My dad was a union man. In his youth, he bought the Horatio Alger myth. His last Republican vote was for Herbert Hoover in his first (and only) term. With the Great Depression, his job vanished as did his faith in the free market system. He saw the struggle for unionization, and revered FDR and the Wagner Act which enabled American unionism. American unions are now moribund. We've all bought the market story that fooled folks in the 1920's. Our jobs are flowing overseas, leaving us with little to make and sell to those foreigners from whom we buy nearly all our consumer goods. Wages are falling as American workers try to compete with virtual slave labor in third world countries. We face unsustainable trade deficits and the likely collapse of the US dollar. All of this bodes ill on this Labor Day, 2008. Here is a Bill Moyers video reflecting on the current state of US labor. Have a look:
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