The DLC Won't Talk About Corporate Power (Jonathan Tasini)

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

by Jonathan Tasini
Huffpost

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-tasini/the-dlc-wont-talk-about-_b_25768.html

<snip>

And to deal with the economy we face today, what does the DLC propose as its key solution? College. Yes, apparently, the main reason Americans are struggling with anemic wage hikes, no pensions, dwindling health care coverage, record-high debt and poor, secure and decent-paying job opportunities is that we are too dumb. “College is the key to whether America will get ahead in a competitive world, and whether we can expand and strengthen the middle class here at home,” says the report authored by Sens. Hillary Clinton and Tom Carper and Gov. Tom Vilsack. “We propose a plan to produce one million more college graduates a year by 2015—so that within a decade, more than half our young people will finish college with a degree.”

Let me be clear: there is nothing inherently wrong in going to college (I did it) nor in everyone learning more. But, to offer a vision for workers in America that effectively says, “you are too dumb to compete” and your salvation lies in getting smarter may be the best example of a faith-based initiative since it completely ignores what is happening in the real world workplace and the economy.

Here are some facts. There is no college gap. We’re over-educated. That point has been made repeatedly (see for example Michael Handel’s book on education and skills). The Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that post-secondary school training will be required for only 30 percent of openings occurring through 2010. And if you look at all jobs—new and old—the BLS statistics for the years 2000-2010 (the most recent ten-year study) projects that the jobs requiring more than a high school education will grow only from 29 to 31 percent over 2000-2010. Yes, two percent. At least in the short term, that two percentage point increase will easily be met by the 59 percent of the workforce that will have post-secondary training by that time, even if the DLC proposal never existed.

The problem for the middle-class (not to mention the poor, which the DLC apparently does not care about) is not that we don’t have college degrees...

[redqueen]

1. K&R!

:bounce:

It's WAY past time to stop trying to ignore reality!

[ulysses]

2. LOL! love the graphic!

:D

Of course they're not going to talk about corporate power. They're married to it.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

3. Thanks. nt.

[welshTerrier2]

4. let's reframe the phrase "corporate power"

the middle class suffers when precious resources are sucked up by corporate welfare ... we cannot afford "guns and butter" ...

federal dollars could be used to build our schools and pay for our teachers instead of burdening the middle class via property taxes ... instead of spending hundreds of billions on the military-industrial complex, we could be spending money on curing diseases and lowering the cost of health care ... these are just a couple of examples ...

we have all sorts of little euphisms for what's wrong ... we call it "special interests" or "corporate power" ... underlying this jargon, however, is a very disturbing reality: our government is NOT acting in the best interests of the American people ... and the influence of these special interests has subverted our democracy ... it is treasonous at its core ...

it is time to renew America's commitment to its founding ideals that included a government of, FOR, and by "we the people" ... a government that is of, FOR or by anything else is un-American ... a party that really wants to help the middle class and restore our democracy would address these issues rather than issuing a cute little laundry list of perks and bennies ... sometimes these guys sound more like a human resource department or an insurance salesman than they do a political party ...

the ideas they have are all fine; they're also pathetic in their lack of vision ...

[w4rma]

9. I think "corporate power" is the perfect phrase. (nt)

[Zhade]

5. Why would they offend their base?

Which is to say, of course, those who wield corporate power.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

6. Exactly. They won't say anything that might offend...

...their big corporate donors.

[MarkDevin]

7. No, no, no! It's the far left that's a cancer on the Democratic Party.

Don't you read those brilliant one-sentence posts by DLCers that hang out here? Get with the program, you sniveling whiner! :sarcasm:

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MarkDevin]

10. I'd hardly call them centrists.

Overgrown playground bullies whose brains stopped maturing when they got to high school, yes; but not centrists!

[LincolnMcGrath]

11. Agreed! There is NOTHING centrist about these folks.

Anyone who would use a term like "pimping for flag burning" is not in the center between right and left, they are at the far right of the right.

[MarkDevin]

14. Exactly.

Those people are so far to the right, they think Tim McVeigh got a light sentence! :crazy:

[LincolnMcGrath]

20. Anyone who says "Bernie Sanders is a 3rd party wacko" or uses RW

phrases like "pimping for flag burning" has got to be a far right zellocrat.

[LincolnMcGrath]

27. They aren’t DLCers, they are dlcentrist-zellocrats who worship at the

altar of BullMoose.

[FredStembottom]

12. Hey, the freight terminal I work at is chock full.........

......of postsecondarily edumacated freight handlers. Especially those that got computer training. Hoo-boy! We can let you have one of those for about $8.50 an hour!:crazy:

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

17. I was just a wee lad watching...

...a Popeye cartoon many years ago when I heard Popeye tell Olive Oil he was goin' back to school to get himself a "edumacation." Popeye's the one who inspired all my book learnin'.

Hey, do any of those freight handlers know how to operate a weed whacker? I might be interested in renting one on them for a few hours on the weekends.

[FredStembottom]

19. Their backs are too sore, sorry.

But they'll design you a web-page overnight!

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

22. Let me think about it. nt.

[Iowa]

13. Yep, this is classic DLC...

--Nip around the edges for appearances sake - but never take bold initiatives.
--Getting it right doesn't matter - what matters is pretending to propose new "ideas" (that do as little as possible to address real needs while protecting the status quo).
--Do NOTHING that actually helps people - simply tell people what THEY should do to improve their own lot (...If you want a better job, you should go to college! If you're concerned about the health care system, you should exercise!...yes, our worthless governor Tom Vilsack was really pushing that solution to the health-care fiasco awhile back).
--Remain dull, unimaginative, uninspiring, and ridiculously/painfully/stingily incremental at all times. Whatever it takes to protect the status quo.
--And most of all, don't do anything without clearing it with corporations first.

They're as worthless as tits on a boar!

[FredStembottom]

15. A really nifty DLC sum-up, Iowa!

I feel like printing it on little cards to hand to any and all Democrats!

[LincolnMcGrath]

16. Well Said Neighbor!

[gulfcoastliberal]

18. K/n/R

Wonder where Zorro is, defender of allthings DLC?

[cosmicdot]

21. there's angst against corporate america out here

I just know it ...

waiting for a voice to tap into it ... and, it won't come from the DLC ...
... a Jim Hightower is such a voice ... but, of course, such people are labeled and deemed 'unelectable' ...

... must.stay.the.course.with.the.corporate.paid.and.bought ...


yippee ... progress at a corporate snail's pace ... the American Dream Initiative ... I've been waiting for A Newer World since 1968 ... sand in my hourglass is running out ... will I live to see corporate power checked?

corporations do not have personhood ... add that to the platform ... that's my American Dream Initiative (ADI)...

save my vote from corporate control and power ... ADI!

if an elected official owns stock in a business involved in legislation up for a vote ... recuse yourself! that includes defense bills involving war-profiteering companies like Halliburton, Lockheed, etc. ADI!

remove corporate money from politics .... ADI!

stop the privatization trend ... ADI ... return the mess hall to the military away from Halliburton ... when I call Medicare, I want a government worker, not a 3rd party corporate person sitting in an office park in outer suburbia with a first name only ... ADI ...

universal health care, not 'affordable insurance' (whatever that is) ... ADI

how many people have had some unsatisfactory experience with corporations? how many have had many?? ... at work, in benefits, in health care, in insurance, in customer service (I have a friend who currently has 2 open issues with 2 major corporations - taking it to the CEOs to seek resolve when an empowered customer-friendly system and customer service representative could have made life just a little less stressful without all the hassle) ...

push 0 to speak to someone who is an outsourced agent who will end up forwarding you to someone else who can't help you either, or lose you in the transfer ... have a nice day :)

heck, I wouldn't be surprised if 'reducing stress' couldn't be a campaign issue ... instead of being divided on a lot of non-issues, let's rail against something that affects most all of us ... find ways to reduce stress ... sometimes I think corporations can't help put engineer stress into their systems ...


democracy in the corporate workplace/workers' rights .... ADI


override Bu$h's repeal of Bill Clinton's ergonomic reforms ... ADI


if corporations are people, too, then, put them on 3 strikes you're out notice ... social responsibility goes along with privileges and paying no taxes ... ADI

no more corporate lobbyists writing laws ... ADI!

how about working on rail infrastructure? are our Hoover Dam - TVA level project days over?

let's spark some excitement ... get people motivated ... encourage creativity ...

consider using the issues of climate change as the centerpiece of ... change ... a springboard to new industries, jobs, innovation, discovery, etc.

we need leaders! not pseudo-leaders!!

I want public servants not self-serving good ol'boys and girls with stock portfolios and relatives getting corporate contracts.

I want a return to Jimmy Carter's foreign policy based on human rights not corporate profiteering.

I want to develop good relationships with the developing countries, not bomb them back to the Stone Age. Instead of selling weapons of mass destruction, how about a regional water system which would be con-sructive vs. de-structive.

What's so wrong about having a Department of Peace?


I want better TV programming, too ... day after day, night after night, the same old crap all the time ... would a little variety, innovation, culture and education do us much harm? BBC actually produces comedies without laugh tracks.


those are some of the things I dream about ... where are these initiatives?

etc. etc. etc.


:rant:

[Eric J in MN]

23. I'm glad someone wrote that education isn't the answer to everything.

NT

[OneBlueSky]

24. Bravo! . . . it's about time someone in the Democratic Party . . .

at least mentioned the root problem that no one wants to talk about, i.e. the power of corporations . . . they control our economy, our foreign policy, our elections, environmental policy -- and even the U.S. Congress (where they and their lobbyists actually write the laws governing their industries) . . .

yet no Democrats (nor, obviously, Republicans) are willing to stand up and acknowledge that corporations are now the most powerful entities in the history of humankind . . . and they must be stopped . . . because this kind of power based exclusively on profits is a surefire recipe for the destruction not only of our democracy, but of the planet we all share . . .

I'll be voting for Tasini in the Democratic primary in November . . .

[MrBenchley]

25. Meanwhile, I doubt that even Tasini's Mom cares what HIS plan is

[tomreedtoon]

26. On the graphic, you got Hillary's face all wrong.

The face on the Ol' Ball and Chain looks more like Pickles Bush than Hillary Clinton. You might want to get that fixed.