this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
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I'm not going to say most Democrats aren't capitalists and in corporations' pockets. But one party got ACA passed and tried to get some student loan forgiveness passed. Along with a whole number of different laws passed for worker protections and similar over the last few years.
On the other hand, Republicans have Trump who tried to pass Schedule F for government workers which would have taken us back to the spoils system where Presidents hand out government appointments, jobs and ambassadorships as rewards for loyalty. FYI we got rid of this system after it directly caused President Garfield's assassination. That's just one of many anti-worker, anti-poor, and anti-people reforms the last Republican president tried to accomplish. We don't even need to touch the entire Republican party's fascination with stripped rights away from women and trans people.
Both sides is bullshit.
The post is about the core policies of both parties being to shit all over the worker while enriching the capitalist class. It's important to weigh the bad things that Republicans do against the good things that the Democrats don't do. Why has the federal minimum wage not increased from 7.25/h since the year 2009 despite Democratic legislative majorities? Why did the DNC prop up Hillary, quite possibly the most unelectable candidate in American history, When Bernie had such obvious grassroots support? What have the Democrats done to stop massive hedge funds like BlackRock from buying up all the single family homes so they can rent them to workers essentially creating a slave state? Oh great the average worker is never going to be able to afford their own home in their lifetime but at least our Democratic overlords are making sure employers can't be racist and students who made bad financial decisions are getting bailed out. Speaking of being bailed out, Democrats certainly didn't stop the bank bailout of 2008. Guess the party of the people thinks they should pay for the mistakes of the 1%.
Both sides completely throw the worker under the bus.
In 2003 I was working as a Master Control Operator for a local television station. This was complicated work and legalese work. We had to legally sign off on what commercials were being aired, while also doing the job of actually airing them on time, and recording shows from satellite so we could air them. We had to sign off on this legally to prove to the companies that had paid for the ads that they were running when and how long they were supposed to. I literally answered to the FCC and could be fined massive amounts and/or jailed if I screwed up too badly.
I was being paid the Federal Minimum of $5.15 an hour at the time. It hasn't gotten better. Even complex technical work has been completely devalued.
You're right. accounting for inflation 5.15 in 2003 would be worth 8.45 in 2023 dollars. That's a 16.5% loss of purchasing power. That's before you account for the soaring mortgage/rent rates. But young people are just lazy these days...
It gets "better." Back then, MCO's were only expected to do Master Control for one television station, because that's all the technology could handle at the time. Each local station had their own Master Control division.
All those got chopped up with technology around the time they switched from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting. Now an MCO handles up to 15 stations at one time. Half the local stations lost their Master Control offices, and soon, their local news with it.
For example, the station I used to work at no longer functionally exists. They only exist as one reporter and one production assistant in a tiny block inside of a strip mall. They do "cut-ins" for the "local news" that airs from their "sister station" over 200 miles and over 3 hour drive away. Screams "local" to me. What a joke.
So now MCO's can get paid minimum wage with 15x the labor to do!