Bettencourt tax-evasion scandal rocks French government

Original article, Bettencourt tax-evasion scandal rocks French government, by Alex Lantier via World Socialist Web Site:

Popular disgust is mounting over revelations that, while demanding huge social cuts from working people, top French officials took money from billionairess Liliane Bettencourt and helped her evade taxes. The 87-year-old Bettencourt’s net worth of €17 billion, largely in holdings of stock in cosmetics giant L’Oréal, makes her France’s richest woman.

This is almost funny. Almost. It appears that the current rulers in France are on the take from Bettencourt. It also appears that they've made sure that France's richest woman has gotten huge tax breaks. It makes one wonder if the same thing is going on here in the US?

Yesterday, the news web site Mediapart published interviews implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy in the Bettencourt affair. It interviewed Claire T., Bettencourt’s former accountant, currently under investigation, after she testified to police the night before.

Sarkozy's government is trying to impose draconian cuts to the French government's budget. Surprise! And guess who's not going to have to pay a heavy price for those cuts? Bettencourt, of course. And you wonder why the French populace has been marching?

The accountant’s testimony suggests that Bettencourt illegally funded Sarkozy’s election campaign. This threatens to undermine Sarkozy’s political standing in the ruling class by making it untenable for him to carry out the cuts demanded by the financial markets and the political establishment. Sarkozy’s poll ratings recently hit an all-time low of 26 percent.

I'll let you read the rest of the article. In it, you'll read of French politicians going to the Bettencourt's and receiving envelopes stuffed with cash (how low tech). You'll also read of how L’Oréal was used to fund the French fascists. You'll also read of how former President Mitterrand was associated with the funders. It's murky, to say the least. The murk, of course, is of their own making. It will be interesting to see just how far the scandal taints the French ruling class and what effect it will have on the French working class, which is set to see it's standard of living cut to a large extent. It will also be interesting to see if this opens up the doors on others who may have been seeking to corrupt the politics of other countries.

A coach shills for SB 1070

Original article, A coach shills for SB 1070, by Dave Zirin an subtitled St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has come out in support of Arizona's racist SB 1070. Now's the time to build momentum against those who think like him, via socialistworker.org:

Call me paranoid. Call me delusional. But it doesn't take a tinfoil hat to intuit that there are larger forces at work shaping Major League Baseball's political response to Arizona's anti-immigrant attacks.

Believe it or not, it's not paranoid. Baseball's owners are an odious bunch (remember George W. Bush was one). They tend to try whatever they can to squeeze their players and make a mockery of their fans. After all, that's what the rich can do. Why should we be surprised.

When SB 1070 was signed by the state's interim Gov. Jan Brewer, baseball players were in an uproar. In a sport where half the league holds spring training in Arizona and 27 percent of players are Latin American immigrants, the reaction was bracing and immediate. Fifteen players lashed out against SB 1070 before the ink was even dry on Brewer's signature. The Major League Baseball Players Association also issued a dramatic statement against the bill. Both Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said they would boycott the 2011 All-Star game if it were held in Phoenix as planned.

All it takes is for the players to remind the owners that the games don't get played without the permission of the players. If the game isn't moved, all it would take is for the players not to show. Don't announce it beforehand and let Fox (which televises the game) try to explain what's happened. Of course, it'd be better if the game is moved.

And then...silence. It's been like a faucet that was twisted violently shut. Players now just speak off the record with curt statements like, "Who would like it?" Others who spoke out earlier, like the D-backs own Augie Ojeda, now just mumble, "We're here to play baseball."

I'll let you read the rest of the article. A few years ago, golfers were faced with a similar situation. The US Open was to be held at a white's only club, and they rebelled. The site held an annual tournament: It doesn't any more. Of course, this was before the dust-up at the hallowed grounds of Augusta National which led to nothing (the Masters being sacrosanct). It will be interesting to see if the players stand with other players or stand with the owners. We know that the tea partiers will stand with the owners. It will be a fascinating situation.

A government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich

Original article, A government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich, by Bill Van Auken via World Socialist Web Site:

Sunday, July 4 marked the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This founding document of the American republic proclaimed the profoundly democratic principle that “all men are created equal” and endowed with “inalienable rights.”

For an interesting take on the Fourth, you might want to read From Karl Marx to the Fourth of July by James P. Cannon. It sometimes helps to remember that the American Revolution was....well...revolutionary (warts and all). It also helps to remember that only about 1/3 of the colonists supported the Revolution.

Two hundred and thirty-four years on, the federal government in Washington commemorated the anniversary with a series of actions that demonstrated how thoroughly the principles elaborated in the Declaration have been repudiated in practice, leaving Americans with a government that is as unrepresentative and reactionary as that of old King George III.

Both parties are part of that reactionary government. Once again, it's good to go back an remember American history. During the great depression, austerity was tried in the name of getting spending by the government under control. It didn't work. The economy fell off the ledge it had managed to pull itself up to.

While slashing funds for the jobless and the working population generally, it approved $33 billion to pay for the escalation of the nine-year-old colonial war and occupation in Afghanistan, ensuring the reproduction in a far more savage form of all the crimes of the British King—“plunder,” “death,” “desolation,” “tyranny,” “cruelty,” “perfidy”—spelled out in the Declaration’s bill of particulars.

I'll let you read the rest of the article. Needless to say, we're still staring at an economic abyss, and that abyss beckons Congress and the President to jump. The best that can be said for the Democrats is that it's possible, though highly unlikely, that they are hoping to ride out the election while hoping that the economy doesn't fall into that abyss. This must be the 'hope' that Obama was selling during the 2008 election. The problem is that the jokers we have in Congress and the Oval Office seem to want to jump. It's our necks that they've decided to put on the block, and the blade's been raised and is ready to come slicing down.

China: Strike erupts in Japanese-owned electronics plant

Original article, China: Strike erupts in Japanese-owned electronics plant, By John Chan via World Socialist Web Site:

Workers at the Mitsumi Electric plant in northern Tianjin city have been on strike since Tuesday, fighting low wages and atrocious working conditions. The strike is the latest in a series of walkouts by Chinese workers, initially erupting at Honda’s transmission plant in southern China during May. Workers at Toyota’s auto part suppliers in Tianjin also staged strikes in June, forcing Toyota’s largest Chinese assembly plant to shut down.

How can I exploit you? Let me count the ways! From workers' paradise to capitalist paradise, even Bill Gates is singing China's praises. But, when it comes to making a buck, we shouldn't expect anything else.

The Mitsumi plant, which produces electronics parts such as audio tuners and power switches, is located in Dongli district, alongside other Japanese-owned factories, including Toyota and Honda affiliates. A Mitsumi spokesman in Tokyo told the media: “We suspect the situation might have been affected by the earlier developments,” referring to the previous strikes at the nearby Toyota parts suppliers.

Multinationals exploit where they can. Chinese workers are beginning to understand this. The question is if the workers will grow tired of their totalitarian capitalist system? So far, as Chan points out, the strikes have been sporadic and there seems not to be organization from plant to plant.

The official Xinhua news agency has only reported the strike in English, not Chinese, fearing that other workers will follow the example. A striker told Xinhua that most of Mitsumi’s 3,000 workers were on strike. Many are poor migrant workers who complained that their wages were not keeping up with rising prices. One worker said that new recruits to the plant earned just 1,500 yuan ($220) a month, working six days a week with two hours overtime every day.

I'll let you read the rest of the article. The major point is that the capitalists are scared. If China's workers find a way to organize, the capitalist paradise may come crashing down. As the article points out, China might then have to actually go communist (in the Marxist sense). Wouldn't that be a shocker?

Conn Hallinan: Guns of August in the Middle East?

Conn Hallinan: Guns of August in the Middle East? via counterpunch.com:

Crazy talk about the Middle East seems to be escalating, backed up by some pretty ominous military deployments. First, the department of scary statements:

I'll let you read the article. The threats against Iran have been ongoing for several years. Eventually the bluster will be seen as that and the belligerents will lose whatever credibility they have if they don't act. Acting, of course, is something that we should all hope doesn't happen. A war in the Middle East has the chance of spiraling out of control into a world war. A world war would probably go nuclear fairly quickly. This is not a good prospect for most of us.