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Citation: Dollars & Sense Nov-Dec 1997, n214, p7(1)
Author: Hightower, Jim
Title: Class war. (business and government policies against
workers)(Comment)(Column) by Jim Hightower
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COPYRIGHT 1997 Dollars & Sense
Watching Washington's cognoscenti perform on the Sunday morning political talk
shows is much like watching blowfish, cockatoos and other showy critters
featured on the Animal Channel. What a hoot to see them strut their stuff!
My favorites are such persnickety pundits as George Will and pompous politicos
like Phil Gramm who puff up and fall into absolute hissy fits at the merest
mention that working folks are not getting much benefit from Wall Street's
economic boom: "Class War," they sputter and spew. "The left is trying to
foment Class War in our country!"
The left? Do they mean Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, Alan Greenspan, Tom DeLay
and Robert Rubin? Or maybe "Chainsaw Al" Dunlap (Sunbeam), Philip Knight
(Nike), Michael Eisner (Disney) and Robert Allen (AT&T). These are your class
warriors, each one a part of the army of ignorance and arrogance operating
from Washington and Wall Street - an army that is waging a relentless economic
war against America's working folks, literally knocking down the middle class.
The left is not fomenting a class war, but it damn sure should begin to fight
back against the furious assault from the corporatists on the right.
You want class war? Meet Gerry Cameron, CEO of U.S. Bancorp based in Portland,
Oregon. This spring, he engineered an $8.8 billion takeover of his own bank by
First Bank Systems Inc. in faraway Minneapolis. Four thousand Bancorp
employees were being hurled out the door as a result of Gerry's deal, and 44
local branches were being closed.
Also, the law firm servicing U.S. Bancorp, the cleaning crew that maintained
its office tower, and the small flower shop on the ground floor all took hits.
Business after business lost jobs and income as the Minneapolis owners
consolidated their acquisition and Bancorp cutbacks rippled through the
Portland economy. To be fair, the flower shop did have one short-lived uptick
in business: sympathy bouquets delivered to departing bank employees.
It should be noted, too, that Mr. Cameron went out of his way to assist at
least one Bancorp employee: himself! The merger gave him a $12.4 million
personal thank-you payment - tax free, since First Bank agreed to pay all
taxes he'd owe on that generous sum. He also gets to be chairman of the
Portland division of the Minneapolis bank, continuing to receive his $1.6
million annual paycheck plus gaining untold millions in profits from the
Bancorp stock he owned. And his new stock options on 100,000 shares of the
Minneapolis bank are worth at least $8.6 million. To put a cherry on the top
of this whipped-cream-of-a-deal, Cameron is also assured of being paid $1
million a year after his planned retirement in 1998.
You want class war? The Bill Clinton/Newt Gingrich/Trent Lott tax and budget
agreement is a primo example. As is documented in these pages, the working
poor will be worse off under this raw deal, and the middle class will feel
very little or no improvement. But the wealthiest 10%, and especially the
wealthiest 1% - the millionaire class - will make out like bandits. Major
corporations are the big winners, not only fighting off any cuts in their
existing welfare benefits, but actually gaining more than $100 billion in new
loopholes and subsidies.
Notice that payroll taxes were not reduced one iota or spread more equitably.
And while our Medicare program took a $115 billion chop. The
multibillion-dollar Pentagon budget was not even on the cutting table; it will
enjoy about a $20 billion increase.
Yet when Clinton gleefully signed this sucker, announcing in his best
Reaganesque tones that "the sun is shining on America again," he used a couple
of middle class families as his photo-op props. Out of camera view, the
corporate lobbyists sported broad and knowing smiles.
You want class war? Talk with Angela Stroud. For 17 years, she worked for
Champion Products in Clayton, N.C., turning out quality sweatsuits, jerseys
and other sportswear items. She and her coworkers have made this division of
Sara Lee the industry leader, even supplying the uniforms for the NFL, the NBA
and last year's U.S. Olympic team.
Despite her loyalty and productivity, however, Angela and 414 other Champion
workers in Clayton were punted out the factory door in April. They were the
latest to join 1,400 other Champion employees in North Carolina (62% of its
statewide workforce) who have lost their jobs in the past five years.
Is Champion losing sales or is Sara Lee unprofitable? Hardly. Business is
booming and Sara Lee took nearly a billion dollars in profits last year. But
the company can go from profit to profiteering by shipping production - and
Angelas job - to Chihuahua, Mexico, where 50 cent an hour labor is available
and health and safety laws are a cruel joke. Then, thanks to NAFTA, Champion's
products can be trucked right back across the border (in Mexican licensed and
driven trucks) without any tariffs being applied. Interestingly, Champion
charges the same price for these cheaply made imports as it does for U.S.-made
goods. Those at the top of the company pocket the difference between Angela
Stroud's $10 an hour wage and the 50 cents they pay to Chihuahuan workers.
Let's compare Ms. Stroud's severance with Gerry Cameron's multimillion dollar
severance in Portland. She gets a weeks pay for each of the 17 years she
devoted to Champion. That is only four months, then she's on her own. Adios
chump, is the corporate attitude. They call this "global competitiveness," but
that's globaloney. Call it by it's real name: Class War.
Jim Hightower, a Dollars and Sense fellow, just released his latest book,
There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead
Armadillos (Harper Collins).
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