Soaring global stock markets during the coronavirus pandemic are a worrying sign that corporations are going to boost their profits by crushing ordinary workers’ wages when the crisis is over, the Nobel economic prize winner and inequality expert Sir Angus Deaton has warned.

Many economists have attributed the surge in equities in recent months to a flood of new money printed by central banks, but Sir Angus, who won the economics prize in 2015, attributed it to expectations from investors that companies will be able to boost their profits in future by squeezing their wage bills.

“Every time we look at our retirement portfolio there’s another huge increase in the funds we have available,” he said, speaking to Econ Films’ CoronaNomics show. “And why is that huge increase happening? Because the stock market thinks we’re going to screw the workers even more in the future. Most people equate the stock market with the state of the economy and not as a measure of profits only.”

Total national income, or GDP, is always split between company profits and workers’ wages. Between 2001 and 2017 the share of GDP going to workers in the US fell from 62 per cent to 57 per cent according to the OECD. In Japan it declined from 61 per cent to 56 per cent. In Germany it went down from 62 per cent to 59 per cent. The labour share in Ireland, Portugal and Poland fell by 10 percentage points over that period.

America’s S&P 500 Index, made up of the 500 largest listed US companies, hit a record high in September, and is up by more than 50 per cent since the end of March. The recovery of the UK’s FTSE100 index and the STOXX 600, comprising the largest European companies, has not been as impressive and both are still below their February peaks. However, both stock indexes are still both up 16 per cent and 29 per cent respectively since March’s nadir.

 Sir Angus recalls that when he was studying economics in Cambridge in the 1960s there was a concern that the workers’ share was being squeezed down by the corporate profit share but that this concern ebbed in the following two decades as the labour share seemed to recover and stabilise. Yet Sir Angus thinks the problem has now returned. “I think the functional distribution of income is coming back again because it’s changing against labour,” he said. 

A popular (although not universally accepted) view is that it reflects the rising ability of corporations to boost their profits by holding down wages. This, in turn, has been linked to forces such as the decline in the power of trade unions, changes in technology, rising monopsony power among firms and globalisation. Median wages in the US are barely any higher than they were forty years ago after accounting for inflation. IBritain, unlike many other countries, has not seen a falling labour share in GDP. Between 2001 and 2017 it remained roughly level at 59 per cent. However, average real wages in the UK were still lower at the end of last year than they were in 2007, reflecting an unprecedented period of weakness.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/stock-market-workers-economy-wages-profits-angus-deaton-nobel-prize-b1252530.html

  America once led the world in humanitarian policies by creating a sanctuary for the oppressed, admitting more refugees annually than all other countries combined. No longer.

 Trump cut the number of refugees allowed in by more than 80%, and Canada replaced the U.S. as No. 1 for resettling people fleeing war and persecution.

The administration also narrowed eligibility this year, restricting which refugees are selected for resettlement to certain categories.  For example, many Syrians may no longer qualify because no category is for those fleeing war.

The already extensive vetting measures have become more extreme. For instance, refugees now must provide addresses dating back 10 years, a near impossible task for people living in exile.

The Trump administration also has rolled back other humanitarian protections, like Temporary Protected Status for 400,000 immigrants fleeing natural disasters or violence. Those from countries like Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, Nepal and Syria now face deportation under a plan to end the program in January.

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-politics-virus-outbreak-immigration-immigration-policy-1f8c91e31fba158126f8e91c1453b13f

 Regardless of the rhetoric and personality clashes, the outstanding characteristics of the American two–party system is the fact, the two major parties are so organized as to make it virtually impossible for the electorate to choose between clear-cut alternatives in elections. Whichever candidate prevails the administration will be run by the big-business cabinet, thus insuring the defeat of any serious social program.

The complete bankruptcy of the policy of supporting so-called “friends of labor” has been repeatedly exposed and reveals the urgent necessity for the immediate formation of an independent socialist party. The sad truth is that in the most terrific economic crisis in American history, the workers will voted their belief in the efficacy of capitalism to solve the ills of unemployment, low wages, etc. It is true that they may reject the reactionary administration of Donald Trump and accept the platitudes of Biden, but that, of course, is still a case of Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dummer. The shift basically was not a change from their capitalist outlook, but only a change of administrators of the system of private property. Sadly, it will be the affirmation of faith of the vast mass of American people in the social system of capitalism. Yet, while on one hand the American workers will give their approval to American political system as such they are girding themselves for struggles which will bring them into sharp conflict with capitalist property rights and ideas. Our fellow-workers often devise their own strategies in the class struggle, finding it necessary in the past for need for independent political experience and actions. One need will be no doubt that unorganized labor will add its forces to organized labor in common struggle. Workers’ discontent is already evident and is bound to grow enormously as the standard of living falls, as other burdens are piled upon them and they are denied corresponding wage increases and even the denial of the right to resort to the strike weapon. The entire history of the American labor movement shows that the workers tend to resort to independent political action when they find themselves defeated or frustrated on the economic field. There is every reason to believe that this tradition will assert itself more powerfully than ever in the coming period. With mounting pressure and difficulties imposed upon them, and the fact that they are stymied on the political field – must push workers into the direction of more imaginative and innovative expression of struggle and resistance, with increasing indifference to the Republican and Democratic parties. The rank and file workers, through their own experience will understand the interests of the working class and will act accordingly.  People will be watching what happens, checking out what really changes and this will expose the lies and tricks of the ruling class whether represented by Donald Trump or Joe Biden.

The progressives and militants in the Democratic Party have one great task before them from now on. Two roads remain to choose from. They can take the road of independent political action, or they can continue the present policy of tying themselves to capitalist politics, which in essence means support to the political representatives of the ruling class. The purpose of the state apparatus is to maintain the capitalist system. Joe Biden is just a representative of this ruling class and won’t have the power to change it. What he can do is run the government better or worse for the ruling class. Even his political program shows his class loyalties. Any changes offered by Biden are not for the people, but to save U.S. capitalists. Biden’s  program amounts to is little more than sugar–coated reformism. He and his backers understand that the people of the U.S. will not continue to accept no jobs, poor housing, decaying schools, lack of adequate health care, political repression and police brutality. They also understand the need to devise new means of ruling other than the open repression of the Trump administration.

 The World Socialist Party does not speak about a reformism. We are advocating revolution, a call to our fellow-workers to take power and change the whole system. As socialists, we support no bourgeois side in this election. Voting for Democrats or Republicans means supporting both parties’ attacks against the working class. Capitalism offers no future for workers of any color, any gender, any age. There is no real choice for workers in this election. Unless we build a socialist party we are accepting the rule of the capitalist parties. Workers  do have a stake in the struggle for democratic rights, including the right to vote. The working class needs a political alternative that meets the needs of our class. Our strength is in collective struggle, dedicated to overthrowing both the capitalist economic system and the state that protects it.

 Google, Facebook and Microsoft should be paying more corporation tax in developing nations, says ActionAid. The aid charity estimates that poorer countries are missing out on up to $2.8bn (£2.2bn) in tax revenue.

The aid charity said its research showed that the developing nations with the highest “tax gaps” from Google, Facebook and Microsoft are India, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria and Bangladesh.

 $2.8bn could pay for 729,010 nurses, 770,649 midwives or 879,899 primary school teachers annually in 20 countries across Africa, Asia and South America.

The crisis of Democratic Party liberalism also means that there will be a growing polarization, with some Democrats moving to the right, but others being pushed more left–ward. Today the conservative trend has the upper hand, and this is likely to continue. But the lies and tricks of the Democratic Party leadership are no longer convincing to a growing number of workers. Large sections of the working class no longer believe in the so-called “government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

The Democratic Party promise the voters everything. The Republican Party offer a do-nothing reactionary incumbent President and a TV reality show buffoon turned politician who openly campaigns on an authoritarian neo- fascist program, a double-dealing Wall Street pawn or a narcissist aspiring monarch. no wonder that little enthusiasm is being displayed for the up-coming elections by many.

While the great mass of people may distrust and dislike the candidates, and hate and fear the government that rules over them, the fact remains that the majority of people do not know of any other way to solve their social problems other than by leaders. It is in order to educate the working class in its own strength, in the justice and decency of its struggle, in the necessity of socialism that the World Socialist Party of the United States exists.  Socialists must run for office and participate in election campaigns. It is through such efforts that the basic corruptness of capitalism is shown to the working class. Using the forum of elections and political activity provides the working class with a rallying point – the hatred for capitalism finds a voice in the revolutionary socialist party.  Every action of the ruling class must be held up for exposure.

Biden gets up and says, ’Trump is corrupt. He’s tainted with Russiagate, he doesn’t care about the people who are unemployed, he doesn’t care if people are dying from the pandemic. He’s just going to let things go that way if it’s needed to help big business.’ And Biden is right.

Trump then gets up and says, ’Joe Biden is a liar. He’s not going to create more jobs. All of his programs like the Green New Deal can’t even be paid for. Its’s fake news and he is a fraud.’ And Trump is right.

Because either one of their programs is only going to continue this system. That’s the nature of the whole set–up.

How can you represent capitalists and working-people at the same time?  How can you speak for the slave–master and the slaves at the same time?  Right there is how you know that they’re liars. Anybody that gets up and says that they represent the slave–master and the slave at the same time is deceiving us. The World Socialist Party doesn’t talk about representing the slave–owner class. We represent the slaves and that’s all there is to it. And we’re determined that we aren’t going to be slaves no more. We refuse to give our our slave–masters to the stamp of approval to keep us enslaved by voting for them. The liberal media come along and say, ’You’re going to have one of them anyway so you might as well vote for the kinder master because, even though neither one of them is any good, you’re going to have one of them anyway so pick the least awful.

What they’re really telling us is, ’You’re going to have exploitation anyway, have oppression anyway, you’re going to be robbed and attacked and cheated and see your kids go hungry, see health care cut back, you’re going to have all that anyway no matter who is elected.’

And they’re telling the truth even though they’re trying to tell a lie. We should learn from that truth. What they’re saying is that as long as we have capitalism we will have exploitation and oppression anyway so you might as well vote for it because the real candidate is not Trump or Biden, the real candidate is their actual system of wage slavery that we’re being asked to vote for.

Capitalism cannot provide the minimum needs of the people. Regardless of, whether its Biden’s New Dealism or Trumps right-wing conservatism, American capitalism presents to the working class and the people as a whole only the prospect of continual crises, precarious employment, insecurity, and declining living standards. Our fellow-workers, increasingly conscious of the depths of the crises, will strive instinctively for a way out. They have demonstrated, time and time again, their willingness to struggle, their desire for independent class action. We can say with some certainty that the working class will brush aside phoney mis–leaders and move to great independent class action. The workers are foolishly supporting the capitalist class in wielding political power against them, for the workers still follow the boss parties.

Both the Democrats and Republicans are cut from the same cloth. They are both political parties of the capitalist class, of the ruling class, of the boss class

 Data shows millionaires and billionaires own 79% of America’s wealth. Figures from the Federal Reserve show the poorest half of the country having almost no meaningful share of the national wealth.

 Nations must work in a spirit of cooperation rather than selfishness in the fight against coronavirus, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed. 

In Steinmeier’s message against “vaccine nationalism”, he explained, “No-one is safe from COVID-19; no-one is safe until we are all safe from it. Even those who conquer the virus within their own borders remain prisoners within these borders until it is conquered everywhere.” The president continued, “If we don’t want to live in a world after the pandemic in which the principle ‘Everyone against each other and everyone for themselves’ gains even more ground then we need the enlightened reason of our societies and our governments.” 

Steinmeier said the rapid spread of the virus had resulted in an enormous worldwide mobilization of resources and a growing spirit of ingenuity. However, he said the trend of nations reserving large quantities of vaccines for their populations could prove unhelpful.

“COVID-19 challenges us all. The virus knows no borders. It is indifferent to the nationality of its victims. It will continue to overcome every barrier in the future if we do not confront it together. In the face of the virus, we are undoubtedly a global community. But the crucial question is: are we able to act as such?”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated, “Developed countries must support health systems in countries that are short of resources.”

Head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghenreyesus said the only way to recover from the pandemic was by making sure poorer countries had fair access to a vaccine. He also tweeted his support for Steinmeier’s message.

“I hope the world hears President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s call for global solidarity to end the COVID-19 pandemic,” the WHO chief wrote.

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-germany-warns-against-vaccine-nationalism/a-55393690

 And here’s the last batch of recordings from September –

FAQ Socialism and Morality – Paddy Shannon, 16th September 2020

Does religion matter to socialists pt.1 – Howard Moss, 18th September 2020

Does religion matter to socialists pt.2

Socialism and Art pt.1 – Carla Dee, 25th September 2020

Socialism and Art pt.2

FAQ Desert-island books for socialists – Paddy Shannon, 30th September 2020

Our revolution has not yet been made. Unfortunately, a large socialist party remains more a long range aspiration than an immediate realistic possibility. The absence of a viable socialist movement in the U.S. today is an indisputable and depressing fact. For all the weakness of the socialist movement, an administration run by the corrupt Republican Party and a White House staffed by Trump and Pence, what could be more utopian and absurd as even a beginning of a solution to America’s problems. By comparison, socialists are eminently practical and realistic men and women.

The truth is that the ailment afflicting America is not the president who leads it but is capitalism, and the difference between the two parties is that the Democrats will complain of symptoms, while the Republicans outright deny they are sick. Neither can provide the cure. Most of the major problems with America, and the world, can be traced back to capitalism, an economic system in which a society’s means of production are primarily controlled by private individuals hoping to make a profit. It is a system that has devastated our planet, created massive income inequality and left us unprepared for crises such as the coronavirus pandemic. The problem with capitalism is that it is built on the need for private enterprises to make money, no matter what. Wealthy Democrats and Republicans cross party-lines with their financing. their campaigns. It is standard practice for corporations to donate to both parties and both candidates. These corporate lobbyist funds are not really contributions. They are investments or bribes with an expected return of access to shape policy. It is a corrupt electoral system that closes down choices, obliges citizens to vote against their conscience and allows money to control people

There have been many attempts before in the United States towards a break-up of the two party system yet none have not been successful. The American presidential elections have once again rendered proof of the paradox of a politically backward working class in a highly developed industrial country. People are taught not to vote FOR what they believe but AGAINST an individual.  An unpopular policy once identified with an individual can be continued by replacing the individual, keeping the policy with modifications.

Nevertheless it would be incorrect to conclude that there are not any tendencies of a left–wing drift of the American workers. No one could fail to notice the enormous discontentment as revealed by the elections, and revealed clearly also in the recent protest movement and demonstrations. Yet they are still harnessed within the usual traditional channels, flowing from one capitalist party to another. There will be a few workers who are urging their fellow-workers to abstain from voting for any candidates whatsoever. Their slogan is the slogan of the World Socialist Party of the United States (WSPUS) in this campaign: BOYCOTT THE ELECTIONS! A party that promises you that a new president or a new term will bring solutions to your problems is deceiving you. The World Socialist Party must push aside all secondary and reformist distinctions, and pose directly the central issue: the class struggle for for socialism. Our success in an election campaign is not to be measured in votes or offices won, but in the extent and the depth to which they have succeeded in bringing the central issue before the attention of our fellow-workers.

Unlike  the platforms, programs, and agitation of the other political parties the WSPUS remain consistent in our case for socialism. Demagogy means the adaptation of policy and propaganda to the prejudices of the audience to which it is hoped to appeal, without regard to the truth or correctness or workability of the given policy and propaganda. Demagogy is thus the exploitation of ignorance. It is in direct contrast to principled politics, which always tells the truth both about what is at present, what will probably be, and about what it proposes as solution. Principled politics, thus, instead of exploiting, combats ignorance; instead of pandering to prejudices and building on them, is the practice of the WSPUS. The demagogy of the other parties is not accidental. All their promises of betterment, of peace, prosperity and security, are necessarily demagogic since none of these is  possible under capitalism. That is why only a program of revolutionary struggle AGAINST capitalism can be anything other than demagogy. Each party in its different way presents a program which revolves within the orbit of capitalism, which presupposes the continued existence of capitalism. It follows there from that each of these parties is basically dedicated, however indirectly, to the maintenance and defense of capitalism. They differ profoundly, it is true, in the ways and means they propose; in their social composition; in the manner and direction of the “appeal” which they make. But these differences drop to insignificance before this basic similarity.

The Republican Party appears, on the whole, in this campaign as the party of open, traditional reaction. Its leaders make clear that what the Republicans propose is a return to the good old Reagan days. The future of capitalism and profits, they would like to believe, lies in real Americanism, in rugged individualism, competition, no government “interference” in business, no compromise with labor. They want to pursue increased profits in their own unhampered way.

The Democratic party differs – in words at any rate. Equally devoted to the preservation of capitalism and the fullest possible capitalist prosperity (i.e., profits), the Democratic politicians believe that the methods of reaction is no longer appropriate to protect profits or to keep the people in order. They advocate an “enlightened” capitalism, tempering harsh exploitation with fine phrases about human rights and public duty, with the aim to pacify people with promises, while oiling the wheels of capitalism. Through such means the Democrats have indeed won the temporary allegiance of a substantial majority of working people. 

“Progressive Biden or reaction Trump” chorus the liberal media. The difference between Trump and Biden is not between what is reactionary and progressive: they BOTH are unequivocal representatives of the reactionary capitalist class, both sworn to uphold the present social order; they differ only in their versions of the most effective means for guaranteeing success. For the worker, the choice between them is, at the most, no more important than the choice between the assembly line at Ford’s or at Chrysler’s.

All the specious talk that the “main issue” in the campaign is the “judicial tyranny” of the Supreme Court or the “encroachments of the Federal government” or any of a thousand others are entirely subordinate to the basic CLASS issue, to the issue of capitalism versus socialism. It is not the Federal government or the Supreme Court which are the particular enemies, but capitalism as a whole and its entire state apparatus.

  As of October 1, about 7000 protests had occurred this year (roughly 25 a day), according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflicts.

Unlike before, these protests have by and large not taken place in right-wing opposition strongholds nor necessarily demanded the removal of President Nicolas Maduro.

Instead, they have focused on demands around access to basic services — electricity, domestic gas, water — and occurred in areas that traditionally voted for former socialist president Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s predecessor. Differing from the “protests of the rich” of past years, Unitary Chavista Socialist League (LUCHAS) spokesperson Stalin Pérez Borges told Green Left Venezuela is witnessing a rise in “protests of the poor, driven by the difficult situation people face.” Their targets, in most cases, have been officials aligned with Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

United Left general coordinator Feliz Velasquez agrees. These protests were “very different from the protests we had in Venezuela in 2014 or 2017, which were violent protests seeking to bring down the government.

“Today, what we have are largely peaceful protests by popular sectors, organised sectors, including in some cases entire small communities, that, faced with the crisis affecting basic services, have decided to protest.”

Neglected for decades by traditional parties, Venezuela’s countryside became — alongside the barrios — Chávez’s strongest base of support. Life there was radically transformed under Chávez pro-poor Bolivarian revolution through the rapid expansion of education, healthcare and basic services. Important initiatives in promoting cooperatives, communes and community-owned productive enterprises also took root. However, eight years after his death, it is here where the reversals of the revolution have been felt the most.  In regional towns, residents can often go days without basic services. Fed up with this situation, popular movements are taking to the streets.

Along with basic services, there is also the issue of workers’ wages. September registered a daily average of nine protests or strikes demanding better wages. Hyperinflation, another weapon alongside sanctions in the economic war against Venezuela, has meant workers’ wages have plummeted, leaving most essential goods out of reach for the majority.

“Right now, Venezuela has the lowest wages in the world,” Velasquez said. “A teacher, a professional, a university academic does not earn more than $2-3 a month, which of course creates a lot of hardship when a kilo of rice can cost $1.”

Velazquez — whose organisation is part of an alliance of left parties and movements running candidates against the PSUV in the coming election — believes there has been a shift in the government’s approach between Chávez and Maduro. “Chávez always sought consultation, debate. He always asked people to present proposals for overcoming problems and was willing to correct mistakes, learn together with the people.

“The style of government we have now is very different”, he said. The Maduro government has an “aristocratic vision of doing politics, where the government thinks they are the owners of the truth, that they are a government of the best, for the rest.”

“This vision of politics has led them to discredit the views and opinions of other political movements, to ignore peoples’ needs and demands.”

From

https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/venezuela-could-rebellion-ranks-signal-end-maduro