Labor
Labor
Our working families have made America the greatest nation in the world; we cannot continue in our role as a world leader if we turn our backs on them. I am proud to stand up with Labor to fight for California's wage earners and the working men and women of this country. Acting together, we can realize the American dream of opportunity and a decent life for all.
Trade Unions and the Plight of America's Working Families
I am a strong supporter of Trade Unions. They have played an essential role in guaranteeing that working people participate in the American Dream. Trade unions fought for and earned basic rights for American workers and established a floor of wages and benefits that supports a decent standard of living for all working Americans. However, these are hard times for unions, and for wage earners in general.
Working people are being hit on two fronts at once. On the one hand, they are losing out as this nation rushes headlong, without care or planning, into a harshly competitive global economy. On the other hand, they are being hit by right-wing economic policies that unfairly favor the wealthiest among us. Look at the facts.
Over the past 25 years, the right-wing has passed a series of tax cuts that have greatly benefited our wealthiest citizens. Over 40% of the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 went to the top 1%. If you made $10,000 you got $5 back. If you made $1million, you got $88,873. The cuts that just went into effect in January 2006 were even more unfair. 97% of the benefits went to the top 1%. But that's only the half of it. Under Bush, the estate tax was reduced; corporate taxes and capital gains taxes were slashed; taxes on dividends were completely eliminated.
Taxes on working people have not gone down. What little has been given with one hand has been taken away with the other. To make up for shrinking Federal resources, payroll taxes, sales taxes, local property taxes, and user fees have all risen. Wage earners now pay a much larger percentage of the tax bill.
America 's wages are going down. From 1947 to 1973, real wages (adjusted for inflation) grew by 75%. They have gone since then - by more than 3% since Bush took office. Globalization plays a big part in this. As good jobs are exported, lower paying service jobs replace them. And when workers here demand higher pay, management threatens to shut down and move abroad. To stay afloat, people are putting in longer hours, more family members are working, and everybody is going deeper in debt.
We have to change this. The present Republican political leadership has America on the road to ruin. America's greatness comes from its Dream - from the opportunity for a good life it held out for everyone. The right-wing believes in helping those who are already on top - with the idea that their wealth will trickle down' to the rest of us. For those who talk about trickle down,' here's a statistic they should be embarrassed about. In 1989, there were 66 billionaires in America. There were 31.5 million people living below the poverty line. In 1999, there were 268 billionaires - and 34.5 million people living below the poverty line!
I want to help turn this around. We need to work with trade unions to accomplish that. We have to re-establish a fair, progressive system of taxation. We must stop the red ink and start using our resources intelligently. We have to take the challenge of globalization seriously, and begin planning and investing in the future of this country. We must commit to our children and upgrade our educational system and create an infrastructure that can support a new economic re-birth with good, high paying jobs here at home. We have all the resources we need to get things moving in the right direction. We just need a political leadership that understands America's future can only be ensured by thinking about the common good - and not by enriching the few. We must keep the dream alive for all our citizens.
http://www.jerrymcnerney.org/issues/labor.asp