Go read: "Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital" by Matt Taibbi for the full story.
"Four years ago, the Mitt Romneys of the world nearly destroyed the global economy with their greed, shortsightedness and – most notably – wildly irresponsible use of debt in pursuit of personal profit. The sight was so disgusting that people everywhere were ready to drop an H-bomb on Lower Manhattan and bayonet the survivors. But today that same insane greed ethos, that same belief in the lunatic pursuit of instant borrowed millions – it's dusted itself off, it's had a shave and a shoeshine, and it's back out there running for president."--Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone
Go read: "Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital" by Matt Taibbi for the full story. Thievery is what unregulated capitalism is all about.--Robert Sherrill, investigative journalist
Are you watching the GOP debates? I almost hope one of them wins, just to hear "Hail to the Chief" played on calliope.--Roy Zimmerman, satirist and folk singer
The problem with unions today is that there aren't enough of them.--Martin Johns, 2011 If it weren't for unions, there would be no middle class.-- "Paul", web commenter on ABC News blog America is being sold to the lowest bidders, and those whose jobs remain in this country are at the mercy of their employers.--Mary Shaw, writer and activist With Labor Day upon us, I'm sure the 5 or 6 people who happen by here each month expect a righteous rant on the subject. But I don't have one for you. This site is all about the quotes to me--keeping the collection alive and available, adding to it. This front page is primarily a pressure valve--a place to let off some excess steam when such a release is required. Labor Day is a day of reflection for me. Labor Day is a day to remember that people died for fair wages and safe working conditions, that people died for the 8 hour work day. It's a time to be thankful for what we have versus what we would have without unions. If you think for one second that your existence would be any different than that of the miners killed in Ludlow or the exploited immigrants in Lawrence, Massachusetts had it not been for unions, you're very much mistaken. But don't take my word for it. Now that our government is wholly owned by corporations--now that Republicans are rolling back worker protections such as the Child Labor laws and reneging on hard-earned pensions, now that Republicans are enacting laws forbidding collective bargaining itself, and, most importantly, now that Democrats are letting them and, in some cases, actively working with Republicans in this anti-worker crusade--you only need to stick around for a decade or so more and you'll live to experience it first hand. And if you doubt that unions are responsible for America's middle class and that only unions can save it, there is a simple graph that proves the point beyond refutation. The red line represents union membership rates from 1967 to 2009, while the blue line represents the middle class share of the nation's wealth. If you are making a living wage today, you can thank the unions, whether or not you're a member of one. If you are unemployed and/or not making enough to get by, you can thank the Republicans. It's true. Trace any of America's systemic problems back and you'll find their origins in the administration of Ronald Reagan. Of course that was before union bashing became bi-partisan fare. Before a Democratic President helped define "shared sacrifice" as workers sacrificing and the wealthy sharing that loot. So no righteous rant from me today. Labor Day, for me, is a time of reflection. And, besides, I see no hope for the bottom 98% of Americans in the current political system. It appears things will have to get much much worse before they ever get better. If a righteous rant from me were enough to change any of that, I'm sure I'd never be permitted to make one. _________ The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.--Verbal (Kevin Spacey), in the film "The Usual Suspects" (1985) _________ Here's a fine piece by Judy Perry to help you reflect on the importance of Labor Day. And here is a video of Woody Guthrie's "Ludlow Massacre". Happy Labor Day. Obama is a moderate conservative and if I were a liberal Democrat, I'd be pretty upset.--Bruce Bartlett, Domestic policy advisor to President Ronald Reagan and Treasury official under George H.W. Bush (7/27/11)
The list of horrors that people found intolerable when George Bush was in office, but are now blithely accepted because “Sarah Palin would be worse,” grows longer every day.--Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake ("The Breaking Point")
I can’t recall a moment in my lifetime when government was so extremely out of step with the will of the American people. But it seems like the only fight to be had these days is to see who can screw the middle class the hardest.--Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake ("Up Is Down") If "we" are broke, how come only some of us are suffering?--Van Jones There are two Americas. One of them is really crazy.--Robert Cantor, commenter on Huffington Post (4/7/11)
It's clear--both from Wisconsin and the looming shutdown of the federal government--that Republicans could care less about deficits. Stripping unions of collective bargaining rights had NOTHING to do with the budget, just as ending Planned Parenthood and the EPA have NOTHING to do with the budget. That Republicans have said these "policy riders" are non-negotiable tells you that they are not serious about cutting spending. It's time someone told these petulant whining Republican babies that they are but a little more than half of one half of one third of the federal government (about one-twelfth, in other words) and they have already gotten more than their share at the dinner table. It is time someone told them, "No." In fact, it's long past time. Let this be called the Madison Declaration for an Economic Democracy. And that is: everyone has a right to a job, everyone has a right to an education, everyone has a right to health care, everyone has a right to retirement security, everyone has a right to housing, and everyone has a right to peace.--US Representative Dennis Kucinich, at Madison Workers' Rights Rally, March 12, 2011 Transcript courtesy Daily Kos.
This... this is a moment in American history where we're called upon to respond with everything that we are, with all that's in our heart and soul, so that we can reclaim the essence of economic justice before it is somehow it is lost on the corporate scaffold! We have to fight back! We fight back for our democracy! We fight back for our Constitution! We fight back for freedom of speech, for the right to assemble, for.. for the right to, for the freedom of association! We fight back for due process! We fight back, and we fight back HERE IN WISCONSIN! All over America, people are experiencing this ferment that is coming from the events in Wisconsin, and the events in my own State, where in the past week, a bill has moved along, that would strip the right of collective bargaining for Ohio's public workers that would [boos] ...that would put them in harm's way, should they decide to strike, because if replacement workers would come in and then would set the stage for privatization, and after all isn't what this is all about? [yeah!] Corporations want to steal what they feel is theirs to begin with. They don't believe in such a thing as Government for the people, what they believe in is Government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations! THAT MIGHT WORK ON WALL STREET, BUT IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK IN WISCONSIN! AND IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK IN OHIO! AND IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK IN MICHIGAN! [cheers] WE WILL DEMONSTRATE TO WALL STREET! WE WILL DEMONSTRATE TO THE CORPORATIONS, THAT WE HAVE ABILITY TO PUSH BACK, THAT WE WILL STAND UP, AND WE WILL SPEAK OUT, AND WE WILL MARCH, AND WE WILL FIGHT, AND WE WILL PICKET, AND WE WILL SIT DOWN, AND WE WILL FIGHT BACK, WE WILL FIGHT BACK, WE WILL FIGHT BACK!! [cheers] [pan to crowd cheering, clapping, very enthusiastic] [Man in crowd yells, "DENNIS RUN FOR PRESIDENT!"] We are here... We are here, not for ourselves. We are here on behalf of all those who serve. Whose work is dignity. Who committed themselves to public service. We are here for them, to say that they, and all workers everywhere, have a right to join a Union, have a right to collective bargaining, have a right to strike, have a right to decent wages and benefits, have a right to a secure retirement, a right to a safe workplace, a right to be able to participate in the political process, and A RIGHT TO RECLAIM THEIR GOVERNMENT! [cheers] What we have here today in Wisconsin, is the beginning of a new Civil Rights movement. Because historically we have to understand, that historically, the right that workers have came apace of the Civil Rights movement, which resulted in breaking slavery, because working people understood, that unless they fought slavery and joined with the abolitionists, that their ability to be able to make a living was going to be compromised. So what we have now here is the 21st century version of a civil rights movement, where we understand, that a economic democracy is a precondition of a political democracy! [cheers] ...and so, and so, let this be called the Madison Declaration: For a economic democracy, and that is everyone has a right to a job, everyone has a right to an education, everyone has a right to health care, everyone has a right to retirement security, everyone has a right to housing, and everyone has a right to peace! [cheers] This attack on our workers, this attack in Washington on working people that results in wealth being accelerated to the top, that results in tax cuts going to the rich, that results in energy policy turned over to the oil companies, that results in defense policy turned over to the arms manufacturers, that results in endless war, that results in the National security State, it's all a part of the same thing, and it's up to us to FIGHT BACK, FIGHT BACK, FIGHT BACK, FIGHT BACK, FIGHT BACK, FIGHT BACK, FIGHT BACK! [pounds podium with hand] [crowd continues with fight back, fight back! chant and applause] The objectives of corporations are different than those of Government. They would like us to believe that the corporate ethic is what Government should be about, but we know that corporations are here for one thing, and one thing only, and that is profit. [boos] Government, Government belongs, not to the private sector, but to the public sector, and our responsibility in government is to provide, provide service. The private sector would like to convert the assets of the public sector for their own use. That's why in your own legislation, in the bill, you can see there was an attempt --there's an attempt in the bill to try to privatize your electric services. You can see that. [boos] I know about this, I [stutters] fought and beat a privatization of a municipal electrical plant in Cleveland many years ago. I understand about privatization. I understand that what these corporations want is they want total control over our Government. [favorable shout from crowd] Keep the light on! They want total control of our Government. In Michagan, we learned the State legislature there is passing legislation that will enable a fiscal manager to come in and literally abolish city governments and school districts! Now why are they doing this? [boos] Think about it. The'll do this so that the city governments and school districts can be run for banks and for Wall Street. They're gonna make sure Wall Street will get it's pound of flesh. That Wall Street will be able to handle, through their --these managers, they can break union contracts, they can reduce the city government to mush, city councils and mayors don't mean anything, school boards don't mean anything, WE ARE FIGHTING FOR OUR DEMOCRACY HERE! WE ARE FIGHTING FOR IT, AND WE WILL NOT FAIL TO RECOVER IT! [cheers] And we will recover it by establishing a program of economic reform which will wrap it's arms around all the movements in our States to try and regain control of State Government, because you cannot succeed, unless from the national level there is the movement that some of the younger people talked about earlier, that puts into place programs that can create jobs for all, that can create education for all, that can create health care for all, that can protect retirement security, not -and that can create peace. Right now, we are told in Washington that when we want various social programs, we're being told that well, we can't afford it. But when they ask, when they ask, when they ask for trillions of dollars for war, no one said, "Oh! We can't afford it." What they say is, "just pay, borrow money from China and Japan, and just keep the war going." PART OF OUR PROGRAM FOR ECONOMIC REFORM IS THAT WE END THE WARS IN IRAQ. WE END THE WARS IN AFGHANISTAN. WE STOP THIS NATIONAL SECURITY STATE. WE BRING OUR TROOPS HOME FROM AROUND THE WORLD. WE STOP THE PENTAGON CONTROL OF OUR GOVERNMENT. WE BREAK THE HOLD BY BREAKING THEIR BUDGET!! [cheers] NO MORE WARS! NO MORE WARS! [points to crowd, who continues chant and clapping, "no more wars"] NO MORE WARS! There are those that believe that war is inevitable, because they make money from those wars, so that profit becomes inevitable, but we have to establish a new standard, which is what a department of peace is all about. That we have the capacity to create peace. That we are not just victims of the world we see. We become victims of the world we see, when we buy into the psychology of war, which a false psychology, which is not something we should accept as the way the world should be. WE HAVE A RIGHT TO ACCEPT A WORLD FREE OF WAR! WE HAVE A RIGHT TO ACCEPT A WORLD WHERE THERE IS PLENTY! We have a right to create a world that has plenty. I want to... [pauses for thought, favorable cries from crowd] I also want to say that when we talk about, if we are going to create a context where state governments can survive for the people, then there has to be accountability. And now you're showing in Wisconsin, you're determined there's going to be accountability for these State officials for not responding and or doing the bidding of corporations, I want to add this: There is another thing our country needs to do. We need to add accountability, and insist on accountability for those that took us into war based on lies. [cheers] I wanna, I wanna say this in Wisconsin, because it needs to be said somewhere, but it's time that those that took us into war, based on lies, they outta be prosecuted once and for all! LET'S RECLAIM OUR NATION! LET'S RECLAIM OUR DIGNITY! LET'S RECLAIM OUR MORALITY! [cheers] We are constantly told we don't have any money. Joseph Stiglitz pointed out that, that the war in Iraq would cost at least three trillion, we're at the half trillion dollar mark, with Afghanistan, but we will have a vote this week, and the vote will be to end the war in Afghanistan, it will be Thursday, House Concurrent Resolution 28, I'm proud to sponsor that, we're going to get another vote on Afghanistan. But let me tell you this: One of the great myths, one of the great myths of our time is that we are told, "well you know we just don't have the money for these programs, we have money for war, we established that", but I want to offer this for your consideration, because it's actually the path out, not just for Wisconsin, but for all the States, who are struggling, with some legitimate budget problems, and we have to look at it this way: We have to start to examine this debt based economic system, which puts us into believing the only way we can have money is to have debt. How did we come to believe this? We came to believe this, because you have the Federal Reserve that was established in 1913, they privatized the money system ok? We have the fractional reserve system where banks create money out of nothing and then they pyramid the debts and stick the tax payers when they go bust! We have, we have a government that says, "gee, we don't have the money to fix our roads, our bridges, our water systems, and sewer system", I want you to think about this now. This is a time, in this debate, when transformation is in the air, when evolution is in the air, this is time for us in this debate, to start to look at the monetary system itself, and ask ourselves whether it isn't time to put the Fed back under the control of the Government, to end the fractional reserve of banking, and to say, "let government spend money and invest in to circulation to rebuild America! To put millions of people back to work to rebuild our roads, our water systems, our sewer system!" MONEY FOR JOBS! MONEY FOR EDUCATION! MONEY FOR HEALTH CARE FOR ALL! WE DON'T HAVE TO BE BEGGING! WE DON'T HAVE TO BE IMPOVERISHED! WE DON'T HAVE TO BE STUCK WITH WAR FOREVER! WE CAN RECLAIM OUR GOVERNMENT! WE WILL RECLAIM IT HERE IN WISCONSIN! AND WE WILL RECLAIM IT NATIONALLY, BECAUSE OF WISCONSIN. THANK YOU! First up, today, a new "Quote of the Moment". There is a joke circulating that goes like this: A unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party and a Big Corp CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table there is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies, looks at the tea partier and says, "Look out for that union guy, he wants a piece of your cookie."--Dave Johnson, economic/industrial writer and Fellow at Campaign For America’s Future, as well as a former CEO ("America Waking Up To The Value Of Unions") Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's "budget repair bill" appears to be unconstitutional, according to Milwaukee City Attorney Grant Langley. Langley is no liberal--Wisconsinites say he's "as conservative as they come", so the right-wing union busters might want to sit up and pay attention. Langley says the proposal runs afoul of both state and federal contract rights and due process clauses in addition to violating "home rule" provisions of Wisconsin's state constitution. Lip service aside, conservatives have zero respect for Constitutions, state or federal. President Bush, you'll recall, referred to the U.S. Constitution as "just a god damn piece of paper" (and, yeah, I've read all of the accounts on both sides and I'm completely convinced he did say it). Reading the Constitution aloud at the start of your legislative session is not the same as actually respecting it and abiding by it. Walker continues to demonstrate even more contempt for his state's constitution and the rule of law by locking Wisconsin residents out of the Capitol building. The Wisconsin Constitution specifies in Article 1 that "The right of the people peaceably to assemble for the common good, and to petition the government, or any department thereof, shall never be abridged" and that the government "cannot prohibit an individual from entering the capitol or its grounds". But Walker locked the protesters out anyway. A judge issued a restraining order to compel the Governor to reopen the Capitol building to the public and Walker refused in complete contempt of the order. Technically, his lawyers argue, not letting people in is the same thing, legally, as letting them in. I kid you not. The ACLU was Tweeting today's hearing on the matter and the argument from Walker's lawyers (taxpayer paid, mind you; where's the outrage?) sounded pretty much like an argument from "Welcome Back Kotter's" Vinny Barbarino--"Whah? Wheyar? When?" No ruling yet, apparently--more hearing Wednesday--so the building is to remain open as per the TRO. You mean like it was today? Where you could only gain access if you had special Koch Brothers authentic astro-turf credentials? Oh, yes, that was another nice little tidbit. It seems Walker, while preventing the people of Wisconsin from having access to the people's building (indeed, in a further sign of defiance to the court order, actually forcing people further back from their building and restricting access to downtown Madison), actually "smuggled" in a group of Tea Partiers through a tunnel system so as to manage some applause for his "kill the poor and decimate the middle class" speech. Look. Picture (of special tunnel guards), courtesy a concerned citizen via Twitter: I don't even want to get into what's in this ass-hat's full budget proposal. The cliff-notes version is there's a crapload more tax cuts for the rich (plus the kind of super majority tax-hike-preventer provision that killed California) to be paid for on the backs of the middle-class, a billion dollars to be cut from education to be paid for on the backs of teachers, and new "discretionary" (i.e. dictatorial) powers for King Scott on things like Medicaid and infrastructure. Keith Olbermann's got a nice write up on his new F.O.K. News Channel, well worth the read.
Please note that the "tools" referred to so often by the Imperial Walker are a machete to cut the flesh off of school teachers' bones and a ginsu knife for the subsequent bone cutting. And when Walker speaks of "flexibility", he really means "my will be done"--without process, question or oversight--amen. It's the Republican way. None of this should be a surprise. As Rachel Maddow recently reported, Walker's MO was well established last year, when he was merely Milwaukee County Executive. Walker, then, unilaterally declared a budget emergency and fired all the union security guards at the county courthouse, replacing them with the notorious Wackenhut private security firm, even though the County Board had rejected the idea. But Walker thinks he's God--or the closest thing to it this side of his Koch dealers--and went ahead and fired them anyway. He had to, don't you see--it's an emergency! Well, turns out there are actually objective standards for what constitutes a fiscal emergency (there wasn't one) and it turns out unions have rights, too, and it turns out that Walker isn't God after all. An arbitrator ruled last month that Walker was out of line and not only do the union security guards get their jobs back, they're entitled to back pay. Meanwhile, Wackenhut is still under contract. Walker's little union-busting power-play could end up costing Milwaukee taxpayers an extra half million dollars. Way to go, Scotty. The scariest thing about all this is the nearly total media blackout. If it weren't for Ed Schultz on MSNBC, you'd barely know anything was going on. Like when the TRO was issued, media outlets reported the Capitol was open and that was that. Where was the reporting that it wasn't open, after all, and that Walker was defying the court order? Not on TV and not on most of the major on-line print publications. HuffPo, WTF? Is this what AOL's done to you? I've tried to make excuses for the media's behavior on this--not enough blood for them, I guess, or.....something. But I seem to recall that when a couple of dozen hard right morons were yelling about "that Kenyan Muslim in the White House", the media couldn't report it often enough, usually without bothering to correct the point. The fact is that what's going on in Wisconsin right now will have a greater short and long term impact on the future of America than anything going on in Egypt or Libya or Charlie Sheen's house and, three weeks in, it's long past time for the collective media to get off their collective fat asses and REPORT THE NEWS. An awful lot to get to in this first post. But let's toss this in right at the top. One of the features of my original Labor Quotes collection was "Quote of the Moment". And, for our first "Quote of the Moment" on this new site, I think we have a winner. Okay now. Just what is all this then? Well... A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a collection of Labor Quotes that I came to rely on for inspiration. To give credit where credit is due, they were put together and hosted by IGC. The Internet being transient and cruel, the collection disappeared into the ether one day. And so, when handed an opportunity, I built my own Labor Quotes garden as part of the website I tended for Red Bank Local APWU. That, too, passed after a time. But I've very much missed my baby and, for many reasons, Wisconsin's struggles not being the least of them, I've resurrected the quotes from the Way Back Machine and have placed them in fresh soil, here, in the hopes that they will grow and flourish. And, lo, the Earth shall tremble....not. I suspect the Earth will barely notice. And that's OK. I did this originally and do it now because I find that strolling through these quotes, from time to time, refreshes my soul and lifts my spirit. I can only hope that others may find some wisdom and inspiration here. When I started the Labor Quote collection, I began with the usual suspects. One day, sitting in a bar with a couple of the finest union brothers the world has ever known, I noticed a chalkboard behind the bar. On the chalkboard was a quote from Edgar Allan Poe: "What care I how time advances? I am drinking ale today." Damn straight, I thought. And it suddenly dawned on me that labor and leisure and life--everything, in fact--were all connected, all part of the same whole. Yeah, I can be slow to grasp the obvious. That was a turning point for me, personally, and for my Labor Quotes collection. So, now, as you wade through the quotes from Abe Lincoln and Mother Jones, you'll also find the occasional quote that seems completely out of left field...unless you think about it. And that's part of the point. Condemned to repeat itRobert M. LaFollette, Sr. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"--George Santayana I could probably have had this site live days ago, but I have this habit of getting distracted. What I mean by that is that I'll get curious about something and that will lead me to something else and that will lead me to something else and, before you know it, the day is gone. As a case in point, with the Wisconsin Uprising, the name Robert LaFollette was getting a lot of play. I had a vague idea of who he was--Senator, Governor, Progressive--but there were no LaFollette quotes on the site, so I went "in search of". Surely he'd said something quote-worthy about labor. Spent a day reading his autobiography and a speech or two. The reason you don't see a lot of quotes from LaFollette is that, in that age, orators and politicians rarely spoke in bumper stickers. Why you should find it relevant is because people have forgotten their history. People have forgotten that what led to the Great Depression was corporate greed and unbridled capitalism. LaFollette predicted what was to come in the decades prior. Read his warnings about corporate mergers ("combinations of combinations" he called them) and unregulated banks and you'll think you're reading a prelude to the Great Recession of 2008. Oh, but our memories are so short these days, many have already forgotten the Great Recession of 2008. Forgotten who caused it and forgotten who profited from it. Where the money is"I rob banks because that's where the money is."--Willie Sutton (attributed) I recognize that a site like this is mostly reaching the choir, if anyone. And, no doubt, those who don't like unions will only skim through looking for confirmation of Glenn Beck's latest exploding head conspiracy theory ("It's true, he's got commie socialist quotes on there!" Yeah, I got Lou Dobbs and Richard Nixon in there, too. Sew yer buttons.). But the only wasted effort is the one not made. So forgive me if the following rant sometimes sounds confrontational. Wealthy business interests have robbed this country blind for centuries. They are enabled in this endeavor by some of the very people they are stealing from. They do this through the magic of misdirection, playing on people's fears of the different and the politics of envy. Instead of demanding prosecution for the fraudsters and banksters who caused the economic collapse, they have people blaming teachers and firemen and illegal immigrants. Both political parties deserve blame for this; one side points the finger at various innocents on behalf of their guilty benefactors while the other, equally in service to wealthy overlords, declares "the past is past; let us look ahead". Blaming the unions or illegal immigrants is just the way the wealthy get the working class to fight amongst themselves for crumbs--it's not a way to get ahead and it will most certainly lead to a lower standard of living for your children. As someone wrote recently (wish I could remember where), if your house, God forbid, were to burn down, the solution is not to torch the homes of your neighbors so that their loss is equal to or greater than your own. And here we are knowing who it was who burned your house down--knowing it was the banking and investment industries--and, instead of pursuing the guilty parties and making them pay the damage, here we are at our neighbor's homes with matches in our hands. WTF? Governor Scott Walker For the record, union workers are NOT getting fat on the taxpayer dime. Writ large, union employees (public and private sector combined) do make more than non-union employees. God, I certainly hope so. But, even leaving aside the FACT that unions raise wages and benefits for non-union workers as well, public sector employees are NOT making more than their non-union private sector counterparts. Fox News will toss a lot of distortion at you. They'll tell you that public sector employees make $143,000 in "total compensation", but fail to mention that a comparable employee in the private sector makes $225,000 in "total compensation". It sounds like a lot because that's how "total compensation" is made to sound--for just this reason--to make it sound like people are paid handsomely for their labor when the truth is they are not. They'll factor in your holidays and vacation time and whatever else they can think of; I guarantee that your "total compensation" is a lot more than you think it is. To the point, though, the Economic Policy Institute found that, "On average, full-time state and local employees are undercompensated by 3.7%, in comparison to otherwise similar private-sector workers." Do some in the public sector, perhaps, have better pension plans than private sector counterparts? Well, since business decimated the pension system in the private sector years ago, I'd guess yes. It's been a core principle of the labor movement that part of your compensation for the years you work to make the rich richer should be to provide for the time when you're "too old to work but too young to die". So unions often forego some salary in favor of better retirement security. But no one ever seems to address why public sector pensions plans are, supposedly, "unsustainable". It's because the rich STOLE YOUR MONEY, that's why. Before the age of Reagan, pension plans (public and private) had to be fully funded. Business came to Reagan, or vice-versa, during a recession, and said "if we could just invest that money, instead of merely saving it, everyone would prosper". It was nothing more than a pre-text for the rich to get their hands on your money. The Wisconsin public sector pension plan, as it happens, is one of the best funded in the country at 99.8% (or 88.2% "fair value) as of 2009. Governor Walker wants to crush unions in Wisconsin for a number of reasons, but a big one is to enable him to STEAL THEIR MONEY. He wants to take that money from the pension plan, claim it as his to do with what he will, and then apply it to the $3 billion Wisconsin debt that was caused by $3.7 billion in tax cuts for the rich. The United States Post Office is gearing up to do the same thing to their employees. The USPS, by law, still must maintain a fully funded pension plan. Since USPS employees were moved to the Social Security system in the late eighties, their move to have that law changed is all about getting their hands on that money and spending it elsewhere. As has happened so often in the private sector, when it comes to be your turn, the money is gone. Where does a man or woman go to reclaim the part of their life--their youth--they gave a company in exchange for a promise the company didn't keep? I think the owners and managers of a company ought be required to sell every asset of that company, and then every personal asset of their own, before being allowed to renege on the contracts they made with workers regarding pensions. The company got their end of the deal after all, and then some. They're coming for Social Security for the same reason--it's money they can't get their hands on (and, of course, all money is "their's"). Medicare and Medicaid are a different story. They need to be fixed. In this equation, the insurance industry is stealing your money and providing NO value in the transaction. The fix is self-evident--government run health care, just like every.other.industrial.nation.in.the.world. What can I tell you? The truth hurts. Medical costs would drop as much as 30% overnight just by cutting out the extortionists in the middle. "God, how patient are Thy poor! These corporations and masters of manipulation in finance heaping up great fortunes by a system of legalized extortion, and then exacting from the contributors--to whom a little means so much--a double share to guard the treasure!"—Robert M. LaFollette, Sr., Wisconsin Governor and U.S. Senator Follow the money. The banksters and fraudsters caused the economic problems. They actually profited from the crisis they created. That's what they do. They, not unions, are the ones stealing from you. That's where the money is. Tax cuts for the rich mean tax increases for the rest of us. One way or another, YOU will be paying for those tax cuts for the rich. And we have 30 years of empirical data that tells us that, contrary to the rhetoric, the rich do NOT create jobs--not in this country at any rate. In any case, instead of fighting to strip your neighbor of something you think they have that you don't, why not put that effort toward winning such benefits for yourself? Ah, but for that, you're going to need a union. Unless, of course, you don't think you are worthy of a living wage and security in your health care and retirement. Unions happen to think everyone is worthy of such things. They fight for a better life for everyone. Corporations fight to ensure that everyone else serves them. Fight the real enemy--the corporations, the banks, the insurance industry, big pharma--that's where the money is. They stole it from us. The new quotesSo, like I say, I get distracted. I like digging in, finding new quotes, learning about history and people. In so doing, there are many tidbits that stick with you. Far too few are aware that there were African-American, women and Hispanic union leaders as far back as the 1800s. Think about it--long before women had won the right to vote, long before African-Americans could share a lunch counter--they were leaders. Unions are far more democratic than politics in this country, in spite of anything you've heard on Fox, and we've got the history to prove it. Almost no one today knows about one such leader--an African-American woman named Lucy Parsons. Of all the fascinating things about the life of Lucy Parsons, the most fascinating to me is that, when she died, Chicago police spent a great deal of time burning anything that she'd ever written. It's not that hard to kill a person, but much more difficult, if even possible, to kill an idea. Anyway, so there are a bunch of new old quotes, here, that weren't contained in the Red Bank Local Labor Quotes pages, even though I hadn't originally intended to add anything new. They appear (for now) in red--more for my convenience than anything else. We have a bunch from the aforementioned LaFollette. Reading up on the Bread and Roses strike and Haymarket lead me to worthwhile quotes from Joseph Ettor, Bill Haywood and Albert Spies. I found a site where, much to my delight, many of my more obscure quotes from the old site found refuge and lived on. From them, I added Hal Holbrook and Mary Anderson and their inclusion of Marjorie Kelly caused me to begin reading some of her work. Ms. Kelly specializes in business ethics. I don't think she quite yet understands that there is no such thing, but she seems to be learning. Nonetheless, her ideas merit thought and discussion, so she gets a whole bunch of quotes here and, in me, a new reader. Looking for a picture of Robert Ingersoll lead me to a bunch of thought provoking quotations. One or two contemporary quotes and, thinking about the solidarity in Wisconsin led me to think about the Solidarity movement in Poland which led me to add some quotes from Lech Walesa. Far and away, my favorite new batch of quotes comes from Wimpy Winpisinger, the late head of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Found one loose quote, somewhere, about being a proud lefty ("We're being centered to death," said Wimpy) and knew I had to read more. Found a speech and an article he'd written, which didn't help much, and an interview which did. The interview's linked up in the quotes and you should read the whole thing, but "Up yours, buddy," as his answer to the business owner threatening to outsource, was all I needed to hear. Were that our political leaders had the courage to stand up to big business today, we might still have jobs and economic growth in America. Not every quote will strike you every time. I've found that quotes come alive in the moment they are needed. For example, Wimpy's quote about being "centered to death" would not have struck me so poignant when Republicans ruled Washington. And then, of course, there are the odd and quirky little quotes that give Stubby's Labor Quotes it's unique flavor and personality--the ones that'll make you think out of the box a little bit or, at least, give you a smile. Like these: "You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same."— Jonathan Davis (vocalist for the rock band Korn) "Truth is found in the hands of the fool. Peace in the hands of the fearless."—blogger, poet, G20 protester, etc. "Onu Oremun" ("numero uno" backwards) Oddly, there are almost no quotes from the three voices I've most enjoyed in the 5 years since I last did this--none from Keith Olbermann or Jon Stewart and only one from Barack Obama. And that Obama quote? It's his promise to walk the picket line with American workers being denied their right to collectively bargain. Yeah, I really believe he should honor that promise and walk the line with the people of Wisconsin. It would cost him nothing and, by God, its the right thing to do. And I've included it in my collection as a constant reminder of the importance of deeds following words. Or, to quote Lech Walesa: "I must tell you that the supply of words on the world market is plentiful, but the demand is falling. Deeds must follow words." Be the ballI come to Union via the Red Bank Local APWU. Red Bank Local will forever be my local. As such, there is surely an APWU tint to this collection and I'm quite happy to have it be so.
I signed on as a steward to solve a specific problem, but I took so much from the experience. I learned to understand what brotherhood and solidarity are truly all about. I learned that I am capable of so much more than I would have believed, and capable of much, much, much more than that when working in service of others than in working only for myself, and capable of exponentially more than that when working in service of others alongside union brothers and sisters who are also working in service of others. I learned that each of us has the power to change the world for the better, if we but choose to do so. Yeah, yeah, sounds like some of that there "hippie shit". But it's true. Here's the secret: If you want to change the world, change yourself. If you want a better world, be a better person. If you want a kinder world, be kinder. And so on. It's not as though this is a new concept. It's some of the oldest wisdom in creation. From Lao Tzu--centuries before Christ--"The way to do is to be"; to Biblical teaching--"all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them"; to Mahatma Gandhi--"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"; to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"--"Don't dream it, BE it." In short, be the ball. |
About Stubby'sIf the spirit so moves you, feel free to stop awhile and refresh yourself with the collective wisdom and inspiration within these pages. If you hold the copyright to any image herein and wish it removed, just let me know. Always open to verified and verifiable Labor Quotes--especially APWU related. Submit to [email protected] Archives
June 2023
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