Labor Day, 2005: One America, Two Views
By Pat Cleary Posted in User Blogs — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
It's hard to imagine a worse Labor Day for the AFL-CIO than Labor Day 2005. We've lived through many Labor Days with them but this year is especially bad. For this year, their usual non-celebration of declining numbers is eclipsed by the non-celebration of their split, months shy of their 50th Anniversary. For those still in the AFL-CIO, they are now on a ship that is not only sinking but rudderless. For those unions who fled, launched in their lifeboat (to continue the analogy), they have not yet convinced anyone that they will survive and thus far are showing signs only of cannibalism. In the place of real good news, the AFL offers fake good news, i.e., polling numbers that show they ought to be growing. What the heck -- in the absence of real growth, it's the next best thing. A positive outlook in the face of data that supports it is optimism. A positive outlook in the face of data to the contrary is delusion. Their Labor Day message once again is borrowed from Upton Sinclair. It's is a message of despair, of the declining hopes and fortunes of workers and of the continuing struggle between labor and management. How quaint, how sad.
For our part, the NAM Labor Day Report told a different tale, one of an economy with an unemployment rate of 4.9%. All is not rosey, as we have lost some 3 million manufacturing jobs in this country over the past few years. We appear to have leveled off, but leveling off is not a battle cry. We want to, expect to grow. We've added a few manufacturing jobs of late, but we have far to go. And as we said in our Labor Day Report, the way is clear. We need to emphasize math and science education, reform visa and immigration policies to attract those trained in math and science and increase federal support for basic research in engineering, math, computer and physical sciences. The innovation deficiency is the real problem, not the competition with low-wage countries, a battle as old as the hills, and one we've always won.
The way to prosperity is clear if we are willing to put the pieces in place to get us there. There is a direct correlation between education and earnings. The more education, the more training, the more people will make. As we are reminded watching the population of New Orleans displaced by the hurricane, the best way out of poverty is a good job and that begins with skills.
Finally, there is one more thing to celebrate this Labor Day. Watching the aftermath of the hurricane unfold, the outpouring of charity from America's workforce has been heartening. As thousands of workers have been displaced, many millions of workers have stepped up to the plate, dug deep and contributed to ease the burden of their fellow man. Companies like Toyota are matching all their employees' contributions to relief efforts and they have poured in. We have only begun, have far to go, but what a fantastic start.
On Labor Day we celebrate work and the prosperity it brings. This Labor Day we pause to reflect on the bounty our work has brought us and to ponder the work that lies ahead.
We need to emphasize math and science education, reform visa and immigration policies to attract those trained in math and science and increase federal support for basic research.
Honestly, are conservatives really ready for this? If so, I'm thrilled.
"Conservatives" are a varied bunch. Stay away from the slurs, ok?
That is an honest question, not a slur. I Promise. On the otherhand, perhaps this topic is misplaced in this diary about labour. It deserves its own discussion.
While i often berate conservatives for viewing the world through their own narrow experience, excuse me for a moment.
I started with ATT in a union, after service it was a start and while we had the first too quick we managed and the pay scale due to union bargaining allowed us to live well and buy a home within a few years. A nephew today works in a Walmart, several relatives have jobs at this level and while he has worked there 10 years he still cannot afford a house. Admittedly housing has increased but it is the force and past strength of unions that make the Northeast where we live the powerhouse of economics it is. Certain things are associated with democratic politics that then become bad by association, but unions with all their flaws served a great purpose in raising the standard of living in America and allowing many to lead lives that fewer can today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/06/opinion/06kristof.html
"But Hurricane Katrina also underscores a much larger problem: the growing number of Americans trapped in a never-ending cyclone of poverty. And while it may be too early to apportion blame definitively for the mishandling of the hurricane, even President Bush's own administration acknowledges that America's poverty is worsening on his watch.
"The U.S. Census Bureau reported a few days ago that the poverty rate rose again last year, with 1.1 million more Americans living in poverty in 2004 than a year earlier. After declining sharply under Bill Clinton, the number of poor people has now risen 17 percent under Mr. Bush."
"If it's shameful that we have bloated corpses on New Orleans streets, it's even more disgraceful that the infant mortality rate in America's capital is twice as high as in China's capital. That's right - the number of babies who died before their first birthdays amounted to 11.5 per thousand live births in 2002 in Washington, compared with 4.6 in Beijing."
"Indeed, according to the United Nations Development Program, an African-American baby in Washington has less chance of surviving its first year than a baby born in urban parts of the state of Kerala in India."
and the demise of ATT and the fact that the kid has worked at Wal-Mart for 10 years without much advancement or getting a better job. I thought you were kidding.
Democrats do not have philosophies, they have coalitions: Labor, MSM, gender/ sexual/ abortion, ethnic, etc. Philosophies do not guide Democratic politics; Democratic coalition imperatives cobble together inconsistent and contradictory philosophies.
Democratic coalition politics are fracturing. Big labor just split. MSM are losing readers and revenues, and can't swing a close election, even with maximum (and dishonest) effort. Ethnic groups are returning to their conservative roots. The moderate Democrats are grouping around the moderate DLC, while the radical moneybag/ celebrity crew are taking their cash and running to the Deaniac DNC.
Timing could not be better. President Bush has his hands full with Iraq on the verge of becoming a democracy, the federal issues (Supreme Court, UN, Social Security, etc.), and now Katrina.
President Bush's approval ratings have ranged from 91% after 09/11 to a current 45%. Approval ratings are volatile things and have limited significance except at election time.
Battlefield or political victories can change the ratings picture radically, and President Bush has engineered a number of victory scenarios in Iraq, Afghanistan, the UN, the Supreme Court, and the Congress. It has been a long struggle, and the struggle is not complete, but the President is on-course. The Democrats are cooperating by collapsing.
This struggle for the soul of America is as important as the former struggles between democracy and totalitarianism, with some of the same players. Many Republicans are upset by this or that aspect of the President's program. This is not the time to doubt, but the time to believe and to act. Go for it.