Unions leaders are telling us our future will be in jeopardy if Obama isn't re-elected. Black leaders like Jesse Jackson chime right in. So do leaders of various immigrant groups and women's rights organizations.

Their strongest argument comes from the Republicans themselves -- who today are contesting with each other to see who can spout the most reactionary garbage.

Rick Santorum, for example, says a woman who is raped should be forced to bear the child of the man who raped her. And every last one of those vile Republicans jumps on the bandwagon, morally condemning abortion and, thus, the women forced to choose it.

They line up, one after the other, to call for a wider war in the Middle East. Everyone but Ron Paul, and he is denounced by all the other Republicans when he says what is obvious, that the U.S. blockade around Iran is an act of war.

Ron Paul, in his turn, says we should get rid of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The others hide their intentions behind code words. They offer us private savings accounts instead of Social Security, private medical insurance instead of Medicare. And they'd slash Medicaid even more than Obama already has.

Michelle Bachman said, "deport every 'illegal' immigrant" -- even little children. The others hint they might make exceptions for some children, but they rush to back the various anti-immigrant laws passed by the states.

Every one of the Republicans attacks unions. Not for the reasons most workers today criticize the leaders of the unions, which is that they don't lead a fight against wage cuts and job cuts. No, the Republicans attack the unions simply because the unions exist, that is, because workers have the legal right to be organized.

Romney, who has expressed all these reactionary positions, just in a slightly less extreme way, may turn out to be the nominee. But the Republican primary campaign has already spewed poisonous garbage into the political atmosphere.

Some workers, fed up with Obama and the attacks he has spearheaded, may end up pinning their hopes on the Democrats again -- simply because the Republicans are so bad.

And they are. But that's a little like choosing to be executed by lethal injection instead of the electric chair -- because the electric chair is so gruesome.

In either case you're dead.

For four decades, under Republicans or Democrats, the standard of living of working people has been pushed down by the bosses' incessant striving for more profit. The rich have become richer; the poor, much poorer; and nearly everyone else has sunk into poverty or is teetering on its edge. And the politicians have turned more money over to the wealthy by cutting public sector jobs, public services and social services.

Alternating between Democrat and Republican hasn't stopped our nosedive. It's simply diverted us from taking on the real problem: the continual push by all the bosses to cut jobs and to cut wages.

That's what we have to fight against. Those are fights we can make. Now. We don't have to wait for next November. We can start in the places where we work, especially in the biggest workplaces. A fight started in one workplace to defend our jobs and wages can spread to other workplaces, all up and down the line.

Facing the economic crisis, we have to defend ourselves now. It's a long time until November. We can make a lot happen before then. Fights that break out now can put whoever wins the election in a corner, making it impossible for him to impose greater sacrifice on us.

There is no time to waste.

They say it's recovering, because housing sales are up.

Housing sales may be up -- but only because banks are dumping their toxic mortgages once again. Selling off repossessed homes is driving down prices, undercutting homeowners who are trying to sell their homes.

That is NOT a recovery!

They say there's a recovery because the unemployment rate is getting better. The unemployment rate may be getting better, but the percentage of people who have a job is ... worse. Workers who have been unemployed for a year are being dropped off the charts. If they don't look for work every week, they're not counted -- even if there aren't any jobs out there for them to find.

In the two months before Christmas, only 300,000 new people found work -- temporary work for the holiday season. But what about the 24 million workers who need work NOW? At that rate, it would take more than 13 years to employ 24 million -- even if Christmas came every two months!

They say there's a recovery because factory output is up. Yes, it is -- a little. But only because the bosses squeeze more work out of the same number of people.

There is NO recovery in things that matter to working people -- jobs and a decent standard of living.

There IS one recovery, however -- in profits. Corporation after corporation announces record profits. That means bigger bonuses for the executives, bigger payouts for big stockholders.

The corporations making those big profits are not using them to invest in more factories, or buildings. They aren't increasing wages. And they certainly aren't paying more taxes, which could be used to improve public services.

No, they are hoarding that money, and they are speculating with it.

Today corporate giants hold over two trillion dollars, stashed away unspent. "Private equity" investment funds have over half a trillion dollars in unspent cash hoards. The banks have many trillions more, including from government bailouts.

The capitalists' hoarded money represents the labor that millions of workers put out. That accumulated hoard was created by the daily work of millions, using machinery and materials worked up by earlier millions.

That money the greedy hoarders have accumulated needs to be put to work.

Those trillions of dollars could be used to produce the goods and services we need, providing jobs for everyone who wants to work.

If the capitalists say there isn't enough demand for their goods, then let the work be shared out, and slow down the speed on the jobs -- with no loss of pay for anyone.

We could all work fewer hours, at a slower pace -- and not be dead tired when we come home. And everyone needing a job could have work, everyone getting a full check to live on.

The money the banks stole from our taxes could be used to fix all those things that are rotting away. Repair vacant housing. Provide medical care. Build and repair schools. Provide a decent education to every young person. Restore public services. Repair roads, bridges, tunnels, dams.

The resources exist. The housing that is now vacant, the office buildings now standing empty "for lease," the factories now chained shut, the equipment and tooling now idle, the people without a job -- and yes, the money now hoarded up.

Everything needed is right here at hand. Put it to useful work. That would make society hum and come to life again.