In a nod to labor unions, President Joe Biden is moving to boost wages for construction workers on projects paid for with federal funding, a step that would appeal to a key constituency ahead of next year’s presidential election and potentially shrink the pay gap between northern and southern states.
Reagan had a profound impact on reshaping the American dream.
What was once a foundation built on the idea of upward mobility for the poor and middle class has undergone a substantial transformation since the 80s. The emergence of an unregulated capitalist model has led to a widening wealth gap, with the affluent growing even wealthier while the middle class gradually fades.
Addressing the impending challenges, such as climate change, technological innovations, and social shifts, necessitates a strategic focus on bolstering the working class and supporting unions. These pillars are vital in fortifying our response to the multifaceted challenges that lie ahead.
And of course my grandma always used to tell me how great he was. Granted, by the time he was president, grandpa was nearing retirement so neither of them really had to deal with his bullshit in the same way most working class Americans had to. She was a sweet lady, but damn were her politics bad XD
Quite a few, but Biden is never going to do that. He's been fairly pro-drug war his entire life. The best we can really hope for from him is pausing the drug war against cannabis. And even that might be stretching things.
His son is a drug addict, he isn’t going to ever do anything that might appear to be in favor of drug use. He’s supported the war on drugs his entire career and isn’t going to stop anytime soon.
I remember when I was younger and the hole in the ozone was a big deal. We did something. Same with then I was a young kid smog was so bad that we had “smog days” (similar to snow days) where we weren’t allowed to play outside, or have recess or lunch outside. CA did something about it. There used to be a chance, but now……it’s hard to see anything under a hopeful lens.
You and I must be a similar age because I remember the hole in the ozone as well. I also remember writing an essay in grade school about pollution levels (when the library was my only resource).
Oh god. Remember microfiche catalogs? Searching for shit on those things was fun. No, not really. Funny enough, the industry I work in, occasionally I run into scans of microfiche slides. They are so bad.
I agree we had our chance. We also had a chance to make everyone’s lives better, and let greed control everything. Well, not we, as in you and me, but the collective we.
I loved microfiche, mostly because my AuDHD brain adores rabbit holes. ;) It was not conducive to efficiency tho.
One thing that has always annoyed me is that the hippie generation (a few years older than I am) are the ones who now lead and control Western nations, and one would not be wrong in thinking they could (and should) have changed things for the better, but instead sold out to THE MAN they fought so hard against. :'(
Yeah…… I always found the irony in the “peace and love” and “summer of love” generation being the ones to truly fuck us over, and being the absolute least loving and friendly people out there.
From what I understand, the only reason we were able to correct the hole in the ozone layer is because the alternative to CFCs (the aerosal propellant or whatever, that was mainly responsible for the hole) was cheaper.
The only way we have (or have ever had) a chance against these large scale problems is when the interests line up with profit-motive. If they don’t, like the past 3+ decades of climate change, we’re fucked.
It wasn’t cheaper to switch it was just forced on everyone.
It’s like aqueous based cleaners/paints. They don’t work nearly as well as the old stuff, but in CA we don’t have any choice. Shit, for some inexplicable reason, CA outlawed mineral spirits. I still don’t understand why. It’s probably one of the dumbest things they could have banned.
The current issue is that the US government has no interest in stopping climate change. They have plenty of financial interest in letting huge businesses do fuck all they want, and in the process fuck over everyone and the environment/planet. Plus they are all so close to one foot in the grave who gives a shit if the world is on fire, they are going to be dead soon anyhow, and fuck everyone else. They got PAID
It wasn’t that it was cheaper. If it was cheaper they would have already been using it and they weren’t. What happened with the CFCs was actually a concerted effort banning them in products across multiple governments. The industries basically just figured their shit out due to nessesity.
Nessesity breeds invention. Convenience just strands the matter at the bottom of the to do list.
My country has started phasing out things like hydrogenated oils in foods due to health concerns and single use plastics. The market is given a hard deadline in advance - adapt or die… and they do.
Next on the chopping block are single use plastic take out containers meaning that infrastructure is being developed right NOW to make reusable, resterilizable and cyclable metal containers because the deadline isn’t going to change. The industry won’t let go of the market of people wanting food delivered… So they will change the culture and the infrastructure and there are just as many jobs to be had. Gas powered cars are on the chopping block for 2035. No new vehicles will be sold so they are making the infrastructure changes now and a lot of consumers are already being influenced by that knowledge.
People forget that capitalism isn’t the answer to everything. The market will always hurt people because if they can scrape a buck out of something that bleeds they will. What stops us from being flooded by inferior products that can harm you, dangerous working conditions that can kill you and exploitative practices that rob you of your time, health and freedom is governments. Collective governments like unions, municipal governments, state governments and federal governments. Instead of using those bodies as tools of control for individual citizen behaviour we should be looking at using them effectively against the forces that decide to market their crap at everyone else’s expense and leave their mess for us to clean up so they can impress their shitty investors by how much misery they can turn into cold dead cash.
That way is far too slow to combat issues that are threatening to our survival. I’m not sure that we have time to wait for the market to “adjust itself” based on changes in demand, especially when those changes aren’t very widespread and there’s a significant amount of people who don’t believe it’s even real and will go out of their way to be more harmful to the environment. It’ll take more than a couple US states banning plastic straws before they no longer become profitable, for example.
The point being that it is a tactic that can be used. The US state governments are bonkers in how much power they individually have. People think it means more freedoms but it really just translates to being twice bound as though you have two warring countries determining what you are individually allowed to do and the ability to change gets held up in endless debates about federal over reach. Your federal government could and should be able to make choices like these.
But they can’t… Because of a deep underlying distrust in Federal systems being baked into the American national identity. That’s why when you hear about a Country actually making culture changes for the environment it’s never the US. The best the US Federal government has done is ban microbeads which are easily replaced with other stuff at no inconvenience to the consumer.
We are too far along to be talking about individual states.
I don’t think how much his strike busting on the railroad workers cost him in terms of votes. If he had some that and then worked towards correcting it in any form, you know, like mandating at least a few of their demands into law it could have been forgiven. Instead, the essential cogs that keep the economy rolling have been told (again) to shut the hell up and get back to work.
This election like many others in recent history is going to suck. I wouldn’t be surprised if Biden loses due to low voter turnout.
Looks to me like he is busting unions and then giving crumbs to a few workers, saying look here I support labor. And then busting more unions while he says it.
Is that really the real question though? Seems like it is the “real question” if you want to continually push the “both sides” narrative, instead of actually acknowledging good policies when they are implemented.
I trust Obama to do what is right. If he didn’t do this over the course of 8 years, he had to have had a reason. We do NOT want to wind up like the MAGA-heads thinking anything that the president does has to be good, just because he is the one doing it.
The members of those same labor unions will “reward” Biden by voting for Trump. The number of workers in the trades who are blind MAGAts is astonishing.
This move will not change that.
And it doesn’t help that Democrats will do nothing to sell this news to these people either. As always Democrats act like their accomplishments are like the 7 herbs and spices in the KFC recipe or the special formula for Coke… well hidden so no one finds out about it.
Yes, but ADVERTISE it. Sell your accomplishments because lord knows, no one else will. The news media has been actively attacking stuff that Biden has done while giving Trump one free-pass after another. The news media is not on our side. So if they won’t celebrate Democratic wins, Democrats need to, and turn it into a big deal.
Okay, but how? How are democrats supposed to pentrated the algorithmically curated propaganda feeds of the right, or otherwise get fair coverage in biased spaces? I’m all for celebrating the many good things the Biden administration has done, but I don’t know a plan to connect this information to the voters who need to be exposed to it most.
The Left loves to pretend that they are so media savvy. That they know all the trends and how to navigate the social media wilderness and what is happening out there. Clearly they don’t or else they should leverage that supposed knowledge to market their ideas to the entire nation.
In short, what should Democrats be doing? The exact OPPOSITE of what they are doing now.
Actually celebrate their wins. I know part of why they don’t is pure cluelessness - they legitimately think that average Joes will find out about these programs on their own. They don’t. Average voters have no idea of what happens in Washington.
Part of it is because Democrats are meek. God forbid they ever go on the offensive and get the media’s attention on topics.
Lastly, part of it is typical “liberal guilt”. The incredibly annoying attitude that some have that god forbid we celebrate anything good, because there might be some one else who isn’t doing so well. It brings down everyone’s mood and makes it so that Democrats are always looking to the bad side of even positive news. Biden tomorrow could announce that nuclear fussion is viable and the country will have free energy, and there will be some on the Left who will complain that fission might negatively impact the northern tree bullfrog or some other meaningless bullshit like that.
IBEW Local 26 member here. Journeyman Electrical Foreman.
Most states with strong union participation are blue states. Many red states are against unions.
I get where you are coming from, but especially considering construction workers are 3% of the workforce in America, one can’t expect my idiot coworkers to have much of an impact.
Also, Biden or Trump, I don’t care. I don’t trust any of these rich people in politics. They are all crooks, IMHO.
Don’t discount yourself or your coworkers - shifting the votes of 3% of Americans could have changed the election results of almost every presidential election since 1992 if they went from the winning candidate to the losing candidate.
The top dogs being crooks sucks, but shouldn’t mean that the only acceptable response is political apathy - not doing anything is functionally equivalent to acceptance of the status quo.
So in practice you are handing your vote to the GOP and Trump. Congratulations on having been convinced by the “apathetic” narrative into handing power over to the GOP.
The other thinks it’s important to get along with the book burners. They think the book burners are decent people who are just misguided on a few issues. They act like civil debate will solve all problems.
Big difference with Trump is that a win in 2024 will be the end of democracy in USA.
I’m not being dramatic: He’ll pardon himself for everything (as already established) and then use stacked supreme court / police / military / mob rule to prevent himself being removed again.
You’ll see a lot of Republican lawmakers take credit for this as well. I like that Biden is putting up signs for areas where the Infra law passed and made a difference.
I agree but don’t blame dems that they can’t penetrate the propaganda networks and social media spaces owned and dominated by right wingers–they are effectively closed loops at this point.
It wasn’t Republicans that sent most of the union manufacturing jobs overseas.
They can’t sell it because voters are smarter than this, ‘most pro union President ever’ busting up union strikes doesn’t pull a strong vote of confidence
‘The impetus for a North American free trade zone began with U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who made the idea part of his 1980 presidential campaign. After the signing of the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement in 1988, the administrations of U.S. president George H. W. Bush, Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney agreed to negotiate what became NAFTA’
The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement superseded by NAFTA.
You are simply saying the same thing over and over again and you're still wrong. Arguing semantics is silly at best.
The first trade agreement was signed by Reagan and Mulroney. I remember the negotiations happening and was disgusted by how Mulroney simply caved to what Reagan wanted (as many other Canadians were at the time).
The agreement never helped Canada at all. It was only good for the US exports. It didn't lower costs to us or help Canada.
This link says that 70% of CEOs are Republican and CEOs have direct control over a company’s labor force. Maximizing profits for shareholder profit is what CEOs do, and shipping jobs overseas is the easiest, and laziest, ways of doing that.
It really sucks that Democratic policies tend to have a massive impact but take a long time to produce, while conservative policies have an equally huge impact but take no time to destroy everything.
What's the over/under on how many of those construction workers will vote Republican in 2024 anyway? Somehow Democrats trying (often imperfectly) to help people gets them nothing but scorn, meanwhile a Republican platform that revolves entirely around taking things away from others is super popular with the blue collar crowd.
I 100% agree that giving them fair wages shouldn't buy their vote. I'm disheartened that they will never question their vote for the party who took them away in the 80s and will do it again if they can.
To clarify - I don't think self-interest should be the only deciding factor in a vote, but it should at least penetrate as a factor. Logically, some of these folks would go "wow, thanks Biden, maybe Dems aren't anti- middle class after all" - but in reality, I'm not holding my breath.
I fear to late for that. 99% of Republicans and their voting base are desperately wanting to take us back and want zero progress. And they are winning.
When they get this pay boost, their employer and whatever state they're working in will take credit. Democrats are terrible and messaging to it's almost certain that no one will ever tell them that Biden did it.
It’s not as bad as people think. There are large numbers of black and Latino construction workers who aren’t on board with Republican politics at all. My union is nearly a third Latino and they tend to be some of the most involved in organizing and activism. Also worth saying that less than half of the white guys are conservatives.
That’s all well and good, but keep in mind that only ~11% or so of employees in the US are union. So I’m not sure how representative your experience is of the working population in general.
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