False
hopes for an end to the capitalist economic crisis were dealt another
blow Aug. 26, when the latest gross domestic product statistics were
released by the Department of Commerce. Overall GDP growth totaled
just 1 percent, less than the 1.3 percent forecast by the
Congressional Budget Office and the 1.1 percent anticipated by
analysts.
Healthy
economic growth is usually considered to be 3 percent annually, but
even the overly optimistic CBO now estimates that the U.S. economy
will grow just 2.4 percent for the year. As a result of the
anti-worker austerity measures being imposed across the country,
consumer spending, which accounts for the vast majority of growth,
slowed from 2.1 percent to 0.4 percent.
The
so-called recovery is constantly referenced by capitalist politicians
and commentators in an attempt to persuade workers to remain idle and
“ride out” the crisis. Poor and working people will see economic
relief only by engaging in persistent and militant struggle against
the capitalist class responsible for the crisis.
