[Marxism] 2 items of interest from MRZine

[Louis Proyect]

Obama Shares Bush's Goals
by Hossein Derakhshan

Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, has adopted the 
rhetoric of change which has captured the imagination of many Americans 
and non-Americans around the world.

But when it comes to the foreign policy, there are enough reasons to 
remain sceptical.  Will he adopt a foreign policy with objectives which 
differ from those of George Bush, the current US president, or will he 
merely change Bush's strategies and tactics?

Some, like French political theorist Raymond Aron in his book The 
Imperial Republic, hold that the US is essentially founded on two 
principles -- Empire and Republic.  Its foreign policy, from the start, 
has therefore consistently been torn by the tensions between Empire and 
Republic.  In 1903, Beckles Willson made a similar argument in his book 
The New America: A Study of the Imperial Republic.

full: http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/derakhshan240908.html

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The Financial Crisis: A View from the Left
by Dan La Botz

Faced with the failure of the financial sector and the possible collapse 
of the economic system, Republicans and Democrats are working together 
feverishly to come up with a plan and find the funds to save the 
American financial system.  The Congress that has been unable to provide 
adequate funding to health, education, housing, public transportation, 
social welfare, and environmental programs has suddenly found billions 
of dollars to save the banks and insurance companies.  When the crisis 
was ours, they had had no money and no answers.  When the crisis is 
theirs, they find both the funds and a plan.

The bankers and financiers, who fought for deregulation arguing that the 
free market would regulate itself, now call for government intervention 
to save the market from collapse.  The Republicans, who have argued 
against virtually any social control or social distribution of wealth, 
have suddenly become advocates of socialization: the socialization of 
the economic crisis.  The American people who have seen their standard 
of living stagnate and then decline while the banks and corporations 
enriched themselves are now expected to absorb the cost of the bankers' 
failures and losses.

full: http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/labotz240908.html