Cheaper than Chinese labor

Here is a quote from The Urban politico that describes how the American taxpayer subsidizes companies and cuts pay to American workers

US Technologies, an Austin, Texas based company, who closed their doors and laid off hundreds of employees only to ship their jobs, not overseas, but to the nearest Austin, Texas Prison, where inmates work for cents a day. Many companies have begun using prison labor, such as Chevron, IBM, Motorola, Compaq, Texas Instruments, Honeywell, Microsoft, Victoria’s Secret and Boeing. You may have had firsthand experience dealing with the hardest of criminals if you have ever called TWA to book a flight. That’s right folks; TWA uses prison inmates to book flights. Even federal prisons have gotten a piece of the action, a company under the trade name Unicor uses prisoners to make everything from lawn furniture to congressional desks. Their web site proudly displays “where the government shops first.” For private corporations, prison labor is pure gold. With prison labor there are no unions, no strikes, no insurance benefits, and no rights! This is even backed up by the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution. State Corrections agencies are even advertising their prisoners to corporations by asking them questions such as: “Are you experiencing high employee turnover? Worried about the cost of employee benefits? Getting hit by overseas competition? Then the Washington State Department of Corrections Private Sector Partnerships is for you.”

[Suppose] An American worker, who once upon a time made $8/hour, loses his job when the company relocates overseas where workers are paid only $2/day. Unemployed, and alienated from society indifferent to his plight, he becomes involved in the drug economy or some other outlawed means of survival. He is arrested, put in prison, and put to work. His new salary: 22 cents/hour.

http://www.theurbanpolitico.com/2010/05/unmasking-prison-industrial-complex.html

"Safenizing America"

In the spirit of Sam Clemens, I want to pass along this little tale, written a few years ago, called Safenizing America:

Now our fine leaders have been working their tails off to securitize America lately, but there are yet a few ways the Department of Homeland Security could safenize us even more. Why I was reading the other day that over half of the 44,000 people per year killed on highways are due to drunken drivers, which makes them a good deal more dangerous than shoe bombers. Supposin' we git them TSA folks to set up check points outsida bars:

 TSA: "Sir, would you please take off your jacket and shoes and put them on the belt?"

 Tipsy customer, swaying to maintain balance: "Jack off'n my shoos?" He fumbles with his zipper.

TSA, greatly concerned: "No, sir! Remove your jacket and shoes. We need to scan them for signs of alcohol!"

 Customer: "Yeth, thir!" He leans over to untie his shoes and does a face plant.

"Code red! Code red!" shouts the TSA agent. The potential killer is surrounded and carried away, multiple casualties averted.

But drunk driving is just a fraction of the 122,000 deaths due to chronic lower respiratory disease, primarily caused by smoking or secondary smoke inhalation. Surely if DHS were serious about Safenizing America, they would be instructing citizens to be vigilant in monitoring their neighbors for signs of cigarette smoke. What follows is a sample call from a new DHS Homeland Security hotline in testing:

Hotline: "You have reached the DHS biochemical hazards hotline. To report ignition of chemical toxins in a restroom, press 1. To report purchase of chemical toxins for use by a minor, press 2. To report chemical toxins ignited in a closed room inhabited by a young child, press 3.

But even cigarettes disappear in a puff of smoke when compared to the true terrorists: snack food vendors! Cardio vascular problems, primarily caused by excess weight or bad carbs, kill a whopping 937,000 Americans per year. Surely DHS should turn their attention to the Weapons of Mass Digestion that lay waste to so many victims each year! Here is a possible scenario:

At the immigration crossing just north of Buffalo, a terrorist, disguised as a pasty-skinned Canadian, stops his vehicle.

 Immigration Officer: "Alright, I see those bags of Tim Horton's in the back seat! Open 'em up, now!" He inspects the circular fat bombs, ready to burrow their way into innocent American bellies, sleeper cells for the coming attack to the heart. "Just how many Americans did you intend to knock of with these babies?"

The motorist is handcuffed and shipped to Guantanamo for questioning.

Chief: "Does anybody here speak Canuk?"

Guard Joe: "Ok, my Dad was Canuk, eh?"

Joe takes motorist into the questioning room. Waterboard, rack and other implements of torture add a hint of whimsy and melodrama to the otherwise unimaginative decor:

Joe: "Ok, Canuk. Where'd ya get the WMD's, eh? Who's funded ya, eh? Al qaeda?."

Motorist: "But they were just jelly donuts, eh? I borrowed the money from my kid's piggy bank, eh?"

Joe, dropping the pretense: "Carrying lethal weapons across international borders is a serious offense, young man! Over 2000 Americans a day die from heart attacks! And it's all because the likes of you bringing your Canuk rituals to America! I've seen you! Facing toward the dinner table six times a day, praying! You don't fool me!"

Joe holds a bag of Tom Horton's over the toilet bowl.

Motorist: "Ok, then! Please! I'll tell you everything I know, eh?"

And so we see another tragedy averted, all due to the Safenizing of America.

The Occupy Demands List

One of the most frequent complaints about the Occupy movement is that it is unfocused and has no demands, yet NY and Chicago each have a ratified list of demands. Chicago's is my favorite (Chicago Tribune source)

October 16, 2011

1. Pass a bill to reinstate Glass-Steagall, a safeguard separating banks' commercial lending and investment operations. "Its repeal in 1999 is considered the major cause of the global financial meltdown of 2008-09," the group states.
2. Repeal Bush-era tax cuts.
3. Prosecute "the Wall Street criminals who clearly broke the law and helped cause the 2008 financial crisis."
4. Overturn a 2010 Supreme Court decision that allows corporations "to contribute unlimited amounts of money to campaigns."

5. Pass the Warren Buffett rule on fair taxation, close corporate tax loopholes, prohibit hiding funds offshore.
6. Give the Securities and Exchange Commission stricter regulatory power, strengthen the Consumer Protection Bureau and help victims of predatory lending whose home loans have been foreclosed.
7. Take steps to limit the influence of lobbyists and eliminate the practice of lobbyists writing legislation.
8. Eliminate (the) right of former government regulators to work for corporations or industries they once regulated.
9. Eliminate corporate personhood.
10. Insist the Federal Elections Commission "ensure that political candidates are given equal time for free at reasonable intervals during campaign season."
11. Pass the Fair Elections Now Act.
12. Forgive student debt.
Source: Occupy Chicago http://occupychi.org

Campaign finance reform

Are you familiar with Granny D? Well, it is time for the rest of us to follow in her footsteps. There will always be corruption. But when the bartender starts skimming so much the restaurant goes under, it's time to fire 'em. When corporations count more than people, hiring lobbyists to defame Occupy protestors, we have to reform the system.

Here is a non-partisan group working on legislation to free our representatives to represent us instead of special interests and the 1%.

Three steps to start fixing America

Feel like America's in a mess? Join the crowd. But instead of moaning or watching the campaign circus, let's fix it. Here are three steps to start: 

1. Calm down and gain some perspective.

• Take a deep breath. China's 1.3 billion people are on track to produce as much GDP as the US's 300 million people. Soon. Very soon. In fact, our per capita income has dropped to only six times that of China's. Gosh. 
• Weep. The 9/11 terrorists killed 3,000 people in the first major attack on mainland US since the British and Mexicans back in the 1800's. This was a tragedy. However, we killed over 600,000 of our own people during the Civil War.

• 
  
• Mourn. Approximately 4,400 Americans died in Iraq. However, over 320,000 Americans died in traffic accidents during the same eight years. 
• Think. The gross discretionary budget for the Department of Homeland Security was $47 billion in 2011, not to mention the millions of hours spent fiddling with our belts and shoes. The budget for Transportation Safety was $2 billion. 

2. Face facts: we're wealthy wimps.  

• Yes, we lost an estimated 3 million manufacturing jobs over the last decade and a half. 
• But the tide has slowed and our kids are still unemployed. Why? Because they do not want blue collar jobs! 
• Vocational programs report a lack of applicants for apprenticeships as plumbers, electricians or other "dirty jobs." Our kids flick a mean computer mouse, but don't know how to use a hammer, screw driver or soldering iron.
• Well-paid CNC operators are in short supply. There are few applicants and many who do apply lack the mechanical aptitude and moderate mathematical skills required. 
• When the Alabama legislature scared away agricultural workers with strict immigration enforcement laws, tomatoes rotted in the field. American workers could not be found to pick them.
• There is a shortage of computer and electronics engineers that cannot be filled by all the American graduates of all the relevant engineering programs.
• Bottom line: Our labor force is soft. Most of our youngsters do not know the meaning of hunger. We have taught them to follow their dreams of being video artists and game designers rather than to make a living. That may not be a bad thing, but it does have consequences for them and for our nation.

3. Turn immigration into a bonanza. 

  
             Comparison of immigration with the DJIA appears less than random.

• Immigrants mean money. Rick Perry's Texas is one of the few states in the US where employment has increased recently. Why? Because immigrants are flowing into the country bringing with them market demand for goods. The reason China is on the rise is because populations who are working their way out of poverty spend their money quickly. When money moves faster from laborer to shopkeeper to manufacturer and back, every dollar touches more hands, which means more wealth.
• Sneaking illegals into America is big business. An estimated 6-7 million people pay an average of $10,000 each, or $60-70 billion per year. This makes the illegal immigration business about the size as the US videogame industry. Why don't we just charge them $5,000 each, put it toward their education and skip the "coyotes" who secret them in?
• Immigrants bring important technologies to us. Sebastian Thrun, developer of Google's autonomous car, is an immigrant. Albert Einstein, Arnold Schwarzenegger, I.M. Pei, Irving Berlin, Madeline Albright were all immigrants. Most of the inventors of new technologies in this country are immigrants or offspring of immigrants. Why not build the American "team" by soliciting exceptional people we want to come to America, in addiiton to just accepting those who apply?
• Many states subsidize the university education of engineers from other countries. Then the INS sends them home, after we have paid for their learning! Why not hand every high-achieving international scholar in a desired field citizenship papers along with their diploma?