NEXT!
This is precisely the reason that nothing will change.
Because the moment that anyone expresses an inkling of doubt, it's SYFPH.
And that's not going to cut it when there is a serious economic crisis underway.
I have no doubt that an Obama Presidency would see the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, but I doubt that there's going to commitment to the level of market regulation that's needed to deal with the root problem.
Markets are not self-regulating. Acting as though they are means encourages corrupt behavior, and ridiculous schemes like the derivates swindle to develop.
This is fully understood by those who encourage deregulation, and then when it becomes clear that markets have become little more than the mega-casinos of the "serious people" they acted shocked, just shocked, at the corruption going on.
Pressing working people into compromise with the "serious people" on Wall Street is like asking chickens to make a deal with Col. Sanders.
But instead of focusing on the rape of the American economy, we've been swept up in a feel good campaign about whether this election is going to be historic for because it put a women or a black man into a position of power.
Now millions may be left without work, hundreds of thousands without homes, and a nation without real hope.
But don't you see that doesn't matter, because this campaign is going to be historic however it ends up. It's a damn shame that those without homes can't sleep beneath the shadow of history, and that those who go hungry can't eat it. But it's history that we'll have, and the consequences for humanity be damned. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
It isn't just banks. GM closed below $5 today. The time has come for the government to take a controlling stake in GM and get rid of the current management. The collapse of GM would lead to wages in the sector being dropped to the Delphi rate that's about half what the wage is now. The transplants will follow. Toyota in Kentucky was caught with its pants down on this one about 2 years back. Honda has always refused to match wages in the auto sector. The collapse of wages in the auto sector means depression, because it will create a downward spiral on wages in the areas this plants have been built.
The end result? Depression level unemployment in Michigan and the Midwest as demand is destroyed in those regions. Unemployment is at or near 9% in Michigan, and in auto cities in Indiana. If you slash wages in the auto factories, people are going to default on their house, and they sure the fuck aren't going to be eating out or going to shop. Demand destruction results in the resulting reductions in supply. If people lose their jobs, then the people who made the products that the job losers lose their jobs too. It's a cycle of destruction. Same thing with wage cuts.
I'm sorry, but I don't see an adequate appreciation for the gravity of the situation from either Obama or McCain. We've got Al Smith running against Herbert Hoover, and we're starting economic calamity down. Forgive me for being less than ecstatic about the prospects of the election to actually make a difference. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
