"Suppose the workers themselves made those decisions." Richard Wolff , retired UMass professor, speaks in Oct. 2010 concludes his talk about the Great Recession, Resistance and What Could be Done.

The following are three brief, consecutive contributions by Rick Wolff on this topic presented to a workshop organized by the North Atlantic Left Dialogue  in Berlin, Germany, November 20-21, 2010.

Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission released a remarkable document yesterday. Under the cover of “deficit reduction,” the document lists a host of proposed reductions in social security and medicare payments, a rise in the tax on oil products, cuts in public employment including the military, multi-year wage freezes for public employees including the non-combat military, cutting foreign military bases, reduced tax deductions (effectively raising taxes), and reduced basic income tax rates on individuals and businesses (effectively lowering taxes).

The Associated Press's Robin Hindery reported on October 29, 2010 that the AP had found a remarkable fact: communities across the US have been raising their local property taxes.  The AP surveyed 39 states and studied 2,387 revenue measures that came before town, city, and county voters.  In most of those elections, voters favored measures that raised their own property tax rates.  Voters wanted to support their local schools and other services provided by local governments.

For many weeks now, the historic social change sweeping across France has drawn increasing attention globally.  It should.  A genuine, mass democratic upsurge has surprised all those who thought, hoped, or feared that such things could no longer happen in countries like France or the US.  Millions of French people -- in left political parties, church, and student groups -- have accepted and cheered on the leadership of a unified trade union movement.  They have recomposed and reinserted a powerful left into French politics.