Cash for Geezers
Cash for Geezers
Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 2:02 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2059 -- 9/28/2009 >>>>>
Liberal talk show host Thom Hartmann wrote a commentary that sounds like a
good idea called "Cash for Geezers"! Be sure to read the last part of it where
he writes about H-1B.
Having already largely wiped out the ability of a blue-collar
single-wage-earner family to have a middle class lifestyle
over the past 30 years, Greenspan now wants to go after
white-collar workers by eliminating limits on H1B visas for
skilled workers ranging from computer programmers to physicians
to scientists. The investor class would always be protected,
in the Greenspan world, but the working class -- regardless of
skill level -- should always be the working poor.
It's no accident that Thom Hartmann sees the light on H-1B. Hartmann was
accosted by a dedicated activist who handed him some material on H-1B and a
few quotes from Alan Greenspan. These are some of the quotes that got
Hartmann's attention:
"Significantly opening up immigration to skilled workers solves
two problems," he said. The companies could hire the educated
workers they need. And those workers would compete with
high-income people, driving more income equality, he said.
--- Greenspan on solving inflation
"The most effective initiative, though politically difficult,
would be a major expansion in quotas for skilled immigrants,"
--- Greenspan on solving the housing crisis
Although I can't mention the activist's name, many of you might recognize his
voice because a couple weeks later he went on-the-air with Hartmann.
To listen to it, go to:
http://podcast.com/show/26494/
Go to page three: August 20, 2009 Hour 1
The file is about 15 meg, and the comment is about 36 minutes into the show.
Before that a female computer IT programmer has some worthwhile commentary on
her trouble with healtcare.
So, the morale of this story is that one person can make a BIG difference.
I never thought I would see the day when a far left radio commentator like
Hartmann would say the things he did, but it happened!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/26/18619718.php
Cash for Geezers: Retirement for Boomers at 55 by Thom Hartmann Wednesday Aug
26th, 2009 2:44 PM
Eduardo Galeano and Thom Hartmann, beloved Air America host, could make
our days full of light.
Cash for Geezers? Lower the Retirement Age to 55 Now!
One of the most powerful forms of stimulus we could apply to our economy right
now would be to lower the current Social Security retirement age from the
current 65-67 to 55, and increase the benefits back to where they were in
inflation-adjusted 1960s dollars by raising them between 10 to 20 percent (so
people could actually live, albeit modestly, on Social Security).
The right-wing reaction to this, of course, will be to say that with fewer
people working and more people drawing benefits, it would bankrupt Social
Security and destroy the economy. But history shows the exact reverse.
Instead, it would eliminate the problem of unemployment in the United States.
All those Boomers retiring would make room in the labor market for all the
recent high-school and college graduates who are now finding it so hard to
find a job.
If enough Boomers left the job market, it would even flip the current dynamic
of too-many-people-chasing-too-few-jobs upside down, and create a tight labor
markets. Tight labor markets drive up wages.
And as wages go up, tax revenues -- which are paying for Social Security
(among other things) -- would increase.
Additionally, these new-into-the-workforce people can then pay off student
loans, buy new houses and cars, and otherwise drive the economy from the
bottom up. Which will further increase tax revenues further strengthening the
Social Security system.
To further tighten the job market and drive up wages (and tax revenues),
modify the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 -- which tightened the labor
market and reduced unemployment by establishing the 40-hour work week -- to
include all hours worked by a person. We could also, like in France, drop the
40-hour maximum-workweek threshold to 35 hours (used by the Mitterrand
government to successfully lower unemployment and stimulate the French
economy). A final step would be to emulate the rest of the developed world and
require by law that every worker get at least two to four weeks a year of paid
vacation -- further tightening the labor market.
In Uganda, Joseph Okwakoi gets it. He s the president of the National Youth
Council in that nation, a group that has considerable political power (and an
affiliated Member of Parliament, the Central Youth Party s Joseph Kasozi).
Earlier this month, Okwakoi called on Parliament and President Museveni to
lower the age of retirement for government workers (the country s largest
employer) from the current 60 years of age to 55. This single act would
instantly create about 15,000 job openings in the country, which could be
filled by currently unemployed young people.
President Museveni replied that he d consider it seriously, pointing out that,
"The retirement age was actually 55 when we came but because of manpower
shortage we put it at 60." Now that the manpower shortage has eased, wages are
falling, and unemployment is rising, he noted, "We shall study it."
What Joseph Okwakoi understands is that there is a marketplace for labor.
When the supply of labor exceeds demand, the price of labor ("wages") falls.
On the other hand, when the demand for labor is at or greater than the supply
of labor, the price of labor -- wages -- increases.
This is the main reason why the labor movements of the 18th and 19th centuries
fought so hard against child labor; they knew that if children were removed
from the labor marketplace, then the supply of labor (the number of people
available to work) would decrease and the price of labor
(wages) would increase. And, sure enough, that s exactly what happened -- and
it began the creation of a blue-collar middle class.
It s also why the labor movement pushed for an 8-hour day and a 40-hour
maximum workweek. By reducing the amount of labor available from each worker
from the average 60 hours a week or so people were working before 1938, the
labor market tightened up, increasing the number of people who could be
employed and raising wages.
Of course, this is the exact opposite of American labor policy ever since the
Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush era. Reagan drove down wages by busting unions (which
tighten a labor marketplace); declared an amnesty for millions of then-illegal
immigrant workers to increase the supply of labor and depress wages
(particularly whacking the carpenters and other construction trades unions);
and began the process (completed in a big way by Bill Clinton with NAFTA and
GATT/WTO) of dismantling tariffs, taxes, and laws that made it expensive or
illegal to export American jobs.
Reagan also put into the chairmanship of the Fed Alan Greenspan, who openly
declared that his most important job as chairman of the Fed was to prevent
"wage inflation" -- a term which he exclusively applied to working-class
people. Greenspan is still preaching that now-discredited and anti-American
philosophy he learned from Ayn Rand, in fact.
Having already largely wiped out the ability of a blue-collar single-wage-
earner family to have a middle class lifestyle over the past 30 years,
Greenspan now wants to go after white-collar workers by eliminating limits on
H1B visas for skilled workers ranging from computer programmers to physicians
to scientists. The investor class would always be protected, in the Greenspan
world, but the working class -- regardless of skill level
-- should always be the working poor.
In September of 2007, in an interview on C-SPAN for Book TV, Greenspan
said:
"We pay the highest skilled labor wages in the world. If we would open up our
borders to skilled labor far more than we do, we would attract a very
substantial quantity of skilled labor which would suppress the wage levels of
the skilled, because the skilled are essentially being subsidized by the
government, meaning our competition is being kept outside the country."
It s shocking that ideologues like Greenspan, Reagan, and Clinton believe
this, but they do. And the only way to reverse the past 29 years of
Reaganomics/Clintonomics is to tighten up the labor market again. While a
great start would be to pull out of our insane trade treaties and begin again
protecting American manufacturers, that will take a decade for the impact to
be truly felt even if we were to go back to our 1980 tariff levels today.
But providing space for a good chunk of the 16 percent of the American
workforce over 55 years old will immediately take us to nearly zero
unemployment and dramatically stimulate the economy. Then we can begin to
bring our manufacturing jobs back home from China and the other important
steps (Medicare For All and Card-Check for unionization) to restore the
strength and integrity our nation and national economy once had.
http://www.thomhartmann.com
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