The report on workers in Egypt is but a shadow of what's happening. Democracy Now is filling in its history, range and substance in this morning's broadcast. There simply is no substitute for it! We are witness to the changing of the world. Ed
http://robertreich.org/post/3179090621 Obama’s Deal with the US Chamber of Commerce is Disaster for Workers by Robert Reich RobertReich.org: February 8, 2011 "We can, and we must, work together," the President told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday. "Whatever differences we may have, I know that all of us share a deep, abiding belief in this country, a belief in our people, a belief in the principles that have made America's economy the envy of the world." Really? I've been watching (and occasionally trying to deal with) the Chamber for years, and all I know is it has a deep, abiding belief in cutting taxes on the wealthy, eroding regulations that constrain Wall Street, cutting back on rules that promote worker health and safety, getting rid of the minimum wage, repealing the new health-care law, fighting unions, cutting back Medicare and Social Security, reducing or eliminating corporate taxes, and, in general, taking the nation back to the days before the New Deal. So what, exactly, is the deal Obama is pitching to the Chamber? He said his administration will "help lay the foundation for you to grow and innovate," by eliminating "barriers that make it harder for you to compete - from the tax code to the regulatory system," and by completing more trade deals. In return, the President said he wants businesses to hire more Americans. "Many of your own economists and salespeople are now forecasting a healthy increase in demand. So I want to encourage you to get in the game," he said. "And as you hire, you know that more Americans working means more sales, greater demand and higher profits for your companies. We can create a virtuous cycle." Virtuous cycle? American businesses are doing quite nicely as it is. Their profits are soaring. And one reason they're doing so well is they're holding down costs, especially payrolls. So why would they ever agree to add more workers now? >From the standpoint of the nation as a whole more Americans working may mean even higher profits overall. But publicly-traded companies aren't in the business of spending money to help other companies. To the contrary, they're competing with one another to show high quarterly earnings in order to boost their share prices. They'll "get in the game" and begin to hire large numbers of Americans only when it helps their own bottom lines. And when will that be? Not long ago I debated a conservative economist who argued American workers had priced themselves out of the global labor market and would therefore have to settle for lower real wages and benefits before they'd be hired back in large numbers. By his logic, many health and safety regulations would also have to be compromised or abandoned, since they also make American workers more expensive. If this is the tacit bargain the President is offering business, it's not a good deal for American workers. There's no secret to creating lots of jobs by reducing the median wage, slashing benefits, compromising health and safety at the workplace, and, effectively, reducing the standard of living of millions of Americans. We've been doing it for years. And it doesn't lead to a "virtuous cycle." It leads to the kind of economy we've had for years - including, right now, the most anemic recovery from a deep trough since the mid-1930s. Indeed, when the debt bubble popped in 2008, we discovered how many Americans no longer had the ability to buy enough to keep the economy going. In this and other ways, 2008 bore an uncomfortable resemblance to 1929. The alternative is to create lots of jobs with high disposable incomes. In the short term, this means expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit wage subsidy right up through the middle class, and cutting income and payroll taxes for everyone earning less than $80,000 a year - making up the lost revenues by raising the ceiling on Social Security payroll taxes and hiking marginal taxes on the rich. In the longer term, this means investing in a world-class education for all the nation's kids, including college or high-quality technical education beyond high school. Here again, we'd have to rely on the top 1 percent (who now take home more than 20 percent of all income) to foot the bill. Might the CEOs and top executives who comprise the U.S. Chamber of Commerce go along with this? After all, they profess to be patriotic. As the President said, they "share a deep, abiding belief in this country, a belief in our people, a belief in the principles that have made America's economy the envy of the world." I don't mean to sound cynical but I doubt it. *** http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112913546831171.html Labour Unions Boost Egypt Protests Thousands of factory workers stay away from work as pro-democracy protesters continue to rally seeking Mubarak's ouster. Al Jazeera February 9, 2011 Egyptian labour unions have gone on a nationwide strike, adding momentum to pro-democracy demonstrations in Cairo and other cities. Al Jazeera correspondents, reporting from Egypt, said around 20,000 factory workers stayed away from work on Wednesday. Al Jazeera's Shirine Tadros, reporting from Cairo, said that some workers "didn't have a political demand". "They were saying that they want better salaries, they want an end to the disparity in the pay, and they want the 15 per cent increase in pay that was promised to them by the state." However, Tadros also said that some workers were calling for Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, to step down. The strike action came as public rallies calling for Mubarak to immediately hand over power entered their 16th day. Determined protesters are continuing to rally in Cairo's Tahrir (Liberation) Square, and other cities across the country. They say they will not end the protests until Mubarak, who has been at the country's helm since 1981, steps down. Protesters with blankets gathered outside the parliament building in Cairo on Wednesday, with no plan to move, our correspondent reported. The demonstrators have put up a sign that reads: "Closed until the fall of the regime". The government seems to be scrambling under pressure from major powers and pro-democracy supporters, Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker reported from the city. She said people in Tahrir Square were angered by a visit from Tamer Hosni, a famous Arab pop star, on Wednesday morning. Hosni previously made statements telling the demonstrators to leave the square, saying that Mubarak had offered them concessions. "His comments really did not go down very well," our correspondent said. The crowd reacted angrily and the military had to intervene to keep them away from him. "People feel very strongly here," Al Jazeera's Dekker said. Another Al Jazeera correspondent, reporting from Cairo, said there was also a renewed international element to the demonstrations, with Egyptians from abroad returning to join the pro-democracy camp. There is even an internet campaign aimed at mobilizing thousands of expatriates to return and support the uprising, our correspondent said. Protesters are "more emboldened by the day and more determined by the day", Ahmad Salah, an Egyptian activist, told Al Jazeera from Cairo on Wednesday. "This is a growing movement, it's not shrinking." Concessions fall short Mubarak's message has thus far been that he will not leave until his term expires in September. As a gesture of goodwill, however, 34 political prisoners, including members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, were reportedly released over the past two days. Dekker, our correspondent, reported that there are still an unknown number of people missing, including activists thought to be detained during the recent unrest, while Human Rights Watch reported that the death toll has reached 302 since January 28. Egypt's health ministry denied the figures, however, saying that official statistics would be released shortly. "He (Suleiman) is threatening to impose martial law, which means everybody in the square will be smashed. But what will he do with the rest of the 70 million Egyptians who will follow us afterward." Abdul-Rahman Samir, a spokesman for a coalition of the five main youth groups behind the Tahrir Square protests. Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian vice president, warned on Tuesday that his government "can't put up with continued protests" for a long time, saying the crisis must be ended as soon as possible. Suleiman said there will be "no ending of the regime" and no immediate departure for Mubarak, the state news agency MENA reported from a meeting between the vice-president and independent newspapers. At one point in the roundtable meeting, he warned that the alternative to dialogue "is that a coup happens, which would mean uncalculated and hasty steps, including lots of irrationalities". When pressed by news editors to explain the comment, he said he did not mean a military coup but that "a force that is unprepared for rule" could overturn state institutions, said Amr Khafagi, editor-in-chief of the privately owned Shorouk daily, who attended the briefing. Response to Suleiman's statements was grim. "He is threatening to impose martial law, which means everybody in the square will be smashed," said Abdul-Rahman Samir, a spokesman for a coalition of the five main youth groups behind protests in Tahrir Square. "But what would he do with the rest of the 70 million Egyptians who will follow us afterward." Earlier on Tuesday, Suleiman said a plan was in place for the peaceful transfer of power, which included forming three committees - one to propose constitutional amendments, another to oversee the implementation of the amendments and a third to investigate the violent clashes of February 2. ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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