Profits are stolen wages

     Tonight I went to my first IWW meeting. It made me realize how much I missed gathering for Occupy general assemblies and think tank meetings. I write this dairy like blog post because, constructive civil discourse is something that has all but died out in our advanced industrialized, mixed market society. If we look throughout history we see discourse has ebbed and flowed in terms of how civil it has been. There have been violent struggles, thoughtful compromises and everything in-between.

    We can argue about the pros and cons of unions. Those who are on the opposite side of the spectrum from me tend to argue the need for unions has run its course, now we need to open the flood gates of competition. I roll my eyes when I hear this line of hooey. If you see that there is a constant struggle between workers and owners. You see the less wages paid the more profits (there are other ways to achieve balance, but I am going to keep the paradigm simple for now) gained. This is the basis for class warfare raging with every punch of the clock.

    With the ever increasing trend between rich and poor in our nation with hourly wages remaining stagnant (over the last 40 years) versus constant increases in executive and CEO pay, what is increased competition going to do? Full bore increased competition hands over the zero sum game until the billionaires turn into trillionaires and the return to feudal society is complete. No me lord, I have to try to advocate for myself, the only way that working class folk have done to garner actual change (hold the hope). Advocacy through solidarity. UNITY!