74 Dollars a Barrel
The instant the polling station for school board elections opened yesterday the ancient Bitterrooters started trickling in. Two generations away from having any kids in the system they still do their civic duty, voting for reactionary zenophobes at any and all opportunities.The Greatest Generation. I was manning a table nearby, trying to get petition signers to get a Raise The Minimum Wage initiative on Novembers ballot. Of course all Bitterrooters are not fascists and I had some great exchanges with many folks,but so many saw my sign and immediately averted their eyes, so as to not make any contact with the Bolshevik scum. Some came over to tell me how they used to work for fifty cents a day, milk the chickens and walk five miles, uphill both ways, in the deep snow to school each day. Many needed to explain their absurd ,inane ,philisophical analyses on "what is wrong today".
Meanwhile ,the latest Spectacle for Society is putting a few greedy rich people up for public stoning, dirty cheaters and excess profit takers like Ken Lay and Exxon -Mobile and other "high salaried executives". A bizarre societal ritual this exorcism, this occasional penance the "have mores" (Bushes base) must display to keep the natives pacified. AgainI must quote myself " We all hate rich people but we all want to be one". A society based on paradox.
I heard a major hispanic columnist/pundit quoted this morning saying how it's great "the people" rose up for a little marching, chanting, drumming etc. but now they must tone it down and not cause waves or stir up resentment and make "real" labor and rights gains by working through the established process. What a crock of shit. The "good Mexican" wants to blend in just as things start to rock. Nothing was ever gained by toning it down, quite the contrary.
And then there is all the commentary on the nationalization of the Bolivian natural gas industry. Some bootlicking spokes-shill for the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security ( USAID, Scaif Foundation?) says "When you cause problems for foreign investors, you cause problems for THOSE WHO KNOW how to create and develop the industry". "Those who know" is code for people with lighter skin, people who just want you to bend over and take it like a sheep. The "Brazillian Center for Infrastrucure Studies" ( Chevron, Heritage Foundation?) are energy consultants warning us of "populist agendas". 74 dollars a barrel, baby. The Toronto Star even found a way to point out the "down side" of cheap gas in Venezuela (12 cents a gallon). Pathetic lackeys.
posted by troutsky @ 8:25 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Help me out with something. You would like to raise minimum wage, which makes sense--even if I don't agree with it. Yet don't the illegals undercut whatever gains you would make by passing minimum wage legislation as illegals are paid under the table?
Thanks in advance for your explanation.
Without presuming to speak for Comrade Troutsky, I'll offer my two cents:
1) "Illegals" can only undercut wages if they remain unprotected by the law. Liberalize immigration, and step up enforcement of laws governing fair labor standards, and that won't be (as much of) a problem.
2) There is at least some empirical evidence to dispute the notion that undocumented immigrant workers have an adverse impact on the wages of unskilled or low-skilled labor. See, e.g. "Cost of Illegal Immigration May Be Less Than Meets the Eye", N.Y. Times (April 16, 2006)
I guess that makes sense. Still, while the illegals may not cripple the overall economy, they are hurting American citizens who would traditionally do these nominally paying jobs. That's just common sense. Of course, implementing 1) would render this ineffective.
"illegals" is an interesting term in itself.A few of the hispanics I worked with in construction had forged documentation and SS numbers so that they paid income taxes and FICA,none of which they would ever collect on.I think it is generally the case that "wetbacks" get documentation to satisfy employers (who don't check to hard).A great many did masonry ,roofing and landscaping work but they worked in basically every trade.Almost all has some "skill" and could command a decent wage because they worked hard.They were almost in every case under the supervision of a white guy, who was making twice what they were and there was a very easy ladder up if you were white from labor to supervision.
I don't actually expect a one dollar an hour raise (to $6.15)to do much except raise awareness. I do this initiative work for the opportunity it gives me to subversivly organize and agitate for my ant-capitalist agenda.
The larger issue of course is the discrepency between wages and conditions from North to South and the injustice of that.Only a structural approach can adress the true problem, the rest(immigration reform, minimum wage etc) is just window dressing and band aids.
I don't think most people have a problem with hard-working illegals. We do have a problem with pseudo-open borders and a government that doesn't care who comes here so long as corporate friends continue to make money.
Minnesota recently raised our minimum wage. When I started working in MI, I was making less than the MN state minimum wage, which I thought was kind of funny. Then again, I don't depend on that money for anything other than padding my student loans. Trying to raise a family on minimum wage is a different story.
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