30 August 2010
By Shamus Cooke
If you’ve listened to recent speeches the President
has given about the economy and the Iraq war, you’d
think that two of the biggest social issues facing
working Americans are improving. But facts are
stubborn things.
Take for example the numbers of jobs lost in the last
two months: 221,000 in June, 131,000 in July.
Instead of taking the drastic measures needed to stop
the continued hemorrhaging, the President had this to
say on August 5th:
“Even though it's going to take years to repair all
the damage caused by this recession, I am absolutely
convinced that this nation is finally headed in the
right direction. Our economy is growing again. We are
adding jobs again [!]. America is moving forward
again…”
Since Obama has access to the above job numbers, we
must assume that he is either delusional or lying. We
also cannot attribute this comment to a one-time slip
of the tongue, because Obama has essentially made the
same speech several times while promoting Democratic
candidates nationwide.
Contrary to his recent statements, Obama has not
improved the economy. He has overseen a catastrophic
destruction of jobs on a state-by-state basis, in part
due to state budget crises and the pathetic lack of
response on the national level: Obama’s first stimulus
was under-funded and misdirected (too much emphasis on
tax cuts for businesses, etc.), while Obama’s recent
“stimulus”— only $26 billion — is simply
farce.
The state budget crises are not over; many states are
projecting long-term deficits in the billions of
dollars that, if left untouched, will contribute
further to the massive unemployment that continues to
drive down wages for the employed workers.
In fact, the U.S. economy is in such sad shape, it was
recently announced, that call center workers in India
now make a similar wage to their U.S. counterparts,
while autoworkers are being pressured to make 50
percent wage concessions.
When it comes to the Iraq war, Obama is equally off
kilter. He recently announced the end of “combat
operations” in Iraq, which we are meant to interpret
as “mission accomplished.”
Meanwhile, we are told, 50,000 troops will stay in
Iraq — along with unknown thousands of “private
contractors”(mercenaries) — capable of conducting
“counter-terrorism operations.” But the war has been
advertised as one giant counter-terrorism operation
for years, meaning, that very little has changed.
Obama’s Bush-style war propaganda will do nothing to
impress the Iraqis, who still live in a war-torn
hell-hole, with over a million dead, millions of
refugees having fled the country, while the remaining
inhabitants are left to rot in a destroyed economy
lacking widespread access to jobs, water, sanitation,
electricity, etc, etc.
Of course, the troops leaving Iraq will simply be
shifted to Afghanistan, while the troops staying in
Iraq will be there to prop up a government that
functions in limbo, lacking all authority outside the
violence it learns from the remaining U.S. “trainers
and advisors.” Middle East Journalist Robert Fisk
adds:
“[The U.S.] injected Iraq with corruption on a grand
scale. They stamped the seal of torture on Abu Ghraib
— a worthy successor to the same prison under Saddam's
vile rule… They sectarianised a country that, for all
its Saddamite brutality and corruption, had hitherto
held its Sunnis and Shias together.”
In short, the U.S. invasion of Iraq has made things
worse for Iraqis, and Obama is selling the war as a
victory as he recklessly dashes over to Afghanistan to
repeat the atrocity.
The hundreds of billions of dollars that Obama will
use to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan could just as
easily go to create jobs in the United States: public
works could be financed by the government, as they
were during the last Depression, that directly create
jobs. The war money could also go to states suffering
massive cutbacks in social services and public
education. If working Americans sit idle, nothing
will change, since power concedes nothing without a
demand.
On October 2nd workers will directly confront the
Obama administration over the above policies.
Hopefully, these nationwide demonstrations, organized
by the One Nation coalition, will begin a movement
that challenges the corporate agenda we’ve suffered
under for decades. Some in the coalition will attempt
to channel the momentum to elect Democrats in
November; the majority will demonstrate to challenge
the policies of both the Democrats and Republicans.
For more info:
www.onenationworkingtogether.org
Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade
unionist, and writer for Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org).
He can be reached at
shamuscook@gmail.com
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