"Labor" Day?
For 20% or more of Americans the name of this end of summer 'holiday' is the cruelest reminder of anxiety since, perhaps, the era of Taft and FDR when millions of Americans were desperately seeking to support themselves amidst the first major depression. Then at least many still lived on farms or had relatives who did who could provide food for themselves and others who needed it.
I recall our WW2 garden where we grew many of our vegetables. My mother canned fruits and tomatoes to get us through the winter. We still lived in a time when people could do much in the way of labor to provide their basic necessities.
But the times have changed and we now have two major political parties locked in mortal combat -- one concerned for providing for the needy -- particularly the millions of hungry American children. The other is playing the wealth game, protecting our super wealthy from taxes, and conning the truly needy with false hopes and barbaric falsehoods.
As a retired legal philosopher with time on my hands I watch this horrible game being played out. Obama is attacked for his good works and the Tea Party folks are fed an endless list of lies -- no need for taxes, big government is stealing what money you have. No scheme to help people by the Democrats is not drowned out by the latest grim murder of other distractions from the essential basic facts that we need to rescue ourselves from the "No" party which seems to care not a whit for those whom it should be working with Obama to rescue. They offer us privatized social security, i.e. each can invest in his own scheme to maximize income. I receive dozens of scams in my email each day that would con people out of what savings they still have. They come from all quarters of the globe -- out of reach, of course, from American justice. And we should end off Medicare rather than reform it?
One of my own trusted banks -- Chase -- converted an addition to funds available in my credit card which I had put through my bank by phone to a payment in October with an additional $90.00 thrown in. I had not yet even received a billing for September at the time. Neither Chase nor my bank could rectify this gross error. What had been done without my permission was a done deal. And there are far worse banks. One wants to charge a family member 29.9% for a late payment at the time we lost my beloved wife and mother of our three children. She did the bills and taxes and battled with the medical insurance companies that were denying thousands of dollars owed. She usually won her arguments.
But my heart goes out to the widows being conned who do not know the rules of American labor: the rich steal what they can and the rest of us battle to keep alive. Teddy Roosevelt at the turn into the 20th century warned us what was being done to us by the monopolies. Now people no longer read detailed reports. They hear the opinions -- left versus right -- in fragmented TV 'programs' -- a bit here and a bit there of non news or important information.
And then there are those mad wars that are supporting what Eisenhower called our "military industrial complex" in his last week in office. We still are wasting billions on both the wars and equipment fit to fight the no longer existing Soviet Union -- protected by the pols in the states where produced. Listen to Gates, our Secretary of Defense.
So such is Labor today -- a scam among scams.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent [blind copies]
I recall our WW2 garden where we grew many of our vegetables. My mother canned fruits and tomatoes to get us through the winter. We still lived in a time when people could do much in the way of labor to provide their basic necessities.
But the times have changed and we now have two major political parties locked in mortal combat -- one concerned for providing for the needy -- particularly the millions of hungry American children. The other is playing the wealth game, protecting our super wealthy from taxes, and conning the truly needy with false hopes and barbaric falsehoods.
As a retired legal philosopher with time on my hands I watch this horrible game being played out. Obama is attacked for his good works and the Tea Party folks are fed an endless list of lies -- no need for taxes, big government is stealing what money you have. No scheme to help people by the Democrats is not drowned out by the latest grim murder of other distractions from the essential basic facts that we need to rescue ourselves from the "No" party which seems to care not a whit for those whom it should be working with Obama to rescue. They offer us privatized social security, i.e. each can invest in his own scheme to maximize income. I receive dozens of scams in my email each day that would con people out of what savings they still have. They come from all quarters of the globe -- out of reach, of course, from American justice. And we should end off Medicare rather than reform it?
One of my own trusted banks -- Chase -- converted an addition to funds available in my credit card which I had put through my bank by phone to a payment in October with an additional $90.00 thrown in. I had not yet even received a billing for September at the time. Neither Chase nor my bank could rectify this gross error. What had been done without my permission was a done deal. And there are far worse banks. One wants to charge a family member 29.9% for a late payment at the time we lost my beloved wife and mother of our three children. She did the bills and taxes and battled with the medical insurance companies that were denying thousands of dollars owed. She usually won her arguments.
But my heart goes out to the widows being conned who do not know the rules of American labor: the rich steal what they can and the rest of us battle to keep alive. Teddy Roosevelt at the turn into the 20th century warned us what was being done to us by the monopolies. Now people no longer read detailed reports. They hear the opinions -- left versus right -- in fragmented TV 'programs' -- a bit here and a bit there of non news or important information.
And then there are those mad wars that are supporting what Eisenhower called our "military industrial complex" in his last week in office. We still are wasting billions on both the wars and equipment fit to fight the no longer existing Soviet Union -- protected by the pols in the states where produced. Listen to Gates, our Secretary of Defense.
So such is Labor today -- a scam among scams.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent [blind copies]
posted by Ed Kent at 7:47 AM
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