General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe elimination of jobs is how the corporations reduce the power of the middle class.
So-called "job creation" is NOT in the interest of the corporations. Job "elimination", at least elimination of jobs supporting a politically active middle class, is their goal. This is why a priority of the corporatocracy is the destruction of the union movement which historically has provided the working classes with the ability to move into the middle class and become politically active.
The main source of corporate power is the control they have over economies.
This corporate control is derived from Trade agreements such as NAFTA, and the WTO, and control of finance through institutions such as the World Bank, and the IMF, and control of various central banks such as the Federal Reserve.
The big commotion by the right wing over federal deficits is a distraction over the real problem, namely, the loss of manufacturing jobs and the resultant trade deficit.
The endgame is the total impoverishment of America and its reduction to colonial status to the multinational corporations.
The modus operandi: Outsource manufacturing jobs to low wage countries, such as China, creating a trade deficit. Since the outflow of money to places like China exceeds our exports of manufactured goods (because our factories that once made the goods that we now import are closed), we borrow money from those countries (such as China) to continue importing those goods on credit.
Then the interest rates to "savers", like on bank deposits in savings acounts, CD's and money market accounts are kept artificially low by the Fed, while the banks charge comparatively high interest rates on loans and credit card balances to consumers who buy the overpriced imports from low wage countries.
The corporations, banks, and Wall Street make out, literally, like bandits.
They transfer middle class earnings and savings to the banks and Wall Street and the public is unaware of the danger like the proverbial frog in the pot of water that is slowly being brought to a boil.
Wait! There is more. At one time, America was self-sufficient in raw materials to feed the factories that provided jobs to its citizens. However, those jobs are now overseas. So there are less markets for American raw materials. However, there are huge markets for raw materials in China.
So the corporations want to refine tar sands oil, "frack" natural gas, and mine minerals in open pit mines and ship it to their factories (now) in China. The corporations will make super profits at both ends of the economic pipeline. They promise the public lower gasoline prices (fantasy), a relative handful of jobs, and promise complete environmental safety in recovering and transporting these raw materials across America. (Anyone remember Exxon-Valdez, Gulf of Mexico, and dozens of other "minor" mishaps.)
The main problem is that the corporations have gotten the public into accepting their propaganda about the economy. They use nonsensical buzzwords such as "free trade", "free markets", "global economy", "job creators", and harp on non-problems such as federal government deficits, while ignoring or belittling real problems such as unemployment, and trade deficits.
Reality is not that difficult to understand. The problem is that the public is easily distracted, and clings to its false notions of economics provided to it by self-serving corporations and their shills in the media and academia.
The "de-employment" of Americans is not some happenstance due to economic factors gone out of control.
It is a conscious plan to turn the U.S. (and eventually the planet) into a corporate feudal estate.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)Last edited Fri May 31, 2013, 07:08 PM - Edit history (1)
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts).
FogerRox
(13,211 posts)socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)They said this 160+ years ago.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)ReRe
(10,597 posts).... get your history books out, or google what a feudalism is folks. We're now going backwards in time. We've seen the end of progress. Not a good news day.
ms liberty
(8,620 posts)bvar22
(39,909 posts)Well Done!
Things like THIS:
New Rule (Passed by Congress and signed by President Obama) signals Kiss of Death for Pensions
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100694955
Wealthy win lion's share of major tax breaks
http://www.boston.com/business/news/2013/05/29/wealthy-win-lion-share-major-tax-breaks/Ua0UyYle21EUXub7g1suCI/story.html
Half of America is in poverty, and its creeping toward 75%
http://www.alternet.org/economy/real-numbers-half-america-poverty-and-its-creeping-toward-75-0
Wealth gap widens as labor's share of income falls
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/wealth-gap-widens-labors-share-income-falls-1B6097385
As the Economy Recovers, the Wealth Gap Widens
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/rick-newman/2013/03/11/as-the-economy-recovers-the-wealth-gap-widens
Top One Percent Captured 121 Percent Of All Income Gains
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/top-one-percent-income-gains_n_2670455.html
Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/03/1270541/corporate-profits-wages-record/?mobile=nc
....do NOT happen by "accident"
This is the result of Planning & Policy
[font color=firebrick][center]"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will STAND UP for Working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone [/font][/center]
[center][/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Nafta screwed us over for decades, and it is a crying shame that it was a "Democrat" who not only signed it, but pushed for it.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)Big pusher of GATT and MFN status as well. WTF?
ErikJ
(6,335 posts)Cheap labor is their main goal by destroying unions and keeping unemployment high. And of course getting rid of the minimum wage. The GOP is only too happy to oblige.
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)Great OP!
You are dead on in your assessment!
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Could you do us a favor and post this to your journal so that we can re-read it when we want to.
Thanks.
AdHocSolver
(2,561 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)induced torpor into the consciousness of the flock.
DCKit
(18,541 posts)But those of us who have been paying attention... not so much.
Energy prices in England up by 39%? My friends are suffering.
chervilant
(8,267 posts)I would add the key role of television and other media, served up with a generous helping of "Bernays" sauce. We mustn't neglect to mention the methodical decimation of our system of public education, now intended to spit out factory fodder and service industry drones.
The corporate megalomaniacs -- who've usurped our media, our politics *AND* our global economy -- think that we (the Hoi Polloi) are now too stupid and/or anesthetized to rise up against them.
They are wrong.