Recently recruited an Iraq veteran working for the VA to IU610. Two young folks from Reno, not yet members, will attend Organizer Training this coming weekend in Oakland. Local podcast host is interested. We're on the verge of getting a core group here.

The capitalist economists and the mass media called it a second round of “quantitative easing” or QE II, and most workers when hearing such a term would simply throw up their hands and turn to the next news item. That is, if the workers heard about it at all. They would figure they could never understand such highly technical terms; it’s a bit like trying to understand modern quantum physics, and maybe less important as far as how it affects their lives.

$600 Billion

Officially announced just one day after the US midterm elections, this QE II in fact may well ultimately have a greater impact than the elections themselves. Basically, what happened was that the US central bank, the Federal Reserve Bank, or “Fed”, decided to further flood the world with an increased number of dollar bills – at least some $600 billion to start with. They will do this by buying bonds from private investors. These bonds include both Treasury notes and bonds based on real estate.

It is interesting that not one of the Tea Party candidates mentioned the move of the Federal Reserve towards "quantitative easing" (QE). This is because in the end they, like the rest of the political establishment, are subservient to finance capital. This QE, though, is one more step towards anarchy in the world currency system as we...ll as a step down the road of competitive devaluations leading towards trade wars, which tend to lead to military war.

Many workers (and others) simply throw up their hands in despair when trying to understand all of these financial maneuvers, but there is nothing mystical about it. Central to understanding it is an understanding of the bond market. Below is a link to an article that tries to explain some basics of that system.

http://worldwidesocialist.net/blog/2010/11/the-bond-market-%E2%80%93-a-driving-force-in-finance-capital/

US Elections

By

John Reimann

Tuesday’s election results should be seen in their historical context. The general political set-up in the US is as follows: The most powerful sector of the US capitalist class is finance capital (“Wall Street”). Other powerful sectors include the military/industrial complex with manufacturing a distance behind. Through political donations mainly at the national level, as well as through their control of the mass media, they are able to control the overall agenda. Once in office, US senators and members of congress maintain enough of a local base to get reelected in part by their passage of what is called “pork barrel” spending. This means tacking onto a bill an amendment that favors a particular local capitalist or small business group which then organizes support for this politician come election time. It matters very little which of the two parties the particular politician belonged to as far as key legislation. The main differences between the politicians revolve around the particular moods and prejudices of the voters in that politician’s district or state.

To read more, go to www.worldwidesocialist.net/blog

France: Explosion of Workers and Youth by

John Reimann

One of the principle features of this era is the increased ease with which capital is sent from one country and one part of the globe to another. This includes both speculative finance capital and direct investment (investment in building new factories). This has resulted in and increased competition between the working class of different countries. The first step in countering this has to be regionally coordinated action against attacks on wages, jobs, etc. Until now, this has been generally lacking, but events in the European Union are now starting to reverse this.

Greek Crisis

There, a new stage in capitalism’s economic crisis broke out over this last summer as the public debt of Greece was first fully revealed. This led to deep cuts in the Greek state budget and cuts in social services and public sector jobs. The Greek working class responded by massive strikes and protests, but they were unable to prevent these cuts from going through.

EU-Wide Movement

The crisis in Greece was only a forerunner to a more generalized crisis throughout the EU.

There's an unfortunate attitude among many members of law enforcement organizations that they are themselves above the law. You need look no further than a cursory Google search on abuses of power by police officers, evidence mishandling by prosecutors, or corrupt judges to see that. Law enforcement officers are, after all, human, and just as fallible and prone to hypocrisy and excess as you or I.

The recent (Sept. 25) congressional elections in Venezuela once again put the regime of President Hugo Chavez in the world news. The outcome of the elections was mixed. While Chavez’s United Socialist party of Venezuela (PSUV) won 96 seats compared to 63 for the main opposition (MUD), the PSUV only won 48% of the popular vote vs. MUD’s 47%, with a split-off from the PSUV winning the remainder of the popular vote and gaining three seats in the congress.

Venezuela’s “Bolivarian Revolution” and Chavez’s “socialism of the 21st century” once again merit further analysis in light of these results. Chavez was elected as president in 1998. While the great majority of workers and peasants voted for him, his organized base was mainly a layer of mid-level military officers; he lacked a workers’ political party on which he could rest.

Major Reforms

Once in office, Chavez carried out a series of major reforms, including building health clinics in poor neighborhoods throughout the country, establishing a chain of low-cost supermarkets for poor people and establishing a mass literacy program. Poverty was reduced by 47% and extreme poverty by 70%.

Join the 81 fellow workers who have already signed onto this Rank and File Initiative Petition by emailing sparrowx326388@gmail.com. This petition was moved to referendum by decision of the delegates at convention.

One of the downsides of the I.W.W.Delegate Convention as it is presently constituted is that more than half our members remain unrepresented at our annual convention which decides what to place on the Fall union-wide ballot. The Initiative Petition mechanism gives all fellow workers an opportunity to participate in the process of placing items on that a union-wide ballot.

If you support placing this Resolution on the Fall union -wide ballot, please email your name and red card x number to: sparrowx326388@gmail.com.

Please also pass this petition on to other fellow workers who you think might be willing to sign on to this petition.

Below is the text of the Rank and File Initiative Petition in Support of the Workers of Palestine-Israel, sponsored by the I.W.W. International Solidarity Commission (ISC) and the I.W.W. Friends of the Palestinian Workers Group (FPWG).