Wealth Inequality in the US - Worse than many Amercians think

Obama & Romney are liars who plan to gut medicare

Now that I've got your attention, here's a better candidate:

Private Schools Are A Throwback to The Fuedal Age

Education is for the masses

By Phyllis Scherrer, SEP candidate for US vice president

As the Socialist Equality Party candidate for vice president of the United States, I denounce the recently announced plans to convert all the public schools in Muskegon Heights and Highland Park, Michigan into for profit charters. These actions represent a new and unprecedented attack on the right to public education. They are part of a nation-wide campaign by the ruling class to undermine public schools, spearheaded by the Obama administration.

In Muskegon Heights, a state appointed Emergency Manager has used the district’s ongoing budget crisis as a rationale for turning the public schools over to a for-profit charter operator. All teachers and staff have been fired and must reapply for their jobs.

In Highland Park, the Emergency Manager in charge of the public schools has also proposed turning the entire district over to a charter operator. All the district’s teachers will likewise have to reapply for their jobs with whatever company is finally selected.

Michigan is at the center of attacks carried out across the United States. The promotion of charter schools is aimed at both attacking the wages and benefits of teachers, and further reducing the quality of education available to the vast majority of working class youth.

In Detroit, scores of public schools have been closed and many turned into charters. The wages and benefits of teachers have been gutted. The state already has almost one-quarter of the charter schools operating in the country, with the vast majority being for-profit. A new law passed by the Michigan legislature exempts charter schools from collective bargaining agreements in their respective districts.

In Washington DC the chancellor of the public schools has announced that the district may close as many as three dozen public schools and replace them with charters.

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Egypt Must Become a Socialist Nation

Egypt is perhaps one of the most powerful nations in the middle east today. With the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, it is finally possible to change Egypt form being subject to the neo-liberal capitalist agenda.

The Egyptian Socialist Party opposes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, and supports Palestine. If they were to become the dominant party in Egyptian Parliament, then they would be able to provide a strong opposition to Israel's imperialist agenda in the West Bank.

Put the Egyptian Socialist Party in Power

Currently however, after the revolution, radical Islamist parties took over a huge number of seats in the Parliament. Many of the Islamists are "Salafists", and they have called for a denunciation of secularism, as well as a return to Sharia law.

The Muslim Brotherhood is among the Islamist groups currently controlling the majority of Egyptian Parliament. In the past, they have defended the military junta and support a neo-liberal capitalist, imperialist agenda.

An Egypt ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, or any other neo-liberal group would be a disaster, and would put the whole nation right under Washington's finger again; just like it was before.

Egypt's political future is in crisis

Socalist Japan makes Capitalists Uneasy

Attack of the Socialist Toyota!

By Mike Whitney

This isn't about auto accidents or "safety regulations". It's about politics - bare-knuckle Machiavellian politics. An attack on Toyota is an attack on Japan's leading export. It is an act of war. And. as always, the US media hammer home the message.

Does anyone really believe that Toyota is being pilloried in the media for a few highway fatalities?

Nonsense. If Congress is so worried about innocent people getting killed, then why haven't they indicted US commander Stanley McChrystal for blowing up another 27 Afghan civilians on Sunday?

But this isn't about auto accidents and it's certainly not about "safety regulations". It's about politics - bare-knuckle Machiavellian politics.

An attack on Toyota is an attack on Japan's leading export. It is an act of war. Here's a excerpt from the New York Times which explains what is really going on:

"The Japanese economy has emerged from its worst recession since World War II, but is still reeling. Japan must do more to lift its economy out of deflation and boost long-term growth, S.&P. said.

“The outlook change reflects our view that the Japanese government’s diminishing economic policy flexibility may lead to a downgrade unless measures can be taken to stem fiscal and deflationary pressures.

“The policies of the new Democratic Party of Japan government point to a slower pace of fiscal consolidation than we had previously expected.”

President Barack Obama is expected to address similar worries in the United States on Wednesday, with a call for a freeze in spending on many domestic programs, a move he hopes will quell perceptions that government spending is out of control.

Fiscal problems in Greece and Ireland have also helped put the spotlight on the issue of national debt."

Japan's new liberal government is fighting deflation using the traditional methodology, by lowering interest rates and increasing fiscal stimulus. But that's not what Washington wants.

Neoliberal policymakers and their buddies in the right-wing think tanks want "fiscal consolidation" which means harsh austerity measures that will deepen the recession, increase unemployment, and trigger a wave of defaults and bankruptcies.

This is how western corporatists and bank tycoons keep their thumb on the developing world and thrust their economies into perennial crisis.

It's the "shock doctrine" and it's been the IMF's modus operandi for over 20 years. Japan is being stuffed into a fiscal straight-jacket by supporters of the Washington consensus whose goal is to weaken government and accelerate the privatization of public assets and services.

The ratings agencies are being used in the same way as the media; to wage an economic/guerrilla war on Japan and force the administration to rethink their economic policies.

Note: There is no chance that Japan will default on its debt because it pays its debts in its own currency and has large foreign exchange reserves of over $1 trillion.

The attacks on Toyota are a way of showing Tokyo what happens to countries that fail to obey Washington's orders.

Here's a clip from the New York Times which sums up the problem in a nutshell:

"The government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has "bolstered spending on social programs aimed at helping households......

"The powerful lower house of parliament approved a supplementary budget for the fiscal year that ends in March worth ¥7.2 trillion, or $80.3 billion, to help shore up the economy...

"And next year, government spending will grow further with a record trillion-dollar budget including ambitious welfare outlays."

Western elites will not tolerate economic policies which raise the standard of living for the average working slob. "Social programs" or "welfare outlays" are anathema to their trickle down, Voodoo capitalist orthodoxy.

What they want is upward redistribution and class warfare. Regrettably, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has put himself at odds with US powerbrokers and is feeling the full measure of their wrath.

His public approval ratings have plummeted to 37 percent and are headed downward still. The message is simple: Cross Washington and you're a goner.