Reagan and the Republicans started a trend to disenfranchise voters and marginalize workers by increasing corporate power at the expense of workers, many of whom are now paid 1973 wages corrected for inflation. The GDP at the end of 1973 was $4.37 Trillion and at the end of 2000 $9.89 Trillion.
During Bush’s term up to 2006 the GDP went to $11.3 Trillion while the income of the bottom 99% went up One Percent while the TOP ONE PERCENT went up an average of 11 percent. Most of us did not even keep up! 2008 Q3 $13.2 Trillion, Q4 $12.8 Trillion. The projected GDP for 2010 is $13.2 Trillion! Where is the money going? The GDP has caught up to pre-financial meltdown, but are more people at work? http://www.data360.org/dataset.aspx?Data_Set_Id=354
It has been the Republican goal of putting us into serious debt as a nation and people’s so we become powerless to advocate for our needs and desires for a better life and a better life for our children. They are now using their wealth to further put our political power in the hands of corporations and the wealthy. When will it stop? Wake up America!
They have largely succeeded. Wealthy has been transferred from the Middleclass to the Affluent and Wealthy or the top 2 percent who make a minimum of $250,000 per year in family income. Many multimillionaires and billionaires are either contributing massively to help radical Republicans who have the odd mix of Libertarianism and 1890s ruthless Robber Barons which made corporations people with special privileges with the help of the packed Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court in a similar manner today with the appointment of Justices Roberts and Alito who probably have the strongest bias towards corporations in the history of the court.
We have now what history calls indentured servants who were tied to their employers to pay off debt with a former Healthcare system that made it close to impossible get affordable individual health insurance. So the abuse by employers increased substantially with the additional help of sending similar jobs overseas to keep wages low with the threat of layoffs continually in the horizon.
Thanks to President Obama passing a Healthcare Bill due to change in 2014 if our Supreme Court does not invalidate it.
This is why corporations held on to Healthcare even though it was expensive. Remember this recession caused by the Bankers allowed corporations to get rid of high income employees with incomes over 55, one of the largest groups of longtime unemployed in the nation. Look to many corporations divesting healthcare and even pensions as Verizon did in the future to gain a few cents more profit per share. No cost in the suffering of expelled employees.
Jim Kawakami, Sept 02, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com
After Years of Organizing, Domestic Workers Win Bill of Rights Law in New York Democracy Now Juan Gonzalez, Ai-Jen Poo, Patricia Francois
New York Governor David Paterson has signed into law a measure establishing a landmark set of working standards for housekeepers, nannies and other domestic workers. With the signing of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, New York becomes the first state where domestic workers will be guaranteed overtime pay after a forty-hour workweek, at least one day off per week, and at least three days off with full pay per year. [includes rush transcript] http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/2/after_years_of_organizing_domestic_workers
JUAN GONZALEZ: New York Governor David Paterson has signed into law a measure establishing a landmark set of working standards for housekeepers, nannies and other domestic workers. With the signing of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, New York becomes the first state where domestic workers will be guaranteed overtime pay after a forty-hour workweek, at least one day off per week, and at least three days off with full pay per year.
The passage of the bill comes after a six-year organizing campaign by Domestic Workers United, an organization led by immigrant nannies, housekeepers and elderly caregivers. Labor organizers are now hoping other states will enact similar laws to protect domestic workers who for decades have not been covered by federal labor laws, including the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
We’re joined now by two guests. Ai-jen Poo is the executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Ten years ago, she helped found Domestic Workers United after meeting a group of Filipina nannies who complained about their working conditions. We’re also joined by Patricia Francois, who has worked for many years as a nanny in New York after moving here from the Caribbean nation of Trinidad.
Welcome to both of you.
AI-JEN POO: Thank you.
PATRICIA FRANCOIS: Thank you.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Ai-jen, the importance of this bill and of the governor signing it, finally?
AI-JEN POO: This bill is really the first time there’s been official recognition of this workforce as a workforce that does vital work and provides a vital service for New York and for this country, and of the injustice of the discrimination that the workforce has faced in the labor law. Having been excluded from almost every major labor law for generations, the workforce has been rendered vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. And so, despite the really important work that the workers do, they’re very vulnerable to abuse. And so, this is the first time that the work is being recognized and the workers are having a minimum standard of protection.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And how—approximately how many domestic workers are there in New York and throughout the nation?
AI-JEN POO: There’s about 200,000 in the metropolitan area in New York and 2.5 million in the United States. …
JUAN GONZALEZ: What were some of the conditions that you labored under previously that now would be eliminated?
PATRICIA FRANCOIS: The abuse—physical abuse, the verbal abuse. We now have some protection, that if it do happen, it is in the attorney general hands, where he can assist us and seek justice, because it’s a human right. …
JUAN GONZALEZ: And again, in terms of some of the key provisions of the bill, were there any that were particularly difficult to get the legislature to pass? Because obviously, in Albany, it’s a mixed bag in terms of—
AI-JEN POO: Absolutely.
JUAN GONZALEZ: —the kind of political support you would get for a bill like this.
AI-JEN POO: Absolutely. And when we first started out, we were demanding a living wage of $14 an hour, healthcare, paid vacation, paid sick days, notice of termination. When the workers came together and developed their vision of what it would mean to have respect and recognition on the job, all of those pieces were really important. So this is an ongoing fight. The paid leave, the three days minimum paid leave that we were able to get included in the bill, is a really important beginning. A lot of workers don’t get paid leave at all. So that establishes a bare minimum. And we need to continue organizing for more.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, there had been a similar bill passed in California by the legislature there, but Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed it? … http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/2/after_years_of_organizing_domestic_workers
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