United States

The U.S. is in the worst housing slump since the Great Depression as home prices fell by a record 15.3 percent from a year ago in the first few months of the year. Mortgage defaults and home repossessions have skyrocketed as working people are unable to make ends meet.

The rising cost of oil, and gasoline in particular, is having an effect on everything, further stretching the limits of the already strained wallets of US workers. The oil and energy barons are making big profits at the expense of US workers. It is time to call for the expropriation of these parasites.

The US Marxists analyse the situation that is developing in the USA, dealing with the deepening economic crisis, the impact of the ongoing war in Iraq, the upcoming elections and the future that awaits the US workers and youth.

Inflation in the USA is rising across the board. And it's not just housing, gasoline, heating, transportation, health care and education. The cost of that most basic of all necessities - food - is now also quickly rising for American workers and their families.

Almost overnight, the media, corporate CEOs and government officials have gone from proclaiming that the U.S. would somehow avoid an economic slump, to all but recognizing that the country has probably already entered a recession. They are simply acknowledging what millions of workers have known for months and even years: the economy is in trouble, and working people and the poor are being hit hard.

Many people are looking to the Democrats, and in particular to Barack Obama for a real change, especially when it comes to the Iraq war. But on the question of war and foreign policy, does Obama really differ from the current White House administration, or from his party mate Hillary Clinton, or for that matter, from the entire DC political establishment?

The situation in the USA is one of increasing crises. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to trail on, costing nearly $275 million per day. The situation at home is one of increasing unemployment and continual crisis in the housing and credit markets. US workers will be called on to go to the polls to elect a party of big business, but this era of crises will only serve to cause more people to question the world in which they live. Editorial for Socialist Appeal Issue 37.

Alan Woods' introduction to the latest book from Wellred USA. The book includes four Marxist classics: the Communist Manifesto, Socialism: Scientific and Utopian, State and Revolution, and the Transitional Program.  It is intended to introduce readers in the USA to the most fundamental aspects of Marxist theory. Available from Wellred USA.

Obama may well end up being the official Democratic candidate in the US Presidential elections. But what kind of an alternative is he? Luiz Bicalho, a leading member of Esquerda Marxista in Brazil, explains that Obama promises many things but remains a defender of capitalism. The answer is not Obama. The answer is an independent party of the US working class fighting to change society.

For those following US electoral politics right now, it is clear that the big business candidates are presenting their respective religiosities as credentials of a sort to prospective voters. The open pandering to the "faith vote" displays the cynical depths the representatives of the ruling class are willing to go to win votes. This is not simply a harmless phenomenon but a noxious indication of the rottenness of the system.

The vast majority of the 300 million people in the USA are workers and their families. Just as they have learned that if we band together at work into a union, where our strength is united into a single force, we can more effectively fight the boss, if we band together into a political party, created by and under the democratic control of the labor movement, we can better fight the government of the employers.

The U.S. election cycle is in full swing a full nine months before voters actually go to the polls on November 4th. On "Super Tuesday" registered voters in 24 states came out to vote in caucuses and primary elections.

Editorial for US Socialist Appeal 36: The campaign to elect the next President of the United States is in full swing. The Democratic and Republican primaries and caucuses have begun, accompanied by a media frenzy intended to make it seem as though there truly are significant differences between the candidates, and to distract working people from the pressing problems we face. As we go to press, the race to nominate the next presidential candidates of big business is still wide open. But the real question is, who will represent the working class majority of American society?

The Democrats have continued to support the Iraq War, and have colluded with the Republicans on many key matters. It is not a question of this or that individual. It is one of common class interests shared by both parties. We, the working people in the USA, need to begin the process of building our own political alternative.

A large part of the US arms industry is now openly backing Hilary Clinton for President, a further confirmation that there is no fundamental difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.

Does Republican Congressman Ron Paul offer anything that can truly be called a "revolution", or is he more of the same from the capitalists' ranks? Should workers and students in the anti-war movement, or in general, give him support in any way?

The world situation is one of increasing political and economic instability, social polarization, and the ravages of war and famine. Across the planet, layoffs, cuts in social services, and the merciless squeezing of the working class and poor is on the order of the day. But there is an opposite side to these counter-revolutionary tendencies: the revolutionary movement of millions of people who are saying “enough is enough!”

After Blackwater USA’s recent street shoot out in Baghdad, the role of mercenaries in Iraq has received extra attention in the media. Although they have played a key role in the occupation of Iraq, these “private security contractors” have for the most part flown under the public radar.  During the 1991 Gulf War, the troop-to-private contractor ratio was about 60 to 1. Now they outnumber uniformed troops, more than doubling the actual size of the occupation force.

 Most working people would agree that quality jobs, health care, education, housing and infrastructure aren't too much to ask for. Instead, capitalism gives us war, racism, economic turmoil, and unemployment. It’s not as though the money isn’t there – over $2 billion is spent each week just on the occupation of Iraq – it’s a matter of priorities. Just imagine how many badly-needed schools, bridges and hospitals could be built, providing quality jobs for millions of people in the process.