BILL VAN AUKEN—The American oligarchy rakes in billions in profits from the business of war. The Brown University report came out at the same time that Donald Trump was in Asia combining war threats against North Korea with the hustling of arms sales in behalf of US military contractors. Among the retinue of more than two dozen corporate heads accompanying the president were the CEOs of such defense industry giants as Boeing and Bell Helicopter, Textron.
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Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” -- acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump -- a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report
Concerns about “raising the standards” of the working class are laudable. It’s tragic that we turn our backs on those who were already phased out of the job market as the US lost millions of jobs, though this does define “the American character.” Understand that as long as we maintain an abundant surplus of job-ready people who are desperate for any job at any wage, there is no logical reason to increase wages for current workers. Supply and demand. Corporations have gone international, and are no longer dependent on US workers or consumers. Be grateful if you have a job… Read more »
“Republicans spent 2017 working to build support for a war against China (via Korea at the moment) while Democrats worked to build support for a war against Russia. The world’s nuclear super-powers. This has worked to bring Russia and China together, resolving their many years of conflict in view of the potential world threat, the US. Add up these two factors that define out situation, and see if anyone can figure out what to do from here.”
We completely clean house by starving the beast!
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“[The report] does, however, provide a sober view of the vast social wealth of the United States itself that has literally gone up in smoke as a result of American militarism—resources that could have been invested in education, health care and raising the living standards of the working class.” Why aren’t people outraged by this? America is slowly becoming dysfunctional, a steady decay in the basic building blocks of a coherent, sustainable, citizen-friendly society. People need to wake up and demand what they’ve got coming to them. That starts with taking apart the mechanisms of exploitation and abuse of power.… Read more »