The US: Waking up to class politics

[sandinista]

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/op ... 29356.html

A popular item is going around in emails and Facebook pages among the people who are in solidarity with the workers protesting against anti-labour legislation in Wisconsin: A CEO, a union worker and a Tea Partier (a member of the emerging right-wing political movement) are at a table with 12 cookies. The CEO takes 11 and says to the Tea Partier: "Keep an eye on that union guy, he wants your cookie."

Republican governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker's proposal not only to have state workers contribute more of their pay to their health and retirement funds - which are above the standards in the private sector - but to take away their basic right to collectively bargain would lead to the eventual destruction of these labour organisations.

Other governors may attempt to do the same, and it appears that similar legislation in nearby Ohio will succeed.

A public-relations campaign bankrolled by business groups and billionaires like the arch-conservative Koch brothers is aimed nationwide at not only pinning the blame for state budget deficits on its hard-working employees and their union leaders, but to tap into the envy many private sector workers and the unemployed have toward civil servants who have decent benefits.

Like crabs in a bucket, the theory goes, lower-paid workers will want to pull their union counterparts down.

Since the Reagan administration, class politics in the US has waned; the Republican Party benefits from the fact that many lower-income citizens vote against their economic interests because they oppose the social liberalism of the Democratic Party.

Many vote against tax increases on the rich, because even if they themselves are not wealthy, there is a tiny chance they one day will be. There is also the prevailing mythology that the wealthy class earned their place and should not be punished.

[JimC]

I am a big fan of strong unions having a major impact in society, and being an important counter-balance to over-the-top capitalist rapacity.

The union movement in a given country has to box clever, though, and one of its key missions is attracting the maximum membership it can.

Can't see a similar situation happening in Oz, where the union movement is strong. A former, highly successful Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, was head of the union movement before he became a Labour Party Prime Minister...

[egbert]

I am a big fan of strong unions having a major impact in society, and being an important counter-balance to over-the-top capitalist rapacity.

The union movement in a given country has to box clever, though, and one of its key missions is attracting the maximum membership it can.

Can't see a similar situation happening in Oz, where the union movement is strong. A former, highly successful Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, was head of the union movement before he became a Labour Party Prime Minister...

It's the ole pendulum effect. Exploited and downtrodden labour organizes, and improves their lot. But then, as in every human endeavor, corruption sets in. Postal employees hold the country at ransom, and win the right to get paid overtime if they finish their route early and have to sort mail at the post office.
Diesel trains have to carry firemen to shovel the non-existent coal. Featherbedding ad naseum. Hal Banks. Jimmy Hoffa.
And so, the pendulum swings too far, and reverses direction.
Of course, the media, totally owned by the wealthy elite, loves these union excesses, but never utters a word about unfettered corporate greed. How many decades was Bernie Madoff head of NASDAQ?
How bad does it have to get before the ignorant masses revolt? When are we gonna cleanse the species of the sociopaths and psychopaths we invariably choose to "lead" us, usually into the path to self destruction.
It's time to put some limits on GREED.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Source: Aljazeera.

[sandinista]

Source: Aljazeera.

opinion: gawdzilla

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Source: Aljazeera.

opinion: gawdzilla

Sad little man is sad.

[egbert]

Source: Aljazeera.

11 Signs of an IDF Internet Troll

http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/04/11-sig ... troll.html

[sandinista]

Source: Aljazeera.

opinion: gawdzilla

Sad little man is sad.

cheer up sad old little man.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Source: Aljazeera.

11 Signs of an IDF Internet Troll

http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/04/11-sig ... troll.html

So, Sandy and Gawd are Mossad? 'zplains it all, done it?

[maiforpeace]

I posted that Teabagger quote on my Facebook page and people loved it...I want to give credit where credit is due, thanks Sandinista.

[sandinista]

I posted that Teabagger quote on my Facebook page and people loved it...I want to give credit where credit is due, thanks Sandinista.

Hey no problem, great quote, sums teabagger ideology up quite clearly.