Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
"Under My Thumb"
Under My ThumbBy TIMOTHY EGAN at the New York Times
"SNIP...................................
SEATTLE This is how the middle class dies, not with a bang, but a forced squeeze. After a global corporation posts record profits, it asks the state that has long nurtured its growth for the nations biggest single tax break, and then tells the people who make its products that their pension plan will be frozen, their benefits slashed, their pay raises meager. Take it or we leave. And everyone caves.
.........
But then came the final item, a vote of the people who actually assemble the planes. By a 2-1 margin on Wednesday, the machinists of Puget Sound told Boeing to stuff it. With this act of economic suicide, the state could lose up to 56,000 jobs on the new 777X plane. Cue your metaphor the Alamo, Custers Last Stand, Braveheart.
The events of the last few days show the utter bankruptcy of economic policy prescriptions offered by both political parties. You want tax breaks and deregulation the Republican mantra? The $8.7 billion granted Boeing this week is the largest single state-tax giveaway in the nations history. It wasnt enough. You want government training for schools and highly skilled workers the Democratic alternative? There was plenty of that, to Boeings liking, in the package.
What Boeing wants is very simple: to pay the people who make its airplanes as little money as it can get away with. It needs to do this, were told, to stay competitive. It has all the leverage, because enough states and countries are willing to give it everything it asks for. Who wouldnt want a gleaming factory stuffed with jet assemblers, a payroll guaranteed for a generation?
...................................SNIP"
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
4 replies, 1069 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (3)
ReplyReply to this post
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
"Under My Thumb" (Original Post)
applegrove
Nov 2013
OP
gopiscrap
(23,725 posts)1. Interesting
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)2. ,
,
applegrove
(118,462 posts)3. ?
postulater
(5,075 posts)4. I think , is the abbreviated version of /