Posts Tagged ‘Wisconsin’
Beyond Wisconsin
by Peter Molenaar March 13, 2011”¦ There were pleasant greetings between the handful of neighborhood folk who attended the most recent rally in Hudson. David Bicking was there. His handmade sign read: “Labor Creates All Wealth”. In jest, I pondered out loud, “Oh, I thought ownership of the means of production created wealth.” And then, yet another great semi-truck roared beneath our occupied overpass. Honk. Honk. Honnkkk”¦ Are public workers being unjustly scape-goated? Well, for starters, millions of good paying American jobs have been shipped overseas. And then came huge tax breaks for super-wealthy people in a time of war. To which we must add some wildly irresponsible Wall Street speculations and sub-prime mortgage schemes which culminated in a $700 billion bailout. You be the judge. My own handmade sign read simply: “Tax the rich”. Some long ago training as a draftsman found a nice expression. Requests for photo poses were many. Smile. In today”'s world, just 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined””more loot than the combined assets of 155 million people. Or, to slice it in a different way, 20% of America owns 85% of the country”'s wealth. Clearly, public workers are in the category of “the people”””the 80% which owns a mere 15% . Therefore, the attacks against these workers are an absolute disgrace. Note: Wisconsin teachers average about $46,000 a year””top hedge fun managers “earn” $48,000 per hour. (more…)
