From The Final Straw Radio.

I’m on a complete communications blackout, so I have access to very limited news brought to me mostly by Walt Disney News Corporation, designed to keep all of us hypnotized and under control. But, I’ve heard bits and pieces about some events that involve McDonalds’ workers and Alabama prisoners. I don’t know the details of those situations, but why should that stop me?

I think what’s transpiring with regard to McDonalds’ workers and Alabama prisoners is monumental and signals the beginning of something big. Here’s why:

In the 1990s, large corporations took advantage of international trade deals, moving jobs to locations that gave them greater advantages. They shipped U.S. jobs to Mexico, then Mexican jobs to India, then Indian jobs to China. It was a “race to the bottom.” In fact, today, manufacturing jobs aren’t located in any one country but are, instead, in a state of constant migration. There’s now such a large pool of unemployed and desperate people in the U.S. that those jobs are circling back around on a second tour, returning at sweatshop wages. All of this was driven by a larger corporate strategy, of course, as corporations amassed more wealth that translated as more power, and the rest of us were left powerless and sleeping in our cars… if we were lucky to have a car. The corporations now hold everyone hostage, making outrageous demands for tax breaks and for subsidies, for workers to take pay cuts and give up benefits… or they’ll pack up and leave for greener pastures. Continue reading →