WAKE UP, Workers of America - They Have Declared WAR ON US!!

[mermaid]

This was my response to a different topic, but I wanted it to get SEEN, so I am posting it also as it's own thread.

This was originall a reply to the article about L.A. not having a football team, and how, when workers strike, they are greedy...but when fat-cat NFL owners threaten to move their team, to get a better deal, everyone falls all over themselves to give the NFL owner the moon, stars, and planets...and NEVER calls THEM greedy...

Anyway, here was MY response to that....
-----------------------------------------------------------
Because WORKERS...well, we're just supposed to work and shut up, right?

We're supposed to LIKE being exploited, crapped on, taken advantage of, given the shaft, walked on, abused...and we're NEVER supposed to want what should be ours by right.

If WE threaten to, or actually DO, strike, it is NEVER because we feel unfairly and unjustly treated...OH, NO...here it comes, folks....IT IS BECAUSE WE ARE LAZY!!!

Don't you KNOW this yet?? Didn't they give you the crash course, Amerika, Love It Or Leave It 101??

In Amerika....corporations can do no wrong...workers pull teeth to get unemployment benefits, the corporation is always good, righteous, justified...in putting profits over people (well, except for the CEO-type of people) I GUESS they qualify as people...

In Amerika, the workers who ask to be fairly compensated...to recieve an honest day's pay and benefits for an honest day's work...that is not virtuous, THAT IS GREEDY, SELFISH, LAZY!! HEY!! DON'T YOU KNOW THOSE THINGS COST THE COMPANY BOTTOM LINE?? DON'T YOU KNOW THE ELITE WHITE-COLLAR FOLK DON'T WANT YOU TO HAVE THAT STUFF, BECAUSE THE STOCK WILL GO DOWN A QUARTER TO A HALF-POINT IF THEY GIVE IT TO THE WORKERS, AND THEN THE "GOOD" PEOPLE WILL SUFFER MONETARY LOSS?

Didn't you know that ONLY WORKERS are supposed to take it on the chin?? NEVER the white-collar folks or the CEO-types?

And don't even TALK about Social Security....it won't be there for you when you are ready to retire!! Retire?? What's that?? LAZY OLD FOGEY!! Get your ass back to work!! We are gonna work you for a pittance until we have sucked evey last thing you have left in you, and then we will take you to the curb in a fucking Glad Bag!!

Didn't you know that's Amerika??

Didn't you KNOW they repealed the Thirteenth Amendment against slavery?? We are ALL supposed to be slaves to the corporations, and the white-collar moguls and CEO-types, who, of course, everyone KNOWS, are "better" than us common folk!

Didn't you know we're supposed to be slaves and LIKE it??

Oh, shit...that's right...I forgot...most of us can't SEE our chains and our cages...most of us don't recognize the slavemasters for what they are, because MOST of us have such a short attention span.

So they give us reality TV, Jerry Springer, a war in Iraq...HEY, LOOK!!! SHINEY THING OVER THERE!! To distract us, so that we never even NOTICE our chains....and of course, they use the "American Dream," which is unattainable to most in this country as a little carrot-on-a-stick to keep us in line!

Haven't you figured this all out yet??

WAKE THE FUCK UP, WORKERS OF AMERICA...THEY HAVE DECLARED FUCKING WAR ON US!!

[Downtown Hound]

1. All of it is true

Very good response.

[EC]

2. Oh, But Don't You Know? THE CORPORATIONS ARE THE ONES

TAKING ALL THE RISKS JUST TO GIVE US A JOB? Give me a break...this is what I hear constantly, that the business owners that take all the risks have more to lose than the employees...Huh? All the safety nets have been switched to protect the Corporation, while the employees end up losing everything they had managed to accumulate and barely subsist. Most people in America that has been in the work force for a while has had to start over from the bottom at least once, some of us multiple times. So don't tell me about the risks of companies going under...Most of the companies that have gone under, have been by plan, to MAKE MORE MONEY, not lose everything....

[Solon]

3. Oh, you got to remember...

Employers may lose 10 percent of their profit on employees, they CAN'T have that. Even though employees may only starve on the street with their kids, that's no big thing, not to the Corporation and its subjects.

[undergroundpanther]

4. Kick!

[Elwood P Dowd]

5. American CEOs are going through hard times

It cost so much more these days just to survive as a Fortune 500 CEO. A new boat might set them back $800,000 or more. A vacation resort home in Bermuda might cost over a million. Plus, they have to wear a different $2,000 suit to work every day. The workers should be more understanding of these poor CEOs. Heck, some of these poor CEOs don't even have their own personal jet or a membership to Augusta National.

[TWiley]

10. Lets clilp coupons and send em a loaf of bread.

[DiverDave]

6. Fucken cheap labor basTURDs

I wonder if thay will scream when the doors to the bastille are flung open.

There is gonna be a revolution in this country, I just hope it comes SOON.

[ngant17]

7. Review Dr. Jason Smith's recent article, please

http://www.idahosmith.com/BOLSHEVISM_2005.htm

[mermaid]

24. I Hope So, Too!

I hope it comes as soon as you hit 1000 posts...I see you're at 993 right now...congratulations and welcome (almost) to the 1000+ club!

It is my INTENTION to incite rebellion with my words. I intend to make others see that which they REFUSE to see...and for what they see to PISS THEM OFF!!

Only when we are ALL good and pissed off, will a revolution occur.

[burythehatchet]

8. pity

that the "middle class", 40% of whom think that they are in the top 10% in AmeriKa, won't find the voice that you found. As long as Joe Suburb is driving his 11 passenger CanyonAero with the bush/cheney bumper sticker and the w04 window sticker, all is well. Only time will reveal to Joe that he's been sold a sack of shit when his 2.2 kids are dying in Iran.

[Mr.Green93]

9. Have you

ever checked out the PLP?

[scarletlib]

11. Great Riff!

[mermaid]

12. Thanks

I'm just a pissed-off worker who has finally seen the light of day!

Capitalism, by necessity, creates deprivations in some, that others may prosper. If we ALL had a million dollars, would we all be rich? NO!!! Because the prices of goods and services, under capitalism would go up accoringly to the new supply of money (capital.)

In theory, I don't have a problem with this, I do NOT believe in equal outcome. One who works harder or smarter SHOULD be rewarded for this. One who sits on his fat lazy ass and doen't work at all SHOULD NOT be rewarded with an equal outcome to those who DID work.

However, for me, the problem comes when profits are put ahead of people, and the deprivations created by Capitalism become LIFE-THREATENING to some.

When some are forced to choose between heat and food, or food and medicine...THIS IS INTOLERABLE!!

When some have enough that 500 generations of their family would never have to work, while others live in cardboard boxes...THIS IS INTOLERABLE!!

I just call it like I see it. i'm an outspoken bitch, and I am not afraid to call a pig a pig. After all, you cannot insult a pig by merely calling it a pig. And a pig is exactly what Capitalism is!

And I don't care how much lipstick you put on the pig, IT IS STILL A PIG!!

[scarletlib]

15. I agree with you in just about everything you have said.

I have long told people that unregulated Capitalism turns into Rabid Capitalism. We all know what rabies does to a person.

I myself, do not want to be rich. I am already rich because I live in an industrialized nation and have access to so much that millions of other people on this earth can only dream of.

I think capitalism needs to be regulated. Personally I consider it a sin to spend 5000-10000 on a dress. I question how many homes, airplanes, boats etc an individual needs to have before he has too many.

Those who make extraordinary sacrifices or contributions to our society deserve to be richly rewarded. I think the conversation needs to be about how much is enough and who really contributes the most to the society.

Finally, if this country provided many of the basics that many countries provide to its citizens such as free medical care, free education even at the higher levels, etc. it would go a long way to ease some of the inequities in a capitalist system.

Right now we are seeing gross inequities in this country. I wonder how much worse it will have to get before all of us ordinary Americans finally rise up and say 'enough'

[hfojvt]

25. do not be a bitch

and quit picking on pigs.
Being a bitch is not a good thing, and pigs are not as bad as people claim. Pigs did not build Auschwitz or use gatling guns on other pigs, so how can you insult a human (or a human system) by calling it a pig? No mere animal can compete with homo sapiens in nefariousness. You could say our species is notorious for its nefarious negative nihilistic networks, but people will think you are a nerdy nudnik if you do.
Also, given human breeding ability, nobody can support 500 generations of their family. Here are the numbers I have for Joseph Loomis for each generation (and spouses) - 8 (11),87 (71), 401 (286), 1340 (827), 3456 (2010),7354 (4323), 11443 (5728). Then my data starts to get more incomplete so I only have 10,519 (3363) for the next generation. But, it shows how one person can produce 11,443 descendants in just seven generations. If you continue that process for 500, the numbers are totally beaucoup.
That nitpicking aside, I appreciate your feisty spirit and your heart. See, I make a distinction between feistiness and bitchiness.

[porkrind]

40. Nice post. Agree 100%.

[Mabel Dodge]

13. That was a great post

I'm e-mailing that out to everyone on my list. Thanks!

[mermaid]

20. Thank You Very Much

I'm humbled that my words have so moved you! This is just one pissed-off worker who is not going to "sit down and shut up" anymore!

Everything I wrote there came straight from the heart, I soun it off as I went, there was no planning...this was truly, from my heart, how I feel.

I have finally been screwed over one too many times. How many more times will other Americans have to be screwed over before THEY get the message, too?

It is my intention, with my words, to inspire rebellion. Rebellion against those who enslave us...those who take the joy out of life, those who suck everything meaningful out of our existence, and turn our lives into a hell of abasing servility.

It is my intention to help bring about the Workers' Revolt. I am hopeful that it can be done without arms, without bloodshed. I am hopeful that enough of us can band together to bring production (and the economy) to a screeching halt, until OUR demands are met...and OUR priorities are at the top of the list, where they belong.

We ask not for much. We ask only to be paid a fair, livable wage for our work...we ask that no person be placed in a situation where their very life is threatened by deprivations of basic life necessities. We ask that, for once, people are placed ahead of profits...we ask that those who "have" in our society, for once, make the sacrifices.

If they will not do it willingly, then they must be brought to it by force. Force can take many different forms. I am hoping a workers rebellion can be achieved without bloodshed. I am hoping, instead, to aim for what will REALLY hurt our slavemasters...their POCKETBOOKS!!

The war in Iraq, and the oligarchy's insensitivity to the carnage and loss of life should tell us that no amount of bloodshed will move these people. They feel not, they care not. It is, IN FACT, their INTENTION to kill off as many as they can, they kill off the "dead wood" the extra that are not needed, to support their system.

Understand their strategy. They have pitted us against one another, so that we are too busy fighting each other, that we cannot fight our TRUE oppressors. They have divided us by religion, gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, creed, color, rich, poor, fat, thin, smokers versus non-smokers...etc, etc. It is more distraction, lest we accidentally discover the man behind the curtain.

Do not be decieved! They have declared war on US, the workers of America! Look around you. Don't take my word for it!

Are you working longer and harder than you ever have before, just in order to stay in the same place? Are you working longer hours, and harder labor, for less buying power than you have ever had before? Are you spending less and less time with your family...on leisure activities...things you enjoy doing? Are you ever-more tired than you ever have been? Look around you. Observe. Ask yourself...am I REALLY better off now than my parents were at my age? Am I better off now than I was a decade ago? Am I better off now than I was five years ago? Last year? Or are things getting progressively worse?

Seriously examine the circumstances, and the sum of your lives. Are you tending to the things that are REALLY IMPORTANT more, or less, than you used to? are family and friends pushed aside more and more as work crowds into places you once reserved for them...for leisure...and for yourself? And for what have you traded those things? An empty purse?

Think about it.

[lonestarnot]

14. I find it fascinating that of the brilliant minds that have posted to this

thread noone has mentioned NAFTA or the new one F??? someone help me out with the second pack of lies now awaiting passage in the halls of Congress. Wait I found it:

"Those who will learn nothing from history are condemned to repeat it."
www.stopfta.org
—George Santayana

FTAA advocates have described their plan as a broadening (adding more nations) and deepening (enlarging the scope and authority) of NAFTA – the so-called North American Free Trade Agreement. So let’s take a look at NAFTA.

The NAFTA agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada was signed by President George Bush (the senior) in 1992. But it still had to be approved by Congress. A tough battle would ensue despite high level support in both major parties. The following year, President Clinton mustered all of his political clout to push the measure through Congress. The office of Representative Gerald Solomon (R-NY) circulated a list of some 37 special side deals and pork barrel projects the Clinton Administration used to buy passage of the trade agreement.

The President's November 17th political victory in the House of Representatives came by a 234-200 vote. Opposition was greatest in the House and by most accounts opponents held the upper hand until the final week. The last-minute push was alluded to by the President: "We had to come from a long way back to win this fight." The Senate vote three days later in support of NAFTA (61-38) was anticlimactic.

Like the FTAA, NAFTA advocates titled their measure to mislead the public into believing falsely that the agreement was principally concerned with lowering tariffs and promoting free trade within a growing prosperity zone.

Although NAFTA was promoted as a "free trade" agreement among the nations of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, it has much more to do with economic integration and eventual political merger than it does with free trade. Consider: The mammoth NAFTA document was 1,700 pages of government intervention. The treaty itself was "only" 741 pages, but there were an additional 348 pages of annexes and 619 pages of footnotes and amplifications. Free trade and 1,700 pages of bureaucratese amount to a contradiction.

The major rub of the NAFTA treaty was chapter 20, which mandated the creation of a North American "Free Trade Commission" and a vast new bureaucracy under this commission called the "Secretariat."

The major advocates of NAFTA/FTAA generally try to deceive the public as to the magnitude and real objective of their revolutionary proposals. Nevertheless, there have been some startling and candid admissions in the general press:

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a member of the executive committee of the Trilateral Commission and a longtime power in the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), called the vote on NAFTA the single most important decision that Congress would make during Mr. Clinton's first term. Indeed, Kissinger acknowledged in the Los Angeles Times that passage "will represent the most creative step toward a new world order taken by any group of countries since the end of the Cold War...." NAFTA "is not a conventional trade agreement," he noted, "but the architecture of a new international system."

David Rockefeller, Kissinger's superior among the Trilateralists and CFR coterie, exhorted in the Wall Street Journal: "Everything is in place -- after 500 years -- to build a true 'new world' in the Western Hemisphere."

Another proponent, Andrew Reding of the New School for Social Research, admitted in a Canadian publication that the passage of NAFTA, which he called "an incipient form of international government," would "signal the formation, however tentatively, of a new political unit -- North America." This is not idle speculation, for as Reding suggested, "with economic integration will come political integration."

Representative Robert Matsui (D-CA), another NAFTA supporter, candidly admitted that the agreement brings with it a surrender of American "independence." And NAFTA supporter Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) has bragged about the "iron fist" of the pact. No, NAFTA was not about free trade.

In case there is any doubt about the teeth in the NAFTA agreement, consider the candid statements of U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, the negotiator of the "side agreement" on the environment. Kantor said officially that "no nation can lower labor or environmental standards, only raise them .... " In the Wall Street Journal on August 17, 1993, Kantor explicitly stated that "no country in the agreement can lower its environmental standards -- ever."

Recommended reading:
CAFTA: Stepping Stone to the FTAA - The New American - May 17, 2004

The Central American Free Trade Agreement would extend NAFTA-style regulations to Central America on the road to an FTAA-based supranational government of the Americas.

Global Tyranny … Bloc by Bloc - The New American - April 9, 2001

The construction of a world super-state is progressing one chunk at a time with NAFTA set to become the "European Union" of the Western Hemisphere.

NAFTA: Bureaucracy Unlimited - The New American - October 18, 1993

An Army of Governmental Agencies - The New American - October 18, 1993

NAFTA: The Misnamed Treaty - The New American - December 28, 1992

Further reading in Archives

[mermaid]

17. Did You Mean CAFTA??

The Central American Free Trade Agreement? that the one you talking about? Another sack of shit being sold to the American public!

Sometimes, the best way to deal with stuff like this is bluntly, so here goes...this is gonna be a bit like pulling a Band-Aid off a hairy leg quickly, but the pain will soon subside, once the blinders are ripped from your eyes quickly, much like that aforementioned Band-Aid.

Here goes...

NAFTA = New Administration, Fuck The Americans

CAFTA = Conservative Administration, Fuck The Americans

There, the blinders are off now! It hurt for a sec there, didn't it? but now that the pain is subsiding, the pain of knowing you have bought into this sack of shit the government is trying to sell us, perhaps enough of us can get together to STOP this shit.

[scarletlib]

22. I am having a blast with this thread.

Interesting think about CAFTA that I read on the boards not too long ago. It seems red state Lousiana just elected a new dem to congress who campaigned against CAFTA. bushco sent in some of its big guns and still didn't do any good. Evidently (also per that article) many in Congress are now getting a lot of heat on these trade agreements from constituents and as such CAFTA may not pass. We will have to watch and see.

[lonestarnot]

32. Yes CAFTA, Damn acronyms give me heartburn... don't like memorizing

Thanks for helping me out.

[EC]

29. One of the things we don't really hear about is why

labor is so much cheaper in these countries, like the lower cost of living,and socialized medicine, what we DO hear about is how they are willing to work for less money and lower standards of safety, recited like these are qualities the American worker should accept and just be happy to HAVE a job. Yes, in a Republican administration a job usually is a luxury, since they rig it that way, to make us work more and get less. They benefit from high competition in securing a job because it drives wages down, when there is high unemployment with no benefits then we take whatever is there. We get crippled or killed at work so the Big Corporation can give their shareholders a dollar more, because of the raping of OSHA and get screwed in Disability unless you were making enough to buy a policy to protect you and on and on. Most people I talk to don't think the President and his administration have anything to do with this, but they are not watching the policies his cabinet makes or the protections they scrape...

[mermaid]

30. No Joke!! n/t

[lonestarnot]

33. EC you forgot the horrible root of this situation and that is to create

the same turd world environment here in the U.S. Slave labor...it's on our doorstep.

[EC]

35. I've been saying that since Reagan, actually what I said was that

the Republicans won't be happy until we are at "The Company Store" mentallity again...Like the coal mines and plantations had (Tennesee Ernie Ford's song "Sixteen Tons") my grandfather worked for the coal mines in West Virginia, the company owned the home and everything around...the employees were not paid in money, they got credits, part of which went to the home, groceries at the company store, clothing at the company store, coal for heat from the company, etc....it's inscription plain and simple...

[radar]

16. There's a nice website...

...With articles devoted to this subject in easy to understand language

Conceptual Guerilla
http://www.conceptualguerilla.com/

[hfojvt]

18. "everybody knows that the dice are loaded

everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
everybody knows that the war is over
everybody knows that the good guys lost"

I used to think of my employer as the Terminator:
"Listen, and understand. That Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't know fear, or pity, or remorse, and it absolutely will not STOP, EVER, until you are dead."

I have to sympathize with employers too though. I have seen plenty of "workers" who did not live up to their name. They complain about their low wages, but I never see them even earn the wages they are paid much less deserve more.

[BiggJawn]

19. Preach it!

You nailed it, Mermaid!

WHY do the CEO's have to be better compensated than the poor fucks who give their lives and health to "The Corporation"?

What is it about a CEO that makes HIM so much better than the guy who's ruined his back working that shovel?

I mean, everytime they INDICT one of those bastards, it's the same damn thing: "I didn't know that was going on. I have a huge company, you can't really expect me to be involved with EVERYTHING, can you?"

For several million dollars a year, plus stock options, why can't we expect you to be in charge?

The "American Dream"...what a fucking nightmare that turned into for me. It cost a LOT to get off that over-priced mortgage merry-go-round. "Building Equity"...S'Yeah, maybe if I lived there until the 75 kilobuck mortgage was paid for, then I might have had 70 kilobucks in "Equity"...

Preach it, Mermaid, even though most folks will just turn up the noise knob on their "Reality Must-See Teeeeee-Veeeeeee"....

[mermaid]

21. Thank Again, and HERE Is WHY...

Answer to your question...

"For several million dollars a year, plus stock options, why can't we expect you to be in charge?"

Well, because, didn't you know that "taking personal responsibility" only applied to us poor people?? Rich people are NOT supposed to have to take any personal responsibility!! It's such a sack of shit, I cannot believe that even a blind man couldn't tell it was a sack of shit, because it stinks to high Heaven!

No, when they talk about "taking personal responsibility," they mean US POOR PEOPLE. didn't you know there were two sets of rules?? One for them, and one for everyone else?

[JanMichael]

23. It's Class Warfare and only one side is fighting. The Corpo side.

The other side is taking it like good boys and girls.

[hfojvt]

26. my knuckles would say different

After I spent a year working hard as a temp and not being hired I decided to fight back. Because I was working in a machine-plant, the lines produce $100 of product every minute. I figured that the company was saving maybe $60 a day by paying me less and not giving me bennies. So I determined to alloy the machines to be idle an extra minute every day, simply by not "noticing" things. Instead of being pro-active about problems, I reacted slowly. My finest moment was when the million dollar line was down for an hour with a problem that I could have fixed, but I refused to. I finally fixed it after an hour just to prove, even to myself, that I could. I figure that $12,000 in lost production could have paid for alot of benefits. Put that in you pipe and smoke it Phillip-Morris.
Also, for whatever it is worth, I was part of the AFL-CIO's e-activist network for the last four or five years until I quit in a fit of despair after this last election. When it is me against the corporate world, I might as well be punching a brick wall, or banging my head against it.

[mermaid]

27. Now THAT Is The Kind Of Solution (And Revolution) I Am Looking For!!!

Imagine what would happen if EVERY worker did what you did that one day!!
Think they would notice??

You think maybe, for once, we would be listened to?

[lonestarnot]

34. Damn I'm lucky and blessed. I have a wonderful boss who fights for

people when they loose their jobs. So I couldn't go punchin him out. But I'd help others stand up.

[JanMichael]

28. I meant on the aggregate. I applaude your individual actions.

But, as I said, on the aggregate there is a hell of a lot less Organising, Educating and Agitating, than there is Corpo assualts on Labor.

[mermaid]

31. That Is Because Unions Have Been Demonized By The Right Wing....

The corpocrats!

[hfojvt]

47. funny thing about unions

They were kinda ruined by Gompers in my eyes. They took for themselves rather than fighting for the working class. I am kinda wishy washy about my own battle since I was only battling for myself. Still, when I quit the one temp job, they hurried to assure the new temp that he would get hired.
In the Kraft plant where I was a temp, there was talk of unions. So much so that the company gave an anti-union presentation. Some of what I heard was that workers thought the union was going to be kinda helpless. My view was that the union would be for the people who already had the jobs I wanted and would probably do nothing for all the temps working there often doing the same job (or the heavy lifting and messier part of the same area).
In a union plant where I worked as a contract-janitor (and then as a temp where I got laid off after 6 days) the 2nd shift was posting signs criticizing the union for the vacation they got. Like they were getting screwed because of the union rather than because of management. Sorta like people here, and Bartcop too, will tear into Democrats for being doormats instead of tearing into Republicans for being fascist corporate bastards.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Solon]

39. You must be in Europe...

Here in the good ole US of A, its 1 maybe two weeks paid vacation, after a full years work of course. Also hours are either restricted to the point where you can't live off them, like 20 hours a week, or are so high, closer to 50 to 80 hours a week, you don't see the kids for a decade. But that's us, how are you across the pond?

[mermaid]

41. You Have GOT To Be Kidding!!

What on EARTH have YOU got to complain about??

You obviously don't live in the Untied States!

Or you're being facetious...can't really tell which. But you can't possibly be for real!

[cthrumatrix]

38. from all sides - health care, min wage being most important

[ultraist]

43. What can be done to fight corporotacracy?

>Increase minimum wage
>End corporate welfare
>Campaign finance reform
>NO CAPS for lawsuits (oppose Bush's tort reform)
>More punishment for corps that steal employees' pensions

And much more! Lots of things need to be done to end the power of corporations over the masses and our government.

It is true that business owners carry risks having employees and things like having a choice of hiring a healthy non-smoker or not should remain as not to interfere with our free market, but there needs to be serious reforms and regulations to bring about more accountability and responsibility for corps.

Corps essentially run our government through their donations. This is NOT democratic and does not have to exist to maintain a free market.

[mermaid]

44. You're Right

It has to exist to maintain the crushing corporate oligarchy, and the white collar, CEO-type supremacy over all others.

Even if it means many at the bottom must die to maintain that status quo.

I mean, who gives a shit about those at the bottom, anyway, right? They are just useless, worthless lazy bums and rebellious trouble makers and boat-rockers!

Heaven forbid we shoudl actually let one of them get influence, and open the eyes of others!! How would the uber-wealthy maintain their ascendancy if the eyes of the populace were wide open?

[cthrumatrix]

48. organized labor strikes bring awareness to the issues ...period

[mermaid]

42. This One Sums It Up Pretty Well....

A note of appreciation from the rich

[Lorien]

45. Not all people who are rich are bastards

Soros only strives to be rich so that he will have more $$$ to give away to the poor. I know Roy Disney personally, and he use to fight for us workers; he fought to keep various divisions of the company open, he fought to keep workers from being cut from full time to part time (when they would lose their benefits), but he never had much power against CEO Michael Eisner. Roy didn't flaunt his wealth, either. His suits came from Sears and he often lent out his company jet to those employees who weren't ultra wealthy who needed to get across the country on a moments notice (one of my friends used the jet twice). A distinction needs to be made between the Corporate pigs at the trough and those who have a lot of money but don't abuse anyone to earn more.

That said, another friend recently noted that the American worker IS indeed becoming a slave. He asked "back in the days of slavery in this country, what did the masters give to their slaves? A modest roof over there heads, clothing, and food. Just basic necessities.They didn't get many, if any, days off. They worked long hours for for the basics and weren't free to go where they wished. Now what are many American workers working for? The basics, and they rarely, if ever, get time off. They work long hours for the basics and aren't free to travel because they are often so short on funds and time. There's little distinction between slavery 200 years ago and a corporation's worker who barely makes more than minimum wage while working 60-80 hours a week.

[mermaid]

46. All True - But The VAST MAJORITY Of The Rich ARE Bastards

How else do you think they GOT rich??

Mostly by stepping on the poor!

I don't have a problem with someone becoming rich, or being rich...as long as they do not do it at the expense of the poor.

When workers strike over wanting a lousy 3 percent pay hike, assurance of continued benefits, and job security, they are lazy. Forget the fact that the CEO of thier company, who doesn't know what the FUCK work even IS....gets paid an average of 437 TIMES what one of those "lazy, greedy, selfish" workers gets!

I mean, fuck, an airline executive gets bonuses in a year when his company "only loses" 90 million fucking dollars...while they ask their employees for "givebacks" to the company!!

What about the fucking executive? What about making HIS ass accept a "giveback" to the company?