When are the leaders in our government going to realize that job loss will continue UNTIL

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

our labor force is not competing with:

third world child/slave/prison/serf labor

OR

countries where the cost of healthcare is not borne by the industries?!

There is no one home upstairs in our government if they think that somehow they are going to regenerate job growth in "green" industries or whatever fairy tale they want to push, because this issue continue until it is resolved.

They seem to be leaning toward the model where we all become vagrant, homeless, serf labor at peon wages until we morph into prison labor for stealing the loaf of bread.

The idea of competing with the rest of the modern world where universal healthcare costs are removed from the costs of goods seems to just be out of the picture.

When the Republicans mean they are "Pro-Business" what they mean is they are "Pro-Business Owner" at the complete disregard for the majority of Americans who are W2 WAGE EARNERS!!!!!!

And where are the f!@#ing Democrats on this? NOWHERE.

(edited to remove the impolitic and rude "morons" from the title)

[CurtEastPoint]

1. The US has to rebuild a solid manufacturing base... again. We don't...

make anything anymore. Not so easy as it sounds, but I would like to see this as a top priority.

[Cogito ergo doleo]

2. Oh, hadn't you heard- we were to be the information society,

Sure, things would be tough for about 50 years, or so said Clinton as he signed the NAFTA bill. We all had these bright futures in IT. So when my job was outsourced to India, I learned how to make web sites.:rofl:

Now we are told we have a bright future in Green, only China recently announced that THEY were going to be the ones to make the fuel cells. UhHuh, and what shall we do do then? Eat Cake? Grow Marijuana like Afghanastan grows poppies? Three Cheers for the global economy where the Chinese are driving cars, and we are now on bikes. Neat-o. :applause:

We are now experiencing that long slow drop to the bottom as foretold by Ross Perot. It won't look normal until we are making the same wages as Mexico and India (Ross said that, too). Manufacturing is over-- in short, we are not going back, and screwn until something better comes along.

[Armstead]

3. You are expressing a truth that is too fucking obvious for them to care about

Many were warning of this back in the 80's and 90's.

But under the "leadership" of Bill Clinton DLC centrists, those warnings were dismissed as too gloomy, naive and "fringe." Nooooo...they cast their lot with Alan Greenspan and the free market CONservatives and the GOP.

Now that it has come to pass, those same "leaders" -- includsing unfortunately Obama -- are still clinging to the tired old mantras that got us here.

What is needed is for power in the democratic Party to shift to the real progressive Democrats (and the independents like Bernie Sanders) who "got it" back then.

Otherwise, we'll still be bleeding jobs, the economy will continue to flow from bottom to top and we'll be told to wait for the great new Ice Cream Economy to take hold.

[RepublicanElephant]

4. one good thing about oil going over $80/barrel...

high chinese shipping costs might make some manufacturing jobs come back home.

[AzDar]

5. K & R

:kick:

[kenny blankenship]

6. What makes you think they care?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

7. Actually, I believe the vast majority of their actions indicate that they DON'T care

everything else is just lip service during campaigns.

The biggest eye opener for me was when they dropped negotiating with Pharma for pricing in Medicare Part D (there is NO reasonable or rational explanation for that except to honor payoffs). The healthcare "debate" just reinforces what I already learned.

The people of the country are unrepresented, or if they are represented, it's by just a sliver of the representatives in the legislature.

[inna]

8. Could not agree with you more.

I'll just add that it's so painfully obvious that we need universal health care (which every single industrialized country in the world except the US guarantees its citizens) and that it needs to be funded by progressive taxation, like everywhere else in the civilized world.

"Uniquely American way" in this case means nothing but: 1) Profit over People and 2)Utter level of corruption in our political system.

[bvar22]

9. Our leaders realize this....

They just don't care, with the exception of a handful of Democrats in the Progressive Caucus.
They are all members of the Ownership Class, and directly benefit from the crushing of LABOR.
Just look how fast they dropped EFCA after the election.

As we speak, the White House is quietly negotiating two more "Free Trade" treaties (Colombia and Panama).
They are correct when they proudly proclaim, "The American Worker can (be forced to) compete with anyone!" (parenthesis mine)

Election 2008 was a crushing defeat for LABOR and Americans who Work for a Living.



"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone