Disaster capitalism is an easy concept to understand; the disaster stems from the Great Recession and jobless recovery. This Wall Street disaster oddly shifted more power to those who created the recession. These corporate profiteers saw a demoralized powerless workforce. This desperate jobless public was ripe for exploitation. What a time to lower wages and benefits they thought. What a time to convince people they were lucky to have a job. On the other side, liberals and swing voters saw a rising shift of power, and a threat to fair wages and benefits that guard against families slipping into poverty.
And that’s disaster capitalism. The conservative paranoia, that someone somewhere is getting something they’re not, is a powerful force that corporate power loves to exploit. Thomas Frank’s book “What’s the Matter with Kansas” was all about Americans voting against their own best interest. Example:
“Out here the gravity of discontent pulls in only one direction: to the right, to the right, further to the right. Strip today's Kansans of their job security, and they head out to become registered Republicans. Push them off their land, and next thing you know they're protesting in front of abortion clinics. Squander their life savings on manicures for the CEO, and there's a good chance they'll join the John Birch Society. But ask them about the remedies their ancestors proposed (unions, antitrust, public ownership), and you might as well be referring to the days when knighthood was in flower.”
Which brings me to this question in today’s Capital Times: Do you agree with Gov. Scott Walker’s move to eliminate most bargaining rights for public employee unions? Conservatives answered this way:
“Things are bad everywhere and they should be glad to have a job. I feel bad for those losing their rights but there’s a lot of people who don’t have a job.”
“I own my own business and I hate unions so this is fine with me. There are a lot of people out of work but the protesters are sitting here bitching about insurance. They shouldn’t be complaining about their union rights when they have jobs and lots of people don’t.”
Did you see the theme? “They should be glad to have a job.” “They have jobs and lots of people don’t.”
Wouldn't it be nice if we could bring everybody down to the level of jobless Americans? Even more surreal is the phony conservative compassion for those who don’t have jobs; They would deny them unemployment insurance. Is your head hurting yet?
The other culprit is the now excepted meme; we're suffering from business uncertainty.
Isn't it really...job uncertainty?
Isn't it really...job uncertainty?
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