Jim Webb: Class Struggle

[deadparrot]

The most important--and unfortunately the least debated--issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century. America's top tier has grown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfair to say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved ones to fight our wars. They own most of our stocks, making the stock market an unreliable indicator of the economic health of working people. The top 1% now takes in an astounding 16% of national income, up from 8% in 1980. The tax codes protect them, just as they protect corporate America, through a vast system of loopholes.

Incestuous corporate boards regularly approve compensation packages for chief executives and others that are out of logic's range. As this newspaper has reported, the average CEO of a sizeable corporation makes more than $10 million a year, while the minimum wage for workers amounts to about $10,000 a year, and has not been raised in nearly a decade. When I graduated from college in the 1960s, the average CEO made 20 times what the average worker made. Today, that CEO makes 400 times as much.

In the age of globalization and outsourcing, and with a vast underground labor pool from illegal immigration, the average American worker is seeing a different life and a troubling future. Trickle-down economics didn't happen. Despite the vaunted all-time highs of the stock market, wages and salaries are at all-time lows as a percentage of the national wealth. At the same time, medical costs have risen 73% in the last six years alone. Half of that increase comes from wage-earners' pockets rather than from insurance, and 47 million Americans have no medical insurance at all.

Manufacturing jobs are disappearing. Many earned pension programs have collapsed in the wake of corporate "reorganization." And workers' ability to negotiate their futures has been eviscerated by the twin threats of modern corporate America: If they complain too loudly, their jobs might either be outsourced overseas or given to illegal immigrants.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009246

[bemildred]

1. Whoa. WSJ Opinion printed that? nt

[struggle4progress]

9. The upper class has always believed in the class struggle and works ..

.. tirelessly propagandizing to everyone else that the idea belongs only to crazy hungry leftists.

[formercia]

12. Perhaps they are just rubbing our noses in it. n/t

[BootinUp]

2. But what about macaca? n/t

[OneBlueSky]

3. "America's elites need to understand this reality in terms of their own self-interest" . . .

ain't it the truth . . . it's the difference between "let's make things better for ME" and "let's make things better for ALL" . . .

every time someone on the right charges that we on the left are "engaging in class warfare," I always point out that "yes, indeed, we are -- because you guys started it!" . . .

[durrrty libby]

4. Maybe he should run for president n/t

[Virginia Dare]

14. He and John Edwards would make formidable team...n/t

[corporatemedia]

5. And CM tries to portray him as a "conservative" lol n/t

[Catchawave]

6. Wow...the last two paragraphs....

"The politics of the Karl Rove era were designed to distract and divide the very people who would ordinarily be rebelling against the deterioration of their way of life. Working Americans have been repeatedly seduced at the polls by emotional issues such as the predictable mantra of "God, guns, gays, abortion and the flag" while their way of life shifted ineluctably beneath their feet. But this election cycle showed an electorate that intends to hold government leaders accountable for allowing every American a fair opportunity to succeed.

With this new Congress, and heading into an important presidential election in 2008, American workers have a chance to be heard in ways that have eluded them for more than a decade. Nothing is more important for the health of our society than to grant them the validity of their concerns. And our government leaders have no greater duty than to confront the growing unfairness in this age of globalization."

-----------------------
After years of George Allen, I'm going to enjoy my new Senator.

[jrandom421]

7. This reminds me of a quote I heard some time ago

"Ther is no fence high enough, nor is there a gun with enough bullets to stop a hungry, angry desperate mob who feel they have nothing left to lose, from coming and taking what they need."

Or this one:

"There was once a king who ruled broad, rich lands, with busy industrious cities. One of his counselors saw the forecast of expenditures for the next five years, and troubled by it, he went to speak to the king. "Sire, I see you are spending fortunes for soldiers, guns, ammunition, and vast fortifications and not a whit to lighten the burden of the poor." The king replied, "Yes, and when the revolution comes, I will be ready."

[DinahMoeHum]

8. Damn if he didn't hit a home run on this one!

:kick::kick::kick:

[Coexist]

10. absolutely.

[Octafish]

11. Proud to KR5

Outstanding work, his. Webb gets it.

BTW: Perhaps someday Webb will be a DEM we can ALL vote for.

[bemildred]

13. Or a desperate lurch towards diversity of opinion.

Or an attempt to suck up to the new Congress.

Many ideas come to mind, but it is so different from the hackneyed drivel they usually publish, that it begs for some explanation.

Perhaps they have seen the light?
Well, let's not go off the deep end just yet.

[depakid]

15. I think I may have underestimated this guy

A mistake I'm pleased to have made.

[mom cat]

16. I will be watching closely to see what legislation he introduces

to address this critical issue and what kind of support he gets from other senators.

[qwlauren35]

17. Is there a solution?

I have been worried about this for a while now.

There were amazing predictions that everyone below the upper class was going to feel a pinch as everything except direct service jobs went off-shore. And sure enough, I'm seeing it. Engineering jobs are gone, teleservice jobs are gone. Manufacturing jobs are gone.

The only jobs I see left are retailing, customer service, food service, health care, real estate, law, medicine. Those jobs which must be done "on location".

Have we helped young people accept this shift? Have we prepared our current workforce?

This is one of those things that the US *could* and *should* be spending money on. Not just job retraining and re-education, but ***MARKETING***. I know it sounds crazy, but I look to the American government to find ways to get important messages to the American people in ways that they will understand. Today's American people understand media messages, so that's how the "news" has to be presented. I've been fairly impressed with the new line-up of TV shows which stress math and science. But more needs to be done to point out where the jobs are. Not in Labor department news bulletins, but in more creative ways.

And then back it up with the MONEY to retrain our workforce.

There are times when it seems quite obvious that our government doesn't believe in spending money to help those who actually need help, i.e. the US workforce.

Will our new Hill make these changes? I wonder...

Could this be a result of 8 years of Republican power? Perhaps...