Original article, by Rob Sewell, via Socialist Appeal (UK):

“I like thieves. Some of my best friends are thieves. Why, just last week we had the president of the bank over for dinner.” W.C. Fields.

Original article, an editorial subheaded Whether or not Henry Paulson’s rescue scheme works, one thing is already crystal clear: The capitalist system has failed spectacularly, via socialistworker.org:

THE BUSH administration’s treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, is demanding the financial equivalent of martial law–$700 billion and a blank check to rescue the Wall Street system from the catastrophe caused by the blind greed of the super-rich parasites who run it.

There is a song that makes them quake in their boots.  It is not a song about the glories of capitalism.  Quite the contrary: It’s a song which was born out of the Paris Commune.  Henry Paulson would faint if he walke onto the trading floor of the NYSE and the traders all started to sing it.  W would flee in terror if one of his stage managed crowds beagan to sing it.  Obama would, out of fear, try to stop the crowds from singing if they started.  It’s that type of song.

Original article, by Doug Page, via dissidentvoice.org:

The powerful culture wide taboo against discussing or analyzing the dynamics of our market economy will lead to the fall of our democratic civilization. UCLA Professor Jared Diamond studied four civilizations that perished and three that survived. The civilizations of Greenland Norsemen, Mesa Verde Native Americans, Central American Mayans and Easter Island perished. The Norse settlement in Greenland perished after 400 years partly because Norsemen could not overcome their taboo against eating seal meat and fish.1 Diamond listed two choices that those societies which adjusted and survived made while those that failed did not:

Willingness to reconsider and change core values

Long term planning

Note: The original article has hyperlinked end notes.

Original article, by Niklas Albin Svensson , vial Socialist Appeal (UK):

Yesterday John McDonnell MP explained why US imperialism is so concerned about developments in Bolivia and Venezuela: “What the US is terrified of is the prospect that socialism will catch light all across the Americas, so of course it has to go on the attack. But it is exactly for this moment that solidarity campaigns exist.” He explained that, “what is happening is not a personal attack on Morales or Chavez but an attack on the seeds of socialism that they are spreading.”

Original article, an editorial subheaded The neoliberal dogmas that have dominated for more than 25 years are discredited, but they need to be replaced by more than proposals for re-regulating the banks, via socialisworker.org:

THE WORLD financial system is in the grip of the most severe crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s–and there’s worse to come, not only for the banks and speculators of Wall Street, but far beyond, in every part of the U.S., and around the globe.

Original article by Corey D. B. Walker and sub-headed The Deepening Crisis via counterpunch.com:

“The West is living through an economic and social crisis so unprecedented in its tempo, so complex in its effects, that there are many who do not know that it is taking place.”

Michael Harrington, The Next Left (1987)

Original article, an exceprt from Lance Selfa’s new book The Democrats: A Critical History via socialistworker.org:

After eight long years of George W. Bush, millions of people are counting the days to the inauguration of a Democratic president. But would a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic Congress deliver on the promise of change that so many people want to see?

Lance Selfa is a SocialistWorker.org columnist and editorial board member of the International Socialist Review. His new book, The Democrats: A Critical History, documents how, time after time, the party that claims to represent ordinary people has betrayed their aspirations of ordinary people while pursuing an agenda favorable to big business.

In this excerpt from the book, Lance examines the era when Franklin Roosevelt’s Democratic Party cemented its alliance with organized labor–with unions as the junior partner.

Original article by Barry Grey, via World Socialist Web Site:

The end of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, two of the largest Wall Street investment banks, one week after the government takeover of the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, marks a new stage in the convulsive crisis of American capitalism.  

Wheeee!!!

It’s been an interesting few weeks, actually maybe a few months, although the storm has been brewing for quite a while.  Bear Stearns was just a precuser, wasn’t it?  So, what to make of where we are today?