The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Recovery, Capitalist Style:
More Homelessness

May 9, 2016

Homelessness in Los Angeles County has doubled since 2009, the official end of the “Great Recession,” according to the most recent homeless count.

No surprise there. The economists who announced the recovery six years ago have told us that this is another “jobless recovery”. And whatever jobs are there, they pay less. On top of that, house prices have skyrocketed in the Los Angeles area; and so have rents. So thousands of people who lost their homes to foreclosures have NOT recovered. A significant part of the nearly 47,000 homeless people counted in L.A. County are people who have jobs and live in their car or RV–if they still have one.

But there IS a recovery. The profits of big companies have increased, big time. And that’s the only measure used by the economists and public officials who speak for the capitalist class.

Yes, there IS enormous wealth in this society, and the labor of the working class has created it. The working class will recover that wealth and use it for its needs, only when it finds a way to organize as a class and fight back.