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- Socialists Confront The Economic Crisis The current financial crisis is not just a temporary setback, nor is it caused primarily by the lack of regulation in the financial sector. The collapse of the financial sector is indicative of the total failure of the capitalist economy. In recent years, the leading recipients of the recent bailout have attempted to justify their “Washington Consensus” of decimated social safety nets, massive cuts to wages and benefits, and privatization of public services in the name of mercilessly strict adherence to the “tough love” and “sacrifice” of the “free market.” This deregulation and dismantling of any social protections was a logical step for the capitalists represented by the Republican and Democratic Parties. The call now for regulation of the markets is a hypocritical action by those who continue to promote the “free market” as the solution to all ills. The same power brokers and politicians who demanded the near complete deregulation of the financial sector under "free market" principles, are now calling upon all tax-paying U.S. workers to "come together as Americans" and take "collective responsibility" for their boundless greed and ultimate financial failure under the very standards they themselves imposed. Congressional Democrats, through continuous pledges to reach a "bipartisan" solution to the financial meltdown, have predictably fallen over themselves to reaffirm their reliable role as one of the two great parties of capital. As Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proclaimed on September 26th, 2008, "We will not leave until legislation is passed that will be signed by the president. The markets need a message from us that we're acting." Barack Obama, who received $25 million in campaign contributions from the financial industry during the 2008 election campaign, likewise urged a rapid, bipartisan passage of the bailout package, "in the spirit of cooperation on behalf of the American people”. As socialists, we understand that there can no longer be any rational debate on the question of pursuing the "free market" as an alternative to the compelling urgency for a socialist transformation of society. The need of the largest capitalist firms to wipe out competition has already led to the centralization of economic power, but in the form of private ownership of an unaccountable ruling class of professional speculators, not of working people. If we the people are now to publicly socialize the costs of our ruling class' disastrous practices, as our corporate politicians demand, what justification can be given for handing the very pillars of our economic security back to their private and unaccountable ownership, once resurrected? The Socialist Party rejects the bailout of the financial sector. Instead, we propose that the government take over the financial sector, and then delegate the distribution of home loans to a decentralized network of non-profit credit unions. These institutions are far less likely to push bogus loans than the white-collar criminals that control the current financial institutions. Under the impact of the crunch in consumer lending that has followed upon the crisis in the financial sector, the automobile industry, which has been slowly unraveling under the impact of global capitalism and a short-sighted refusal to build fuel efficient cars, has reached the brink of total collapse. The end of the U.S.automobile industry would further add to the skyrocketing unemployment that is already occurring as a result of the crash in the housing market. The Socialist Party rejects the bailout of the automobile industry, giving billions of dollars in subsidies to corporate executives that have already demonstrated their abysmal incompetence. Instead, we need an integrated transportation program that will shift people out of cars and into mass transit. The billions in subsidies should be turned into investments in a publicly owned enterprise that would take over the factories that currently produce cars and would prioritize the production of buses, subway cars and trains for government entities. Such an enterprise would be controlled by autoworkers in conjunction with elected representatives of the communities in which these factories are located. While opposing the bailout of insolvent corporations, we also call for programs that will provide support to, and help empower individuals, families, and working people as a whole to take power away from the corporate powers that be. We support building millions of units of low-density, high-quality, low-cost housing. We support a federally funded socialized healthcare system that would eliminate health insurance companies and be controlled by locally elected community health committees. We support elimination of anti-worker laws such as the Taft-Hartley Act and the right of all workers, including public employees, to strike, and to organize through card check. We support laws that would encourage the creation of worker-owned and worker-run institutions. We support massive investment in mass-transit and alternatives to fossil fuels. And finally we call for the immediate withdrawal of all troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan (including thousands of national guard troops which have been taken away from their families and jobs to fight oversees), slashing our military budget by at least 50%, and establishing a steeply graduated federal income tax system. The above actions are first steps that would improve working people’s lives, bring the thousands of troops overseas home, raise hundreds of millions of dollars for education and social services, and take the tax burden off of low and moderate income individuals and families. The only solution to the current economic crisis is to move quickly to a socialist society, a society based on cooperation, equality and justice, where the means of production in their entirety are taken into public ownership and are controlled by their workers and the communities in which they are located. As democratic socialists, we stand ready to work with everyone who shares this perspective. Passed by the National Committee 1/25/09 |
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Socialist
Party
USA 339 Lafayette St. #303 New York, NY 10012 |