I have been so happy to see a
Labor Day article on Jared Bernstein’s blog that cuts right to the heart of what is wrong with the American economy, and by extension, the lives of so many of us who work for others, who work either with our hands or our minds.
Before you jump to conclusions and assume that Jared is a union activist or organizer, let me introduce him. Jared Bernstein is one of the most respected economists in America. During the first Obama Administration he was Chief Economics Adviser to Vice President Biden. He was a distinguished scholar at the Economic Policy Institute, and he now helps direct the work of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. He is a highly sought after speaker and news commentator.
For someone of his stature and background, his Labor Day blog was inspiring and illuminating.
In this blog Bernstein called for courage:
“I’d like to call for more courage, especially by those of us, and I include myself, who are shy to the point of apologetic about what needs to change, about re-balancing labor’s power with respect to that of capital. That framing itself — labor vs. capital — has become a ‘no-no’ in polite company. To tee it up that way is to engage in ‘class warfare,’ or far worse, to invoke accusations of Marxism… I reject the arguments of those bemoaning class warfare when they themselves are envoys of the winning class.”
And, of course, Bernstein is exactly right. We are in class warfare here and across the world. And because we and those who claim to be our friends don’t or won’t recognize that war, we are getting our collective asses kicked.
Until we all see just how dire our situation is and see our enemies as trying to destroy us, our progeny, our country and our way of life, we continue getting our asses kicked.
And that is why these words from Jared Bernstein are so very important. His stature gives confidence to many of us who know the truth, but who are are intimidated by Faux News, or right-wing co-workers, or Rush ditto-heads. We must articulate what we are up against and what needs to happen.
We know the big things that need to happen:
• We must strengthen unions and give workers the unmitigated right to organize and bargain collectively.
• We must raise the minimum wage, not just for those at the bottom, but to raise the floor for all of us.
• We must tax and regulate financial markets and the very rich.
• We must provide a safety net.
• We must build a cleaner and greener America and world.
Back to Jared Bernstein:
“Let’s have the courage to tap the broad social unrest… We’ll surely ruffle some feathers and we’ll make a lot of people uncomfortable. But if no one’s uncomfortable, those of us who claim to be fighting for economic justice are not doing our jobs.
Time to raise more hell and kick more ass!
Photo source: Tony Fischer on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)