By Sean O'Quinn
There's an old saying that goes, "you don’t see the bones until the tide rolls out". The high tide that was the economic boom of the 90s has retracted, leaving in its wake many bones - the bones of a decaying economic system. Capitalism much like the ocean can be a chaotic world with many storms, many rip currents and undertows but one thing is for certain - a boom can only go on for so long - a tide can only stay high for a limited time.
Yes my friends, the ocean has started to recede from the shore and I am afraid to say that rough seas lie ahead. Each day we, the workers of the world hear news of the economic downturn. Many hear it on TV or other media outlets and so far this year over 1 million have heard first hand via a pink slip from their employer. There is a long list of big name companies that have either gone totally under or feel the need to file for bankruptcy to protect them from creditors. From Enron to Worldcom from US airways to Consolidated Freightways, we can see as clear as crystal something isn’t right.
Over one million new claims for unemployment this year added to the
ranks of those who were already on the unemployment rosters. We can see that growth has
slowed to a near standstill rate of 1% and in actuality it only grew that much by a jump
in auto and home sales. We all know that we can only buy so many cars at zero percent
interest and we can only afford to borrow so much for that new home. This leads the
rational person to think that the possibility of negative growth is a very real
possibility.
Then of course there is the stock market which for many Americans is the barometer of the
economic weather so to speak. Since its peak 52 week high of 10,673.10 it has fallen
sharply - some 25 % to levels near 8,000. Some Wall Street insiders are saying that even
at these deflated values the market is vastly over priced and could fall to 5,000 -
that’s half of what it was earlier this year. Many have rushed to find a reason for
this - what could have happened to our boom economy?
What became of the "new economic paradigm" we all heard so much about - the one with unlimited, sustained growth low unemployment and no inflation? President Bush his mouth pieces and of course the media would like to blame all of our woes upon one man and his "attack on America". But those who look closely see that this trend starts long before than infamous day.
The problem isn’t just bad management, a bad business plan, or
terrorism as many would like to play it off as. No, it is much deeper than that. It is the
system of economic organization which we currently have. As I opened up I said that many
of us are seeing bones. These bones are the inefficient bodies of companies hidden by the
economic boom. They have always been there they have always been inefficient - it just
took a economic downturn to expose them.
Sure, in the coming years, if capitalism is not overthrown, the economy will recover on
the backs of the working class, the tide will come back in and many will forget about
these bones. However, the only way to avoid seeing and feeling the things we do, be it in
the form of layoffs or less food on the table, we must change things we must take this
chaotic sea this chaotic economy and change it into one where it is planned and
democratically controlled by those whose sweat created it in the first place - the working
class!
Now a new tide is rising - the tide of the working class in its struggle against the capitalist class and its outmoded, inefficient, and inhuman economic system. We must build the forces of Marxism in order to ride this new tide towards the complete victory of the world working class over its oppressors!