The midterm elections are over, so that the public is relieved of the burden of listening to the constant political ads. At least for the moment. Yet it is very likely that the campaign for the next federal election, that of 2024, will begin very soon.
If nothing else, this midterm election has confirmed, that which everyone knew. The country is deeply divided!
Before the election, the Democrats controlled the presidency, as President Biden is a Democrat. They also had a ”razor thin” majority in both ”Houses of Congress”, that of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Now that the midterm elections are over, it is still not clear which Party will control either House of Congress, as not all of the votes have been counted. It is clear that the ”razor thin” majority will continue. Yet the Republicans may establish a majority, or ”take control”, of one, or both, Houses of Congress. That remains to be seen. We may not know for another month.
From our viewpoint, that of Communists, the final outcome is of little consequence, as both mainstream political parties, Democrat and Republican, serve the same class. That is the class of monopoly capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie. They do not serve the class of ”common people”, the working class, the wage earners, the proletariat. For that matter, they do not serve the small business owner, the middle class, the petty bourgeois.
I mention this for the sake of those who are just now becoming politically active, those who have recently ”woken up”. Welcome, my Brothers and Sisters, my Comrades!
I will also mention that I write these articles with the ”little guy” in mind, the proletariat and the lower strata of the petty bourgeois. These are a few of the technical terms with which working people must become familiar. If we are not aware of these terms, the monopoly capitalists, the billionaires, the bourgeoisie, will use our lack of awareness against us.
The press is reporting that voter turn out was exceptionally high, especially for a ”midterm election”. This is excellent, as it indicates that countless people are politically active, taking an interest in their lives. In fact, it is characteristic of a revolutionary situation.
The journalists have also done a fine job of documenting that which concerns the voters. Without doubt, it is the ”economy” which ”tops the list”. This is to say that people are having a difficult time ”making ends meet”. The ”cost of living” has gone ”through the roof”, and is continuing to rise, quite dramatically. In fact, inflation is at a forty year high.
As a result of this, common people are living ”paycheck to paycheck”. They are hard pressed to feed their families. Many are relying heavily on canned food. Others are not so ”fortunate”. They are simply going hungry!
During the campaign, the Republican Party hammered the Democratic Party on various issues, especially that of the ”economy”, including ”high inflation”. In response, the Democratic Party harped on the issue of ”democracy”.
The journalists were openly wondering if the Democrats were trying to lose the election! After all, the voters were concerned with inflation, crime, immigration and abortion, and the Democrats remained silent on these issues! Instead, the Democrats kept repeating the threat to democracy!
As I have documented, in a different article, that democracy is nothing other than a method of class rule, there is no point in repeating it here.
I should add, by way of explantation, that I pay strict attention to that which the most successful journalists report. They do a rather fine job of documenting the facts. They listen to that which people say. On the other hand, I pay no attention to their analysis. After all, they are in the employ of the capitalists. It is in their best interests to ”slant the news” in favour of the billionaires. For that reason, their conclusions are frequently in direct contradiction of the facts.
The fact is that the Democrats are now ”caught between a rock and a hard place”. As the Party in power, they cannot blame it ”on the other guy”, as is their first impulse. Nor can they tell the truth, which is that inflation is characteristic of capitalism!
Capitalists, by whom I mean the billionaires, are ruled by greed! They worship money! Those who have billions want more billions, and those who have hundreds of billions, want thousands of billions! They want to be Trillionaires!
In their pursuit of the almighty dollar, they deliberately create shortages. With their control of whole industries, they can do this. Frequently, I might add, and to great effect!
The most visible example of this is the high price of fuel. So many motorists cannot help but notice this when ”filling up the tank”. Yet that which is not so noticeable, is the fact that this high price of fuel serves to raise the cost of almost everything else.
The truck drivers have an expression: ”If you bought it, we brought it”. The point being that the trucks do not ”run on love”. They run on fuel. The higher the price of fuel, the higher the cost of delivering these goods, the higher the cost of the product. This is referred to as the ”domino effect”.
Of course, the capitalists have succeeded in creating a shortage in various other industries, including that of food for babies. There is no limit to the depths to which the billionaires are capable of stooping! That includes the starvation of infants, in their quest for the Almighty Buck!
Incidentally, monopoly capitalism is referred to as imperialism. Truly, when Lenin stated that ”Imperialism, is Reaction, right down the line”, he was not joking!
Other issues, such as the fact that crime is out of control, as well as homelessness, immigration and abortion, are also ”part and parcel” of capitalism. As such, the Democrats have also chosen to remain silent.
It may be objected that Biden, as President, has one tool he can use, to ”tame inflation”, which is that of raising interest rates. In fact, that is a common misconception. The President does not have that authority! Neither does the Congress! The interest rates, and in fact control of the economy, is in the hands of the capitalists, the billionaires! They exercise this control through the Federal Reserve!
Most working people are familiar with the expression, ”He who controls the economy, controls the country”! There is some truth to this! It is more accurate to say that it is the class of people who control the economy, control the country! In our case, it is the monopoly capitalist class, the class of billionaires, the bourgeoisie, who have control of the economy. The working class, the proletariat, as well as the middle class, the petty bourgeois, have nothing to say about this!
As most common people are not aware of the existence of classes, I have chosen to use italics and repetition as a means of stressing this importance. It may help to think of this as being the first step on the road to class consciousness, to Revolution, to Soviet Power and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. But then, I only say that because it is true.
This brings me to that which is commonly referred to as ”High Tech”. The capitalists have used that to great effect. Among other things, they have found it to be quite handy, when spying on us.
One good turn deserves another! The capitalists have also created personal computers and the Internet! Lo and Behold, we can use these most useful inventions against the capitalists! Most common people have computers, of one sort or another, or at least have access to them. For those of us who are in our declining years, the younger generation is a great source of assistance. After all, what are grandchildren for?
With that in mind, I turned to the Internet, to determine the role of ”the Fed”, as it is called. I stumbled upon this article, and was planning to document the key points. But then, as we have the technology, I decided to copy the whole thing. Behold:
Is the Federal Reserve a privately owned corporation?
September 2003
Yes and no. The Federal Reserve (the Fed) enjoys a unique public/private structure that operates within the government, but is still relatively independent of government to isolate the Fed from day-to-day political pressures in fulfilling its varying roles. As stated in The Federal Reserve System Purposes & Functions:
The Federal Reserve System is considered to be an independent central bank. It is so, however, only in the sense that its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive branch of the government. The entire System is subject to oversight by the U.S. Congress….the Federal Reserve must work within the framework of the overall objectives of economic and financial policy established by the government.
History
Prior to the Fed’s formation, the United States experienced a number of economic downturns and financial panics. To help alleviate the problems associated with these swings in the economy, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act on December 23, 1913. The act’s opening paragraph outlines its varying functions:
An Act to provide for the establishment of Federal reserve banks, to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes.
Since 1913, legislation has passed to augment some of the act’s original purposes and to clarify the varying roles of the Fed.
Structure
Congress set up the Federal Reserve System to make it autonomous and to isolate it from day-to-day political pressures. For example, the members of the Board of Governors are appointed to serve 14-year terms that do not coincide with presidential terms. Key components of the Federal Reserve System are:
- The Board of Governors—Located in Washington, D.C., Board members are appointed by the U.S. President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Board members and staff are civil service employees.
- The 12 regional Reserve Banks—Located around the country, the 12 Federal Reserve Banks are chartered as private corporations. Employees are not civil service.
- The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)—Composed of the Federal Reserve Governors and the Federal Reserve Bank presidents, the FOMC is charged with conducting monetary policy.
The 12 Federal Reserve Banks operate like other businesses; each has its own board of directors that selects the Reserve Bank president and first vice president, with approval from the Board of Governors. Each Branch of a Reserve Bank has its own board of directors. A majority of these directors are appointed by the Branch’s Reserve Bank; the others are appointed by the Board of Governors.
Boards of directors of the Reserve Banks and their Branches provide the Federal Reserve System with a wealth of information on economic conditions in every corner of the nation. The information, along with other sources, is used by the FOMC and the Board of Governors when reaching decisions about monetary policy.
Key Responsibilities
While Congress establishes key objectives the Fed must follow, the Fed generally works independently of the federal government to administer its core responsibilities.
Those duties include:
- Conducting monetary policy
- Supervising and regulating banking and financial institutions
- Providing payments services to financial institutions
The 12 Federal Reserve Banks have “independent” research staffs that advise their Reserve Bank presidents on monetary policy and the economy. Each Reserve Bank also has regulatory responsibilities including the supervision and regulation of financial institutions. The Reserve Banks also handle the Federal Reserve System’s business operations—it is in this area that Reserve Banks operate more like private businesses, selling services like electronic funds transfers, check processing, and coin and currency services to financial institutions.
Funding
Congress also created the Federal Reserve System to be self-funding. The Fed earns interest on the interest-bearing government securities it holds in its portfolio and sells financial services to banks. This amount is reported each year in its annual report. The Fed’s earnings typically far exceed its expenses. However, unlike for profit corporations, the Fed distributes any profit (after costs) to the U.S. Treasury. In 2002, the Fed’s operating revenues were $26.7 billion, expenses total $2.2 billion, and $24.5 billion was paid to the treasury as “interest on Federal Reserve Notes.”
(The items in italics were as copied from the Internet)
There we have it folks. In their own words, by their own admission, despite various qualifications, it is clear that the Fed is independent of the government. It is the capitalists who own and control the Federal Reserve, which is to say that the capitalists control the economy! No wonder the Democrats are silent concerning the economy! The economy is out of their hands!
Of course no politician is prepared to admit this! They would have us believe that under a democratic republic, classes do not exist! Such is hardly the case! Yet as the working class is not aware of itself as a class, the politicians are fully prepared to perpetuate the lie!
In fact, Lenin made it quite clear in his excellent article, What Is To Be Done?, that workers are not capable of becoming class conscious, by themselves. That awareness must be brought to the workers from an outside source. That outside source is middle class intellectuals. Lenin was one of those intellectuals.
The capitalists are also reluctant to admit the fact that they are capitalists! In fact, they avoid the word as they would the plague! But then, to admit that they are capitalists, is to admit that capitalism exists, so that classes exist!
Yet there can be no doubt that the working class is ”making progress”. Twenty years ago, at the time of the Occupy Movement, there was a vague awareness of difference, of ”us” versus ”them”, of the ”99 percent” versus the ”1 percent”. This is referred to as ”class consciousness in embryonic form”.
As those terms are no longer being used, it represents a step forward. Yet, as Lenin pointed out, ”The history of all countries shows that the working class, exclusively by its own efforts, is able to develop only trade union consciousness”. This is to say that working people may learn that ”there is strength in numbers”, as is indeed the case. That is about as far as it goes.
To become truly class conscious, aware of the existence of classes, and of the war between the classes, requires a knowledge of the works of Marx and Lenin. As workers are now quite cultured, most are perfectly capable of reading those works.
With that in mind, you may rest assured that nothing of substance will change, until the capitalists are overthrown. The state apparatus, which has been set up to crush the working people, must be destroyed and replaced by a Proletarian state apparatus, in order to crush the capitalists, as they strive to restore their ”paradise lost”. That new state apparatus is known as the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. It will be administered through Soviets, otherwise known as Councils.
We will know that we are on the right track, when working people are openly discussing Soviet Power and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 