General strike? Apathy? Or amok insurrection in the streets?

[Deja Q]

This economy is not getting better.

Large companies are moving their offices to states with lower/no taxes or off shores entirely. The workers laid off.

I know people who've been out of work for YEARS.

Some manage to get shit jobs at a gas station, fast food, or retail joint. But that wage alone isn't enough for one person to survive, let alone a small family (lover and/or child).

Some people will not bother to open their eyes.

But what do you think will happen if the situation comes to a head?

A general workers' strike, assuming enough of the workers do this?

General apathy and do nothing?

Or riots and crime of the likes we've never seen?

Or a different option?

This isn't quite the same situation as the Great Depression either.

[Vincardog]

1. Start with a general strike. Do not get into the military actions until

after you organize. This is a WAR and Bush started it. It is a class war. The rich have stuck it to us for too long. When the time comes we need to hit them where it hurts them most in the pocket book.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D)

from Arkansas said that a family making minimum wage deserved some extra tax breaks that the Repugs refused to give, because they would 'help welfare recipiants'. Lincoln said that working families weren't getting welfare, but needed some breaks.

[Deja Q]

4. Repukes would also eliminate the minimum wage if they could, citing

a government-mandated (forced) wage is wrong and hurtful to the economy. :eyes:

Definitely class warfare. And they want to exterminate.

[Sugarbleus]

6. I watched her pound away at the issues...she's a fighter.. n/t

[dumpster_baby]

3. nationwide strikes are an excellent option!

If ONLY we could organize enough to put 10 million Americans on strike, we could dramatically change this country. Please read this URL for more information on how this tactic has been used in places like denamrk to build the one of strongest welfare state in the world:
http://www.american-pictures.com/english/racism/articles/welfare.htm

[Xithras]

5. Nationwide strikes will never happen here in any serious way

The US simply doesn't have the worker protection laws that other countries enjoy. To put it bluntly, we're too replaceable because too many are out of work and too few states protect workers from being fired outright for simply walking off the job. As I understand it, the laws that protect strikers in the U.S. aren't valid for strikes unrelated to their direct employer, and even those laws only apply to unionized workers...a small percentage of the overall workforce at this point.

National strikes only work if the workers are sure that they'll have jobs to go back to when its over.

[LisaLynne]

7. Probably ...

general apathy. Personally, I think we should have all rioted either when these 'Free Speech Zones' started popping up or when they actually gave those tax cuts to the rich.

[jbm]

8. is there something we could refuse to pay?

or could we effectively boycott random corporations that tossed their support behind the repubs? We have got to do something or there will be a huge increase in truly destitute people. A house in my town burnt down the other day because the family that lived there could no longer afford electricity and was relying on a generator. The generator malfunctioned somehow and they lost their home. They had no insurance. Factories here are laying off again, and the almanac is predicting a harsh winter with rising fuel costs. I wonder how many children will live through the winter in homes without heat?

I have read that revolutions always come when the middle class finally realizes that their best interests are always protected when they protect the best interests of the poor..and never when they look out for the rich. Yet over and over again they persist in making the same grave error of judgement with the same predictable results. i think maybe things aren't harsh enough yet for the majority of us to make the really hard decisions. As long as we can still pay the electric bill we'll complain about it..but we won't have it turned off. When things get bad enough that enough of us are truly willing to live without it...than we can change the world.

[dumpster_baby]

9. Why do so many DUers put all the blame on the GOP??

The Democrats are just as complicit (if not more in some areas) for all the bad things mentioned at the top of this thread.

Geez, talk about denial....

[jbm]

10. I think you assume to much..

I know that the dems are not actively seeking the changes. I also realize that real solutions would require such complete and drastic changes that the average guy would be beyond horrified. No one has the power to make those kinds of changes right now, BUT..the framework for that type of change begins with some sort of activism that keeps chipping away at the resistance until people finally begin to accept that it's time for the change. Our job is to begin the activism. That's part of who we are. We could target dem friendly corporations if it would make you happy I suppose, but why would we do that?