Comments by "Kim O\x27Brien" (@kimobrien.) on "CNBC" channel.

  1. The workers need to use unon power to fight back against capitalist misery.
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  2.  @tomcat8662  The problems in Appalachia stem from the greed of the coal bosses. They didn't build any factories their because they wanted to have a labor force as controllable as possible for the mines. The West Virginia coal miners fought the bosses ro a standstill in the coal wars of the 1920's. The Coal miners union the only industrial union in the AFL helped built the CIO Industrial unions. FDR had spies in the Union which is why John L Lewis refused to support FDR's last election campaign. The Democrats are the party of Capitalist privilege. The real problem for the bourgeois professor writng about Appalachia is the miners have no respect for a stuffed shirt that doesn't know how to butter bread.
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  3. The bosses want us to work the longest hours, at the fastest rate and for the lowest wages to boost their sagging profit rates. Profit rates go down as machines replace labor which is why the profit hungry bosses are in and out of crisis.
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  4. @sploofmonkey That's always been the case with the factory system. Just watch Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" which was made in 1936. Alienation comes from the bargain workers make with the capitalists. You go to work do what you are told and in return your allowed to leave go home, sleep and return the next day and do the same thing all over again. Your wage is only meant to keep you alive so you can come back and work the next day. So when you leave your employers property your always left with a sense of having left something behind.
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  5.  @davidb2206  Put the bosses on a diet. Fight for higher wages and fewer hours with no cut in pay.
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  6.  @juliosantana1646  American Imperialism and Capitalism is in decline. They fear the loss of markets and profits to China.
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  7. Its the Railay "Slave" Labor Act. In the 1950's a train crew was 5 people today the bosses want to run longer trains with just two crew and want to reduce that to one. Not tp mention all the other jobs that have been eliminated.
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  8.  @simonrobert869  Capitalism is a world system of production and trade. All talk of independent capitalist nations is even more reactionary than Stalin's socialism in one country. The capitalist exploiters are divided by nation state. Imperialism is still the highest stage of capitalism as these nation states come into conflict driven by the greed of the ruling capitalist classes regardless of the reformist Stalinist or Social Democratic parties they hide behind. The Noe liberalism of the American Imperialist is no more relevant than the Liberal thoeries of the British Imperialist that lead to World War one. Capitalism with Chinese characteristics is challenging the American Imperialist for markets and resources. A trade war is already taking place as another world war looms over humanity.
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  9.  @Shozb0t  Bosses want to make the biggest profits which is why they do the things they do. They seek to pay the lowest wages for the longest hours at the fastest rates. The buy the politicians of both parties with campaign donations to get what they want from the government. The problem lies in the capitalist system itself. The profits are a result of the exploitation of the production workers. The bosses replace higher priced skilled labor with unskilled labor and machines to drive profits their way. Then the capital value rises but the total labor exploited goes down so as the prices of the commodity sold sink towards the cost of production. The rate of profit from which the bosses measure success must then fall. To get around this problem the bosses have created a central bank from which to inflate the value of currency instead of using gold as money value. So they bosses no longer have to issue wage cuts which provoke strikes when they can accomplish the same thing by putting more money into the economy and raising prices instead. Since Nixon ended the gold standard the bosses have been giving themselves all the new productivity since the value of property rises faster than wages.
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  10.  @biner01  As Karl Marx observed those who live in a hut have different priorities than those who live in palaces.
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  11.  @patdeen6648  That's just the natural workings of capitalism. In order to keep up profits they must continually cut labor costs. However the world is finite in size and the workers can not buy back all that we produce which leads to continual economic crisis. Capitalism is the first system to suffer from crisis of over and not under production. The capitalist close plants if the can't make a profit or can make bigger profits elsewhere.
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  12.  @charlesdean03  There are aspects of the capitalist economy that maybe essential to the system but don't directly create a profit. The Military is the biggest outlay that requires that its costs to be paid by federal income tax. For companies like GE and Amazon taxes are basically voluntary. When you can buy politicians to write the laws why wouldn't you not want to have yourself made tax exempt. The capitalist recognize the need for a military to defend foreign investment and they know that they have to be a source for that cost. Extending that cost directly onto the backs of working people was first done by FDR with the cost of WW2.
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  13.  death to socialism  To clarify some call a country socialist because a socialist a socialist party is in power. I do not. The Nordic countries remain capitalist because industry remains in the hands of private owners. You give the impression you think Finland is socialist.
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  14. @JustAGentleman Spoken like a true member of the Upper Class or middle class seeking recognition from the upper class. Obviously you think of yourself as a consumer because that's your main role in society "to consume". Why not dress up as the last English Viceroy of India holding a tea cup and asking a servant if it's time for tea.
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  15.  @Wamsuo58u  The system is such that it rewards sociopathic behavior. Behind every US Military adventure is a boss seeking higher profits form his foreign investment.
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  16.  @jesse7631  To fight inflation workers need to insist in COLA in all contracts and benefit programs public and private. That will put a crimp in the wage cut by inflation plans of the bosses.
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  17. A small group can't just walk off without being fired and blacklisted by the railroads. They have the railway slave labor act to contend with.
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  18.  @jeffbguarino  Capitalist don't need educated people they need workers who follow orders. They replace skilled labor with machines and unskilled labor first. So education becomes nothing but an overhead cost to be minimized just like healthcare. So while the US has no problem building plenty of advanced nuclear weapons and delivery systems it can't educate enough Doctors for its population. Contrast this to revolutionary Cuba able to hold the most powerful Empire at bay with minimal weapons and never having a problem producing enough educated people despite the net emigration. Since the end of the cold war the American Imperialist see other countries as the source of educated people along with cheap labor to be used as needed. The ruling class is more interested in presenting itself as having good manners being diverse and inclusive.
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  19.  @MrBluntNose  Resources are allocated based upon the needs of the private profit industrial profiteers. Those who can exert a chokehold like Amazon or Walmart can rake in the biggest Profits.
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  20.  death to socialism  Finland IS a capitalist country. Every advanced capitalist country from the very beginning has had taxes. England, France, the US, Germany. They raise taxes to pay for activities that don't make profits. Name me a single advanced capitalist country without taxes? A REAL country not an Ayn Rand mental invention.
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  21.  @AlanTheBeast100  The problem is the profit drive of the capitalist bosses. The rate of profit in industry declines as machine replace skilled labor with unskilled labor.
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  22.  @Wamsuo58u  What business tycoon is not a greedy capitalist who would sell his own grandmother if it meant bigger profits and market share. A capitalist who refuses to be greedy and compete is headed for bankruptcy court.
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  23.  @distantraveller9876  LOL Poor Elon Musk his Space X salary is only $1 a year and he has to sleep in his own factory. Any more sob stories you want to tell?
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  24. People at home seldom produce anything since most production is carried out in factories by workers who operate and control massive amounts of machinery. That is just as true in Asia as it is in America. In fact the small operation is always being replaced by economies of scale. As Marx stated modern industry batters down all Chinese walls. It is also possible to over centralized as the Soviet experience shows but overall there is no reason to move into the factory or turn the home into a factory. Each only shows the bosses quest for profits at the expense of the social conditions of labor. Sure the assign of homework was an early way of getting more production out of workers just as the Irish immigrant who raised pigs in their working class London homes.
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  25.  @dlewis9760  The caboose also served as the conductors office and sleeping quarter's for the crew of a fireman, an Engineer, a Conductor and two brakemen. Since you could sleep in the caboose you didn't need to find a ride and pay up front for out of town sleeping quarters. Accidents like the one in Quebec would have never happened with a crew on board the train. .
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  26.  @sailingmartlet33  Rail Road Bosses set shipping rates NOT unions. As I said earlier Bosses raise prices until they see a drop in profitability. Central Bank generated inflation takes the place of the old fashion wage cut which would provoke strikes. By printing more dollars and creating more debt for the rich to buy instead of them paying taxes the value in dollars of property continually rises while bosses hold down wages as "inflationary." When in fact inflation is generate by the central bank and the boss hunger for more and bigger profits and capital value. It was Keynes who first advised the British Capitalist to rob the workers with a central bank and currency inflation rather than wage cuts.. The value of the English Pound in gold and silver had been previously set by Isaac Newton and with fe exceptions had been stable for 300 years,
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  27. The working people need to use union power to fight back against the bosses and create a labor party based upon the unions instead of voting for the two boss parties of capitalism.
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  28. @Just Be Its a matter of the working class producers taking power from the wealthy capitalist classes on the world scale. Replacing the system of production for profit with a system of production for human needs.
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  29.  @citrustaco  Capitalism is only about 500 years old. Before capitalism was feudalism where most people lived on the land and engaged in handicraft production. Capitalism created us the industrial workers who build and make everything. Today production is carried out with a world wide division of labor. It is estimated that to build that computer you are using the raw materials and parts pass though one hundred countries before it arrives to the end user. So while production is carried out on a world wide basis the capitalist owners are only small groups who run their business for profit to sell what is produced in a market. The natural working of capitalism have produced national ruling classes that compete for the control of the world market and resource This competition leads to Imperialist war and fascism (war on the trade unions) at home. Its is the tendency of the rate of industrial profit to decline that drives the bosses into class conflict with the workers. Only by taking control of industry can the working people defend their standard of living and move beyond the greed of the capitalist bosses who are driven to maximize profits. Economic crisis is part of the natural workings of capitalism cause by the fact that the workers can not buy back all that is produced. All capital does is accumulate and demand a return on investment. The capitalist become nothing more than a giant cycst on production sucking up surplus value in their ledger books and spread sheets. .
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  30. Productivity goes up when machines replaces labor. The problem for the bosses is that when machines replace labor the profit rate goes down because the profit comes from our labor and fixed capital value rises.
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  31. That's the way capitalism works the rate of profit is gotten very low because they have gotten rid of so many workers the capital value is high they don't want to reinvest and they just want to cut labor costs and wait until the everything collapses and then demand a bailout.
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  32.  @osasereharold-erhabor5405  That is just a term made up by American (United States) Bourgeois Professor to obscure the fact that America (United States) is a capitalist country with a ruling capitalist class. Some parts of the economy are incapable of producing profits with industrial methods or can't be paid for by individuals privately. In those instances the capitalist have their government step in and take charge. The reason is quite simple the capitalist class makes all the decisions with their politicians and intellectuals trained in the neo liberal theories of Milton Freedman where shareholder value and profits come first.
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  33. Top secret in the US is like invisible ink.
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  34.  @republicansthatdidntvotefo1605  The wealthy pay a voluntary tax. They have armies of accountants, lawyers, politicians and lobbyist who participate in making tax law. It seems to me that no one really knows what Bezo's paid because tax records are confidential and releasing government info is a leakier law violation. So unless the government takes you to court no one knows what anyone paid in taxes as an individual. What a publicly traded company paid might show up in stock holder info and any company leaker releases might also show up. Even if a leaked document showed up how would you verify its authenticity? I tend to doubt that Bezo's released his own tax records voluntary.
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  35.  death to socialism You have no right to you bourgeois property which you use for the exploitation of others. The only thing a capitalist does is use the rules of exchange to make himself rich. He pay one price for our labor and then turns around and sells it for a higher price. Capital produces nothing while labor produces everything. A machine is merely labor already preformed to save labor to be preformed in the process of production. No machine can be built that operates in perpetual motion and no one has ever created a machine which can reproduce itself. All machines must be built by labor and all machines must be set in motion by labor.
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  36. @JustAGentleman US wealth in general has more to do with the size and large population of the country, the land for farming and the country being untouched by war since the end of the civil war in 1865. Being connected with England and its Industrial revolution rather than Spain and it quest for gold didn't hurt either.
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  37.  @Skylancer727  As long as their is another human being on earth that needs clean water, food, medical care or shelter than Amazon's profits are excessive.
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  38. Its just the natural tendency of the profit rates to go down as machines replace living labor since the source of the profit is in the labor of the production workers exploited by the bosses.
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  39.  @Help_me_understand  The system requires an every bulging vast group of people looking over the shoulders of everyone else's because those at the top trust no one except those closest to them.
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  40.  @dlewis9760  Sure it makes sense to bosses who throw workers out of a job are able to temporarily increase private profits at a social cost to the newly unemployed workers. Mean while the Capital value rises but the number of workers goes down meaning that the rate of profit will eventual slump as prices tend towards the cost of production. That's why they become too big to fail and need a government bailout of private industry. They want to squeeze every last bit out of the investment made so onv=ce the railroads are on the verge of collapses they go to Congress with a hand out for recapitalization. Once re capitalized at public expanse then they are sold off for a song ans a dance to the same kind of private efficacy.
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  41.  @GintaPPE1000  That is NOT what happens instead a rise in wages cuts into profits first which is why companies fight so hard against wage raises and anything that could increase labor time like safety and anything that would limit the number of hours in a oay period..They want you working the longest hours at the lowest wages at the quickest pace in a pay period. Your unpaid labor is the source of all the profits and pays all the overhead costs. They raise prices only if they can increase profits if demand goes down then production which is the source of the profit slows and overhead costs as a percentage of costs rise.
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  42. Bosses are only interested in profits. Profit ratres go down as machines replace labor since the source of the profit is our labor.
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  43.  @mafiousbj  The railroad workers were made into slaves by the Railway "Slave Labor" act. It is almost impossible to go on strike.
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  44.  @williamedwards1528  The bosses let whole industry decline in the pursuit of profits. The don't want the workers to control the industry because then the rate of profit would decline.
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  45.  @jeffbguarino  I guess its a waste of time for me to say anything more. Your mind has already been poisoned with American Imperialist propaganda from the defenders of the Empire.
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  46.  @hitardo  As soon as the market for the product goes South the bosses say see your later partner its sure been nice knowing you.
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  47.  @tHebUm18  That's been true since about 1973 but the long retreat by labor has come to an end and the bosses are now facing class struggle. The two party system that was so effective at containing protest is broken opening the road to building a class party of labor without the bosses.
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  48.  @kickicker6058  Its just the natural working of finance capitalism. Workers need to join unions and use union power to fight back against the fiat currency system. Make wages indexed to inflation and demand governmnet funded public works at union wages.
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  49.  death to socialism  All the rich people left Cuba and they are still going strong.
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  50.  death to socialism  You want everything done for you. You tell me where you can become a Doctor and not take out about 100,000 in loans like in the US. The Covid death toll in the US is sixty times the rate in Cuba right now and they are on track to have the whole pop vaccinated by Nov. with a vaccine they developed. In Cuba the Doctors come to you. Here you can't trust the Doctors because a lot of them do stuff for the insurance money. Life is hard there one reason is the US multinational Blockade but they don't have the crime problems like in the rest of Latin America. You cross to Mexico from Texas and you see soldiers with rifles riding in pickups with one guy standing up ready to fire.
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