Communist: Obama working to nationalize U.S. economy

By Aaron Klein

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.