Some updates.

js_imperialism_favorites.md

@@ -19,6 +19,16 @@ Perhaps the most in-depth research into this effect was conducted by two Chicago
 
 [...]The increasingly global character of the social relations of production and the increasing interdependence between workers in different countries and continents objectively strengthens the international working class and hastens its emergence as a class “for itself” as well as “in itself,” struggling to establish its supremacy; yet, to counter this, capitalists increasingly lean on and utilize imperialist divisions to practice divide-and-rule, to force workers in imperialist countries into increasingly direct competition with workers in low-wage countries, while using the cheap imports produced by super-exploited Southern labor to encourage selfishness and consumerism and to undermine solidarity.
 
+## Second version of this above:
+
+Neoliberal globalization has transformed the production of all commodities, *including labor-power*, as more and more of the manufactured consumer goods that reproduce labor-power in imperialist countries are produced by super-exploited workers in low-wage nations. The globalization of production processes impacts workers in imperialist nations in two fundamental ways. Outsourcing enables capitalists to replace higher-paid domestic labor with low-wage Southern labor, exposing workers in imperialist nations to direct competition with similarly skilled but much lower paid workers in Southern nations, while falling prices of clothing, food, and other articles of mass consumption protects consumption levels from falling wages and magnifies the effect of wage increases. The IMF's *World Economic Outlook 2007* attempted to weigh these two effects, concluding: "Although the labor share \[of GDP\] went down, globalization of labor as manifested in cheaper imports in advanced economies has increased the 'size of the pie' to be shared among all citizens, resulting in a net gain in total workers' compensation in real terms.
+
+In other words, cost savings resulting from outsourcing are shared with workers in imperialist countries. This is both an economic imperative and a conscious strategy of the employing class and their political representatives that is crucial to maintaining domestic class peace. Wage repression at home, rather than abroad, would reduce demand and unleash latent recessionary forces. Competition in markets for workers' consumer goods forces some of the cost reductions resulting from greater use of low-wage labor to be passed on to them.
+
+In his study of Walmart, Nelson Lichtenstein reports: "Wal-Mart argues that the company's downward squeeze on prices raises the standard of living of the entire U.S. population, saving consumers upwards of \$100bn each year, perhaps as much as \$600 a year at the checkout counter for the average family.... 'These savings are a lifeline for millions of middle- and lower-income families who live from payday to payday,' argues Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott. 'In effect, it gives them a raise every time they shop with us.'" Lichtenstein, 2005, *Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First-Century Capitalism* (New York: New Press).
+
+Perhaps the most in-depth research into this effect was conducted by two Chicago professors, Christian Broda and John Romalis, who established a "concordance" between two giant databases, one tracking the quantities and price movements between 1994 and 2005 of hundreds of thousands of different goods consumed by 55,000 U.S. households, the other of imports classified into 16,800 different product categories. Their central conclusion: "While the expansion of trade with low wage countries triggers a fall in relative wages for the unskilled in the United States, it also leads to a fall in the price of goods that are heavily consumed by the poor. We show that this beneficial price effect can potentially more than offset the standard negative relative wage effect." They calculate that China by itself accounted for four-fifths of the total inflation-lowering effect of cheap imports, its share of total U.S. imports having risen during the decade from 6 to 17 percent, and that "the rise of Chinese trade ... alone can offset around a third of the rise in official inequality we have seen over this period."
+
 ## Coffee
 
 Our picture is completed by the addition of a third iconic global commodity—the cup of coffee. Perhaps you have one clasped in your hand—don’t spill any on your T-shirt or your smartphone as you read this! Coffee is unique among major internationally traded agricultural commodities in that none of it, apart from small quantities grown in Hawaii, is grown in imperialist countries, and for this reason it has not been subject to trade-distorting agricultural subsidies such as those affecting cotton and sugar. Yet the world’s coffee farmers have fared as badly if not worse than other primary commodity producers. Most of the world’s coffee is grown on small family farms, providing employment worldwide to 25 million coffee farmers and their families, while two U.S. and two European firms, Sara Lee and Kraft, Nestlé and Procter & Gamble, dominate the global coffee trade.

socialism_faq.md

@@ -178,6 +178,7 @@
 - [Can a one-party state really be a democracy?](https://www.quora.com/What-kind-of-democracy-does-the-China-have/answer/Godfree-Roberts?share=0ac8c628&srid=JMzz)
 - [Why is Chinas one party system outperforming western democracies that have abysmal approval ratings?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0YjL9rZyR0)
 - [How the capitalist democratic party sabotaged the Sanders campaign.](https://medium.com/@rainershea612/the-democratic-party-is-fully-prepared-to-steal-the-primary-from-sanders-again-51b7b1130a8d)
+- [Paying one half of the poor to kill the other half: Why Marxists should not support Sanders.](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/f7g3dj/paying_one_half_of_the_poor_to_kill_the_other/)
 
 ## Pacifism and Violence
 
@@ -261,7 +262,7 @@
 - [How would eliminating capitalism help marginalized groups such as women, gays, racial minorities, etc?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/axljq5/how_would_eliminating_capitalism_help/)
 - [What about black-on-black crime (Insert racist thing here)?](https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/23/donald-trump/trump-tweet-blacks-white-homicide-victims/)
 - [What about Beyonce / Black Capitalism?](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/beyonces-ivy-park-sportswear-line-denies-claims-its-clothes-were-produced-by-sweatshop-workers-a7035926.html)
-- [What is the labor aristocracy?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/f6u5uv/what_is_defines_the_labor_aristocracy/)
+- [What is the labor aristocracy?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/f6u5uv/what_is_defines_the_labor_aristocracy/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/gg24yh/what_is_the_labour_aristocracy_taken_from_zak/) [3](https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/oct/x01.htm) [4](https://www.reddit.com/r/ABoringDystopia/comments/gh0zf8/the_ruling_class_wins_either_way/fq612jz/)
 
 ## On Guns / Firearms / Violence
 
@@ -310,6 +311,7 @@
 - [Taimur Rahman - Why I am not a Trotskyist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ9O5UPqcOE).
 - [What is Dialectical Materialism?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Socialism_101/comments/e6iyt3/can_someone_explain_the_concept_of_dialectical/f9r4iep/)
 - [Is Chomsky right about Marxist-Leninists being evil?](https://www.reddit.com/r/socialism/comments/4394rt/how_do_you_guys_feel_about_chomskys_views_on/czgj95w/)
+- [Chomsky's takes - A thread](https://mobile.twitter.com/RodericDay/status/1245340127968333829?s=20)
 
 ### Further reading
 
@@ -633,6 +635,7 @@
 ## On North Korea
 
 - [Is north korea a totalitarian dictatorship? Are they all really required to get the same haircut? A short documentary.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BO83Ig-E8E)
+- [South Korea boosts reward for defectors to $860k USD](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39170614).
 - [Are north korean defectors really paid to lie by the south? A short documentary.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktE_3PrJZO0&feature=youtu.be)
 - [What is everyday life like? A conversation with a North Korean Citizen.](https://cym.ie/2018/05/28/a-conversation-with-a-north-korean-citizen/)
 - [Why do some communists support the DPRK?](http://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/1ypwmd/why_do_some_communists_support_the_dprk/)
@@ -767,6 +770,7 @@
 - https://libcom.org/history/chomsky-pol-pots-genocidal-regime-cambodia
 - https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/13cf816e-8e40-41c8-bb76-d453a3261d8b
 - [Endorsed Biden in the 2020 election, even after Tara Reide's rape allegations.](https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/10/noam_chomsky_trump_us_coronavirus_response) [2](https://twitter.com/theintercept/status/1251246784048959490?s=21)
+- [Awful chomsky takes.](https://twitter.com/RodericDay/status/1245340127968333829?s=20)
 
 ### What's wrong with Bernie Sanders?
 
@@ -842,6 +846,8 @@
 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seRaSRZKo2U
 - https://soundcloud.com/katie-halper/joe-bidens-accuser-finally-tells-her-full-story
 - https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1251644551367925760
+- https://twitter.com/historic_ly/status/1258861634812067841?s=20
+- https://twitter.com/MartianMarxist/status/1260067123591700483?s=20
 
 ### Greta Thunberg
 
@@ -861,7 +867,7 @@
 - [Is Christianity / the Bible Communist?](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/9b7gsw/joel_osteen/e515qdb/)
 - [Was Mark Twain a socialist?](https://socialistworker.org/2010/04/21/the-twain-they-didnt-teach)
 - [What's so bad about Ronald Reagan?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitLiberalsSay/comments/ce2v7l/rpolitics_straight_up_creaming_their_pants_over/etydg3l/)
-- What's so bad about [Barack Obama?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/cdamsp/what_are_your_opinions_on_obama/etswenc/) Also this [List of US Atrocities](https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/us_atrocities.md)
+- What's so bad about [Barack Obama?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/galon6/anyone_know_of_any_good_resources_on_obamas/fp2nfrx/), [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/cdamsp/what_are_your_opinions_on_obama/etswenc/), [3](https://twitter.com/wallacemick/status/1261744000396152842?s=20) Also this [List of US Atrocities](https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/us_atrocities.md). Obama 80%
 - [What about Tulsi Gabbard?](https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/05/tulsi-gabbard-president-sanders-democratic-party),[2](https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-tulsi-gabbard/)
 - [What's going on with the finnish bolshevik being accused of a rape fantasy with a minor?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitLiberalsSay/comments/8aobas/this_is_the_finnish_bolshevik_with_a_minor/dx09v07/) [Chat log, Major NSFW](https://external-preview.redd.it/X8qdMN5yw_5Y_geBfDDsdJtUZrpDRhUBKPMiEhdBc4g.jpg?auto=webp&s=c68e810f21a1b643b0ccc0c243bbed11ac80a1fa).
 
@@ -902,6 +908,14 @@
 - https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1253737158764044289?s=20
 - https://struggle-sessions.com/2020/04/20/dsa-are-capitalist-pigs/
 
+### VaushV
+
+- Vaush on LGBT and Trans people: ["The left community online, **particularly the LGBT community**, is cancerous as fuck"](https://twitter.com/lporiginalg/status/1230667829537427462?s=20) "You don't have to be a psychologist to see that a large portion of the broader woket--d cancel-culture idpol left, is predicated on **shared mental illness**. This is **particularly prevalent in the trans community.** If you disagree with me on this, you're wrong. ... These people are sub-human."
+- [Compares the purchase of a computer to the purchase of child-porn.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitLiberalsSay/comments/g7bwgd/famous_breadtuber_vaush_i_cant_blame_people_for/)
+- [Defends using the N-word as a "power-move" which he is unashamed of.](https://i.imgur.com/ExE1sFZ.jpg)
+- Calls people ["Mentally ill crybabies"](https://i.imgur.com/T0RnOCC.jpg), "Woke-Scolds", and "Simps".
+- [Vaush - "US geopolitical power is important to me personally, because I'm not ready to lose that to China"](https://twitter.com/AlMuntherO_O/status/1260679840698634242?s=20).
+
 ### Buddhism
 
 - https://jacobinmag.com/2019/12/corporate-mindfulness-ron-purser-interview/
@@ -922,6 +936,6 @@
 - [How does the US and British strategy of Balkanization work?](https://youtu.be/niZsLfxNwvI?t=807)
 - Caleb Maupin - [1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i29kWYXlwhw), [2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmQtvk5elYc), [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/BeardTube/comments/fkwaso/the_successes_of_socialism_in_vietnam/fkwb68a/)
 - Prysner - [1](https://twitter.com/Duophile/status/1256563958141591556?s=20)
-- [Omar](https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/ilhan-omar-backs-israel-lobby-campaign-against-iran)
+- [Omar](https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/ilhan-omar-backs-israel-lobby-campaign-against-iran) [2](https://twitter.com/hansalexrazo/status/1258473006419959808?s=20)
 - [Bordiga](https://libcom.org/forums/history/bordiga-leninist-who-put-his-hopes-axis-27122017)
 - MTC: https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/fgdjpc/does_going_against_western_propaganda_ever_make/fk47f81/ , https://i.imgur.com/gBzROhU.png