, plus management demands to cut wages by 60 percent at bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi. Corporate America's ongoing smash-and-grab assault has been aided and abetted by the politicians in Washington. The ever-widening gap between rich and poor has been consolidated--and opened further--by the Bush administration's twin priorities of tax cuts for the wealthy, and cuts in social spending. And the corporate gofers known as members of the House of Representatives are going for more--deeper tax cuts and further cuts in spending. With Bush's approval rating so low, former House Majority Leader Tom Delay under indictment, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist under investigation, how can they still be getting away with it? The Democrats have challenged some of Bush's policies--and the Republican members of Congress are always ready to screech "class war" at anyone who hints of opposing them. But the differences between the two parities are limited by their shared pro-business policy framework. From passage of the NAFTA free trade deal to the abolition of welfare, the Clinton White House not only repackaged and advanced the corporate agenda, but gutted much of the New Deal welfare state as well. The Democrats were the pro-business, pro-imperialist party of the Vietnam War during the prosperity of the 1960s, too. Then, at least, unions were sufficiently powerful and the social movements strong enough to compel Democratic and Republican administrations alike to make concessions--an expansion of social spending and passage of laws guaranteeing affirmative action and environmental protections. If today's Republicans can get away with slashing and burning even as their political fortunes plunge, it's because the Democrats are putting up no real resistance. Instead, leading Democratic presidential candidates bail out Bush's foreign policy by talking about "winning" the war in Iraq--and carefully tend to corporate interests in Congress to keep campaign contributions rolling in. When it comes to the class war, the Democrats and Republicans are on the same side. And it's not the side of the millions of people who are fed up with a discredited political system, steeped in sleaze and utterly dominated by big business. What's missing is the confidence--and organization--to fight back. Building resistance to the attacks on working people means not waiting for next year's elections, but taking action now. We have to prepare for a fight today--in unions where we have them, and organizing them where we don't. It means stepping up activism against the war, standing up for immigrant rights, and defending women's right to choose abortion--all with the aim of building a fighting left that's rooted in the struggles of working people. Lee Sustar is a regular contributor to CounterPunch
and the Socialist Worker.
He can be reached at: lsustar@ameritech.net
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org. |