Steve writes:
So it is okay in your capitalist mind for Wal-Mart to tell Rubbermaid that
you will produce this much of this item and we will pay you only this much
or we will take our business elsewhere thus forcing many companies in
America to close their plants here and open up new ones in places with
cheap labor like China--but it is not okay for those who represent the
people whose jobs have been lost to such tactics to make a demand of living
wages and health coverage for businesses that wish to receive contracts
over $100.000.00 of those same workers taxes?
America needs business as long as business provides jobs with wages that
allow for individual growth economically. The ability for an individual to
"get ahead" in their lives through hard work has long been part of
America's social contract with its corporations--until Ronald Reagan came
along and the only gage of success became the number of dollars in the bank
and the growth in the dividend at the end of the quarter. Twenty years of
this short-sighted economics have nearly destroyed this country and it is
time for our government--note "our" government, not corporate stooges who
get elected to protect corporate interests over public ones--to once again
start drafting legislation that will level the playing field in the
workplace and return the focus of corporate decision making to ALL
stakeholders instead of all stockholders.
Our corporations have the wherewithall to pay good wages but they lack the
will to tell the stockholders that the dividend this quarter will only be
up 10% instead of 20%. We wonder why our economy seems so sluggish without
bothering to look at the glaring fact that corporate employees are also
customers and how can you expect a vigorous economy when your customers
have no money. It was just reported that the average American is carrying
$80,000 in credit card debt and most of it is not going into new products
but simple food and shelter and utility bills with cheap clothing thrown
in.
Corporations exist currently with only one objective--make money. They are
doing that very effectively at the expense of the rest of us. Government
is there to act as the conscience that we exempt corporations from having.
It is perfectly reasonable for the government to look out for the best
interests of the entire community and the living wage ordinance is a good
tool to that end.
Steve Nelson
Willard Hay
Mark writes:
Steve, thanks for the feedback. We clearly have a different view of the
proper role of government. A couple of point in response.
- I don't shop at Wal-Mart. Your example is a good illustration of why I've
never spent a dime there. But, that's a personal choice of mine, and I
don't know that I need everybody to agree with it. Shopping at Wal-Mart
isn't illegal.
- I need help understanding your statement that 'American needs business as
long as business provides jobs with wages that provide for individual growth
economically'. Are you implying that there is a scenario where America
wouldn't need business, if certain conditions aren't met?
- Re: those greedy corporations - who do you think holds stock in publicly
held corporations? A lot of it is held by pension funds, for both public
and private sector employees. I don't know the %, but a lot of pension $
are in the stock market. The idea that only the very wealthy are invested
in the stock market just isn't true.
- if our country headed down the economic road to perdition during the
Reagan administration, how do you explain the much-vaunted boom years when
Clinton was in the White House?
Have a good weekend.
Happy that it's Friday in Prospect Park
Mark Hanson
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