Robt. Reich: Divide and Conquer

[maxx]

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/op...#axzz1Gg8xGgfJ

Who was it who said, "I can always pay half the poor to fight the other half" or words to that effect. Boss Tweed?

[1KielsonDrive]

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/op...#axzz1Gg8xGgfJ

Who was it who said, "I can always pay half the poor to fight the other half" or words to that effect. Boss Tweed?

Divide and Conquer. I was aware of this plan decades ago and I ain't the brightest bulb in the pack. It's been the plan for decades, if not centuries. Why do you think corporations love 'Free Trade' [[doesn't really exist) and NAFTA, SHAFTA, SCREWU and other 'Free Trade' agreements? They bring the lowest common denominator to the table - wages wise. Once Mexicans and other immigrants started making inroads into the US labor market, without the benefit of labor unions and representation, they had labor fighting. People out of work will, in most cases, gladly take the job of someone else who's walked or been locked out. Hold back medical coverage from working people? Cause for a fight. Take away overtime? I'll gladly work for straight time. I need a job very badly. No vacation time? I don't have it, who cares. This is why pay, benefits and negotiability for the people on the firing line right now, state, federal, municipal employees, firefighters and cops are so important. Were coming to the last lines in the sand.

[jeffb]

wages= race to the bottom..

[rb336]

Remember, it was Raymond Donovan, Reagan's secretary of labor, who said our economic model should follow Brazil's

[old guy]

Jay Gould the great robber baron mentioned it during a railroad strike in 1886. "I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half."
When he died in 1892 he had an estimated wealth of $72 million. Not bad for 1892.

[Locke09]

Well the strategy is working well. It's like a giant snowball rolling down the mountainside and it's picking up steam.

How many times have you heard people on this forum say something to the effect: "I don't have a pension, why should they?", or, "I got shafted by my employer, why shouldn't they share some of the pain?", or "Retirees are becoming a burden on the young workers and it's not fair" [[Forget that retirees were paying taxes when young workers were still spending their parents' hard earned money on beer in college).

Two years ago we seemed to understand that the banks and Wall Street had caused a Great Recession. Now we are blaming the teachers and public workers for the Recession. A few years ago we were lamenting the low pay and difficult conditions under which teachers worked. Now they are greedy parasites who are the cause that our children won't learn. [[Forget about the breakdown of the family structure, the stress of poor economic conditions on families, the absence of parental involvement, etc.)

Years ago, private and public employers offered [[promised) pensions to entice people to work for them and to avoid big pay increases. But they neglected to fund those pensions while they wasted money, gave those at the top multi-million dollar bonuses and golden parachutes, wasted profits and depleted rainy-day funds. Then the government said you need to play catch-up and get those pensions fully funded. Now all of a sudden pensions are bad and they were extorted by thug union bosses and greedy, clueless workers.

I'd say the startegy is working just fine.

[lpg]

Well the strategy is working well. It's like a giant snowball rolling down the mountainside and it's picking up steam.

How many times have you heard people on this forum say something to the effect: "I don't have a pension, why should they?", or, "I got shafted by my employer, why shouldn't they share some of the pain?", or "Retirees are becoming a burden on the young workers and it's not fair" [[Forget that retirees were paying taxes when young workers were still spending their parents' hard earned money on beer in college).

Two years ago we seemed to understand that the banks and Wall Street had caused a Great Recession. Now we are blaming the teachers and public workers for the Recession. A few years ago we were lamenting the low pay and difficult conditions under which teachers worked. Now they are greedy parasites who are the cause that our children won't learn. [[Forget about the breakdown of the family structure, the stress of poor economic conditions on families, the absence of parental involvement, etc.)

Years ago, private and public employers offered [[promised) pensions to entice people to work for them and to avoid big pay increases. But they neglected to fund those pensions while they wasted money, gave those at the top multi-million dollar bonuses and golden parachutes, wasted profits and depleted rainy-day funds. Then the government said you need to play catch-up and get those pensions fully funded. Now all of a sudden pensions are bad and they were extorted by thug union bosses and greedy, clueless workers.

I'd say the startegy is working just fine.

Just read some of the posts in the thread about the proposed taxing of pensions and you will agree that the strategy is working as planned.

[1KielsonDrive]

Remember, it was Raymond Donovan, Reagan's secretary of labor, who said our economic model should follow Brazil's

Tell us more, please.