There is little doubt that Republicans will do
anything to increase the profits of their corporate masters, even if it
means deliberately killing jobs and sending more Americans into the
ranks of poverty. It is just what Republicans do, and this week Trump revealed one of the Republican cabal’s tactics to increase income inequality,
kill jobs, and force more Americans to work for poverty wages. Trump’s
revelation comes on the heels of a new report by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) that explained why there is such crushing income
inequality in the U.S., and how to combat it with great effect. It is
likely that, unbeknownst to them, the IMF also explained why Republicans
attack labor unions with such venom and why they work tirelessly to
keep wages in America so despicably low for tens-of-millions of
hardworking and highly-productive American workers.
Trump may not have realized he was revealing
what may be the most dastardly Republican cabal-corporate tactic to force Americans
to work for poverty wages. When shrub-Republicans crashed the economy in
the Great Recession and killed tens-of-millions of Americans’ jobs,
corporations and businesses did not hire new workers, patiently waited
for President Obama’s economic recovery, and then hired desperate
workers for poverty wages. Now, according to Republicans and corporate
bosses the Kochs, it is the American workforce, specifically those
earning decent wages such as Detroit autoworkers, that is destroying
business profits; because their wages are just too extravagant.
Using that argument, Trump proffered a
typically Republican plan to help the big three automakers increase
their profits without moving their manufacturing operations out of
country to pay less-than-poverty wages in Mexico. Trump
said
U.S. automakers should shift production away from Michigan to other
American communities where autoworkers would make minimum wage, receive
no benefits, and sink into poverty. It is a “
destroy jobs and starve workers” until they are willing to work for slave wages plot so typical of corporatist Republicans. He said, “
You
can go to different parts of the United States and then ultimately
you’d do full-circle — you’ll come back to Michigan because those guys
are going to desperately want their jobs back; even if it is earning
less. We can do the rotation in the United States — it doesn’t have to
be in Mexico. After Michigan loses a few plants, all of sudden you’ll
make good deals in your own area.” Good deals in Republican
corporate-speak means hiring unemployed auto workers desperate for a job
to work for poverty wages and no employee benefits. This is exactly how
corporations have thrived after the Great Recession and President
Obama’s recovery gained steam and why the income gap continues widening.
As is typical, there is one major problem with Trump’s Republican cabal-corporatist “plan;”
auto workers will make the same union wages wherever they build
automobiles in the United States according to the labor contract
negotiated between their union and domestic automakers. That is the
beauty of being a unionized auto worker in America; “Although wages
are lower at non-union U.S. plants owned by foreign automakers, hourly
employees for Detroit’s Big Three are paid the same no matter what state
they’re in, under the terms of United Auto Workers contracts.”
Obviously Trump was unaware of that fact or he would have said what
Republicans typically say about labor unions; unless Republicans attack
them like they are ISIL and condemn them as terrorist Nazis, America is
going to perish.
There is a reason Republicans go to great lengths to
destroy unions and keep wages at poverty levels; it is the best way to
increase income inequality and raise the top one percent’s share of
income. That was an “
unbelievably startling revelation” in a recent
report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that stated; “
the
decline in unionization is related to the rise of top income shares and
less redistribution, while the erosion of minimum wages is correlated
with considerable increases in overall inequality.” Not only is the
IMF stating the obvious and something any non-Republican with a
pea-brain comprehends, the organization described the economic policy
and goal of corporatist Republicans and their funding mechanism the Koch
brothers.
According to Inequality and Labor Market Institutions, “
a
steep decline in union density is followed by a 8% increase of top
incomes and a 3% decline for workers’ share; if de-unionization weakens
earnings for middle- and low-income workers, this necessarily increases
the income share of corporate owners, CEOs, and shareholders.”
According to an economist and co-author of the report, Florence Jaumotte, “
declining
union strength is associated with less income redistribution, likely
through a reduced influence of unions on public policy benefitting the
labor force.” The report also revealed what Republicans deny religiously; it is a well-established fact that “
Unions help raise wages, both for organized labor members and the community at large;” what semi-intelligent human beings recognize as one of the greatest benefits of a strong labor movement; “
prevailing wage.”
Although the IMF has never been a champion for anyone other than big
business, it did readily acknowledge that its findings proved that “
higher unionization and higher minimum wages help reduce inequality.”
It is something that Republicans and their corporate masters are well
aware of and why they so stridently oppose labor unions and higher
minimum wages.
The IMF study also noted that any country that
actually supports shared prosperity among all its citizens will enable
their workers to form unions and ensure a living wage for all.
Obviously, with the Koch brothers controlling Congress and the Supreme
Court, as well as half the state legislatures in the nation, the concept
of “shared prosperity” is an abomination which is why there is
a robust Republican war against workers forming unions or a living wage
for all Americans. It is also why the big three auto makers are
considering moving their production facilities to Mexico, and why Donald
Trump thought he came up with a brilliant plan to save automakers money
by simply moving their production plants to Republican states with
‘right to work’ for less laws and poverty wages instead of Mexico; then
moving back to Michigan to hire desperate auto workers for low wages.
Trump’s plan is closely related to the tactics
Romney’s company, Bain Capital, employed on a regular basis; buy
a company, fire all the workers, and hire the workforce back at minimum
wage and prohibit them from organizing with union representation. Many
Americans just cannot comprehend why after the economy is recovering,
all the proceeds have flowed directly to the top while the poor and
middle class continue steadily losing ground. After the 2008 Republican
crash, corporations and big business simply waited until out of work
Americans became desperate for any kind of job and would work for
minimum wage; a minimum wage Republicans refuse to raise because their
only regard is, as the IMF reported, “a steady rise of top income shares and less redistribution” to permanently “increase overall income inequality” to benefit the rich.
It
is tragic that the media finds an abundance of time reporting Trump’s every utterance but ignores his typical Republican plan to
increase income inequality; even if it means destroying jobs. It may be
the only time that a Republican blatantly admits that the Republican cabal supports
tactics that purposely kills jobs, and unions, to increase poverty for
the masses and wealth for the richest one percent even though there are
some Americans who understand that is the only economic policy any
Republican supports.