Democracy Without Democracy – Education Committee of the Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America

Seattle’s “Amazon tax” and the capital strike

Readings: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/how-amazon-helped-kill-a-seattle-tax-on-business/562736/ https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/10/being-held-hostage-by-rich-people https://www.npr.org/2018/06/13/619444956/seattle-repeals-tax-on-big-business-after-opposition-from-amazon-starbucks The capital strike is so powerful that it’s rare that we actually get to see it in action. Normally, the threat of a capital strike is enough to stop progressive movements dead in their tracks. A capital strike occurs when owners of large companies threaten to move their businesses elsewhere […]

The Supreme Court has no place in a democracy

Readings: https://blogs.findlaw.com/supreme_court/2015/10/13-worst-supreme-court-decisions-of-all-time.html https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/06/waiting-for-scotus/ https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/10/court-packing-is-necessary There has rightly been enormous outcry over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. He was been credibly accused of sexual assault and lied about it repeatedly under oath. His right wing views will allow conservatives on the bench to inflict incredible suffering on ordinary people, unchecked for decades. While […]

Capitalism’s Weeping Angels

Here’s a clip from a horror movie featuring a few terrifying monsters called “weeping angels”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a single clip, so I had to post these three: And watch this last one until 2:15 If you didn’t bother with the videos, the weeping angels are monsters that turn to […]

Rebirth of monopolies shows the limits of progressivism

Readings: https://medium.com/@ddayen/my-speech-to-the-california-democratic-party-convention-concentrated-corporate-power-and-the-age-d997cddded64 https://www.thenation.com/article/special-investigation-the-dirty-secret-behind-warren-buffetts-billions/ A blockquote from the medium reading: More and more economic benefits have flowed into fewer and fewer hands, and I’m not just talking about personal inequality of income and wealth, [but rather] a rot of a few dominant established players in sector after sector. Four banks control about 60 percent of […]

Minimum wage and the capital strike

Today’s education topic was capital flight (also known as a capital strike). Capitalism is not democratic, and the best example of this is the minimum wage. Our readings show that a massive majority of Americans supports a small minimum wage increase. Recent polling shows that 91% of Democrats, 76% of independents, and 58% of Republicans […]