Some talking head said recently that concerns about partisanship in Washington were overblown, as there seemed to be nothing but bipartisanship going on. I confess, I am having some difficulty in telling the difference between the two major parties in America. The Democrats try to talk a slightly left line but continue to push to the right by caving to every whiny Republican demand. And the Republicans continue to seek anti-working class legislation while catering to the angry, racist populism of the far right (e.g. tea parties, libertarians, militia, etc.)
And let us be clear, it is anti-working class legislation. Governor John Kasich of Ohio this week argued that because (in his opinion) Bob Evan’s workers had “shabby benefits”, it only made sense that Ohio public employees pay more for their healthcare and pension. He said, “…it’s fairness.” It is just about fairness, brethren and sistren. It isn’t fair for some people to have better benefits than other people, so we should strip down the benefits of those that have better to bring them more in line with the people that have worse.
This is some sort of bizarro-world, looking-glass capitalism going on here. I’m sure if you asked Mr. Kasich (or the Koch brothers, or Scott Walker), he would argue for the importance of the free market in setting prices and wages, and would be forced to admit Bob Evan’s retirement and health benefits packages were probably exactly where Bob Evan’s wants them to be in terms of costs and also retaining the right people for the employment they have available. If another corporation can offer better compensation and benefits at lower cost, and thereby attract better employees and more loyalty, than that is just how the system works.
Except we all know that the capitalist shell game does not care about individual people, unless those individual people are giant corporations (who by the way, under the law, are people). Bob Evan’s (and pretty much most every other company) will always seek the highest profits first, which means that they will always seek to pay the absolute minimum that they can in compensation in benefits, while still being able to retain the employment that they want.
I mean, what if Kasich had chosen Wal-Mart to pick on. Most Wal-Mart employees make little better than minimum wage, and as of a few years ago, many had to go on state subsidized Medicaid for healthcare because Wal-Mart did not offer them benefits and they simply did not make enough to afford healthcare otherwise. Mr. Kasich, Wal-Mart offers shoddy benefits as well. Maybe the state employees should bump down to that level, you know, just to be fair to the 51,360 Wal-Mart employees in the state? You know, because we should always be shooting for that lowest common denominator.
But Mr. Kasich knows, and I know, that the point is not fairness (shocker!!). The point is chipping away at solidarity, and finding ways for more of people’s income to flow directly toward corporations. The point is to eventually move people away from conservative retirement options like pensions into riskier (and therefore more lucrative to Wall Street) options like 401K’s. You know, let the people be able to mess with their money. They will be more likely to choose a more volatile mix for their funds, and therefore, more likely to lose it when the market crashes again.
There is a class war going on in this country. The rich and powerful are fighting it, but they don’t want you to think it is happening. They are attacking before dawn, under the cover of darkness, and get awfully mad when you say it looks like a class war. they call that irresponsible or unhelpful. All they are trying to do is make things fair, they say, bring costs into line, save something for the future. Keep in mind, dear reader, that men like Mr. Kasich, Scott Walker, and a whole host of other leaders in this country, care an awful lot about making sure the poor are equally and fairly poor across the board.
Looking-glass capitalism says things like, we need to reduce benefits to make things fair along the lowest strata of society, but a rich person is just a rugged individualist who has managed to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. They deserve all the money that we can hand them. But these big government programs that help poor and disabled people, these unions of working-class people who have negotiated their benefits together, these things are unfair and need to be changed. It is unfair to tax a billionaire who can pay for his health care out of pocket, and it is unfair to help pay for benefits for people who cannot afford to pay a dime. Looking-glass capitalism says, “Screw actual market dynamics, lets just take from the poor to give to the rich.”
And it was ever thus, so fight the fuck back, because that is the only reason we ever got benefits in the first place. It was the impetus behind our revolution against England, and it will be our impetus in the coming class wars. You can sit back and let them take and take and take and harvest mortgage off the future of your grandchildren, or you can get mad now and see where that gets you. Find a better definition of fair. Elect a governor who wants to bring everyone up to a certain level, not one that wants to make sure people are brought down to a certain level. Tell the government to readjust their priorities, raise taxes on the wealthy and do something to remove the noose of healthcare costs from around the neck of the American people, before our country is driven into the ground. Tell the government that they aren’t going to find those solutions by nickel-and-diming poor people, but by reducing the income disparity to more manageable levels. Find a way to fight back before you lose it all to some rich fuck in a McMansion in the suburbs.
