A Stronger Dose of Socialism

[IndianaGreen]

A Stronger Dose of Socialism

By John Case

Two responses to the crisis seem most important for us.

First, a movement of, and on behalf of, the unemployed and homeless to protect themselves, and to demand work or income.

Second, a campaign to reverse the decline in working class incomes.

With respect to the first, unemployed committees can be a powerful foundation for a broad based recovery movement. They can be the fire on the feet of elected representatives and officials through public forums linked to community or pot-luck suppers or rallies. They can draw communities together through food banks, shared child and sick care, carpooling, job banks. Given the They can become the driving force for extended unemployment benefits, for extending unemployment for the duration of a college or technical degree program and subsidizing its tuition, and for regional and national service. Not least, in the midst of significant political and economic restructuring of national and world institutions, these committees will be a true and real-world school of socialism – a school in which we ourselves must be conscientious students, as well as a resource – after all, we've done this kind of thing before.

Extending unemployment is essential. The steepness of the real economic crash now underway, coming on the heels of over nine months of job losses and three months of mounting home foreclosures, makes this an emergency matter. There is strong momentum toward doing this in Congress now.

Creating strong incentives and subsidies for crisis victims to successfully retrain to higher skills and degrees will be mandatory for a rapidly changing, increasingly mobile, increasingly multinational, high-tech driven labor force to recover on higher ground than before. Unemployed committees can have a direct influence on expanding regional educational services and resources.

Establishing a National Service Program is a component of the Obama Campaign program. He calls for:

* Expanding AmeriCorps from 75,000 slots to 250,000 slots and establish five new "corps," including: Classroom Corps, Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, Veterans Corps and Homeland Security Corps.
* Increase the engagement of retired Americans in volunteer service.
* Establish a goal of having students in middle school and high school contribute at least 50 hours a year to community service.
* Create a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to ensure the first $4,000 of a college education is free for Americans willing to complete 100 hours of public service a year.

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/7656/