Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Party lines for the people, Bipartisan for the 1%

The American Jobs Act can’t make it through congress. I’m not arguing the merits of this bill, but it is to help the American people, and it comes at little expense to business and tax payers. The Act pays for its self with 5% tax on millionaires and closing some loopholes. Here is a bill set to help the 99% and it is can’t make it through congress due to party lines.


At the same time, three free trade agreements passed with bipartisan support. These agreement were drafted under Bush, and pushed ahead under Obama. The AFL-CIO estimates that 150,000 jobs will be sent out of this country. It makes our labor force compete with Colombia, a country that has a history of murdering union organizers. This is the largest free trade agreement since NAFTA, which has proven that free trade is terrible for the 99%, both here and abroad, and very good for the 1%. So when it come to benefiting the 1% at the expense of the 99%, there is bipartisan support.


How can these two things be true? Democrat and Republican are divided on whether or not to help the American people, but at the very same time are united when it comes to screwing us over when it is good for business.


It is also important to note, that one of these stories gets headlines, and one slips through unnoticed. The focus is always on the lines that divide us, blues blame the reds and the reds blame the blues, and we all bicker among ourselves along party lines, while simultaneously both parties are working together in the interest of big business. The occupy movement encourages us to drop the left vs right thing, and look at it as top vs bottom. The media and politicians are certainly working hard to reinforce the right/left narrative, which keeps us divided, and ignores the bottom/top narrative, which unites 99% of us.


I don’t know if much of politics is a song and dance to distract us. I don’t know just how close allies Democrats and Republicans are. Maybe they just agree where their money interest overlap. I have no idea how to explain this. It is without logic. They certainly are not looking out for us. Policies for the people get blocked with party lines, and 1% somehow gets a united congress. Stop blaming each others through right and left lenses, and recognize we are all getting screwed. And Occupy!


No comments:

Post a Comment