We used to have the upper class, middle class, lower class, working class. Most of us in America pretended that class wasn’t an issue.
Retired folks living on Social Security and pensions were in a separate category. As elders and retired, they were deemed “entitled” (gasp) to the Social Security and pensions they received. They had, after all, worked long and hard to earn those Social Security and pension checks. Continue reading
Mitt Romney is to be commended for finally bringing into focus the economic divide emerging in America.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In the Winner’s Camp are people who own and control the wealth. It starts with the very richest, a tiny sliver at the top, less than one percent. This camp also includes the affluent classes, the bankers, accountants, lawyers, executives, innovators and politicians who preside over the modern economy. They provide the brainpower to monitor, preserve, and increase the wealth.
You also find in the Winner’s Camp a large number of people who are crucial for the operation of the economy.
Remember the “Arab Spring?”
In Canada, something has just occurred that might qualify as the “Quebec Summer.” South of the border, the U.S. media is totally unaware.
Seems the Quebec provincial government, run by the Liberal Party, imposed a huge tuition increase on college students. I know next to nothing about Canadian politics, but it would appear that the tuition increase was a foolhardy and arrogant decision. The right to a college education has long been a cause celebre in Quebec, a French province in an otherwise English-speaking country. You might say the right to a college education is a cause with “class” overtones. I recommend an analysis by Richard Seymour, “Quebec’s students provide a lesson in protest politics,” in today’s UK Guardian.
Quebec students, having a long history of organizing and protest,
UPDATE QUEBEC: One man was killed and another injured in a shooting outside a victory celebration for Pauline Marois, the Associated Press is reporting. Ms. Marois, leader of Parti Quebecois, was not injured. Police arrested a 62-year-old businessman, who will be charged today.
The MSM is definitely irrelevant!
They held an election in Quebec this week, and the Parti Quebecois won with 33 percent of the vote, enough to form a coalition government and run the province. The only reason I know all this is because of a post and a thread of comments on Clarissa’s Blog. Blogging beats MSM, again.
Pauline Marois. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Seems to me the Quebec election ought to be newsworthy in America, if only because the Parti Quebecois allegedly advocates separation of Quebec from the rest of Canada. Possibly many U.S. citizens would need a map to find Quebec, or even Canada. Hint: Canada spans the continent from Atlantic to Pacific, directly north of the U.S.
Hard for me to say how serious Parti Quebecois is about separation, since the myopic U.S. media totally ignored the election. The consensus appears to be: It ain’t going to happen. Howsoever, the French-Canadian party apparently has some interesting positions, not limited to preservation of the French language. Their platform makes many Canadians downright distraught. Continue reading
This post, “Factory Girls and Boys,” documents child labor in the early years of the 20th century. The photos make me extremely angry. Not long ago, I wrote a post titled, “Austerity, The New Slavery.” More and more, I become convinced that modern capitalism depends for its existence on the exploitation of cheap labor. “Business ethics” really is an oxymoron. In America alone, we had widespread slavery and child labor, out in the open, in broad daylight! And not in the distant past. American industry has always supported immigration for a steady supply of cheap, expendable labor. The White House and the Capitol were built by slaves, the railroads were built by immigrants, and the industrial sweatshops were operated by women and children. After slavery and child labor were abolished, unions gained a toehold. Minimum wage laws and occupational safety laws were enacted over the objections of business. Not surprising that in the second half of the 20th century, industrialists began to move American factories to any faraway land where labor is cheap, plentiful, and unregulated. Thanks to historian and blogger Donna Seger and photographer Lewis Wickes Hine for opening my eyes.
— John Hayden
Related articles
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I always feel a bit sorry for myself on Labor Day weekend, as it’s back-to-school time and usually I am engaged in a mad dash to get my course syllabi done. Of course this is ridiculous, as I have the cushiest job ever and most of the summer I’ve been free to do as I liked. It’s good to remind myself what labor really is, and nothing does that better than the photographs of Lewis Wickes Hine (1874-1940), who transitioned from educator to social activist, all the while armed with a camera. In 1908 Hine became the official photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) and began his life’s work: documenting child labor across the United States. This was a time when one in six children between the ages of five and ten worked outside the home in “gainful occupation”, and the percentage increases dramatically for children over the…
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sub rosa racism. I’ve been casting about for a way to explain the great divide in American politics. Thanks to Jonathan Yardley, a Washington Post book critic, for getting to the root of the problem: sub rosa racism. I looked up “sub rosa.” Sure enough. I’m thinking sub rosa racism explains most of the anger in American politics. Simple economics explains the rest.
Americans worship at the altar of BUSINESS.
The faith was renewed at the Republican Convention. Nearly every speaker gave praise to BUSINESS, voicing both devotion and reverence. Blessed be BUSINESS.
The delegates, all devout practitioners of BUSINESS, rose to their feet and clapped their hands in spontaneous outbursts of adoration. Many are converts from the wretched status of employee. They were more than willing to share their testimony — how they broke free from the chains of sin and employment, overcame great adversity, and gained salvation through BUSINESS.
Speaker after speaker repeated variations on the central dogma, that everything good flows from BUSINESS. Only those who join the church of BUSINESS and diligently practice BUSINESS shall be blessed with prosperity all their days. Their children and their children’s children shall inherit the riches of the Earth. Nor shall they fear the Death Tax. Continue reading
Question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
Answer: YES, Mr. ROMNEY, AS A MATTER OF FACT, WE ARE BETTER OFF THAN WE WERE FOUR YEARS AGO!
Four years ago, we were looking into the abyss. Four years ago, Wall Street and the banks were trembling. Four years ago, the American automobile industry was on the eve of destruction. Every job associated with the auto industry was about to go away. Forever. Four years ago, we were fighting two wars. No end in sight. Or was it three wars? It’s hard to remember. Four years seems like a long time. Hard to remember what it was like. It’s like a nightmare that we woke up from. A catastrophic plane crash that we walked away from. YES, the truth is, we are better off.
— John
Demonstration in Barcelona on January 22 against raising the retirement age (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
People are living longer, therefore the U.S. needs to raise the Social Security retirement age.
The above statement fills me with despair. It can be spoken with a straight face only by a young person or a rich person who doesn’t understand: a) What it feels like to be sixty-something in the 21st century, and b) The place of the American worker in the market for human labor, given the new-normal, flat-world economy.
Full disclosure: I come at this retirement age question from a Baby Boomer point of view. I celebrated (?) a 64th birthday in June. For which I’m grateful. It means I’m one of the survivors. I am now enjoying my 65th summer on the planet Earth, which is one of my favorite planets.
The power grid in India failed this week, leaving half the population of the world’s largest democracy without electric power.
Half the counties in America have been declared drought disaster areas by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Half of India in the dark, half of America in drought. Makes you wonder: Where is the tipping point? How much failure can a country endure?
Living Simply And Still On The Grid 