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There's a song that
includes this phrase: "Kick 'em when they're down, Kick 'em when they're stiff,
Kick 'em all around." Well that's what has just happened very recently when the
massive global corporations that now rule America were, once again, given free
license to kick American workers when they're down.
The American worker, already
hemorrhaging from corporate administered beatings over several decades, has
just received what may be a knockout punch by President Obama and his team of
corporate bullies who have combined their power to successfully force Fast
Track legislation for the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement) through Congress.
If this TPP gets fully
approved and its provisions are put into effect as planned then it has the
potential to open up large new markets in Asia for U.S. corporations. But does
anyone believe that these corporations are going to take this opportunity to hire
American workers? You can bet that they will hire more overseas ultra-cheap labor
in various countries; and when they produce and then sell these
slave-manufactured products across these new markets their profits will reach
new highs; the sky is the limit for these masters of Corporatism and they have
this president to thank for this great gift.
Is this what America needs
right now when our manufacturing sector is on life support and our workers are
in a state of shock? Let's make this very clear; if you are against the
American worker then you are against this country. The further decimation of
this country's manufacturing sector, its workforce, and its middle class is
unconscionable; we will soon see this president smiling broadly as he signs this
disgraceful TPP trade agreement into law, sending his corporate friends into a
state of ecstasy. But what's left of the American workforce will not be
smiling; they will be devastated.
An American president who
truly loved his country and its people would have done everything in his power
to stop the continued dismemberment of this most important foundation of
America that has seen the closure of some 70,000 factories in the last 14
years. He and his predecessor G.W. Bush did no such thing. And all the while
this has been going on the "servants of the people" in this Congress have looked
the other way. All of them should hang their heads in shame and disgrace.
Did we hear President Obama
go before the American people and explain what this TPP is all about? Did he
take extra pains to tell the American workers that this agreement will create
new jobs here in this country and that they should have no reason to fear it?
He did not because he knows it will not happen. He explained nothing; the
entire process was secretive; everything in it was developed by this president
and the corporations of America behind closed doors.
When we think about Mr.
Obama's record in office what would ever have us believe that he has been the champion of American workers,
that he has been in their corner, fighting alongside them to defend and expand their
rights? Do we see any evidence of that? What great job initiatives has he
launched? Have we seen him put immense pressure on U.S. corporations to hire
more American workers? Has he done anything of any kind for workers? The answer
to every one of these questions is a resounding NO. What we clearly see is a
president who has, instead, sold out these workers.
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This will be Mr. Obama's
historical legacy; how he failed his country and its workers in their greatest
time of need,
Those workers now face a stark
future; more unemployment, more low-paying jobs, more applicants for food
stamps, a much lower standard of living, and a lot more home foreclosures. Yes,
this is what the current president of this country has done in his role as the chief
facilitator of the objectives of the corporate world.
Here's an excerpt from
Senator Ted Kennedy's passionate speech in 2007 blasting Republicans for their
stonewalling of legislation involving a raise in the minimum wage. That speech,
originally aimed at Republicans, and the questions that were asked, should now
be re-directed at Mr. Obama. I have altered the words in bold type to refer to
this president.
Message to President Obama:
"What is the price, we ask you? What is the
price that you want from these working men and women? What cost? How much more
do we have to give to the private sector and to business? How many billion
dollars more, are you asking, are you requiring? "When does the greed
stop, we ask you? That's the question and that's the issue."
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How has this rampant greed
metastasized within the body of America? Well here's a recent statement by
Senator Bernie Sanders which illustrates the high degree of greed present in this
nation and where the bulk of this country's wealth is concentrated. "Meanwhile, the wealthiest people and the
largest corporations are doing phenomenally well. Today, 99 percent of all
new income is going to the top 1 percent, while the top one-tenth of 1
percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 40 percent. In the last two
years, the wealthiest 14 people in this country increased their wealth by $157
billion. That increase is more than is owned by the bottom 130 million
Americans -- combined."
The America in which we live has now become the Land of the uber-rich and the Home of the
victims of Corporatism. As the wealth continues to flow upward to the top of
the income spectrum the misery and hopelessness flows downward into the lives of
more and more Americans. The most troublesome aspect of this current lopsided
ownership of wealth is that those in control of this government can see what's
happening, they see those millions of Americans suffering and, yet, they refuse
to do anything about it. They just don't give a damn about their fellow
Americans; that is just plain despicable.
These masters
of Corporatism will use the TPP and the TTIP and whatever other trade
agreements the U.S. government comes up with
in the future to try to completely dominate the vast Asian markets. And of
course their profits will be generated largely by their use of slave labor. But
who knows, some day these Corporatists just
might consider restoring some manufacturing in America; that is, when American
workers become so desperate that they will gladly work for the same
wages as their Chinese counterparts.
Right now these workers have been dumped overboard
by the corporations of America with the acquiescence
of this government and Mr. Obama. The American worker, which no longer is an integral part of the process by which products of value are produced for domestic sale and export
to other countries, has become an endangered species; and if this backward-thinking government, filled with
heartless, corporate-controlled politicians, continues to refuse to reverse this situation, these workers will become extinct.
It's as simple
as this; if a country, in this case America, has a government and a business
sector that, collectively, refuse to provide meaningful, productive employment
for the vast majority of those Americans desperately needing jobs, then that
country has no future; its downward descent will rapidly escalate and become
permanent; and the American dream will no longer have any meaning.
Michael Payne
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