Republicans Assault Workers' Rights as They Suck Up to the Uber Rich
Abel
when the very first thing that newly elected President Franklin D.
Roosevelt did, as part of his "New Deal" pledge, was to send to
Congress, and then sign into law, the Emergency Banking Act of 1933,
where all insolvent banks would be closed down immediately, and then
they would be reopened ONLY after a series of government regulations
would ensure their solvency.
One of the greatest myths of all times is that government intervention
was responsible for the Great Depression. These myths have been
spread by Republicans, because they have been misled into believing
that government intervention is an evil thing. The reason why
Republicans oppose government intervention is because the intervention
has a tendency to prevent the uber rich from further enriching
themselves at the expense of every one else. The fact of the matter
is that truly massive intervention began only AFTER the presidency of
Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.
Republicans do not like it when poor people steal from the rich, and
rightly so, but strangely enough, Republicans love it when rich people
steal from the poor. If the history books were to tell the truth then
they would mention the fact that it is these CRUEL Republican policies
that CAUSED the Great Depression of 1929.
Thru out the 1920's, Republicans had a virtual monopoly on our
government, as they controlled the Presidency, they controlled the
Congress, they controlled the Senate and they controlled the
Judiciary.
The 1920's saw an explosion of productivity, as many industries
prospered, but the American people didn't prosper. Due to the violent
anti-union policies that our government pursued, union memberships
declined throughout the decade. The United Mine Workers Union saw its
membership fall from 500,000 in 1920 to 75,000 in 1928. The American
Federation of Labor fell from 5.1 million in 1920 to 3.4 million in
1929.
Our government violently suppressing union movements in the 1920's,
and there are many examples of that, such as in September of 1921,
when in the State of West Virginia, the United States Army actually
intervened by presidential order to attack 15,000 coal miners in what
the history books call the "Battle of Blair Mountain" (linked below).
At one time, just as Qaddafi is doing now in Libya, American fighter
planes were used to drop bombs on union members, thereby killing
them. After approximately one million rounds were fired, about 100
were killed and 1,000 were arrested.
In the 1920's, about 1,200 mergers swallowed up several thousand
previously independent companies, to the point where by 1929, only 200
corporations end up controlling over half of all American industry.
As these corporations, basically the top 1%, would continue to
accumulate more and more wealth, at every one else's expense, the
Republicans would respond by cutting their taxes even more, to the
point where by 1929, the richest 1% will end up owning about half of
the nation's wealth. Individual worker productivity rises an
astonishing 43 percent from 1919 to 1929. But the rewards are
funneled only at the top. In 1922, with appalling working conditions
running rampant, the conservatives in the Supreme Court categorically
reject all child labor legislation and pretty much rule that children
have no rights.
In 1924, the stock market exhibits a spectacular rise, where the
richest 1% increase their wealth, but the rest of the country
experiences widespread poverty, as well over half of the Americans
live below the poverty level, or below a minimum subsistence level,
the annual per-capita income is $750, but for farm people, it is only
$273.
Despite the stock market's meteoric rise, in 1924, the American people
are, by and large, mostly poor, so there ends up being a backlog of
business inventories, which grows three times larger than the year
before, as a result, public consumption goes down. Republicans
respond to this income inequality by giving more tax cuts to the rich,
thereby increasing the inequality. By 1929, manufacturing starts to
decline, automobile sales decline, construction declines, and then the
stock market crashes on October 29 of 1929, in what has come to be
known as "Black Tuesday." This marked the beginning of the Great
Depression.
To make matters worse, Republicans did not pass any legislations, they
did not do anything to address a steadily worsening economic
situation. The rich kept getting richer, even if it was only the
richest 1%, and then it was reduced to only the richest .1%, money
kept getting accumulated in fewer and fewer hands, but it seems that
Republicans did not see this as a problem (for as long as the uber
rich continue to donate to Republican campaigns).
All the economic indicators were catastrophic, about one-fourth of the
American people ended up being unemployed, most industrial stocks lost
most of their value, most of the banks failed and billions of dollars
in deposits were lost, e.t.c. But the Republicans who had a monopoly
on power back then did not seem to care about any of that, they seemed
to instead secretly relish the fact that the richest .01% are getting
even richer still (at everyone else's expense, of course), and so that
could explain why the Republicans did nothing to stop the Great
Depression.
Finally, to put a stop to this never-ending madness, a madness of
Biblical proportions, and international of scope, the American people
kicked out the Republicans and voted in Democratic President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, and he was inaugurated President on March 4th of
1933. That is when FDR said:
"I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American
people."
It is Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who got us out of
the Great Depression, and who navigated our victory in World War 2.
FDR is consistently rated by historians and scholars to be one of the
greatest American Presidents of all time, if not the greatest.
FDR was also one of the most pro-union Presidents ever. He first
concentrated on strengthening the private sector unions, and then much
later, he would strengthen the public sector unions too. Towards the
end of FDR's Presidency, and because of the pro-union policies of the
Democratic party, about one-third of the American work force was
unionized, which led to an increase in the standard of living of the
average American. But since then, due to the HORRIBLE anti-union
policies of the Republican party, over the years, the result is that
today less than 8% of the work force is unionized, and our standard of
living has gone down too. And today, we are on the verge of another
Great Depression, as Republicans, such as Wisconsin's Governor Scott
Walker, continue to assault the rights of workers and the rights of
unions, with the result being that our income inequality is at a
comparable level to what it was in 1929. As history repeats itself.
A. M.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Banking_Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_run & http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/money_08.htm