Starting to Feel like a Peon?
Good news! Companies are hiring again. Bad new – they’re hiring overseas. A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute revealed that Americans businesses created more than 1.4 million jobs overseas in 2010 – that’s compared to fewer than one million created here in the United States. Had those 1.4 million jobs been created here – the unemployment rate could have dropped by nearly a full percentage point. But as long as profits are up for CEOs and other millionaires and billionaires in the country – no worries right? According to Reaganomics - we just need to wait for that money to trickle down. It’s been more than 30 years though – still no trickle. Starting to feel like a peon?
Comments
As a reminder, many Republicans and Democratic Congress members create environments for job growth to be overseas vs. here. Until we cap private insurance rates monthly, until we make health insurance comapnies non-profit and more highly regulated, until medical and dental school becomes more affordable and we don't graduate (like myself) with absurd debt, until we reduce obesity and smoking costs as well as defensive medicine costs, until we stop drilling and do more green energy production, this economy is gonna suck for Main Street and shine for Wall Street. Until we stop having no flexibility in pension plans for government workers including school employees, until we start RATIONALLY paying school administrator salaries instead of paying $109,000 in one instance in NY State (reasonable) vs. over $600,000 plus benefits for the Commack, NY administrator, we're in trouble. Thom called me a right-wing think tank person yesterday...got news for ya..I'm a Democratic US Senate candidate with stuff on my web site that absolutely is aggressively progressive.
let's see how long this makes this blog or if Thom or Louise nix it right away. If you actually get to read this, check out what I'm trying to do and ask Thom to change his policy and debate me on air without hanging up on me and saying, "Screw you Scott, screw you" like he did yesterday.
Scott Noren DDS
Ithaca, NY www.norenforsenate.com
Do you have a reference to the Economic Policy Institute report on jobs created here and overseas. I looked but could not find it.
Thanks.
Starting to feel like a peon? No. Pigeon.
Starting to feel like a Peon? I worked in the Animation Industry since I graduated high school. It was one of the first industries to be outsourced. When I was working for Hanna-Barbera in the early '80s Hanna was taking a tour group around, and as he neared our department he said "...and this is where the lettuce pickers work!" Incidentally, we were Union members! (IATSE). By around 1989 Disney Studios, where I was working then, gathered us together in the back lot to tell us we needn't contact them again. All future work was going overseas. I went back to school in that year, getting a degree from Cal State Northridge. I worked my way through school by operating a Catering company. When I graduated, the best job I could find was as Pantryperson in a restaurant, working for minimum wage under the table.
In 1996 I was lucky enough to get access to a computer Animation system, and taught myself. I mass mailed demo reels, and got a job at Sony Imageworks. I was made staff after 1 1/2 years, and terminated in a Black Fridaysix months later. My supervisor emphasized it had nothing to do with the quality of my work. They just weren't having a staff anymore. They were only going to hire on a project by project basis. It doesn't help to be making a thirty K wage if you get it one year, and then can't find work for two.
I've been seeing this coming for a long time, protesting it when I could, and never understood why no one else seemed to be paying any attention. Where do we go from here? Obama doesn't seem to be paying any attention either. And the resistance to the 911 responder's bill proves to me that we're not just moving to a Corporate Oligarchy, we're in it!
Tom Toles drew an ecellent 'trikle-down' cartoon back in the 80's showng a toilet at the top a maze of pipes and a drop starting to emerge and a very happy Republican saying some thing like "See its working!" - couldn't find that one on the internet (too old) but here are some recent ones:
The Two Teared Economy (The handkerchief is a nice touch ...)
and it's cold, wet and running down our neck. Yes, we are getting it now.
Peon? More like peed on. Trickle down is nothing more than trickled on! Just when is trickle down supposed to kick in anyhow? Anyone? Bueller?
Trickle down is yet another example of the many realy weird things Republicans believe even when huge facts are right there in front of their faces. Like polar ice caps melting is not enough to say "Gee, maybe there is something to this global warming after all." It's like an alternate universe where reason has not been discovered yet.
darn, somebody beat me to the 'peed on' comment, and isn't that what trickle down is all about? as my Dad used to say don't piss in my ear and tell me it's rainin'!
@Dr. Noren, I agree with your comments completely and see no reason why Thom would delete them...I've worked with doctors on the business side of health care for over 15 years and can tell the same stories over and over...Medicare for ALL works pretty well in Canada and it takes the weight of health care OFF of business large and small while also putting EVERYONE in the same risk pool to keep costs down, plus they're not afraid to go get a better job or start abusiness for fear of not having health insurance...also as a semi-frequent visitor to Canuckistan I can say anecdotally that they appear NOT to have near the problems of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc. that Americans do...it's a matter of putting the power back into people's hands and out of corporate whores. In Denmark they have a GREAT standard of living with health care for all, paid vacation, paid education (because they VALUE it!) so young people don't start out in HUGE debt to banks, etc.
http://ida.dk/english/comeworkandliveindenmark/livingindenmark/Sider/livingindenmark.aspx
The Danish welfare system is characterized by economic growth and a high standard of living due to the relatively equal distribution of income. This means that citizens enjoy extensive financial security. They are supported in times of sickness, unemployment and old age. Supplementary services include help with rent payment and with expenses on children. Furthermore, citizens are offered services such as day-care centres, health care and home care.
Contrary to most other EU member states, social benefits in Denmark only to a very limited degree depend on employer contributions and direct contributions, and peoples right to benefits depends only to a limited extent on their former activity on the labour market. The principle behind the Danish welfare society, often known as “the Scandinavian welfare model”, is that all citizens have access to social benefits regardless of their social or ethnic background. This means that foreigners living in Denmark benefit from the Danish welfare system on an equally with Danes and may benefit from the public (partly self financed) childcare system, the public educational system and the free public health service.
Living in Denmark
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these CEO's win in so many ways with this.
They hire cheap labor, increase their profits, their corporations have more money to "invest" in candidates (with unlimited resources thanks to SCOTUS ruling), they kept the unemployment rate high, thus insuring the mid term election results (and maybe even 2012) and now have more of their "bought and paid for" stooges to do their bidding in congress; proof of which is in the continued tax giveaway to top 2%. They will continue to get tax breaks for off-shoring, use the unions as scapegoats and on and on we go until the top 2% has an even a bigger slice of the pie (at a record NOW since 1928) and eventually the middle class is completely gone.
Starting to feel like quit a few government employees go to work everyday to perform certain tasks to make sure capitalism is regulated and I'm finding that none of those government employees is doing the job they were hired to do.
Oligarch politicians want to "cut spending?" Cut the spending that is being done to regulate capitalism. We are not getting our money's worth. Cut the money we send to oil companies to subsidize their operations. $145 billion for the agriculture department? Don't feel like a peon. Do feel sorry for my country that its citizens voted for "tea bag" politicians that were oligarch politicians and not tea baggers. Feel like we seem to be a pretty stupid bunch of voters.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
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Mueller's favorite place to pray (written about in "Prophet's Way"), and the roof of the room where the Last Supper is reputed to have happened.
Reagan didn't create 22million jobs.
Thom, according to the WSJ two years ago, Reagan created 16M jobs in his two terms, not 22M. Carter created 10.5M in his one term.
I blogged on this earlier this year: whos-better-at-running-the-economy-a-look-at-the-numbers