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Easiest Strike - Stay Home

People who receive Social Security, Medicare, government and union pensions and healthcare now, and the people who hope to receive these same benefits have an opportunity to show the politicians and oligarchies who want to take all of this away, this includes the minimum wage. To send a clear message on Jan. 20 to these greedy individuals, you must hit them where it hurts most—their pocket books. Call in sick from work, don’t spend any money any where, and don’t watch the Donald Trump show otherwise known as an inauguration had he been legitimately elected by the people and not the electoral college. Yo can buy whatever you need the day before and you know the media and social media will be all a buzz about the Trump show the next day so you won’t miss anything. This is a do or die situation we’re in. Trump, the Tweeter in chief, has lined his cabinet with the worst possible people he could find and they are going to rape and pillage this country for their own gain. If you thought G

Jan. 20 National Strike

A national strike is called for Jan. 20. If successful, this national strike would be the first in our country’s history. In 1908, author Jack London published a multi-layered narrative that showed a vision of the future, which is now a step away from reality with Donald Trump being given the presidency and the people he has selected for his cabinet members. We are not the only ones facing dire circumstances. It is happening all around the world where the plutocratic class is squashing the proletariats, but the proletarians have not figured out the con job that was done to them. Now, the proletarians need to show the plutocrats who has the real power by engaging in a national strike on Jan. 20, which means not working, not spending money, and not watching the inauguration on television. This will not only scare the crap out of the plutocrats, but it will show that we will not stand ideally by while they take our Social Security, Medicare, pensions, voting rights, and the right to

We're Screwed Under Trump's Presidency

Labor, unions, $15 an hour minimum wage, pensions, and safe working conditions are all under attack here in the U.S. and around the world. In the U.S., the Republicans have put out a bill to gut Social Security and raise the retirement age to 69 years old. The anti-worker people are coming for everything President Franklin D. Roosevelt accomplished. They want to destroy Social Security and Medicare. This is what Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, told an audience at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Donald Trump, who was handed the presidency by the electoral collage, is lining his cabinet with other like-minded people as himself. Trump has recruited corporate individuals that he promised his followers he would banish from Capitol Hill. Trump filled the Secretary of State position with an Exxon Mobil executive; for the head of the Treasury; Trump chose an executive from Goldman Sachs; Secretary of Labor is a fast food executive; he chose an anti-gay person

Think Tanks Paid Opinions

Why do the American people let our policies be determined by think tanks, instead of the people who we elect and pay to make our policies? Just who are the people in the think tanks and who do they represent? Most are conservative who represent the largest defense companies and are now pushing our nuclear weapons and U.S. security policies of strategy. This was being pushed by Michaela Dodge, who works for the Heritage Foundation think tank, but just who in the hell is she? Who is she to be deciding that the U.S. needs more nuclear weapons and to modernize the nukes that we have, and yet we and our elected officials look at the ideology of the think tanks as gospel. Most of the time the think tank participants are just carrying the water for the large corporations that fund the think tanks, which is in the multimillions of dollars. So, do you think we get unbiased and information in which to support or not support their findings? Think tanks should be looked at as no more than a

GOP's Anti-union World

The unintended consequences from the loss of unions here and worldwide--is that the trade unions trained its workers and the workers were getting a living wage healthcare, and a pension--will be felt by all of us. Unions usually trained its members for four to five years and then they were journeymen, who could expect good wages and continued training as needed. At the end of their working careers, workers, who were usually between the ages 52 and 55, had a living-wage pension to live on--now this is threatened on both fronts--union pensions and Social Security. When workers turned 62, they could receive Social Security and Medicare, which they paid into. They would not need much government assistance, in fact, they could be contributors to the social infrastructure as volunteers. But this is in an ideal world. We live in a GOP-anti-union world where the money people made it their dream to destroy the unions, and the union members stood by and allowed it to happen. The state-by-sta

Gig Work & The IWW

With the Trump election, we here in the U.S. must brace ourselves for privatization of our security and government services. Also, there will be a huge push in union busting activities and we will see more states pushing right-to-work laws, which will smash unions by reducing union dues. We are seeing this in Australia, Britain, Greece, and Israel. These trends are now driving violations of labor laws, which is responsible for underpaying workers, and now Israel has the highest poverty level among developed nations, and it has the highest level of inequality among children. Privatization is the fastest path to the bottom of the economic ladder. The model set by President Ronald Reagan and Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who both followed the hardline economist and privatization nutcase Milton Friedman, who has been one of the ones who have widened the inequality gap here in the U.S. and the world over. With the Trump election, we will see privatization and wars on ster

Gig Workers vs. UBI

Workers engaged in the “Gig” job should study the playbook of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), also known as the Wobblies. They fought for free speech and one big worldwide union with a cooperative common wealth, which would be free of class and national distinction. The Wobblies were founded in 1905 and are still around today. The Gig workers should consider joining the IWW since most of the Wobblies were part-time workers and travelled the country looking for work. The 9-to-5 jobs that a worker could retire from are just about gone. Four out of 10 Americans now make a living through nontraditional work schedules. There are a large group of freelance, contract, part time, temporary, virtual shared, and patched-together work. All that the workers fought for since the 1880s and the 21st century have been lost and we are now back to a kind of scavenger economy and existence. Forbes magazine predicted that by 2020, 50 percent of the American labor force will work at least p

Labor's Demise

The Democratic Party lost from the top down. The Party is decimated and everyone who was a part of the Party’s demise should be fired or replaced. Labor should now understand that no one person or party is going to ride in on a white horse and make them whole again. Labor will have to do it themselves with good, strong leadership that comes from the ranks and is supported by the workers not just because it is their turn to get the job. Labor must now start to educate the workers on the good of unions. They must organize, organize, organize, and rebuild their membership, but in order to have jobs for the workers. Unions must work to get Project Labor Agreement on school boards, city and all prevailing wage jobs for any work with government money, which falls under the Davis-Bacon Act. This means that there must be union advocates at the meetings when jobs are put out to bid. If the rules are followed, there is no reason that union shops should not get the work. It just takes work fro

Boiling Pot

The boiling pot of discontent, fear and confusion is slashing over the lid fueled by the election, Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock protests, wage inequality, and a lot of these things are the residue of Occupy Wall Street, which did not solve much, but did start the pot boiling. Most of these concerns are not just felt here in the U.S., but are concerns for the world over. Then there is the wars, which are never ending and propagate the immigrant and refugee onslaught of the world causing more discontent wherever they go. Most of this is the result of greed by the world’s 1 percent, also known as the 1/10th percent, which is destroying the democracies of the world. So, what happens when the pot boils over? Does it extinguish the fire? Or will the world’s oligarchies try to slam a lid on the pot, and if they try the pot will blow up. We already are seeing terrorists’ activities the world over. Just how long will it be until terrorism is here in the U.S. as an everyday event? The s

Is It Too Late For the U.S.?

When the 2016 election is over, what type of government will we have here in the U.S.? Will our so-called democracy be turned into an anarchy or are we already an aristocracy that has turned into an oligarchy? If so, what should be done and by whom? History has shown that there are six types of government of which there are three considered good ones and three considered bad ones. The good ones are principality, aristocracy and the democracy. Individually, none of these will last as the principality can easily become tyranny, an aristocracy can become an oligarchy, and a democracy can turn into an anarchy. There is no remedy capable of preventing one of the good governments from slipping into its contrary because of the similarity that exists in this case between the virtue and the vice--and human nature of some individuals. Today, the U.S. stands at a crossroad. Will we fail like other governments before us or will we be able to rise above the fray--or is it too late? As more and

It's Your Turn Millennials

Worried about your future and that of your children? Get involved. The future is for the young and if the young don’t step up and take control, the future won’t be worth living. Young people in their 20s and 30s should be the people running for office in local boards, such as water, fire, utilities, school and city and county office. If they were elected to county board of supervisors or city councils, they appoint planning commissioners, which regulates economic, infrastructure and construction development within the limits of the county or city jurisdiction.  Young people who are in junior college should run for elementary through high school boards. I think they could bring a lot to the table on what is needed in education today. Even if they are not elected, they could attend the school board meetings and speak up, especially during election forums with their fresh ideas and experience. If they decide to run for office, they could ask for money on social media to fund their run fo

Stand With the Sioux or We All Lose

How do the very rich turn the very poor against each other? They find exploit any minor difference in one group to use against them or they use the blame game--and it’s worked so far. That used to be the Republican’s forte--causing dissent where there was none, but now the Democrats are borrowing from the Republicans’ playbook. The Democrats are now aligned with the corporate capitalists and have turned against the people and especially union workers. The Republicans have always been against unions and they spent lots of money to convince nonunion workers that unions were wrecking their chances at a good job. The workers I knew who bought into this philosophy that unions were taking their jobs had to work until they died. Race baiting has given way to blaming all refugees or all Muslims for terror attacks. Today, we have another pipeline fight: corporations versus First Persons, who are protecting the land and water. The 1 percent will stop at nothing to keep their riches and power,

Nothing Will Change, Unless ...

Elections come and go, but nothing changes, and the masses continue to take it in the shorts. Our Democratic president just negotiated a deal with Israel to give that country $38 billion in military aid to “protect” themselves from the carnage they stir up against the Palestinians, stealing the Palestinians land and killing them, and then acting outraged when they fight back. Those billions could help our students with their educational debts, or pay for single-payer healthcare, or rebuild our infrastructure. Then consider these endless wars, which will not end. Why? Because it’s big money to be made in killing people. The costs in lives seems to be ignored by our government, both parties benefit from payoffs and have done nothing to resolve or end the wars. Both parties are at fault so nothing will change with the 2016 election. We are being forced to choose between two lousy candidates. The corporate media pays its part in not reporting on this or any other relevant topic. In the 2

What Are We Afraid of ?

Why are we in the U.S. buying all these guns? Why are we training with these guns; and who are we afraid of? Gun sales are and have been big bucks, but now firearms’ training is now earning large sums. One of the largest private-sector institution of its kind is in Nevada and has scenarios encouraging others to be on guard against them—who is them? Good question. This institution will have more than 35,000 people in any given year. There are 15 states that require a permit or license to own or purchase a handgun. Six of the 15 states require mandatory training, but the other nine states do not. As of July 2016, 14.5 million Americans have a license to carry a concealed weapon, but 11 states do not require a license. In 2016, institutions were training 125,000 gun owners. Owners are trained on pistol, rifle, shotguns and long-range rifles, and Uzis training in some cases far exceed law enforcement and military standards. In most training institutions, you must be 11 years old, and

Plug the Holes or Drown Together

How can a few oligarchies control the masses here in the U.S.? What they do is use the old playbook of the antiunion coal companies in which they would hire different ethnic and racial groups who cannot communicate with the other groups, and they had different religions whereupon a lack of trust was fostered among them. Now, in a larger way, the oligarchies are using states with different laws within each of them to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, which the laws in many states allow businesses to stand on the necks of the poor, who have no power to change the laws punishing them disproportionately. The oligarchies now have their own kingdoms in some states and they can get local governments to privatize all the government services to the detriment of their citizens. Look at Kansas, it not only has privatized a lot of their government services, but they enacted or adopted strict religious ideology in meting out “punishments” toward the poor that benefits the privatized age

Journalism is Not Completely Dead

While it seems American journalism is dead, take heart in knowing small independents and social media are resurrecting reporting the facts as they are and not as the main stream media’s corporate overlords want it reported. Main Stream Media (MSM) caused outrage by reporting in a biased fashion that San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner without reporting why he chose to remain sitting. Those who reacted in ugly, derogatory ways against Kaepernick’s silent protest showed their ignorance fueled by the MSM neglect to get his side of the story. It wasn’t until The Intercept gave voice to Kaepernick’s protest did other media start to pick up on the truth.  Kaepernick said, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. … There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” Whether we like it or not, law e

Attack of the Think Tanks

When the Heritage Foundation’s think tank starts attacking the minimum wage, and telling the unsuspecting public how a $15 an hour minimum wage will hurt only them, the public should question who is funding the think tank. The Heritage Foundation’s think tank tries to come across as a concerned, parental figure wanting you to believe that they are looking out for you when they tell that an increase in the minimum wage is actually bad for the workers, will cause business to shutter and hurt the economy. These pearls of wisdom are not only wrong, but are financed by the Charles and David Koch. The brothers who would like to eliminate the minimum wage, and control local, state and federal governments with their American City Council Exchange and the American Legislative Exchange Council, which writes bills that politicians, who have aligned themselves with the brothers, pass that makes legislation benefitting the Koch dynasty. Think tanks started around the 1900s by people, like ste

It's Up To Us

Laborers of the world over must stop depending on governments to look out for their interests. At this time no political party is working for or defending workers. Government policies now are pitting people against each other by promoting and establishing wars resulting in millions of refugees. The refugees flood host countries for safety, but end up being used as cheap labor by those benefitting from the wars the refugees are fleeing. This cheap labor is used to break the unions and labor laws and drives wages and benefits down. Nothing can stop this but the people. The governments and the oligarchies make their profits off the misery of others. Labor has always won when they were in charge. Labor laws were not put into place to help the workers, they were established by President Franklin Roosevelt to stop strikes, which were beating back the nonunion workers. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rules were to replace the decisions that were being made from fighting for rights

Would Trump Be Like Wilson?

Could Trump, if elected, be like President Woodrow Wilson? During his administration, President Wilson unleashed a reign of terror on the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Socialist Party of America. He imposed martial law on the mining towns of Montana and Arizona, suppressed the press, sent federal troops to enforce corporate rule in logging camps. He encouraged the American Protective League vigilantes to hunt down draft dodgers, burn down what they considered radical bookstores and even lynching radical immigrants. Think Brown Shirts or our own Silver Shirts. President Wilson also invaded Mexico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Also, a little known fact, he sent two large expeditionary forces to aid the White movement and its military arm the White Army (also known as the White Guard or the Whites were a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces) who fought the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. While doing all of this, Wilson refused to lift

Frances Perkins Gave Us The Blueprint

On a night in February 1933, Frances Perkins sat in front of the newly elected 32nd president of the United States as he told her that he wanted her to be the new Secretary of Labor. Perkins told President Franklin Roosevelt she would take the job if she could do it her way. Perkins wanted: a 40-hour work week, minimum wage, work compensation, unemployment compensation, a federal law banning child labor, direct federal aid for unemployment relief, Social Security, a revitalized public employment service, and health insurance. The opposition to Perkins demands came from courts, businesses, labor unions--yes, labor unions, conservatives, and the chamber of commerce. Even with all this opposition against Perkins, a lot was accomplished. Today, we are trying to protect our Social Security, which we pay into, and even to expand it. We also want to go back to providing free college, like we used to have before politicians, like California Governor Ronald Reagan, redirected the money for f

Alternatives to Big Banks

There are other alternatives to banking with the corporately owned big banks that screw over the little guy. Some of these alternatives are being used around the world and in a couple of places in the U.S. Alternative currency keeps local cash locally. Some foreign cities where this is being used is Basel, Switzerland, Nantes, France, and Bristol and Brixton, England. The Banque WIR, an alternative to the Swiss franc, has been using its own currency, the WIR, since 1934. Nantes created its own currency based on the WIR. Also, there are the Bristol pound and the Brixton pound used as alternative versions of the British pound. Here in the U.S., there is Ithaca, New York, called the Ithaca Convertible, one Ithaca dollar equals one U.S. 1 dollar. Then there is the Deli Dollars that arrived in 1989, started by Frank Tortoriello, a deli owner sold $10 for $8 to be used in his refurbished deli; followed by Massachusetts’ Berkshire Farm preserve notes or BerkShares in the early 1990s. Sa

War: Who Is It Good For?

One way to have less wars is to finance the wars by taxes from the corporations who stands to profit from the destruction at the time the war is initiated, and to bring back the draft of men and women of all levels of society with few if any deferments. The money saved would pay for the free education and single-payer healthcare.  Then we could also focus on nonmilitary tools of national security policies, and enhance our homeland security. All wars should be pay as you go and not put on the credit card, as President George W. Bush did his invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, which takes away the funds that support our social needs at home, for our people, and country. The trillion dollar cost that results fro these wars should be spent here and not passed on to our future generations. Everyone needs to understand the carnage of war, and at this time most Americans are insulated from the effects here and abroad. These wars are having a huge economic effect on the economy. The amount of

Parasite Economy

Why do the workers of the world suffer such a high wage inequality? One reason is that about a trillion dollars a year that used to go to wages now goes to profit. The economy is split into the real economy and the parasite economy, according to billionaire entrepreneur Nick Hanauer. The workers who live and work in the real economy solve problems, build things that earn good wages and provide benefits, such as pensions and healthcare. These jobs provide taxes to support the federal government, local and state. The difference between these two economies is very real. The real economy pays the wage earner, which, in turn, drives the consumer demand and the parasite economy erodes. The real economy generates about $5 trillion a year in local, state and federal tax revenues; while the parasite economy is subsidized by taxes. The real economy delivers on the promise of capitalism. The parasite economy relentlessly undermines it. It is not the poor who are the deadbeats, it is the parasi

Greed's Unintended Consequences

There are unintended consequences of the 1 percent’s greed in offshoring corporations to save on taxes and labor costs. This greed has awakened the Have Littles to the fact that there is and has been a war waged against them by the 1 percent. This has been going on for about 40 years and most of this scheming has gone unnoticed because the corporate media has blocked coverage of it. Now the greed has gone too far and will bite the anti-worker 1 percent in the ass and the governments that support them. The people have had all they can take and are demanding their rights. Rights that include good wages, healthcare, pensions, unions, free education, and protection of our environment and climate. The sad thing is that most of these rights are provided to citizens in other countries, some countries are trying to take them away from their citizens and those countries where the citizens are fighting for these right—the sad fact is that other countries got the ideas to give or take these righ

DNC is Corporate Owned

The Democratic Party can hand the election for president to Donald Trump by not including Bernie Sanders’ platform on its final platform at this year’s convention. Instead, the Democratic committee drafting the platform has rejected Sanders’ proposals. Proposals that would help the majority of Americans and other countries whether they are retired, young or working. The committee has excluded or watered down issues, such as raising the minimum wage, single-payer healthcare, and refusing to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership, fracking, and addressing the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. They voted against or neutered an amendment to protect pensions, against a carbon tax, against preventing energy companies from using eminent domain for fossil fuel extractions, against making climate change a test for the Keystone Pipelines, against an amendment to add language eliminating use of force in the Syrian conflict, among other concerns that effect the majority of people. The committee instead

French Workers' Fight Will Be Ours

The fight for unions worldwide is being fought in France. French workers are like the little boy with his finger in the hole on the dike of anti-unionism worldwide. If the French government wins, so will the fight to make it easier to fire workers and to end the 35-hour workweek. The corporations of the world and governments who cater to them will all be trying the same thing in their countries. It is hard enough for unions to fight corporations and their own governments, but to do it at the same time is overwhelming. Although the Brits just voted for to leave the EU, for better or worse, but the people took their futures into their own hands and won the election over the money people. There is still hope for people power. The workers of the world need to support the French workers on opposing the French government’s planned labor reforms, which the conservatives-led senate is to vote on the bill Tuesday, June 28, 2016. If the workers lose this fight, the loss could reverberate around

GOP-DNC After Our Pensions

President Obama has sold out unions’ pensions when he signed a must pass omnibus bill, which has the Kline-Miller Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014. The bill strikes down an enshrined American ideal that money earned for a pension can’t be pulled out from under our feet like a rug once we retire. That promise, once codified in law, was upended by the passage of this reform act. This act will effect some 400,000 participants by cutting benefits for some retirees now, some up to 60 percent. This is the central state pension funds, which is predicted to be insolvent in 10 years and this fund is the canary in the mineshaft as similar multiemployer pension funds are now at risk. If these funds go bust, mortgages won’t be paid, prescriptions won’t be filled, utility bills and groceries will be a regular hardship. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell hates unions so there will be no hope there, and Hillary Clinton is no fan of unions either. This just leaves Bernie Sanders and no one is

Occupy For Us All

We are headed for another Occupy Wall Street movement and this time there is another army called the Bernie’s Army, people across the U.S. willing to fight for what’s right, thanks to Bernie Sanders. Now we just need more leaders like Bernie and it is time they step forward. The time is ripe and not only here in the U.S., but the world over. Just look at the union busting going on here and throughout the world. The fight between the corporations/oligarchies who are awash in hundreds of millions of dollars are permitted to loot and pillage the last shreds of wealth, human capital, and resources and the Commons of nations where the poor do not eat and there are no jobs, where the sick die and children go hungry. Now that there is a split in the parties, we must pull the other side into our movement. We want the police and National Guard to know that we understand they are not the 1 percent. The goal is not to get every cop and National Guard member, but to get enough to have a division.

Unions Backed the Clintons, Who Cut Their Throat

Why are some labor unions supporting Hillary Clinton when labor does not have a seat at the table at the Democratic Convention? Bernie Sanders chose RoseAnn DeMoro, head of National Nurses union, as one of his platform representatives on the platform drafting committee for the convention. She was to advocate for Medicare for All. The rationale for eliminating DeMoro is because unions are represented on the full-platform committee. However, labor has one seat out of the 15 people on this drafting committee. Labor built the Democratic party to represent the working people, and built this country’s infrastructure, and for that we get one person to represent us. As has been said by others, at the Democratic Convention, K Street is better represented than the labor movement. The Clintons’ antilabor legacy is partly responsible for the 2008-2016 world financial crisis. NAFTA went against all labor and sent jobs out of the U.S. and the threat of moving jobs broke the unions and drove wa

Fight In France

One of the last things unions can get or have gotten for their members is job protection for 10 years or for life like France has, but this security is under assault. The French government has a bill which will, in the words of the anti-labor government, make France more competitive globally by extending the work, create less jobs and make layoffs easier. All this will do is enrich the companies and their greedy bosses. These French protests were as much against the political status quo as the labor bill. There’s no difference between the right-wing French Republicans and the left-wing Socialists parties. They are both the same just different names. Both are in the service of big business, which is just what is happening here in the U.S. with the Democrats and the GOP. But in France, the hard-left flank of the General Confederation of Labour, a national trade union, is holding nationwide strikes, which the government is saying it won’t back down. If the government wins in France, the

Support Verizon Workers

All labor unions must support the members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Union (IBEU) fight against Verizon’s attack on its members. The union must win its strike for this fight is all about union busting. These measures by Verizon effects some 39,000 workers. Verizon had profits in the billions, but wants to outsource jobs and cut benefits to the U.S. workers. Verizon is not in financial trouble so the only reason it would be doing this to its workers is to bust the union. Labor cannot let Verizon win this union busting fight as it would embolden other corporations to try to bust the unions representing their workers. When President Ronald Reagan fired the air traffic controllers, the other unions did not support the air traffic controllers. For many reasons, the lack of support opened the flood gates and most all corporations saw a chance to bust unions when the anti-union people saw an opportunity to say unions were not important anymore because they do not support

The Ghost of Warren G. Harding

Labor the world over at this time has no friends in this corporate world, and there is no political part that will support labor because unions don’t have the kind of money politicians are looking for. The political parties now side with Wall Street, corporations, big banks and lobbyists for this is where the money and political power is and where laws can be written—laws that will make them more money. One only has to look at the U.K., France, Ukraine, Spain, Greece, Turkey, South America, and, of course, here in the U.S. where labor laws have been shot full of holes and probably do more harm than good. Now is the time for a revolution of minimum wage workers, students burdened by student loans, all labor unions, people on Social Security, veterans, minorities and all the rest of us to band together to bring voter pressure on the Democrats, if not them, then a new people’s party because what we have now is not working for either party, Democratic or GOP. Are we in the U.S. reverting b

Student Debt Holders Join Together

Can the Bernie Sanders supporters multitask and hit the 1 percent on many fronts at once? Like wage inequality and single payer healthcare, labor rights, climate change and school debt. Let’s take the criminal interests being charged on student debt. There are 5 million student debt holders. What if they took the skills and knowledge they have and used it in the Sanders’ campaign to build a list of student debt holders, and then using this list to demand the right to bargain with the Department of Education and the banks to reduce or eliminate this debt, or they could just refuse to pay any more on the debts. There are groups out there trying to achieve the same thing, but it doesn’t appear their tactics are working. So maybe it’s time these institutions felt the Bern. Those fighting against student debt could look at what the group leading the FightFor$15 has done and follow their lead or look to how 2,000 doctors have come together to fight for single-payer healthcare under Sanders.

What Labor Needs ...

Labor needs to keep the revolution going if it wants to save the labor movement for they go hand in hand. Labor and its members are the only force that can defeat the 1 percent -1.1 percent and corporations. It looks like Hillary and by default Bill Clinton could possibly win the nomination and possibly the election, and there will not be much difference between the two, Bill and Hillary, because neither care about unions. They both are war hawks and both are corporatists, supporters of big banks and Wall Street people over us commoners. No one can count on what they say because it usually isn’t what they usually end up doing. Bernie has pulled Hillary to the left on subjects of Social Security, a minimum wage of $15 an hour, and anti-trade deals, but as soon as she is elected all these stances will revert back to her original, true beliefs. Who in the hell knows what Trump will actually do? Our only hope is staying with Bernie and if he doesn’t win, he can still be a leader in the re

Private Armies

Why would the U.S. government let warlords exist in the U.S.? The founder of the old Virginia-based Blackwater, now known as Xe Services LCC but changing its name to Academi, Erick Prince has started yet another business, Frontier Services Group (FSG), that is building an air force using rebuilt crop dusters. It may sound funny until you consider crop dusters can fly very low to the ground and fast. Prince is outfitting these planes with armored cockpits, engines, gas tanks and air frames to make it harder to shoot down. The gas tanks will have fuel for 12-hour excursions to conduct Black ops. According to a Business Wire’s press release: “FSG provides complete logistics solutions in frontier markets with a particular focus on Africa. Serving sectors across oil and gas, mining and humanitarian relief organizations, FSG is able to support customer’s needs around moving goods, material and people in to, and out of, some of the fastest growing, but more difficult operating environments

Slow Walking Wage Increases

The $15 an hour minimum wage has been virtually stopped by governors passing $15 an hour minimum wage laws that will take years for workers to realize. The slow walking of the minimum wage is nothing more than an attempt to pacify workers and those who support them, but nothing more. What good will $15 an hour in six years do for workers today, especially those effected by minimum wage laws that have lots of loopholes. I cautioned about politicians who would slow walk an increase of the minimum wage a year or so ago and, unfortunately, I was right. New York and California are slow walking the states’ minimum wage increase, but they added such safety valves as having state officials who are to conduct annual analysis of the economy in each region to determine whether a temporary suspension of the scheduled increases is necessary, the government press release states. Now, guess who won’t be on the panel making the decisions on whether or not wages should be increased–wage slaves. The wo

We Deserve Better Than Crumbs

The world financial wealth is $95.5 trillion. This is the cash that keeps the capitalist system running now, what happens when there is 8 percent or $7.6 trillion missing? This is money, which is not circulating in the system, such as wages paid or being spent on durable goods that would need to replaced eventually, stoves, or washers and dryers. It is just a loss to all except the hoarders of the $7.6 trillion. To make matters worse, there is also $190 billion lost in taxes worldwide, $35 billion just in the U.S. and this is money that has to be made whole by the 47 percent. Once again, cash taken out of the capitalist system in ways like pay for our federal, state, county and city government workers, law enforcement, firefighters, infrastructure, schools, colleges, and renewable energy exploration. All would make for good jobs we need, but with no cash no jobs can be created. Our taxes are making up for what these thieves are hiding in other countries. Their excuse is that it’s not i

Panama Papers Expose Greed

Why would billionaires feel they need to steal and hide money from the 47 percent from the Have Littles when the Have Littles have nothing in comparison? Is greed a sickness? If this is a class war then why do we, the Have Littles, keep sending out sons and daughters to war to protect the 1 percents assets the world over? It should be obvious to the Have Littles that the 1 percent do not care about their countries, and do not want to pay their share in taxes, but they want us to spill our blood and forfeit our lives to protect their interests and corporations. Do you think the poor in these countries benefit in any way by all this money is being hoarded in their countries? With the exposed murky world of shell companies by the Panama Papers, we can see the evidence of just how wealthy oligarchies conceal their money. Twelve current and former world leaders maintain offshore shell companies and we, here in the U.S., will find out who is not paying their taxes to support our country an

Put Some Skin in The Game

It is not very often in the lifetime of a minimum-wage worker that they can make a monetary investment in their future; but in this election the students and wage slaves can invest in Bernie Sanders’ Revolution. For as little as $3 or an average donation of $27, this investment could provide a lifetime pay out in dividends to you and your family—young and old alike, such as single payer healthcare, unions with pensions, Social Security with raises, free education, a $15 an hour minimum wage, prison reform with the elimination of private prisons, legalization of marijuana, card check for unions, no or new or fair trade policies that help U.S. workers as well as other countries and addressing climate change. If these small donors, who now have skin in the game, vote and support Sanders, it will prove to be just as important as any financial contributions. By giving a small amount in money or time, the donor will have contributed to their and their families’ future. This may be their las

Elizabeth Warren's Power

The Democratic Party and the Clintons are worried about Elizabeth Warren and her supporters and the threat she poses toward Wall Street and big banks. Bill and Hillary know that Warren could pose a threat to their chance for a second term if elected in 2016. Warren could take over where Bernie Sanders left off if Sanders does not win the presidency. So Clinton and the Wall Street Democratic Party have to come with a plan to rid themselves of Warren by putting her in the Supreme Court, which is supposed to be a lifetime commitment and would remove her from politics. I would hope that Warren sees this for what it is, and does run in 2020 if Sanders doesn’t win in 2016. The 47 percent need to keep the Revolution alive. We know if Bill Clinton gets a third term through Hillary they will screw it up for the 99 percent and renege on all the promises she has adopted by moving toward Sanders’ policies. The 47 percent need Warren ready to pick up the reins just in case the election is stolen a