The Corporate War on Blue Collar America

I wish to digress once again from being your Florida D.U.I. Lawyer to that of citizen. As you all know by now the Congress in lock step agreed to a $700 billion bailout, with little or no oversight, to the Wall Street firms, who were on the brink of collapse. If you have continued to follow the story then you know that the more than half of the $700 billion is gone and unaccounted for. Seems these Wall Street firms took the money and gave it out as corporate bonuses and even purchased other firms.

Which brings me to the automotive industry, which is on the brink of failure. A few weeks ago the C.E.O.'s of Ford, G.M. and Chrsler ventured to Washington to ask for a loan. Note, I used the word loan, unlike the $700 billion to Wall Street, which doesn't have to be re-paid. They were met with hostility and anger from Congress. They were sent packing and told to come back with some definite plans. This week they came back with some more definite plans.They even drove rather than take their coprorate jets which raised a few eyebrows the last time. But they are still met with hostility.

If you listen to the pundits on the news programs and some Congressmen they complain about the labor costs. In essence they are complaining about the automotive unions. You see the the big three are obligated for pensions and health benefits. Because of these obligations they are ridiculed! Why? It is in essence an assault on labor, the blue collar guy, you know the one's who built this country. The automobile industry is the largest manufacturing base this country has left. American Corporations have outsourced millions of jobs. Perhaps this helped the corporate shareholders but what about the workers and their families?

Yes, it is an effort by major corporations and Republican politicians to break the working man. They simply do not like the working man. Think back on the economic history of this country. Have you ever read anything about company stores, or company houses? These were owned by the company and the poor laborer paid the company rent to live in the house and had to buy from the company store. Remember reading about the miners strike in West Virginia in 1920? Remember reading about the Haymarket Square riot in Chicago that took place in  the late 1800s? These incidents are examples of where law enforcement, private detectives and even military fired on working men and women. Do you think it could happen again? Currently there are 20,000 US troops who served in the Middle East deployed to the United States, in violation of the posse comitatus act, in case they are needed to quell domestic unrest. Would these troops fire on American citizens? Why do you think they are here?

Do not think for a minute that the corporations are on the side of the working man because they are not. By defintion a corporations first loyalty is to the shareholder. In November 2008 over 500,000 Amercians became unemployed. Prior to that over 2 million Americans had lost jobs during 2008.Maybe a corporation should care a little more about it's employees!

Which brings me to the conclusion that our elected representatives did not get that 44 million Ameiricans voted for change. They need to be reminded!

Please feel free to visit my websites at www.expungemyfloridaarrest.com and www.duilawyerofpalmbeach.com .

Copyright, All Rights Reserved, Timothy Foster, 2008