Category Archives: jobs

Show me the money…

by

Adidas is not paying workers of a factory closed even though they have promised to adhere to a code of conduct.

After I became aware of the use of sweatshops for clothing, I started to deny my kids certain clothing they wanted because it was made in a country operating sweatshops.  I recall yelling matches with one of my daughters because she couldn’t have the “cool” clothes these stores were selling.

At my university, there was a hunger-strike because the university was using sweatshops for its apparel.  There was a lively discussion on it in one of the classes (a rare thing, believe me, because classes were set up to have lecture-only–rarely did we have meaningful discussions)  –angry students were going to grill some steaks by the hunger-strikers.  These folks had done nothing to them–they were protesting mistreatment to other human beings—so why would that anger them? Unbelievable.

I used to own several shirts with the university’s logo on it.  I threw them out when I learned of the sweatshops.  What still boggles me is when people find out that the chic clothing they’re wearing is made by someone earning a $1 per day, they merely shrug their shoulders and go on with their lives.

As it became harder and harder to buy non-sweatshop clothing, I thought I could just sew all my clothes, but when went to the fabric stores and looked at the place of manufacture–yep, you can guess it–China, Guatemala, etc.  I couldn’t even buy fabric made in the U.S. to sew with.

Here’s a website of stuff still made in the U.S.A.  I can’t make any claims to know about the fair wage practices of the manufacturers, so enter at your own risk.

 

 

Social Security is just fine, thank you

by

David Cay Johnston has this excellent post up on the soundness of Social Security. (Be sure to read the post below the first–also an excellent one.)

I was searching for an analysis of the losses of Social Security funds due to the stagnant wages of the past twenty years…I was wondering how much of an impact on the amount now in the bank?  How many millions or billions have been lost because wages did not  increase at the same rate as previously?

I found some hints of an article like that–one blurb on a site said that Boomers were deferring their retirement because they didn’t have the money due to stagnant wages….but when I tried to find the article mentioned, I came up empty.

I did find this, however:  http://money.usnews.com/money/business-economy/slideshows/10-industries-with-stagnant-pay/5

It’s interesting that not all people working in banks have gotten the windfall.

 

Taibbi on Romney

by

DN! has this up with Matt Taibbi giving the scoop on what Romney is all about–he’s not about creating jobs, and saving companies, but swooping in, making a boatload of money, and leaving the carcass behind…

Taibbi mentions Carlyle Group--red flags go up. (hat tip to this site)

From the article:

But what sets Carlyle apart is the way it has exploited its political contacts. When Carlucci arrived there in 1989, he brought with him a phalanx of former subordinates from the CIA and the Pentagon, and an awareness of the scale of business a company like Carlyle could do in the corridors and steak-houses of Washington. In a decade and a half, the firm has been able to realise a 34% rate of return on its investments, and now claims to be the largest private equity firm in the world. Success brought more investors, including the international financier George Soros and, in 1995, the wealthy Saudi Binladin family, who insist they long ago severed all links with their notorious relative. The first president Bush is understood to have visited the Binladins in Saudi Arabia twice on the firm’s behalf.

Another article here.

On the rest of the video–the guy going to the Romney campaign event and being told he was unpatriotic for wanting to save his job should be blasted on every radio station, every TV station, and printed on the front page of every newspaper (what ones are left…).  People are being lied to and are not getting that “fair and balanced” coverage.  I mean, the utter gall of them saying that unemployed people on food stamps are just lazy and unmotivated…while shipping their jobs to China…

…my mind flashed to Romney’s poor rendition of “America, the Beautiful…”  while Taibbi speaks of him and his cohorts’ non-allegiance to the States and the people trying to earn a living.

Taibbi makes a good point when he says the dispute over the actual time that Romney left Bain isn’t as important as to what profit he was reaping from Bain’s actions…that’s the key–what money did he make off the deals?

And Taibbi hints about how they don’t want to pay for anything–they make boatloads of money on these companies, after borrowing the money to do it.

 

 

Krugman deconstructs Christie and Ryan

by

Paul Krugman has this up on Chris Christie…*fiscally conservative* towards the 99%…but a whole ‘nother view towards the one percenters…

….and this on Paul Ryan...

You just can’t make this stuff up:

In March, explaining his cuts in aid for the unfortunate, he declared, “We don’t want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls able-bodied people into lives of dependency and complacency, that drains them of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives.”

~~~~~~~~

…while ignoring that most people who are dependent on not only food stamps but are dependent on disability/social security are there because of a health issue?

So if someone is on disability from a stroke, how is that person a moocher?  Or someone who is on oxygen and cannot work?  I see a building full of people with  health issues…so tell me again how we can get these damn moochers off of welfare/disability and working until they freaking drop?! /snark

I personally got a college degree so I would not be in the situation I’m in now…I got mercury poisoning and had undiagnosed Celiac that caused my health to deteriorate, which had a domino effect on the disaster that is my life.  I drove up and down a two lane highway for three and a half years, through wind and rain and dark of night so I could get my degree.  I studied every night for two to three hours after taking my kids to baseball, softball, ballet, etc., and fixing dinner and whatever else needed to be done…so don’t tell me that I’m lazy or unmotivated.

LG said it best:

  • LG  NYC

I always wondered why people always become “dependent and complacent” and lose “their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives” right after a financial crises…

Doublespeak

by

…is a word in Communications for when you’re talking in such a way that it seems you mean something when you really mean something else…

…such as this.

This is why I am upset that people who went to Obama fundraisers didn’t put that money towards a third party candidate–someone who will restore the Constitution, not sign anymore Free Trade agreements, not sign legislation that gives the top 1% tax breaks, push for livable wage, get us out of all conflicts, and will push for re-regulating banks and sustainable farming/regulating environmental polluters.  And what happened to our antitrust laws, again?

That’s the candidate I want…

Romneyville

by

Back in the day, when the government actually called a Depression– a Depression — the homeless lived in “Hoovervilles”.  A group in Tampa, Florida has dubbed an encampment “Romneyville”.   A funny “Bad Lip Reading” video on the site.

In all accuracy, though, they should be dubbed “Congressvilles”…because they are the ones responsible for not raising the minimum wage to a livable wage, for not raising taxes on the 1%,  for allowing banks to consolidate, for gutting banking regulations, for passing NAFTA and every other Free Trade agreement…I could go on and on…