By Martin Schreader

THIS LAST MONTH has seen what can only be described as the most honest display of what the bosses’ system is all about.

During the month of November, we’ve seen “official” unemployment numbers hit 10 percent (the real unemployment, including long-term unemployed and part-timers, is double that), home foreclosures reach another record high, and both the government and private charities report that hunger is the highest its been in decades.

And the response of the Obama administration has been to say there’s no money for jobs or public works programs, that any kind of increase in employment will have to be handled by private corporations (you know, the people who brought us this economic crisis), and that the millions who are suffering will just have to cope.

At the same time, Obama and his generals are preparing to send 30,000 more soldiers and Marines over to Afghanistan to “finish the job” of occupying the country and securing natural gas pipelines running from Turkmenistan to Pakistan.

If it wasn’t all so tragic, you might be inclined to laugh at the utter hypocrisy of it all.

This is the society we live in: there are trillions of dollars to throw at a war and occupation so that the bosses can get their grubby little hands on more of the world’s resources, but the millions of poor and working people suffering because of their greed can drop dead ... literally.

While the media tries its best to keep people distracted by the latest sex scandal involving a politician/professional athlete/celebrity, society continues to unravel, the living standards of working people continue their race to the bottom, and the bosses and managers grow fatter.

But working people are beginning to wake up to the reality of their world. The “hope dope” that millions of our brothers and sisters took last year is beginning to wear off, and the crash is harsher than any of them imagined it would be.

The Workers’ International Industrial Union offers a way back from the abyss of capitalist barbarism. If we as workers choose to organize ourselves and unite as One Great Union, then we will have the power and ability to change the world for the better, to end unemployment, to secure decent housing and food for all, to end the wars of conquest, occupation and profit.

It’s our choice as working people whether or not we want to continue to live this way. If we want to get this terrible burden off of our backs, all we have to do is stand up straight, stiffen our backs and work together to get what we want.

Join the WIIU! Stand tall for your future.