The Corporate War on the Poor is Real
 

Some of you will watch this video, and agree with it, because it is true.

Some of you will watch this video, and disagree with it, because you can't handle the truth.

Some of you will just lash out, because it's been posted by me.

Either way, see if you can give it a watch anyway, as it's just barely over 2 minutes long...



https://youtube.com/watch?v=Npj2U1PdIhI

I wish the USA had an "Easy" button.

Agree, then we just have the last question left, why do they do it?

Greed?
Keep the sheeps in control?
Power?

Where do the corporates learn this hyena mentality?

Business school?

Good video and short!

So don't be poor.

Reiches entitlement programs are bandaids & arguably keep people entrapped in their status quo. Why get a job when medicaid provides free health care with no co-pays or deductibles, & when unemployment checks require no work.

besides, we have the best equipped poor in the history of the world. They got cell phones, HDTV & can get to any library/starbucks, access the web & educate themselves.

when the national debt becomes unmanageable within the next 30 years, it will be hard to blame republicans when the dems been fighting for decades not to bring the spending side under control.

Obama wants the debt ceiling raised with no spending concessions. Hows that the fault of the "corporate war on the poor?"

:2 cents:

Because they can. The poor are are seen weak and vulnerable to predation.

You sound like one of those people who thinks that the majority of those out of work, on welfare, on unemployment, on medicaid.. PREFER to be on those programs.

By the way, all of these things can be paid for with a razor thin slice off of something like, oh I don't know, military spending or ending corporate welfare for, oh I don't know, the most highly profitable companies in the entire history of the world. But why end a good fight I guess.

:1orglaugh

Always nice when Tom, the guy who was quite satisfied to spend his welfare money which he admittedly didn't need, talks about entitlement programs.

Don't the things he talking about cost the government money in the US? - They do here...

Has the US government got lots of money to pay for it all?....

Gross oversimplification of the problem of poverty - there's no war on the poor, it's not 2014 not 1914, there are laws upon laws to protect workers safety, one just passed to protect this industry's performers. if he said 'we need to be more compassionate to the poor, help them get jobs' it would be ok, he's framed it into a conspiracy by corporations to keep the poor poor so they can be exploited. The economy has changed, there aren't good jobs for anybody who wants to work, and extending unemployment benefits, safer working conditions aren't going to change that. Is he suggesting that business owners pay higher wages to people with little skills out of sympathy?

There are poor people who are poor because of unlucky circumstances, there are also a huge number of them who are poor because from the day they were born they never thought ahead and come from generation after generation of underachievers. Throwing money at the poor has never helped. There are community colleges all over the place, how many of the poor while they're out of work are enrolled in programs to learn something that might make them employable?

All people deserve healthcare, food to survive, a roof over their head to protect them from the elements and an education for their children - don't we do that?

No, they really don't.
The I Lu deserve the opportunity.
Which we all have.

hey, that's great!

Hell Yea! Let's crush those poor dumb bastards!!

Pledge your allegiance to Hedley Lamarr!

Food, shelter and healthcare should and are fundamental human rights in any civilized country, and that includes the USA, which has food stamps, medicaid and government housing.

You'd shut down Medicaid and the food stamps program and let people die in the streets?

The myth that people would die in the streets without food stamps is told over and over by politicians who want to make people dependent on government.

Our least intelligent buy into that

No it won't, but demonizing the post 2009 unemployed won't accomplish anything worthwhile either. Not saying that that's what you're doing but plenty of others nationwide are doing just that. Some even seem to take a perverse pleasure in doing so.

The bottom line is that lots of formerly hardworking people with no previous history of milking the system are now fucked and that sucks not just for them but for the country as a whole.

How about we have just those business owners who move their jobs to China (or some other shit hole) pay higher taxes and give commiserate tax breaks to those who don't?

That way it'll be no skin off the business owner's back to employ more Americans and America's tax base will grow.

It's like this: A corporate CEO's job is to maximize profits for his shareholders. Period. He's not paid to do what's best for the country as a whole, that's not his job. That's what the government is supposed to do with appropriate tax incentives, regulations and so on.

Problem is our government is about as useless as tits on a bull.

America's corporations and private business's are doing their job, but America's government isn't.

It's as simple as that.

I agree that the government has to step in to get jobs back, the Chinese haven't played fair and the government hasn't done much to help. It's all complicated by the enormous debt the US has run up with the Chinese. The tax loopholes the multi billion dollar corporations use to avoid paying their fair share need to be closed up and tax laws need to be enforced.

starvation is something that is real. You can see it in other countries.
It just seems unlikely in North America because our serving sizes are often more then an entire days food allowance for some countries.
I do not believe there is an active desire to make people poor. Poor people can't have good credit to pay interest on loans and cars and high cell phone bills..etc
So it is in the interest of controlling factions to let people have a certain amount of wealth. A strong middle class is actually good for the elite class.

That being said. Do not think that people do not starve everyday in the 1st world countries. Some people are below the poverty line, that is a fact.

been there, done that, didn't get any benefits (too young, single male with no dependents) and you better believe burglary/theft will go up :)

but yeah agreed, lot of BS spouted/spun by those in power.

yup. not black & white by any means, and anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded :thumbsup

Ridiculous.

First off the vast majority of Federal Workers make MORE than minimum wage (one of his points)

And if you just want to use common sense...WHAT can "rich" people ever get from waging a "war" on the poor? The poor, by definition, have nothing of value.

And Robert Reich is one of the most biased and extreme leftists in the U.S.
Everytime I hear him on CNN I want to throw a brick through the television at the untruths he tells.

That video is EXACTLY the same as Sean Hannity ranting on the right hand side.

Reality Check: Robert Reich is a fucking bureaucrat. It behooves him to have a strong and huge Federal Govt.
That's where he and his cronies get their power from.

Poor poor people, everything is against them :(

you are right - capitalism does increase wealth & its the best system there is to lift all boats. But you are also wrong. cause the capitalists have done exactly that, focused solely on the shareholder, & not on their employees. So the working class jobs have been getting outsourced or the wages are stagnant.

We need a dose of populism. first, at the government level, to end these unfair free trade agreements that have helped only the capitalists. some protectionism is in order to stop the bleeding of jobs to asia & mexico.

But we also need our CEOs to be a little less obsessed with the shareholder, obsessed with their own pay, & more concerned about ensuring their employees can be viable consumers.

The wealth gap at fast food restaurants, at retail, its absurd & IMO, has moral ramifications. I dont mind the CEO of walmart is wealthy. I do mind that his workers cannot make a living & need public services just to survive. something is not right about that. The minimum wage is not keeping up with the times.

but neither party has even a whiff of teddy roosevelt in them. So thats where we are. a wealthy class that has recovered & a middle class that has not.

:pimp

The problem here is that you people who don't understand econ can write more bad econ than could be refuted in 3 textbooks.

Everyone tries to look at this as Republican vs. Democrat or rich vs. poor... but it's much simpler than that.

Technology has accelerated at a pace that far outstrips our ability to control it. In the same way that our daily lives will never be the same as they were before the Internet, our overall economy will never be the same.

1. Improved health care: Great news for grandma who might live to be 100 now, but not so great for her heirs. Middle class are living longer, burning up their savings and retirement and leaving less (or no) inheritance to their children.

2. Manufacturing, customer service and almost everything in between can be sent off-shore. American workers are in direct competition with Mexican and Vietnamese workers. It's unreasonable for our wages not to suffer, as much as that totally sucks.

3. Automation means we need fewer people. Period. And Asians and white people have sort of indirectly gotten the message, birth rates are way down and many middle class people seem to be waiting until they need a team of scientists to help them have their first baby. But we still have a few generations of "excess inventory" of people sitting around. And immigrants haven't gotten the message that we need fewer off-spring just yet. Many demographic groups are still multiplying like it's the Lord's will or some nonsense.

There's no returning to the high flying yesterday of American economic prosperity. At best, we can hope for a not-too-painful crash landing.

That's the fucking truth. And no Republican or Democrat will ever admit it or consider trying to address the reality of the situation. It's all about getting re-elected and kicking the can down the road so that you can, hopefully, blame the eventual meltdown on the next guy in office.

In many ways... we're fucked, folks.

greenleaf...what about the economic boom that is happening in North Dakota and Texas right now with oil and natural gas?

If you live in Western North Dakota or in the Middleton, Texas area you are seeing an economic boom like never before in your lifetime.

That could be expanded damn near nationwide as it now turns out we are literally sitting on the biggest oil deposits in the world bar none.

That's just one thing that could indeed have this economy bigger than EVER.

And there are other things out there that we don't know about yet.

Nobody foresaw the giant Internet Bubble that hit and made the 1990's so good economically.

So I don't share your pessimistic viewpoint.

I do believe that there is something big just around the corner. It could happen tomorrow if the federal govt. opened up federal land for the energy industry.
(I'm purposely NOT talking about ecological concerns here...just the economy and pointing out that "yes" there are things that could make it roar to life)

Raw natural resources like that are finite. There's always going to be a gold rush or two at any given time. I wish I lived in North Dakota.

Hell, look at today's Silicon Valley.

But in a broader sense, I'm pretty confident that my point holds true. There are way too many idle workers and technology has made most of them obsolete. I don't see many (any?) industries that are actively looking to increase the number of people they employ and decrease the amount of machinery or technology they use.

Yep...and the "finite" oil reserves that were discovered 50 years ago are STILL pumping oil.

These new ones are bigger than any ever before. Including the middle east which we've been pumping for 50 years with no end in sight.

So yeah...the energy under our feet could put our economy in the stratosphere for the rest of our lifetimes and beyond. It is finite. But it's so much that you and I won't live long enough to see it all gone.

But I guess it's "better" to let the Saudi's live in mansions made of gold while we struggle. lol

And in the two places that private land is being used to go for oil and natural gas (western N.D. and Middleton, Texas) they can't find enough people to fill all the high paying jobs.

So yeah...the oil industry is looking for people. And all the other businesses in those areas are desperate for workers too. The pay is so high for the oil work that nobody wants to work at Walmart and McDonalds (or anything else).
So those businesses are forced to raise their pay.

I read that in Middleton the starting pay at Walmart was $17 an hour!

And THAT is how you get people to make more money. Not by raising the minimum wage and trying to force it. :)

You're right!!

If only we could get rid of these pesky computers and outlaw greedy computer companies... so typewriter repairmen could still have a job!

Well, that's actually what I was trying to say, but you spelled it out better.

Bottom line: Businesses are in the business of making money. That's what they're supposed to do after all. It's the role of government - not business - to look out for the country as a whole and to make course corrections as needed.

The United States is presently in the process of losing a large portion of it's middle class and that's deadly. Anyone who can't see the ramifications of such need only look at what's going on in Ukraine today to see where that road eventually leads.

In no way, at all, am I advocating anything like that. Greed is good. I'm simply pointing out that we now have too many people right now. You cannot stop technology and any attempt to do so is stupid and a waste of time.

The only real solution is that people need to start cumming on the tits more often and things will, eventually, equal out over time.

I don't want to raise the minimum wage, I think it should be eliminated entirely. I am a Libertarian for the most part.

Domestic energy production is fantastic and I support it 100% -- but it won't reverse the larger trend. Businesses exist solely to maximize shareholder value. Every year we become more and more efficient. We do more work with fewer employees.

$17 an hour to work at WalMart is great. Except you have to consider what that money can buy. In these micro-boom situations, a shitty 1 bedroom will rent for $1,500 a month... so those Wal-Mart workers aren't banking much of that cash.

I worked and lived in Silicon Valley during the first bubble. Right out of high school making $60,000 a year and I was in the shittiest apartment and barely making ends meet. I was living worse than most of the people I knew who went to live in college dorms and eat at cafeterias.

Well said and its like what are we going to do with all those people? I hear about the google self driving cars and my second thought is I wonder how many jobs that will kill?

You are right. Teddy didn't need a billion dollars to run for president. So I think we will never see one in our lives.

Bottom line is this. Anyone thinking there's some evil outside force holding them down will NEVER succeed.
You either work hard and succeed or invent excuses for why you haven't.
Which will you do?

Exactly right.

I did not have parents to fall back on, and had to work to get where I am today. When I was in college, I had to take 18 credit hours (requirement by that college), plus work a 30 hour a week job at the mall 25 minutes away so I had spending money and could pay for my car and insurance. I ran the college radio station for 3 years, plus DJ'd twice a week, and was on union board among some other groups. In the summer, I also took classes, plus had internships three summers, and worked full time. I did this for years so that I could get an education, and needed money to pay bills.

Looking back, I do not know how I did it all and remained sane. However, I do not remember there being a 'choice' in the matter. You just did what you had to do if you wanted a car, and money for bills and living expenses and you did not have a parent or government tit to suck on to pay for everything you needed.

When kids today tell me about what CAN'T be done, I just shake my head. They can't go to junior college and work a full time job. They can't have a car payment and go to school, etc. and so forth. Based on my own life experience, I have found those who are leading a conversation telling you what CAN'T be done, and what they DESERVE are destined to failure in life.

:2 cents:

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.

Henry Ford