I wrote this; comments welcome:

[Nadienne]

A Fable

While I walked the long mountain trail, I passed a fat man riding a skinny mule. The man had a big bag of carrots, and one carrot was tied to a stick that dangled in front of the hungry mule.

"Mister," I said, "you should feed the mule some carrots or else it won't be able to carry you."

"Ah, but you see," he replied, "I have to conserve my carrots. I have a long way to go. If I keep the carrots, the mule will keep carrying me, and the longer i keep them, the further I will go."

"Such infallable logic," I answered before hurrying onward. I knew that the mule would soon starve to death, and I didn't want to be near enough to help the man when it did.

Moral of the story: Employers who want the most bang for their buck - distance for their carrots - eventually break the backs that carry them. By cutting the money they spend on employees, they cut the money customers can spend on them.

What's the solution?

I don't know, but a step in the right direction is to make corporations accountable to "We the People"...

Have a Nice Day

[Shoedogg]

1. Agreed...

This may be a little too socialist for some, but I've always felt that "we" should have far more say in corporate activities. It's my belief that there's truly no such thing as a "privately-owned" company since every company thrives off the country's citizens - either by "using" them as employees or as consumers.

[Nadienne]

8. Do you think it's too obviously socialist

to use as an e-mail propaganda chain?

[salin]

15. never mind

realized you were refering to your own explanation not the fable. Thus my post makes no sense.

[Nadienne]

16. Shoot

I misunderstood, too...

But your viewpoints are not too socialist for me. :-)

[Nadienne]

2. My intention:

If you go to breakthechain.org and do a search for Free Republic, you'll find that there are two chain e-mails that started there.

I'm not fond of the idea of using dirty freeper tricks... But if I were, I might do something like this...

[slackboy]

3. Plutocracy

I believe we could define this as the "walmart syndrome." This economic phenomena is exemplified by the jobless recovery. Why would corporate america want to add jobs when they can exploit those presently employed by increasing productivity (read workload) and eliminating overtime by skilled segments of the workforce.

[Nadienne]

4. Exactly

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Nadienne]

9. And I'll add to this

(shameless self-promoter that I am)

The whole idea that corporations, the greed of a few rich people, is what causes economic stagnation dovetails nicely with the realization that as long as there are protectors of the status quo, of inequalities, based on "worth" (and worth is always determined by the fat man with the carrot), there will also be poverty. The fat man with the carrot wins. He will have the leverage to control us.

[Nadienne]

10. More on inequality:

It's something conservatives try to protect. An interesting, long paper explains: (it's a pdf file)

Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition

For a summary, go here.

A sample:

"The surface manifestations of conservative behavior may change over time, for example displaying itself as vociferous opposition to school busing, during that time when school busing represents a change in the social order, with that issue moving off the center stage to be replaced by resistance to some other form of change once school busing has become a fact and a new generation of conservatives familiar with the practice come on the scene.

In addition to resistance to change, the authors identify acceptance of social inequality as one of the stable ideological core values of conservatism."

For a humorous summary of the summary, go here. Actually, I recommend reading this one, first.

A sample of their humor:

"Well, we always knew there was something wrong with them."

and

"Right wingers proved the researchers right by promptly losing their minds and screaming for the hides of the perpetrators. Right wing radio hosts howled and gibbered that an investigation should be made immediately into the funding these researchers get, and they were accused, in no particular order, and according to no rhyme or reason, of being anti-American and anti-Christian and probably for gay rights and gun control."

Enjoy!

[newyawker99]

17. Hi slackboy!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[LibDemAlways]

5. I work part time for a "privately" owned

insurance company. The guy at the top is a multi-millionaire miserly old fart who owns acres of apartment and commercial buildings too. He's apparently got a lot of enemies because he hides away in an area of the building that's practically a vault.

The workers are underpaid. The place is grossly understaffed. Customer service is nil. Letters come in every day from angry policy holders demanding to know why they can't get a simple response to their inquiries. But the outfit has a sweetheart deal with several homebuilders which agree to pay for the 1st year's premium - so new customers are not a problem.

This is the face of American business today. The guy at the top makes a pile of money while the workers get paid squat and the customers aren't even on the radar. It's pathetic.

[Nadienne]

7. Insurance is a scam in the first place...

I feel for you. I'm a secretary in the office of a millionaire who made his money in disability insurance. I'm supposed to be working right now, hahaha, but he doesn't pay me to not play.

[Nadienne]

6. Required Reading for Democrats

How conservatives use language to dominate politics.

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml

excerpt:

"'You've written a lot about "tax relief" as a frame. How does it work?'

The phrase "Tax relief" began coming out of the White House starting on the very day of Bush's inauguration. It got picked up by the newspapers as if it were a neutral term, which it is not. First, you have the frame for "relief." For there to be relief, there has to be an affliction, an afflicted party, somebody who administers the relief, and an act in which you are relieved of the affliction. The reliever is the hero, and anybody who tries to stop them is the bad guy intent on keeping the affliction going. So, add "tax" to "relief" and you get a metaphor that taxation is an affliction, and anybody against relieving this affliction is a villain.

"Tax relief" has even been picked up by the Democrats. I was asked by the Democratic Caucus in their tax meetings to talk to them, and I told them about the problems of using tax relief. The candidates were on the road. Soon after, Joe Lieberman still used the phrase tax relief in a press conference. You see the Democrats shooting themselves in the foot."

[Bandit]

11. "The Beatings will continue until morale improves" ~ That's GOP carrot.

:shrug:

[mulethree]

12. Mule's

Mules won't work till they die like horses or oxen will.

Dunno if that's good or not for this tale. It lets the guy dangle the carrot till the mule refuses to budge and not worry that it will drop dead because he pushed it too far.

[Nadienne]

13. Thank you, that's a good point

...and hense the phrase "stubborn as a mule"...

You know, I bet I can change it... make the end something like "I hurried out of there so I didn't have to listen to the fat man scream at his mule..."

I originally had "donkeys" but I thought that was too obvious...

[Nadienne]

14. I might also change "Fable" to "Parable" (n/t)

:kick: