It's time to post this again. "Why Socialism" by Albert Einstein.

[white_wolf]

I think this part is especially apt today, but the whole thing should be required reading.

"Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights."


Link: http://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism

[Hey There2]

1. Thanks white_wolf for "why Socialism"

Issa and Collins and Lieberman and well, others in Congress are working hard to see that those with a living wage job are reduced to the working poor of unemployed and that those receiving Compensation have that lowered.

S1789, sponsored by Lieberman, would cut 100,000 jobs with the USPS when we don't need to have more unemployed workers. S1789 would decrease compensation for injured workers and end it for those over 65, when we don't need to take away compensation or lower compensation for injured workers.It would weaken the unions which promote a "living wage" at a time when we don't need to add more people to the "working poor", S1789 would close smaller post offices (some have already closed),and slow mail delivery by closing 200+ distribution centers.
In 2006 Congress voted to have the USPS fund 75 years of retiree health benefits in 10 amounting to 5.5 Billion a year.
Saddled with funding 5.5 Billion a year that had nothing to do with mail delivery, the USPS could no longer have it's revenue =costs as it had done until 2005.
If this bill is passed or HR2309 the USPS will end up virtually privatized with lower wages and benefits for it's workers,a scaled down and overworked workforce, more mail services contracted out, less services for the public including encouragement of curbside service in place of home delivery.

[socialist_n_TN]

2. Also thanks to you for this reminder.............

The USPS will be the next group under attack by the austerians. I hope that this attack will finally wake the majority of the public up. The post office has affected the populace in a positive fashion of a long time now. We can't all afford UPS or Fed-Ex to mail a letter.

[freshwest]

10. Those were great. Needs to be highlighted. In every bill passed, they are passing the public's money

To their friends in private corporations which discriminate against their workers, the people they are supposed to serve, even eliminate help for altogether causing more economic and social dislocations.

They are selling everything off, and the public for the most part is kept busy with corporate disinformation and don't see what is coming. I hope that there will be some attention paid to the postal workers plight because for many levels of society those services will not be replaced.

[socialist_n_TN]

3. Thanks wolf.........

Why are you posting this "sophmoric" bullshit here???

[Hey There2]

4. My reply to Darrell Issa on You Tubes pushing to get rid of Postal Workers

Issa has clearly run a successful business where profit is the goal, but he has never been the head of a public service where the goal is to provide a service where the income matches the expenses.
If Issa wants to apply business criteria to running the USPS he should first look at what expenses can be deleted without disrupting the service.
The first thing Issa as a businessperson would do is to work on getting the Postal Accountable and Enhancement Act rescinded. This would delete the USPS debt by 5.5 a year, a goodly chunk of cash by anyone’s standards. In 2006 the PAEA ,signed by Bush, mandated that the USPS fund 75 years of retiree health benefits in 10. Issa should have pointed out that the USPS was solvent until the PAEA (HR6407) was passed and that the USPS would be able to meet it’s expenses if this law was rescinded.
The second thing he would do , as a businessperson, would be to campaign to retrieve overpayments the USPS has made to the Civil Service Retirement Service.
The third thing he would do, along with step one and two, would be to retrieve overpayments the USPS made to FERS.
The fourth step would be to charge more for delivering UPS parcels that UPS has the Post Office deliver to places they don’t.
Issa,as a businessman, would also look at the ratio of managers to workers, and see if some adjustments should be made.
But Issa, in HR2309 hasn’t proposed that any of these things that would put the USPS back on an even Keel.
Issa’s solution to cut the workforce by at least 100,000. Issa’s solution is to weaken the unions, whose members are prohibited from striking by law, so that their wages and benefits would ultimately depend on a separate board if a contract wasn’t agreed upon by the USPS and a union.
This is a case where Issa’s cure would cause the death of the USPS as a public service and have it revived as a business with lower paid workers, higher rates and less service.

[Gregorian]

5. My god he was bright.

Just the notion of the burden of a mortgage is not fully appreciated by people. He got it.

[freshwest]

6. That's always been my view having read that years ago. Those equating socialism with totalitarianism

Forget that there are styles of government and economic systems. There can be mixed economies with the negatives avoided. The myth that capitalism is the only engine for prosperity is pushed by those who got the most advantage in the past in circumstances in which the working people, men, women and children were treated worse during the industrial age than feudal serfs.

Another base of operations was the plantation system version of economy and there was the ultimate of free enterprise with no democracy. There is no free market when there is nothing to protect those working as slaves! Making money is not the measure of morality.

Those who are rabid about capitalism and refuse to even permit socialism to be used for things it is efficient in providing are irrational. They turned capitalism into a religion. Nothing is worthy of being idolized or enslaved by. They are no different than deciding to drive on the left or right side of the road, or what color shirt to wear. Do what works.

I am a fan of Michael Parenti because this is plain talk. If one takes off the blinders of Cold War hysteria, one can see he is saying something logical here:

[Starry Messenger]

7. +1000

[snappyturtle]

8. Excellent! Thank you....nt

[TeamPooka]

11. Ditto on the thank you!

what a great essay.
I'm hope I'm a smart as Einstein when I'm as dead as him.

[hifiguy]

9. A timeless piece and yet more proof

as if any were needed, that Einstein was one of the truly great minds in human history.

[white_wolf]

13. He really is, but don't you find it interesting that we never hear about his politica/economic views

at least I was never taught them in high school. We were taught his scientific contributions, which were his most important, but I think he do him a disservice by ignoring his political views. Of course, we seem to do the same with MLK, I mean how often do you hear about his struggle for labor rights?

[hifiguy]

12. Kick!