In a nod to labor unions, President Joe Biden is moving to boost wages for construction workers on projects paid for with federal funding, a step that would appeal to a key constituency ahead of next year’s presidential election and potentially shrink the pay gap between northern and southern states.
Reagan had a profound impact on reshaping the American dream.
What was once a foundation built on the idea of upward mobility for the poor and middle class has undergone a substantial transformation since the 80s. The emergence of an unregulated capitalist model has led to a widening wealth gap, with the affluent growing even wealthier while the middle class gradually fades.
Addressing the impending challenges, such as climate change, technological innovations, and social shifts, necessitates a strategic focus on bolstering the working class and supporting unions. These pillars are vital in fortifying our response to the multifaceted challenges that lie ahead.
Trickle Down Economics and the “War on Drugs” make incredible lasting damage to this country. It’s so unfortunate.
And of course my grandma always used to tell me how great he was. Granted, by the time he was president, grandpa was nearing retirement so neither of them really had to deal with his bullshit in the same way most working class Americans had to. She was a sweet lady, but damn were her politics bad XD
Imagine how many votes Biden would get if he just ended the fucking drug war…
Quite a few, but Biden is never going to do that. He’s been fairly pro-drug war his entire life. The best we can really hope for from him is pausing the drug war against cannabis. And even that might be stretching things.
His son is a drug addict, he isn’t going to ever do anything that might appear to be in favor of drug use. He’s supported the war on drugs his entire career and isn’t going to stop anytime soon.
Don’t forget all the deregulation too.
@AttackBunny @ConditionOverload
Reagan and Thatcher were the worst thing to happen to the world at a time when we still had a fair chance at stopping climate change.
I remember when I was younger and the hole in the ozone was a big deal. We did something. Same with then I was a young kid smog was so bad that we had “smog days” (similar to snow days) where we weren’t allowed to play outside, or have recess or lunch outside. CA did something about it. There used to be a chance, but now……it’s hard to see anything under a hopeful lens.
You and I must be a similar age because I remember the hole in the ozone as well. I also remember writing an essay in grade school about pollution levels (when the library was my only resource).
We had a chance and our gov’ts blew it. :/
Sounds like it.
Oh god. Remember microfiche catalogs? Searching for shit on those things was fun. No, not really. Funny enough, the industry I work in, occasionally I run into scans of microfiche slides. They are so bad.
I agree we had our chance. We also had a chance to make everyone’s lives better, and let greed control everything. Well, not we, as in you and me, but the collective we.
I loved microfiche, mostly because my AuDHD brain adores rabbit holes. ;) It was not conducive to efficiency tho.
One thing that has always annoyed me is that the hippie generation (a few years older than I am) are the ones who now lead and control Western nations, and one would not be wrong in thinking they could (and should) have changed things for the better, but instead sold out to THE MAN they fought so hard against. :'(
From what I understand, the only reason we were able to correct the hole in the ozone layer is because the alternative to CFCs (the aerosal propellant or whatever, that was mainly responsible for the hole) was cheaper.
The only way we have (or have ever had) a chance against these large scale problems is when the interests line up with profit-motive. If they don’t, like the past 3+ decades of climate change, we’re fucked.
It wasn’t cheaper to switch it was just forced on everyone.
It’s like aqueous based cleaners/paints. They don’t work nearly as well as the old stuff, but in CA we don’t have any choice. Shit, for some inexplicable reason, CA outlawed mineral spirits. I still don’t understand why. It’s probably one of the dumbest things they could have banned.
The current issue is that the US government has no interest in stopping climate change. They have plenty of financial interest in letting huge businesses do fuck all they want, and in the process fuck over everyone and the environment/planet. Plus they are all so close to one foot in the grave who gives a shit if the world is on fire, they are going to be dead soon anyhow, and fuck everyone else. They got PAID
It wasn’t that it was cheaper. If it was cheaper they would have already been using it and they weren’t. What happened with the CFCs was actually a concerted effort banning them in products across multiple governments. The industries basically just figured their shit out due to nessesity.
Nessesity breeds invention. Convenience just strands the matter at the bottom of the to do list.
My country has started phasing out things like hydrogenated oils in foods due to health concerns and single use plastics. The market is given a hard deadline in advance - adapt or die… and they do.
Next on the chopping block are single use plastic take out containers meaning that infrastructure is being developed right NOW to make reusable, resterilizable and cyclable metal containers because the deadline isn’t going to change. The industry won’t let go of the market of people wanting food delivered… So they will change the culture and the infrastructure and there are just as many jobs to be had. Gas powered cars are on the chopping block for 2035. No new vehicles will be sold so they are making the infrastructure changes now and a lot of consumers are already being influenced by that knowledge.
People forget that capitalism isn’t the answer to everything. The market will always hurt people because if they can scrape a buck out of something that bleeds they will. What stops us from being flooded by inferior products that can harm you, dangerous working conditions that can kill you and exploitative practices that rob you of your time, health and freedom is governments. Collective governments like unions, municipal governments, state governments and federal governments. Instead of using those bodies as tools of control for individual citizen behaviour we should be looking at using them effectively against the forces that decide to market their crap at everyone else’s expense and leave their mess for us to clean up so they can impress their shitty investors by how much misery they can turn into cold dead cash.
That way is far too slow to combat issues that are threatening to our survival. I’m not sure that we have time to wait for the market to “adjust itself” based on changes in demand, especially when those changes aren’t very widespread and there’s a significant amount of people who don’t believe it’s even real and will go out of their way to be more harmful to the environment. It’ll take more than a couple US states banning plastic straws before they no longer become profitable, for example.
It might never happen.
Reagan had a profound impact on
reshapingkilling the American dream.
What’s the over/under on how many of those construction workers will vote Republican in 2024 anyway? Somehow Democrats trying (often imperfectly) to help people gets them nothing but scorn, meanwhile a Republican platform that revolves entirely around taking things away from others is super popular with the blue collar crowd.
will vote Republican in 2024 anyway
That’s fine, I think they should be paid more, and unlike them my politics isn’t motivated primarily by ruining my political enemies
I 100% agree that giving them fair wages shouldn’t buy their vote. I’m disheartened that they will never question their vote for the party who took them away in the 80s and will do it again if they can.
To clarify - I don’t think self-interest should be the only deciding factor in a vote, but it should at least penetrate as a factor. Logically, some of these folks would go “wow, thanks Biden, maybe Dems aren’t anti- middle class after all” - but in reality, I’m not holding my breath.
Yeah I mean my view is we’re gonna drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century because we can’t let them drag us back to the 13th
I fear to late for that. 99% of Republicans and their voting base are desperately wanting to take us back and want zero progress. And they are winning.
The Ohio vote yesterday gave me some hope at least
Some hope lets hope it spreads.
It’s just an unfortunate state of affairs
When they get this pay boost, their employer and whatever state they’re working in will take credit. Democrats are terrible and messaging to it’s almost certain that no one will ever tell them that Biden did it.
It’s not as bad as people think. There are large numbers of black and Latino construction workers who aren’t on board with Republican politics at all. My union is nearly a third Latino and they tend to be some of the most involved in organizing and activism. Also worth saying that less than half of the white guys are conservatives.
That’s all well and good, but keep in mind that only ~11% or so of employees in the US are union. So I’m not sure how representative your experience is of the working population in general.
Unfortunately, GOP has cornered the market on “manliness,” and I think construction workers want that more than money.
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You are correct, but the macho maga crowd sees that stuff as weakness and would rather compete to be the biggest asshole.
It’s sad that people have forgotten the democrats used to be the blue collar party. Trump v. Clinton really reshaped this.
The real question is: Why didn’t Obama or Bill Clinton do this?
Is that really the real question though? Seems like it is the “real question” if you want to continually push the “both sides” narrative, instead of actually acknowledging good policies when they are implemented.
I trust Obama to do what is right. If he didn’t do this over the course of 8 years, he had to have had a reason. We do NOT want to wind up like the MAGA-heads thinking anything that the president does has to be good, just because he is the one doing it.
1980 was 40 years ago. Biden probably is unaware of this.
We need to get rid of these geriatric politicians.
1980 was 40 years ago. Biden probably is unaware of this.
You mean he’s younger than 40?
We need to get rid of these geriatric politicians.
40 is too old?
Is there any context for you pointing out that 1980 was 43 years ago? I didn’t see any mention of him claiming differently in the article.
Yes
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Oh no, implementing useful policies for votes, how dare they do that in a democracy?
I don’t think how much his strike busting on the railroad workers cost him in terms of votes. If he had some that and then worked towards correcting it in any form, you know, like mandating at least a few of their demands into law it could have been forgiven. Instead, the essential cogs that keep the economy rolling have been told (again) to shut the hell up and get back to work.
This election like many others in recent history is going to suck. I wouldn’t be surprised if Biden loses due to low voter turnout.
Looks to me like he is busting unions and then giving crumbs to a few workers, saying look here I support labor. And then busting more unions while he says it.
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Unpopular opinion: we should lower the deficit now when the interest rates are higher, before increasing wages to federal contractors
