Here's a good example of our betters:
And for sheer pettiness, you can't beat this:
The "JCs", in case you were wondering, are the "job creators" -- you know, the ones who are creating jobs in China, Vietnam, Mexico, the Philippines, and lately, Ethiopia (making shoes for "women who work," because labor costs in China are too high).
That's the way they've created an environment in which they can get away with crap like this: those in the U.S. who actually have jobs are rightfully reluctant to rock the boat, especially since more and more states have become "right to work" (which means "employers' right to fire at will"). You see what happens when workers try to protect themselves. The owners want another Gilded Age, and to hell with workers' rights, child labor laws, workplace safety laws, and all this other crap that they don't need.
And please note, it's not all just greed, although that's a big part of it. It's power and control -- that's what they want, that's what they've always wanted.
And the Republicans are more than willing to give it to them -- they know who owns them.
A footnote: don't let anyone tell you that the 1% are creating the wealth of this country: they're not. They're appropriating the wealth created by their employees.
The JCs' preferred narrative has worked its way so deeply into the public consciousness that Americans elected an arrogant, narcissistic, supposed billionaire as president one year ago. For who better to run a government that's not a business as though it were? Oddly enough, he's proven as superior at running a government as Facebook proved at sniffing out political ads purchased with rubles.
Like many plutocrats, he reacts badly to not getting his way and the deferenceroyaltywealth demands.
The New York Times reported this week that another of the president's fraternity killed off his own business rather than treat employees as respected partners:
A week ago, reporters and editors in the combined newsroom of DNAinfo and Gothamist, two of New York City’s leading digital purveyors of local news, celebrated victory in their vote to join a union.
On Thursday, they lost their jobs, as Joe Ricketts, the billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade who owned the sites, shut them down.
Digital media is a tough business, to be sure. Still, Ricketts' approach to to his employees was familiarly authoritarian. He wrote before the vote, “As long as it’s my money that’s paying for everything, I intend to be the one making the decisions about the direction of the business.” When he couldn't get his way, he threw a tantrum and broke his toy.
And for sheer pettiness, you can't beat this:
One week after the New York team unionized, Mr. Ricketts shut it all down. He did not try to sell the company to someone else. Instead of bargaining with 27 unionized employees in New York City, he chose to lay off 115 people across America. And, as a final thumb in the eye, he initially pulled the entire site’s archives down (they are now back up), so his newly unemployed workers lost access to their published work.
The "JCs", in case you were wondering, are the "job creators" -- you know, the ones who are creating jobs in China, Vietnam, Mexico, the Philippines, and lately, Ethiopia (making shoes for "women who work," because labor costs in China are too high).
That's the way they've created an environment in which they can get away with crap like this: those in the U.S. who actually have jobs are rightfully reluctant to rock the boat, especially since more and more states have become "right to work" (which means "employers' right to fire at will"). You see what happens when workers try to protect themselves. The owners want another Gilded Age, and to hell with workers' rights, child labor laws, workplace safety laws, and all this other crap that they don't need.
And please note, it's not all just greed, although that's a big part of it. It's power and control -- that's what they want, that's what they've always wanted.
And the Republicans are more than willing to give it to them -- they know who owns them.
A footnote: don't let anyone tell you that the 1% are creating the wealth of this country: they're not. They're appropriating the wealth created by their employees.
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