Upon These Unions, We Built Our Middle Class

The Gilded Age (the 1880s and 1890s - which ended with a huge depression from 1893-1897) saw great wealth being concentrated in the hands of a few and gave way to the Progressive Era (1890s - 1920s). The obscene concentration of wealth that occurred in the Gilded Age resulted in both great beneficial charitable foundations and also vast corruption, and fueled the anti-trust movement and other Progressive policies.

The Progressive Era saw journalists (Muckrakers) outing corrupt politicians and sweeping reform in how government would run, applying science, technology, and expertise to the way things were done. It also saw the rise of the women's suffrage movement, prohibition, and many other significant changes in American society and government.

There was good and bad in both. Some of the ideas we kept (anti-trust laws) and some we abandoned (prohibition).

Unions have been around since the 1800s. But the first really impactful strikes did not occur until the early 20th century.

Unions really suffered in the 1920s because of great economic prosperity. But the Great Depression changed that.

In the 1930s, the federal government passed laws helping and protecting unions.

Union membership and influence continued to grow through the 20th century, arguably peaking in the late 1960s or 1970s.

The 1980s marked a the beginning of the decline in both union membership and influence. And since that time, look at what has happened to the distribution of wealth and income in the US.

"[F]rom 1980 to 2005, more than 80 percent of total increase in Americans' income went to the top 1 percent. Economic growth was more sluggish in the aughts, but the decade saw productivity increase by about 20 percent. Yet virtually none of the increase translated into wage growth at middle and lower incomes, an outcome that left many economists scratching their heads."

From The United States of Inequality, http://www.slate.com/id/2266025/entry/2266026.

Well, you know what? Stop scratching your heads. The answer is obvious. And it's not like I want a war on rich people. I want to be "rich people" (just like everyone). What I do want is (1) less poverty and (2) a stronger, richer middle class. And the only way I see those things happening is with stronger unions.

When a business negotiates wages with workers, it wants to pay as little as possible to maximize profits. Is that wealth re-distribution? You betcha! Here's why: The labor performed to produce a marketable product adds value to the product greater than the sum of its parts. That additional value in part pays wages and overhead, and in part makes a profit for the business. And there has to be some profit for the business to survive, I get that. I work for a private business that advises other private businesses how to make more profit. My objections arise when I hear whining about decreased profits while paying CEOs and executive obscene salaries and bonuses (which has been going on pretty regularly for the past 30 years).

When the profits are sufficient to create a national shift in wealth distribution to such concentrations as we are experiencing, then, my friends, there are simply too many profits, too many dividends, and not enough wages and benefits paid to workers. And the best way to change that, IMO, is stronger unions negotiating better contracts. (The other way is tax redistribution. We know how popular that is.)

Have you heard this? "My grandfather raised a family of 5 with a factory job. They bought a house, a car, and sent their kids to college." You know why that happened? Unions. You know why that doesn't happen now? Weak, crappy unions combined with a decline in factory jobs.

Unions have been maligned - called commies, Bolsheviks, unAmerican, lazy, greedy - since their inception. But they are really just organizations that permit workers to have real power in a negotiation. Corporations and governments speak with one voice. Why can't labor?

If you want to start solving some of these serious problem - wealth and income inequality, high unemployment, stagnant economy, lack of manufacturing jobs, etc. - here's what you do:

(1) Raise taxes on the top 2% of income earners about 5% and use it to try and balance the budget and reduce the deficit.

(2) Keep the other tax brackets where they are (for now). When we start to see a decline in unemployment, we need to raise taxes on people making $100,000 and above per year about 4%.

(3) Medicare for everyone. This takes the cost of health care off of American businesses and health insurance negotiations out of collective bargaining. Also, we are the only democratic republic in the world that does not provide health care for all of its citizens. It's embarrassing.

(4) Stop bashing and breaking unions. I am not advocating a labor-takeover of everything. Any organization or group can become too powerful. And there are laws and regulations in place to try and avoid that. But the corporations in this country are WAY too powerful.

(5) Reinstate the Glass-Stegall Act.

(6) Invest in (and reward investment in) alternative energy sources (not ethanol). In the last several centuries, great economic powers have been built on energy sources. When coal was the leading source, England ran the world. When it switched to oil, the US capitalized and grew to be an economic superpower. As oil dries up, we must be the leader of new energy sources or we will flail and drift.

(7) Repair and replace dangerously obsolete infrastructure - railroads, bridges, highways, tunnels, levees, airports, etc. When you update your house, it is both more enjoyable and increases in value. When we update our infrastructure, we are safer, happier, and better able to engage in reliable channels of commerce. This creates jobs in the short term and prepares us for better commerce long term.

(8) Everyone needs to put down the Ayn Rand (Stop bitching about poor people!) and read Indispensable By Monday (do your job better, bring more value to your company than you cost). Yes, it was written by my boss. I suppose I am pimping it a bit (to all 8 of you who read this). But if you take a look, you will see what I mean.

(9) Finally, we need to stop seeing everyone we disagree with as our mortal enemies. Labor needs corporations to be healthy and profitable to have jobs. And corporations need a good labor force to produce - and buy - its products.

I could go on. There are more things we could do. But if we did these things, I think we would be on the right track.