Slavery- The New Working Class

I repeat in its entirety a comment today by BuzzFlash editor Mark Karlin:

"Truthout carries a report today that as a result of Scott Walker's assault on public employees, prisoners are now replacing union workers in Racine, Wisconsin.

It might have been perceived as an hysterical exaggeration to predict that the GOP attack on the value of labor would lead to not just low-wage jobs, but to no-wage jobs. One commentator calls this the "new slavery."

This is not the first use of what is, in essence, modern slave labor in the US. Some of the Pentagon's military contractors allegedly use prisoners to assemble military equipment at slave wages (e.g., 23 cents an hour).

With the loss of illegal immigrants as farm workers, prison labor is soon to follow in the agricultural fields of the South.

It was one of the great advances of modern civilization that workers were granted livable wages and that their labor was recognized as having inherent dignity.

Now, we are moving backward to an antebellum society that believes the lowest cost labor is no-cost labor."

I have been predicting this sort of thing for years now.  As long as I have had this blog, I have said that Republicans would soon find a way to effectively reinstitute slavery.  The Republican party is engaged in a deliberate, open attempt to turn this country into a Fascist dictatorship.  How much more obvious do they have to make their intentions before people catch on?  Or, as with the Nazis, are people going to avert their eyes until it takes another 50 million dead to undo the damage?

We are witnessing the rise in the United States a cadre of rulers that have not one shred more decency than Heinrich Himmler or Joseph Goebbels.  I see no way to halt this evil Juggernaut; particularly with a President whose feckless collapses in the face of aggressive behavior rival those of Neville Chamberlain.  The threat this time is internal, not external, but the need is the same; and the man is inadequate to the challenge.

Comments

Anonymous said…
In this, the second poorest county in Michigan, people are scrambling for factory jobs at wages just above minimum wage. I know a father of four. His children range in age from 2 to 15. He has been driving fifty miles each way to a graveyard shift job that pays $10.22 an hour. His wife is in chronic pain and cannot work. In nearer factories, employees are hired and often fired very quickly for petty reasons because there are many in line to take their places....again, for wages not much more than the minimum. They are afraid of talking of unions because they fear losing their jobs. Meantime in increasing numbers people are coming out of the woods for the diminishing supply of free canned goods that are given out by two of the churches here, twice a week. This kind of poverty never existed in this part of Michigan until a few years ago and it is growing worse. Last Friday a neighbor kid went thirty miles with two friends to sell blood at the nearest blood bank. They were turned away because there were too many people in line. People are really falling through the cracks here as funding for assistance is being reduced. I fear it is reaching a point for some of them that they have no money and no food. I see men walking the country roads with black trash bags. They are collecting empty discarded aluminum cans that in Michigan can be redeemed for ten cents each. This is how they earn money. I see more of these fellows this year than I did last year. There are people living in tents on federal land because they have no where else to live. If the powers that be don't start to loosen the screws, these people and ones like them will, in my opinion, reach a point when they will no longer lay down and take it, as they see the rich get richer and lead more lavish lives in America, while they themselves are unable to honestly earn enough money to feed their children. Their numbers seem to be growing.
Magpie said…
Thank you Anonymous.

I can't offer anything but to remark that I've reread your comment above half a dozen times today and shared it with someone else.

Yours is the sort of comment people need to see and be confronted by.
Green Eagle said…
Anonymous,

That is a beautiful comment. How do I just know that you are not the same Anonymous that writes in to tell lies about the economy?
Anonymous said…
Green Eagle I have also posted under the name "Curt". Michigan. Does this help?
Shaw Kenawe said…
Anonymous wrote: "...as they see the rich get richer and lead more lavish lives in America..."

Talking Points Memo reported today that Rep. Paul Ryan, yeah, that guy who wants to cut Medicare and anything that the middle and poorer classes need to stay above the poverty line--that Ryan--he was seen in a fancy Washington DC restaurant drinking a $350 bottle of wine.

Get the tumbrels ready to roll!
Green Eagle said…
Curt,

I'd sort of figured that out. The only thing I'm afraid of is that we both know who the other Anonymous is.
Anonymous said…
Like Ryan even comes close to one in particular who is spending millions on travel and parties.
But that is the other "anonymous"
Green Eagle said…
Of course, you are right, Anonymous. Paul Ryan isn't spending millions on parties. No, the money is being spent on him, by corporations and their lobbyists. That is the American way. God has blessed us with a perfect system, in which people who can't afford bottles of Echezaux are rightfully excluded from having dinner with patriots like Paul Ryan, so these patriots can concentrate on meeting the needs of those who can afford the expense. God bless America. Oh, did I already say that? Well, I guess I'll just have to stick to my cheesy Cotes du Rhone, which Paul Ryan would never allow to pollute his precious stomach, while I watch people like Paul Ryan destroy our country.

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