Business Before Health

Obama has scrapped proposals to tighten rules on air pollution. He ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to shelve plans to reduce concentrations of ozone - one of the main contributors to smog. Obama said he was pulling the measure as part of a government effort to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses.

Ozone is a lung irritant, connected with asthma and other respiratory conditions. The rules could have helped prevent as many as 12,000 premature deaths from heart and lung complications (and also saved as much as $100bn in health costs) according to the EPA.

Earthjustice's Martin Hayden, the group's vice-president, said: "The Obama administration knows the heavy cost of smog pollution but has made the terrible decision to leave outdated, weak standards in place, leaving thousands of Americans who suffer from lung and breathing problems at the mercy of this dirty air."

Gene Karpinski, the president of the League of Conservation Voters, said: "The Obama administration is caving to big polluters at the expense of protecting the air we breathe. This is a huge win for corporate polluters and a huge loss for public health."

"This is a new low for President Obama," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Of course, SOYMB is not at all surprised by Obama's decision. We always said it was an illusion that one single politician could transform such a rotten social system. Obama’s once overpowering charisma has faded away. People are judged more by their actions than their words. A mistake that American voters often make is to compare what the Republicans say and do with what the Democrats say. The relevant comparison is with what the Democrats do. If they did they might have noticed that between what the Democrats say and what they do yawns a chasm wider than the Grand Canyon. Once in office, Democrats come under irresistible pressure from their capitalist masters to break their promises, to disappoint, disillusion and betray the working people who placed their trust and hope in them. Some workers then sink back into apathy and despair, while others fall prey to the Tea-Party or anti-immigration backlash. These reactions then give the Republicans their chance to return. This is a recognisable political cycle. We have been through it before. Over and over again. Not only in the United States but in many other countries (here in the UK , it was from Blair to Cameron)

Obama touted for votes on the single word "Change" But what has taken place has really been "No Change". Obama has been incapable of ushering in any significant change. Whoever is president has but one remit in office – to further the interests of the US corporate elite. It’s just not a feasible option for any president to entertain any idea other than providing guarantees for the American profit machine.