Last month a new political group called No Labels announced their intention to loosen the grip of both parties on the political process. The group's slogan is "Not left. Not right. Forward."
Yawn. As Christopher Beam put it in a recent Slate post, "The group's mission statement is so obvious... no one would ever disagree:" Beam offers an example: "`Americans are entitled to a government and a political system that works...' Unlike all those groups that prefer a political system that doesn't work?"
Why can't we go one better and agree on critical issues that are facing everybody: our job market is shriveling and our political system has been hijacked -- and it's not the Republican takeover of Congress but K Street's takeover of Capitol Hill.
When it comes to our economic malaise, as I've said before, neither party's approach to economic stimulus is working, whether it's Keynesian or libertarian. Let's face it, if trickle-down tax cuts could kick-start the economy it would be humming by now. As for the government stimulus favored by the Democrats, while highway restructuring may put construction workers back on the job, it's not going to replace the engineering jobs outsourced by Microsoft to China, where it now employs more people than it does in the U.S.
When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s everything our family owned was made here and wages and benefits were generous. Now it's the opposite. As former Senator Byron Dorgan observed in his book, Take This Job and Ship It, in 1970 the largest US corporation was GM, which provided decent wages, pensions and health care. Now it's Wal-Mart, whose products are mostly made in China and their employees' average salary is reportedly $18,000. What's more, their benefits are not only puny but we taxpayers often subsidize them. A study by Congressman George Miller shows that a typical 200-employee Wal-Mart store is very likely getting a taxpayer subsidy of more than $420,000 a year, including free school lunches for their employees' kids along with housing assistance and healthcare subsidies.
As former Fed Vice Chairman Alan Blinder pointed out in a Dec. 17 Wall Street Journal op-ed, American companies are getting a big bang for their buck when it comes to the productivity of their workers but workers aren't getting a payback: while productivity is up 86% since 1978, real average hourly earnings are roughly at 1974 levels.
Then there's the issue of shipping jobs overseas. Nobody could reasonably argue that the U.S. should adopt a protectionist policy because it would deprive workers in emerging markets from joining the middle class. But somehow I'd rather my iPad was assembled in the U.S. rather than at Foxconn in China where 11 workers recently committed suicide because of stressful working conditions.
Take the recent decision by the World Trade Organization to uphold U.S. tariffs on Chinese tires. As Harold Meyerson pointed out in a recent op-ed in the Washington Post, the WT0's decision wasn't a triumph for the business lobby -- the complaint originated with the United Steelworkers, whose members include rubber workers. On the other hand, U. S. tire manufacturers are perfectly happy to have the tires made in China.
Those who argue that outsourcing and its punitive effect on advanced-world wages is an inevitable byproduct of globalization ignore the strategy adopted by Germany, which manages to be the world's second largest exporter AND pays their citizens decent wages. As Meyerson observes, hourly manufacturing compensation is $48 in Germany compared to $32 in the U.S.
The only problem more frustrating than the lack of good strategies, whether they are pro-consumer or pro-worker is the fact that the business lobby will shower big bucks on any politician with the moxie to support them. Wonder why financial service reform didn't happen? As reported in the Washington Post on Dec. 26th, the 35 Congressional committee members in charge of drafting rules regulating the industry collected nearly half a million dollars from the financial industry in the first three weeks of June alone.
For that reason, I wouldn't be surprised if campaign contributions from the Chamber of Commerce "inspired" Senate Republicans to recently beat back an effort by Democrats to end tax breaks for U.S. companies who send jobs offshore. It's bad enough that the Chamber thinks nothing of bribing politicians to vote against legislation that would help American workers, but it has also opposed legislation that would require it to disclose donors who help fund its political ads.
In summary, No Labels is wrong. We need opinionated and gutsy progressives who -- heaven forbid -- team up with organized labor and push an agenda that lifts all boats, instead of only enriching people who can afford yachts. The future of the country is at stake.
Larry Smith: Six-Word Memoirs: New Year's Resolutions (PHOTOS)
The short-term cost cutting incentives are too seductive, and corporations are bound to maximize profits at workers expense. Just look at the tech industry.
See you in Bangalore,
-Bindi
http://meetyourindianreplacement.com
I have no problem competing with anybody on a level playing field.
Radical campaign finance and election reform http://bit.ly/bX5SCO
The facts are stark and simple, and they ought to be known by every single American. There is no other way to change the status quo and prevent the continuing saga of the decline of the United States, its workers, and its middle class than by persuading the American people to act as a whole to oppose where K Street and Wall Street are dragging this country. But first they have to be educated about what's really going on. They have to be made aware that nearly all of the grave ills which beset this country today--the grossly distorted distribution of wealth, the control of our government by corporate interests, the bad economy and stagnant wages, outsourcing, high health care premiums, etc.--are interwoven as part of the same frightening narrative: multinational corporations have hi-jacked control of this country's political system, and they are doing everything in their power to perpetuate and increase their own prosperity at the expense of everybody else's.
The politicians who don't play ball are simply cut off from the teat of campaign financing, so that their opposition never manifests itself. Citizens who perceive their intentions are distracted with manufactured lies pumped out by think tanks. It is a policy of divide and conquer, and it is working very well.
The groups you mentioned do indeed make it harder for businesses to do business, as you've said. Naturally, those groups donate their money to the Democrats. So basically, I agree with what you've said, but I don't agree with the tacit implications. You're implied premise is that those who make it harder for businesses to do business are bad because it hurts the economy as a whole, and I totally disagree with that. If all of the businesses in the US obeyed the stipulations of civil rights groups who wanted affirmative action, environmentalists promoting care for the environment, unions wanting fair working conditions and wages for laborers, and socialists wanting a fairer distribution of wealth, the economy as a whole would actually improve. Drastically. Middle class and working consumers would have more money to spend, which would raise aggregate demand and prices. GDP would expand.
Economically speaking then, I would say your criticism hasn't got much merit. What about socially? Would this country be worse off with less pollution, or with equal pay for women who do the same jobs? Would the sky fall if Bill Gates could only by 9 private jets instead of 10, so that a worker can afford to pay a healthcare bill? Would we be courting disaster if we had a tax system where millionaires and billionaires shouldered more of a burden than the poor? I think not.
Here again, I have to take issue. I can almost guarantee that no American would favor such stipulations as a fair price to pay for the kind of 'prosperity' we've enjoyed hitherto. I think they would say that they deserve better wages and better benefits, and I think they're right. Moreover, I think we can accomplish this and still remain competitive with the rising economies of Asia. If we have to tear apart our current trade agreements to do so, and equalize our tax code and take away some of corporate America's treasured privileges, then so be it.
On the other hand, a customary glance at our very recent past will suffice to disprove any notion that claims all will be well when businesses are easily able to do business. Very simply, they get greedy, they overreach, and they collapse. And they bring us all down with them.
This is how the game is played. I have called my senators and my congressman (all Democrats) and none of them care. They all support H-1B.
So much of what both parties political parties talk about these days is so phony that it is hard for any thinkng person to miss it. That is pretty clear. However, the the "defining" silence you mention is caused by both a lack of a discouraged and disinterested public and "failed leadership" on the Obama Administration.
The Obama Administration has so far allowed the criminals on Wall Street to skate, thereby further discouraging an already discouraged public, and has reversed course of "free trade" giving a concerned public even more to worry about.
The election race of 2008 was close until Wall Street fell apart, then Obama surged ahead. He had a huge mandate to do something about the pigs on Wall Street (the same forces that are driving jobs overseas with their pigest lust for profit). It appears one he is an arrogant dude who wants to spend "his" (not really his) political capital on whatever he well pleases.
A lot of people are probably starting to suspect he is a worthless coward. I think it is up to him to prove otherwise.
Obama will kind of, sort of understand that his 2008 supporters want him to fight for them for once instead of acting like the leader of the Republicratic Party. He will take some kind of symbolic, phony stand on a non-economic issue and many discontents on the left side of the spectrum will swoon over it and defend him against the mere mention of a primary. He will never even try to do a darned thing to structurally change the economic system for what used to be the middle class (although plenty of lipservice and short-term political expediency will be provided as usual). He will not defend Social Security or Medicare when it counts or even whisper about a public works jobs program. He is in deed a coward and has nothing more to offer than half measures and corporate appeasing policies that will continue the race to the bottom for most Americans. Just wait until he replaces Wall Street loving chief economic advisor, Larry Summers, with an even more grotesque Wall Street loving chief economic advisor. There you have it...
If you need retraining, plan for it yourself.
If you want retirement income, plan on being a worker bee until you are at least 70.
Pay for any education yourself - the government cannot afford to pay fro it anymore.
etc, etc., etc.,
Look for a podcast of today's Lehrer's World News today amongst others - including KALW podcast of today's 'Your Call' radio with Rose Aguilar toward the end of the show
Ford Focus - Assembled in Mexico
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Lincoln MKX - Assemlbed in Mexico
Ford Fiesta - Assembled in Europe
Anyone looking for a car or appliance should verify the country of origin.