Links are collected at the end of the post.
I’m curious about the lack of regard for socialism among readers of the newsletter. I’d guess a handful of you have taken a look at Jacobin1 or Dissent,2 or the Democratic Socialists of America mission statement,3 and I think one person may have subscribed to Dissent.
Given the fecklessness and precarious access to power of the Democrats, and the various crises closing in on us at speed, to me any loyalty to Democrats looks like the fondness of tradition or the sunk cost fallacy or both. They’re not meeting the moment because they’re incapable of it.
Socialism, if enacted in whole or any significant part, at least offers a possibility of palliative care, and a fair deal for workers and those of us at the bottom of the heap, as the nation struggles to deal with climate change, climate change refugees and whatever social and political crises arise or accelerate.
So whence the resistance? If anybody feels like telling me what they’re thinking, I’d welcome the comments.
Meanwhile, the labor department has proposed a new rule that could help millions of gig workers at companies like Lyft and Uber and other contract labor win the benefits of direct employs.
“This is a long-awaited determination that will empower essential workers to assert their basic wage and hour, health and safety, and compensation rights,” Patricia Campos-Medina, who directs the Worker Institute at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, told The Washington Post. “All workers are entitled to these rights, but employers easily avoid them by making arbitrary decisions on independent contractor rules.”
Corporations in the gig economy have saddled their business models on paying their workers as little as possible, with companies like Amazon and DoorDash going as far as to steal workers’ tips. These corporations are desperate to keep the status quo for gig workers; in California, gig companies spent over $200 million on their campaign to pass Prop 22 in 2020, a ruling that allowed them to keep workers from accessing employee benefits.
It’s a proposed rule which could change before it’s finalized, or get killed altogether — as noted in the story, powerful moneyed interests are opposed, and because it’s a rule rather than a legislated standard, it can be overturned by the next person — but it’s a start.
Colorized photos of turn-of-the-century Russia and environs.4
Michael Hobbes writing on “Moral Panic Journalism” is about a year old but it’s timeless.5 He nods to incidents like the woman who was badly burned by McDonald’s coffee and then scoffed at for recovering damages, but his focus here is how the left — “left” according to the right, which means left of Reagan — is excoriated for intolerance.
Pollster Stanley Greenberg writes in The American Prospect that Democratic chances in the midterms and beyond lie in recognizing the peril working families are in.6
Democrats began in a hole when the Progressive Caucus and Sen. Joe Manchin said “no” in negotiations, weakening President Biden. But then that all changed just before the August recess as Congress passed the PACT Act to aid burn-pit veterans, the CHIPS and Science Act to regain U.S. leadership and domestic manufacturing in key industries, and then to everyone’s surprise, the Inflation Reduction Act.
All of this changed the perceptions since July of which party is better on key issues. And these changes are not at all small. The biggest gains for Democrats were on “encouraging extremists,” “doing what they say” and “getting things done,” “the economy,” and most important, “helping with the cost of living.” The last is, by far, the most pressing issue for the country.
Greenberg is a homer, but he has previously recognized how the Obama administration’s neglect of people in favor of banks gave Trump the opening he needed to pry away enough working class and low-income voters to win, sort of.
This is also from last year, but still relevant with police murders continuing unabated in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests. Hamilton Nolan, writing for In These Times, looks at how the AFL-CIO has quietly embraced police unions as a mechanism for reform, rather than expelling them from the labor organization as many member unions called for.7
“Rumor in Casa” from the Kings of Oblivion started off the morning composition on a slightly plaintive note, which seems appropriate. Neutral Milk Hotel’s final album, “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” has done for me.
That, comrades, is all I got. Take care, be well, and regard the comments section as an ideal repository for your darkest secrets.
You should perhaps consider that in some cases you're preaching to the choir. Also consider that some of your readers may believe that they're in a vocation or location where having one's named linked with socialism might be dangerous. Even on a semi-obscure internet forum.
Where were you in 2008? I was busy working out-of-state in upstate New York because I could not find work in Michigan even with a Masters and a black belt in LSS. I spent three years there and moved on to Mansfield Ohio. The prison nearby was used for filming "The Shawshank Redemption." Scenes were done on Mansfield city streets. I was not there then. I returned home after 4+years working out of state.
Fast forward to 2020. Pandemic hits and the country shuts down again. Instead of Dems feeding us a weak tea, we get massive amounts of money in comparison to what we got in 2008. Up to 250% of FPL, people were able to obtain healthcare insurance for far less money. Medicaid was expanded allowing million more people to have healthcare. Subsides go to parents for each of their children besides checks to families and others.
Yes, I am aware of it and still write about.
People are whining about the cost of a gallon of gasoline which is still cheaper than what it was in 2008 if we consider inflation. Supply chains are still screwed up like 2008 (chips, I was chasing chips back then) and companies are rent taking.
Do I like Biden? Not especially. Since 1990, he has been screwing over people holding student loans. in 2020. But he did what wasn't done in 2008, in 2020. People do not realize what they got besides inflation and a soon to be recession early next year blamed on wages. If you have no money, you can not buy anything . . .
I am already retired now and Repubs are trying to kill SS. For a dollar a week more it could be fixed so as not to require reductions. The plan was proven to work and agreed to by SS administration. Thats another story for a different day.