Then, Nixon went knocking on the bamboo curtain with the supposed premise that we could open doors to new markets, and help America prosper. It was a great idea, and heartily welcomed by the American manufacturing industries. They assumed that they would have new markets for their products. Little did they know that the great red beast would start sucking on our bones. Our bones are now almost licked clean and people are starting to wonder what happened to America. The “world market” is totally controlled by China. There is no way that we can ever compete against them without trade laws and restrictions. But China knows how to play the game. They just keep the Judas Goat (Our stock market) well fed and they will keep leading us lambs to the slaughter.
Reagan dealt the death knell to the unions when he fired all of the air traffic controllers and replaced them with non-union workers. It was a widely received signal that it was over for the American worker. Americans are so hungry for jobs that they will now cut each others throats for a job, any job, not just good jobs. The American worker has been defeated for twenty years now. The unions are now a moot point, the have no power. The can’t strike because the workers will be easily replaced by equally skilled, or readily trained workers.
It’s amazing what a human being will do to survive, pride, loyalty and honor will go right out the window when your family is suffering.
Now we are forced with forming a new country, where our politicians represent US. How do we defeat the wealth and influence of Wall Street? Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a Union representing us? We need to remember what brought the United States of America together. UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL. We must stand together against the gathering tyranny of the greedy.
They say that if we impose tariffs, or import restrictions, that other countries will impose restrictions on us, and stop buying our airplanes and heavy equipment. I disagree, I think that we need to impose restrictions now, and subsidize our industries if we have to. We now have little electronics industry in the United States. The T.V. manufacturing industry was the first to go off-shore. Reagan opened the doors to trade with Japan. Japan subsidized their T.V. industry and “dumped” T.V.s on the American market. There was no way the American electronics industry could compete. People were amazed at how much better a Japanese T.V. was for the money than an American T.V. for the same price. ( Remember Sony?) Yeah, that’s because the Japanese government was paying for the difference in quality. Now that our industry in gone, they can charge anything they want. But, the Devil in the details is, that the Communist counties are doing the same thing to the whole free world. They subsidize ALL of their products by keeping the value of their currency below that of the free world. They can do that, they are a Communist country! I won’t even go into all that is wrong with trade with China. But, it is significant and onerous.
You will hear a lot about the evils of “Class Warfare”. It reminds me so much of Marie Antoinette, when she was asked what should be done about the poor starving people. She replied “let them eat cake”. To some of us that might sound like a good party, but back then “cake” was grain paste, made into a patty and roasted over a fire. That’s all they had to eat. In Antoinette’s mind. That’s all they needed, and couldn’t understand what they were complaining about. She was later executed by guillotine.
I don’t think a guillotine is needed yet, but we do need to do something more that complain. It is time... we’ve almost hit bottom. I seem to remember that some Russian fellowstarved millions of his own people to death. It seems that they wanted something. Jobs maybe?
AN UPDATE…
ReplyDeleteYOU won’t find much about the national Wall Street protest in the mainstream media news, Ernie, some of whom were characterizing the protesters as “young and misguided,” “unclear and unfocused,” “dirty and unkempt,” and “behaving like spoiled brats.” Some working on Wall Street were quoted as saying they were “confused” by the protesters’ intentions or direction.
LET’S see what happens Wednesday, October 5th, during the Occupy Wall Street protests. Ernie and readers, despite the negative portrayals, here’s what’s on tap. Yes, the unions are getting involved, too:
THE 4:30 p.m. march from City Hall to Wall Street is expected to be the biggest and largest march of all. Several unions have endorsed their support marching for the cause Wednesday: the New York United Federation of Teachers with a membership of 200,000; the New York Amalgamated Transit Union having 20,000 members; and the Transport Workers Union Local 100.
ADDITIONALLY, 2,231 other individuals have signed up to march with the participating labor and community organizations that include the Coalition for the Homeless, Working Families Party, MoveOn.org, The Job Party, Communication Workers of America, United Auto Workers, Writers Guild East, Greater NYC for Change, and many more.
JOHN Samuelsen, president of the local transit workers union, filed for a federal injunction to stop the city and NYPD from commandeering city buses to transport arrested protesters. The injunction, however, was denied by a Federal District judge several hours ago.
SIMILAR demonstrations are popping up in Boston, Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and… well, Boise? Meanwhile, activists have begun organizing outside the U.S.in Prague, Frankfurt, Toronto, Melbourne, Tokyo, and Cork, Ireland. More than 1,000 people signed up to march on the London Stock Exchange this Saturday.
TWICE a day, the New York Occupy Wall Street movement is getting so much mail that protesters had to designate an official "mailman." Ernie, well-wishers and kindred spirits from across the country have been sending cardboard boxes bearing food, medical supplies, clothes and blankets to the masses who have been camped out since Sept. 14. The encampment now feeds and shelters hundreds of people each day and has a kitchen, a library, zones for first aid and sleeping - not to mention a committee putting out the trash. It’s reported the occupiers have plenty of food-- but supplies such as sleeping bags are running low.
WEDNESDAY’S march has the potential to be massive, Ernie. Another day, another protest?
Thank-you Skippy. Some have characterized this protest as “Communism”. I don’t understand how workers unions will fit into Communism. But then, there is a bunch that I don’t know. The wealthy are chiding us for wanting to strip their wealth away from them. They are accusing us of “class warfare”.
ReplyDeleteWhat I see, and I think that anyone can see if the think about it is, the wealthy long ago declared class warfare on the workers of America. They stripped our jobs away and send them offshore. Then they make less than a dime on the dollar of the wealth that leaves America. Their fortune came from a small skim of the loss of American wealth. Then they squeal like pigs when they think that we want to take “their” money. I don’t want their damn money! I want them to quit selling our jobs to a communist country. If we all had jobs like we had just a few short years ago, we would be more than satisfied.
Sadly, when they ran out of American wealth to buy offshore goods, they borrowed from our grand children to bail out their sorry asses. Granted, the fat cats are doing fine in the stock market again. The small stock market investor is getting eaten alive. But the “Stimulus package” that we just gave the fat cats will eventually disappear. There will be no more borrowing… Then what???
Change will happen, it is inevitable. How it happens will be the interesting part. Is there anyone that thinks that we can continue without addressing the balance of trade with China? Our current group of politicians can’t even agree with each other, how the hell does one think that they could ever hammer out a fair trade agreement with China, when it is in Wall Street’s best interest to keep taking a skim of the money leaving the country.
The elected people, and how we are fooled into electing them, are the problem. Aren’t there any great leaders out there that think we need to bring America back to America? And, give us back our jobs, and stop our small businesses, that once flourished, from going bankrupt.
I gotta’ stop…
Wow, it sure is quite out there... Everybody must be thinking.
ReplyDeleteWhy not just say what you are feeling. If you are wrong, I will fight to the death for your right to say it. The first amendment is alive and well on this blog. Plus you have to be at least as clever as the protesters that they are interviewing on TV.
Plus, it's okay if you are a liberal or a conservative, a Democrat or a Republican... Just try to think what might be good for America, and not get lost in party loyalties.
ReplyDeleteErnie, how do we make sense out of this Wall Street protest and the UNITED States of America? I'll give it a stab.
ReplyDeleteI think we’re witnessing America's first true Internet-era movement. The mainstream media seem determined in casting these folks as a random, silly blather of an ungrateful and lazy generation of weirdos. As journalists have pointed out, kids are criticizing corporate America while tweeting through their iPhones.
Are they Communists, Ernie? Anarchists? The unemployed? Union workers? College graduates left hanging without jobs, saddled in debt? The ‘99%’? Those showing up just for the fun and camaraderie? All of the above— and more.
While the Tea Party movement originated from the ‘right,’ this movement centers more from the left, I think. Their common denominator is of being disenfranchised while demanding accountability. Unlike civil rights protests, labor marches, or political campaigns, this one doesn’t take its cue from a charismatic leader, express itself in bumper-sticker-length goals, nor understand itself as having a particular endpoint. It’s not a traditional protest-- or narrative arc-- as we’ve seen in the past.
As one protester explained, "As far as seeing it end, I wouldn't like to see it end. I would like to see the conversation continue."
Yes, there's a wide array of complaints, demands, and goals from the occupiers: the collapsing environment, labor standards, housing policy, government corruption, World Bank lending practices, unemployment, increasing wealth disparity, corporate excess and bailouts, and so on. Are they ready to articulate exactly what that problem is and how to address it? No, not yet, Ernie. But neither are the Congress, the President, corporate America and Wall Street.
Anyone who says they have no idea what these folks are protesting is not being fully truthful. Whether we agree with them or not, we all know what they’re upset about. Occupy Wall Street is a social movement spreading through contagion, creating as many questions as it answers, and aiming to force a reconsideration of the way the nation does business. Yes, it’s as unwieldy, paradoxical, and inconsistent as those of us living in the real world. Precisely. This movement is merely pointing the way.
And we're watching it, Ernie, because it offers hope to those of us who previously felt alone in our belief that the current economic system is broken.
That's my two cents-- for the 99%, Ernie.