Andre Damon, wsws.org

Literally partners in crime. Their tug of war is a farce for suckers facilitated by the whoremedia.

US President Barack Obama signed a bill Tuesday that makes permanent $85 billion in sequester cuts, paving the way for the imposition of furloughs on a million or more federal workers as early as next month.

The bill, which funds the federal government through September, was passed with bipartisan support by both houses of Congress.

The sequester includes $9.9 billion in cuts to Medicare, $2 billion in public housing assistance cuts, $840 million in cuts to special education programs, as well as $400 million in cuts to Head Start, the early childhood education program.

The nearly 4 million long-term unemployed who receive federal unemployment benefits will see an 11 percent cut in their benefits, or about $130 per month. A vast portion of the cuts will be implemented through furloughs of federal government employees, resulting in effective pay cuts of 20 to 35 percent. The military, however, announced that it may delay the furlough of some of its civilian employees after the Congressmen inserted language giving it greater flexibility in allocating cuts.

Adding to the devastating impact of the furloughs, the bill freezes federal employees’ pay through the end of this year. This reverses an earlier executive order to end the current pay freeze, which has been in place for two years, and gave federal employees a meager 0.5 percent raise. The pay freeze, even more than the bill itself, has gone largely unreported in the media.

The White House sought to distance itself from the cuts, with Obama spokesman Jay Carney stating in a press conference Tuesday, “There is no question that we believe we should not have come to this point where sequester would be imposed.” He added that “regular folks out there are being unnecessarily harmed by imposition of the sequester, which was designed by Democrats and Republicans purposefully never to become law, to be filled with nonsensical approaches to deficit reduction.”

This is a fraud. The rapid passage of the bill with bipartisan support stands as a repudiation of the official narrative of a vast political divide between the two parties, and exposes the reality that the Democrats and Republicans, far from being at loggerheads, are united in their drive to make the working class pay even as the stock market soars and the corporate and financial elite is wealthier than ever.

While mouthing the obligatory and pro-forma statements of regret, the Democrats did absolutely nothing to stop the passage of the bill, which if blocked would have resulted in a shutdown of the federal government on March 28.

The political “gridlock” in Washington is largely manufactured for public consumption. Behind the supposed bipartisan conflict, both parties are proceeding with a shared agenda. The sequester cuts themselves were the product of this supposed “gridlock.” Originally devised by the White House to ensure the passage of a broader deficit deal, the measure was used to implement unpopular cuts without either party having to claim responsibility for them.

In reality, the sequester cuts are entirely in line with the Obama administration’s earlier policies. In 2009, the administration called for discretionary spending to be lowered to the level imposed by the sequester. On numerous occasions Obama has boasted about slashing spending to the lowest level as a percentage of GDP since the Eisenhower administration.

In an article published this week, “As Obama signs sequestration cuts, his economic goals are at risk,” the Washington Post noted the apparent contradiction between the White House’s claims to defend the “middle class” and the administration’s actual policies.

“Obama has repeatedly championed a set of government investments that he argues would expand the economy and strengthen the middle class, including bolstering early-childhood education, spending more on research and development, and upgrading the nation’s roads and railways… But none of those policies have come close to being enacted,” the newspaper noted. “Instead… Obama is set to sign a government funding measure that leaves in place the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration—a policy that undermines many of the goals he laid out during the 2012 campaign.”

In reality, Obama’s posturing as a defender of the “middle class” is entirely for show. Far from expanding programs like public education, Obama has from the beginning of his term attacked social spending, with over 700,000 state, local, and federal government jobs eliminated since he took office. His principal “economic goal” was to bail out the banks and oversee a historic transfer of wealth from the working class to the financial elite.

With the sequester cuts made permanent, the White House plans to turn its attention to slashing basic social programs with the release of the White House’s budget early next month. The Obama administration has made clear to its backers on Wall Street that it intends to slash Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security in its budget proposal, combined with the standard call for “shared sacrifice” through additional revenue.

To the population, which is almost unanimously opposed to cutting these programs, Obama and the Democrats present their support for cuts to the core social programs as an unavoidable compromise in the face of Republican “intransigence.”

The two parties’ budget proposals are a case in point: the Republicans are proposing $5.7 trillion in spending cuts and a far-reaching restructuring of Medicare and Medicaid. The Democrats, by contrast, are proposing about $1 trillion in cuts, including a reduction in Medicare spending.

The result of this process will be the same as before: the Democrats will very consciously work out a deal to make vast cuts in the name of “compromise” with the Republicans. This deal, will, in turn, create the conditions for even further cuts in the future.

Under conditions of the greatest social and economic crisis since the Great Depression, there does not exist within the entire political establishment any constituency for maintaining social programs, let alone expanding them. In the midst of desperate conditions for millions of people, the ruling class is united in its policy of making the working class pay for the crisis of capitalism.

Andre Damon is a senior political analyst with wsws.org, information arm of the Social Equality Party.

Beat the Press / By Dean Baker [1]

There are few areas where the corruption of the national media is more apparent than in its treatment of Social Security. Most of the elite media have made it clear in both their opinion and news pages that they want to see benefits cut. In keeping with this position they highlight the views of political figures who push cuts to the program, treating them as responsible, while those who oppose cuts are ignored or mocked.

This pattern of coverage was clearly on display last weekend. Both the New York Times [2] and Washington Post [3] decided to ignore the Senate’s passage by voice vote of the Sanders Amendment. This was an amendment to the budget put forward by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders that puts the Senate on record as opposing the switch to the chained CPI as the basis for the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).

Switching the basis for the COLA to the chained CPI is one of the most beloved policies of the Washington elite. The idea is that it would reduce scheduled benefits for retirees by 0.3 percentage points annually. This amounts to a cut of 3 percent after 10 years, 6 percent after 20 years, and 9 percent after 30 years.

If a typical retiree lives to collect benefits for 20 years the average cut in benefits over their retirement ends up being around 3 percent. This is a much bigger hit to the typical retiree, who relies on Social Security for more than two-thirds of their income, than the tax increases put into law this year were to the typical rich person.

But the magic of the chained CPI is that everyone gets to run around saying that they are not really cutting benefits, they are just “adjusting” the cost of living formula. And the media do their best to assist the politicians pushing these cuts. They almost always use euphemisms like “changing” or “restructuring” Social Security, trying to conceal the simple reality that politicians are pushing cuts to the program.

It is also worth noting, in contrast to the claims of the pretentious elites, there is no — as in zero, nada, none — basis for the claim that the chained CPI would give a more accurate measure of the rate of inflation experienced by seniors. Research by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that the rate of inflation seen by seniors is actually higher than the CPI that provides the basis for the current COLA.

While this research is far from conclusive, the answer for those interested in accuracy would be to have the BLS construct a full CPI for seniors. But the Washington elites don’t give a damn about accuracy, which is why not one of them has called for a full elderly CPI. The elite want cuts to Social Security; accuracy is just something they talk about to children and reporters for major media outlets.

This is why the vote on the Sanders Amendment should have been newsworthy. Here was an opportunity for all the senators who have explicitly or implicitly supported the adoption of the chained CPI to step up and say why the switch to the chained CPI was a good and necessary measure. However, not one senator was prepared to stand up and argue the case. Not one member of the Senate wanted to go on record in support of this cut to Social Security.

With all the Republicans who pronounce endlessly on the need to cut entitlement spending, there was not a single Republican senator who was prepared to say that switching the Social Security COLA to a chained CPI was a good idea. And even though President Obama has repeatedly stated as clearly as he could that he supported the switch to a chained CPI, there was not one Democratic senator who was prepared to stand up and speak in solidarity with the president.

This is a clear case of the elite lining up together against the bases of both political parties [4]. If the chained CPI were put to a vote of the people it would lose in a landslide. But the elites are prepared to use their control of the political process and the media to do everything they can to push this cut forward.

The battle over the chained CPI provides a great case study in the state of American democracy. We will get to see whether the rich and powerful are able to attack a program that is vital to the security of almost all working people, even when the vast majority in both parties stand against them.

Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and author of the new book, The End of Loser Liberalism?

Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/senate-unanimously-votes-against-cuts-social-security-media-dont-notice
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/dean-baker-0
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/us/politics/senate-passes-3-7-trillion-budget-its-first-in-4-years.html?hp
[3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/senate-passes-first-budget-in-four-years/2013/03/23/cd582dc8-9399-11e2-a31e-14700e2724e4_story.html
[4] http://www.nasi.org/press/releases/2013/01/press-release-americans-make-hard-choices-social-security
[5] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bernie-sanders
[6] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bureau-labor-statistics
[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/communist-party-india
[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/consumer-price-index-country
[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/consumer-price-index
[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/cost-living
[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/democratic-senator
[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/economics-0
[13] http://www.alternet.org/tags/inflation-0
[14] http://www.alternet.org/tags/major
[15] http://www.alternet.org/tags/obama-0
[16] http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-career
[17] http://www.alternet.org/tags/politics-0
[18] http://www.alternet.org/tags/president-0
[19] http://www.alternet.org/tags/price-indices
[20] http://www.alternet.org/tags/quotation
[21] http://www.alternet.org/tags/senate-0
[22] http://www.alternet.org/tags/senator
[23] http://www.alternet.org/tags/social-issues-0
[24] http://www.alternet.org/tags/social-security
[25] http://www.alternet.org/tags/socialism
[26] http://www.alternet.org/tags/taxation-united-states
[27] http://www.alternet.org/tags/vermont
[28] http://www.alternet.org/tags/washington-post
[29] http://www.alternet.org/tags/washington-0
[30] http://www.alternet.org/tags/cuts-1
[31] http://www.alternet.org/tags/elite-media
[32] http://www.alternet.org/tags/forward
[33] http://www.alternet.org/tags/single-republican-senator
[34] http://www.alternet.org/tags/new-york-times-1
[35] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
History has placed the BRICS nations on the path of confrontation with a superpower in decline. Washington is prepared to strangle the world into submission, or drown it in chaos. “Objectively, the United States has positioned itself as the great and implacable impediment to global development.”

“They have no choice but to resist Washington’s policies of coercion and the threat of strangulation.”

The meteoric rise of the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – now concluding their fifth annual summit meeting in Durban, became inevitable once the imperial powers began moving the world’s industrial production to the Global South, decades ago. From that point on, the options available to the “West” began to shrink, leading inexorably to the current historical juncture, in which U.S.-led imperialism relies almost entirely on its overwhelming military superiority to maintain itself.

“By 2020,” according to United Nations Development Program, “the combined economic output of three leading developing countries alone — Brazil, China and India — will surpass the aggregate production of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the U.K. and the United States.” The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, comprised of the world’s richest countries, predicts that China will surpass the United States as the world’s biggest economy by the end of 2016. By some measures, China actually overtook the U.S. back in 2010.

“The essential question facing the Global South, is to what extent, and how long, will they shore up the crumbling old Euro-American edifices.”

Brazil’s economic development bank is bigger than the World Bank. Last year, BRICS nations sent $75 billion to the IMF [21] to help bail out European financial institutions – so, these countries can well afford to capitalize a BRICS development bank, as they agreed to do, in principle, this week in Durban. It is a question of political will.

U.S. and western European economic decline is an irreversible fact. The essential question facing the Global South, with the BRICS in the lead, is to what extent, and how long, will they shore up the crumbling old Euro-American edifices – in which they also have huge investments and which are backed by a war machine that strives for full spectrum dominance of the planet.

We are living at a crossroads of history. The productive center of the world is shifting back to where it was before western Europe began its 500-year war against the rest of humankind: to China and India, the economic powerhouses of the pre-colonial planet. Europe used force to organize the world to its own, absolute advantage, depopulating a whole hemisphere and much of Africa in the process. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which was fueled by colonization and slavery, most of the world’s people enjoyed similar living standards. The great global imbalance in the human condition, largely along lines of color, is the product of half a millennium of predation.

The gory enterprise could not, however, forever contain the human impulse toward self-determination, or escape the laws of political economy. Unable to export the contradictions of dwindling rates of profit in a decolonizing world, western financial capitalists exported their industrial capacity, instead. Power must shift, as well. This is the central quandary of the BRICS, and of U.S. imperialism.

“Washington is betting its global hegemony on military coercion, pure and simple.”

The United States, firmly in the grip of hyperactive finance capital, has acquiesced to its diminishing role in world trade. It doesn’t seriously attempt to directly compete with the core BRICS countries in Africa and Latin America. Washington is betting its global hegemony on military coercion, pure and simple. The U.S. is now the “indispensable nation” only in the sense that it refuses to tolerate a world in which it is not treated as such. Under Presidents Clinton, Bush and, especially, Obama, the U.S. has waged an escalating war against international legal order, largely under the pernicious doctrine of “humanitarian” military intervention. National sovereignty is treated as a dead letter, and trade sanctions are quickly followed by armed, barely covert assaults on unoffending governments. The U.S. publicly announces possession of new systems of warfare that can annihilate targets with a conventional weapon anywhere on the globe in half an hour [22]. The message is clear, repetitive and meant to be terrifying: No nation, or combination of nations, will be allowed to challenge U.S. dominance in the world, as defined by Washington.

“The U.S. swarms over Africa, to secure political obedience despite its economic eclipse on the continent.”

The superpower in decline is not only willing to throw the world into chaos to preserve its artificial position at the top, it is actively doing so in Syria, following up its decapitation of Libya. It swarms over Africa, to secure political obedience despite its economic eclipse on the continent. Objectively, the United States has positioned itself as the great and implacable impediment to global development.

Therefore, when the BRICS say that their summit is motivated by “a shared desire for peace, security, development, cooperation, respect for international law and sovereignty,” as was announced [23] at the 5th BRICS Academic Forum, earlier this month, they are placing themselves in opposition to the U.S. juggernaut. It is not a place that these nation’s governments want to be. But, if they are to continue on the road to self-determination and achievement of their own national goals – including their capitalistic aspirations – they have no choice but to resist Washington’s policies of coercion and the threat of strangulation.

It is not up to the BRICS to save the world. But, in order to save their own parts of the planet, they will be forced to confront U.S. imperialism. The monster must be removed from humanity’s path. Only then can we truly begin to clear out the rubble of the 500-year war, and build a new global society.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com [24].

[25]
Source URL: http://blackagendareport.com/content/throwing-brics-us-empire
Links:
[1] http://blackagendareport.com/category/department-war/war-against-syria
[2] http://blackagendareport.com/category/department-war/war-against-libya
[3] http://blackagendareport.com/category/department-war/us-imperial-wars
[4] http://blackagendareport.com/taxonomy/term/1439
[5] http://blackagendareport.com/category/department-war/humanitarian-military-intervention
[6] http://blackagendareport.com/category/department-war/clinton-wars
[7] http://blackagendareport.com/category/department-war/bush-wars
[8] http://blackagendareport.com/category/africa/south-africa
[9] http://blackagendareport.com/category/africa/colonialism
[10] http://blackagendareport.com/category/african-america/slavery
[11] http://blackagendareport.com/category/african-america/global-south
[12] http://blackagendareport.com/category/asia-europe-and-middle-east/russia
[13] http://blackagendareport.com/category/asia-europe-and-middle-east/india
[14] http://blackagendareport.com/category/asia-europe-and-middle-east/china-biggest-economy
[15] http://blackagendareport.com/category/asia-europe-and-middle-east/china
[16] http://blackagendareport.com/category/political-economy/diminishing-profits
[17] http://blackagendareport.com/category/political-economy/brics
[18] http://blackagendareport.com/category/americas/brazil-development-bank
[19] http://blackagendareport.com/category/americas/brazil
[20] http://blackagendareport.com/sites/www.blackagendareport.com/files/brics396.jpg
[21] http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86651
[22] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063117/Pentagon-tests-hypersonic-weapon-travels-5-times-speed-sound.html
[23] http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86653
[24] mailto:Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com
[25] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblackagendareport.com%2Fcontent%2Fthrowing-brics-us-empire&linkname=Throwing%20BRICS%20at%20the%20U.S.%20Empire
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War Against Syria [1] | War Against Libya [2] | U.S. imperial wars [3] | Obama wars [4] | humanitarian military intervention [5] | Clinton wars [6] | Bush wars [7] | South Africa [8] | colonialism [9] | slavery [10] | Global South [11] | Russia [12] | India [13] | China biggest economy [14] | China [15] | diminishing profits [16] | BRICS [17] | Brazil Development bank [18] | Brazil [19]

by Stephen Lendman

In September 2006, four original BRIC nations met in New York. On May 16, 2008, Yekaterinburg, Russia hosted a full-scale diplomatic meeting. In June 2009, Brazil, Russia, India and China again met in Yekaterinburg. Early steps were taken to end dollar supremacy. Eventual plans may replace it with a global currency or basket of major ones.

In 2010, South Africa joined the BRIC alliance. It was formally invited to do so. The group was renamed BRICS. Annual summits are held.  On March 26 and 27, Durban, South Africa hosted the group’s fifth one. More on that below.

Their “mechanism aims to achieve peace, security, development and cooperation. It also seeks to contribute significantly to the development of humanity and establish a more equitable and fair world.”

America’s economic supremacy is declining. BRICS countries are some of the world’s fastest growing. They comprise a significant economic and political block. They account for over 20% of world GDP.

They’re on three continents. They cover more than one-fourth of the world’s land mass. Their population exceeds 2.8 billion. It’s 40% of the world total. By 2020 or earlier, China may become the world’s largest economy.

By mid-century or sooner, India’s predicted to be number three, Brazil number five and Russia number six. Between 2000 and 2008, BRICS contributed about half of global growth. In the late 1990s, Russia’s debt default and Brazil’s currency crisis rocked world economies. Today they have vast foreign exchange reserves.

BRICS have more global trade than America. China’s the world’s largest exporter. India’s an information technology powerhouse. Brazil’s a dominant agricultural exporter. It’s highly competitive. It has vast amounts of fertile land. It’s known as “the world’s biggest farm.” Russia is oil and gas rich.

South Africa holds resources worth an estimated $2.5 trillion. It’s rich in gold, platinum, uranium, chrome and manganese ore, zirconium, vanadium, and titanium. Two key institutions emerged from Durban’s summit. A BRICS Joint Business Council (JBC) and Development Bank were announced.

JBC formerly functioned as a forum. It encourages free trade and investment. Two meetings will be held annually. Rotating chairmen will head them.

Each BRICS country chose five top business executives to represent them. They’ll coordinate relations between member states and private sector players.

Separately, China and Brazil agreed to a bilateral currency swap line. It permits them to trade up to $30 billion annually in their own currencies.  Doing so moves almost half their trade out of US dollars. It suggests other BRICS partners will make similar moves.  They endorsed plans to create a joint foreign exchange reserves pool. Initially it’ll include $100 billion. It’s called a self-managed contingent reserve arrangement (CRA).

It’s a safety net precaution. It’s to strengthen financial stability. It’s an additional line of defense. They agreed to establish a new Development Bank. The idea was proposed last year in New Delhi.

“It’s done,” said South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. BRICS leaders “will announce the details,” he added. South African President Jacob Zuma said:

Ahead of the summit, officials said each country may contribute $10 billion for starters. It’s aim is to fund infrastructure and other development projects. It’ll operate separately from Western international lending agencies. It’ll challenge their global dominance. It’ll test how they do business. They prioritize neoliberal harshness.

It includes privatizing state enterprises, selling them at a fraction of their worth, mass layoffs, deregulation, deep social spending cuts, wage freezes or cuts, unrestricted market access for Western corporations, business-friendly tax cuts, trade unionism marginalized or crushed, and harsh recrimination against non-believers.

It strip mines nations for profit. It shifts wealth from public to private hands. It destroys middle class societies. It turns workers into serfs. It substitutes debt peonage for freedom. A race to the bottom follows. An elite few benefit at the expense of most others. It sacrifices economic growth for private gain. It’s the worst of all possible worlds. Nations are transformed into dystopian backwaters.

BRICS have other ideas in mind. They seek a multipolar world. Much work remains to be done. Agreement on details must be finalized. It’ll take time to begin operations. It’ll be a second alternative to Western debt bondage. In December 2006, Hugo Chavez proposed a Bank of the South (Banco del Sur).

A November 2007 summit launched it. In September 2009, it was established. Its members include Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. Plans are to increase initial capitalization.  Member countries pledge to contribute. Full operations are expected to begin later this year. At issue is representing the needs of the South. It’ll contribute to its development. It’ll do so free from debt bondage.

BRICS Development Bank intends no one country to dominate. Voting rights will reflect equality. Economic growth matters most. India’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles, Anand Sharma, said:

“We are creating new axis of global development. The global economic order created several decades ago is now undergoing change and we believe for the better to make it more representative.”

BRICS trade today exceeds $360 billion. By 2015, it should reach $500 billion. Continued longterm growth is expected. Mutual cooperation helps sustain it. Each member country benefits. It remains to be seen how plans unfold. Hopefully global changes for the better will follow. They’re long overdue. Dominant emerging economies will play leading roles. They’re laying the groundwork to do so.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at  lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.” http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.  Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

http://www.dailycensored.com/new-brics-development-bank-announced/

By Linn Washington Jr., This Can’t Be Happening!

Newark’s mayor Cory Booker is more popular outside of Newark than in the city he runs