Labor Year in Review

All the major media are filled with year-end retrospectives as usual at this time of year.  While most such stories focus on the year's best movies, TV shows, and books, there is another much more important area needing review:  labor news.

As the writer of the article linked below states, in spite of examples of bad news, chief of which is a poor economy, labor made strides during 2012 in some important ways.  Even intransigent Wal-Mart faced labor actions. 

There is a stir in the land in spite of the capitalist structure which dominates our economy and our country.  While the Scrooges of the modern day toil on in their greed and oppression, the Bob Cratchits, aided by the Charles Dickenses, are not yet completely down and out.  In fact, if anything workers seem to be gaining at least the rhetorical and moral upper hand. 



2012: The Year in Labor News

Back After a Christmas Break

Work duties required your Music Patriot to be very busy indeed this Christmas season.  Work was so extensive (a good thing for me financially), I had little time to write and publish here.  But I am back and will even try to post while traveling.  For starters, see my post on Washington's attack on Social Security immediately below. 

Social Insecurity

It seems the latest successor to Franklin Roosevelt is unworthy of his heritage.  Barack Obama has either proven his abject opportunism, or his fathomless, superior political savvy through an "offer" to cut social service support by $112 billion over several years.  If his intention was to force the far-right Republican Party to reject his offer, then claim Republican intransigence he is to be congratulated for not only savvy but omniscience. 

If, however, he is part of a thoroughly corrupt political process, one in which a John Boehner can be virtually dictating terms to the President of the United States, we are all in more trouble than we can account for. 

I have started my own petition through MoveOn opposing any cuts to Social Security.  At last count there were well over 200 signers.  I urge you, dear reader, to find such a petition and sign it.  Like all other proposals to cut or weaken Social Security we can kill this reeking effort.  But we need everyone sticking together on this one. 

Greg Palast Weighs In On G.O.P. Vote Heists

By my initial calculation, 9.3 million Americans lost their vote on November 7 – purged from voter rolls, blocked at the polls, or had their “provisional” and absentee ballots thrown in the dumpster.



Let's get to the bottom of this: In the next 90 days, we need to name names, expose their games, and make sure things don't stay the same.



Just because Mr. Obama won re-election doesn't mean the vote-heist didn't happen. This is no joke: the evidence suggests the GOP actually lost the majority of Congressional races. But, through sick tricks in Arizona and three other states, snatched enough seats to hang our economy over a fiscal cliff.

                                                                                                  -- Greg Palast


The evidence continues to mount that big-money operatives worked assiduously to tamp down Democratic votes.  And the evidence is further showing that the House of Representatives would have gone Democratic, had all votes been properly cast and counted. 

Meantime, a Democratic President was returned to office despite a poor economy.  This shows that voters thought Romney and Ryan were worse. 

But America deserves a House which truly represents the people's interests, not primarily the interests of the God-free capitalists. 


Greg Palast Web Site

Forms of Anti-Capitalism Growing

University of Maryland professor Gar Alperovitz is interviewed by David Barsamian at the following link (transcript also provided).

It is clear from this interview there are many challenges being faced by capitalism, although only 5 % of the people still own 70% of the capital in the U. S.  Times are changing, and a true American spirit is beginning to invade the traditional capitalist system.


A New Economic Paradigm

Review of Gerrymandering Promised

Sam Wang of the Princeton Election Consortium is promising a review of the gerrymandering which went on prior to last month's national election.  There is reason to believe partisan gerrymandering was responsible for the failure of Democrats to re-take the House, since a majority of voters in House races voted Democratic overall.  Surely, this would be an unconscionable assault on democratic principles. 

It is time to promote a non-partisan method of drawing Congressional districts.  Such a method would have to take into account the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  But a way should be able to be found to preserve minority representation plus equal representation for voters in general. 


Princeton Election Consortium