Maybe you thought working with your hands was of some value to this nation, well, "ardent Freetrader" Cokie Roberts has this to say in a syndicated column this weekend, "losers and their labor bosses should not be allowed to dictate trade policy." It is apparently just a fine thing for Democrats to make secret trade deals with BushCo.
Now at the risk being snarky, if George W Bush likes something the proper course of action would be to 'back away slowly.' When somebody with his track record is happy about a trade deal the only question is just how badly the average American is going to get screwed. The fact that it is Democrats who are in this mix is insult added to injury. If you look real carefully you'll probably also find that these are the same people who are fans of adding illegal immigrants into the labor pool with an amnesty. If you are American labor, you just got another finger stuck in your eye. (do I sound happy?)
Go ahead and suck up the propaganda crap, this is exactly how co-option works, "free trade" and "poor poor brown people," all sounds real nice and it is exactly propaganda. Starting with Reagan's amnesty construction wages slid to presently around 50% and NAFTA has watched manufacturing jobs leave (it's tough to out-source a building so you in-source). These people do not mean free trade, they still mean managed trade - can you say patents and intellectual property rights - the question is whose benefit it is managed for. Wake up.
6 comments:
For the life of me I can't figure out why the unions are selling out their members by supporting this amnesty bill. It's such a slap in the face of the American working class. I'm 100% pro-labor, and have been a member of two different unions, but their support for illegal alien amnesty is really making me rethink my pro-union stance. They are colluding with those who seek to destroy the American middle class, the very same people who also support so-called "free trade" (i.e., highly managed corporate trade).
Thanks for speaking up about it. I monitor a lot of news and blog sites, and no one has said a thing about it.
If you primarily monitor progressive sites, you won't. Somehow, being progressive now means a labor glut undercutting wages is a good thing. There is no legal worker labor shortage, there is a shortage of legal workers who will do the work for the depressed wages caused by illegal hiring. Nobody seems to want to look beyond the plutocrats' talking points. I am very unhappy and my construction crew is real unlikely to look kindly on a party that goes in this direction.
I spend about equal time at both conservative sites (mostly gun-related forums) and progressive sites. The conservatives are REALLY pissed off about this amnesty bill, but most of them are already anti-union, so they don't mention the union angle to this story.
Progressives seem to be approaching this from a highly misguided sense of racial justice, without thinking about the consequences for working people (or the environment) of adding tens of millions more low-paid workers to the labor pool. Labor seems to be the red-headed stepchild these days.
Strange to say, but true conservatives like Ron Paul may actually be better for organized labor than any of the Dems running for Prez. He's not willing to sell out his fellow Americans with corporate trade agreements or by granting amnesty to tens of millions of illegals.
Misguided racial justice would probably equate to liberal guilt, that was the term used to me a few days ago, I quite honestly don't know what the motivation is other than that racist dirt bag Republikans are against illegal immigration.
What is odd is that in as progressive an organization as the DPO you don't find widespread enthusiasm for amnesty. Even odder is that you find it on the wilder side of the left.
Suggest a close look at Ron Paul. Yep progessives are a strange lot. Want to save the environment but don't get it. Numbers of people are the root cause of all environmental problems. As an Oregonian who was told we all must live in the city because we are sprawling into open space, wildlife habitat and farm land by Tom McCall in 1973 I find it unbelieveable that they are the same open borders crowd. Numbers USA can confirm that most of our population increase is a direct result of immigration. Oh well plan and zone and recycle and all will be well.
Today congress failed to strike out the provosions to add 600,000 guest workers per year, maybe tomorrow they might cut that in half but we don't need one more immigrant, legal or illegal.. We are full, the third most popular nation in the world and nobody ever talks about a stopping point.
I'm an ex democrat, been decades since I could consider a republican. I'll say it again, on the things that count there is no differnce. Globalits versus Americans is the real fight.
Again I say look to third tier candidates. Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo or democrat Byron Dorgan. Its time for a 3rd or 4th party.
Dream on and believe a third party nationally will happen...NOT! Yup, I like Ron Paul, he has as much chance as being successful and I have in winning the lottery. The Libertarian Party here in Oregon is the same short-sighted as Ralph Nader's presidential run. Have we not learned anything from the fringe loony religious right? They started small, school boards etc etc. and than took over the repugs clear into the white house. The same for all 3rd parties to do start small and grow. The Libertarians weren't smart enough to do this, maybe that is a good thing. In little ol' Oregon we need a 3-4th party to field at least 10% of our legislature. But most people fear the consequences of a third party and believe the propaganda fed them by our two existing parties.
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