134 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
134 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 10 Num. 65
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=======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! ECONOMY IS "GOOD"
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(SO WHY AREN'T WE ALL HAPPY?)
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=============================
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Supposedly, based on a barrage of reports this last week or so
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from bought-and-paid-for "news" sources, this year's college
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graduating class are lords of the job market, waited on by eager
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employers. The reports were tailored, with graduates from select
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disciplines, like electrical engineering and computer science,
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telling the camera about several job offers they have to choose
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from. Not seen on-camera were liberal arts majors, but we were
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told the jobs bonanza was "trickling down" to them also. And
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probably the prospects *are* a little better this year for
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college graduates -- but does that justify the massive "news
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orgasm" last week on the subject?
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What the real story is, is that after years of corporations
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having downsized away their aging workforce, they are at the
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moment hiring back *a* workforce (but not the same one now
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rusting into old age.) The new hires are younger and presumably
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being paid generally less, on average and in real dollars, than
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the old-fashioned model of worker they replace. It would be
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interesting to compare figures: number of workers downsized vs.
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current, momentary, new hires. Also worth comparing would be
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average salary in real dollars of former, discarded workers vs.
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their replacements.
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Thankfully, the alternative press has facts out that tweak the
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corporate press's recent self-congratulatory outburst and throw
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cold water on detested virtual-reality newsfaces like Dan Rather,
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Tom Brokaw, and Peter Jennings.
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The June 1997 issue of *The Progressive* magazine has remarks
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made by Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, to Federal Reserve
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Chairman Alan Greenspan, during a recent (March 1997) House
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Banking Subcommittee hearing. Here are excerpts:
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SANDERS: Welcome, Mr. Greenspan.
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This January, you told the Senate Budget Committee that
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"the appropriate capital-gains tax is zero." Currently,
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many Senate Republicans are calling for a capital-gains tax
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cut.
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According to the Center on Budget and Policy priorities,
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70 percent of the benefits of that tax cut will go to
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households earning over $100,000 a year.
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Mr. Greenspan, I will grant you consistency in your
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support for trickle-down economics. In your career up to
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today, it is clear that you have advocated tax and monetary
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policies which have benefited the very richest Americans
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while at the same time your views reflect policies that
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come down very heavily on the middle class, the working
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class, and low-income people.
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In 1983, you were appointed to chair, as I understand it,
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the Social Security Commission. Under your leadership, the
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highly regressive payroll taxes increased by about $200
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billion. You chose to solve the Social Security crisis by
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raising the payroll tax on working Americans while at the
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same time, as an economic adviser, you advocated huge tax
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decreases for the richest people in America.
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Now currently, you are a proponent of reducing the
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Consumer Price Index. I have neighbors and friends and
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elderly people who are trying to survive on $7,000 or
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$8,000 a year.
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And I regard it as horrendous and vulgar, to be frank
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with you, that there are people in government who want to
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balance the budget on the weakest and most vulnerable
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people in this society, and then advocate huge tax breaks
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for the richest people in this country, as you continuously
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do.
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Mr. Greenspan, the United States of America today -- not
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all through your work but through the help of a lot of
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other people, both parties -- has the most unfair
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distribution of wealth and income in the industrialized
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world.
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The richest 1 percent of the population owns 42 percent
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of the wealth, more than the bottom 90 percent. In 1976,
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the wealthiest 1 percent owned 19 percent of the wealth.
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So we've seen the upper 1 percent more than double the
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percentage of the wealth in this country that they own.
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You talk about economic growth. Between 1983 and 1989,
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62 percent of the increased wealth in this country went to
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the richest 1 percent. You can have all the growth that
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you want, but the middle class continues to shrink.
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I'd love to take you to the state of Vermont, where you
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can talk to working families where workers are working two
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or three jobs trying to pay their bills, where women who
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would prefer to stay home with the kids are now being
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forced to work, where jobs in our economy which used to pay
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$15 an hour in manufacturing are now paying $5 an hour for
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McDonalds.
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But more importantly, during the past twenty years, we
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have seen a decline in wages or stagnation for 80 percent
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of all American families, while the people on top have
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never had it so good. Twenty years ago, American workers
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were the best compensated in the world. Today, we rank
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thirteenth in the world.
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You come to the state of Vermont with me, and I will take
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you around our state. And I would love to hear the
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response when you tell the working families of our state
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that the economy is doing very well.
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Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those
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of Conspiracy Nation, nor of its Editor in Chief.
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I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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