Wal-Mart arrests could fuel “a new political movement of the disenfranchised,” Grayson tells Salon

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Salon.com

Florida Congressman questions Obama's praise for Wal-Mart: “What has Wal-Mart given the president in return?"

Josh Eidelson

Firebrand Congressman Alan Grayson hailed Black Friday civil disobedience in an afternoon interview, saying the protests by Wal-Mart workers and supporters show “the dissatisfaction of the middle class” since the 2008 financial crash “coming to a slow boil.”

“If one person falls out of the middle class, that’s sad,” Grayson told Salon. “But if millions of people fall out of the middle class, that creates a backlash which is being seen all over the country, and will potentially create a new political movement of the disenfranchised.”

Members of the union-backed workers’ group OUR Walmart promised 1,500 protests today, including nine civil disobedience actions. Organizers say at least eighty-one total people were arrested among six of those actions, including a St. Paul protest which included both Walmart workers and striking sub-contracted janitors who clean buildings for Target. “Even people who are employed now, many of them are not making enough money to survive,” said Grayson. “And the outlet more and more for people that they see is this kind of civil disobedience, because the political system has become completely unresponsive to their genuine concerns and their physical needs.”

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/11/29/wal_mart_arrests_could_fuel_a_new_political_movement_of_the_disenfranchised_grayson_tells_salon/

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Alan Grayson (Credit: AP/Evan Vucci)

[Incitatus]

1. But I just saw a Walmart commercial where the 'employees' said how awesome it is to work there.

Do people really buy that paid actor PR crap?

[cstanleytech]

2. For some like the CEO I am sure its awesome to work for them, for the average part timer?

Probably not so much.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Under/Un Employment and Lagging Pay

do not make for happy workers nor for rapid economic recovery

The stock market goes up and up

Is it due to consumer spending? Corporate cost cutting and low wages?
QE 5 trickling to corporate balance sheets?

I keep reading the market can't crash because there is no euphoria

Wonder if there's no euphoria because the Fed prevented the crash
in 2009 through QE? IOW, they hid the debt instead of letting it implode

So this recovery is artificially restrained

It's an overused phrase, but this is the new normal

And in my view euphoria will not, repeat not, precede the next crash

It could happen any time QE stops trickling through to the markets and
upscale consumer spending

Grayson is toning down his rhetoric and becoming a bit of a sage

[sendero]

12. I agree..

... people always make rationalizations for unsustainable bubbles. People say "it's not a bubble because everyone is talking about bubbles" - the most ridiculous double-speak I've ever heard.

Here is a clue for everyone - any time ANYTHING goes up 20% in a year it is a potential bubble. If it goes up 20% each year for 2-3 years IT IS A FREAKING BUBBLE AND IT WILL BURST.

The dire straits this economy is in is no laughing matter and thanks to the actions of various participants (mostly the Federal Reserve) we are now boxed in. The Fed CANNOT continue the bond buys forever and yet if they even TALK ABOUT SLOWING DOWN the equity markets and the bond markets will swoon.

The next couple of years are going to be very interesting, and not in a good way.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. Agree, very uncertain for the next few

The only counter argument I can think of here is, and I don't know if I believe it, is

that the Fed, in fact all central banks, can now print for a very long time

because all currencies are now floating.

Inflation is largely an imported problem, such as the OPEC price spikes
of the 1970s which swooned our economy and forced the Government
to run deficits during a mild downturn, which created the inflation.

It is hard to create inflation in the current environment when the economy
is weak and money is only circulating at the top of society. If the Fed's
trillions were in the hands of the masses, we would have inflation. Perhaps
if they increase the minimum wage to $12, we will have inflation.

But the masses have been left to fend for themselves vis-a-vis inflation.

The 70s were only a problem because of gas lines.

[sendero]

14. Over the long term...

... you cannot print money that is in excess of goods/services produced in an economy forever. Although one would have a hard time arguing against the easily observed inflation in food prices over the last few years. You CAN and we will, keep rolling the debt over indefinitely, as long as you can keep interest rates low. That is the key and that is the problem. Something will eventually trigger a rise in interest rates that the Fed cannot control. This is what I believe.

I agree with you that the current mode of everyone printing and propping up various financial entities can go on a long time. However, I also think that the longer it goes on the worse it will be when the final reckoning happens. And I could be wrong but I think there will eventually be a final reckoning, brought about by some eventuality that no one even sees as a threat right now, something that spikes rates up. And really, with the amount of debt we are rolling over it won't take high rates to bring on the crash, it would only take "normal" rates.

[nikto]

15. If the dollar crashes, will we have to switch over to Quatloos?

Would Walmart take Quatloos?

Would people be paid in Quatloos?








Or maybe, the big banks would be able to switch over from dollars to Quatloos,
and regular working folks and such wouldn't.

[Kingofalldems]

4. K and R for the workers.

[red dog 1]

5. K&R.......Thanks for posting

Too bad Alan Grayson isn't part of the Democratic Leadership in the House!

[maced666]

6. Yet little to no news of this today.

Welcome to the liiiiberahlllll media.
Yea, okay.

[raging moderate]

7. Maybe he is, but they just don't know it yet.

What is leadership? I just read that Abe Lincoln wasn't well known or respected when he first got into the Illinois legislature, but he gradually gained a leadership role in pretty much the way Alan Grayson is beginning to gain it: by earning it through energy, ingenuity, and persistence. Maybe someday we will all be saying, Yes, people should have known back then that Alan Grayson would build a powerful coalition to protect the workers against the bullies of the world.

[red dog 1]

9. "What is leadership?".....(Sadly) Pelosi & Reid!

I hope you are right ... "Maybe someday we will all be saying: Yes, people should have known back then that Alan Grayson would build a powerful coalition to protect the workers against the bullies of the world."..
(Bullies like Walmart, ALEC, Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers, Kenneth Adelman et.al. & the biggest bullies of them all.. Boner, McConnell & the Tea Party Republicans in Congress)

[red dog 1]

8. "Massive Black Friday Strike and Arrests Planned As Workers Defy Walmart"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014660228/

[drm604]

10. That last sentence says it all.

the political system has become completely unresponsive to their genuine concerns and their physical needs

The current ruling philosophy on the right is that the government in fact should be unresponsive to their concerns and needs. It's a perverse philosophy but it's what they believe.

That philosophy combined with the gaming of parliamentary procedure to intentionally gum up the workings of government leaves people little choice but to engage in civil disobedience.

[diabeticman]

11. OH YEAH, BABY!!!!

Bravo!