Obama is a Marxist...

[emmiedahl]

...and maybe we all should be--a little bit, at least.

I was looking for a Marx quote that I could not precisely remember so I searched for it on the internet and there it was:

Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are impossible without feminine upheaval. Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included.

I consider this God's Own Truth , or the FSM's Own Truth if you prefer. But on the page of quotes I found many other things I agreed with. And it is not a surprise because, while I am not a communist, I think Marx was an astute observer of his times and right about a great many things. I know that Obama cannot publicly praise Marx as a sociologist, but I think he agrees with the above quotation as well as a few others.

Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.

The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs.

The product of mental labor - science - always stands far below its value, because the labor-time necessary to reproduce it has no relation at all to the labor-time required for its original production.

The development of civilization and industry in general has always shown itself so active in the destruction of forests that everything that has been done for their conservation and production is completely insignificant in comparison.

Art is always and everywhere the secret confession, and at the same time the immortal movement of its time.

In bourgeois society, capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality.

The above made me think of the "Corporations are people" comment.

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

Why, again, is it bad to be a Marxist? Is it because of the Soviet Fail? I occasionally read Marx and while I may not always agree, I admire his ideas and his perspective, and often find myself nodding.

I doubt the people calling Obama a Marxist have any idea what they are talking about. However, I could see Obama agreeing with a lot of what Marx said even if he did not subscribe to Marxism as a whole.

[debrand]

I admit that I grew up with a fear of all things communist, including Karl Marx. Lately though I've become interested in the difference between what Marx believed and what was practiced in the Soviet Union.

I am aware that it makes me sound stupid not to know the answer to this but...Is there anything in the constitution of the United States that discusses what type of economic system that we will have?

[emmiedahl]

I admit that I grew up with a fear of all things communist, including Karl Marx. Lately though I've become interested in the difference between what Marx believed and what was practiced in the Soviet Union.

I am aware that it makes me sound stupid not to know the answer to this but...Is there anything in the constitution of the United States that discusses what type of economic system that we will have?

I don't think it specifically does. Our constitution lends itself to capitalism as an economic system and I don't think we would work well as a communism. But we can and have socialized certain things, like the highway system.

[JesusFightClub]

The one which always gets me from Marx is "All that is solid melts into air". That's from the Communist Manifesto and describes the bourgeois.

I cannot put it better. Our solid pensions, as we understood them as civil servants (not on high wages) melted into air. And we were punished for asking like bewildered children "But where did it go? We saved up?"

We asked for things which we had been given to understand we were entitled to and that's why we weren't getting paid much. We didn't realise the big lie was that we were going to be given something for forsaking our small benefits. There was never any intention that would happen. What was really important though was we were pilloried in the press for "earning 100K per year and STILL DEMANDING A PENSION".

I'm homeless and I don't make 18K pa. I have a "gold plated pension" of less than £1k a year by quite a way. I am sleeping on a mattress on my brother's living room floor. I have nightmares every night about how I can pay for anything.

Just saying.

[debrand]

The one which always gets me from Marx is "All that is solid melts into air". That's from the Communist Manifesto and describes the bourgeois.

I cannot put it better. Our solid pensions, as we understood them as civil servants (not on high wages) melted into air. And we were punished for asking like bewildered children "But where did it go? We saved up?"

We asked for things which we had been given to understand we were entitled to and that's why we weren't getting paid much. We didn't realise the big lie was that we were going to be given something for forsaking our small benefits. There was never any intention that would happen. What was really important though was we were pilloried in the press for "earning 100K per year and STILL DEMANDING A PENSION".

I'm homeless and I don't make 18K pa. I have a "gold plated pension" of less than £1k a year by quite a way. I am sleeping on a mattress on my brother's living room floor. I have nightmares every night about how I can pay for anything.

Just saying.

I don't have to say anything very wise to say except I'm sorry that you are having such a tough time JFC.

[mirele]

I was going to be funny and make a joke about how Obama is a Groucho Marxist, but then I read what JFC had to say. Ugh.

[emmiedahl]

The one which always gets me from Marx is "All that is solid melts into air". That's from the Communist Manifesto and describes the bourgeois.

I cannot put it better. Our solid pensions, as we understood them as civil servants (not on high wages) melted into air. And we were punished for asking like bewildered children "But where did it go? We saved up?"

We asked for things which we had been given to understand we were entitled to and that's why we weren't getting paid much. We didn't realise the big lie was that we were going to be given something for forsaking our small benefits. There was never any intention that would happen. What was really important though was we were pilloried in the press for "earning 100K per year and STILL DEMANDING A PENSION".

I'm homeless and I don't make 18K pa. I have a "gold plated pension" of less than £1k a year by quite a way. I am sleeping on a mattress on my brother's living room floor. I have nightmares every night about how I can pay for anything.

Just saying.

Is your union fighting this? It would go over like a turd in the punchbowl in everywhere I have lived.

[Sola]

Its bad because it means people like Kelly will be forced to help people she doesn't give a shit about.

[Witsec7]

Is your union fighting this? It would go over like a turd in the punchbowl in everywhere I have lived.

They revised public emp. pensions in Boregonia, I fought for six years so that all employees could have the same pension benefits. It didn't work, a judas goat pushed it through the legislature., I was one of the lucky few that had money grandfathered into the old plan. It's a tough fight.

I'm keeping you in the light as always Comrade.

[Sola]

Both hubby and I have had our pensions fucked with, plus hubby had a £200 pay cut through regrading earlier on in the year. All through our caring all in it together conservative government.

[snarktastic]

I'm homeless and I don't make 18K pa. I have a "gold plated pension" of less than £1k a year by quite a way. I am sleeping on a mattress on my brother's living room floor. I have nightmares every night about how I can pay for anything.

JFC, I hope things get better for you.

[emmiedahl]

JFC, I hope things get better for you.

I am sorry JFC :( You sound like a very dedicated employee and I would love to have you behind the window at DSHS.

We cannot keep treating our workers this way.

[JesusFightClub]

I was praised by my manager "accurate, friendly and useful and doing a great job with diversity", my willingness to be "helpful and flexible" and my "impressive and fluent" notetaking. Which was very nice and I don't want to downplay it, it just pisses me off when Daily Fail people on far more money that I could ever dream of complain because 100K isn't enough for them to live on.

There are times when you get up and struggle through the next day. That's not like being on 100K. That's being on 17k and sleeping on the floor and scared all the time.

[VenusDaisy]

I was praised by my manager "accurate, friendly and useful and doing a great job with diversity", my willingness to be "helpful and flexible" and my "impressive and fluent" notetaking. Which was very nice and I don't want to downplay it, it just pisses me off when Daily Fail people on far more money that I could ever dream of complain because 100K isn't enough for them to live on.

There are times when you get up and struggle through the next day. That's not like being on 100K. That's being on 17k and sleeping on the floor and scared all the time.

I am VERY SORRY for all the people who are experiencing such difficult times. Please do not give into fear!! Sending good thoughts your way JFC!!