The news that Kerry has conceded defeat has just come through. We will
publish a full analysis of the US election results tomorrow. In the
meantime we are publishing this article which looks at the state of the
US economy and traces its long term decline. Whether Bush or Kerry had
won it would not have made a fundamental difference. They both defend
US imperialism. They could not come out with fundamentally different
policies for they are tied to the same basic economic interests. In
fact the extreme similarity between the two explains why Kerry could
not defeat Bush. Any policy based on the US economy as it is today
means one thing: an attack on the living standards of American workers.
To defeat Bush something else is needed – a party of the American
working class.
Paying particular attention to the US, European and Chinese economies,
Michael Roberts analyses the real state of the world economy. As we
head into the Christmas season, things are not looking so merry for
world capitalism.
Henry Ford had a mythical reputation as a “people's capitalist”, a man who was smart enough to design a car that ordinary workers could afford, and a boss who paid his workers enough to buy Ford cars. Nothing could be further from the truth! The great lesson of labour relations at Ford's from its beginning is that every improvement for the workers was gained through bitter and unremitting struggle. By Mick Brooks