Fiscal cliff? More like ‘austerity chicken!’

Scan page 2

5) Reduce the workweek to 30 hours with no cut in pay, and cut the retirement age to 55. Provide unemployment and retirement payments at We propose an EMERGENCY CONGRESS OF LABOR to discuss and 6) To combat inflation: A sliding scale of wages and pensions that match­ 1) Bail out the people, not the bankers! Open the account books of the es the rises in comsumer prices. To combat high medical costs: A free, banks to full public inspection. Nationalize the banks to be supervised by 7) Immediate citizenship for all undocumented workers. No job discrimi­ 2) No foreclosures! No forced evictions! Cancel usurious debt payments, nation; equal pay for equal work — regardless of gender, sexual orienta­ and reduce mortgage payments in proportion to their capitalist-caused 8) Nationalize manufacturing, big agribusiness, energy, and transporta­ 3) Full employment at union wages! An emergency public works program tion corporations and place them under the control of elected committees to employ all jobless workers and youth! Employ people to build what we need — low-cost quality housing, efficient mass transportation, cheap and 9) To mobilize support for the demands it adopts, the EMERGENCY renewable sources of power, schools, clinics — and to conserve our water, CONGRESS should organize ACTION COMMITTEES in every workplace and neighborhood threatened by the crisis. These committees can draw up 4) Immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops and mercenaries from Iraq & Afghanistan! No war on Iran! Close all U.S. bases abroad! No money for 10) To put all these measures into effect, we need a LABOR PARTY — the military — use funds instead for public works! Convert the war indus­ based on a fighting union movement and all people who are oppressed tries to making products for people’s needs and to combat global warming.

Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly by Socialist Action Publishing Association, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

Postmaster: Send address changes to: Socialist Action, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610. RATES: For one year (12 issues, 1st-class mail): U.S., Canada, Mexico — $20. All other countries — $30. Money orders and checks should be in U.S. dollars.

Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. Socialist Action is edited, Clip and mail to: Socialist Action newspaper, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610. A ington is buzzing about the im­ Is we head into the New Year, Wash­ Spending “fiscal cliff.” The topic was debated at length between both parties of the ruling class, the Democrats and the Republicans; and for all the wailing and doom-saying during and after the Novem­ ber election, one would think that we are approaching an unavoidable disaster for the American people on the scale of the fi­ nancial crisis of 2008, or Hurricane Sandy.

The “fiscal cliff” has its origins in the budget-ceiling debacle in 2011. In or­ der to fund the expansion of the security state, the extension of the Bush tax cuts, and the continuation of imperialist wars overseas, President Obama requested an increase in the debt ceiling, allowing the U.S. Treasury to issue more bonds and thus finance government spending in ex­ cess of revenue from taxes.

This is ordinary practice; the debt limit has been raised 74 times since March 1962.

In 2011, however, Republicans in the House and Sen­ ate refused to authorize a debt-ceiling increase that did not include massive cuts to education, jobs, and other programs that ordinary people rely on. In grand Washington tradition, the solution was the formation of a committee.

The crisis was “resolved” through the passing of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which allowed for a rise in the debt ceiling, but also required that a committee be formed, the Joint Select Committee on the Budget, tasked with eliminating $1.2 trillion dollars from the federal budget. This committee was staffed with leg­ Editor: Michael Schreiber Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder designed, and laid out entirely by volunteer labor.

— $10 for six months — $20 for 12 months ­ Name Address City State Phone E-mail islators from both major parties, and in order to get them to comply, a further provision was included in the bill—if the committee failed to agree on the nec­ essary cuts, what is known as “sequestration” would occur.

This entails automatic cuts to the tune of $500 billion each over 10 years from defense spending and nondefense discretionary spending. (Non-defense discre­ tionary spending is the money, outside of military ex­ penditures, that the government spends from year to year. Included in this is the vast majority of education and other government services, like Head Start, hous­ ing assistance, Pell grants, national science research, and the federal highway system).

Of course, the committee did not agree on a single dollar of cuts, and so sequestration, the “fiscal cliff,” is Zip Andrew Burton / AP • Ashland, Ore.: [email protected] • Boston: [email protected] (781) 630-0250 • Carrboro, N.C.: (919) 967-2866, [email protected] • Chicago: P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657, [email protected] • Connecticut: (860) 478-5300 • Duluth, Minn.: [email protected]. www.thenorthernworker.blogspot.com • GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.: [email protected] • Kansas City: [email protected] (816) 221-3638 • LOUISVILLE, KY.: [email protected], (502) 451-2193 • Madison, Wis.:

[email protected] • Mankato, Minn.:

[email protected] • Minneapolis/St. Paul: (612) 802-1482, [email protected] set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013.

The most important thing to remember is that this crisis is entirely manufactured. The legislation has no binding effect on future Congresses; the new legislature elected into office in November can simply decide not to enforce sequestration and the problem will be solved. The cuts themselves will do little to assuage the growth of federal debt; non-defense discretionary spending (both parties have insisted that they will resist de­ fense cuts by any means necessary) consists of only 19% of the federal budget and the cuts would have the effect of merely slowing down the growth rate of debt, rather than any meaningful debt reduction.

The greatest driver of debt growth in the United States, besides the ever-expanding military machine, is a health-care system de­ signed to safeguard the profits of the insur­ ance industry. According to the Congressio­ nal Budget Office, by 2016, federal spending on health care will outpace discretionary spending in absolute terms.

The quickest solution to the debt crisis, then, would be the immediate institution of a nationalized healthcare system that provides for all based on need, rather than a predatory system that siphons off funds from the people and the public treasury to post mind-bog­ gling profits. Instead, the most likely outcome will be a “compromise” in the Obama tradition—token tax increases along with deep cuts to social programs. It would be another step toward European-style auster­ ity, in which the working masses of the world have to own up to the “shared responsibility” of recovering from a crisis imposed on them by the predatory capi­ talist system. n • New York City: (212) 781-5157 • Philadelphia: [email protected] • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] • Providence: [email protected] (401) 592-5385 • Salem, Ore.: [email protected] • San Francisco Bay Area:

P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, Ca 94610 (510) 268-9429, [email protected] • WASHINGTON, DC: [email protected], (202) 286-5493 National Office

----- pull-quotes -----

Subscribe to Socialist Action — Special introductory offer: $10 for one year! — I want to join the Socialist Action Newspaper Supporters Club.

A WORKERS’ ACTION PROGRAM TO FIGHT THE CRISIS take steps to implement the following demands — workers’ committees. decline in value. forests, farmland, and open space. SOCIALIST ACTION Closing news date: Dec. 3, 2012

I enclose an extra contribution of: — $100 — $200 — Other 2 SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 2012

the level of union wages and benefits. universal, public health-care system. tion, skin color, or national origin. of workers.

more concrete demands than the ones outlined above. and exploited. For a workers’ government!

For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610, (510) 268- 9429, [email protected]. Socialist Action newspaper editorial offices: [email protected] Website: www.socialistaction.org WHERE TO FIND SOCIALIST ACTION

Socialist Action Canada

526 Roxton Road, Toronto, Ont. M6G 3R4, (416) 535-8779 http://socialistaction.ca/