world crisis

The world in crisis

The world ruling classes are in a state of complete panic with Germany’s Angela Merkel remarking that bankruptcy for entire states is now not so far fetched.
Job losses, bank collapses and manufacturing slowdowns are appearing in all major sectors of the world economy.
Obama’s stimulus package of 787 billion dollars was soon followed by the threatened collapse of insurance giant, AIG, which has now to be bailed out as they can’t let what’s described as a ’cornerstone’ of the US economy go down.
The last few months have seen the sharpest contraction in US growth since the crisis of 1973 with GDP in the last few months of 2008 declining by 6.2%. The data for 2009 seems to be much worse with figures constantly being marked down. With record lows expected in consumer spending figures the US is also facing a huge haemorrhaging of jobs – unemployment rose by 2.6 million since 2008 with 1.9million of those jobs lost in the last 4 months alone. This represents the greatest decline in employment since 1945. With 12 million now jobless, half a million a month now and increasing, more and more americans are having to subsist on foodstamps.
The world’s 2nd biggest economy, Japan, is declaring it’s worst results for 35 years. Japan’s industrial output dropping by 20% this quarter alone while exports have fallen by a shocking 40% and unemployment reaching an all time high of over 6%. The Japanese government have just signed a new freetrade agreement with other ASEAN countries but that hasn’t stopped the accusations of protectionism going back and forth between various asian countries.
Australia’s economic prospects are hugely dependent on Japan as the Japanese market is the biggest destination for Australian exports. One of Japan’s largest companies, Toyota, has announced their first operating losses since the 1930’s.
The collapse of the USA and Japan is having an effect on the Chinese economy. It’s expected that unemployment across south east asia will reach 97 million this year, which is an obscene figure. 600,000 firms closed in the last year in China. The government has responded like many others with a stimulus package totalling 586 billion. China is a net exporter but faces a 17.5% drop in demand for it’s products with figures for this quarter expected to be much worse. Indonesia has put tariffs on Chinese goods which hugely increases tensions in the region. These tensions are playing out on a wider scale too with the US and China throwing similar accusations at each other.
The 3rd largest economy in Asia is the Indian which is still, like China, declaring growth. Although the predicted 8% growth has been revised downwards to 5% by some commentators who also expect that these figures will fall even more in 2009. There are calls from sections of the Indian ruling class for measures to stimulate growth but the Indian economy is limited to mainly domestic demand.
If we take a brief look at Brazil their industry figures just released show a 12.4% drop since december alone with exports down by a massive 29%. Governments across South America, like elsewhere, are slashing interest rates massively.
In the EU and the region from the EU heart to Russia there are massive problems. The World Bank, The European Development Bank and the EU bank for reconstruction have given a 24 billion loan to Hungary and others but the Hungarian government has announced that they need at least ten times as much. Even the Russian economy which is a huge exported of Oil and Gas now believes that even a rise of Oil prices to 55 dollars a barrell won’t keep their economy out of danger.
From Ireland through the UK all the way over to the Baltic states and down to Spain, Portugal and Greece the bankruptcy of states has ruling classes in a state of absolute fear.
We can’t allow ourselves though to be overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis and give in to the fear that has infected the whole world ruling class and the majority of working class people worldwide who are fearful of losing jobs and homes. The ruling classes are getting away with cuts in places like Ireland, not because of their strength, but because of the weakness of the opposition forces. People want to fight back and their fear can easily, as we have seen here in Ireland, translate into militant actions. Socialists need to give a lead and show that we have answers to the questions people are asking, we have an alternative vision of society that everyday matches the conclusions that more and more people are reaching for.
Capitalism won’t collapse, it needs to be pushed over. The crisis is an opportunity. We have a chance to escape once and for all from this madness. The world economy is set to contract for the 1st time since 1945. The ruling class has to increase the rate of exploitation of workers in order to get profit rates up again and start the entire ridiculous process going again.
We can and must stand up give voice to the massive anger that’s out there. It’s time to say no more!

we need a one day national stoppage!!

(people in iceland protesting daily)

Socialist Worker Leaflet

• No Pay Cuts or Pension Levies

• Bail out Jobs and Services not the Bankers

• Support the Waterford Crystal Sit In.

The pension levy on public sector workers is an outrage. Many low and middle income employees, who have taken out large mortgages, simply cannot afford to pay it.

The levy is another name for a pay cut:

• An employee on €45,000 will pay an extra €63 a week.
• An employee on €35,000, €43 a week

This pay cut is on top of a 1 percent levy on gross income and the deferment of all wage rises due under the current partnership deal.

Public sector workers did not cause the economic mess.

Nor are they the ‘bloated’ over-paid sector portrayed by the media. According to the OECD, Ireland has the third lowest rate of public expenditure compared to Gross Domestic Product, just ahead of Korea and Mexico.

Public sector workers already pay a 6.5% contribution to their pension. The real problem is not public sector workers but private sector employers who want to pay nothing to their employees’ pension funds.

While public sector workers are being attacked, the government is putting up €8 billion to ‘re-capitalise’ the banks. Despite all the talk of a ‘national effort’ to solve the crisis, no extra taxes have been imposed on the super-wealthy.

Instead of bailing out bankers, the government should put money into saving the jobs at Waterford Crystal and other areas where workers are being made redundant.

We need a massive programme of public works to help people who have been made redundant.

In this ecocomic crisis, workers are once again being asked to carry the can - while the super rich, who helped to cause the economic collapse through speculation, get off scott free.

A NATIONAL SHUT DOWN

This is entirely unacceptable. The unions need to organise serious action to resist these pay cuts. Talking and complaining is not enough when the very future of the trade union movement is at stake.

We need a one day national shut-down - and French style protests to demonstrates our opposition.

Public sector workers should initiate this one day shut down and invite private sector workers, who are facing pay cuts and redundancies, to join the action.

If such action is not organised by union leaders, it will have to come from the grassroots.

The over-70s showed how ‘people power’, how a mass movement from below could bring about some measure of social justice. Now is the time for the trade unions to do the same.

500 hundred jobs to go at First Active...

and 290 on the buses....here's a flyer for comrades in ireland to distribute....

Redundancy is a shocking experience.
It disrupts your plans and hopes for your future.
Your company is also conveying a message: We do not care about you
– profit is all that counts. Of course, they don’t put it as bluntly as this.
Your CEO or manager will probably appear on the media and
talk about how sad they are but it had to be done for ‘competitiveness’.
But they mean: workers are worth nothing, profit is all that counts.
Our society is experiencing a 1930s style crash and we can no longer accept this.
This is the 21st century and all of us have a Right to Work.
It is time to assert that people and our lives are more important
than a company’s ‘bottom line’
If you are facing redundancy,
socialists advise you to take the following steps:
❶ Call a meeting of your workmates to discuss the
situation.
Elect people to represent you, either by endorsing your existing
shop stewards or electing new representatives. Make sure that the
meeting is conducted properly by asking people to vote for what they
want.
❷ The first thing you need to decide is whether you want to
oppose the redundancies or accept voluntary redundancies.
Your union officials will almost invariably urge you to accept
voluntary redundancies. Socialists, however, urge you to
consider resistance: There is very little work out there and you need a
wage packet now.
❸ Do some research on your company. Find out the following items:
■ Are they making a profit? If they are suffering a temporary loss,
what sort of profits did they make in recent years? How much do they
pay their CEO?
■ How much did your company get in state grants? Have they been
paying proper taxes in this country?
■ Are they re-locating or closing down in order to benefit from
cheap labour? Or are they trying to intensify work for the remaining
staff.
❹ Organise an occupation of your workplace to resist
redundancy. It is the only message that profit
addicts understand. Remember: You
have two great levers that help you.
■ First, the company will want to get hold of the machines, office
space or factory space to sell off or use elsewhere. You should use
these as a bargaining lever to secure concessions.
■ Second, as the government has been bailing out banks, the obvious
question is: why can’t they bail out redundant workers?
❺ You should use the occupation as a base to
launch a major campaign to demand that the government protect
your right to work. Tell them to recover any grants
given to a company that has treated its workers like disposable products
and to use that money to fund alternative employment.
Demand that the government either get you all places on
community employment schemes on Pay Related Benefit or that they take
the company into public ownership to guarantee jobs.
❻ Resistance will bring you some results – acceptance
will give you nothing. Some might argue that this is very ‘radical’. But
we are living in changed times. When a US President like
Barack Obama promises that the US state will help fund the creation of
3 million jobs, you know ‘the times they are a changing’.
We need real, radical change here and that will come through
‘people power’ – not taskforces, committees and crocodile tears.

If you want any further advice on resisting redundancies or want
support for your actions, you can contact the industrial desk
of the Socialist Workers Party on 01 8722682 or simply
text - REDUNDANCY to 086 3074060
and we will ring you back.

Socialist Worker
www.swp.ie