Undercurrents

Check out this montage of Hartbeat Ensemble’s scathing new satire about the so-called war on poverty, “Rich Clown, Poor Clown, Beggar Clown, Thief.”  Plays this weekend and next at 233 Pearl St. in Hartford.

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Over the years I have heard my share of complaints about the rhetoric that leftists use in newspapers and flyers. When Workers World produced podcasts from its recent public forum titled “Karl Marx was right: capitalism is rotten and doomed” it did occur to me that some people would think it sounded over the top. Not that I think it’s an untrue statement, but I know that some people bristle when leftists actually use words like “capitalism” or refer to Karl Marx being right about just about anything.

But I feel much better today because I saw some headlines in the mainstream media that were far more jarring than anything I’ve seen in the socialist press.

I count this as the most offensive headline of 2008:

“Nation’s Rich Fielding Brunt of Crisis”

[Continued at Two Good Hands]

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Check out Hartbeat Ensemble’s new play, “Rich Clown, Poor Clown, Beggar Clown, Thief” Thursdays through Saturdays until Nov. 1 at their new performance space in the Pearl Street Arts Center, 233 Pearl St., Hartford. Enjoy slapstick song and dance while swiggin’ on a little somethin’ somethin’ from the cash bar. And don’t miss cameo appearances by the last eight U.S. Presidents.

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One interesting feature of the public discussion of the economic crisis: before October 2008 when was the last time that you heard the corporate news media, or for that matter any mainstream U.S. politician, use the word “capitalism” much less attempt to explain what it means. Like a fraternity of magicians, those whose livelihoods depend on its secrets seemed always to want to keep the public in the dark. And perhaps never naming the thing also contributed to the sense of its universality. [Continued at Two Good Hands] »

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If you haven’t said it yourself, chances are a family member or friend has: “When are they going to come and bail me out?”  Mostly we’ve been thinking about the proposed $700 billion buyout for the financial industry (yes, when it started out it was a buyout for the American mortgage industry but now apparently it includes just about any big corporation, anywhere in the world, whose CEO ever had lunch on Wall Street).  But when the capitalist politicians explain to you in their oh-so-patient way that the bailout is really a unique event to deal with a specific problem and that therefore you don’t get any of it, remind them about the $25 billion U.S. automaker bailout that the congress just voted on and that Bush signed into law. [continued at Two Good Hands]

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And so it begins:

Protesters make their presence felt in Denver.

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Angela Davis will be speaking at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain on Thursday, April 24th. She will be taking part in two panel discussions, the first at 2:00 titled “Are Prisons Obsolete?” and the second at 5:30 titled “Race, Class and Gender Issues in American Society.” The talks are in Torp Theatre in Davidson Hall.

(more…)

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I’m trying to decide whether I’m in favor of putting up billions in public assets to rescue insolvent investment bankers. (more…)