Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton seems to believe she has found a winning campaign strategy, pitching her platform to middle-class families, single parents, college students, and military families. "You are invisible to the oil companies earning record profits while you pay more at the gas pump. You are invisible to the companies who outsource your job, or lay you off or end the promise of your pension."
She left out one very important employment attribute from this litany that is now under assault: reducing your wages and making it less possible to maintain your lifestyle while the extremely wealthy become more numerous. Those many who made such wealth possible for the select few are expected to accept reduced wages in order to continue to receive wages at all.
In Canada, struggling DaimlerChrysler is attracting interested buyers, but these buyers aren't interested in having labor problems if they decide to conclude the deal. They have contacted Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove twice now, and of these conversations Hargrove related, "It seems to me it's about jumping in, cutting a lot of jobs and closing a lot of operations and selling quickly and making a lot of money for a small group of people at the expense of a lot of working people."
That feeling was behind the CAW members previously rejecting the company's proposed contract changes, prompting Hargrove to travel to the Brampton, Ontario plant and discuss the situation with them after lectures from potential buyers. Considering that the union's recommendation was to accept the changes, one has to assume that the advice Hargrove gave the membership was to take what you can get, as it is better than getting nothing. As one local official said after the acceptance vote, "It was a very hard decision for the membership to make, but they looked at the long term future for themselves and their families."
Article comments
1 - Doug Hunter
Too bad people like yourself have damaged the business climate to the point where companies like Halliburton must move to Dubai. I hear their having quite a boom there. Freedom, low taxes, and little government interference works every time!
2 - JustOneMan
UNIONS SUCK! Heres an example...due to Unions (CAW and Teachers) the state of NJ will be bankrupt within the next 3 years!
Death to organized labor!
JOM
3 - Methuselah
US wages have already been cut 30-40% in the international market by the unpublicized devaluation of the US dollar. This administration has taken advantage of the insularity of US citizens who are largely ignorant of international affairs except for military threats.
4 - Nancy
Better yet, death to obscenely wealthy & overpaid CEOs. These people/companies (the obscenely wealthy are usually the same as the CEOS who run the corporations; there was an interesting article here on BC about that, with a connect to another website that X-refed the ids/connections) & these scum are only interested in creating slave-labor conditions for everybody, everywhere, as long as they can line their already-fat bank accounts even more. We need a general uprising along the lines of the French or Russian revolutions, or perhaps a la Mao, with "re-education" camps for the rich & elite & their families.
5 - JustOneMan
Realist...I am glad you dont let facts get in the way of your posts! You keep proving the fact that liberalism is a mental disorder...heres a dose of reality!
March 9, 2007 US Department of Labor
Our economy created over 97,000 new jobs in February, this plus the upward revisions of 55,000 jobs in the last two months, shows that our economy continues to produce jobs at a steady, sustainable rate. It’s also noteworthy that a significant portion of the new jobs created over the past 12 months have been in service sectors which pay above average wages. Our economy has now seen 42 straight months of job growth for a total of 7.6 million new jobs created since August 2003.”
Real Wages Rose 2.2 Percent Over The Past 12 Months Ending In January. This is substantially faster than the average rate of the late 1990s economy, and it means an extra $1,279 in the past year for the typical family with two wage earners.
Real After-Tax Income Per Person Has Risen By 10 Percent " More Than $2,900 " Since President Bush Took Office.
The Economy Has Now Experienced Over Five Years Of Uninterrupted Growth, Averaging 3.0 Percent A Year Since 2001.
The Dow Is Up Over 40 Percent Since The President's Tax Relief Took Effect. The NASDAQ is up more than 55 percent over the same period.
JOM
6 - Dave Nalle
What is the world coming to, when JOM has the facts on his side. Of course, it's not hard to win a battle of facts when the opposition is as delusional as 'realist'.
US wages have already been cut 30-40% in the international market by the unpublicized devaluation of the US dollar.
Meth, I was in Europe when Bush was first elected and the Euro was worth $1.22. The Euro is now trading at $1.31. By my calculation that's not a '30-40%' change.
Dave
7 - JustOneMan
Dave...
Thanks for the compliment..I...er...um...think???
JOM
8 - Maurice
Realist
this kind of article is perplexing to me. How can you be so confused about the roles of government and business? Are you expecting an altruistic behavior from business? That would be odd in a capitalistic society.
These kinds of articles make me think of children that want to change the rules of a game in midstream.
9 - Methuselah
Nalle claims: "Meth, I was in Europe when Bush was first elected and the Euro was worth $1.22. The Euro is now trading at $1.31. By my calculation that's not a '30-40%' change."
How odd. I hope you don't get your personal information from that source: you'll go broke in a hurry.
Once again I've found Nalles assertions factually unsupportable. I can't believe a word he says.
Here's the history from OANDA (the ellipsis are mine, I deleted excess data). I had to make two probes because of OANDAs 2000 day maximum span. The EURO went from $0.85 to $1.31, a change of $0.46, or about 50%. Anyone can check this out. Oanda is reputable.
Conversion Table: EUR to USD (Interbank rate)
Daily averages:
11/01/2000 0.8490
11/02/2000 0.86160
11/03/2000 0.85920
11/04/2000 0.8670
...
01/02/2001 0.94220
01/03/2001 0.95070
...
03/16/2001 0.89980
03/17/2001 0.89650
...
05/19/2001 0.88020
05/20/2001 0.88190
...
07/22/2001 0.87120
07/23/2001 0.87190
...
10/01/2001 0.90980
10/02/2001 0.91720
...
10/20/2001 0.89870
10/21/2001 0.89880
...
12/11/2001 0.89080
12/12/2001 0.89270
...
12/29/2001 0.8860
12/30/2001 0.8860
12/31/2001 0.8860
01/01/2002 0.8920
...
05/29/2002 0.92890
05/30/2002 0.93560
05/31/2002 0.93760
06/01/2002 0.93440
06/02/2002 0.93250
...
11/06/2002 1.00040
11/07/2002 1.0030
11/08/2002 1.00960
11/09/2002 1.01320
11/10/2002 1.01580
11/11/2002 1.01320
...
04/26/2003 1.10380
04/27/2003 1.10390
04/28/2003 1.1040
...
12/03/2003 1.20790
12/04/2003 1.21170
12/05/2003 1.20760
12/06/2003 1.21680
12/07/2003 1.21520
...
11/24/2004 1.30810
11/25/2004 1.31790
11/26/2004 1.3250
11/27/2004 1.32970
...
10/09/2005 1.21170
10/10/2005 1.21160
10/11/2005 1.20670
...
05/24/2006 1.28540
05/25/2006 1.28050
05/26/2006 1.27710
...
10/07/2006 1.26590
10/08/2006 1.26030
...
12/27/2006 1.31340
12/28/2006 1.31330
...
03/06/2007 1.31380
03/07/2007 1.31050
03/08/2007 1.31330
03/09/2007 1.31590
03/10/2007 1.31360
03/11/2007 1.3120
03/12/2007 1.31220
03/13/2007 1.31470
10 - Dave Nalle
Well Meth, that's what I get for trusting my own memory. I thought I was over there in Fall of 2002, but it turns out to have been 2003. I should have been more precise and said 'during Bush's first term'.
Regardless, the Euro certainly started to rise against the dollar before Bush's economic policies came fully into play.
What was the point of all this agian, oh yeah, the bogus claim that this means 'US wages have been cut'. Which is certainly not true, because US workers aren't taking their wages and converting them to Euros before spending them.
The actual purchasing power of the dollar within the US has not declined significantly during this period, as demonstrated by the relative stability of the CPI. The CPI has gone up only 14% in the years bush has been in office, which is historically low. It's slightly less per year than during the Clinton administration and substantially lower than the rate in the 70s and 80s. Since 2000 the CPI has been lower than the increase in wages every year. So in fact real wages have not been going down.
Dave
11 - Aku
Your quoting of the Euro is absoutely meaningless unless us workers switch their wages into Euros, or consume a large amount of products imported from Europe (Berhaps the high price of French brie has you upset meth). If the buying power of wages shrunk by that amount, you would expect to see some noticable effect on inflation, yet there is none.
12 - Maurice
Unions are not helpful to the economy. In fact they are responsible for many company closures (Zenith for one). As I stated above corporations are not benevolent. But they do provide jobs and opportunity to advance. Unions do not provide work. Unions slow down the US economy.
The plain and simple fact is that with even just a little education most people are able to live very well in the US. My kids are living proof. I never thought they would amount to anything. They proved me wrong.
13 - Methuselah
Aku says: "Your quoting of the Euro is absoutely meaningless unless us workers switch their wages into Euros, or consume a large amount of products imported from Europe"
Did you miss the memo, Aku? We are rapidly outsourcing manufacturing to almost anyone who will take it. Unless you can convince US businessmen to revert to a Fortress America protectionism we will soon be buying every material thing from foreigners.
As it is now, every TV, computer, cellphone, PDA, etc., you own is filled with PC boards and other parts that are manufactured abroad.
14 - Dave Nalle
Did you miss the memo, Aku? We are rapidly outsourcing manufacturing to almost anyone who will take it. Unless you can convince US businessmen to revert to a Fortress America protectionism we will soon be buying every material thing from foreigners.
And every job we send overseas is replaced with 2.2 new jobs at a higher level of pay. A little retraining - easy to do with the $100,000+ severance package unionized workers get - and you're ready to earn a higher salary in a less strenuous job. The one catch might be that you won't be in a union anymore. What a tragedy.
Dave
15 - Methuselah
Nalle provides no citation, just a bald assertion, of course. Maybe he forgot. He has a poor memory, you know. Maybe we should call him Scooter Nalle.
In the past when I've checked Scooters citations they've been flawed with several types of bogosity. I no longer believe a word he says.
How can Scooter possibly be allowed to persist as a BC writer? A man with such a bad memory? His opinions are predictable, his information is laughably phony, and he's utterly humorless. On the other hand his grammar and spelling are OK and he's very prolific. In fact he seems to be way too prolific to be doing this for free. Is Scooter being paid for his articles and comments, possibly by someone who shares his views? Or sponsors them?
I suppose that Scooters prolific output accounts for his rise to BC Politics Editor, where he could, if he were really so low, excise comments at variance with his own opinion. But a guy like Scooter, who puts such a high premium on honor, wouldn't do that, would he? Must be someone else who deleted those comments of mine. A virus perhaps. A Vast Conspiracy perhaps.
16 - Christopher Rose
Methuseliffle: If Dave did do that, I'd kick his ass! If any comments of yours have been deleted, it could only have been done by me.
Whilst I disagree with slightly more of Dave's political views than I agree with, and yours too for that matter, he edits the political section because he puts in the time and effort.
We always need new writers and editors so anytime you feel competent to step up to the plate, you're welcome to see for yourself what goes on...
As for conspiracies, they're incredibly difficult to co-ordinate and/or keep secret and I seriously doubt we could be bothered. Cockups now, they happen all the time!
17 - scout
pess, the only thing within the sphere of the corporate light standard is how to manipulate the masses of consumers for maximum persuasion and profit. Everything else is in the dark and unimportant. That's why they have all the propaganda commercials on TV: to pretend that they love us like I love my children.
And our kooky airhead voters lick it all up, and then look at me with incredulousness when I point out glaring contradictions. The rule is that the first one that hits on the mass mind, wins, because, as stupid as they are, they-just-don't-forget-a-damn-thing. Relearning is a rough row to hoe, for many, I guess.
Hey, speaking of invisibility, I notice that the net jackal, coyote, has disappeared. Can you come back now? Please? TLC is suffering without all your hard work. Let me know; and thanks for this great essay.
I almost forget, check out brasscheckTV.com, as he came up with some squashed 9/11 footage that further supports an inside demolition job.