Labor Day should be more respected than just advertisements for items being on sale. You write, Heather, that the same arguments which occurred in the 1800’s still exist in 2023. Union workers everywhere, are going on strike for better wages and benefits. Look at what is happening to the writers and staff for Hollywood and tv shows. The CEOs are raking in millions upon millions upon millions of dollars while the front line people struggle to eat or take care of themselves. Greed is atrocious.
Amen. But Greed is far beyond atrocious. It's a giant, cancerous blob which will never be satiated. I can't help but think of the image Matt Taibbi gave us in his book ("Griftopia") about Goldman-Sachs during the 2008 Bailout Scam. I believe he called them, "A giant vampire squid stuck on the face of Humanity." Goldman-Sachs was overleveraged 330 times to 1--1 being the amount of capital G-S actually possessed at the time of the crisis. Yet, the government bailed them out dollar for dollar to cover that giantic loss from spectulation. And G-S was joined by many more "too big to fail" scammers.
Our political leaders/administrators are mostly controlled by greed of one form or another. I just wish they didn't have so much control over our lives. It's embarrassing to allow such corrupted people to rule us.
"Yet, the government bailed them out dollar for dollar to cover that giantic loss from spectulation. And G-S was joined by many more "too big to fail" scammers."
Yet, the republicans have the shamelessness to refer to stepping up to big pharma to negotiate for lower (ridiculously high) drug prices as communism. The irony is indigestible....
Hedydon, your remark: " I just wish they didn't have so much control over our lives."
It is frustrating that the disinformation/misinformation machines (Fox, OAN, Alex Jones and Newsmax) can so easily peddle their wares to an audience that wants to hear what they have to pitch. They believe it because they want to - confirmation bias. Somehow, perhaps beginning at least in the 6th grade, we could begin teaching our children critical thinking processes. Confirmation bias is the first fact to teach and examine.
Think of something that you believe is true . . . .
Richard, Haydon, and anyone else who may read this, there's a book; The Life Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit, by John Petrocelli ISBN 978-250-27162-4, that you may enjoy. Cheers.
And may I suggest another interesting book: “The Confidence Game - Why We Fall for It…Every Time” by Maria Konnikova. It describes those bullshitters to a “T”.
Richard, I suspect it will take A LOT of teaching to override the human need to belong. A major part of scientific thinking and teaching is geared toward recognizing the many ways personal bias can slip into our observations and "analysis." It is wise to keep in mind the propositions of Steven Pinker (Harvard psychologist) in which he contends that "In many circumstances, social connection is actually more helpful to your daily life than understanding the truth of a particular fact or idea. People are embraced or condemned according to their beliefs, so one function of the mind may be to hold beliefs that bring the belief-holder the greatest number of allies, protectors, or disciples, rather than beliefs that are most likely to be true.” In his 2018 book on "Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds" James Clear points out that "truth and accuracy are not the only things that matter to the human mind; humans (as essentially herd animals) also have a deep desire to belong. In many circumstances, social connection is actually more helpful to your daily life than understanding the truth of a particular fact or idea."
These contentions seem a very accurate depiction of our current political scene!
JohnM, I think that the points are well made. I grew up in Jim Crow Texas in the 1940's and '50's. I never liked the "good ol'boy' culture. When I got to California courtesy of the U.S. Army, it was a breath of fresh air. I never returned to live in Texas. I've concluded that in many cases we believe "what we want or feel compelled to believe" for personal reasons. I cite Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. as an example of this. Collins was co-chair of the Human Genome Project. If anyone understands DNA and its origin, it has to be Collins, yet, even knowing that all living things on earth (plants, animals, insects) all share the same DNA, coming down to us from LUCA, a creature (one-celled) that came to life 3.5 billion years ago, Collins is still a fundamentalist Christian. Why? I suspect that he doesn't want to "die." That compulsion overrides his critical thinking capacity. Why do MAGA/KKK support Trump? He represents their racism, among other elements. It's complicated, on the one hand, and simple, on the other hand.
Richard, thanks for this interesting post about Collins. I am in the middle of a book called The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science by Alan Lightman, a scientist. He has a whole chapter that really focuses on the fear of death and some early writers like Lucretius who gave a material explantation (atoms) in contrast to a divine explanation for things in an attempt to relieve people of the fear of death. He also gives figures for how many people in this country believe that there is a heaven and a hell....way too high a percentage in my estimation. He is also very well read and cites quite a number of people throughout. I bought this book in a book form from Powell's (the workers are on strike today) in Portland. I want to make another order soon, but I won't cross even a virtual picket line.
To explain my own point of view a little, I consider my birth as a white male to be a chance matter in the broader scheme of things. I could have been born a female raccoon or a male shark. We all have the same DNA. It just so happens that I came along as a white, Ango-Saxon male. I take absolutely no sense of pride in it or that I should necessarily identify with other white males, or males of any race, or whites of any gender. It's all simply a matter of chance. This makes it virtually impossible for me to identify with KKK/MAGA types.
"People are embraced or condemned according to their beliefs" I add and the way they look.
Whilst living in the US I was lucky to have lived in Topanga Canyon, not only a place of great beauty but a haven of original thinkers/artists/musicians. IF I had not lived there most decidedly I would have left before the 22yrs I had.
I was outspoken and wore clothes I liked which (when in the City of LA) were cause for many stares and people making up their minds about what I was like.
Many people were like sheep..same clothes/toys/opinions.
Yes! That’s liberal arts education which we have mostly abandoned. Today repeating what I learned in graduate school about the liberal arts education i had been receiving since eighth grade: the international scholar who was teaching the class I was taking, who had graduated from Harvard with a PhD said that he had received that degree “while Harvard was still a university--the year before the Business School
opened.” Education is not about jobs (as some would say “per se”), but about learning how to discriminate between fact and fancy.
I agree with that last statement. When I was a student at Whittier College (1965) I remember my Russian history professor, Harry Nerhood, telling me: "Richard, we're not about teaching you what you need to know on a job. That will come on the job. We're about teaching you how to think." Amen.
Interesting. My personal experience on that was studying Criminology at Southern Oregon State College (now SO University). My first year taking lower division classes, I had one professor say "We are not going to teach you how to be cops; that is the job of your agency. We are here to teach you the history, foundations, applications, and how to apply that knowledge to the basics of policing." I had professors who had been street cops who got Ph.D.'s, lawyers, one who had been a cop, then a lawyer, and another former juvenile system worker. None of my coursework centered on the mechanics of law enforcement, and the only class I ever took that required any sort of actual law enforcement time asked for us to do a ride-along with an agency, ask a set of questions that pertained to what we were studying, and then write a paper on it.
Taught critical thinking, how to write, how to recognize bias, and some other really useful things...
Yes! I remember hearing that thinking was what we were after: use good sources, what the good sources were, discriminate among sourced. Learning a bit of Latin and Greek was a plus too. It taught appreciation of language and its appropriate use. I used the formula learned to conjugate Latin verbs to teach French verbs. My favorite Monty Python remains: “If you don’t know the Latin, you have to do the hackin’ and the hewin’. I learned my smattering of Latin and French phonetics at the same time in my small country high school in rural Virginia from teachers who had liberal arts degrees and maybe one “education course.” I taught imitating to the best of my ability the best teachers I’d had. It worked! (But teaching was what many on both sides of my family did, so maybe it’s genetic. Salesmanship and loving the what and the whom you’re teaching.)
My Russian history prof at the UO was Gustav Alef. One day a person in the class made a comment about what he thought was the uselessness of history and the importance of having trade. Dr. Alef then told us that his father, a prof in eastern Europe, given what happened to intellectuals in Europe at times, told his son that as a backup, he should also learn a trade and he did: electrical engineering. That shut up the student.
Virginia....this started when I was still working in eduction in the 90s with a new principal (a jerk who we finally sued) who insisted that certain classes had to be about careers. I consider such a position undercutting critical thinking among other things as well as kids learning basics about how to do certain things in ordinary life. Now everything is about money. As for the constant drumbeat contrasting universities and trades. I say we can do both and must do both as we need both physicians and plumbers for example. We did our graduate work at Oregon and have followed some of their sports teams for years. Now in pursuit of money we have the athletic program joining the Big Ten and others leaving for other conferences, so there is only two schools left in the venerable Pac 12. This is determined by TV payouts, so Fox and ESPN rule. Too bad about the athletes who next year will have to travel across country. People in Oregon complain nonstop about PERS, the public employee retirement system. Who gets the largest PERS payout per month....Mike Belotti, the former UO head football coach.
Can we put Shop classes back in high schools? Computer classes are already there. Employers can train. If they get well-educated employees, it’s faster. I have been entertained by the speed with which Ukrainian soldiers have learned weapons that American military thought would take months, reminded that if you must learn two languages and two alphabets in primary schooo, your brain is well-prepared for learning what follows.
Honestly, all kinds of life skills have to be taught in school, and they can't wait until high school. Kids are exposed to advertising (barraged might be a better word for it) of all kinds everywhere at all times from early childhood on - sometimes even by their parents based on the products those parents bring into the household and the TV channels they keep on, and that advertising interferes with their ability to assess what is real and what is valuable. They have to be taught - in school - critical thinking skills from childhood on, and then over time how to budget, how to change a tire, how to clean the dishes and vacuum a house, how to clean a bathroom and a kitchen, how to cook simple meals, how to assess quality of ingredients to buy at the store and figure out what to substitute when the ingredients aren't available or are too expensive, AND computer skills, shop and basic electrical and plumbing skills so they can get and keep a job they want - because their parents aren't teaching this stuff, either because they themselves can't, or don't have the time after working two jobs, or are taking care of elderly parents, etc. and on and on. And this stuff all needs to be taught to people in the public schools, not in after-school or post-12th grade programs which they have to pay for individually, because a lot of the people who need these skills cannot afford to pay to acquire them.
Here in Salem, we have shop classes at a large career center near us and another one not too far away. I see that that the one we pass often has a beauty school element. As far as i know certain shop classes have remained where I worked. One of the problems even when i was working is that people can make more money elsewhere and don't have to deal with school problems.
The one thing most politicians don't want is a thinking population. This is why some of them try to ban books. No book ever hurt anyone, but books can lead to thinking and that is not good for many politicians. Texas has specifically banned the teaching of critical thinking because they don't want children to question what their parents teach them. Such B.S. is unbelievabble, except in the mind of a conservative who knows their position is weak and doesn't lend itself to close examination.
That is one tricky process. Dont count on it working extensively, but id never stop anyone trying! Even critical thinking is a form of indoctrination, ie a trained process which needs to be internalized and practiced, and... it isn't easy. Not only that, it takes little trouble to throw up superficial media roadblocks, esp when its' organized. Climate change, small example.
Touchstone Discussion Project (TDP) offers schools and volunteers short, text-based, leader-led discussions, designed in convey (in under an hour a week) the essential skills of reflection, critical thinking, listening, and
deliberation and mutual respect.
Maybe offer TDP to your local school, community center, children & grandchildren?
You know what, Jean (Muriel,) you are right, and I could take my own case to prove it. When I was six years old I lived in a rural part of Texas, which at the time had a population of no more than 2 million. There was virtually no ambient light. At that time, "the stars at night were big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas." The sky was brilliant. I used to try in my mind to travel to the edge of the universe, but of course, I couldn't. I could never get there. Infinity is beyond human comprehension and, of course, we cannot get past the edge of the universe into, what? How can there be anything on the outside of the universe. So, even at six I was having these questions. I could have used the critical thinking process then. I also had the same question about whether there was a God. Ultimately, I came to believe that the idea of God and everlasting life were mere vain hopes. It does end. As the poet said: "Gather ye rosebuds while you may, for tomorrow will be dying."
Richard, thank you for the questions........however....... maybe turning off their source of news......except they are at church several times a week .....a nest of reprograming for the"Rs".
Dear close relatives were sharing a meal with us last evening. They are strongly supporting the "Rs" ..... we did not argue nor could we discuss with reason....we just enjoyed our evening. My sister-in-law asked."You don't hate us do you?" Of course we responded, "NO". I thought....why would I hate you....why would you even think that having an opposing opininion would cause me to "hate" someone. (Maybe concerned about your sense of reality ...but surely not "hate". )
It is a complicated matter, Emily. Those who support Trump actually are saying that they approve of his dismantling the Constitution and establishing a dictatorship. We're definitely at a tipping point in this country - white autocratic dictatorship vs. a pluralistic democratic constitutional republic. Perhaps we should be talking about what they understand the government would be under a Trump presidency. I will ask some of my old buddies who are MAGA Republicans.
Yes, The bailouts that began in 2007 and went through 2012 in various forms and were supported by BOTH parties actively and were the most disgusting thing I have seen in my adult lifetime.
Millions of homeowners washed out into the street but Big Banks were bailed out, NOT the homeowners.
All of the players on Wall Street who CAUSED the crash, a crash that was underpinned by the legalization of derivatives (i.e., mortgage backed securities) in 2001 by the Bush administration, were bailed out.
Every single bad actor who caused the crash: A Republican administration that had legalized derivatives, Goldman Sachs, Big Banks who knew better, were ALL bailed out.
The bailout started under Bush, but Obama amped it up when he became President (and then earned $200,000 for his first post Presidential speech at one of those banks). Obama's deficit spending was breathtaking as he tried to funnel money to the rich to cloak the Republican caused depression.
In fact, we should have bailed out not one bank, not one investment house and then let the economy sink into a depression for 10 years.
Then??? People would remember George W. Bush NOT for his illegal wars BUT for his disastrous Great Depression.
NOBODY would be voting Republican today. Everybody would still remember living in the streets due to Republican policy.
I am in sympathy with your sentiments. Maybe not totally with your solution. Certainly, most of the Federal bailout money should have gone to the homeowners who were cheated. We who have signed mortgage papers know how mind numbing it is. And the mortgages of that day were nuts.
We needed a loan to get from one property to another residence/small business. A mortgage broker sat at our kitchen table, took our SS numbers and said I'll get back to you. Next week he said you are all set. I said: "Don't you want to know our income?"
"Nope, I'll fill in what works for the underwriters." It was a "stated income, no doc loan". 1% interest for 3 months. Then LIBOR plus some adjustable percentage. Payments would explode over time.
We paid that loan off quickly - used it as a bridge loan. But how many unsuspecting homeowners were trapped in such a way? And was that unlicensed (not required then in Maine) broker ever held accountable for selling dangerous junk loans to unsuspecting people? No.
Obama's bailout could have taken different forms. Homeowners first. Let some banks gobble up some other banks that were under capitalized. I really doubt that the entire financial system would have suffered for very long. The vultures would have swooped in and eaten the carcasses of Goldman Sacks, etc.
Obama had two disadvantages. One was that he was afraid of being too "populist". He wanted to be a president for all of us - including Wall Street. The other was that his cabinet was infested with money pushers from guess where. An imperfect leader.
But on the other side of the coin, he did bail out the Detroit car industry with loans that were repaid. What if the government had done something similar for Wall Street and AIC - holding a chunk of ownership to allow Americans to reap some profits along with the oligarchs? But wait! Oh, no! That sounds like "socialism"! Sounds like "Bernie talk", eh? Sign me up.
“Socialism”? That’s the right-wing’s reply to any intelligent suggestions or solutions by the Democrats or anyone else for that matter…all the while the, those who are retired readily accepting their Social Security checks.
As has oft been repeated on these pages, Republicans by & large don't seem to possess a clue as to what that dreaded moniker, "socialism" actually means. They brandish it like a sword and use it to label EVERYTHING Democrats propose, with it often being a MISnomer instead. They keep their base misinformed about it, never really going into what it is, only that they have to be against it because . . . ? Well, it's "socialism". Isn't that bad enough? Just like HCR points out was done by Republicans in the 1880s and "90s, they use it as a scare tactic. Nowadays, it's to SWEAR that we will end up like Venezuela, Cuba, or North Korea, which of course is laughably ridiculous. The ones fomenting the lies about it ARE afraid of "socialism" because deep in their shriveled up, cold, capitalistic little hearts they know if we developed democratic socialism as practiced in Europe, Scandinavia, or other industrialized countries, THEIR days of raking in obscene amounts of profits would be seriously curtailed. THAT is what they're afraid of. Once the people get used to having more, it will be hard to put that genie back in the bottle. Corporations in those places exist and still do make large amounts of capital, but not to the ridiculous levels of entities here. They pay their workers more, pay more in taxes, and provide many more services for their employees, with the difference being their bottom lines of profit are less, but they do still exist. AND guess what, the populations of those countries still have the power of the vote to change things as they see fit. The top percentages of wealthy people here keep managing to convince the middle and lower income people that it is in their best interest to do all they can to fight against "socialism" (as they see it), when the exact opposite is true. There is no amount of money these uber-wealthy entities won't spend to keep convincing their constituents of the evils of "socialism" and that THEY, the wealthy, need to keep being able to earn countless billions and also dispense with any regulations on that. I wonder how much longer they will be able to hoodwink their base? Now they're trying it from the "cultural wars" angle, that Democrats (and "socialists") are all for killing babies, confusing their children about their gender and sexuality, taking away their rights, and making them "woke", whatever that is. No wonder Europeans look at us and think, "WTF?!?"
You speak the truth. When engaging with those worried about socialism, I often ask them who really needs more than a billion dollars? Or 500 million for that matter.
Yes, the malicious have gotten a lot of mileage through inflaming the people with the ominous, threatening "socialism".
Of course, there are multiple reasons the "socialism" message has been so well-drilled into Americans' heads. I was a child and young adolescent during the '50s. I remember the anti-socialist/communist films with themes of treating the "reds" as though they were an insidious disease which needed to be found and dissolved. Even the newsreels at the movie theaters were continuing with clips degrading U.S. enemies. Propaganda grew in development and use, super-charged during WWII. Shortly thereafter (1947?), television began to be available and coupled with the government propaganda machine, the authorities were able to distribute their "messages" to the masses. The Cold War, the Iron Curtain, McCarthyism, et al--they all came to us through the newspapers and magazines, radio, TV, and films. There must be a hundred films of the '50s based on that anti-red message; and the music/soundtrack is always dramatic, threatening, fearful. The message was drilled into Americans' heads like some osmotic radio wave which goes straight into the human brain.
And voila! We have today's perception of socialism for most of the U.S. It's passed down through generations. It may become epigenetic. I'm reminded of the film "1984" with the rally against the current enemy. We need to find a way to change that archaic mentality. For example, I think first of Denmark. Not only does the population look healthy, there also often ranked #1 or #2 in the U.N. Happiness Survey, a detailed survey to cover all aspects of their lives.
You’re not serious?Obama should have let the economy sink into a depression for 10 years? All so a Republican would be remembered as having caused it? I don’t think so.
Bush was considered one of the worst presidents anyway. He started needless wars that destabilized the world. He cut regulations so the greed could run wild. He was so bad that Americans elected a charming, slightly center-left Black man. That gave a bloated sociopath a path to bring out all the racism, divide the country, and not only bring back greed but double down on corruption.
But Obama is not just charming. He is also a patriotic American who carries two burdens: racism and equality of opportunity. He is working on both solutions with Eric Holder via fair voting.
Obama was the kind of person who America should have as a president. He was smart, well educated, and thoughtful. He made some mistakes in situations in which all of his choices were terrible. He knew he couldn't be too aggressive or the racism would have been even worse. I feel (my opinion) that his major fault was that he overestimated the American people and the morality of the Republican Party. He thought that enough people would easily reject the crazy conspiracy theories. He thought the Republicans were a still part of a democracy and would negotiate. He gave the Dems too much confidence that the world had changed. They lost the state legislatures because no one paid enough attention to the dark money funding Republicans.
I agree with you, Kenneth, it is so easy and comfortable to spout those cheap assessments well after the fact without also listing all the ways people would have gotten hurt by a system they had no voice in. The ramifications of letting GM expire, for one instance. would have been global, the U.S. would have sunk to the level of a Trump-described as a "shithole" country, and we would have been easy pickings for other powerhungry governments . Our dollar might have gone extinct.
If the US had been allowed to sink into a depression for 10 years, then the world would have sunk into one as well. Imagine what the Putin's of the world would have done with that...
Mike, The Big Short is a book that everyone interested in how greed destroys should read
How to prevent a devastating collapse of an entire economy based primarily on the faith of the dollar and the cash flow that “credit” requires is a no man’s land of speculation into “what drives that faith”
Yes, all that talk about a self-correcting market was just talk. No way Paulson and his ilk were going to let the market proceed naturally. I could tell by the panicked look on Paulson’s face, he knew he was going to be wiped out if nothing was done and the big speculators took the hit--when the market made the big correction. So of course they changed the rules. Legislators had an opportunity to put some regulations in place to shield residential housing and take care of people but they let big money take care of the market. I think legislators may have become full on puppets at that point in time. Corporate power replaced legislative power at that point. My 401K took a hit but it was not wiped out and luckily I was still working at the time. The music stopped but I still had a chair you might say. Just look at housing costs now--still ridiculously high. We are becoming a land of renters. Big money, big exploitation was protected. I was disappointed with Obama. I am of the opinion he didn’t understand what was happening and so relied on advisors. I may be wrong in this assessment but when I look at residential housing--when I see how much of a person’s income it takes to have shelter today--when I see all the homelessness--when I see the massive rates of incarceration--I think I might not be far off. Big money preaches the wisdom of the market--letting it do is thing--but big money knows better. It’s like the priesthood peddling virtue. The many believers following the path of virtue form a protective screen behind which the priests in power can proceed to do whatever they want. I think of 401Ks as the screen of big money. Have I got a deal for you. I think the whole correction should have been allowed to happen but as I said I was still working at the time and did not lose my job--so easy for me to say. Who knows really if the legislators at the time had the ability or character to legislate. I would bet no.
I can't remember the book I read several years ago by a guy who went to DC as an assistant secretary of the treasury to administer the aid to mortgage holders, and was then completely stonewalled because the money was reserved for the "big guys."
Mary, if not for the manipulations of the market that prevented a complete crash, you may have lost your job; who knows. Those that had a life vest survived, those that didn’t drowned
Thanks, you nailed it. And it is why "Greed" is listed as one of the Seven Deadly Sins. In my book, it is numero uno and the foundation of our problems as a society.
Marlene, you have hit the nail on the head. Stores aren’t closed, businesses aren’t closed, people have to work on this day. Sales! Trying everything they can to get that almighty dollar out of peoples pockets.
Corporations keep their employees working so they, the big cheese behind the big desk that’s at home 🏡 this holiday can line his pockets with more money.
Wow, all the talk here over could'a, would'a, should'a's. The poets and the guitar toting bards of the world have been trying to turn our attention to all of this corrupt behavior for a very long while. Think George Harrison, "Living In The Material World" , or "Within You , "Without You". It's all right there! Our brains are far too easily diverted by massive floods of distractions. Think TELEVISION. Or, maybe follow the NFL draft a while. How about those Kardashians bro! This, and more, owned by rich white men who steer us by the nose. Steve Bannon is published somewhere talking about how easy the pickings are of millions of Americans to persuade them in to buy into, and believe the biggest lines of lies. Navigating Tipping Points requires courage and determination. With the ear-bud clad, phone obsessed here, I just don't see the intestinal fortitude needed. I hope I am proven wrong next November.
And it holds many appalling absences. It's frightening to me that Republican legislators are trying to get the Ten Commandments up in schools and public buildings. There's no commandment against slavery. There's no commandment against rape. There's no commandment against child abuse. There's no commandment against torture.
In short - there are enshrined commandments against minor offenses but none against atrocity. That's no model of a justice system.
Kathy, yes, 100%. But I've found that among those Christians who have never really considered everything that's left out of the Ten Commandments - there are at least some for whom it's a real revelation when those omissions are pointed out. We have to do what we can!
If you're banning books for teaching the "wrong" lessons or for sexual and/or violent content, the Bible is the first book that should be removed isn't it?
Alexandra.....there's only the compassion of God, providing Himself, "the Lamb of
God" as the sacrifice for our sins, appearing as human and existing as both God and Man living with us.....demonstrating love by showing us to trust in Him when we are afraid and feeling helpless, by healing the sick and lame, by loving and accepting the rejected.....even including as one of His disciples, one who would reject Him and turn Him in to those who wanted to kill Him......for just a few coins.
We do the same today.
When preaching to a multitude.....and as the day was passing, a disciple mentioned to Him that the crowd was appearing to be tired, but would not leave Him ....that the people may be hungry. Jesus asked them to find someone with food. There was a young boy whose mom had packed a basket of "loaves and fishes". Jesus asked the boy if he would like to share. The young boy gave his food to the disciples and Jesus multiplied the food so that everyone had some . There were even leftovers.
Jesus summed up the 10 commandments by commanding those of us who claim to believe, to love one another as we would want to be loved. As true believers, we have the opportunity to live out these words every day. How do we treat the ones closest to us, those we worship with, our neighbors, our family members, those who have chosen to worship differently, fellow humans who are dressed with a different color/shade of skin, who do not speak our language, those who are in desparate need fleeing towards the "hope" they have been told our country offers....those who are broken by disease, those who suffer with depression, those with
deep physical and mental struggles....Do We Love and Care for These Precious Lives as We Would Want to be Cared for? Jesus asked us to love our enemies. And He showed the way by allowing Himself to be arrested, beated, lied about, brutilized, betrayed by one of His disciples, abandoned by most of His disciples.
Because of His example, those who use Christians or those who claim to be Christians, but are not.....infuriate me.
And those who push lies are laughing all the way to the ballot box.
Alexandra, all persons using the WORD OF GOD for evil will stand before a Holy
God someday. God sees all....He holds eternity "in His hand".
Meanwhile, let's work for freedom...whatever your faith....if you are for Democracy and keeping our country free...VOTE FOR JOE BIDEN....the Democrats while not perfect....are our best voice and they are working hard to build up this country, to build strong positive relationships with world leaders, to provide for those who are confronting dictators with their life's blood....to encourage opportunities and hope for everyone.
Not only that! Now Labor Day has become some sort of Memorial Day. My local news focused on veterans--WITHOUT mention of laborers. I am in a red state . . . And I am a veteran, but Labor Day is for the workers!
I just don't get it. Fawn all over Veterans 4 or 5 days a year, but how many of today's super "military supporters" actually served, or even have a family member serving? Where is the support for VA funding, PTSD care, financial assistance to Veterans who just cannot get by? Another thing that sticks in my craw: Veteran's Day is a biggie, it celebrates all veterans, but really commemorates the end of WWI (the 11th month, the 11th day, the 11th hour). Memorial Day honors combat deaths, springing from the Civil War aftermath, where graves of the war dead were decorated with flowers. First "Decoration Day" then "Memorial Day".
And the Republican politicians vote against funding for Veterans time and again. McConnell and the Senate Republicans couldn't find a single vote for the burn pit legislation until they were humiliated by the press. And there have been other times as well.
They always brag about funding the military, but it's the Democrat's that have given the military the largest increases in pay and benefits over the years. Most of the defense budget goes to the defense contractors.
We heard a mash up band last night that called themselves Southern Rocks Finest. It was comprised of former members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, Pure Prairie League and Molly Hatchett. Anyway, the played the national anthem dedicating it to Veterans for Labor Day. Everyone in our group looked around wondering if we were the only ones that thought this was the wrong holiday for this.
“Greed is atrocious” and understanding that it is currently driving the capitalist system of economy and politics should encourage us to think outside the box when it comes to solutions. The traditional approach of Labor vs. greed driven owners is a paradigm that keeps us in a perpetual struggle of “us vs. them.” Approaches, thinking and solutions beginning 140 years ago does not work in the universe of vast multinational corporations. When our next inevitable meltdown comes, we need to be ready with a blueprint for a new system that comes from thinking outside the box of a democracy controlled by ultra-wealthy capitalists. We must envision and implement a new economic and political system based on labor’s ownership of industry, utilities, retail and banking. In other words, Cooperative owned businesses, banks and industries. We already have some of these operating quite nicely. I have worked at a worker owned Co-op supermarket in Hayward CA. where the workers are the owners of a large well managed supermarket. I have shopped at Bi-Mart a chain of over 70 discount department stores in four northwestern states that are a worker and customer owned cooperative. There are more than 40,000 cooperatives of all types currently in the U.S. that provide more than $25 billion in wages. According to a University of Wisconsin study cooperatives have an estimated 350 million members. www.uwcc.wisc.edu There are no worker vs. owner disputes, the workers are the owners. The outside the box solution to unsustainable corporate dominated democracy is in a new model of “Economic Democracy,” where business is owned by the workers and not the “atrocious” greed driven capitalists. https://www.proutinstitute.org/policy-solutions/economic-democracy-the-alternative-to-corporate-rule . Our next economic collapse will be our next great opportunity: lets be ready with new solutions.
My background is rather unique in that I've been both a senior executive in a Fortune 100 company, a highly ethical one no less, and a member of the AFL-CIO Musicians Union, before right to work laws were passed. The blizzard of 1977 in Boston was at its height during rush hour and the roads became clogged with cars stuck in heavy snow. An emergency order prohibited people from driving on the roads for several days meaning employees couldn't get to work for an entire week. My company, Digital Equipment Corporation paid the hourly workers a full weeks wage anyway because it was the "right thing to do" even if it cost Digital about a million dollars. GE didn't pay its hourly workers for that week because there was no rule in their contract with the unions that said they had to. Digital never unionized because it was a highly ethical company who lived their motto of "Do the Right Thing" and treated its employees very well. The moral of the story is that large companies can be ethical. Ethics start at the top and our company had a wonderful man at the top, Ken Olsen. He not only had a vision for bringing computing to all people, he also had an organizational vision that was very egalitarian. Here's a short video on Ken, my mentor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6We6VDtyHY Our networking products and our large role in defining the Internet protocols and its access by everyone was basically exporting our corporate culture. We knew we were changing the world ... and we did. My solution to workers today being ignored by mostly highly greedy corporate management is to have workers get enough shares in the company so they are significant shareholders and therefore get a share of the profit they produced. We, the People, all of us this time!
Sorry, but greed is universal. We all have some greed in us, if only the desire for a higher wage, a better place to live or a secure retirement. Greed, like all impulses, has to be managed. How and when to do that are questions that bedevil us.
Wonderful letter. I have tried to explain to people that the market crash in '93 was purposeful to hamper Cleveland, but people aren't willing to accept it. So, I'm saving this letter for sure!
KR, your note prompted me to explore a bit. Click on the magnifying glass icon just above the body of the letter, right hand side of the page and type in what you are seeking. I typed in 'Labor Day' and up came the LFAA containing Labor Day. So easy! Try it, I think you'll like it.
"Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters.”
President Grover Cleveland not only saw his present clearly in the 1880s, he also saw our here and now. But thankfully workers today are increasingly restive and fighting back against very long odds.
Our unrestrained corporate structure (and the libertarian thrust of its owners) is the epicenter of our demise. Heather also quoted the banners at the first Labor Day parade, including: “Labor Creates All Wealth,” and “Labor Pays All Taxes”. To be exact, that labor includes the labor of the entrepreneurs, and that wealth includes the profits generated by consumption from all sources. Thus, we must explain to the nation that labor and spending constitute the great reservoir of ALL TAXES. If profits and capital accumulate, it is the wealthy who must pay a greater share. They are retaining OUR money and must return it to US, to society. We must educate the people before it's too late.
Don't worry, just tell the children that the only socialism at the moment is socialism for the rich. Tell them to get rich when they grow up and they won't have to pay any taxes at all.
In Heather's book "Wounded Knee" she does a thorough dive into the corruption and greed that Harrison and McKinley fostered in the late 1800's. Harrison was as slimy as Trump in many ways. If BH had social media to spread his pro-business propaganda, the US may have been even more tilted to the elites. HCR provides so much info in the book, I had to reread and probably should again.
One of the more onerous and long lasting nastiness that Harrison pushed through was statehood for South & North Dakota on November 2, 1889, Montana a week later and Wyoming the following year. This would give the Republicans another 12 electoral votes (a move backfired on Harrison in 1892). Added together the current populations of these four states would be less than that of CT at about 3.3 million. CT has five Congressmen, while SD, ND, WY and MT have a combined four, but it is the 6 extra Senators that tip the scales in the Senate and the electoral college vote.
It is the Republicans that have blocked statehood for DC for political reasons as well.
Today should be a day to celebrate labor and I digress. Thank you labor and unions for helping to bring us the 5 day, 40 hour work week and paid-holidays. And thanks for PTO and overtime pay as well as many of the benefits we enjoy thanks to unions and labor. I constantly take this all for granted. And yet, we must remain vigilant as the greedy Republicans continue to take chip away at these rights.
Thanks for sharing the lyrics. I looked up Joan Baez on IMDB and she has 298 credits under her name which puts her high on the list of musicians and actors. An amazing woman whose bravery to stand up for what is right is truly remarkable. And you're right, not a bad voice either.
In 1971, my high school economics class went to see the movie Joe Hill. Speaking of chills. What an incredibly brave man he was. Of course, he was one of thousands that fought for the rights we enjoy today and the wages we receive.
Puerto Rico has about 3.2 million people about the same as ND, SD, WY & MT combined. You're right that it's long past time that PR became a state. They would have 7 electoral votes if the current ratios hold up and 5 US Representatives. Of course, the Republicans are against PR becoming a state.
And force these rich wealthy corporations to pay their fair share of those taxes, and the wealth oriole they have in the top floors behind the big desk that pocket millions a year in personal bonuses.
Respect for work is needed. For example hedge fund managers neither work nor do anything that improves our economy; I would tax the pants off them. People who build and repair things have real value, so do teachers, nurses, scientists, garbage collectors, city planners, etc.
The least that could be done is tax them as ordinary income! If I'm not mistaken, they would then be paying 39%. I personally think all income should be taxed as ordinary income, regardless of the type of income. Of course this is a graduated scale as that which exists now. Then if Elon M. lived in Minnesota with a 10% top income bracket, he'd pay 49% of his stock option profits in taxes.
I saw this post today on a social media site, “8 men have as much wealth as 3.6 billion people, but sure, the single mom on food stamps is the problem.”
And those '8 men' will profit handsomely from the next war, while we send the children of that single Mom off to die in a far off land in the defense of our democracy.
And what does this mean in terms of the democratic distribution of power and quality of life in societies across the planet? What is the extended impact of such extreme concentration of wealth on any number of fronts?
Obviously we all throw our straws on the camel's back of climate, but there is very big money standing in the way of sane responses to our environmental problems. We have been aware of ongoing antropogenic climate change for several decades, and the potential for it long before that. That's blurred in the fog of massive bought and paid for disinformation campaigns and direct and indirect payoffs to legislators, judges, etc. I recall that in the GWB regime, energy reps and regulators were quite literally in bed together.
It hurts met to say this, but I fear our system of government isn't up to the momentous threat only just beginning to wreak havoc. No doubt you know the obstacles to "sane responses." There's been some encouraging progress very recently, but it's akin to a garden hose against a conflagration. By the time the will of the people is commensurate with the threat, it may be too late.
The "tide" will turn someday, but time is of the essence. We were fools throw away reasonable graduated taxation, corporate regulation and antitrust for hollow promises. Can we get wise fast?
Thank you for the great history lesson, Heather. I believe most of the turmoil of our politics and government today has its roots in the extreme income disparity we are experiencing. Robert Reich writes about why we are experiencing extreme income disparity today in his substack article: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/jack-welch-and-the-end-of-stakeholder I think it is a MUST read because he not only says how we got here but also what we can do to fix it! History is rhyming! Enjoy!
" I’ll suggest what we can do to resurrect the common good. "
That's the current "GOP" definition of communism from the pit of hell.
Reagan was strongly influenced by celebrated economist Milton Friedman whose most famous thesis was "The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits."
But if a corporation is a person, would not that person be a really lousy citizen if not a sociopath. Does it make any sense is a corporate duty to profit trumps any duty of it's directors and employees to their county, to their society, to (especially those who claim to be "Christian" to their neighbors, as well as to posterity?
I'll add another peg in the GE story. My background is rather unique in that I've been both a senior executive in a Fortune 100 company, a highly ethical one, and a member of the AFL-CIO Musicians Union, before right to work laws were passed. The blizzard of 1977 in Boston was at its height during rush hour and the roads became clogged with cars stuck in heavy snow. An emergency order prohibited people from driving on the roads for several days meaning employees couldn't get to work for an entire week. My company, Digital Equipment Corporation paid the hourly workers a full weeks wage anyway because it was the "right thing to do" even if it cost Digital about a million dollars. . GE didn't pay its hourly workers for that week because there was no rule in their contract with the unions that said they had to. Digital never unionized because it was a highly ethical company who lived their motto of "Do the Right Thing" and treated its employees very well. The moral of the story is that large companies can be ethical. Ethics start at the top and our company had a wonderful man at the top, Ken Olsen. He not only had a vision for bringing computing to all people, he also had an organizational vision that was very egalitarian. Here's a short video on Ken, my mentor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6We6VDtyHY Our networking products and our large role in defining the Internet protocols and its access by everyone was basically exporting our corporate culture. We knew we were changing the world ... and we did. My solution to workers today being ignored by mostly highly greedy corporate management is to have workers get enough shares in the company so they are significant shareholders and therefore get a share of the profit they produced. We, the People, all of us this time!
My experience is that they 'won't' be ethical unless required by some law. I for instance have worked for a Fortune 500 corp. that you would know very well, a world wide manufacturer. I got injured on the job 6.5 years ago and am now disabled physiologically, not mentally but it does get me very down. Their attitude is 'prove it' and that's your problem. We will give you a buyout if you sign an NDA. Basically I contracted an antibiotic resistant staph infection that was not discovered until I went into septic shock and collapsed (seizure) in a Dr's office and was rushed to a hospital. I remained in sepsis for over 36 hours, at the minimum. Postscript: Post sepsis has left me with horrible gifts, among them insomnia and 24/7 vertigo, crushing fatigue, wandering aches and pains, crushed confidence, and yes it effects me emotionally. I fear for my spouse - intensely and chronically. (I've tried and failed to reach my senator as he is overwhelmed as I'm guessing) *edit in > Oh, and I worked for them honorably since 1973.
I do think my company - DEC - was quite unique but at least proves it is possible for a Fortune 100 company to be ethical, honest and do well by their employees. We really did live "do the right thing". Once I had a 1 on 1 with Ken, the CEO. He didn't like something I said but he replied: "You know at times you can be a pain in the ass, but you're honest ... and that's important!" The next time I saw him was at the State of the Company meeting. He was talking to someone when I walked up to him so he introduced me. "This is Cathy. She can be a pain in the neck at times." I retorted: "Glad to hear I'm moving up in the world." We both enjoyed our mutual humor and he had his usual twinkle in his eyes and a smile. I was speaking at the State of Company after lunch so he introduced me. He knew I was a music conductor part time so he introduced me as semi-conductor. More humor! I feel for your situation which is probably all too common especially now. I have had a near death experience from a massive pulmonary embolism and went into extrinsic cardiogenic shock once. If nothing happens the next step can be sudden death, no chance for resuscitation, but fortunately they gave me the tPA clot buster and I survived. Fortunately without all the problems you have had to endure. I did have incredible fatigue for about six weeks and learned that I had to listen to my body which was saying you can lay down right here or I might let you get to your bed. Maybe. I gather it is hard to evaluate how much pain a person is in under circumstances like yours. It certainly is very, very real to the person experiencing it. Hope you can find a bit of solace in small kindnesses and moments of peace. Thanks for sharing!
I should add that we would all be better off if strength of character was an important element in the selection of our leaders in politics and corporate management. And, sense of community. I like the Native Americans who measure a person's wealth by their generosity to their community.
Read Reich's article a couple days ago. And now the Slate piece (thank you for the link) in the midst of SAG, et al on strike. Indeed, more dots than can be counted to connect.
James, Yuval Noah Harrari (Sapiens, 2015) agreed but on a much broader scale! He believed the onset of the "Industrial Revolution" 200 years ago heralded the demise of the family as the main source of identity and control and was replaced by the state and the market leading to the massive extinction of plants and animals (pp. 350-375).
The dynamics between those who seek to dominate and those who seek to liberate is always in play, but much of the 20th Century was a time of advancing empowerment of the public, as well as a time of scientific, medical and technological innovation and rising standards of living for a great many. Noteworthy progress was made empowering women and minorities as well. The plutocrats were never defeated but were sort of on the back foot until the reign of Reagan, and significant capture of media. Over subsequent years the legal landscape has titled dramatically toward favoring those with most money.
If the aggregated "people" of this society are indeed the ultimate source of legal authority and legitimacy in the US, of course we get to make the rules for corporations and commerce; and not vice versa. At least in theory.
How interesting that the Republicans, even back then, were perfectly willing to crash the economy to "prove" how dangerous Democratic social policies were. Must be in their DNA.
Have a relaxing Labor Day, everyone. We've earned a day off!
Check this map to see how much more a corporate CEO makes than their workers? How much are the CEOs in the worst 100 corporations paid? How much stock do they own? How much does their corporation spend on stock buybacks to boost the value of their CEO's stock holding? How much do workers make? What is the CEO/Worker salary ratio? What regulations have been proposed to fix this rigged system be fixed? https://thedemlabs.org/2023/09/03/labor-day-kentucky-greed-derby-corporations-exploit-workerr-overpay-ceos/
The CEO/Worker salary ratio far less wide pre-Reagan. CEOs are taking joy rides into space or building ship sized yachts. Who else is riding high on Reaganomics, apart from certain corporately useful folks like Clarence Thomas?
WOW! I had never read the real Reagan history (though always totally opposed to him). Explains everything. Should read the book, but I'm pretty nauseated with just the summary. Thank You D4N. I think.
OK, this is nauseating so early in the morning 🤬 but definitely worth scrolling through. Of course, I looked up the businesses I most frequent and am thinking can I live without this? I didn't realize Amazon had so much in government contracts. Yikes!
So often we see that those who have want more and those who don't have don't have the power to gain traction. Wealth of the elite is truly built on the backs of hard working men and women (and in times before 1900, children as well, sometimes that is even true today, though not legal.) A few of the wealthy (Allen, Gates, Soros, Buffett) try to share their wealth, and Bezos ex-wife and Paul Allen's sister have been at the forefront of wealth distribution, but in a trillions of dollars economy, a billion here, a billion there, does not amount to nearly as much as fair appropriate taxation would permit. We need money for teachers, good schools, decent housing, replacement of fossil fuels, and many other things. Hope the march this year will be massive; we will soon see what the heart of the nation looks like.
Wasn’t Huckabee’s children’s declaration just stopped by a federal judge? If she were a really good parent, she should send her children into the very businesses she is sending migrant children to.
Today's GOP is the issue of Movement Conservatives in bed with The Religious Right (as personified by court capture operative and professional Catholic extremist Leonard Leo.) It is built on the racism and classism of the Founding enslavers and the hatred of American Federal government of their Confederate heirs. As amplified in the Republican Southern Strategy. It's success is in part through the appeal and exploitation of bigotry. But this is also fueled in part by the legitimate fears and grievances of working class people disadvantaged by the Democratic party's embrace of NeoLiberalism initiated by Bill Clinton - aligning the party with Wall Street interests and making it vulnerable to splitting off of working class voters by GOP wedge issues.
___The early-September tribute to workers has been an official holiday for almost 130 years
— but an emboldened labor movement has created an environment closer to the era from which Labor Day was born. Like the late 1800s, workers are facing rapid economic transformation
— and a growing gap in pay between themselves and new billionaire leaders of industry, mirroring the stark inequalities seen more than a century ago.
___“There’s a lot of historical rhyming between the period of the origins of Labor Day and today,” Todd Vachon, an assistant professor in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, told The Associated Press. “Then, they had the Carnegies and the Rockefellers. Today, we have the Musks and the Bezoses. ... It’s a similar period of transition and change and also of resistance
— of working people wanting to have some kind of dignity.”
___Between writers and actors on strike, contentious contract negotiations that led up to a new labor deal for 340,000 unionized UPS workers and active picket lines across multiple industries, the labor in Labor Day is again at the forefront of the holiday arguably more than it has been in recent memory.
___Unionized workers at UPS threatened a mass walkout before approving a new contract last month that includes increased pay and safety protections for workers. A strike at UPS would have disrupted the supply chain nationwide.
___Last month, auto workers also overwhelmingly voted to give union leaders the authority to call strikes against Detroit car companies if a contract agreement isn’t reached by the Sept. 14 deadline. And flight attendants at American Airlines also voted to authorize a strike this week.
“I think there’s going to be definitely more attention given to labor this Labor Day than there may have been in many recent years,” Vachon said. Organizing around labor rights has “come back into the national attention. ... And (workers) are standing up and fighting for it.”(AP) See link below.
___WHY CHILD LABOR IN AMERICA IS SKYROCKETING by Robert Reich
___Corporations are bringing back child labor in America.
And some Republicans want to make it easier for them to get away with it.
___Since 2015, child labor violations have risen nearly 300%. And those are just the violations government investigators have managed to uncover and document.
___The Department of Labor says it’s currently investigating over 600 cases of illegal child labor in America. Major American companies like General Mills, Walmart, and Ford have all been implicated.
___Why on Earth is this happening? The answer is frighteningly simple: greed.
___Employers have been having difficulty finding the workers they need at the wages they are willing to pay. Rather than reduce their profits by paying adult workers more, employers are exploiting children.
___The sad fact of the matter is that many of the children who are being exploited are considered to be “them” rather than “us” because they’re disproportionately poor and immigrant. So the moral shame of subjecting “our” children to inhumane working conditions when they ought to be in school is quietly avoided.
___And since some of these children (or their parents) are undocumented, they dare not speak out or risk detention and deportation. They need the money. This makes them easily exploitable.
It’s a perfect storm that’s resulting in vulnerable children taking on some of the most brutal jobs.
Folks, we’ve seen this before.
___Reformers fought to establish the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 for a reason
— to curb the grotesque child labor seen during America’s first Gilded Age.
___The U.S. banned most child labor.
___But now, pro-business trade groups and their Republican lackeys are trying to reverse nearly a century of progress, and they’re using the so-called “labor shortage” as their excuse.
___Arkansas will no longer require 14 and 15 year olds to get a work permit before taking a job — a process that verified their age and required permission from a parent or guardian.
___A bill in Ohio would let children work later on school nights.
___Minnesota Republicans are pushing to let 16 year-olds work in construction.
____And 14-year-olds in Iowa may soon be allowed to take certain jobs in meatpacking plants and operate dangerous machinery.
It’s all a coordinated campaign to erode national standards, making it even easier for companies to profit off children.
___Across America, we’re witnessing a resurgence of cruel capitalism in which business lobbyists and lawmakers justify their actions by arguing that they are not exploiting the weak and vulnerable, but rather providing jobs for those who need them and would otherwise go hungry or homeless.
Conveniently, these same business lobbyists and lawmakers are often among the first to claim we “can’t afford” stronger safety nets that would provide these children with safe housing and adequate nutrition.
__So what can stop this madness?
___First: Fund the Department of Labor so it can crack down on child labor violations. When I was Secretary of Labor, the department was chronically underfunded and understaffed. It still is, because lawmakers and their corporate backers want it that way.
___Second: Increase fines on companies that break child labor laws. Current fines are too low, and are treated as costs of doing business by hugely profitable companies that violate the law.
___Third: Hold major corporations accountable. Many big corporations contract with smaller companies that employ children, which allows the big corporations to play dumb and often avoid liability. It’s time to demand that large corporations take responsibility for their supply chains.
___Fourth: Reform immigration laws so undocumented children aren’t exploited.
___And lastly: Organize. Fight against state laws that are attempting to bring back child labor.
Are corporate profits really more important than the safety of children? (RichardReich) See link below.
Great synopsis, Fern. We do not have a labor shortage. We have a comparable wage shortage. I am not good with numbers, so I am not going to try and extrapolate what that would look like using actual numbers. What I believe is this: Include investment gains as income. Tax all income, and the tax rate goes up when the income is in the top 15% of all income reported. Pay wages that allow people to do things like afford a house, a car, and food. Don't. Hire. Children. When teens desire to go to work (like, when their parents make them earn money for a car, or for the gas/insurance on a car) do not work them so hard they fall behind in school.
My ancestors, recent immigrants from Ukraine in the 1880’s, started a business (Machlin & Sons) making pants, AND were labor organizers (Esther Machlin Laddon, close friend of Emma Goldman).
I have always believed in the power of labor, organized and united, to uplift people out of poverty and drudgery to a life of their dreams! Today, the goal of helping people live lives of productive, soul-fulfilling work continues.
My favorite slogan of the early labor movement is, “8 hours labour, 8 hours recreation, 8 hours rest”
I have never heard that slogan. If only it was true!
First, I am very much a feminist, that slogan might have been true in the 50s, but otherwise, when has it been? I was raised by a stay at home mother, she certainly labored 8 hours a day to clean, cook, do the marketing and raise 5 kids. My Dad managed a store, he worked much more than 8 hours a day. That is a story for another day.
My adult kids all work more than 8 hour days (all college educated, btw). Then, there is the home upkeep and all that entails. For one, there are the children's needs to deal with. There are only 24 hours in a day, so what gives? For many, apparently it is SLEEP.
I think that in a two parent household, both should feel free to work IF THEY WANT, and it could be either parent. It should not be because they MUST.
I offer this problem, sadly, with no solutions. I don't have any.
Labor Day should be more respected than just advertisements for items being on sale. You write, Heather, that the same arguments which occurred in the 1800’s still exist in 2023. Union workers everywhere, are going on strike for better wages and benefits. Look at what is happening to the writers and staff for Hollywood and tv shows. The CEOs are raking in millions upon millions upon millions of dollars while the front line people struggle to eat or take care of themselves. Greed is atrocious.
"Greed is atrocious."
Amen. But Greed is far beyond atrocious. It's a giant, cancerous blob which will never be satiated. I can't help but think of the image Matt Taibbi gave us in his book ("Griftopia") about Goldman-Sachs during the 2008 Bailout Scam. I believe he called them, "A giant vampire squid stuck on the face of Humanity." Goldman-Sachs was overleveraged 330 times to 1--1 being the amount of capital G-S actually possessed at the time of the crisis. Yet, the government bailed them out dollar for dollar to cover that giantic loss from spectulation. And G-S was joined by many more "too big to fail" scammers.
Our political leaders/administrators are mostly controlled by greed of one form or another. I just wish they didn't have so much control over our lives. It's embarrassing to allow such corrupted people to rule us.
"Yet, the government bailed them out dollar for dollar to cover that giantic loss from spectulation. And G-S was joined by many more "too big to fail" scammers."
Yet, the republicans have the shamelessness to refer to stepping up to big pharma to negotiate for lower (ridiculously high) drug prices as communism. The irony is indigestible....
Hedydon, your remark: " I just wish they didn't have so much control over our lives."
It is frustrating that the disinformation/misinformation machines (Fox, OAN, Alex Jones and Newsmax) can so easily peddle their wares to an audience that wants to hear what they have to pitch. They believe it because they want to - confirmation bias. Somehow, perhaps beginning at least in the 6th grade, we could begin teaching our children critical thinking processes. Confirmation bias is the first fact to teach and examine.
Think of something that you believe is true . . . .
1. How SURE are you that it's true? (0-100%)
2. What is the SOURCE of the belief?
3. What are your REASONS for believing it's true?
4. How could you FIGURE OUT if it's true?
5. How would you FEEL if you were WRONG?
6. What facts would CHANGE YOUR MIND?
Richard, Haydon, and anyone else who may read this, there's a book; The Life Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit, by John Petrocelli ISBN 978-250-27162-4, that you may enjoy. Cheers.
.My office mate used to have a spray can labeled "Bullshit Detector." Wish it were that easy.
Thank you for this, Steve. I just ordered it for my Kindle from Amazon.
!
Got it, and it's true, we all do B.S. Kindle is great.
I got the condensed summary, which, in my view, is itself bullshit. Don't buy the one by Robert Tina.
And may I suggest another interesting book: “The Confidence Game - Why We Fall for It…Every Time” by Maria Konnikova. It describes those bullshitters to a “T”.
Great book by Maria. I got it back when it first came out.
See also: "Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic"
https://www.amazon.com/Knowing-What-Know-Transmission-Knowledge/dp/0063142880/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3I3QT6422TO4W&keywords=knowing+what+we+know&qid=1693838539&s=books&sprefix=knowing+what+we+know%2Cstripbooks%2C111&sr=1-1
I just reserved the book online and will pick it up at the library tomorrow.
Richard, I suspect it will take A LOT of teaching to override the human need to belong. A major part of scientific thinking and teaching is geared toward recognizing the many ways personal bias can slip into our observations and "analysis." It is wise to keep in mind the propositions of Steven Pinker (Harvard psychologist) in which he contends that "In many circumstances, social connection is actually more helpful to your daily life than understanding the truth of a particular fact or idea. People are embraced or condemned according to their beliefs, so one function of the mind may be to hold beliefs that bring the belief-holder the greatest number of allies, protectors, or disciples, rather than beliefs that are most likely to be true.” In his 2018 book on "Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds" James Clear points out that "truth and accuracy are not the only things that matter to the human mind; humans (as essentially herd animals) also have a deep desire to belong. In many circumstances, social connection is actually more helpful to your daily life than understanding the truth of a particular fact or idea."
These contentions seem a very accurate depiction of our current political scene!
JohnM, I think that the points are well made. I grew up in Jim Crow Texas in the 1940's and '50's. I never liked the "good ol'boy' culture. When I got to California courtesy of the U.S. Army, it was a breath of fresh air. I never returned to live in Texas. I've concluded that in many cases we believe "what we want or feel compelled to believe" for personal reasons. I cite Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. as an example of this. Collins was co-chair of the Human Genome Project. If anyone understands DNA and its origin, it has to be Collins, yet, even knowing that all living things on earth (plants, animals, insects) all share the same DNA, coming down to us from LUCA, a creature (one-celled) that came to life 3.5 billion years ago, Collins is still a fundamentalist Christian. Why? I suspect that he doesn't want to "die." That compulsion overrides his critical thinking capacity. Why do MAGA/KKK support Trump? He represents their racism, among other elements. It's complicated, on the one hand, and simple, on the other hand.
Richard, thanks for this interesting post about Collins. I am in the middle of a book called The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science by Alan Lightman, a scientist. He has a whole chapter that really focuses on the fear of death and some early writers like Lucretius who gave a material explantation (atoms) in contrast to a divine explanation for things in an attempt to relieve people of the fear of death. He also gives figures for how many people in this country believe that there is a heaven and a hell....way too high a percentage in my estimation. He is also very well read and cites quite a number of people throughout. I bought this book in a book form from Powell's (the workers are on strike today) in Portland. I want to make another order soon, but I won't cross even a virtual picket line.
Librarians aren't on strike; you can borrow, read, then decide whether to buy. Support your local library!
At least it shows science can thrive to some even fair degree amongst even evangelicals, allowing for "sore spots". ie evolution
Yup! ...and yup again. 🙂
To explain my own point of view a little, I consider my birth as a white male to be a chance matter in the broader scheme of things. I could have been born a female raccoon or a male shark. We all have the same DNA. It just so happens that I came along as a white, Ango-Saxon male. I take absolutely no sense of pride in it or that I should necessarily identify with other white males, or males of any race, or whites of any gender. It's all simply a matter of chance. This makes it virtually impossible for me to identify with KKK/MAGA types.
"People are embraced or condemned according to their beliefs" I add and the way they look.
Whilst living in the US I was lucky to have lived in Topanga Canyon, not only a place of great beauty but a haven of original thinkers/artists/musicians. IF I had not lived there most decidedly I would have left before the 22yrs I had.
I was outspoken and wore clothes I liked which (when in the City of LA) were cause for many stares and people making up their minds about what I was like.
Many people were like sheep..same clothes/toys/opinions.
Not surprised US has a problem now.
This is the argument Hillary Clinton makes in her piece in the Atlantic "The Weaponizing of Loneliness" She totally nails it
The need to be part of a group outweighs truth and facts
Pretty much hit it on the head!
Individuals???
Yes! That’s liberal arts education which we have mostly abandoned. Today repeating what I learned in graduate school about the liberal arts education i had been receiving since eighth grade: the international scholar who was teaching the class I was taking, who had graduated from Harvard with a PhD said that he had received that degree “while Harvard was still a university--the year before the Business School
opened.” Education is not about jobs (as some would say “per se”), but about learning how to discriminate between fact and fancy.
I agree with that last statement. When I was a student at Whittier College (1965) I remember my Russian history professor, Harry Nerhood, telling me: "Richard, we're not about teaching you what you need to know on a job. That will come on the job. We're about teaching you how to think." Amen.
Interesting. My personal experience on that was studying Criminology at Southern Oregon State College (now SO University). My first year taking lower division classes, I had one professor say "We are not going to teach you how to be cops; that is the job of your agency. We are here to teach you the history, foundations, applications, and how to apply that knowledge to the basics of policing." I had professors who had been street cops who got Ph.D.'s, lawyers, one who had been a cop, then a lawyer, and another former juvenile system worker. None of my coursework centered on the mechanics of law enforcement, and the only class I ever took that required any sort of actual law enforcement time asked for us to do a ride-along with an agency, ask a set of questions that pertained to what we were studying, and then write a paper on it.
Taught critical thinking, how to write, how to recognize bias, and some other really useful things...
Yes! I remember hearing that thinking was what we were after: use good sources, what the good sources were, discriminate among sourced. Learning a bit of Latin and Greek was a plus too. It taught appreciation of language and its appropriate use. I used the formula learned to conjugate Latin verbs to teach French verbs. My favorite Monty Python remains: “If you don’t know the Latin, you have to do the hackin’ and the hewin’. I learned my smattering of Latin and French phonetics at the same time in my small country high school in rural Virginia from teachers who had liberal arts degrees and maybe one “education course.” I taught imitating to the best of my ability the best teachers I’d had. It worked! (But teaching was what many on both sides of my family did, so maybe it’s genetic. Salesmanship and loving the what and the whom you’re teaching.)
I went to school in England and we had to take 2yrs of Latin.
Although I have had trouble with languages Latin has helped me so much. Vocabulary and learning French.
NO idea why they stopped teaching it.
My Russian history prof at the UO was Gustav Alef. One day a person in the class made a comment about what he thought was the uselessness of history and the importance of having trade. Dr. Alef then told us that his father, a prof in eastern Europe, given what happened to intellectuals in Europe at times, told his son that as a backup, he should also learn a trade and he did: electrical engineering. That shut up the student.
Virginia....this started when I was still working in eduction in the 90s with a new principal (a jerk who we finally sued) who insisted that certain classes had to be about careers. I consider such a position undercutting critical thinking among other things as well as kids learning basics about how to do certain things in ordinary life. Now everything is about money. As for the constant drumbeat contrasting universities and trades. I say we can do both and must do both as we need both physicians and plumbers for example. We did our graduate work at Oregon and have followed some of their sports teams for years. Now in pursuit of money we have the athletic program joining the Big Ten and others leaving for other conferences, so there is only two schools left in the venerable Pac 12. This is determined by TV payouts, so Fox and ESPN rule. Too bad about the athletes who next year will have to travel across country. People in Oregon complain nonstop about PERS, the public employee retirement system. Who gets the largest PERS payout per month....Mike Belotti, the former UO head football coach.
Can we put Shop classes back in high schools? Computer classes are already there. Employers can train. If they get well-educated employees, it’s faster. I have been entertained by the speed with which Ukrainian soldiers have learned weapons that American military thought would take months, reminded that if you must learn two languages and two alphabets in primary schooo, your brain is well-prepared for learning what follows.
Honestly, all kinds of life skills have to be taught in school, and they can't wait until high school. Kids are exposed to advertising (barraged might be a better word for it) of all kinds everywhere at all times from early childhood on - sometimes even by their parents based on the products those parents bring into the household and the TV channels they keep on, and that advertising interferes with their ability to assess what is real and what is valuable. They have to be taught - in school - critical thinking skills from childhood on, and then over time how to budget, how to change a tire, how to clean the dishes and vacuum a house, how to clean a bathroom and a kitchen, how to cook simple meals, how to assess quality of ingredients to buy at the store and figure out what to substitute when the ingredients aren't available or are too expensive, AND computer skills, shop and basic electrical and plumbing skills so they can get and keep a job they want - because their parents aren't teaching this stuff, either because they themselves can't, or don't have the time after working two jobs, or are taking care of elderly parents, etc. and on and on. And this stuff all needs to be taught to people in the public schools, not in after-school or post-12th grade programs which they have to pay for individually, because a lot of the people who need these skills cannot afford to pay to acquire them.
Here in Salem, we have shop classes at a large career center near us and another one not too far away. I see that that the one we pass often has a beauty school element. As far as i know certain shop classes have remained where I worked. One of the problems even when i was working is that people can make more money elsewhere and don't have to deal with school problems.
Yes exactly right Ms Witmer
Thank you, Ms Stajninger.
The one thing most politicians don't want is a thinking population. This is why some of them try to ban books. No book ever hurt anyone, but books can lead to thinking and that is not good for many politicians. Texas has specifically banned the teaching of critical thinking because they don't want children to question what their parents teach them. Such B.S. is unbelievabble, except in the mind of a conservative who knows their position is weak and doesn't lend itself to close examination.
That is one tricky process. Dont count on it working extensively, but id never stop anyone trying! Even critical thinking is a form of indoctrination, ie a trained process which needs to be internalized and practiced, and... it isn't easy. Not only that, it takes little trouble to throw up superficial media roadblocks, esp when its' organized. Climate change, small example.
Frank. can you elaborate on your reference to climate change? Are you saying or suggesting that "Man-Made Climate Change" is real or a hoax?
thought i implied it is real, very real. The opposition is funded by vested interests in petro, which is picked up by the GOP.
Touchstone Discussion Project (TDP) offers schools and volunteers short, text-based, leader-led discussions, designed in convey (in under an hour a week) the essential skills of reflection, critical thinking, listening, and
deliberation and mutual respect.
Maybe offer TDP to your local school, community center, children & grandchildren?
Do not wait until the 6 th.grad. Children absorb and digest much faster than we honor.
But, Richard , your thoughts are correct!! Thank you.!
You know what, Jean (Muriel,) you are right, and I could take my own case to prove it. When I was six years old I lived in a rural part of Texas, which at the time had a population of no more than 2 million. There was virtually no ambient light. At that time, "the stars at night were big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas." The sky was brilliant. I used to try in my mind to travel to the edge of the universe, but of course, I couldn't. I could never get there. Infinity is beyond human comprehension and, of course, we cannot get past the edge of the universe into, what? How can there be anything on the outside of the universe. So, even at six I was having these questions. I could have used the critical thinking process then. I also had the same question about whether there was a God. Ultimately, I came to believe that the idea of God and everlasting life were mere vain hopes. It does end. As the poet said: "Gather ye rosebuds while you may, for tomorrow will be dying."
Richard, thank you for the questions........however....... maybe turning off their source of news......except they are at church several times a week .....a nest of reprograming for the"Rs".
Dear close relatives were sharing a meal with us last evening. They are strongly supporting the "Rs" ..... we did not argue nor could we discuss with reason....we just enjoyed our evening. My sister-in-law asked."You don't hate us do you?" Of course we responded, "NO". I thought....why would I hate you....why would you even think that having an opposing opininion would cause me to "hate" someone. (Maybe concerned about your sense of reality ...but surely not "hate". )
It is a complicated matter, Emily. Those who support Trump actually are saying that they approve of his dismantling the Constitution and establishing a dictatorship. We're definitely at a tipping point in this country - white autocratic dictatorship vs. a pluralistic democratic constitutional republic. Perhaps we should be talking about what they understand the government would be under a Trump presidency. I will ask some of my old buddies who are MAGA Republicans.
That is an excellent question, Richard. I would be hugely interested in what your friends have to say.
Heydon,
Yes, The bailouts that began in 2007 and went through 2012 in various forms and were supported by BOTH parties actively and were the most disgusting thing I have seen in my adult lifetime.
Millions of homeowners washed out into the street but Big Banks were bailed out, NOT the homeowners.
All of the players on Wall Street who CAUSED the crash, a crash that was underpinned by the legalization of derivatives (i.e., mortgage backed securities) in 2001 by the Bush administration, were bailed out.
Every single bad actor who caused the crash: A Republican administration that had legalized derivatives, Goldman Sachs, Big Banks who knew better, were ALL bailed out.
The bailout started under Bush, but Obama amped it up when he became President (and then earned $200,000 for his first post Presidential speech at one of those banks). Obama's deficit spending was breathtaking as he tried to funnel money to the rich to cloak the Republican caused depression.
In fact, we should have bailed out not one bank, not one investment house and then let the economy sink into a depression for 10 years.
Then??? People would remember George W. Bush NOT for his illegal wars BUT for his disastrous Great Depression.
NOBODY would be voting Republican today. Everybody would still remember living in the streets due to Republican policy.
Mike,
I am in sympathy with your sentiments. Maybe not totally with your solution. Certainly, most of the Federal bailout money should have gone to the homeowners who were cheated. We who have signed mortgage papers know how mind numbing it is. And the mortgages of that day were nuts.
We needed a loan to get from one property to another residence/small business. A mortgage broker sat at our kitchen table, took our SS numbers and said I'll get back to you. Next week he said you are all set. I said: "Don't you want to know our income?"
"Nope, I'll fill in what works for the underwriters." It was a "stated income, no doc loan". 1% interest for 3 months. Then LIBOR plus some adjustable percentage. Payments would explode over time.
We paid that loan off quickly - used it as a bridge loan. But how many unsuspecting homeowners were trapped in such a way? And was that unlicensed (not required then in Maine) broker ever held accountable for selling dangerous junk loans to unsuspecting people? No.
Obama's bailout could have taken different forms. Homeowners first. Let some banks gobble up some other banks that were under capitalized. I really doubt that the entire financial system would have suffered for very long. The vultures would have swooped in and eaten the carcasses of Goldman Sacks, etc.
Obama had two disadvantages. One was that he was afraid of being too "populist". He wanted to be a president for all of us - including Wall Street. The other was that his cabinet was infested with money pushers from guess where. An imperfect leader.
But on the other side of the coin, he did bail out the Detroit car industry with loans that were repaid. What if the government had done something similar for Wall Street and AIC - holding a chunk of ownership to allow Americans to reap some profits along with the oligarchs? But wait! Oh, no! That sounds like "socialism"! Sounds like "Bernie talk", eh? Sign me up.
“Socialism”? That’s the right-wing’s reply to any intelligent suggestions or solutions by the Democrats or anyone else for that matter…all the while the, those who are retired readily accepting their Social Security checks.
As has oft been repeated on these pages, Republicans by & large don't seem to possess a clue as to what that dreaded moniker, "socialism" actually means. They brandish it like a sword and use it to label EVERYTHING Democrats propose, with it often being a MISnomer instead. They keep their base misinformed about it, never really going into what it is, only that they have to be against it because . . . ? Well, it's "socialism". Isn't that bad enough? Just like HCR points out was done by Republicans in the 1880s and "90s, they use it as a scare tactic. Nowadays, it's to SWEAR that we will end up like Venezuela, Cuba, or North Korea, which of course is laughably ridiculous. The ones fomenting the lies about it ARE afraid of "socialism" because deep in their shriveled up, cold, capitalistic little hearts they know if we developed democratic socialism as practiced in Europe, Scandinavia, or other industrialized countries, THEIR days of raking in obscene amounts of profits would be seriously curtailed. THAT is what they're afraid of. Once the people get used to having more, it will be hard to put that genie back in the bottle. Corporations in those places exist and still do make large amounts of capital, but not to the ridiculous levels of entities here. They pay their workers more, pay more in taxes, and provide many more services for their employees, with the difference being their bottom lines of profit are less, but they do still exist. AND guess what, the populations of those countries still have the power of the vote to change things as they see fit. The top percentages of wealthy people here keep managing to convince the middle and lower income people that it is in their best interest to do all they can to fight against "socialism" (as they see it), when the exact opposite is true. There is no amount of money these uber-wealthy entities won't spend to keep convincing their constituents of the evils of "socialism" and that THEY, the wealthy, need to keep being able to earn countless billions and also dispense with any regulations on that. I wonder how much longer they will be able to hoodwink their base? Now they're trying it from the "cultural wars" angle, that Democrats (and "socialists") are all for killing babies, confusing their children about their gender and sexuality, taking away their rights, and making them "woke", whatever that is. No wonder Europeans look at us and think, "WTF?!?"
You speak the truth. When engaging with those worried about socialism, I often ask them who really needs more than a billion dollars? Or 500 million for that matter.
Yes, the malicious have gotten a lot of mileage through inflaming the people with the ominous, threatening "socialism".
Of course, there are multiple reasons the "socialism" message has been so well-drilled into Americans' heads. I was a child and young adolescent during the '50s. I remember the anti-socialist/communist films with themes of treating the "reds" as though they were an insidious disease which needed to be found and dissolved. Even the newsreels at the movie theaters were continuing with clips degrading U.S. enemies. Propaganda grew in development and use, super-charged during WWII. Shortly thereafter (1947?), television began to be available and coupled with the government propaganda machine, the authorities were able to distribute their "messages" to the masses. The Cold War, the Iron Curtain, McCarthyism, et al--they all came to us through the newspapers and magazines, radio, TV, and films. There must be a hundred films of the '50s based on that anti-red message; and the music/soundtrack is always dramatic, threatening, fearful. The message was drilled into Americans' heads like some osmotic radio wave which goes straight into the human brain.
And voila! We have today's perception of socialism for most of the U.S. It's passed down through generations. It may become epigenetic. I'm reminded of the film "1984" with the rally against the current enemy. We need to find a way to change that archaic mentality. For example, I think first of Denmark. Not only does the population look healthy, there also often ranked #1 or #2 in the U.N. Happiness Survey, a detailed survey to cover all aspects of their lives.
Bill, First, thanks for taking the time to writ such a thoughtful reply.
Yes. Apparently anyone could get a loan and did.
I’m glad you made out ok.
As for the car company loans, that was ok with me too. But the massive giveaway to banks who paid bonuses in the Spring of 2008?
Criminal.
You’re not serious?Obama should have let the economy sink into a depression for 10 years? All so a Republican would be remembered as having caused it? I don’t think so.
Bush was considered one of the worst presidents anyway. He started needless wars that destabilized the world. He cut regulations so the greed could run wild. He was so bad that Americans elected a charming, slightly center-left Black man. That gave a bloated sociopath a path to bring out all the racism, divide the country, and not only bring back greed but double down on corruption.
But Obama is not just charming. He is also a patriotic American who carries two burdens: racism and equality of opportunity. He is working on both solutions with Eric Holder via fair voting.
Obama was the kind of person who America should have as a president. He was smart, well educated, and thoughtful. He made some mistakes in situations in which all of his choices were terrible. He knew he couldn't be too aggressive or the racism would have been even worse. I feel (my opinion) that his major fault was that he overestimated the American people and the morality of the Republican Party. He thought that enough people would easily reject the crazy conspiracy theories. He thought the Republicans were a still part of a democracy and would negotiate. He gave the Dems too much confidence that the world had changed. They lost the state legislatures because no one paid enough attention to the dark money funding Republicans.
I agree with you, Kenneth, it is so easy and comfortable to spout those cheap assessments well after the fact without also listing all the ways people would have gotten hurt by a system they had no voice in. The ramifications of letting GM expire, for one instance. would have been global, the U.S. would have sunk to the level of a Trump-described as a "shithole" country, and we would have been easy pickings for other powerhungry governments . Our dollar might have gone extinct.
I am serious.
Agreed. Social / economic catastrophe is a bottom line.
If the US had been allowed to sink into a depression for 10 years, then the world would have sunk into one as well. Imagine what the Putin's of the world would have done with that...
The world did suffer.
I really do think in this case the medicine was worse than the disease.
Mike, The Big Short is a book that everyone interested in how greed destroys should read
How to prevent a devastating collapse of an entire economy based primarily on the faith of the dollar and the cash flow that “credit” requires is a no man’s land of speculation into “what drives that faith”
I saw the movie The Big Short but thanks for the book reference.
How to avoid economic collapse? Don’t ever vote Republican.
That’s a big 10-4 Mike
The book digs much deeper than the movie
Also, the Documentary “Inside Job” narrated by Matt Damon lays out the process bankers used to enrich themselves at society’s expense
"Inside Job" is great.
By Michael Lewis. We should also hear from fellow HCR responder (and former infamous stock broker) Sandy Lewis: fascinating.
Yes, all that talk about a self-correcting market was just talk. No way Paulson and his ilk were going to let the market proceed naturally. I could tell by the panicked look on Paulson’s face, he knew he was going to be wiped out if nothing was done and the big speculators took the hit--when the market made the big correction. So of course they changed the rules. Legislators had an opportunity to put some regulations in place to shield residential housing and take care of people but they let big money take care of the market. I think legislators may have become full on puppets at that point in time. Corporate power replaced legislative power at that point. My 401K took a hit but it was not wiped out and luckily I was still working at the time. The music stopped but I still had a chair you might say. Just look at housing costs now--still ridiculously high. We are becoming a land of renters. Big money, big exploitation was protected. I was disappointed with Obama. I am of the opinion he didn’t understand what was happening and so relied on advisors. I may be wrong in this assessment but when I look at residential housing--when I see how much of a person’s income it takes to have shelter today--when I see all the homelessness--when I see the massive rates of incarceration--I think I might not be far off. Big money preaches the wisdom of the market--letting it do is thing--but big money knows better. It’s like the priesthood peddling virtue. The many believers following the path of virtue form a protective screen behind which the priests in power can proceed to do whatever they want. I think of 401Ks as the screen of big money. Have I got a deal for you. I think the whole correction should have been allowed to happen but as I said I was still working at the time and did not lose my job--so easy for me to say. Who knows really if the legislators at the time had the ability or character to legislate. I would bet no.
I'm still upset that the Obama administration bailed out just the 'big guys" and not the working class people who lost so very, very much.
I can't remember the book I read several years ago by a guy who went to DC as an assistant secretary of the treasury to administer the aid to mortgage holders, and was then completely stonewalled because the money was reserved for the "big guys."
There were many shenanigans happening then. But weren't the "big guys" the mortgage holders themselves?
“It’s like the priesthood peddling virtue.”
A brilliant analogy!
Mary, if not for the manipulations of the market that prevented a complete crash, you may have lost your job; who knows. Those that had a life vest survived, those that didn’t drowned
Yes I know of course I was lucky. Like I said, I still had a chair when the music stopped.
Yes. Sometimes nasty things need to happen in order to see the wood from the trees.
Yes!
Yes that whole debacle was atrocious. All of the financial companies plus insurance companies were bailed out. Big UGH!
Indeed!
Thanks, you nailed it. And it is why "Greed" is listed as one of the Seven Deadly Sins. In my book, it is numero uno and the foundation of our problems as a society.
Under regulated capital markets have suffered financial crises repeatedly, never learned how to manage it, often with bailouts.
I wonder where we'd be now if we had allowed all the "too big to fail" miscreants to go bankrupt...
Better off.
Marlene, you have hit the nail on the head. Stores aren’t closed, businesses aren’t closed, people have to work on this day. Sales! Trying everything they can to get that almighty dollar out of peoples pockets.
Corporations keep their employees working so they, the big cheese behind the big desk that’s at home 🏡 this holiday can line his pockets with more money.
As usual Marlene, you are right on, my friend!!!
You’re my biggest cheerleader, Daniel! 👏🏼👏🏼
Happy to wave the pom poms for you!!!
Wow, all the talk here over could'a, would'a, should'a's. The poets and the guitar toting bards of the world have been trying to turn our attention to all of this corrupt behavior for a very long while. Think George Harrison, "Living In The Material World" , or "Within You , "Without You". It's all right there! Our brains are far too easily diverted by massive floods of distractions. Think TELEVISION. Or, maybe follow the NFL draft a while. How about those Kardashians bro! This, and more, owned by rich white men who steer us by the nose. Steve Bannon is published somewhere talking about how easy the pickings are of millions of Americans to persuade them in to buy into, and believe the biggest lines of lies. Navigating Tipping Points requires courage and determination. With the ear-bud clad, phone obsessed here, I just don't see the intestinal fortitude needed. I hope I am proven wrong next November.
Well, it IS one of the seven deadly sins after all. Even if you don’t believe, the Bible holds many truths.
And it holds many appalling absences. It's frightening to me that Republican legislators are trying to get the Ten Commandments up in schools and public buildings. There's no commandment against slavery. There's no commandment against rape. There's no commandment against child abuse. There's no commandment against torture.
In short - there are enshrined commandments against minor offenses but none against atrocity. That's no model of a justice system.
Thank you. Separation of church and state is a must.
Yes, except we're moving in the completely wrong direction.
You hit on everything, Alexandra!
It really makes my blood boil, Marlene. And all this MAGA outrage about sex trafficking - well, how about starting with a Commandment against it?
“Thou shalt not commit egregious or heinous crimes against Blacks, Asians, Mexicans, or Jews, girls and women, children of all gender.”
“Thou shalt not threaten or kill fellow man/woman because they are different than you are.”
YES!!!!!!
A product of its times - and let’s face it, written by men.
Therein lies the problem.
Kathy, yes, 100%. But I've found that among those Christians who have never really considered everything that's left out of the Ten Commandments - there are at least some for whom it's a real revelation when those omissions are pointed out. We have to do what we can!
If you're banning books for teaching the "wrong" lessons or for sexual and/or violent content, the Bible is the first book that should be removed isn't it?
Seems reasonable to me.
Alexandra.....there's only the compassion of God, providing Himself, "the Lamb of
God" as the sacrifice for our sins, appearing as human and existing as both God and Man living with us.....demonstrating love by showing us to trust in Him when we are afraid and feeling helpless, by healing the sick and lame, by loving and accepting the rejected.....even including as one of His disciples, one who would reject Him and turn Him in to those who wanted to kill Him......for just a few coins.
We do the same today.
When preaching to a multitude.....and as the day was passing, a disciple mentioned to Him that the crowd was appearing to be tired, but would not leave Him ....that the people may be hungry. Jesus asked them to find someone with food. There was a young boy whose mom had packed a basket of "loaves and fishes". Jesus asked the boy if he would like to share. The young boy gave his food to the disciples and Jesus multiplied the food so that everyone had some . There were even leftovers.
Jesus summed up the 10 commandments by commanding those of us who claim to believe, to love one another as we would want to be loved. As true believers, we have the opportunity to live out these words every day. How do we treat the ones closest to us, those we worship with, our neighbors, our family members, those who have chosen to worship differently, fellow humans who are dressed with a different color/shade of skin, who do not speak our language, those who are in desparate need fleeing towards the "hope" they have been told our country offers....those who are broken by disease, those who suffer with depression, those with
deep physical and mental struggles....Do We Love and Care for These Precious Lives as We Would Want to be Cared for? Jesus asked us to love our enemies. And He showed the way by allowing Himself to be arrested, beated, lied about, brutilized, betrayed by one of His disciples, abandoned by most of His disciples.
Because of His example, those who use Christians or those who claim to be Christians, but are not.....infuriate me.
And those who push lies are laughing all the way to the ballot box.
Alexandra, all persons using the WORD OF GOD for evil will stand before a Holy
God someday. God sees all....He holds eternity "in His hand".
Meanwhile, let's work for freedom...whatever your faith....if you are for Democracy and keeping our country free...VOTE FOR JOE BIDEN....the Democrats while not perfect....are our best voice and they are working hard to build up this country, to build strong positive relationships with world leaders, to provide for those who are confronting dictators with their life's blood....to encourage opportunities and hope for everyone.
WE DO NOT WANT TO BE RULED BY DICTATORS!!!!!!
Not only that! Now Labor Day has become some sort of Memorial Day. My local news focused on veterans--WITHOUT mention of laborers. I am in a red state . . . And I am a veteran, but Labor Day is for the workers!
I just don't get it. Fawn all over Veterans 4 or 5 days a year, but how many of today's super "military supporters" actually served, or even have a family member serving? Where is the support for VA funding, PTSD care, financial assistance to Veterans who just cannot get by? Another thing that sticks in my craw: Veteran's Day is a biggie, it celebrates all veterans, but really commemorates the end of WWI (the 11th month, the 11th day, the 11th hour). Memorial Day honors combat deaths, springing from the Civil War aftermath, where graves of the war dead were decorated with flowers. First "Decoration Day" then "Memorial Day".
And the Republican politicians vote against funding for Veterans time and again. McConnell and the Senate Republicans couldn't find a single vote for the burn pit legislation until they were humiliated by the press. And there have been other times as well.
They always brag about funding the military, but it's the Democrat's that have given the military the largest increases in pay and benefits over the years. Most of the defense budget goes to the defense contractors.
Typical Republican hypocrisy.
We heard a mash up band last night that called themselves Southern Rocks Finest. It was comprised of former members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, Pure Prairie League and Molly Hatchett. Anyway, the played the national anthem dedicating it to Veterans for Labor Day. Everyone in our group looked around wondering if we were the only ones that thought this was the wrong holiday for this.
“Greed is atrocious” and understanding that it is currently driving the capitalist system of economy and politics should encourage us to think outside the box when it comes to solutions. The traditional approach of Labor vs. greed driven owners is a paradigm that keeps us in a perpetual struggle of “us vs. them.” Approaches, thinking and solutions beginning 140 years ago does not work in the universe of vast multinational corporations. When our next inevitable meltdown comes, we need to be ready with a blueprint for a new system that comes from thinking outside the box of a democracy controlled by ultra-wealthy capitalists. We must envision and implement a new economic and political system based on labor’s ownership of industry, utilities, retail and banking. In other words, Cooperative owned businesses, banks and industries. We already have some of these operating quite nicely. I have worked at a worker owned Co-op supermarket in Hayward CA. where the workers are the owners of a large well managed supermarket. I have shopped at Bi-Mart a chain of over 70 discount department stores in four northwestern states that are a worker and customer owned cooperative. There are more than 40,000 cooperatives of all types currently in the U.S. that provide more than $25 billion in wages. According to a University of Wisconsin study cooperatives have an estimated 350 million members. www.uwcc.wisc.edu There are no worker vs. owner disputes, the workers are the owners. The outside the box solution to unsustainable corporate dominated democracy is in a new model of “Economic Democracy,” where business is owned by the workers and not the “atrocious” greed driven capitalists. https://www.proutinstitute.org/policy-solutions/economic-democracy-the-alternative-to-corporate-rule . Our next economic collapse will be our next great opportunity: lets be ready with new solutions.
My background is rather unique in that I've been both a senior executive in a Fortune 100 company, a highly ethical one no less, and a member of the AFL-CIO Musicians Union, before right to work laws were passed. The blizzard of 1977 in Boston was at its height during rush hour and the roads became clogged with cars stuck in heavy snow. An emergency order prohibited people from driving on the roads for several days meaning employees couldn't get to work for an entire week. My company, Digital Equipment Corporation paid the hourly workers a full weeks wage anyway because it was the "right thing to do" even if it cost Digital about a million dollars. GE didn't pay its hourly workers for that week because there was no rule in their contract with the unions that said they had to. Digital never unionized because it was a highly ethical company who lived their motto of "Do the Right Thing" and treated its employees very well. The moral of the story is that large companies can be ethical. Ethics start at the top and our company had a wonderful man at the top, Ken Olsen. He not only had a vision for bringing computing to all people, he also had an organizational vision that was very egalitarian. Here's a short video on Ken, my mentor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6We6VDtyHY Our networking products and our large role in defining the Internet protocols and its access by everyone was basically exporting our corporate culture. We knew we were changing the world ... and we did. My solution to workers today being ignored by mostly highly greedy corporate management is to have workers get enough shares in the company so they are significant shareholders and therefore get a share of the profit they produced. We, the People, all of us this time!
Yes!
It's built in to our system, which is based on -- and honors -- a particularly predatory brand of capitalism.
Sorry, but greed is universal. We all have some greed in us, if only the desire for a higher wage, a better place to live or a secure retirement. Greed, like all impulses, has to be managed. How and when to do that are questions that bedevil us.
Wonderful letter. I have tried to explain to people that the market crash in '93 was purposeful to hamper Cleveland, but people aren't willing to accept it. So, I'm saving this letter for sure!
I need to read up on this, KEM - thanks!
Allow me to suggest Howard Zinn
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_People%27s_History_of_the_United_States
Zinn's People's History is one of my go-to's, William! Thanks!
And “The Big Short”
Thanks for the recommendation.
Thanks for the recommendation, William!
I don’t know how difficult it would be to find, but past HCR Letters on Labor Day have touched on that.
KR, your note prompted me to explore a bit. Click on the magnifying glass icon just above the body of the letter, right hand side of the page and type in what you are seeking. I typed in 'Labor Day' and up came the LFAA containing Labor Day. So easy! Try it, I think you'll like it.
"Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters.”
President Grover Cleveland not only saw his present clearly in the 1880s, he also saw our here and now. But thankfully workers today are increasingly restive and fighting back against very long odds.
Our unrestrained corporate structure (and the libertarian thrust of its owners) is the epicenter of our demise. Heather also quoted the banners at the first Labor Day parade, including: “Labor Creates All Wealth,” and “Labor Pays All Taxes”. To be exact, that labor includes the labor of the entrepreneurs, and that wealth includes the profits generated by consumption from all sources. Thus, we must explain to the nation that labor and spending constitute the great reservoir of ALL TAXES. If profits and capital accumulate, it is the wealthy who must pay a greater share. They are retaining OUR money and must return it to US, to society. We must educate the people before it's too late.
Look at how much was accomplished in the 40s and 50s, when the marginal rate was 90%.
As I recall the rich were still rich, just not so obscenely rich.
OMG, TC!!!
You're scaring the children!! SOCIALISM!!! What's next, sharing revenue like the Republican NFL owners?!?
Don't worry, just tell the children that the only socialism at the moment is socialism for the rich. Tell them to get rich when they grow up and they won't have to pay any taxes at all.
Speaking of children…and “socialism for the rich.”
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/632365-expanded-education-voucher-pays-for-theme-park-tickets-big-screen-tvs-paddleboards-and-more/
Holy carp!
Sounds more like bread and circuses to me.
The universe did not implode.
In Heather's book "Wounded Knee" she does a thorough dive into the corruption and greed that Harrison and McKinley fostered in the late 1800's. Harrison was as slimy as Trump in many ways. If BH had social media to spread his pro-business propaganda, the US may have been even more tilted to the elites. HCR provides so much info in the book, I had to reread and probably should again.
One of the more onerous and long lasting nastiness that Harrison pushed through was statehood for South & North Dakota on November 2, 1889, Montana a week later and Wyoming the following year. This would give the Republicans another 12 electoral votes (a move backfired on Harrison in 1892). Added together the current populations of these four states would be less than that of CT at about 3.3 million. CT has five Congressmen, while SD, ND, WY and MT have a combined four, but it is the 6 extra Senators that tip the scales in the Senate and the electoral college vote.
It is the Republicans that have blocked statehood for DC for political reasons as well.
Today should be a day to celebrate labor and I digress. Thank you labor and unions for helping to bring us the 5 day, 40 hour work week and paid-holidays. And thanks for PTO and overtime pay as well as many of the benefits we enjoy thanks to unions and labor. I constantly take this all for granted. And yet, we must remain vigilant as the greedy Republicans continue to take chip away at these rights.
"I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night."
Thank you Gary,
Perfect for the day.
You just sent a chill up my spine as I heard the most beautiful voice of all time sing this:
I dreamed, I saw Joe Hill last night
Alive as you and me
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" says he
"I never died" says he
"The copper bosses killed you, Joe"
"They shot you Joe" says I
"Takes more than guns to kill a man"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
And standing there, as big as life
And smiling with his eyes
Says Joe "What they can never kill
Went on to organize
Went on to organize"
From San Diego up to Maine
In every mine and mill
Where working folks defend their rights
It's there you find Joe Hill
It's there you find Joe Hill
I dreamed I saw, I dreamed I saw, Joe Hill last night
Alive as you and me
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" says he, "I never died" says he
"I never died" says he"
https://youtu.be/l-JW4DKxwQM
Thanks for sharing the lyrics. I looked up Joan Baez on IMDB and she has 298 credits under her name which puts her high on the list of musicians and actors. An amazing woman whose bravery to stand up for what is right is truly remarkable. And you're right, not a bad voice either.
In 1971, my high school economics class went to see the movie Joe Hill. Speaking of chills. What an incredibly brave man he was. Of course, he was one of thousands that fought for the rights we enjoy today and the wages we receive.
Thank You, Bill.
...and blocks Puerto Rico as well! and perhaps Guam?
Puerto Rico has about 3.2 million people about the same as ND, SD, WY & MT combined. You're right that it's long past time that PR became a state. They would have 7 electoral votes if the current ratios hold up and 5 US Representatives. Of course, the Republicans are against PR becoming a state.
And force these rich wealthy corporations to pay their fair share of those taxes, and the wealth oriole they have in the top floors behind the big desk that pocket millions a year in personal bonuses.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-18-2023/comments?publication_id=20533&post_id=97641233&isFreemail=false
Plus ça change...
Yet our Supreme Court now has enshrined corporations as “people”
That SC decision made all subsequent SC decisions suspect in my eyes. Especially the moniker chosen for that ruling--"Citizens United."
Respect for work is needed. For example hedge fund managers neither work nor do anything that improves our economy; I would tax the pants off them. People who build and repair things have real value, so do teachers, nurses, scientists, garbage collectors, city planners, etc.
The least that could be done is tax them as ordinary income! If I'm not mistaken, they would then be paying 39%. I personally think all income should be taxed as ordinary income, regardless of the type of income. Of course this is a graduated scale as that which exists now. Then if Elon M. lived in Minnesota with a 10% top income bracket, he'd pay 49% of his stock option profits in taxes.
I saw this post today on a social media site, “8 men have as much wealth as 3.6 billion people, but sure, the single mom on food stamps is the problem.”
And those '8 men' will profit handsomely from the next war, while we send the children of that single Mom off to die in a far off land in the defense of our democracy.
And that's how history goes 'round. So sad
And what does this mean in terms of the democratic distribution of power and quality of life in societies across the planet? What is the extended impact of such extreme concentration of wealth on any number of fronts?
Heavy questions that probably have pretty grim answers.
Demise of democracy and climate change that is ruining the planet and, in the future, millions upon millions of lives.
Obviously we all throw our straws on the camel's back of climate, but there is very big money standing in the way of sane responses to our environmental problems. We have been aware of ongoing antropogenic climate change for several decades, and the potential for it long before that. That's blurred in the fog of massive bought and paid for disinformation campaigns and direct and indirect payoffs to legislators, judges, etc. I recall that in the GWB regime, energy reps and regulators were quite literally in bed together.
It hurts met to say this, but I fear our system of government isn't up to the momentous threat only just beginning to wreak havoc. No doubt you know the obstacles to "sane responses." There's been some encouraging progress very recently, but it's akin to a garden hose against a conflagration. By the time the will of the people is commensurate with the threat, it may be too late.
The "tide" will turn someday, but time is of the essence. We were fools throw away reasonable graduated taxation, corporate regulation and antitrust for hollow promises. Can we get wise fast?
Grrrr😡😡😡
I just might have to steal that.
Happy labor day from the wife of a retired 41 year member of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union local 21.
Thank you for the great history lesson, Heather. I believe most of the turmoil of our politics and government today has its roots in the extreme income disparity we are experiencing. Robert Reich writes about why we are experiencing extreme income disparity today in his substack article: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/jack-welch-and-the-end-of-stakeholder I think it is a MUST read because he not only says how we got here but also what we can do to fix it! History is rhyming! Enjoy!
" I’ll suggest what we can do to resurrect the common good. "
That's the current "GOP" definition of communism from the pit of hell.
Reagan was strongly influenced by celebrated economist Milton Friedman whose most famous thesis was "The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits."
But if a corporation is a person, would not that person be a really lousy citizen if not a sociopath. Does it make any sense is a corporate duty to profit trumps any duty of it's directors and employees to their county, to their society, to (especially those who claim to be "Christian" to their neighbors, as well as to posterity?
I hate effin' Welch!
David, if you've not, see this > https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/01/ronald-reagans-conservative-conversion-as-spokesman-for-general-electric-during-the-1950s.html
‘splains a lot….thanks for the link.
I'll add another peg in the GE story. My background is rather unique in that I've been both a senior executive in a Fortune 100 company, a highly ethical one, and a member of the AFL-CIO Musicians Union, before right to work laws were passed. The blizzard of 1977 in Boston was at its height during rush hour and the roads became clogged with cars stuck in heavy snow. An emergency order prohibited people from driving on the roads for several days meaning employees couldn't get to work for an entire week. My company, Digital Equipment Corporation paid the hourly workers a full weeks wage anyway because it was the "right thing to do" even if it cost Digital about a million dollars. . GE didn't pay its hourly workers for that week because there was no rule in their contract with the unions that said they had to. Digital never unionized because it was a highly ethical company who lived their motto of "Do the Right Thing" and treated its employees very well. The moral of the story is that large companies can be ethical. Ethics start at the top and our company had a wonderful man at the top, Ken Olsen. He not only had a vision for bringing computing to all people, he also had an organizational vision that was very egalitarian. Here's a short video on Ken, my mentor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6We6VDtyHY Our networking products and our large role in defining the Internet protocols and its access by everyone was basically exporting our corporate culture. We knew we were changing the world ... and we did. My solution to workers today being ignored by mostly highly greedy corporate management is to have workers get enough shares in the company so they are significant shareholders and therefore get a share of the profit they produced. We, the People, all of us this time!
My experience is that they 'won't' be ethical unless required by some law. I for instance have worked for a Fortune 500 corp. that you would know very well, a world wide manufacturer. I got injured on the job 6.5 years ago and am now disabled physiologically, not mentally but it does get me very down. Their attitude is 'prove it' and that's your problem. We will give you a buyout if you sign an NDA. Basically I contracted an antibiotic resistant staph infection that was not discovered until I went into septic shock and collapsed (seizure) in a Dr's office and was rushed to a hospital. I remained in sepsis for over 36 hours, at the minimum. Postscript: Post sepsis has left me with horrible gifts, among them insomnia and 24/7 vertigo, crushing fatigue, wandering aches and pains, crushed confidence, and yes it effects me emotionally. I fear for my spouse - intensely and chronically. (I've tried and failed to reach my senator as he is overwhelmed as I'm guessing) *edit in > Oh, and I worked for them honorably since 1973.
I do think my company - DEC - was quite unique but at least proves it is possible for a Fortune 100 company to be ethical, honest and do well by their employees. We really did live "do the right thing". Once I had a 1 on 1 with Ken, the CEO. He didn't like something I said but he replied: "You know at times you can be a pain in the ass, but you're honest ... and that's important!" The next time I saw him was at the State of the Company meeting. He was talking to someone when I walked up to him so he introduced me. "This is Cathy. She can be a pain in the neck at times." I retorted: "Glad to hear I'm moving up in the world." We both enjoyed our mutual humor and he had his usual twinkle in his eyes and a smile. I was speaking at the State of Company after lunch so he introduced me. He knew I was a music conductor part time so he introduced me as semi-conductor. More humor! I feel for your situation which is probably all too common especially now. I have had a near death experience from a massive pulmonary embolism and went into extrinsic cardiogenic shock once. If nothing happens the next step can be sudden death, no chance for resuscitation, but fortunately they gave me the tPA clot buster and I survived. Fortunately without all the problems you have had to endure. I did have incredible fatigue for about six weeks and learned that I had to listen to my body which was saying you can lay down right here or I might let you get to your bed. Maybe. I gather it is hard to evaluate how much pain a person is in under circumstances like yours. It certainly is very, very real to the person experiencing it. Hope you can find a bit of solace in small kindnesses and moments of peace. Thanks for sharing!
I should add that we would all be better off if strength of character was an important element in the selection of our leaders in politics and corporate management. And, sense of community. I like the Native Americans who measure a person's wealth by their generosity to their community.
thanks D4N!
Just as we can blame Mark Burnett for trump, we can thank GE for Reagan. I really hate television.
This article should solidify your feelings on Welch!
My feelings on him were already plenty solid, thanks to an article which--if memory serves--appeared in the NYT Mag.
See and connect the dots as you always do. > https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/01/ronald-reagans-conservative-conversion-as-spokesman-for-general-electric-during-the-1950s.html
Read Reich's article a couple days ago. And now the Slate piece (thank you for the link) in the midst of SAG, et al on strike. Indeed, more dots than can be counted to connect.
thanks Cathy! I'll read this tomorrow. I gotta go to bed now.
Good Morning David! Happy-ish reading!
Thank you MaryPat! You just put a big smile on my face!
Thanks for sharing and sharing and sharing this Cathy! Shared (again!).
Kind of depressing to realize that corporations have had such a stranglehold on politics for over a hundred years at this point...
More like 200 years. Things started to get really bad when Andrew Jackson was president.
James, Yuval Noah Harrari (Sapiens, 2015) agreed but on a much broader scale! He believed the onset of the "Industrial Revolution" 200 years ago heralded the demise of the family as the main source of identity and control and was replaced by the state and the market leading to the massive extinction of plants and animals (pp. 350-375).
"Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters.”
Some. Things. Never. Change.
The dynamics between those who seek to dominate and those who seek to liberate is always in play, but much of the 20th Century was a time of advancing empowerment of the public, as well as a time of scientific, medical and technological innovation and rising standards of living for a great many. Noteworthy progress was made empowering women and minorities as well. The plutocrats were never defeated but were sort of on the back foot until the reign of Reagan, and significant capture of media. Over subsequent years the legal landscape has titled dramatically toward favoring those with most money.
If the aggregated "people" of this society are indeed the ultimate source of legal authority and legitimacy in the US, of course we get to make the rules for corporations and commerce; and not vice versa. At least in theory.
Corporations ARE NOT PEOPLE!!! REVOKE “CITIZENS UNITED”!!!!
How interesting that the Republicans, even back then, were perfectly willing to crash the economy to "prove" how dangerous Democratic social policies were. Must be in their DNA.
Have a relaxing Labor Day, everyone. We've earned a day off!
Oh yes they will. They are the kind of people who will blow up the house with dynamite to prove to you that smoke alarms don’t work.
Excellent analogy, Dutch!
A happy, pensive, respectful and delightful we’ll deserved Labor Day to All!
Check this map to see how much more a corporate CEO makes than their workers? How much are the CEOs in the worst 100 corporations paid? How much stock do they own? How much does their corporation spend on stock buybacks to boost the value of their CEO's stock holding? How much do workers make? What is the CEO/Worker salary ratio? What regulations have been proposed to fix this rigged system be fixed? https://thedemlabs.org/2023/09/03/labor-day-kentucky-greed-derby-corporations-exploit-workerr-overpay-ceos/
The CEO/Worker salary ratio far less wide pre-Reagan. CEOs are taking joy rides into space or building ship sized yachts. Who else is riding high on Reaganomics, apart from certain corporately useful folks like Clarence Thomas?
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/01/ronald-reagans-conservative-conversion-as-spokesman-for-general-electric-during-the-1950s.html
WOW! I had never read the real Reagan history (though always totally opposed to him). Explains everything. Should read the book, but I'm pretty nauseated with just the summary. Thank You D4N. I think.
Once again, Deepak, so informative and nauseating at the same time!
OK, this is nauseating so early in the morning 🤬 but definitely worth scrolling through. Of course, I looked up the businesses I most frequent and am thinking can I live without this? I didn't realize Amazon had so much in government contracts. Yikes!
So often we see that those who have want more and those who don't have don't have the power to gain traction. Wealth of the elite is truly built on the backs of hard working men and women (and in times before 1900, children as well, sometimes that is even true today, though not legal.) A few of the wealthy (Allen, Gates, Soros, Buffett) try to share their wealth, and Bezos ex-wife and Paul Allen's sister have been at the forefront of wealth distribution, but in a trillions of dollars economy, a billion here, a billion there, does not amount to nearly as much as fair appropriate taxation would permit. We need money for teachers, good schools, decent housing, replacement of fossil fuels, and many other things. Hope the march this year will be massive; we will soon see what the heart of the nation looks like.
https://www.reuters.com/business/us-crack-down-child-labor-amid-massive-uptick-2023-02-27/
Wasn’t Huckabee’s children’s declaration just stopped by a federal judge? If she were a really good parent, she should send her children into the very businesses she is sending migrant children to.
Today's GOP is the issue of Movement Conservatives in bed with The Religious Right (as personified by court capture operative and professional Catholic extremist Leonard Leo.) It is built on the racism and classism of the Founding enslavers and the hatred of American Federal government of their Confederate heirs. As amplified in the Republican Southern Strategy. It's success is in part through the appeal and exploitation of bigotry. But this is also fueled in part by the legitimate fears and grievances of working class people disadvantaged by the Democratic party's embrace of NeoLiberalism initiated by Bill Clinton - aligning the party with Wall Street interests and making it vulnerable to splitting off of working class voters by GOP wedge issues.
Interesting take, Lin.
LABOR in the US: Good and Bad News
September 3, 2023
___The early-September tribute to workers has been an official holiday for almost 130 years
— but an emboldened labor movement has created an environment closer to the era from which Labor Day was born. Like the late 1800s, workers are facing rapid economic transformation
— and a growing gap in pay between themselves and new billionaire leaders of industry, mirroring the stark inequalities seen more than a century ago.
___“There’s a lot of historical rhyming between the period of the origins of Labor Day and today,” Todd Vachon, an assistant professor in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, told The Associated Press. “Then, they had the Carnegies and the Rockefellers. Today, we have the Musks and the Bezoses. ... It’s a similar period of transition and change and also of resistance
— of working people wanting to have some kind of dignity.”
___Between writers and actors on strike, contentious contract negotiations that led up to a new labor deal for 340,000 unionized UPS workers and active picket lines across multiple industries, the labor in Labor Day is again at the forefront of the holiday arguably more than it has been in recent memory.
___Unionized workers at UPS threatened a mass walkout before approving a new contract last month that includes increased pay and safety protections for workers. A strike at UPS would have disrupted the supply chain nationwide.
___Last month, auto workers also overwhelmingly voted to give union leaders the authority to call strikes against Detroit car companies if a contract agreement isn’t reached by the Sept. 14 deadline. And flight attendants at American Airlines also voted to authorize a strike this week.
“I think there’s going to be definitely more attention given to labor this Labor Day than there may have been in many recent years,” Vachon said. Organizing around labor rights has “come back into the national attention. ... And (workers) are standing up and fighting for it.”(AP) See link below.
https://apnews.com/article/labor-day-history-unions-organized-
___WHY CHILD LABOR IN AMERICA IS SKYROCKETING by Robert Reich
___Corporations are bringing back child labor in America.
And some Republicans want to make it easier for them to get away with it.
___Since 2015, child labor violations have risen nearly 300%. And those are just the violations government investigators have managed to uncover and document.
___The Department of Labor says it’s currently investigating over 600 cases of illegal child labor in America. Major American companies like General Mills, Walmart, and Ford have all been implicated.
___Why on Earth is this happening? The answer is frighteningly simple: greed.
___Employers have been having difficulty finding the workers they need at the wages they are willing to pay. Rather than reduce their profits by paying adult workers more, employers are exploiting children.
___The sad fact of the matter is that many of the children who are being exploited are considered to be “them” rather than “us” because they’re disproportionately poor and immigrant. So the moral shame of subjecting “our” children to inhumane working conditions when they ought to be in school is quietly avoided.
___And since some of these children (or their parents) are undocumented, they dare not speak out or risk detention and deportation. They need the money. This makes them easily exploitable.
It’s a perfect storm that’s resulting in vulnerable children taking on some of the most brutal jobs.
Folks, we’ve seen this before.
___Reformers fought to establish the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 for a reason
— to curb the grotesque child labor seen during America’s first Gilded Age.
___The U.S. banned most child labor.
___But now, pro-business trade groups and their Republican lackeys are trying to reverse nearly a century of progress, and they’re using the so-called “labor shortage” as their excuse.
___Arkansas will no longer require 14 and 15 year olds to get a work permit before taking a job — a process that verified their age and required permission from a parent or guardian.
___A bill in Ohio would let children work later on school nights.
___Minnesota Republicans are pushing to let 16 year-olds work in construction.
____And 14-year-olds in Iowa may soon be allowed to take certain jobs in meatpacking plants and operate dangerous machinery.
It’s all a coordinated campaign to erode national standards, making it even easier for companies to profit off children.
___Across America, we’re witnessing a resurgence of cruel capitalism in which business lobbyists and lawmakers justify their actions by arguing that they are not exploiting the weak and vulnerable, but rather providing jobs for those who need them and would otherwise go hungry or homeless.
Conveniently, these same business lobbyists and lawmakers are often among the first to claim we “can’t afford” stronger safety nets that would provide these children with safe housing and adequate nutrition.
__So what can stop this madness?
___First: Fund the Department of Labor so it can crack down on child labor violations. When I was Secretary of Labor, the department was chronically underfunded and understaffed. It still is, because lawmakers and their corporate backers want it that way.
___Second: Increase fines on companies that break child labor laws. Current fines are too low, and are treated as costs of doing business by hugely profitable companies that violate the law.
___Third: Hold major corporations accountable. Many big corporations contract with smaller companies that employ children, which allows the big corporations to play dumb and often avoid liability. It’s time to demand that large corporations take responsibility for their supply chains.
___Fourth: Reform immigration laws so undocumented children aren’t exploited.
___And lastly: Organize. Fight against state laws that are attempting to bring back child labor.
Are corporate profits really more important than the safety of children? (RichardReich) See link below.
https://robertreich.org/post/717502268313927680
***
Great synopsis, Fern. We do not have a labor shortage. We have a comparable wage shortage. I am not good with numbers, so I am not going to try and extrapolate what that would look like using actual numbers. What I believe is this: Include investment gains as income. Tax all income, and the tax rate goes up when the income is in the top 15% of all income reported. Pay wages that allow people to do things like afford a house, a car, and food. Don't. Hire. Children. When teens desire to go to work (like, when their parents make them earn money for a car, or for the gas/insurance on a car) do not work them so hard they fall behind in school.
"...a comparable wage shortage..." ✅ Subscribing to Robert Reich's newsletter can be hair-pulling-out maddening, but so worth the daily reads.
Dear Ally, you have the arithmetic of equality; it is in your bones, your mind and your heart. 🌿🏡🌱
Thank you!!
My ancestors, recent immigrants from Ukraine in the 1880’s, started a business (Machlin & Sons) making pants, AND were labor organizers (Esther Machlin Laddon, close friend of Emma Goldman).
I have always believed in the power of labor, organized and united, to uplift people out of poverty and drudgery to a life of their dreams! Today, the goal of helping people live lives of productive, soul-fulfilling work continues.
My favorite slogan of the early labor movement is, “8 hours labour, 8 hours recreation, 8 hours rest”
Amen!
I have never heard that slogan. If only it was true!
First, I am very much a feminist, that slogan might have been true in the 50s, but otherwise, when has it been? I was raised by a stay at home mother, she certainly labored 8 hours a day to clean, cook, do the marketing and raise 5 kids. My Dad managed a store, he worked much more than 8 hours a day. That is a story for another day.
My adult kids all work more than 8 hour days (all college educated, btw). Then, there is the home upkeep and all that entails. For one, there are the children's needs to deal with. There are only 24 hours in a day, so what gives? For many, apparently it is SLEEP.
I think that in a two parent household, both should feel free to work IF THEY WANT, and it could be either parent. It should not be because they MUST.
I offer this problem, sadly, with no solutions. I don't have any.
I like that. Now that millions of us no longer have to commute to work, it is closer to true.