Bill Bramhall for September 16, 2023

The stinking rich get stinkier…and crying about how paying good wages is cutting into their profits. Makes me wanna puke.

TAX THE STINKING RICH

On the same planet.

Ford lost $3B to $4.5B on EV cars. GM says they need to stop losses on EV cars/. Give the striking workers an EV car free. Will that satisfy their union leaders’ demands? It will certainly make the Biden Administration happy, and all those WOKE-ies who claim EV;s fight climate change.

Let them negotiate without political interference. Union / corporation negotiations should not depend on how much money they contributed to one PAC, party, or candidate. Let the free market prevail. I personally favor the workers. Executive salaries and bonus are ridiculous. “We must tax the rich and make them pay their fair share” says Joe Biden. Go for it. But as a retired union worker, my bread and butter are now corporate profits from the stocks and mutual funds my pension is invested in. There is no need for a Marxist DEO solution to a labor squabble. Government, butt out.

“… Free markets are theoretically optimal, with supply and demand guided by an invisible hand to allocate goods efficiently. In reality, however, free markets are subject to manipulation, misinformation, asymmetries of power & knowledge, and foster wealth inequality. …” __Investpedia

And it was the UAW members who helped the US auto industry survive the late aughts. They should be paid back now.

Any American with a full time job should be able to raise a child, mortgage a home, own a car, have a 401k, and take an occasional vacation.

If a major employer can not, or will not, meet these standards, standards that could & should be the absolute minimum for America, you got no business being in business here.

If you could ship my job to China, you already would have.

CEO’s, managers, and other bosses also work for the company, just like regular people do. It’s not their job to oppose workers, but to devise how best the work can be done.

In the beginning, even the old fascist Henry Ford knew human nature — well paid employees that can provide a proud living for their families make for a highly successful company.

If the pay ain’t right, then the company is not sustainable, and has no business playing at enterprise to the detriment of us all.

People are sick of these overpaid executives who get a golden parachute if they turn out to be a dud.

It is just more proof that there are two systems, one for the rich and one for the rest of us.

$30 million annual salary for Ms Barra is obscene.

Capitalism on steroids. “The paradise of the rich is made out of the hell of the poor.” ― Victor Hugo, The Man Who Laughs

CEO compensation has increased over 30% since the last agreement.

Once upon a time, Envy was regarded as a sin. Now it’s regarded as a virtue.

When the workers are treated well, they support their superiors, and understand that the superiors have greater opportunities because of their position. When the workers are treated poorly, they have less patience for that sort of thing. You can take income inequality just so far.

Fast food doesn’t owe the world a dollar menu if the employees are having to get government food support and relief.

I’ve never understood working class people who are anti-union. Unions have done nothing but good for them—directly or indirectly. Instead, they throw their lot in with business owners and managers who do nothing but try to exploit them. I know; I spent my entire post-military career in management. (I run my own private practice now.)

I don’t want your millions, Mister

I Don’t want your diamond ring

All I want is the right to live, Mister

Give to me a job again.

I don’t want your Rolls-Royce, Mister

I don’t want your pleasure yacht

All I want is food for my babies

Give to me my old job back

I know you have the land deed, Mister

The money is all in your name

But where’s the work that you did, Mister?

I’m demanding back my job again

We worked to build this country, Mister

While you enjoyed a life of ease

Now you’ve stolen all that we built, Mister

Now our children starve and freeze

Think me dumb if you wish, Mister

Call me green, or blue, or red

Just one thing I sure know, Mister

My hungry babies must be fed

Take the two old parties, Mister

No difference in them I see

But with a Farm-Labor Party

We could set the people free

Written by Jim Garland before WWII.

Just tie pay to the executive compensation: worker pay increases by the same percentage as executive pay (after pulling executive pay out of the stratosphere).