[Marxism] Mass Layoffs and More

[S. Artesian]

MASS LAYOFFS IN DECEMBER 2008 AND ANNUAL TOTALS FOR 2008
In December, employers took 2,275 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, 
as measured by new
filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics of the U.S.
Department of Labor reported today. Each action involved at least 50 persons 
from a single employer;
the number of workers involved totaled 226,117 on a seasonally adjusted 
basis. The number of mass
layoff events in December decreased by 58 from the prior month, while the 
number of associated initial
claims increased slightly by 478. Over the year, the number of mass layoff 
events increased by 806, and
the number of associated initial claims increased by 80,201. In December, 
871 mass layoff events were
reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 
105,402 initial claims. Over the
month, mass layoff events in manufacturing increased by 3, and initial 
claims increased by 4,759, the
fifth consecutive over-the-month increase for both measures. (See table 1.)

full at:  http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/mmls.pdf

Brings me to a question:  which is what happens after  Brown's Bailout 2, 
Merkel's increased stimulus,  Obamas 900 billion stimulus, the Fed's Special 
Funding Vehicles, the Treasury's
emergency credit lines to the FHLBs-- all of the myriad schemes to rescue 
capitalism from itself, fail?  Which undoubtedly they will as not one or all 
of them will restore a shred of profit to capital's aggrandizement of 
wage-labor.

I honestly think that what will happen across the globe might very well 
compare to the deconstruction of the USSR in the face of the 89-91 
recession, only without the laissez-faire cowboyism of that period of 
looting,--- but all that is speculation and requires more study than just a 
thought after a half-liter of vin du moment at the bistro Gambetta.

That failure is what we must prepare for, or envision, in our approaches to 
those made redundant, homeless, impoverished.  And in that regard I think 
clearly "we"  as much as a "community" that we are, need to get beyond the 
"nationalize the banks," "support the stimulus"  notions that seem to be 
gaining in popularity... concentrating instead on demands for direct 
cancellation of debts, suspensions of foreclosures, and for things like 
explicitly socialized medical care because while the Senate stimulus package 
includes about $85 billion in grants to states for Medicaid, that amount is 
unlikely to restore all that states have already cut, and are planning to 
cut in terms of coverage, benefit amounts, and procedures covered. 
Enrollment would have to be restored to the levels of June or July 2008, but 
could be capped there, and no stipulations about benefit levels, or covered 
procedures are included.

I think raising a demand for an explicitly socialist medical care is pretty 
integral to every other demand.