WHERES AMERICAS SYRIZA? The Greeks are showing us the way. Many in Europe may soon follow. Will Americans eventually wake up and rise up too? The main point in all this is that Greek voters have tossed a flash-bang grenade into the prevailing neo-liberal consensus that the way to “reform” economies is to impose austerity, cutting back on social programs, hammering wages, boosting unemployment, and privatizing long-public functions like transit, education, roads and bridges and health care. Europe will probably never be the same, whichever way Greece ultimately goes. Certainly the same condition prevails here in the US that has prevailed in Europe, only here the corruption of the two-party duopoly is far more advanced, the mechanics of democracy are more degraded, and the austerity imposed on the broad public, as well as on the poor is far, far worse than in Europe. US real unemployment still stuck at 18-24 percent, depending upon whom one is counting — a staggering tally of suffering and despair that actually rivals that in Greece — with the government cutting back on food stamp support, and with actual welfare programs largely gone. . .the poor in America now number 50 million. . .the middle class, which the two capitalist parties. . .are fond of touting as the “bedrock” of American society, is continuing to shrink. . .to just 43% in 2013. Both Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren might be considered contenders, but each has at least one crippling flaw. Sanders. . .is an honest and serious guy but has thus far consistently proven himself unwilling to stand against the massive trillion-dollar US military budget and the imperial foreign policy that it supports. Warren. . .in addition to likewise being silent about the massive US military budget and its imperial ambitions, is also firmly embedded in the wholly corrupted and pro-capitalist Democratic Party. While her stance against the big banks is excellent, and appears to be heart-felt, she is kind of a one-pony show, not someone trying to upend the whole corrupt political and economic system. counterpunch.org/2015/01/27/greek-voters-have-tossed-a-grenade/
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 14:04:17 +0000
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