Communist
Party USA leader Sam Webb |
President Obama is "considering" a radical agenda to nationalize the
U.S. financial
system, the Federal Reserve
Bank, and private industries such as energy and other sectors whose
future is "problematic" in private hands, claims the leader of the
Communist Party USA.
In a major speech focused on Obama titled "Off and running: Opportunity
of a lifetime," CPUSA leader Sam Webb also alleges Obama's
administration is considering turning education, childcare, and health
care into "no profit zones;" rerouting
investment capital from
military
infrastructure
to "green economy" projects and public infrastructure; and waging a
"full scale" assault on global warming.
"We now have not simply a friend, but a people's advocate in the White
House," declared Webb at a recent speech in Ohio for People's Weekly
World Communist newspaper.
"An era of progressive change is within reach, no longer an idle dream.
Just look at the new lay of the land: a friend of labor and its allies
sits in the White House," Webb proclaimed.
He stated Obama and the "broad coalition that supports him will
almost inevitably have to consider – and they already are – the
following measures:
- Public ownership of the financial system and the elimination of
the shadow banking system and exotic derivatives.
- Public control of the Federal Reserve Bank.
-
Counter-crisis spending of
a bigger size and scope to invigorate and sustain a full recovery and
meet human needs – something that the New Deal never accomplished.
- Strengthening of union rights in order to rebalance the power
between labor and capital in the
economic and political
arenas.
- Trade agreements that have at their core the protection and
advancement of international
working class interests.
- Equality in conditions of life for racially minorities and women.
- Democratic public takeover of the energy complex as well as a
readiness to consider the takeover of other basic industries whose
future is problematic in private hands.
- Turning education, child care, and health care into "no profit"
zones.
- Rerouting investment capital from unproductive investment
(military, finance and so forth) to productive investment in a green
economy and public infrastructure.
- Changing direction of our nation's foreign policy toward
cooperation, disarmament, and diplomacy. We can't have threats, guns
and military occupations on the one hand and butter, democracy,
goodwill, and peace on the other.
- Full scale assault on global warming.
- Serious and sustained commitment to assisting the developing
countries that are locked in poverty and misery."
Webb lauded Obama's $800-plus billion so-called stimulus package as
"a good bill that will ease the pain of this crisis, create
jobs, and begin to reflate
the economy."
He explained labor unions, which he said were instrumental in Obama's
election, must work to keep the White House in check by "exercis[ing] an
enormous influence on the political process. Never before has a
coalition with such breadth walked on the political stage of our
country," he said.
Indeed, in an article just after last November's election titled,
"Special Interest or Class Consciousness? How Labor Put Obama in the
White House," Political Affairs reported on polling data released that
revealed the extent of union support for Obama.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
Organizations, or AFL-CIO, sponsored a poll showing union members
supported Obama by a 68-30 margin and strongly influenced their family
members.
According to the
survey, Obama won among white
men who are union members by 18 points. Union gun-owners backed Obama by
12 points, while union veterans voted for Obama by a 25-point margin. In
the general population, Obama lost these groups by significant margins.