dagblog - Comments for "Sorry, neoliberals: Inequality is driven by greed, not technology"

Thanks for both of them,

Ramona — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 14:33:03 +0000

In reply to Yes. And

Thanks for both of them, TMac. It does seem obvious that the country as a whole does better under Democrats. I keep hearing about how the Dems are lousy at selling themselves, but with our philosophy being so much closer to the intentions of our founders, why the hell should we have to do any selling?

It's money that moves us and until we come to terms with who should hold the power, and after that, how the power should be used, we'll never get out of this.

Yes. And

tmccarthy0 — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 14:06:27 +0000

In reply to Sorry, neoliberals: Inequality is driven by greed, not technology

Yes. And this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/12/02/the-u-s-econo...

And the Princeton study:

http://www.princeton.edu/~mwatson/papers/Presidents_Blinder_Watson_Nov20...

From the article: "Workers

Ramona — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 12:33:56 +0000

In reply to A new study shows low wages

From the article:

"Workers must exercise political power to change the institutions that shape their lives. Walmart doesn’t have to pay its workers starvation wages and could easily pay them more. There is no celestial law that the richest 1% can plunder our common inheritance. We don’t have to crush workers when we globalize and we don’t have to destroy the environment in the pursuit of profits. Just as inequality is a choice, equality is a choice. By shifting the discussion away from the policy changes that have caused inequality, we legitimate it. As Eugene Debs said, “the class which has the power to rob upon a large scale has also the power to control the government and legalize their robbery.”

Right. That's what *should* happen. But we've been living in a country that has been leading up to this mess since the Reagan years and with easy, untraceable money fueling politics, as it does so efficiently and effectively today, it only gets worse.

They don't have to "crush workers" or "destroy the environment in the pursuit of profits", but they do. Because they want to. And so far nobody has the strength to stop them.

Workers can't exercise political power without unions or something equivalent behind them. They could do it at the voting booth, but they don't. So what I take away from this article is "If wishes were horses. . ."

A new study shows low wages

Ramona — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 12:11:32 +0000

In reply to Sorry, neoliberals: Inequality is driven by greed, not technology

A new study shows low wages are really caused by low minimum wage, weakened unions and the effects of globalization

Well, no shit. Anybody who was around when the Big Dogs decided we don't need no manufacturing could have seen it coming.

So now what?