It's no coincidence that as union ranks have shrunk under the relentless anti-labor pressures first applied to air traffic controllers a quarter century ago by Ronald Reagan, the ranks of the American middle class also have shrunk - as has the ordinary American's share of the country's wealth.
Link: http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/082406la.shtml
Comment:
This article naturally follows in the same vein as the previous post claiming "it's 1927 again". By utilizing the programs and the labor laws implemented under FDR's New Deal the American worker was able to organize into labor unions. That solidarity brought about a power shift from the corporate Robber Barons of the past to a "shared" power structure between corporate management and the union workers.
My claim is that the dismantling of the Democratic Party programs implemented by FDR, JFK and Lyndon Johnson have led us to this situation whereby most of the power and wealth in this country has now been redistributed back to the super wealthy, the top 1% of Americans (This is the reverse Robin Hood effect). This is naturally leading into the destruction of the American middle class and our decline into a third world economy. I don't know about you, but I don't want this country becoming the "Banana Republic of North America".
SM
"It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that it has free and independent labor unions." ~FDR
The Sixty-Four Thousand Dollar Question
The President and his economic team met with reporters late last week to tout good economic growth and a shrinking deficit. But the University of Michigan's latest survey shows consumer confidence dropping like a stone. The Administration is puzzled, and worried about the implications for the fall elections. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls the disconnect between the upbeat economic news and the public's downbeat attitude "the sixty-four thousand dollar question".
Maybe, just maybe, he was taking note of the fact that median annual household incomes have dropped, in real terms, from about $46,000 in the year 2000 to $45,000 today. Yet if American households had been sharing in the growing economy the Administration is so eager to tout, median household income today would be on the way to $64,000. Rarely before in history has the American economy grown so nicely without most Americans sharing in the growth? Corporate profits are fatter than they've been in years. What corporations aren't using for investment they're awarding to their top executives or distributing to their shareholders. The top one percent of income earners, gleaning over $750,000 this year, are doing wonderfully well and are quite happy about the economy. The typical family -- with stagnant income, a house that's no longer a piggy bank, and higher fuel bills - is not. Hence the real disconnect-
Guest contributor Robert B. Reich was Labor Secretary during the Clinton administration and is now a Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley.
Link: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/08/23/the_sixtyfour_thousand_dollar_question.html
Comment:
The events outlined in the previous two articles have led us to this disastrous economic situation. Just as I said previously, the middle class is being decimated and Bush's Haves and Have Mores (the top 1%) are being amply rewarded. The following article shows you how the government is trying to cover up this disaster by undercounting the poor, the uninsured and the unemployed.
SM
Labor Department Undercounts Poor, Uninsured, and
The Non-Employed
From truthout.org
By John Schmitt and Dean Baker
Center for Economic Policy Research
Thursday 24 August 2006
Study concludes measurement problems getting worse over time.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
