...there is, if you like, a third way between utopian communism on the one hand and technocratic tweaks on the other.
It begins from the idea that ten years of stagnant productivity might mean we are now at the phase of capitalism that Marx foresaw:Stumbling and MumblingAt a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or – this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms – with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters.
Capitalism as a fetterChris Dillow | Investors Chronicle
Good news! Trump says we have officially won the war on poverty. Therefore we can further cut Food Stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance, and so on.
ReplyDeleteThe Trump regime based its “findings” on poor people’s purchases, rather than their incomes. Their incomes are from government assistance. Therefore poor people are not poor. Therefore we must cut government assistance, in order to cut poor people’s incomes and purchases. Since poor people are no longer poor, we must take away poor people’s money to make sure that poor people remain “rich.”
Trump wants to move the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, out of the Department of Agriculture and into a rebranded Department of Health and Human Services. This will make it easier for Trump to make cuts.
Quick facts…
The Food Stamp program involves $70 billion, which would hardly pay for the captain’s quarters on a new aircraft carrier.
That $70 billion is created out of thin air, and is spent into the economy, thereby benefiting everyone, whether or not they receive Food Stamps.
If Food Stamps are cut, then stores must raise prices on everyone in order to compensate for the loss in sales.
And since the big banks manage the EBT card system, if Food Stamps are cut, the bankers will raise fees and penalties on everyone in order to compensate for the loss in revenue.