From The Ramparts

The Escalating Class Warfare In AmeriKKKa

The Escalating AmeriKKKan Class Warfare Part II

“During the past five years (January 01—January 06), the information sector of the U.S. economy lost 644,000 jobs or 17.4% of its work force. Computer systems design and related lost 105,000 jobs or 8.5% of its work force. Clearly, jobs offshoring is not creating jobs in computers and information technology. Indeed, jobs offshoring is not even creating jobs in related fields.
U.S. manufacturing lost 2.9 million jobs, almost 17% of the manufacturing work force. The wipeout is across the board. Not a single manufacturing payroll classification created a single new job. The declines in some manufacturing sectors have more in common with a country undergoing saturation bombing during war than with a super-economy that is "the envy of the world." In five years, communications equipment lost 42% of its workforce. Semiconductors and electronic components lost 37% of its workforce. The workforce in computers and electronic products declined 30%. Electrical equipment and appliances lost 25% of its employees. The workforce in motor vehicles and parts declined 12%. Furniture and related products lost 17% of its jobs. Apparel manufacturers lost almost half of the work force. Employment in textile mills declined 43%. Paper and paper products lost one-fifth of its jobs. The work force in plastics and rubber products declined by 15%. For the five year period, U.S. job growth was limited to four areas: education and health services, state and local government, leisure and hospitality, and financial services. There was no U.S. job growth outside these four areas of domestic nontradable services.” The New Face of Class Warfare By Paul Craig Roberts http://vdare.com/roberts/061009_newface.htm

In the previous article I mentioned the ruling elites were engaged in class warfare against working folks, that one way they did it was through disinformation and lies about the state of the economy, employment, the budget etc. This not wild speculation on my part or hatin’ on AmeriKKKa, honest economists are also saying this. “As a result of the systemic manipulations, if the CPI and GDP methodologies of 1980 were applied to today's data, you would get the 8%-plus inflation and flat economic growth discussed in the opening paragraph. Using unemployment methodology of 1960 generates an estimate of current 12% unemployment.
When Main Street, U.S.A., does not believe the government's reporting, the reality of common experience usually is the better estimate of what is happening in the economy. The damage from the fraudulent statistics, however, is much more serious than just politics as usual, the misguidance of overly trusting investors, or the massive cheating of Social Security recipients (payments would 70% higher using the CPI methodology of 1980). The masking of the actual annual $3.5 trillion deficit is setting up the nation for an eventual national bankruptcy/U.S. dollar collapse. Putting that $3.5 trillion in perspective, consider this: If the government seized 100% of everyone's salary and wages, the government still would show a deficit. But that is a story in itself.” MANIPULATING THE MASSES by John Williams http://www.conservababes.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php
The elites, their government and media puppets don’t want us to know they are cooking their books, cheating us out of rightful benefits as they rob the Social Security Trust Fund in a vain attempt to keep AmeriKKKa afloat. This type of statistical manipulation is merely the tip of the iceberg. As they simultaneously rig the book keeping they are pulling the rug out from under Joe and Jane Sixpack leaving them in a financial lurch. They don’t give a hoot about us all they are worried about is us not rising up in revolutionary protest. And they have pretty much eliminated that via an ongoing COINTELPRO campaign that makes sure righteous leaders are maginalized and discouraged. “Be clear about this: COINTELPRO and COINTELPRO-type programs are alive, well, and functioning in 21st century America by a government (of both Democrats and Republicans) who fear most especially its population of color, and fear losing control if enough white Americans were actually to have a momentary lapse of INSANITY and realize that their precious whiteness is being used against them by their own brethren as a manipulating control mechanism, as in the well publicized 20th century laboratory of Pavlov’s salivating dogs. COINTELPRO and similar such government/police programs have no boundaries, no limitations, no conscience. COINTELPRO is utterly amoral and existed in the recent past, and continues to exist presently, in order to STIFLE AND NEUTRALIZE political consciousness and any effective resistance to economic and social control in this sham democracy. Moreover, without the active collaboration on the part of some of the US populace, COINTELPRO would, itself, be neutralized, and it is precisely this that politically conscious and justice-loving people must recognize and comprehend. COINTELPRO and COINTELPRO-type programs must be exposed as the internal terrorist activities they are and be neutralized [i.e. made defunct] by a politically conscious populace.” Capitalism, COINTELPRO and the Torture of Justice Larry Pinkney http://www.blackcommentator.com/257/257
The plutocrats have already put the repressive infrastructure in place: the police, mercenaries, the Army Labor Camps, detention camps etc to spy on, arrest and detain dissidents and they are now pushing legislation through Congress to make it all legal to designate any protest or dissent as terrorism. For the masses they plan to reduce the standard of living of working folks and make us cower in fear, live in destitution or keep us bamboozled, foolishly chasing a mythical AmeriKKKan dream. The truth of the matter is for most of us the Horatio Alger story of rags to riches will never be ours. “In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth, the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 39.7%. Table 1 and Figure 1 present further details drawn from the careful work of economist Edward N. Wolff at New York University (2004).” Wealth, Income, and Power by G. William Domhoff http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
The income gap is widening daily and the prospects of many folks in the lower socio-economic brackets jumping into a more affluent “class” are becoming more and more unlikely. “The gap between the rich and everybody else in this country is fast becoming an unbridgeable chasm. David Cay Johnston, in the latest installment of the New York Times series ‘Class Matters,’ wrote, ‘It's no secret that the gap between the rich and the poor has been growing, but the extent to which the richest are leaving everybody else behind is not widely known.’ Consider, for example, two separate eras in the lifetime of the baby-boom generation. For every additional dollar earned by the bottom 90 percent of the population between 1950 and 1970, those in the top 0.01 percent earned an additional $162. That gap has since skyrocketed. For every additional dollar earned by the bottom 90 percent between 1990 and 2002, Mr. Johnston wrote, each taxpayer in that top bracket brought in an extra $18,000. It's like chasing a speedboat with a rowboat.
Put the myth of the American Dream aside. The bottom line is that it's becoming increasingly difficult for working Americans to move up in class. The rich are freezing nearly everybody else in place, and sprinting off with the nation's bounty. Economic mobility in the United States - the extent to which individuals and families move from one social class to another - is no higher than in Britain or France, and lower than in some Scandinavian countries. Maybe we should be studying the Scandinavian dream. As far as the Bush administration is concerned, the gap between the rich and the rest of us is not growing fast enough.” The Mobility Myth By BOB HERBERT http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/opinion/06herbert.html.
The number one newspaper of the ruling elites The New York Times did a series on the widening income gaps and revealed, “Income inequality grew significantly in 2005, with the top 1 percent of Americans — those with incomes that year of more than $348,000 — receiving their largest share of national income since 1928, analysis of newly released tax data shows. The top 10 percent, roughly those earning more than $100,000, also reached a level of income share not seen since before the Depression. While total reported income in the United States increased almost 9 percent in 2005, the most recent year for which such data is available, average incomes for those in the bottom 90 percent dipped slightly compared with the year before, dropping $172, or 0.6 percent. The gains went largely to the top 1 percent, whose incomes rose to an average of more than $1.1 million each, an increase of more than $139,000, or about 14 percent. The new data also shows that the top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans. Per person, the top group received 440 times as much as the average person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gap from 1980.” Income Gap Is Widening, Data Shows By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/business/29tax.html
While things look bleak we should not become discouraged or overly pessimistic. The coming economic downturn will impact us but it doesn’t have to devastate or destroy us. One of the most revolutionary things we can do to reverse the negative impact is stop spending beyond our means. A really seditious strategy would be to make a concerted effort to get out of debt!!! Years ago, The Temptations had a hit song “Don’t Let the Jones Get You Down” . In it they encouraged folks to stop trying to keep up with the Jones. It’s great advice, don’t allow the Madison Avenue psychologists and ad makers trick you into buying things you really don’t need, or dupe you into following the fads they create .
Sit down, take the time to create a realistic household budget and includes long term specific ways to pay off your credit card debt as quickly and practically as you can. If the ruling elites’ goal is to make us debt slaves and wage peons, the best way to outwit them is to get out of debt and stop overextending ourselves financially. This is easier said than done but nevertheless it can be done. The last thing the criminal oligarchy wants is a knowledgeable and organized populous resisting their fascist agenda. The elites’ goal is to create a fearful, uncritical and obedient herd of sheeple who passively go along with their program.
In the past “race” and color have been the wedge that prevented a united front by poor whites and people of color against the plutocrats who were exploiting and oppressing all of us. Racism is so entrenched, trying to build multi-ethnic coalitions probably won’t succeed. For us, the best way to defeat the fascists is through ethnocentric unified coordinated action, strategic boycotts and patronage, massive strikes and civil disobedience. The plutocrats will be forced to alter their exploitative and reactionary strategies. They can’t put all of us in jail just because we choose not to support corporations that exploit the masses, despoil the environment, corrupt government and devalue life.
We can come together with like minded black folks and plan to start a buying club or food co-ops to help cut expenses while having access to nutritious vegetables and fruits. We can organize and start community gardening programs to cultivate and develop vacant lots in the neighborhood and grow our own food. We can use these activities to teach our children about gardening and food. The possibilities are unlimited. Class warfare is real. We have to face this reality and begin to organize our personal and collective lives to minimize the damage, carnage and ensure our survival. We must simultaneously begin our counterattacks using the primary weapon at our disposal, our economic power.

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posted by Junious Ricardo Stanton @ 12:15 PM