By now we should all know that when a bully or a group of bullies is allowed to beat up on those who they consider weak and vulnerable that there is no limit to their cruelty and viciousness. Right now the middle class is being bullied unmercifully, and this must stop; but only the people can do it. It's become quite obvious that they cannot expect to get help from their government.
Here is the scenario that is evolving; when these giant corporations outsource millions of jobs and close plants, or when they reduce current workers' wages, pensions and other benefits they are not merely impacting the industrial sector of America; they are negatively affecting many other elements of the nation at the same time. All of the middle class doesn't work for large corporations; many millions work in small businesses, the largest employment sector of America. And many of these small businesses and their employees earn their living by providing support functions for U.S. corporations.
When the policies and actions of the corporate sector result in drastic reductions to this nation's workforce it directly impacts and reduces consumer purchasing power. It then also has a cascading effect on small businesses and their employees, one that further affects commerce across this entire nation. That's exactly how these corporations have so drastically affected and damaged this nation's economy.
A very interesting take on this critically important issue can be found in this article, "Corporations Plan for Post-Middle-Class-America" by Bernard Starr.
Corporations know that those millions of workers who become unemployed or have to take much lower paying jobs won't be able to afford their mid-quality products. So, with this knowledge, corporations will continue to concentrate on selling their more costly products to their high end customers and placing a greater emphasis on marketing much less expensive products to lower end customers that, in the future, will increasingly incorporate former middle class Americans.
Here's what needs to be done to combat these corporate strategies. Where it is clearly evident that a major corporation's policy is to outsource jobs and refuse to employ American workers then the people must simply refuse to buy their products. The message should be: "If, in your quest for more and more profits, your policies and actions bring great harm to the people of this nation, specifically the middle class, then we the people will do everything in our power to bring you down."
That people power is there for the taking, it just needs strong leadership and motivation to unleash it. Just imagine what would happen if just 10% of consumers out of 300+ million Americans were energized and decided to discontinue buying the products of one of the largest retail chains in this country. It would not be long before that giant would collapse financially, sending shock waves throughout the entire industry.
The competitors of that giant retailer might be the beneficiaries of extra business for a time but they would also be well aware that they could be the next target. Seeing such a powerful movement suddenly emerge could easily force them into reassessing their marketing strategies and rethinking their policies of excluding American manufacturers and workers. It's amazing how fear of losing millions of customers and seeing profits crash can motivate managements to rethink their objectives and strategies.
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