AMERICAN LABOUR:

THE LEGACY OF BUSH:

"The evil that me no lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones"

-Billy

The following appeal is from the United Farm Workers in the USA, and they want you to add your voice to the chorus for removal of one of the last evil acts of the reign of Emperor George Bush II.

ALALALALALALAL

Help overturn Bush Administration's devastating H2A regulations:
Comment period ends Oct 5
Early this year we told you about the terrible actions taken by the Bush administration to change the regulations on H-2A guest worker program. The Bush administration regulations became effective on January 17 and have made devastating changes for farm workers.

Thousands of vulnerable farm workers in the United States—including both domestic and foreign workers--have suffered lower wages, lost benefits, reduced enforcement of their labor rights and lack of government oversight. The UFW, Farmworker Justice, PCUN and other farm worker organizations have challenged the legality of these regulations.

The H-2A agricultural guest worker program is supposed to ensure that U.S. workers are offered decent wages and working conditions before employers are permitted to hire foreign guest workers based on claimed labor shortages. But the Bush Administration’s changes gave agricultural employers access to cheap foreign labor with little government oversight.

On September 3rd, Department of Labor Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced a proposal to restore labor protections to the H-2A guest worker program.

It is absolutely essential that farm workers’ voices be heard in numbers as growers will fight to keep laws that do not protect farm workers.

Please take action today and submit a comment to the Department of Labor. Then take an extra step and ask your friends, colleagues and family to submit comments as well.

http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/h2aregs10509

Help us fight for farm workers’ interests and overturn these harmful rules.

ALALALALALALAL

THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to the US Department of Labour.

ALALALALALALAL

We join the UFW and other farm worker organizations in supporting changes to the H-2A guest worker program regulations. The terrible actions taken by the Bush administration to change these regulations have made devastating changes for farm workers.

Thousands of vulnerable farm workers in the United States--including both domestic and foreign workers--have suffered lower wages, lost benefits, reduced enforcement of their labor rights and lack of government oversight.

The H-2A agricultural guest worker program is supposed to ensure that U.S. workers are offered decent wages and working conditions before employers are permitted to hire foreign guest workers based on claimed labor shortages. But the Bush Administration's changes gave agricultural employers access to cheap foreign labor with little government oversight.

The Bush wage provisions adopted a badly chosen method for the deliberate effect of lowering workers' pay. Many workers suffered a $2.00 per hour wage cut this season.

We support the reinstatement of the job preference for U.S. workers, the minimum-work guarantee and other processes and protections. We also support the effort to regulate employers' use of farm labor contractors who recruit and hire guestworkers for the benefit of employers. However, more must be done to stop the victimization of guestworkers during recruitment abroad. The employers must be responsible for what their recruiters promise.
It is essential that the administration immediately overturn negative changes made last January. Farmworkers should not be forced to suffer another season under these unfair and unlawful policies.
Thank you.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

COURT DECISION LOWERS FARM WORKER PROTECTION:

The following item is from the United Farm Workers down in the USA.

ALALALALALAL

A Dire Ruling for the Nation's Farm Workers:
Federal Court Decision Regarding Bush Guest Worker Program Lowers Wage Rates, Worker Protections for Nation’s Farm Workers
Back in May we told you the exciting news that new Labor Secretary Hilda Solis suspended the Midnight(ie last minute regulations before leaving office- Molly) Bush-Chao H-2A regulations.

We deeply regret to tell you that a North Carolina federal court judge has overturned this ruling. He said the H-2A growers would suffer irreparable harm if not permitted to pay the lower wage rates that the Bush-Chao regime allowed.

As a result of this action, thousands of vulnerable farm workers in the United States—including both domestic and foreign workers--will suffer lower wages, lost benefits, and reduced enforcement of their labor rights.

These midnight H-2A regulations changes by the Bush administration gut existing protections for both domestic and foreign farm workers. They make it easier for growers to slash the pay of domestic farm workers and hire imported foreign laborers instead of U.S. field workers. They weaken government protections in an industry known for violating the minimum wage, housing requirements and other rules.

Current Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis made the right decision, the moral decision, and the lawful decision in a public process to suspend the Bush Administration rules and reinstate the regulations that had been in place previously.

We urge the Secretary of Labor Solis and the Department of Labor to appeal this decision immediately.

The United Farm Workers vows to do all we can to fight for farm workers’ interests and overturn these harmful rules. As part of our fight, the UFW along with Farmworker Justice, will continue with the lawsuit we filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. in January.
We will keep you updated with future developments.
For the latest UFW immigration news, click here

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-CALGARY:

SOLIDARITY WITH 'SPLITTING THE SKY' AND MIKHAIL MILLER:

Things have been hopping this past month up Cowtown way (stampede,stampede). First Georgie Bush's attempt to pad his wallet by a speaking engagement (did this sort of nonsense ever happen before Clinton-Molly), drew an enthusiastic crew of fools willing to shell out an astronomical price to see him stumble through a speech and an equally enthusiastic crew of protesters who thought that he was the war criminal that he is, perish the thought. Then, perhaps emboldened by the visit of what must be one of their heroes, neo-nazis attempted to hold a rally in downtown Calgary a few days after. The inevitable punch-up occurred as the nazis (the Aryan Guard) were confronted by anti-racist protesters who outnumbered them 10 to 1.

Well, as per usual, there were the usual slates of arrests. The following from the Calgary Anarchist Black Cross calls for your solidarity with two of the arrestees.

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support campaigns for splitting the sky and Mikhail Miller:

Calgary ABC is announcing two new support campaigns.
Splitting The Sky

On March 17 Splitting The Sky (also known as John Boncore) was arrested in Calgary for attempting to serve former U.S. President George W. Bush with a warrant for war crimes. He was charged with "obstructing a peace officer" and has been released on a $500 surety. Splitting The Sky intends to fight the charges.

ABC Calgary is committed to helping splitting the sky through acts of solidarity and financial assistance.
More information on splitting the sky can be found on his blog and wikipedia page.
Mikhail Miller

Mikhail Miller is an anti-racism activist who participated in the March 21 Anti-Racist Action demonstration against the Aryan Guard in Calgary. Although Mikhail has not been charged with any crime, he has been issued with $887 in bylaw tickets and fines. It is common practice in Calgary for the police to 'ticket to death' activists they wish to harass. Mikhail is committed to fighting the ticket charges.

ABC Calgary will be assisting Mikhail financially for his lawyer fees to fight his bylaw charges.
For further details on these campaigns or ABC Calgary please contact ABC Calgary at abc-calgary@anarchistservices.ca

CANADIAN POLITICS/AMERICAN POLITICS:

SHOOING BUSH AWAY FROM CALGARY:

In a hideous profanation of the most sacred day of the year ex-emperor George Bush II plans to visit the Canadian city of Calgary this upcoming St. Patrick's Day, March 17. What a lousy way to spoil a good bender ! Needless to say many are not pleased with Georgie's first feeble attempt to cash in on the lecture gravy train. Here's a story from the online news magazine Straight Goods about what some feel should greet Bush when he arrives on Canadian soil.

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Canada should bar or prosecute Bush: lawyer:
Foreign Affairs stays silent on upcoming Calgary visit.
by Jeremy Klaszus for Fast Forward Weekly
As George W Bush's St Patrick's Day visit to Calgary draws near, the federal government is facing pressure from activists and human rights lawyers to bar the former US president from the country or prosecute him for war crimes and crimes against humanity once he steps on Canadian soil.

Bush is scheduled to speak at the Telus Convention Centre March 17, but Vancouver lawyer Gail Davidson says that because Bush has been "credibly accused" of supporting torture in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Canada has a legal obligation to deny him entry under Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The law says foreign nationals who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity, including torture, are "inadmissible" to Canada.

Immigration Act bars foreign nationals who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity.

"The test isn't whether the person's been convicted, but whether there's reasonable grounds to think that they have been involved," says Davidson, who's with Lawyers Against the War (LAW). "... It's now a matter of public record that Bush was in charge of setting up a regime of torture that spanned several parts of the globe and resulted in horrendous injuries and even death. Canada has a duty."





In February, Davidson sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other cabinet ministers asking the Canadian government to either bar Bush from Canada, prosecute him once he arrives, or have the federal attorney general consent to a private prosecution by LAW against the Texan. She hasn't received a response, and concedes she's fighting "an uphill battle" with "terrific challenges." Davidson laid torture charges against Bush during his visit to Vancouver in 2004, but a judge quashed them within days.





The federal government is keeping silent on the upcoming visit. "We have no comments to offer on the visit of Mr George W Bush to Calgary," said Foreign Affairs spokesperson Alain Cacchione in an e-mail to Fast Forward. When told about Davidson's letter, a spokesperson with the Canadian Border Services Agency said, "We wouldn't comment on something like that."





Davidson is one of many voices around the world calling for Bush's prosecution. Earlier this year, Manfred Nowak, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture, said the US has a "clear obligation" to prosecute Bush and former secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld for authorizing torture — a violation of the UN Convention on Torture. "Obviously the highest authorities in the United States were aware of this," Nowak told a German TV station in January.





Joanne Mariner, terrorism and counterterrorism director for Human Rights Watch, says that while there's legally "all the reason in the world" to prosecute decision-makers in the Bush administration, "it's a different story" politically. "The Obama administration certainly has not given much in the way of encouraging signals for such a prosecution," says Mariner, who's based in New York. "Obama has consistently said that he wants to look forward." Mariner says that while a US justice department investigation is unlikely, a congressional investigation is more probable — and "that could lead to recommendations for prosecution."





Mariner's not expecting a Canadian prosecution against Bush. "Obviously the Canadian government would have to be in favour of it, and that seems rather unlikely," she says.
Calgary activists, meanwhile, are organizing a number of events for the week of Bush's visit, culminating in a noontime rally outside the Telus Convention Centre during Bush's speech. "We want to give him the welcome that he deserves — which is we want him to go back to the States, or we want him arrested," says organizer Collette Lemieux. Activist Julie Hrdlicka, who visited Iraq twice during the American occupation, agrees. "We need to send a clear message to him that he's not welcome," she says.





Lemieux is hopeful that Bush will eventually be prosecuted. "Do I think that it's going to happen very soon? No," she says. "But I think that it's very important that we keep the pressure up.... We have to make it clear that there's accountability."





The Plaza Theatre, meanwhile, is screening three Bush-themed documentaries for a "Bush Bash Film Fest" the night of the visit. Half the box office proceeds will go to the United Way.





Jeremy Klaszus is the staff writer for Fast Forward Weekly in Calgary and a former contributing editor for Alberta Views magazine. His writing has also appeared in Geez magazine, Swerve magazine and the Edmonton Journal.
Website: http://jeremyklaszus.com/.
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Yes, Virginia Cow Town actually does have radicals, and they are busy,busy busy preparing for the ex-emperor's visit. Here's a schedule of events from the People Versus Bush website. No rose petals spread in front of this criminal's path.

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Bush is coming to Calgary - Event listing :
Note: This can also be used as an email announcement that you can send to your lists.
GEORGE BUSH IS COMING TO CALGARY
On the sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, President George W. Bush is coming to Calgary. To coincide with his visit, a series of events culminating in a rally to coincide with his speech have been organized. The events are centred around the theme of putting George Bush on trial for his war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, his crimes against humanity and his disregard for the rule of law.
For more information:
Webpage: www.peoplevbush.ca
Email:
info@peoplevbush.ca
Events listings
George Bush Go Home Rally!! While Bush is giving his speech, we will be outside of the Telus Convention Centre letting him know that we don't want him in Canada and that he must be held accountable for his war crimes.




As an act of solidarity with this event, people are sending in shoes from across Canada that will be displayed as a symbolic gesture.




Bring banners, drums, placards, yourselves and friends.




The rally is a family friendly event. We ask that people respect that it is a peaceful rally. When: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 11:30 A.M until 2:00 P.M.
Where: East of 1 St. S.E. on Stephen Avenue (Between Teatro's and Epcor Centre)
Public Forum
A public forum will look at the issues being brought forward in the trial. Speakers will discuss the illegal invasion of Iraq, the use of torture and the treatment of American soldiers.




Confirmed speakers include Julie Hrdlicka, former executive director of CANDIL, who will speak on breeches of international law that directly affect Iraqi citizens and her personal experiences in Iraq. A war resister will also speak on their experience in the US military and why they felt they had to come to Canada to seek refuge.
When: Monday, March 16, 2009 - 7:00pm and 9:00pm
Where: Parkdale Nifty Fifies Meeting Room, 3512 5 Ave N.W. (adjacent to Parkdale Community Association Building)
Trial - The People vs George W. Bush
George Bush and his administration will be tried for war crimes, crimes against the peace and crimes against humanity based on submissions of evidence from people around the world. When- Saturday March 14th at 2pm
Where - TBA
Banner Displays downtown on the Stephen Avenue
Large banners, with the theme "Take Back the Future from Those Who Have Stolen the Past", serving as a “Memorial Wall of Shame”, with images and messages showing the legacy of the Bush Administration will be displayed. Opposite to that, will be a “Wall of Hope” with similar imagery and messages depicting the just, sustainable, and equitable society for which we, collectively, hope and work towards.




People are welcomed and encouraged to come and add their messages on these banners. When: March 11-13,11:30am to 1:30pm
Where: 100 block Stephen Avenue S.E. (Telus Convention Centre)
Help Needed
Volunteers are needed for most of these events. We need people to help with set up, hold banners, etc. If you are interested, please let us know (info@peoplevbush.ca).




There are people coming from out of town and billets are needed. If you can coordinate, please let us know (info@peoplevbush.ca). If you have space available, then please fill in the form found on www.peoplevbush.ca.




We also need funds to pay for event locations and bringing in the war resister from Toronto. If you would like to donate, please go to www.peoplevbush.ca and click on the Fundable link.




People from Lethbridge, Toronto, Vancouver, and Edmonton have expressed interest in attending. If you have suggestions or have heard on any opportunities for car-sharing or bus-sharing from these cities, then please let us know.




The People Vs Bush group is an ad hoc committee that has come together in their belief that Bush should stand trial for his crimes.
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Can't make it to Calgary ? Wouldn't be caught dead there ? Well, there's a solution. Send your shoes instead. That's what the graphic above is all about. The following gives details about the 'Shoes for Bush' campaign. Gathering footwear from across the country to give Bush the boot. Besides the link given below there is also a Facebook site for this campaign. March on over. Have some sole. Don't toe the Emperor's line. Betcha you never thought you could sign a petition with your feet. Hey, don't forget to catch this other site about the "warm" welcome being prepared for Little George.
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Shoe Campaign Underway!:
George Bush is coming to Calgary! Send your shoes to Calgary to give Bush the “boot”
For more information: info@peoplevbush.ca
http://www.peoplevbush.ca/index/campaigns
George Bush's first international speech after finishing his presidency will be to the Calgary Rotary Club on March 17th, the sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and the Calgary's activist community would like to give him the welcome he deserves.




There will events throughout the week leading to Bush's visit but for those outside Calgary we wanted to give you a chance to give him his due welcome. To that end the local activist community in Calgary is asking people from around Canada to send us your old shoes so they can be a symbol to boot Bush Out of Canada! We are hoping people will send shoes in from across the country to show solidarity.




Also, people can include notes or letters with their shoes and we will post them with the wall of shame or attach them to the shoes at the rally for people to see.




The sent in shoes will be displayed around the perimeter of the “George Bush Go Home Rally” and the conclusion of his trial. We are also going to build a shoe-cannon that will fire shoes at a picture of Bush.




The CUPW, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Calgary Local has enthusiastically agreed to have their Calgary office as a location where shoes could be sent and stored:




CUPW -Calgary Local 109 - 5621 - 11 St. N.E. Calgary AB. T2E 6Z7




After the rally, some shoes will be sent to George Bush's best friends and local MP's, Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney. We will donate the remaining ones to an appropriate clothes bank.




For people in the Toronto area please drop your shoes off at the Canadian Peace Alliance office at 427 Bloor St west so we can send a package to Mr Bush. Contact cpa@web.ca for more info.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

HELP CANCEL BUSH'S ANTI-LABOUR LEGACY:

The following appeal is from the American United Farm Workers, and it concerns new "H2A" regulations that came into effect in the dying days of the Bush presidency. These regulations reduce the amount of protection, already far too little, that workers in the agricultural sector "enjoy". Here's the appeal and what you can do.

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Bush's devastating new H2A regs still in effect. Tell Congress to override now:
Change has started. Upon taking office President Obama immediately stayed any pending or new 11th hour regulations that the Bush administration tried to push through.

However, this does not include the devastating new H2A regulations we wrote to you about. These regulations were not included as they already went into effect on Saturday and the only way they can be stopped through a congressional override that President Obama can then sign into law.

We need your help. These Bush administration H2A regulations gut existing protections for both domestic and foreign farm workers. They make it easier for growers to slash the pay of domestic farm workers and hire imported foreign laborers instead of U.S. field workers. They weaken government protections in an industry known for violating the minimum wage, housing requirements and other rules.

The new Obama Administration is facing a mountain of problems left by the outgoing administration. All of them are important. And all require action.

We need your help to ensure that farm workers do not get buried under the pile of crises. With a vote in Congress and a stroke of a pen, the new administration can reverse the terrible changes the Bush Administration wrote into effect. Please act now and e-mail your Congress members today and ask them to take immediate action.

If you want more background information or for the latest updates regarding the Bush Administration H2A regulations please click here.

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THE LETTER:

Please click THIS LINK to send the following letter to the US Congress.

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I'm excited that change has started and one of President Obama's first acts was to postpone any pending or new 11th hour regulations that the Bush administration tried to push through.

However, this does not include the devastating new Bush H2A regulations that went into effect Saturday. These regulations were not included as they already went into effect and the only way they can be stopped through a congressional override that President Obama can then sign into law.

These regulations would leave a devastating Bush legacy for farm workers by gutting existing protections for both domestic and foreign farm workers. They make it easier for growers to slash the pay of domestic farm workers and hire imported foreign laborers instead of U.S. field workers. They weaken government protections in an industry known for violating the minimum wage, housing requirements and other rules.

In the spirit of this change I beg for your immediate help.

The new Obama Administration is facing a mountain of problems left by the outgoing administration. All of them are important. And all require action.

We need your help to ensure that farm workers do not get buried under the pile of crises. Please take immediate action to override these terrible Bush Administration regulations.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS-GAZA/USA:

GAZA: STOP THE VIOLENCE:

The final days of the Bush Administration are ticking to a close, but there is still time for the outgoing President to leave a "legacy" that inspires something besides contempt. The following petition from the Care2 site calls on you to email Bush and ask him to pressure Israel for a ceasefire.

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Gaza: Stop the Violence:‏
On Monday, Masouda al-Samouni lost her 10-month-old son to an Israeli missile attack. She had been preparing food for the baby when the missile struck. "He died hungry," she said.

With 1.5 million people, the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely crowded areas in the world, and Israeli artillery, tank and missile fire can easily cause civilian casualties and deaths.

Urge President Bush to pressure Israel to agree to a ceasefire. »

At least a quarter to one-third of deaths in the recent attacks have been civilians. Unlike other conflicts where there's a chance to flee the war zone, Gaza itself has become the war zone, and there's nowhere else for the population to go.

Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas rocket attacks, but this "war" is a disproportionate response, placing thousands of civilians at risk of injury and death.

So far, Israel has resisted international calls for a ceasefire. The United States has a special relationship with Israel. Let's use that goodwill to bring an end to the violence in Gaza. Please act today! »

Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/Aejan/yY6h/AE57V
Thanks for taking action!

Samer

ThePetitionSite

P.S. There's a post in our Human Rights Cause Channel on the conflict in Gaza.

Check it out. »

AMERICAN POLITICS/AMERICAN LABOUR:

WAVING GOODBYE TO ELAINE CHAO:

The clock is ticking down on the final days of the Bush Administration. If all the compromising documents haven't been shredded and all the suspicious emails haven't been deleted by now it's probably too late. The following from the American Rights at Work is a rather gloating request, but its target probably deserves such a treatment. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao has presided over some of the most anti-worker actions that an American government has ever undertaken. The ARaW wants you to give her a sarcastic sendoff. Sort of like waving bye bye to the pieces after you've had hemorrhoid surgery. Here's the skivvy.

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Say "Ciao" to Chao:‏


Ciao, Secretary Chao!

We can't let Elaine leave the Labor Department without sending along our parting thoughts.
Click here to send your heartfelt retirement card.
You and Elaine Chao go way back. So many memories...

Like the time your "Shame on Elaine" emails and phone calls emboldened whistleblowers within the Department of Labor. Or, who can forget Elaine's questionable handling of mine safety and her gutting of workplace safety regulations?

Remember Elaine's birthday? When her palace guards wouldn't let us drop off stacks of petitions 25,000 of you signed urging her to protect workers' rights, because we were supposedly a security threat?

Elaine certainly hasn't forgotten your efforts. In yesterday's USA Today she offers a (weak) "'thank you,' to [my] critics for exercising their constitutional right to speak out."¹ In fact, the article mentions American Rights at Work as holding her to task for her support of corporate interests over workers' rights. But now it's time to say goodbye, because, on January 20, Elaine Chao will no longer be the Secretary of Labor (sniff, sniff).

Take a moment to send a retirement card that lets Elaine know how you really feel.

Leave it to the Bush administration to retain one of its absolute worst Cabinet members till the bitter end. Elaine is still trying to defend her tenure, even boasting about "her record in improving health and safety."¹ But you know Secretary Chao has set back decades of progress at the Department of Labor by stonewalling investigations, embracing corporate special interests, and showing general contempt for working families.

We can't undo Elaine's damage overnight – it will take long enough just to remove all the pictures of Elaine hung throughout the Department of Labor interiors! But thankfully we can all have hope that, under incoming Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, we will raise the minimum wage, protect workers' rights, safety, and economic security, and pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
But it would be a shame to give the outgoing Secretary anything but a ‘proper sendoff.'

Click here to say "Ciao" to Secretary Chao. Take action now to make sure your note gets to her before she leaves office on January 20.

And since we want the departing Secretary's mailbox to be overflowing, don't forget to pass this message along to friends and family – ask them to send their best retirement wishes to Elaine as well.

Thanks for keeping Elaine in your thoughts. I know how much the Secretary will appreciate hearing from you one last time!
Sincerely,
Liz Cattaneo

American Rights at Work

www.AmericanRightsatWork.org

P.S. Want to relive the Chao administration all over again? Can't remember exactly how many safety recommendations she failed to implement? Visit www.shameonelaine.org to read all about Elaine's dismal tenure as Labor Secretary.

AMERICAN POLICY:

A TALLY OF THE GEORGE BUSH LEGACY:

Ever since his last visit to Iraq George Bush is likely to go in comedy as a "shoe-in" for "heel of the century". I mean nobody can go "toe to toe" with him. he has the position "all laced up". There isn't a competitor who is "instep" with his record. But there's serious side to this despite the frivolity. Here from the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy via the AFLCIO Blog is a brief rundown on Bush's legacy. Don't neglect to go to the original source to see the complete list of what Bush has to be "proud" of.

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Bush Legacy: Topping the Injustice Index:

Since George Bush took office, the number of Americans living in poverty has risen to 4.4 million.

In less than a month, George W. Bush’s term as president will end and working people will breathe a massive sigh of relief.

While Bush’s popularity and performance ratings are at rock bottom, he rates high on the Drum Major Institute’s (DMI’s) Injustice Index. Through a stunning series of numbers and dates, DMI paints a picture of increased misery for millions of Americans over the past eight years.

Some of the most onerous of the numbers and dates in the Bush legacy include:
--Since President Bush signed legislation phasing out the federal estate tax in June 2001, the number of U.S. millionaires has risen by 928,000, while the number of Americans living in poverty rose by 4.4 million. All totaled, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy have cost taxpayers $1.3 trillion.
--Some 78,000 children lost health coverage during President Bush’s tenure. Also, 20 percent of Bush’s total vetoes blocked expansion of children’s health insurance. In fact, he cited the superiority of private insurance programs five times in his message explaining the first veto to Congress.
--Since 2000, the real median income of non-retiree households has dropped by $2,010.
--If there is any doubt that the Bush White House did not place a high priority on consumer and worker safety, DMI says the number of full-time staff monitoring hazardous goods at the Consumer Product Safety Commission dropped during Bush’s tenure by 16 percentage points.
--At the same time, the number of federal investigators who monitor employers’ compliance with minimum wage, overtime and child labor laws during Bush’s tenure decreased by 23 percent.
--As of August 2008, Bush has spent 916 days on vacation at either Camp David or his Texas ranch, as of August 2008 (including partial days off), while one in four U.S. workers have no paid vacations or holidays at work.

You can check out the entire DMI Injustice Index on the Bush legacy here. Click here for more injustices and anti-worker actions chronicled in Bush Watch.

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-TORONTO/MONTRÉAL:

SHOES FOR BUSH:

Pity poor Emperor George Bush II. As he tries desperately to "define his legacy" he is not only detested across the world but also ridiculed. The photo above pretty well sums up the general feeling of world opinion in regards to this man. It is the Emperor's misfortune to leave the throne not on a note of fear and awe but rather one of ridicule, and one man, the Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, has pointed out that the Emperor has no clothes. This in front of the whole world. The actions of this journalists have made him a folk hero in countries both Muslim and otherwise, and solidarity demonstrations have been held across the world demanding his release from the Iraqi jail where he is being held.

Canada is no exception in this matter, and anarchists have been prominent in organizing the events in this country. To say the least this sort of action captures the public imagination with a far more favourable light than play-acting at Black Blocs. Here's the story of recent demonstrations held in Montréal and Toronto in solidarity with al-Zeidi. All that Molly can say is that Bush is a "shoe-in" for the most unpopular man in the world today. From the Toronto Sun...

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Protesters shoe Bush in effigy:
At T.O. and Montreal rallies
By JESSICA MURPHY AND TAMSYN BURGMANN, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Anti-war protesters held a symbolic shoe toss yesterday in support of jailed Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi.

About 40 protesters in Toronto and Montreal braved the cold to let fly in front of their respective U.S consulates.

In Toronto, a dirty pair of sneakers was stuck toe up in a high pile of fresh snow, protesters clutched red and aqua-blue flip-flops with messages like "Shame on Bush" and "Bush out/Mass Killer" scrawled on the soles and embraced the comedic side of al-Zeidi's actions.

Dressed in a Santa Claus suit and white beard, Hicham Safieddine handed out the shoes as "gifts."
'BIT HUMOUROUS'
"I thought I'd do something a little bit humorous, not every protest has to be serious," he said. "It's a non-violent form of our protest against the fact we still have an occupation in Iraq; we still have people dying."

Demonstrators in Montreal pelted a black-and-white photograph of George W. Bush with boots, shoes and slippers and denounced the U.S. war in Iraq and the NATO-led war in Afghanistan, before marching to a downtown Canadian Forces recruiting station.

"Today is an act of humour in a sense but it's also a profound situation and context," activist and journalist Stephan Christoff told the Montreal crowd.
DROP OBJECTIVITY
Organizers also urged local journalists to ditch their veneer of objectivity by lobbing footwear at the image.

"We want to break this ideal that journalists stand in this world of objectivity, stand in this world where opinions don't exist," Christoff said.

Amir Khadir, who was elected to the legislature in this month's provincial election, was one of the first to chuck a shoe. He said al-Zeidi's actions were simply an expression of rage at the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by the war.

"I represent the deep sentiment of thousands of members of assemblies all over the world," he said. "Bush has denied democracy and lied to millions of people. He deserves no respect."
Since the incident, the journalist has become a sort of global folk hero. News reports say the Turkish shoemaker who made al-Zeidi's shoes has been flooded with 300,000 orders for the model. They're considering renaming it the "Bye-bye Bush."

AMERICAN LABOUR:

THE SOUR CORE OF THE BUSH BAILOUT APPLE:

Workers in the USA as well as here in Canada have been praying (as illustrated above), hoping and demanding an auto bailout from their governments for the past two months. Be careful what you wish for as you just might get it. It comes as little surprise that the recent bailout pushed through by the Bush administration in the USA has all sorts of conditions that impact the workers in the auto sector while leaving management and stock holders with only vague threats rather than actual concessions. The following article from the AFL-CIO Blog tells about these conditions for the bailout. Doubtless the Canadian bailout will be equally as demanding of working people. Molly would say that such treachery should be a learning experience for the people involved and that future bailouts be predicated on actual take-overs, to one degree or the other, of enterprises thus given government money, take-overs by producers' cooperatives of the enterprise concerned. It seems only just that, if you are going to give up income and benefits that you get some sort of share in the profits of the enterprise that you have sacrificed for, and also that you get some sort of control to assure that the money isn't blown away as it was before.

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Bush’s Auto Industry Loans Come With Unfair Conditions for Workers:


Religious leaders and union members held a candlelight vigil Thursday in Detroit to call on the government to support autoworkers and prevent the collapse of the auto industry.(See photo-Molly)



After letting the auto industry hang for weeks following the refusal by Republican senators to approve a loan to help automakers get through the end of the year—and a day after Chrysler said it will shut down all 30 of its North American plants for at least one month, putting 46,000 employees out of work—George W. Bush announced his administration’s offer to automakers today.

Bush says he’ll give automakers $17.4 billion in emergency bridge loans. Some $13.4 billion would be available this month and next—$9.4 billion for GM and $4 billion for Chrysler. Ford Motor Co. has said it does not need immediate help.

But the loans include some unfair burdens on workers, according to the UAW. Union President Ron Gettelfinger says workers are pleased that the Bush administration has acted to provide the urgently needed emergency bridge loans but that the workers should not be singled out for unfair conditions. Says Gettelfinger:

'The [bridge loans] will keep the doors of America’s factories open, keep Americans working and prevent the devastating economic consequences for millions of Americans and thousands of businesses that would have resulted from a liquidation of operations by one or more auto companies.

All stakeholders—management, directors, bondholders, suppliers, dealers, workers—will have to participate in shared sacrifices to help the industry move forward. '

Pointing out that autoworkers already have made concessions and sacrifices, Gettelfinger says:

"'While we appreciate that President Bush has taken the emergency action needed to help America’s auto companies weather the current financial crisis, we are disappointed that he has added unfair conditions singling out workers.

We will work with the Obama administration and the new Congress to ensure that these unfair conditions are removed."

Bush said the rescue package gives the automakers three months to come up with restructuring plans to become viable companies. If they fail to produce a plan by March 31, the automakers will be required to repay the loans immediately.

Emptywheel reports on Firedoglake that the Bush loans will force union workers to accept the terms of a pay cut amendment introduced by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), which would have required the UAW to accept deep concessions.

The Bush-imposed terms require that U.S. auto companies pay wages similar to those of transplant auto manufacturers by Dec. 31, 2009. As emptywheel says:

"Bush is demanding that the UAW lower wages plus pensions to the level of Japanese wages plus pension (though since they have very few retirees, their pension number is basically zero). Alternately, they could lower this number by basically picking the pocket of a bunch of seniors, by taking away pension money those seniors already earned while they were still working. But one or the other will have to happen."

The Bush loans leave some room for the Obama administration to modify the terms. The automakers may deviate from the financial targets, provided that the companies report why they did so.

Some of the auto plants could be shut down into February, according to published reports. Ford will shut 10 North American assembly plants for an extra week in January, and GM will temporarily close 20 factories—many for the entire month of January—to cut vehicle production.

When Senate Republicans blocked the $14 billion emergency bridge loan needed to keep the auto industry operating, they knew it could cost between 3 million and 5 million jobs.
Experts predict that if even one of the Big Three automakers goes under, some 3.3 million jobs will be lost and the entire supply chain for all car makers, including foreign-owned plants in the United States, will be seriously disrupted.

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:

THE SHOE HEARD ROUND THE WORLD:ANOTHER STEP TOMORROW IN MONTREAL:

The shoe throwing incident in Baghdad has become what may be the defining scene from the reign of Emperor Bush II, as he tours the world, vainly hoping to leave a good smell behind him as he departs office. While his appearances in most other countries have been the occasion of riots, in Iraq he was treated to the Arab equivalent of having a bag full of shit thrown at him. In the end this may be a far more effective statement than any number of broken windows. Down Iraq way the citizens are trying to bump Greece off the headline news by constant demonstrations for the release of the journalist who hucked the fatal footware. The latest is that the Iraqi government has destroyed the "assault weapon" because the bidding for the holy hush puppies had already reached into the millions on e-Bay. Needless to say the "sole perpetrator" has become a hero to most of the Muslim world. Love that legacy Georgie !

The image of "the shoe heard round the world" has resounded here, there and everywhere. There are already two video games based on the incident. On one you get to play Bush, and points are vawarded for dodging shoes that comes faster and faster with each level. In another you get to play a secret service agent who gets points for shooting down shoes before they hit the President. Check out the links and see what you can score. On Molly's part we await a game where you get to be the shoe-thrower.

The image of the "Baghdad Boot" has rapidly become a standard in teh creative art of demonstration across continents. Here in Canada it will feature in a demonstration tomorrow in Montréal in support of Muntadar al-Zeidi, the journalist who "shot the shoe". The demo is sponsored by Block the Empire Montréal. Here's the lowdown. Come on out and "sock it to" the American Empire.

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Shoes for Bush in Montreal, Dec. 20, 2008:
“This is a farewell kiss, you dog!”

MONTREAL SHOE ACTION

In solidarity with Muntadar al-Zeidi

Bush out of Baghdad … Canada out of Kandahar!
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20 at 1pm

outside the US Consulate in Montreal

(1155 St-Alexandre, métro McGill)
---> Bring extra shoes and footwear to throw! Bring noisemakers!

---> We strongly encourage all journalists to join us in this action and to throw their own shoes.

After our action at the US Consulate, we will march west along Ste-Catherine Street to Bishop Street and the Canadian Armed Forces Recruiting Station, where our shoe action will continue.

--–> MAP: http://tinyurl.com/62s43k

Along with tens of millions around the world, we celebrate the recent action of Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi who hurled two shoes at US President George Bush while shouting, “This is a farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans, and those who were killed in Iraq.”

We support the calls for al-Zeidi’s immediate release from detention, and denounce his abuse while in custody. And, in a simple gesture of solidarity by local anti-war activists and independent media journalists, we will gather outside the US consulate to hurl shoes in continued opposition to the US occupation of Iraq, as well as the already announced escalation of the US military occupation of Afghanistan by the incoming Obama administration (a continuation of “Operation Enduring Freedom”, launched by George Bush after September 11, 2001).

We also continue to oppose Canada’s complicity with the US-led “War on Terror”, with the Canadian Armed Forces’ military presence in Afghanistan. More Canadian troops in Afghanistan has effectively meant that more American troops have been available to occupy Iraq.

Organized by: Block the Empire-Montreal (a working group of QPIRG-Concordia)

INFO: 514-848-7583 or blocktheempire@gmail.com

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HUMOUR SECTION

Here's a couple of jokes that Molly has picked up about the incident. "Sole-Food" for the funny bone.

"I don't think Bush has dodged anything like that, well, since the Vietnam War"

-David Letterman

"Right now, they're trying to find out, they arrested the guy, trying to find out if he's a Shoe-ni or ma Shoe-ite. But it's the same old story. You hear this over and over again. A guy, a crazy guy, goes into a Payless store, he purchases a pair of Rockport shoes, and they didn't even do a background check on him"

-David Letterman

"This is the country we thought had nuclear weapons. It turns out they have a pair of size 9 Hush Puppies instead"

-Jimmy Kimmel

MORE SHOE JOKES LATER ON MOLLY'S BLOG. UNTIL THEN "DON"T LET YOUR FEET SWEAT".

AMERICAN POLITICS/AMERICAN LABOUR:

DON'T LET BUSH GET AWAY WITH FINAL DIRTY TRICKS:

The reign of Emperor Bush II is rapidly drawing to a close, and in its dieing days the Emperor is attempting to leave a legacy. Some of that legacy will be quite toxic. One wonders, for instance, who he will dole out "get out of jail free cards" to in his presidential pardons. part of this "legacy" will, however, be much more poisonous to working people. For instance, the new H-2 regulations that will reduce protections for farmworkers, both foreign and domestic. The United Farm Workers have launched a campaign to ask the incoming President Obama to reverse any such changes. Here's their appeal.

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Ask President-Elect Obama not to let the outgoing Bush Admin Steal Farm Worker Protections :
In November we told you about how the Bush Administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) was considering putting out new H-2A regulations that would gut existing protections for both domestic and foreign farmworkers. You responded and more than 5,000 UFW supporters sent a message to the DOL not to issue these regulations. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration did not listen to the American people--again.

The Bush Administration just released midnight regulation changes that make it easier for growers to slash the pay of domestic farm workers and hire imported foreign laborers instead of U.S. field workers. They will weaken government protections in an industry known for violating the minimum wage, housing requirements and other rules. The changes in H-2A regulations were revealed on the DOL website late Monday evening, but have not been formally published in the Federal Register.

We must do everything we can to avoid having these regulations implemented. Slashing wages and reducing benefits for farm workers who are among the lowest paid U.S. workers—especially during this tough economic time – is not the solution we need. This parting gesture from the Bush Administration is typical of their failure to listen to the American people.

Please join the UFW in appealing to President-Elect Obama to act quickly to reverse these harmful regulatory changes once he is sworn in to office and protect farm workers from these callous regulations.
Sign the online petition today!

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Please go to:
http://www.ufwaction.org/ct/O1zuCuF1sPFy/takeaction

to sign the following petition.

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Send this petition to:
Obama Transition Team
Si se puede.

The American people spoke loudly on November 4th and said enough of the Bush Administration's policies; it's time for change in Washington DC.

You understand the American people, you understand the economic strain that working people go through on a daily basis. That is why I'm appealing to you for your help. The Bush Administration has just made a last ditch effort to implement new regulations for the agricultural guestworker program, known as the H-2A program. These regulations will substantially worsen the quality of life for both domestic and foreign farm workers. They will make it easier for growers to slash the pay of domestic farm workers, hire imported foreign laborers instead of U.S. field workers. It will weaken government protections in an industry known for violating the minimum wage, housing requirements and other rules.

When you are sworn into office I'm appealing to you to please do everything you can to overturn these appalling regulations. The farm workers who put food on our tables need your help.
Sincerely:

AMERICAN LABOUR:

BUSH ADMINSTRATION TRIES SNEAK ATTACK ON FARM WORKERS IN FINAL DAYS:

The clock is ticking on the final days of the reign of Emperor George II, but, like a presidential pardon for crooks that you are buddies with, the present administration is trying to do as much harm as possible before leaving office. This includes passing new "guestworker regulations" that will gut wages and working conditions for immigrants and American citizens as well. Here's the story from the United Farm Workers and what you can do to help prevent these regulations from being passed.

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Stop Bush Admin. From Gutting Farm Worker Protections:
E-Mail the Department of Labor TODAY!
We expect the Bush administration’s Department of Labor to shortly announce new guestworker (H2A) regulations. These regulations, if adopted, will gut existing protections for both domestic and foreign farmworkers and represent a huge step backwards in protecting the hardworking people who put the food on our table.

The regulations will lower farmworker wages, make it easier for local workers to be discriminated against in hiring, and harder for farm workers to obtain decent housing (click here to see a four-page analysis of the regulations).

Numerous recent media reports document how the Bush Administration is making a last minute push to get these and other horrible regulations our before he leaves office.

Please join us in telling the Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Policy, Leon R. Sequeira not to issue these revised regulations. The American people spoke loudly on November 4th and said they had enough with the Bush Administration's anti-worker, anti-immigrant policies. Tell the Department of Labor to allow Congress and the next administration to address these issues.
Send your e-mail today.
http://www.ufwaction.org/ct/87zuCuF1qcJ_/takeaction

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Please go to one of the highlighted links above or to THIS LINK to send the following letter to the American administration.

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THE LETTER:

The American people spoke loudly on November 4th, and said we've had enough of the Bush Administration's tired policies and want significant change in Washington DC.

I urge the Bush Administration's Department of Labor not to issue revised H-2A regulations. These regulations will substantially worsen the quality of life for both domestic and foreign guestworkers by lowering wages, increasing discrimination in employment and making it hard for workers to find decent housing.

There are reasonable solutions to address farm labor issues. The planned H-2A regulation policies are inappropriate and wrong. Please allow Congress and the next Administration to address these issues. The change the American people voted for needs to start today.

AMERICAN POLITICS:

MORE OPPOSITION TO THE BUSH BAILOUT:

Bush's bailout is on at least temporary hold, now that the US Congress has refused to be bullied into a rush job. Strangely enough the sky hasn't fallen. The world has crashed into a total economic depression since 6:00 pm Friday came and went. The struggle continues to make the deal more than just a bailout for speculators and assorted hogs that feed at government troughs. Here's an appeal from the Jobs With Justice Coalition for action in the USA. If you are an American reader of this blog look to what they suggest and sign their petition. Us northern colonials have no influence on the US Congress, but, like the rest of the world, we're depending on the average American to not let this theft take place- or economic disaster for everyone will not be averted but only postponed.

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Call to Action WEDNESDAY, 10/1: No Blank Check to Wall St.; Save The Economy, Pronto‏:
The Wall-Street blank check bail-out, driven by corporate greed,is still moving ahead in Congress, so far without any of the commitments that JwJ and allies have insisted are needed to Save The Economy, Pronto. Several national groups and economists agree that we can and must push for a better deal for Main Street.

On September 30, Congress is scheduled to go home to face constituents, during their election cycle break. JwJ is counting on YOU to hit the streets on Wednesday, October 1st to make sure Congress serves Main Street before Wall Street. We will do this Day of Action whether the Wall Street Bail-out bill has passed by then or not!!

Jobs with Justice members know that Congress needs to act strongly (but not in a panic) to address the immediate financial crisis, but we also need a deeper, long-term restructuring of our economy so it works for everyone.

Our Demands:

- Make the people that got rich while creating the crisis pay for the clean-up

- Restructure the banking system

* Short-term: public ownership for public assistance (i.e.equity for bail-out)

* Long-term: re-regulate private finance and expand public and community-owned alternatives(This is THE most attractive proposal to Molly, as a libertarian socialist and "mutualist". Socialism will never be created anywhere-at least a socialism worthy of the name- without networks of credit unions that are both individual membership and community based ie without a thorough decentralization and "destateization" of the availability of the "money supply" ie the simple "confidence" that money and credit are in reality)

- Solve the housing and foreclosure crisis

- Commit to fast-tracking a true recovery plan that addresses jobs, infrastructure, pensions, etc.

Local JwJ coalitions are organizing actions in cities across the country. Find your local JwJ coalition(http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/K1_xDw71hqYL/) and call or email them to find out what they are planning. We are gathering information about what coalitions have planned, and will post a list early next week.

Live in an area where there is no local JwJ coalition? Plan your own action! Send an email to jwjnational@jwj.org and let us know what you're doing!

Here are some ideas:

- Rally at Congressional offices

- Deliver 'trash for cash' to your federal reserve office

- Picket the banks that are asking for handouts without giving Main Street anything in return

- Hold a bake sale, and sell junk food to pay for Wall Street junk bonds

- Conduct a public survey asking working people what they need a bail-out for

- Now that we taxpayers have paid for your local bank, have a party there

- Invite the media to hear from people that need a "Main Street"bail-out

You can take action on this alert via the web at:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/step_up/wukd7sdrf75m5635?

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/step_up/forward/wukd7sdrf75m5635?

We encourage you to take action by October 23, 2008

Tell Congress: No Wall Street Bail-out! We need you to STEP UP!

AMERICAN POLITICS:

BEHIND BUSH'S BAILOUT:

What is presently being debated in the US Congress is unprecedented in many ways. It is, in fact, the largest "socialization" that has ever occurred in human history. The sheer scope of the "assets" (bad debts actually) the American administration is proposing take over beggars the paltry "socializations" carried out by regimes such as the Russian or Chinese revolutions produced. It is also a response to a "crisis" that has no previous exemplar in economic history. This is not the classical "crisis of overproduction" so beloved of Marxist ideologues. While housing prices are indeed falling in the USA this is not because an oversupply of housing was produced. The problem relates to the availability of credit, not to the supply of any real good such as housing. Neither is the present situation like the "crisis of confidence" in the banks that extended the Great Depression of the 1930s to almost a decade. It is not solvable by any of the remedies that present day "monetarists" (read neo-cons) read out from their analysis of the events of the 1930s.

Molly has her own ideas about what sort of society we live in, and she doesn't feel it can be labelled "capitalism". "Managerialism" is a much better term, but, like any economic system, this system cannot function without elements of other economic ways. The late "socialist" regimes proved this. They managed to endure as long as they did only because of a thriving black market in both goods and favours. The present day Cuban dictatorship endured for decades solely because of external subsidies from the USSR, and it exists today only because of a combination of similar subsidies from oil rich Venezuela, and an extensive black market that the state has somewhat "legalized" (in addition to collaboration with capitalist firms other than the USA). The so-called socialist regimes fell because too much of the economy was controlled by planners (sic) who had no rational way of replacing the signals of the market.

The so-called capitalist regimes of the West that thrived after the Second World War, with their social welfare policies (social compacts) and vast collusion between large corporations and the state were actually managerial as well. The difference was that they had achieved a better balance of economic systems than the "socialist" ones had. Yet, they had their troubles, and the neo-conservative "revolutions" of the 1980s were attempts to correct these problems by shifting this balance in favour of more "market oriented" policies.

What is happening today in the USA is the demonstrated failure of this balance. What is being debated in the halls of Congress will shift the balance back to a stricter managerialism, whether the outcome is favourable to the Bush administration and the managers it wishes to protect or to a more benign and rational policy that actually concedes certain things to ordinary people. Make no mistake about it. The traders who brought this mess about are the furthest thing from "capitalists" imaginable. They owned no means of production. Their schemes had nothing whatsoever to do with production period. In countries such as the USA stock ownership has been widely dispersed for many decades. Those who manipulated stock options, hedge funds, etc. did so in their capacity as managers not as purported owners.

Molly suspects that this crisis is part and parcel of an enduring tension within managerial society that has come to replace the classic "capitalist crisis of overproduction". The problem is that nobody fully understands what is happening today. The bromides of the left may be emotionally sound. Molly does as they do, pick sides. They don't, however, explain anything or point to any future course of action beyond reacting to such crises by trying to prevent the worst possible outcome (a worthy goal in itself I guess).

The following article from the Centre for Research on Globalization website contributes a lot towards such understanding. It puts the forces behind what happened in perspective. It may lack for prescriptive solutions, but it is excellent in description. So...if you want a further understanding of how we got to this point read on.

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Financial Bailout: America's Own Kleptocracy:
The largest transformation of America's Financial System since the Great Depression
by Michael Hudson

Nobody expected industrial capitalism to end up like this. Nobody even saw it evolving in this direction. I'm afraid this failing is not unusual among futurists: The natural tendency is to think about how economies can best grow and evolve, not how it can be untracked. But an unforeseen road always seems to appear, and there goes society goes off on a tangent.

What a two weeks!

On Sunday, September 7, the Treasury took on the $5.3 trillion mortgage exposure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose heads already had been removed for accounting fraud.

On Monday, September 15, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, when prospective Wall Street buyers couldn't gain any sense of reality from its financial books. On Wednesday the Federal Reserve agreed to make good for at least $85 billion in the just-pretend "insured" winnings owed to financial gamblers who bet on computer-driven trades in junk mortgages and bought counter-party coverage from the A.I.G. (the American International Group, whose head Maurice Greenberg already had been removed a few years back for accounting fraud).

But it is Friday, September 19, that will go down as a turning point in American history. The White House committed at least half a trillion dollars more to re-inflate real estate prices in an attempt to support the market value junk mortgages - mortgages issued far beyond the ability of debtors to pay and far above the going market price of the collateral being pledged.

These billions of dollars were devoted to keeping a dream alive - the accounting fictions written down by companies that had entered an unreal world based on false accounting that nearly everyone in the financial sector knew to be fake. But they played along with buying and selling packaged mortgage junk because that was where the money was. As Charles Prince of Citibank put it, "As long as they're playing music, you have to get up and dance." Even after markets collapsed, fund managers who steered clear were blamed for not playing the game while it was going. I have friends on Wall Street who were fired for not matching the returns that their compatriots were making. And the biggest returns were to be made in trading in the economy's largest financial asset - mortgage debt. The mortgages packaged, owned or guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie alone exceeded the entire U.S. national debt - the cumulative deficits run up by the American Government since the nation won the Revolutionary War!

This gives an idea of just how large the bailout has been - and where the government's (or at least the Republicans') priorities lie! Instead of waking up the economy to reality, the government has thrown all its resources to promote the unreal dream that debts can be paid - if not by the debtors themselves, then by the government - "taxpayers," as the euphemism goes.

Overnight, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve have radically changed the character of American capitalism. It is nothing less than a coup d'Etat for the class that FDR called "banksters." What has happened in the past two weeks threatens to change the coming century - irreversibly, if they can get away with it. This is the largest and most inequitable transfer of wealth since the land giveaways to the railroad barons during the Civil War era.

Even so, there seems little sign that it even may end the free-market patter talk by financial insiders who have managed to avert public oversight by appointing non-regulators to the major regulatory agencies - and thus created the mess that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson now says threatens the bank deposits and jobs of all Americans. What he really means, of course, are simply the largest Republican campaign contributors (and to be fair, also the largest contributors to Democratic candidates on key financial committees).

A kleptocratic class has taken over the economy to replace industrial capitalism. Franklin Roosevelt's term "banksters" says it all in a nutshell. The economy has been captured - by an alien power, but not the usual suspects. Not socialism, workers or "big government," nor by industrial monopolists or even by the great banking families. Certainly not by Freemasons and Illuminati. (It would be wonderful if there were indeed some group operating with centuries of wisdom behind them, so at least someone at least had a plan.) Rather, the banksters have made a compact with an alien power -not Communists, Russians, Asians or Arabs. Not humans at all. The group's cadre is a new breed of machine. It may sound like the Terminator movies, but computerized Machines have indeed taken over the world - at least, the White House's world.

Here is how they did it. A.I.G. wrote insurance policies of all sorts of that people and businesses need: home and property insurance, livestock insurance, even aircraft leasing. These highly profitable businesses were not the problem. (They therefore will probably be sold off to pay the company's bad gambles.) A.I.G.'s downfall came from the $450 billion - almost half a trillion - dollars it was on the hook for as a result of guaranteeing hedge-fund counterpart insurance. In other words, if two parties played the zero-sum game of betting against each other as to whether the dollar would rise or fall against sterling or the euro, or if they insured a mortgage portfolio of junk mortgages to make sure that they would get paid, they would pay a teeny tiny commission to A.I.G. for a policy promising to pay if, say, the $11 trillion U.S. mortgage market should "stumble" or if losers placing trillions of dollars in bets on foreign exchange derivatives, stock or bond derivatives should somehow find themselves in a position that so many Las Vegas patrons are in, and be unable to come up with the cash to cover their losses.

A.I.G. collected billions of dollars on such policies. And thanks to the fact that insurance companies are a Milton Friedman paradise - not regulated by the Federal Reserve or any other nation-wide agency, and hence able to get the proverbial free lunch without government oversight - writing such policies was done by computer printouts, and the company collected massive fees and commissions without putting in much capital of its own. This is what is called "self-regulation." It is how the Invisible Hand is supposed to work.

It turned out, inevitably, that some of the financial institutions that made billion-dollar gambles - usually in the form of a thousand million-dollar gambles in the course of a few minutes or so, to be precise - couldn't pay up. These gambles all occur in microseconds, at strokes of a keyboard almost without human interference. In that sense it is not unlike alien pod people taking over. But in this case they are robot-like machines, hence the analogy I drew above with the Terminators.

Their sudden rise to dominance is as unforeseen as an invasion from Mars. The nearest analogy is the invasion of the Harvard Boys, World Bank and U.S.A.I.D. to Russia and other post-Soviet economies after the Soviet Union was dissolved, pressing free-market giveaways to create national kleptocracies. It should be a worrying sign to Americans that these kleptocrats have become the Founding Fortunes of their respective countries. We should bear in mind Aristotle's observation that democracy is the political stage immediately preceding oligarchy.

The financial machines that placed the trades that bankrupted A.I.G. were programmed by financial managers to act with the speed of light in conducting electronic trades often lasting only a few seconds each, millions of times a day. Only a machine could calculate mathematical probabilities factored in regarding the squiggles up and down of interest rates, exchange rates and stock and bonds prices - and prices for packaged mortgages. And the latter packages increasingly took the form of junk mortgages, pretending to be payable debts but in reality empty flak.

The machines employed by hedge funds in particular have given a new meaning to Casino Capitalism. That was long applied to speculators playing the stock market. It meant making cross bets, lose some and win some - and getting the government to bail out the non-payers. The twist in the past two weeks' turmoil is that the winners cannot collect on their bets unless the government pays the debts that the losers are unable to cover with their own money.

One would have thought that this requires some degree of control over the government. The activity probably never should have been licensed. In fact, it never was licensed, and hence nor regulated. But there seemed to be a good reason: Investors in hedge funds had to sign a paper saying that they were rich enough to afford to lose their money on this financial gambling. Your average mom and pop investors were not permitted to participate. Despite the high rewards that millions of tiny trades generated, they were deemed too risky for the uninitiated lacking trust funds to play with.

A hedge fund does not make money by producing goods and services. It does not advance funds to buy real assets or even lend money. It borrows huge sums to leverage its bet with nearly free credit. Its managers are not industrial engineers but mathematicians who program computers to make cross-bets or "straddles" on which way interest rates, currency exchange rates, stock or bond prices may move - or the prices for packaged bank mortgages. The packaged loans may be sound or they may be junk. It doesn't matter. All that matters is making money in a marketplace where most trades last only a few seconds. What creates the gains is the price fibrillation - volatility.

This kind of transaction may make fortunes, but it is not "wealth creation" in the form that most people recognize. Before the Black-Scholes mathematical formula for calculating the value of hedge bets, this kind of put and call option was too costly to provide much profit to anyone except the brokerage houses. But the combination of powerful computers and the "innovation" of almost free credit and free access to the financial gambling tables has made possible a frenetic back-and-forth maneuvering.

So why has the Treasury found it necessary to enter this picture at all? Why should these gamblers be bailed out, if they had enough to lose without having to become public wards by going on welfare? Hedge fund trading was limited to the very rich, for investment banks and other institutional investors. But it became one of the easiest ways to make money, loaning funds at interest for people to pay out of their computer-driven cross-trades. And almost as fast as it was made, this revenue was paid out in commissions, salaries and annual bonuses reminiscent of America's Gilded Age in the years prior to World War I - years before the income tax was introduced in 1913. The remarkable thing about all this money was that its recipients didn't even have to pay normal income tax on it. The government let them call it "capital gains," which meant that the money was taxed at only a fraction of the rate that incomes were taxed.

The pretense, of course, is that all this frenetic trading creates real "capital." It certainly does not do so in the classical 19th-century concept of capital. The term has been decoupled from producing goods and services, hiring wage labor or from financing innovation. It is as much "capital" as the right to conduct a lottery and collect the winnings from the hopes of the losers. But then, casinos from Las Vegas to riverboats have become a major "growth industry," muddying the language of capital, growth and wealth itself.

For the gaming tables to be closed and the money paid out, the losers must be bailed out - Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, A.I.G. and who knows what to come? This is the only way to solve the problem of how companies that already have paid out their revenue to their managers and stockholders instead of putting it in reserves are to collect their winnings from insolvent debtors and insurance companies. These losers also have paid out their income to their financial managers and insiders (along with the usual patriotic contributions to the political candidates on the key committees in charge of deciding the nation's financial structuring).

This has to be orchestrated well in advance. It is necessary to buy politicians and give them a plausible cover story (or at least a well-crafted set of poll-tested euphemisms) to explain to voters just why it was in the public interest to bail out gamblers. Good rhetoric is needed to explain why the government should let them go into a casino and let them keep all their winnings while using public funds to make good on the losses of their counterparts.

What happened on September 18-19 took years of preparation, capped by a faux ideology crafted by public-relations think tanks to be broadcast under emergency conditions to panic Congress - and voters - right before the presidential election. This seems to be our September election surprise. Under staged crisis conditions, Pres. Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson are now calling for the country to come together in a War on Defaulting Homeowners. This is said to be the only hope to "save the system." (What system is this? Not industrial capitalism, or even banking as we know it.) The largest transformation of America's financial system since the Great Depression has been compressed into just two weeks, starting with the doubling of America's national debt on September 7 with the nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (My computer's spellchecker will not permit me to use the euphemism "conservatorship" that Mr. Paulson applied to bailing out the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fraudsters.)

Economic theory used to explain that profits and interest were a return for calculated risk. But today, the name of the game is capital gains and computerized gambling on the direction of interest rates, foreign currencies and stock prices - and when bad bets are made, bailouts are the calculated economic return for campaign contributions. But this is not supposed to be the time to talk of such things. "We must act now to protect our nation's economic health from serious risk," intoned Pres. Bush on September 19. What he meant was that the White House must make the Republican Party's largest group of campaign contributors whole - Wall Street, that is - by bailing out their bad gambles. "There will be ample opportunity to debate the origins of this problem. Now is the time to solve it." In other words, don't make this an election issue. "In our nation's history there have been moments that require us to come together across party lines to address major challenges. This is such a moment." Right before the presidential election! The same guff was heard earlier on Friday morning from Sec. Paulson: "Our economic health requires that we work together for prompt, bipartisan action." The broadcasters said that half a trillion dollars was discussed for this day's maneuverings.

Much of the blame should go to the Clinton Administration for leading the call to repeal Glass-Steagall in 1999, letting the banks merge with casinos. Or rather, the casinos have absorbed the banks. That is what has put the savings of Americans at risk.

But does this really mean that the only solution is to re-inflate the real estate market? The Paulson-Bernanke plan is to enable the banks to sell off the homes of five million home mortgage debtors faced with default or foreclosure this year! Homeowners with "exploding adjustable-rate mortgages" will lose their homes, but the Fed will pump enough credit into the mortgage-lending agencies to enable new buyers to go deeply enough into debt to take the junk mortgages off the hands of the gamblers who presently own them. Time for another financial and real estate bubble to bail out the junk mortgage lenders and packagers.

America has entered into a new war - a War to Save Computerized Derivative Traders. Like the Iraq war, it is based largely on fictions and entered into under seeming emergency conditions - to which the solution has little relation to the underlying cause of the problems. On financial security grounds the government is to make good on the collateralized debt obligations packaged (CDOs) that Warren Buffett has called "weapons of mass financial destruction."

Hardly by surprise, this giveaway of public money is being handled by the same group that warned the country so piously about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Pres. Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson have piously announced that this is no time for partisan disagreements over this shift of public policy to favor creditors rather than debtors. There is no time to make the biggest bailout in election history an election issue. Not an appropriate time to debate whether it is a good thing to re-inflate housing prices to a level that will continue to oblige new home buyers to go so deeply into debt that they must pay some 40 percent of their take-home pay on housing.

Remember when President Bush and Alan Greenspan informed the American people that there was no money left to pay Social Security (not to mention Medicare) because at some future date (a decade from now? 20 years? 40 years?) the system might run a deficit of what now seems to be merely a trivial trillion dollars spread over many, many years. The moral was that if we can't figure out how to pay, let's plow the program under right now.

Mr. Bush and Greenspan did have a helpful solution, of course. The Treasury could turn Social Security and medical insurance money over to Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and their brethren to invest at the "magic of compound interest."

What would have happened to U.S. Social Security had this been done? Perhaps we should view the past two weeks' events as having assigned to Wall Street gamblers all the money that has been set aside since the Greenspan Commission in 1983 shifted the tax burden onto FICA wage withholding. It is not retirees who are being rescued, but the Wall Street investors who signed papers saying that they could afford to lose their money. The Republican slogan this November should be "Gambling insurance, not health insurance."

This is not how the much-vaunted Road to Serfdom was mapped out to be. Frederick Hayek and his Chicago Boys insisted that serfdom would come from government planning and regulation. This view turned upside down the classical and Progressive Era reformers who depicted government as acting as society's brain, its steering mechanism to shape markets - and free them from income without playing a necessary role in production.

The theory of democracy rested on the assumption that voters would act in their self-interest. Market reformers made a kindred happy assumption that consumers, savers and investors would promote economic growth by acting with full knowledge and understanding of the dynamics at work. But the Invisible Hand turned out to be accounting fraud, junk mortgage lending, insider dealing and a failure to relate the soaring debt overhead to the ability of debtors to pay - all of this mess seemingly legitimized by computerized trading models, and now blessed by the Treasury.

Michael Hudon is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1972 and 2003) and of The Myth of Aid (1971).

Michael Hudson is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Michael Hudson