MUNDO OBRERO Griswold: Otro aspecto del libro ‘Capitalismo de Bajos Salarios’ 12 Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org DEC. 11, 2008 VOL. 50, NO. 49 50¢ Bailout denied for workers’ homes, jobs as Gov’t sinks more billions into failing capitalism By Jaimeson Champion The government that claims to be of, world, for the first time, the real story of by and for the people will spend whatever how the foundation of our new currency EDITORIAL ON MUMBAI Another day, another multi-billion- it takes of the workers’ tax money to pre- system was written. ...” (Current Opinion, dollar bailout. The federal government serve the class system that exploits their December 1916) recently announced that it would give labor. One of the most prominent bankers at away $326 billion to Citigroup. The gov- the meeting, besides J.P. Morgan, was Poverty is ernment will now be backing approxi- How the Fed was born in stealth Frank A. Vanderlip. Vanderlip was presi- mately one-sixth of Citigroup’s $2 trillion In late November of 1910, a group of dent of National City Bank of New York, in total assets. the most powerful bankers and financiers, which eventually grew into the modern- violence Despite this massive pledge of financial along with Secretary of the Treasury A.P. day Citigroup. he Bush administration has rushed aid, Citigroup shares led the way down in Andrews and members of the U.S. Senate, By the dawn of the 20th century, the highest-ranking officer in the a 680-point market plunge on Dec 1. The met in secret at the Jekyll Island Club— National City was already the largest U.S. Pentagon—Joint Chiefs of Staff price of Citi’s stock fell 20 percent on the an all-white, segregated, elitist country bank. Controlled by the Rockefeller fam- T head Adm. Michael Mullen—and Secre- day. It seems $326 billion just doesn’t buy club off the coast of Georgia. That secret ily, it had expanded rapidly during the tary of State Condoleezza Rice to South what it used to. meeting laid the framework for the U.S. 1890s. Profits from U.S. imperial con- Asia. The cover story is that they’re going Secretary of the Treasury Henry Federal Reserve System, which was offi- quest in the Philippines, Puerto Rico and to “defuse tensions” between India and Paulson has attempted to paint the bail- cially established in 1913. Cuba, following the Spanish-American Pakistan. out of Citigroup as a regrettable but ulti- Bertie Charles Forbes, the founder War of 1898, were funneled into National What’s their real agenda? To use the mately necessary use of taxpayer mon- of Forbes magazine, later described the City’s coffers. Vanderlip, then Assistant crisis over the terrorist attacks in Mumbai ey. Citigroup, like all the other bailout meeting: “Picture a party of the nation’s Secretary of the Treasury, had negoti- as a lever to bring Pakistan more fully into recipients, is “too big to fail,” according greatest bankers stealing out of New York ated a $200 million loan from the bank the U.S.-led war against Afghanistan. to Paulson. on a private railroad car under cover of to the government to finance the war. He We have only the interpretation of But while Paulson tries to spin the darkness, stealthily riding hundred of was later rewarded with the post of bank Indian and U.S. intelligence agencies criminal giveaways to the banks as emer- miles South … sneaking onto an island president. about who organized the attacks. They gency measures born out of unprecedent- deserted by all but a few servants … under The bank was a pioneering force in the are blaming a Muslim group supposedly ed circumstances, the reality is that the such rigid secrecy that the names of not creation of securities and derivatives—the based in Pakistan for the three-day siege Federal Reserve System and the modern- one of them was once mentioned, lest the late 19th-century predecessors of today’s of two elite five-star hotels in Mumbai. day Treasury Department were designed servants learn the identity and disclose to collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Also attacked was a fashionable cafe, a to help the capitalist class in the U.S. the world this strangest, most secret expe- The Jekyll Island meeting was orga- Zionist-affiliated Jewish community cen- maintain its grip on power during times dition in the history of American finance. nized in the wake of the Panic of 1907. ter, two government buildings that house of economic crisis. I am not romancing; I am giving to the Continued on page 6 the legislative assembly, one of India’s busiest train stations and a hospital. The official death toll as of Dec. 2 has risen SAVE, then AS AX FALLS CRISIS IN AUTO to 173, with hundreds more wounded. Students, teachers, riders hit Which way forward? 6 Twenty-two of the dead are foreigners, FREE MUMIA! New York budget cuts 7 Continued on page 10 Before it’s too late 3 Indigenous peoples honored on Day of Mourning WWP CONFERENCE: Talks on women's struggles, Colombia, internationalism 2, 8, 9 Subscribe to Workers World Four weeks trial: $1 One year: $25 NAME PHonE EMAIL ADDRESS CITY/STATE/ZIP WORKERS WORLD WW PHOTO: LIZ GREEN 55 W. 17 St. NY, NY 10011 212-627-2994 www.workers.org On “Thanksgiving” Day, marchers in Plymouth, Mass., united many struggles. Article on page 5. Page 2 Dec. 11, 2008 www.workers.org WW Fund Drive: Be creative! By Gloria Rubac to not only be read so we can learn about H In the U.S. current events but we discuss the politics Gov’t sinks more billions into failing capitalism . 1 I was asked to talk about the behind those articles as well. These 10 WWP Fund Drive, which liter- papers are shared by two of these classes WW Fund Drive: Be creative! . 2 ally keeps our party headquar- that we hold daily. Community fights racist frame-up of city councilor . 3 ters and our wonderful news- “Then at the end of the week on Friday Before it’s too late, stop the murder of Mumia! . 3 paper going. nights, I take them to Tyleem Services. Black LGBT groups hit Prop 8 . .3 I’m asking you to join in They are technically like church services, making this fund drive a suc- but for the Muslim community. Many Help stop eviction of disabled woman . 4 cess. Yes, times are hard for us. Blacks and Latinos go to these Tyleem ILWU locals honor May Day organizer . 4 Just like others in our class, we services because we discuss things that Charge police bias in arrest of reporter . 4 face difficult times, but because can change and shape our community. On the picket line . 5 of this we need our party and This group gets to keep the papers. But our paper more than ever. We before these services, I sometimes use Day of Mourning: ‘It’s time for justice!’ . 5 need the new book “Low-Wage the papers with something called the Judge orders release of Woodfox . 5 Capitalism.” We need our pro- PEER Health classes. Then on Sunday I WW PHOTO: GARY WILSON 20,000 demand ‘Close torture school’ . 5 gram to fight foreclosures. have my own study group with brothers Rubac at Workers World Party conference. The Big Three crisis: which way forward? . 6 I want to share with you how here to discuss political ideas that many important our newspaper is to a group of workers who are not aware of but want to learn about. How banks have sucked mass transit dry . 7 pass it around until the pages wear thin: prisoners. We “So, you asked what I do with the papers. There it is.” CUNY students, teachers resist budget cuts . 7 send subscriptions to hundreds of prisoners for free. The last thing Nanon told me in his letter was this: “If Women’s fight for justice and equality . 8 I want to read from a letter I got last week from a pris- the paper is too expensive to send to us, let me know. Women, economic crisis and fightback . 8 oner in Texas named Nanon Williams. Once a month I can collect stamps to send to the Party as Nanon was arrested at age 17 in Houston and framed a donation if that would help.” Video workshop at WWP conference . 8 up by the lying creeps working for the Houston Police The prisoners all work but get not one penny for their Department Crime Lab, who regularly manufactured labor. But most do have stamps. Even the indigent pris- H Around the world evidence for the DAs to use so they could put people oners are allowed a few stamps. Colombia’s key role in Latin America . 9 away, innocent or guilty. The ballistic expert in Nanon’s For many people, Workers World is a voice for the Deep roots of WWP’s internationalism . 9 case said that a man was killed by a bullet from Nanon’s voiceless. It speaks for the most oppressed of our class, gun. He was sure of it. So the jury sent this young man whether in the Gaza Strip or in Huntsville, Texas. It Messages to WWP conference . 9 to death row. brings the world to all of us with a revolutionary perspec- Puppet government near collapse in Somalia . 11 Several years later, when Nanon found an attorney tive and analysis. Ode to Miriam Makeba, beloved Mama Africa .