FDR’s Labor Day Plea Resonates Today

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Published on Friday, September 3, 2010 by CommonDreams.org

FDR’s Labor Day Plea Resonates Today

by Sarah Anderson

On the eve of Labor Day in 1936, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt warned in his “Fireside Chat” of a potentially dangerous surge in class divisions if more was not done to support ordinary workers.

For FDR, providing the opportunity to labor for a “decent and constantly rising standard of living” was fundamental to a healthy democracy.

“The Fourth of July commemorates our political freedom,” he said. “Labor Day symbolizes our determination to achieve an economic freedom for the average man which will give his political freedom reality.”

This year, our economy is similar to 1936 in at least one way. A rebound from crisis is evident in many indicators — except those most important to working families. When FDR delivered that radio address, unemployment was down from the peak of the Great Depression but still a painful 17 percent.

Our current jobless recovery is even more unfair by one particular measure: paychecks for the guys at the top of the corporate ladder. After adjusting for inflation, CEO pay at the top 50 U.S. companies was eight times higher in 2009 than it was in 1936.

What’s even more outrageous is that the executives who are cutting the most jobs are also getting the biggest payouts. According to a new report by my organization, the Institute for Policy Studies, CEOs of the 50 firms that have laid off the most workers since the onset of the crisis took home nearly $12 million on average in 2009. That’s 42 percent more than the average for CEOs of S&P 500 firms as a whole.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/03

[groovedaddy]

1. The man had compassion. We need more like him today. n.t