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By Angie Tibbs Posted by Charles Sullivan (about the submitter)
Become a Fan -- Page 2 of 6 page(s)
Angie: It is, indeed, visionary thinking, and, for sure, revolutionary, its aims for a just and equitable society honorable, but just how do you see it becoming a reality?
Charles: Corporate Globalization must be met with global worker solidarity. Otherwise, jobs will continue to be outsourced as capital seeks the cheapest labor with the least amount of regulation. The result is that corporate profits will continue to rise, more jobs will be outsourced, worker will compete against worker in the new world economy, and wages will be driven down. And that is exactly what has been happening, even as productivity has sharply increased.
Today's workers are mostly 'at will' employees. They have no representation and few rights in the work place; they can be terminated without reason at the whim of an employer. I know this from experience -- it has happened to me multiple times for attempting to organize the work place. Take-home wages have been declining since 1974, while CEO salaries have skyrocketed. Workers are losing benefits that were once guaranteed to them such as affordable health insurance, paid vacations, sick leave, and now even pensions.
Wal-Mart, the largest corporation on earth, does not pay its workers a living wage, provides few, if any, benefits to its employees, and encourages its workers to seek medical coverage through government assistance. Why? Because the less money that is paid to the workers, including benefits, the more wealth that accrues to the corporation and its CEO.
The Wobblies used to say, "The working class and the employing class have nothing in common." They also stated, "An injury to one is an injury to all." That is a credo that all working people should live by. Exorbitant CEO salaries and huge corporate profits come at the expense of the working class. Billions of tax-payer dollars are annually doled out in the form of corporate welfare to companies like Wal-Mart, while the poor are neglected and are forced to work for subsistence wages. Since capital is privately owned, nearly all of the wealth remains at the top of the economic food chain. Every one below is left to fend for themselves.
In essence, this is the trickle down economics popularized by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Thus, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I call it 'predatory capitalism.'
Angie: And predatory capitalism covers it aptly!!
Charles: It makes no difference if you are a working class conservative or a progressive, Democrat or Republican. In the capital system the working class is parasitized by those at the top. So you can see that workers must organize as a class against The New World Order-corporate globalization.
Let us not forget that the work day in America used to be twelve to sixteen hours long, and the work week was six or seven days; there was no weekend, and no paid vacation; and even children labored under deplorable conditions in factories and coal mines beside their parents. These conditions were vividly portrayed in Upton Sinclair's novel, "The Jungle." It was unions that changed all of that. The same conditions exist in other parts of the world that used to be the norm here. That is what the New World Order means to working class people, and that is what free trade agreements are really about. It is also about turning back the hands of time.
Angie: Capitalism has not helped the working class, and now as globalization threatens to take over our planet, the promotion of workers' needs is a diminishing consideration. To adhere to the "free trade" ideal, countries are forfeiting retirement programmes and benefits, are unconcerned about worker safety, and are putting the environment at risk. Surely there is a better way?
Charles: Free trade is a very misleading term. When that term is evoked it does not refer to human freedoms or democracy; it refers to unfettered access to markets by global corporations. Free Trade Agreements provide corporations the means to operate without regulation. In fact, free trade is nothing more than the spread of capitalism in its most virulent form. The effects of capitalism are the same everywhere, as you have pointed out, including environmental degradation and destruction; reduced wages and worker benefits.
The real purpose of the Bush Agenda in the Middle East is about corporate globalization, war profiteering, and brokering FTAs. It has nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction or Iran's nuclear capabilities. Those are simply marketing strategies used on the American people as a pretext for war. Prior to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, Iraqi oil was nationalized. Proceeds from its sale provided free health care to the Iraqi people, as well as higher education to anyone who wanted it. All of that changed with the occupation. Since then Iraqi oil was privatized and open to foreign investors. U.S. oil companies like Exxon-Mobil have realized record profits; and the Iraqi people get nothing but abject poverty and misery.
What could be farther from Democracy?
We have never had socialized health care and tuition-free higher education in America because we spend our tax dollars invading and occupying other nations and other forms of overt militarization. We take care of the corporate bottom line by neglecting the needs of the people.
Angie: We've seen the results of capitalism and its manifest evils globally. It is obviously not the solution. Do we embrace progressivism? Is that the answer? Part of the answer? If so, how does the everyday person begin a metamorphosis?
Charles: Progressivism is a start, and I like what I see happening in Latin America, particularly in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez is doing wonderful things for the people of Venezuela, which the capitalists to the north must find troubling. Let us not forget either that a revolution is under way in Mexico. The masses have awakened. They are organized, they are militant; and they are on the march. Populist movements are taking shape to the south, while the U.S. military is bogged down in the Middle East. The spirit of revolution is alive and moving forward. Let us hope that it spreads north of the border.
Become a Fan -- Page 2 of 6 page(s)
Angie: It is, indeed, visionary thinking, and, for sure, revolutionary, its aims for a just and equitable society honorable, but just how do you see it becoming a reality?
Charles: Corporate Globalization must be met with global worker solidarity. Otherwise, jobs will continue to be outsourced as capital seeks the cheapest labor with the least amount of regulation. The result is that corporate profits will continue to rise, more jobs will be outsourced, worker will compete against worker in the new world economy, and wages will be driven down. And that is exactly what has been happening, even as productivity has sharply increased.
Today's workers are mostly 'at will' employees. They have no representation and few rights in the work place; they can be terminated without reason at the whim of an employer. I know this from experience -- it has happened to me multiple times for attempting to organize the work place. Take-home wages have been declining since 1974, while CEO salaries have skyrocketed. Workers are losing benefits that were once guaranteed to them such as affordable health insurance, paid vacations, sick leave, and now even pensions.
Wal-Mart, the largest corporation on earth, does not pay its workers a living wage, provides few, if any, benefits to its employees, and encourages its workers to seek medical coverage through government assistance. Why? Because the less money that is paid to the workers, including benefits, the more wealth that accrues to the corporation and its CEO.
The Wobblies used to say, "The working class and the employing class have nothing in common." They also stated, "An injury to one is an injury to all." That is a credo that all working people should live by. Exorbitant CEO salaries and huge corporate profits come at the expense of the working class. Billions of tax-payer dollars are annually doled out in the form of corporate welfare to companies like Wal-Mart, while the poor are neglected and are forced to work for subsistence wages. Since capital is privately owned, nearly all of the wealth remains at the top of the economic food chain. Every one below is left to fend for themselves.
In essence, this is the trickle down economics popularized by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Thus, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I call it 'predatory capitalism.'
Angie: And predatory capitalism covers it aptly!!
Charles: It makes no difference if you are a working class conservative or a progressive, Democrat or Republican. In the capital system the working class is parasitized by those at the top. So you can see that workers must organize as a class against The New World Order-corporate globalization.
Let us not forget that the work day in America used to be twelve to sixteen hours long, and the work week was six or seven days; there was no weekend, and no paid vacation; and even children labored under deplorable conditions in factories and coal mines beside their parents. These conditions were vividly portrayed in Upton Sinclair's novel, "The Jungle." It was unions that changed all of that. The same conditions exist in other parts of the world that used to be the norm here. That is what the New World Order means to working class people, and that is what free trade agreements are really about. It is also about turning back the hands of time.
Angie: Capitalism has not helped the working class, and now as globalization threatens to take over our planet, the promotion of workers' needs is a diminishing consideration. To adhere to the "free trade" ideal, countries are forfeiting retirement programmes and benefits, are unconcerned about worker safety, and are putting the environment at risk. Surely there is a better way?
Charles: Free trade is a very misleading term. When that term is evoked it does not refer to human freedoms or democracy; it refers to unfettered access to markets by global corporations. Free Trade Agreements provide corporations the means to operate without regulation. In fact, free trade is nothing more than the spread of capitalism in its most virulent form. The effects of capitalism are the same everywhere, as you have pointed out, including environmental degradation and destruction; reduced wages and worker benefits.
The real purpose of the Bush Agenda in the Middle East is about corporate globalization, war profiteering, and brokering FTAs. It has nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction or Iran's nuclear capabilities. Those are simply marketing strategies used on the American people as a pretext for war. Prior to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, Iraqi oil was nationalized. Proceeds from its sale provided free health care to the Iraqi people, as well as higher education to anyone who wanted it. All of that changed with the occupation. Since then Iraqi oil was privatized and open to foreign investors. U.S. oil companies like Exxon-Mobil have realized record profits; and the Iraqi people get nothing but abject poverty and misery.
What could be farther from Democracy?
We have never had socialized health care and tuition-free higher education in America because we spend our tax dollars invading and occupying other nations and other forms of overt militarization. We take care of the corporate bottom line by neglecting the needs of the people.
Angie: We've seen the results of capitalism and its manifest evils globally. It is obviously not the solution. Do we embrace progressivism? Is that the answer? Part of the answer? If so, how does the everyday person begin a metamorphosis?
Charles: Progressivism is a start, and I like what I see happening in Latin America, particularly in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez is doing wonderful things for the people of Venezuela, which the capitalists to the north must find troubling. Let us not forget either that a revolution is under way in Mexico. The masses have awakened. They are organized, they are militant; and they are on the march. Populist movements are taking shape to the south, while the U.S. military is bogged down in the Middle East. The spirit of revolution is alive and moving forward. Let us hope that it spreads north of the border.
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Fighting corrupt capitalism
by Joel S. Hirschhorn on Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 11:08:45 AM
No Subject Entered
by Charles Sullivan on Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 at 12:54:26 PM