In the News June 16
“Profiting from Pain”
Damning Reports Underscore Necessity for a New Direction for the Economy
Oxfam International has released details of the economic situation facing the world since the onset of the pandemic. The report exposes the pain and difficulties confronting humanity from the worsening social conditions. It focuses on the growing gap between rich and poor and the disastrous consequences this causes for millions, including famine.
New Oxfam research also shows that, amid record inflation, more than 50 million U.S. workers earn less than $15 per hour. What is not explored at all is why the modern economy of industrial mass production with actual and potential productivity capable of sustaining all humanity at a cultured level is incapable of doing so at this time. It is clear the current direction of the economy under the control of a self-serving, corrupt and damaging global oligarchy is not working. That much is obvious.
Poverty, economic and health crises, militarization and endless wars are gripping the world, posing even greater dangers. This requires urgent attention to work out necessary measures which set a new direction for economic and political affairs which focus on empowering the people so they can control the affairs that affect their lives and not have the impunity of the rule of the rich hanging over their heads. How this can be accomplished is the main question working people are asking themselves and beginning to pose for solution.
The rich and their representatives in control have shown themselves in practice to be incapable of solving the mounting problems and in fact continually make the situation worse. They refuse to admit that the current aim and direction of the economy which serves only a tiny minority of the people is disastrous for humanity and the natural environment.
The rich in control cannot be looked to for leadership out of the chaos, anarchy and violence because they profit from the status quo. Their aim is to accumulate more and more of the social wealth the working people produce. They use the accumulated wealth and power to finance their armies and have political representatives to do their bidding and to attack the organizations and thinking of the working class. Working people cannot and must not look to the rich and powerful to lead them forward.
A new social force led by the working class has arisen with an aim to humanize the social and natural environment for the betterment of all. Working people themselves must become both worker politicians and advocates organizing for new social, economic and political forms not controlled through the power of private money. Working people must become more forceful advocates and activists in claiming what belongs to them by right and create the subjective conditions to change the direction of the economy and politics. The current direction, focused on individuals becoming rich and profiting from suffering, crises and war, must end for the sake of all humanity and Mother Earth.
Workers’ Forum, posted June 16, 2022.
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