NAME: Ira Grupper
EMAIL: irag@iglou.com
DATE: 08/01/2008

TITLE: Some capitalists opposing others—yes, times are hard

LABOR PAEANS—June 2008
by Ira Grupper
(published by FORsooth, newspaper of Louisville, Kentucky chapter of F.O.R. [Fellowship of Reconciliation] )

Some capitalists opposing others—yes, times are hard

Once upon a time there were big companies that profited from making weapons of war, and they were proponents of war. Then there were capitalists who made their fortunes from non-war making industry, like Cyrus Eaton, the enlightened billionaire industrialist who created the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, and was a critic of United States foreign and military policies during the Cold War (even if he had worshipped at the feet of John D. Rockefeller).

Big capital accumulators nowadays, like GE, make their money from peace as well as war manufacturing, from washing machines as well as missile components. So, there is not that big split in the ruling class any more. Or is there?

Northwest Airlines issued on July 10 “An Open letter to All Airline Customers,” in which it states: “Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now.” It lists a website entitled “Stop Oil Speculation Now.” We don’t make this stuff up, y’all.

Our environmental champion continues: “For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers.”

Read on, ye of little faith: “Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously (undermined).”

Well, we’re scratching our heads, thinking about the time, a few years ago, when Northwest declared bankruptcy, and got the bankruptcy judge to allow the company to slash its union retirees’ pensions (it is now out of bankruptcy).

To continue with this company epiphany: “Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known...”

The letter was signed not just by Northwest Airlines, but also by a gaggle of other airlines as well. So, now we know: the airline industry has gone green, opposes manipulation of “normal” market forces, and wants to expose oil speculators. Well, shut my mouth—and I done thought leopards couldn’t change their spots.

Ah, but leopards cannot. Nor can the expropriators of our labor power. These airlines’ collective ox is being gored, and they see another sector of the ruling class, Big Oil, as currently doing the goring. Seems like a gory mess to me, when thieves fall out. But, hark, one need not worry. Northwest will be laying off 2,500 workers. Now, that’s a great solution.

These soon-to-be unemployed workers could soon join the millions of others facing mortgage foreclosure and other unplanned-economy-perks. Did you know, by the way, that house-sellers outnumber purchasers by 15 to 1 (Financial Times 6.22.08)?

The plot thickens, as the two biggest mortgage guarantors, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are in deep financial doo-doo. Again, don’t worry, be happy. U.S.Treasury Secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., is coming to the rescue: “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play a central role in our housing finance system and must continue to do so in their current form as shareholder-owned companies. Their support for the housing market is particularly important as we work through the current housing correction.”

A few days later, on July 15, the N.Y. Times gives some background: “The warnings of a potential systemic failure led to the resulting rescue package, and one of the most striking — though unspoken — regulatory shifts in modern times. For decades, Treasury secretaries and Federal Reserve chairmen have insisted that the government did not stand behind the debt of Fannie and Freddie. But the safety net Mr. Paulson announced on Sunday sends the opposite message: that the government is determined not to let either one fail.”

Why? Same article: “The Bush administration hastily arranged the dramatic…rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after Wall Street executives and foreign central bankers told Washington that any further erosion of confidence could have a cascading effect around the world, officials said…”.

But these two companies are private for-profits, and what business does U.S. taxpayer money have in bailing out private profiteers? And what about surplus-value-hoarders Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and JP Morgan Chase, all tottering on the precipice of unplanned-economy meltdown? Well, why shouldn’t we bail out the big owners? We did it for Chrysler Corp. many years ago.

As folk singer Tom Paxton put it back then: “Since the first amphibians crawled out of the slime/We've been struggling in an unrelenting climb/We were hardly up and walking before money started talking/And it's sad that failure is an awful crime/Well it's been that way for a millenium or two/But now it seems that there's a different point of view/If you're a corporate titanic and your failure is gigantic/Down in congress there's a safety net for you.”

And here is Tom’s chorus: “I am changing my name to Chrysler/I am going down to Washington D.C./I will tell some power broker/What they did for Iacocca/Will be perfectly acceptable to me/I am changing my name to Chrysler/I am headed for that great receiving line/So when they hand a million grand out/I'll be standing with my hand out/Yes sir I'll get mine” (Lee Iacocca was then the head of Chrysler).

Now, I have a question for Ben Bernanke (Federal Reserve chair) and Henry Paulson: will you back the good working class folk whose mortgages have already been foreclosed, and let them return to their homes? Or is it just the rich folk you help out?

It’s enough to make you sick. So, we need healthcare. The U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously adopted a resolution in June in support of single-payer national health insurance. This is the result of excellent grassroots organizing on behalf of Healthcare-NOW, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and other groups.

The mayors unanimously backed a resolution calling for the enactment of the "United States National Health Insurance Act," H.R. 676. The bill, which is also known as the "Improved and Expanded Medicare for All Act," is sponsored by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and 90 other members of Congress.

Rep. Conyers' bill would guarantee everyone care for all medically necessary services, contain costs by slashing the administrative waste and bureaucracy associated with the private insurance industry and assure patients their choice of doctor and hospital. 34 state AFL-CIO federations and 110 central labor councils support this legislation.

Our mailbag contains two letters. :

The first is from Marilyn Albert, Cleveland, Ohio, “RN/National Nurses Organizing Committee/Attendee at Labor Notes Conference in Dearborn, Michigan”: “(your) description of the storming by SEIUers (Service Employees International Union—I.G.) of the Labor Notes Conference on April 12, 2008 (May 2008 Labor Paeans—I.G.) states, ‘one worker died in the ensuing scuffle’. This is misleading. David Smith, a SEIU home care worker from Michigan, did die of a fatal heart attack which took place during or right after the SEIU people forced their way into the hotel, led by SEIU staff, but the way you describe his death might cause people to conclude that someone died of another cause and this is not true.

“…I believe the rank and file members of SEIU were manipulated into participating in the planned storming of the conference (or else why would they have brought children with them?). As a nurse, I believe the extreme stress of this action may well have precipitated David Smith's heart attack. California members of SEIU's African American caucus, AFRAM, issued a statement which strongly criticized the way in which rank and file members were used in this irresponsible action…” Sister Marilyn’s criticism/clarification is correct.

Kerry Taylor writes from Chapel Hill, North Carolina with reference to your correspondent’s presentation at State University of New York (June Labor Paeans column): “I may have misunderstood your point about steel, but if it's any help the US produces more steel than all but 2 nations in the world (China and the EU). US production has remained robust for the past 30 years or so. I'm not sure what you mean by only two remaining steel mills in the US. They are all over the country from Georgetown, South Carolina to Gary, Indiana.”

Brother Kerry needs to add Japan as the third country leading the U.S. in steel production. His bigger point, concerning the large amount of steel still being produced in the U.S., is right. However, the huge number of workers at US Steel (now called USX) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is no longer there, replaced by many small steel specialty producers. U.S. Steel’s Fairfield (Alabama) Works is still a major employer, tho the number of workers is nowhere near what it was in the 1950’s. And Buffalo, New York, can hardly still be considered a robust steel town any longer.

Contact Ira Grupper: irag@iglou.com


April, 2008 Newspaper
http://www.ccds.org/newsletters/labor_paeans_Apr08.html

March, 2007 Newspaper
http://www.ccds.org/newsletters/labor_paeans_Mar08.html

February, 2007 Newspaper
http://www.ccds.org/newsletters/labor_paeans_Feb08.html