The corporation I have been working for has merged with another one, and it looks like I am being downsized. After signing all the contracts, I have not been paid for the previous month's work, and I have received no new work. So, what else is new? This is a national malaise. And my job may be outsourced to India.
But, I had not seen how corrupt the system is until I read it over and over again from the corporate lawyers and CEOs. The goal for any and every business getting started in this country is to be bought up by a larger one. If they are not, they will be squashed. Obliterated. The name of the game is Destroy All the Competition and Feed the Stockholders. The more jobs any one company outsources to third world countries, the higher its stock is valued.
So, American workers come out on the short end. Those of us who have jobs work longer hours per week than any people in comparable income brackets work in any other first world country. In France the work week is thirty-five hours. In the US, the trend is towards a fifty-hour work week, before overtime may be paid.
But, what the heck. We're going to conquer every other nation in the world, and they will all be in the same position we are in. Our neocons would have a hey-day of celebration.
So, how do we stand up? With whom do we join forces to fight this mess? In the 1770s, this country fought a battle against corporate rule, which inspired every generation since that time. But, by 1880, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, we turned belly-up, and the corporations began to take over, but good. Unfortunately, very few people have the courage to fight the tit that feeds them, even when what comes out of it is poisonous.
