Could America FINALLY be waking up?

[AmericanBushi]

Am I being overly optmistic/naive in thinking that America is waking up?

Whole article:
http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=144&a=6121

Excerpt:

Baltimore, MD - On April 8, 2008, the President of the AFL-CIO, John J. Sweeney spoke at the U. of Baltimore Law School, as part of its inaugural “Leaders in Labor” lecture series. He said that, as he travels around the country, he finds more and more people are “worried to death about the economy and tired of spending too many hours on the job for too little pay.” Mr. Sweeney underscored that the folks he has been speaking with “are distrustful of government and....see the American dream as a fading hope.” He said: “If we don’t take control, we will all be living out different versions of the American nightmare.” Mr. Sweeney emphasized: “Our country is headed in the wrong direction!”

[AmericanBushi]

Re: Could Amerina FINALLY be waking up?

Sorry for mis-spelling America in the Thread title :p! I'm not a fan of organized labor, so it pained me to reference the head of the AFL/CIO, but I wonder if his observations will lead anywhere, or just be more hot air? Any thoughts?

[Starving Steve]

Re: Could America FINALLY be waking up?

I think the only way these central bankers like Bernankee are going to get the message is if labour can organize and demand better wages. If a wage-price spiral can be initiated, these central bankers would start hiking interest rates and taking inflation seriously.

The only thing these central bankers fear is a wage-price spiral, and without that spiral, interest rates are clearly going to zero. A zero interest rate policy means lots of inflation and falling real wages for labour.

I am surprised that the labour movement has become so timid. Where are the unions?

[tombat1913]

Re: Could America FINALLY be waking up?

Forget unions, we need lynch mobs!

The country is being sold off piece by piece by these crimainals.

[metalman]

Re: Could America FINALLY be waking up?

Forget unions, we need lynch mobs!

The country is being sold off piece by piece by these crimainals.

now, now. no sense wasting perfectly good rope on these boys. just march them down 34th into the east river and let their bodies float out to sea.

here's the man for the job...



woops! wrong fix-it man. let me try again...



dang! let me try again...



shit! what's wrong with my "leader in a jam" locator? keep trying...



c'mon! is that the best we can hope for once the greeds have wrecked the global economy?



well... not perfect. but consider the alternatives!

[AmericanBushi]

Re: Could America FINALLY be waking up?

Metalman,
I hope you'll forgive my tangent, but that last picture of FDR (which of the villains you listed scares me the most!) always makes me think of the DC Comics Batman villain the Penguin. I think they share a similar story line as well!
FDR Picture "borrowed" from MetalMan!

[tree]

Re: Could America FINALLY be waking up?

There a lot to dislike about organized labor, also a lot to like. As far as talking about how working people feel about wages, jobs and prices, public policy, etc., etc., labor bureaucrats and labor economists were and are all over that. The problem is that organized labor essentially winds up talking to itself, and is cut out of the mainstream media. (Today's Democratic candidates are too scared to mention organized labor, although they can't get elected without its political organization. Labor to them is like the crazy uncle in the attic that you need but don't want to acknowledge.) If you want to hear what labor has to say, go online. It's all there. Bear in mind -- organized labor has its own self-interested agenda; union pension funds, for instance, are invested in publicly traded corporations, and labor is more buddy-buddy with Wall Street than it lets on. But lefty economists funded by unions clearly saw and warned about the debacle we are now in the midst of.