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December 6, 2008 at 09:04:41
Promoted to Headline (H2) on 12/6/08: by David Glenn Cox Page 1 of 1 page(s) |
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Displaced worker is another such term; it explains the result without explaining how the worker came to be displaced in the first place. Screwed worker or abandoned worker might be more accurate but the media get it while, at the same time, they remain clueless. How about forgotten worker? Forgotten by the nation of his or her birth, sacrificed for an idea while we abandoned the legacy of "We, the people." I drove through Marietta, Georgia yesterday trying to peddle my book at independent bookstores and what I saw was like something from the science fiction movie "I Am Legend," or "The Omega Man." A city in full collapse, empty stores, entire shopping centers with grass growing through the asphalt of the parking lots. Restaurants with their signage removed, but as you drove by the still-open businesses you could determine the number of employees by the number of cars in the parking lots. Tire stores, car rental places, office parks all standing idle. Crown properties have a banner advertising, "Down sizing your office? We can help!" No, they can't, it's only their own plea for help, wringing out the sponge because there are really only two kinds of businesses right now, those that have closed and those that are about to close. I drove by the car lots; the Dodge dealer has already downsized from a large, distinctive building to a smaller, humbler surrounding. Not that it made a difference, there weren't any customers there, either. They were just buying time, trying to hang on by living on their larder, hoping against hope that things will turn around. Meanwhile, back in Washington, the big three come hat-in-hand, asking for a loan. Congress squints and wants numbers and the best the automakers can offer is, "If you give us $30 billion we promise to eliminate 30,000 jobs over the next five years. Republican Congressmen smile and smirk, "Let 'em go under and file for bankruptcy so that they can escape their legacy costs." Legacy costs, that's the elderly and retired; what these smiling jackals are actually seeking is a deathblow to the unions. To steal the pensions from the elderly and the future from their grandchildren, all in one fell swoop.
The O'Reillys ponder the war on Christmas but ignore the war on Americans. The collapsing economy receives intense coverage of Wall Street's troubles with a complete and abject ignorance of Main Street woes. Most, if not all, retail stores remain profitable dependent on Christmas sales and come January it's going to blow an ill wind. Rite Aid spent the last decade buying up their competitors, assuming that they could pay off their debt load by increased market share. Indeed they have increased their market share, but sales are falling. Sears was bought up to rescue a failing K-Mart and the plan worked, but now it is Sears hanging from the precipice.
Reports in the oil industry say that due to falling demand worldwide oil might fall to $25.00 a barrel. From a high of $150.00 per barrel down to $25.00 per barrel, that is a complete market collapse. The oil service sector will be devastated, from drill, baby, drill to out of business, baby, out of business. Just throw them on the pyre, thousands upon thousands losing their jobs daily. More last month than in 26 years, 10,000 a day and still no help from Washington except for extended unemployment benefits. Like the Dodge dealer, it's hanging on but it's not a rescue.
This "Great Recession," as they like to call it, hasn't even begun yet. The war on Americans is in full swing; from the beating down of wages and benefits to the castrating of labor unions, not just in manufacturing but everywhere. In their zealotry to make America over in the vision of Adam Smith they have overdone it and killed the goose that laid the golden eggs in the process. The combination of outsourcing and the throttling of wages have created a critical mass in our economy and the creators of the term "Great recession" need to start again. How about the nuclear depression, or the depression to end all depressions, or even the victory over the American worker depression?
Still, without realizing why they lost in November, Republicans celebrate their victory over the American worker without understanding that they've killed the horse they ride as well. They will find themselves among the ruins with only Sarah Palin to lead them out of the wilderness. They've outrun their supplies; they've expended their last cartridge in their victory over the people and now taps blows for them on the bugle. Little do they realize that the battle is not over, the battle is only now about to be joined. Only now is the American worker beginning to understand that this situation is the result of an well-orchestrated plan.
The new administration's stimulus plan grows by the hour, but do they understand? Do they understand that bailing out banks and industry is no more than pissing on a forest fire? Millions unemployed with millions more about to become unemployed, along with the uncounted millions of tradesmen and sales people who are employed in name only, about to be inducted into the army of the had, the army of the abused, the army of the screwed.
Maybe "The Pivotal Depression" would fit appropriately because before the sun shines again on the American economy there are battles that will need to be fought. Whom does this economy serve? If it doesn't serve the people then let us dispense with it and build a new one. If we must ride it down into hell then let us leave it there. I've heard all the crap about taxing capital, and point blank, if they want to leave then I hope the door doesn't hit them in the ass on the way out. The fact of the matter is that we have tried free market capitalism and free trade and it has brought us only to ruin.
These masters of the universe have screwed us blue; they have fucked things up at a level that dwarfs any of the fuck-ups in American history. They've made Herbert Hoover look like a brilliant economist and Richard Nixon look like a nice man. They have taken the world's largest creditor nation and made it the world's largest debtor nation. Made the world's most prosperous citizenry among the poorest in the western world. From a nation of dreamers who planned for a new tomorrow to a nation of scroungers trying to pay the rent with scrap aluminum cans, all while enriching themselves.
The millions who watch Fox News are having their cable turned off as reality trumps lies. The illusionary light of free market capitalism and globalism is extinguished by the cold water of hunger and shut-off utilities. The incoming administration needs to plan for feeding centers and millions upon millions of MRE's along with a complete moratorium on home foreclosures. They must remember and take to heart that those with nothing have nothing to lose, and that the life of a rich man in a poor world is worth less than the life of a poor man.
To look now with new eyes and fully to understand that this is not "The great recession," as the bellicose, cutie-pie media whores croon, but the shadow of an apocalypse.
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| 8 comments |
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OK, Mr. Cox
Let's get busy. A great article as always, and I thank you. I was barely 11 when FDR declared a Bank Holiday. Euphemisms go with tough times. We need to make a few new buzzwords, and that's what word warriors do. For starters, let's call poverty by its new name: Destitution. I hated to see your description of Marietta, because I remember driving through and stopping at a Holiday Inn for Sunday dinner during Nam days, when it was standing-in-line time. After living in the Chicago area for 22 years, we moved to the Knoxville area in 1977. Good-bye Rust Belt! Hello Hollers. John Edwards had it right. Desperation requires that the faces of the Desperate be shown. You, the wordsmith, will surely know how to change the euphemism of "the middle class" into how they are being shafted into the Pathetic Poor. Without broadband, or even electricity, they don't want our pretty words. I count on you to keep up your good work. I ask how the rest of us can help. by Margaret Bassett (45 articles, 2909 quicklinks, 42 diaries, 1849 comments [99 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 6, 2008 at 9:21:19 AM  (0+)
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Dead Horse Beating
My joking b.s. answer to the oncoming situation- which I've been predicting for the past ten years- has been "Plant Beans". But I'm only half joking. We ALL have to start creating resources where we are, right now. If you have dirt, plant a food garden [beans are easy to grow, high in nutrition, and help to fix nitrogen in the soil]. If you have empty space, find a family that can fill it- and take care of it with you. If you have work that needs doing, barter a few hot meals and a bed. If you have too many coats in your closet, give a couple away. If you can teach a kid a marketable skill, apprentice them to it. Pitch in as community, right now, and forget about "profit" whenever you can. Money isn't going to be worth spit in a short while anyway. Just think about building your karmic credit right now. What goes around most assuredly will come around, and we want to make sure that it's good stuff. Think globally, act locally is a bumper sticker. However, I've been advocating for quite a while for people to start helping local government, merchants, CSAs, high school kids, tradesmen, and others to create better community networks. The isolating principles of corporatism are one facet of our problem that nobody seems to see clearly. If you don't know your neighbors, maybe it's about time you said hello. If you haven't looked the checkout clerk in the eye at the drugstore and asked how they're doing, maybe you should start. If you see somebody having a hard time schlepping their groceries, maybe you can lend a hand and say hi. We can't continue to buy into the idea that everybody else out there is our enemy. That's why the corporate newsmasters continually put out stories of madmen and thieves- so we won't talk to each other. But 99% of people are well-meaning, and we need each other. Communities that join hands and face trials together are the ones that work out best. Let's make those happen now. by Jennifer Hathaway (16 articles, 16 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 759 comments [220 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 6, 2008 at 12:45:38 PM (0+)
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Look behind the Curtain
Ever since the bankers snuck through Congress, the Federal Reserve banking cartel; America has lost control of it's economy and it's government. The year was 1913 and it was a dark begining, of the foreign bankers secret government in America. Everyone needs to watch, "America, Freedom to Fascism", available on google, or You Tube. These same bankers are part of the power-elite whose ultimate goal is One World Government and the enslavement of humanity. We must all stand together and resist this power mad, elitist, greedy scum. They hide behind such names as the Ilummanitti, the Bilderbergers, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Club of Rome, the IMF, The WTO etc. They are in fact a shadow government, which must be exposed and eliminated. The Federal Reserve (Not Federal and No Reserves) is the head of the beast which must be cut off, if we are to take back our government. by ronheri (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 256 comments [45 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 6, 2008 at 6:16:54 PM (0+)
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Nahhh.
Violence is not the answer. Some poor schmoe just out of police academy does not deserve to get shot up because he doesn't know that he's being used as the Rich Man's Goon instead of the Bastion of the Constitution. He's doing that job because he wants to "protect and serve", just nobody told him that it was only a few people who got the service. And making martyrs out of rich idiots is probably the stupidest idea out there. With Faux News, CNN, and the rest of them preaching the faith of the Emperor Priesthood, just like anywhere else in the world, "freedom fighter" would become "terrorist". Besides, I'm a pacifist, and can't condone violence. What WILL get to them, and will shut down all their systems, is if we manage to get as many people we know as possible to remove themselves from the financial "grid". I keep preaching it, it's what I do. If the aphids aren't getting milked, the army ants will have to do without. So the bottom line isn't bullets, it's beans. Plant 'em. And get your neighbors to plant them. And barter, and pay off your credit and get out of the bankers' pockets. Do as much of the brass tacks of your life as possible outside of their system, and their system will dry up and blow away. by Jennifer Hathaway (16 articles, 16 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 759 comments [220 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 6, 2008 at 7:28:25 PM (0+)
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the briar patch
remember "Oh. please. Don't throw me in the briar patch."? Keep it in mind. The controllers of our gov't. and economy want us to get violent. That would justify getting rid of us and/or violating our rights. If you must act out against the establishment, sit down. Don't play their game. Make the show stop. In France they shut down the country when gov't. misbehaves-- by strikes, not violence. Violence is THEIR way. They're the ones who don't care if we get hurt. They're well equipped to hurt us. Don't justify them. Stand up (or sit down) for what you believe in, not what they believe in. They really are illogically killing their own goose. Like the man said, the dollar has lost 97% of its value since 1913. I am pleased to read the thoughts of independent thinkers who don't believe what FOX and ABC are telling them. It is reassuring to see so many of us are looking at the man behind the curtain. by martinweiss (41 articles, 6 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 503 comments [3 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 6, 2008 at 8:41:01 PM (0+)
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Reply: The More You Eat Em...
Phew! what's that SMELL? "...somebody ate to many beans--who pays for the property taxes on the land that you grow your beans--" I do.They're high. It's a lot of money right now. We'll deal. Thanks for asking. Picking up a gun against guys who are working for the government for a living wage is not going to do a damn thing to the rich people who are perpetrating the actual crime. It will make you a violent criminal, possibly get you or somebody else killed, and definitely change nothing. The only way to make lasting change happen is to collectively, as a nation, stop feeding the animal that these people have created. You can stop paying your taxes, but you will be liable to prosecution for that. If you pick up a gun to harm somebody who's just there to enforce the banks' robbery, you then become liable for your actions against that person as well. It's a no-win situation. However there's no law that says you have to spend your money in corporate owned stores on corporate made merchandise. There's no law saying that you have to keep yourself in debt to the banks. There's nothing in writ saying that you can't barter for your possessions, grow your own food, and build your own house. The Company Store doesn't own us yet, and making sure they have no fiscal handles to grab onto is a defensive action. Absent yourself from their income-production systems. And if everybody does it, they won't be getting any profit out of us any more. And if the money dries up, a corporation shuts down rather than operating at a loss. And then the con-men in suits will have to learn to dig ditches or some other more noble pursuit. Of course, the crash is already illustrating all of the above quite nicely. The difference is that those of us who've been working on getting out of the system for the past ten years [raises hand] aren't feeling the crash quite as much as those who've been driving an SUV they haven't paid for yet to the mall to stock up on junk on their credit cards. I think that being a hothead and threatening violence to the supposed elites is very Braveheart of you, but perhaps not the wisest way to deal with this thing. I used to teach kids in a lockdown school, gangbangers from Flatbush and the Bronx. One very bright young man, a chessplayer, kept moaning about how he wanted to get out of there and get back to his old school, where he was on the football team. I told him that his situation was like a massive game of chess- he couldn't win by throwing the board, the only way out was to play the game. We have to take it differently- we can't throw the board either, but we can stop playing the game their way. by Jennifer Hathaway (16 articles, 16 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 759 comments [220 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Sunday, Dec 7, 2008 at 2:58:10 PM (0+)
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Good post
You're right. There has been a war on working Americans ever since the end of slave days. by Zena Princess (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 89 comments) on Sunday, Dec 7, 2008 at 1:07:33 PM (0+)
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They discovered
that wage slavery is actually cheaper than chattel slavery........and they just love a high unemployment rate that keeps people desperate. by Laudyms (0 articles, 1142 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 708 comments [138 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Dec 7, 2008 at 4:41:11 PM (0+)
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