America Is Based On One Thing: The Right To Organize

• it is how our nation was founded.  Groups of people gathered to say “this is ridiculous and we need to do something about them.”
• It is how the Anti-Slavery movement was begun… “this is ridiculous and we need to do something about it.”
• It is how the Civil Rights era began….”this is ridiculous and we need to do something about it.”

It is the foundation of America… Sometimes the organizers are right, and other times they aren’t.. But in either case they force an issue and it becomes resolved… For example in the Whiskey Rebellion  when George Washington himself led troops into Southwestern Pennsylvania and it dissolved upon the sight of him…. Because of that, our government is allowed to levy and take taxes.  But it was caused by groups of people gathered together…..

We are now about to have the TPP forced upon America…. It directly curtails the power of people to gather together to say:  “this is ridiculous and we need to do something about them.”

That will no longer be allowed… The proponents of the TPP are saying that this is good, because the same standard will now hold world-wide. The good side is American companies will not be bothered by Chinese organizing to raise labor rates.  But the balance also holds true.  They will not be bothered by Americans organizing to raise rates here on home turf…

The TPP is a game changer with consequences directly pertaining to the foundation and function of democracy…  The whole idea behind democracy is that if you provide an option to create change within the status quo that is supported by a majority of ones citizens…. you don’t have rebellions.  Rebellions are costly on both economic and societal scales. Democracy prevents those disruptions and prosperity continues unabated ….

The TPP stands to disrupt that process… Now,  instead of democratically elected nations, new feudal barons (not representing everyday people) will decide what is best; . Those privileged to own the horses and knights, will fight among themselves while we serfs try to stay out of their way, and pay our dues just in order to have the right to survive in this location for another year.

If we as the newfound serfs were to try to gather and say… “This is ridiculous” , this new law put in place will allow us to be suppressed, just like similar laws exist in areas of our country where cops feel they can freely shoot black people and get off with no charges…    We see signs of this already, where masses of police show up to monitor anti-corporate policies, while yet little or none show up to rallies supporting policies officially sanctioned by Corporate America against “The Government” : yet both have the same numbers of  angry people.
But fighting authority is what Americans do best .  It is what is in our genes.  It is how our nation was forged… The land of opportunity came with the clause, “accomplish whatever you can”… not “accomplish only what we tell you to”….

Our forefathers grasped this notion. and struck against  large employers in the 1890’s and early 20th Century…  Those strikes were often put down by force… But in all situations when scabs were not immediately  forthcoming to fill the empty spots of those on strike, the owners capitulated… Better to share the profits with labor than have none at all….

Today’s organized labor is bogged down in the mire of ancient rhetoric such as  “protecting the worker”; instilling “American values”; and “protecting the Middle Class”…  This is obfuscating and dodging the real issue…

Striking is simply a power play to get one’s fair share of the profit.  Essentially “going on strike”, is the “TPP “for organized labor.   Why should a company make billions, while it’s workers starve?  Without them, those companies can make nothing… So where then, is the workers “fair share” of the products?  It truly is no different than going after Chinese counterfeiters to get “your” fair share of what you invested into your product.  Workers deserve the same right; they do with their hands, what some dude or dudess does when creating an idea in his brain. They deserve and should have the same “share” of all profit put forth by that business or corporation…

Why should a billionaire have only minimum wage people working for him? Why don’t their employees simply stop work, until they too get a fair share of what they put in?

The simple reason is that rules are stacked against them. Those feudal barons, have made it either illegal or economically impossible for anyone to strike. It is like slave owners making it illegal to escape and making the penalty for doing so death.  There is no fair or reasonable moral grounds for doing so; it is just like another Taft-Hartley Act to preserve feudal barons’ self interests…  The serfs have no rights… Power plays have been enacted against them.

Yet the tactics derided by corporate barons against the strike, are the exact same ones use by them in their interactions with government or their competitors.

Therefore actions need to counter actions. Their adage of “We forbid you to strike” needs to be responded by:  “humph, we then will forbid you to resume production…. ”

it is interesting to note that in American the most successful recent national strikes have been undertaken by millionaires…

The NFL, NHL, NBA, and MBA have all suffered strikes in recent memory… And the players held out (because they didn’t need the money to live on) and won.  The owners capitulated..  Their argument was none of those  listed above.. They did not strike to “improve the Middle Class”. They did not strike to “improve the safety of the American Worker”.  The did not strike to “preserve American values”…..

No, they struck because they greedily wanted more of the profits… nothing more, nothing less, and the American people though grumbling, supported them over the owners who were saying they wanted to keep all the profits they had….

When American products go forth, they carry the work of American Labor… Those products could not be fabricated without labor, just as it could not be done without capital… It requires both and any system that benefits one side at the expense of the other, is no good…

WE have this unfair system in place, outlawing the employee’s only weapon:  forcing a strike ….

We made our own bed by supporting capital’s interest over employees, and now after laying in it for a while, we realize it is not the best way to go… Yet the TPP sets this feudal baron way as a new world order, since all trade partners will allegedly be part of it.  If we can’t strike, which is nothing more then forcing our play, we are nothing more than serfs…

Striking needs to be redefined as holding out for our fair share of profits… After all, under the new world order beset by the TPP… the accumulation of profit, is the only good thing…..

Workers simply are not receiving their fair share… What makes up “fair share” needs to come through negotiation… and barring that, a strike… The TPP makes strikes illegal which by default, makes all negotiations null…  The TPP must be voted down and we must again see more strikes…

Our forefathers who grew up with no protections, knew this very well.  Unfortunately their children who unknowingly grew up taking for granted all the support that strikes provide, disregard it…  Now, the next generation needs to step up and realize that it is all about getting one’s fair share of the profit… After all, how much are you indeed worth?   Too little?  Well we’ll see how you investors and profit-takers feel about that after you go through a long period of being shut down while your competitors are not…..

Any piece of legislation preventing organization is simply un-American…..

Why You Can’t Make Ends Meet

You should be making $18,000 more a year right now.  And would, except for the inequality put in place  beginning with the trickle down policies of Ronald Reagan… now more appropriately called “tinkle” down economics… 

The bottom get pissed on.

The heavy line shows where you would be if the average rate of growth from across the years ’79 to ’10 were applied evenly.  The lighter line shows the reality….

99% of us are all earning an average of $18,000 less than we should be…  So how does this break down?

Average household incomes grew by 53.4 percent from 1979 to 2007. But that didn’t break down equally:

• The bottom fifth of households saw their income go up by 29.2 percent, well below the 53.4 percent average.
• Income for the middle fifth of households grew by a measly 19.7 percent.
• But how did people a little higher up, but not at the very top, do? A little better, but still below average: households between the 81st and 90th percentiles—so in the bottom half of the top fifth of the income ladder—had just 39.1 percent income growth. Again, well below that average of 53.4.
• So how far up do you have to go before you hit the average? The 91st to the 95th percentile almost got there, with 53 percent average growth. But they fell just short. Households between the 96th and 99th percentile seriously exceeded 53.4 percent, though. They had average income growth of 78.1 percent.
• That’s nothing compared to the top 1 percent, though: Their income grew by 244.7 percent, close to five times the average.

It is clear that most of the overall income gains from 1979 to 2007 bypassed the vast majority of American households. As such, their living standards are lower than they would be had these gains been shared more broadly.

Ways To Share More Broadly.

A.  Raise the Minimum Wage:  $10.10 is a start.  

B.  Organize More (and throw out ineffective current bosses) Unions. Override All State Laws Outlawing Unions.

C.  Reduce Wage Theft:  charging workers for uniforms, drinks, food, supplies. Cheating on overtime.

D. Tax the top 1% appropriately…  Include Capital Gains as income. Tax Corporations at the same rate as individuals. Raise the top marginal percents to these levels…

• Over $1 billion in income…  tax rate of 60%
• $500 million to $1 billion in income  = 55%
• $100 million to $500 million in income  = 50%
• $50 million to $100 million in income =  45%
• All the rest: no change….  

On top of this, allow all money put into capital improvements, to be deducted dollar for dollar. (Capital improvements require building things).  The rational is that if you put that money into capital improvements, you are improving this nation as much as if you were directly paying taxes to it.  Perhaps more so.

This can be done, but it must be done with a Democratic Executive, and over 60 Democrats in the Senate (or change the filibuster rules), and a fully Democratic House.  That is what has to happen for any change.  If it doesn’t happen then Americans rightly get what they deserve for being stupid.  Because we all know that Republicans are quite happy with the very fact that you ARE making $18,000 less than you should and quite happy that they are the ones receiving it, not you……. 

It wasn’t supposed to go that way. And it shouldn’t go that way…..