We look at those poor souls in Gaza, living in what many call The Outdoor Prison. We here in America are fortunate to have avoided such a fate. Yet, there is a physical/psychological definition of our dilemma here. When a fraction of 1% of Americans has such obscene wealth and many of the 99+ % of us are forced to pay sometimes half of our earnings towards rent, something is drastically wrong! It is bad enough that so many of us are handcuffed financially to mortgage payments, but those who rent their living quarters are really ‘ Up the creek’. The real crime of it all is the fact that there are more and more corporate landlords nationwide, alongside the others who think it is OK to charge too much to tenants. They love to tell us that this is ‘ A free market’. Bullcrap! The mindset of someone who chooses to be an absentee landlord is to get as much as one can from someone else. And they speak of Family Values. Yeah, the value one can charge to another’s family for them to have a roof over their heads.
Florida is one of many states that the Super Rich got what they wanted by killing the union movement with their ‘ Right to work’ laws. When less than 10% of private sector workers belong to a union, we are … without a paddle! Up through WW2 many unions, not all of them, were able to use the ability to Strike to balance out the power the owners had over them. Then, in 1947 the US Congress, with many Democrats joining the Republicans, passed the Taft Hartley Act , and then overrode President Truman’s veto:
The Taft–Hartley Act amended the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), adding new restrictions on union actions and designating new union-specific unfair labor practices. Among the practices prohibited by the Taft–Hartley act are jurisdictional strikes, wildcat strikes, solidarity or political strikes, secondary boycotts, secondary and mass picketing, closed shops, and monetary donations by unions to federal political campaigns. The amendments also allowed states to enact right-to-work laws banning union shops. Enacted during the early stages of the Cold War, the law required union officers to sign non-communist affidavits with the government.
Basically, the owners of industry used this act to make it very difficult for unions and union organizing. The result today is what we have in our nation: As close to economic fascism as one can get. Companies can hire outside consultants to continually propagandize employees by forcing them attend meetings, listening to all the tripe about how ‘ Dangerous unions are’. Many hourly waged employees are told how the unions will take money from the owner, money the owner could use to give more benefits to them. Believe that and I have this bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. Look at Amazon and how much one of the world’s richest men spends on suppressing a union for his workers. Bezos and most of his billionaire corporate counterparts are a disgrace! So, what we have is a country where hundreds of millions of us working stiffs are truly a few notches above being in an actual prison. Meanwhile, the ‘ dumbing down’ of our educational system has seen a multitude of 20, 30 and 40 something Americans ignorant of our labor history.
I met this exercise equipment tech today. Nice guy, late 30s, working as what is now the norm: An independent contractor, meaning no benefits from his boss. I asked him if he had health coverage. No, he said, and he did have a stomach ailment that he is still paying off that hospital bill. He said he signed up awhile back for Obamacare, but even that was too costly for him, and not with very comprehensive coverage. I could tell that he obviously goes online to right wing websites, because he feels that the drug pandemic is from all the illegals coming over our border. ” They empty out the jails and mental hospitals and let them come here”, echoing what master manipulator Trump says. Of course, he felt that the Covid pandemic was overplayed by the Biden run government. I could go on but what is the use. Another vote for the Republicans, or perhaps he won’t vote at all. ” All politicians are full of it, regardless of party” he said. He was right on about that.
Philip A Farruggio is a free lance columnist, host of a radio interview show and lifelong Anti War Activist. He is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen and a graduate of Brooklyn College, Class of ’74. He has a blog on the itstheempirestupid.com website produced by Chuck Gregory. You can find Philip’s work on many sites such as Countercurrents, Dissident Voice, Nation of Change and Muck Rack. Philip can be reached at [email protected]
