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TMI Show Ep 66: What Is Communism?

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Ted Rall

With the Democratic Party in disarray and the Left unable to organize itself into a coherent political movement, it’s a good time for Americans who oppose capitalism to get back to the basics of anti-capitalist politics: communism.

Communism is an economic and political system under which everyone lives equally and has equal access to goods, services and power. Socialism is a system that precedes communism, in which the value added by labor is transferred over time from the ruling-class elites who control it under capitalism to the working class that produces it.

40% of American voters consistently tell pollsters they have a favorable view of socialism. We appear to be in a classic Marxist final crisis of late capitalism, overproduction, yet the media and education systems do not permit serious discussion of alternatives to capitalism.

On “The TMI Show,” co-hosts Ted Rall and Manila Chan ask: What is communism exactly? Is it desirable? Is it attainable? Can revolution be achieved non-violently?

 

Oligarchy? You’re Soaking In It

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Ted Rall

Echoing Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell speech in 1961, outgoing President Joe Biden issued a goodbye address that called for Americans to be concerned about a tech industrial complex and the threat of rising oligarchy to democracy. Biden himself, of course, is Exhibit A in the corrupting influences of big money.

Born To Kill

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Ted Rall

Cities have been hollowed out in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of working at home. As office buildings emptied out, urban dwellers were asking themselves why they were paying so much rent to commute to a job that no longer requires them to do so. As warm apartments and storefronts sit empty, there’s probably never been a more searing indictment of capitalism than the fact that American citizens continue to sleep outside in the cold.

Work Inside Our System

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Ted Rall

Defenders of the health insurance industry reacted to the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York by saying that murder and violence are never the answer because there’s always the option of working within the political system to reform a business based on profiting off pain, misery and death of sick Americans. In reality, however, the system does not allow any challenge to the status quo.

Some Exceptions May Apply

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Ted Rall

The Ten Commandments are back in the news now that Louisiana has ordered them posted in public school classrooms. It may violate the separation of church of state, but sometimes it’s interesting to see just how little Americans, who claim to be mostly Christian, uphold these basic tenets.

Trump Convicted on the Wrong 34 Counts

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Ted Rall

Donald Trump committed countless crimes without being held accountable. So it’s a weird reflection of our societal priorities that the one offense for which he is being held accountable is a relatively trivial paperwork charge.

Product Development 101

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Ted Rall

This week it’s self-driving taxis in San Francisco’s famously hilly streets, but it could be just about anything these days: America has become an unwilling nation of beta testers as products that are not even close to being ready for prime time are released on an unsuspecting public.

Moral Hazard

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Ted Rall

Covering $300 billion of Non-FDIC-insured deposits at the failed Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank was an easy decision for the leaders of a capitalist system that prioritizes profits over people.

First They Came for Bigger Cubicles

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Ted Rall

Unemployment fell to the 3.4%, the lowest on record since the early days of the Richard Nixon administration. Jobs have never been easier to find and workers are able to get raises. The American economy, however, relies on cheap compliant labor, so economists are worried.

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