A viewpoint by Alan Maki, a union,
peace, environmental and civil rights activist;
retired member of UNITE-HERE Local 17.
I offer this for
discussion about Peace, Equality,
Full Employment, Universal Health Care and Protection
of the Environment.
This is my response to the
invitation extended by the AFL-CIO to all people and organizations to comment
on its White Paper, “Prosperity Economics, Building An Economy For All”
by Jacob S. Hacker and Nate Loewentheil, intended to create discussion about
the direction of organized labor and the kind of country we all want to live in
where peace, social and economic justice for working people prevail.
Democracy---
as well as social, economic and environmental justice--- require no less than a
full and broad discussion of these important concerns and issues.
I agree with the concept of “prosperity economics” by “building an economy that works for everyone.” There are several very basic facts left out of this “White Paper” and it is very hazy, vague and nebulous as to what our concrete and specific goals and objectives are to be and what kind of movement and struggle it will take for the working class--- organized and unorganized together--- to create a prosperity economics for us all.
I agree with the concept of “prosperity economics” by “building an economy that works for everyone.” There are several very basic facts left out of this “White Paper” and it is very hazy, vague and nebulous as to what our concrete and specific goals and objectives are to be and what kind of movement and struggle it will take for the working class--- organized and unorganized together--- to create a prosperity economics for us all.
The
“White Paper” does not clearly articulate our main enemy: Wall Street. The
“White Paper” doesn’t reflect the fact that we, as working people, are engaged
in a social, political and economic struggle for power with the intent to
replace Wall Street’s dominance over every aspect of our lives--- in our schools, at work and in our communities.
Let’s
state right up front workers create all wealth but workers have had no say in
how this wealth is distributed and used. This needs to change. Democracy
requires no less.
Let’s
also put it right out there before the American people that militarism and wars
are squandering the wealth of our Nation to such a large extent we don’t have
the resources to solve our many domestic problems. These dirty imperialist wars
are killing our jobs and our standard of living just like they
kill people.
Militarism and
wars are a major contributing factor to the world-wide collapsing capitalist
economy. No nation can continue to endlessly use the wealth of its nation to
prepare for wars and to fight wars. This is sheer insanity.
Wall
Street’s greedy drive for profits results in wars which exacerbates our
problems.
Detroit goes broke; the rest of our cities are sure to follow
as Wall Street wallows in profits.
Working
people go without adequate health care; insurance and pharmaceutical companies
get fabulously wealthy. Earlier retirement and shorter workweeks/longer
vacations with no cut in pay create jobs and would keep us healthier, too.
Our
public institutions like public education fall apart, crumble and collapse just
like our roads, highways and bridges because we are constantly feeding a war
machine intended to fight never-ending wars waged to protect Wall Street’s
assets and profits. We don’t need, and can’t afford, 800 foreign military bases
dotting the globe.
Prosperity for all begins with the recognition peace is required to
achieve full employment.
Full
employment is about the government seeing to it that jobs are created for all
at real living wages. It is about putting people to work by creating massive universal
social programs like National Public Health Care, not job destroying
legislation like Obama-care as detrimental to our health and jobs as wars
without providing real health care reform while pushing the price of health
care up instead of its stated intent to push prices down.
Eliminating
militarism and wars eliminates the largest carbon footprint contributing to
global warming and climate change as the Military Industrial Complex wastes our
precious resources in a huge, monstrous complex that ruins our environment---
power generation, mining, manufacturing, the resources like oil and gas
required to fight wars. Preparation for war, and war itself, creates a mammoth
sized carbon footprint destroying our living environment while creating massive
joblessness and poverty and ill health for our people as our air, water and
land gets polluted.
The Wall Street selected politicians talk about “jobs, jobs, jobs” when their hidden agenda is really “profits, profits, profits” and “war, war, and more war.”
The Wall Street selected politicians talk about “jobs, jobs, jobs” when their hidden agenda is really “profits, profits, profits” and “war, war, and more war.”
The
time has come to make politicians legislatively responsible for full employment
and peace because prosperity economics requires: peace and full employment--- a
healthy people and a healthy environment.
Therefore,
I propose that a central goal of the American labor and working class movement
needs to be the building of an economy for all that is inseparably linked to
peace and full employment which must include:
A
Minimum Wage tied to all cost of living factors indexed to inflation. Jobs or a
living income for all.
National
Public Health Care. Protect, defend and expand Social Security programs.
Legislation
prohibiting lockouts and scabbing. Repeal of “At-Will Employment”
legislation--- the primary obstacle to worker empowerment and union organizing.
End racism... Enforcement of Affirmative Action.
Price
controls are needed for food, gas, home heating fuels and electricity.
A
healthy economy means a healthy living environment and a healthy planet. We
need a quality of life index.
The
two-party system is a trap for working people. We must free ourselves from the
Democrats and Republicans. A working class based people’s party is required if
we are going to have a prosperity economics that works for all of us. We can
learn a thing or two about health care and politics from our Canadian Brothers
and Sisters.
We
are now at a crossroads.
We
will have an economy that serves Wall Street or we will have an economy that
works for the rest of us--- we can’t have both just like we can’t have both war
and full employment.
I encourage the use of the proposed Full Employment Act of 1945 pushed by the CIO unions and authored by liberal Texas Congressman Wright Patman and the associated hearing testimonies to broaden this discussion:
I encourage the use of the proposed Full Employment Act of 1945 pushed by the CIO unions and authored by liberal Texas Congressman Wright Patman and the associated hearing testimonies to broaden this discussion:
I
also call to your attention the excellent Op-Ed piece by Bob Herbert, “Losing
Our Way,” his last piece in the New York Times (March 25, 2011), which
declares:
“The U.S. has not just misplaced its priorities. When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely.”
I ask: What ever happened to William Winpisinger’s “Rebuild America Act” and the “peace dividend?” The AFL-CIO should bring back to life its Committee on Conversion--- from military production to producing for human needs; swords into plowshares is what was advocated by the late International Association of Machinist’s President, William Winpisinger. Where is this advocacy for peace and reordering our Nation’s priorities now?
Thank
you for allowing me to share with you my critique of the AFL-CIO’s “White
Paper.”
In
solidarity and struggle.
For
peace, equality, full employment, universal health care, ending racism
and protection of the environment.
Alan L. Maki
Check out my blog:
Thoughts From
Podunk
http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/
E-mail: red_finn@live.com
Phone: 651-587-5541
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