Are We Awake Yet?

The assault on Unions is going nationwide. The decision in Wisconsin to strip teachers of bargaining rights, under the ruse of budget cuts, is just getting started on a national scale. Never mind that every poll I've run across shows this is against the wishes of the majority of citizens. The wishes and desires of citizens has taken a back seat to the wishes and desires of corporations.

The "Great Recession" wasn't caused by unions. It was caused by deregulation and corporate greed. The demise of the middle class began over 30 years ago with "trickle down" economic policies of Reagan. The tax breaks given to big business and corporations were supposed to benefit the economy by creating more jobs. In reality what happened, and is still happening, is jobs trickled overseas and we helped countless foreign economies at the expense of American taxpayers. Corporations and Wall Street were able to pad their profits by this move. Their idea of job creation, or preservation, wasn't intended to happen here, but in other countries apparently.

When the economy collapsed in September of 2008 the middle class took the brunt of the pain. We not only had to bailout the banks and corporations who caused the global collapse we sat by and have watched banks, corporations, and Wall Street come roaring back with record profits. Our tax dollars propped them back up and what have they done for the middle class? Essentially nothing, unless you consider laying people off a benefit and moving more of their operations overseas.

State budgets have taken a hit. Laid off people reduce tax revenues. Those who've managed to find a job have generally found jobs with less pay, which also reduces tax revenues. Many people who weren't laid off but had to accept less hours to keep their jobs also reduce tax revenue by making less money. The GOP's answer to this is to make villains of teachers, firefighters, police, and other state workers. Again, the middle class. In their words "Those big bad union people are the elite and we have to rein them in."

Naturally Wall Street and the big business interests who caused this mess get a pass. They're back to raking in record profits and paying bonuses to the very people who ruined our economy. They've been deemed as too big to allow to fail. They've escaped justice.

When are we going to wake up and realize that the middle class is too big to fail? Are we going to wait until there is no more middle class? It would appear so to me. The GOP isn't going to place the blame where it belongs. There's too much money involved in that. These same people who ruined our economy give millions of dollars to politicians to do their bidding. Their answer is to punish the working class and make villains of teachers.

It is way beyond time for the middle class to wake up.