Scroll down for the GE CEO Jefferey Immelt interviews.
I’m sure most of you have at least once made a picture by connecting the dots. Perhaps at first the object was unclear, but as you drew lines from number to number, it was revealed. The numbers to be connected were sometimes far from one another but in the end that jumble made sense.
I think that understanding what is going on politically in the United States today requires connecting the dots of some very disparate things. If you get it right, it makes sense. The final picture, though, can be quite ugly.
Here’s what I mean. Suppose the “dots” to be connected are the Republican Party, the Tea Party, The Progressives, corporate America, General Electric, CNBC, Keith Olbermann, Barack Obama and the midterm election.
Before the President left on his trip to India, he sat for an interview with Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes.” The Democratic Party had suffered some major losses in the midterm election, and the President seemed chastised. In the interview, in a press conference, and in a White House meeting President Obama vowed to find areas of compromise with the Republicans as they take majority control of the House of Representatives. This determination was despite the fact that the Republican leaders publicly stated that they would not compromise. The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, even stated that his top priority was to make Barack Obama a one-term President.
Missing from the comments and interviews was the subject of the outsourcing of jobs, something foremost on the minds of the American people. India, of course, has been the recipient of the outsourcing of American jobs. Republicans have blocked every effort to reward companies who provide American jobs. President Obama has spoken against outsourcing. Big business is in favor of outsourcing, and the Tea Party, with the encouragement of the spin masters, sided with the Republicans and against their own interests.
Now we have connected the Republicans, Barack Obama, the Tea Party, and the trip to India.
On his trip to India, the President mentioned jobs outsourced to India, declaring it to be a good thing. He said that Americans held old stereotypes about India and that these notions would have to change. Our relationship with India, the President said, is a “win-win.” This change in the President’s attitude sent shockwaves throughout the Progressive community.
The “picture” is becoming clearer.
During this time, NBC Universal suspended Keith Olbermann of MSNBC for contributions he had made to 3 Democrats. Remember that General Electric owns NBC and Comcast is in the process of purchasing a controlling share of NBC Universal which owns MSNBC. Keith Olbermann is a commentator with a Liberal perspective. The corporate ownership is not at all Liberal.
Now I have two more dots that need connecting, but I am confident that you can take it from here.
Dot:
Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman & CEO, GE, in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan, said the US president’s visit to India would be a game changer for both countries and that he saw it as a win-win situation on both sides, if they played their cards right.
Next decade to be fantastic for GE in India: Jeff Immelt
Dot:
GE will grow in India
Get the picture?
If you can't commit to researching all of the above, this BBC video with G.E. CEO Jeff Immelt ought to be an eye-opener.
If that's too much for you, consider listening to the question and answer at 9:08: British interviewer asks, Is there any way of Britain and America fighting back without an extended period of millions and millions of British and Americans effectively being poorer as we make this adjustment? The answer is all too clear:
Finally, Franklin Roosevelt found himself in much the same circumstances in 1934. He had this to say about management, labor, and unemployment:
©2010
The Massachusetts Observer
Brent, I read your article last night, and not having the political knowledge you possess, tried to do your dot to dot page. The picture I get is confusing and in many ways sad. This is what I see:
ReplyDeleteAs company men, who receive highly obscene wages, as does Jeff Immelt, are spouting phrases like "...making people adaptable...," as they flitter from country to country with their money suction machines in tow, "earning their livings," in our country President Obama seems to be, at this contentious halfway point in his frist term as President, reading the the first verse of the Serenity prayer:
"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."
The burden put on his shoulders is staggeringly heavy. George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton promoted and saw to it that the GATT was passed, which, of course, lead to jobs going overseas. Then came 911, and the next administration got us into two wars. We now have practically no industry, huge wartime expenditures, an aging population, unbearably costly personal and family health insurance costs, houses not worth the price that was paid for them, and big money men laughing all the way to the bank.
The take-over began long ago, and this country was not only late putting on the brakes as it slid into the ditch, we have people trying to pull it further into the ditch, where they may try to salvage what parts of it they can use for themselves.
Those who pick the ripest fruits all over the world care little what bitter fruit they leave for others.
Like Cinderella's mother and ugly step-sisters would do, they would have us do their bidding and let us scramble for scraps.
We need to stand tough and deal with our times. Finding our way is long and hard. I appreciate the thought and hard work done by this President, and pray that we all find our way, and that our children can someday find a path to the American Dream we want so much for them to live. How would FDR attempt to handle this situation, today? I don't know...
Maple Leaf,
ReplyDeleteI will have to watch closely to see what happens. Now that the Obama administration is at least contemplating extending the tax cuts for the very rich adding billions to the deficit, it feels as though the President is giving up again.
Brent,
ReplyDeleteIf those tax cuts for the very rich get extended and there is unfavorable movement on Social Security and Medicare as Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles are suggesting, I will be very unhappy. For now, I shall be stubbornly hopeful that these things will not happen. Good Luck to us all!
Well said, Maple Leaf. Yes, connecting the dots lead us to an desperate and unhappy future. I told my cousin that we were living in a fading empire on a dying planet. It's excruciating to watch Obama compromising with our corporate overlords. Doesn't it seem time (or past time) for all progressives to take a strong stance, to draw the line in the sand? No compromise with injustice, no more selling us down the road! No compromise with the teaparty madness. What happened to the enlightenment principals upon which this country was founded?
ReplyDeleteI feel sad, but also I feel like fighting. This is when we need non-violent, non-cooperation! Where are the demonstrations? The protests? The action?
Relentless covert propaganda has put American into a weird trance.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteIt is, as you say, excruciating to watch compromises with the "right."
As if we got our heads caught between the spindles on the back of wooden chairs without realizing what we were doing at the time, we wonder how such a dumb thing could happen.
Did we allow someone to put us in that position? Were we forced to do it to ourselves? Did we believe someone who told us we might "win a prize," if we did something this crazy and unthinkable? Were we brainwashed to think that only those submissive persons with their heads caught in the backs of their chairs would be saved from "evil doers?" Do the strong-armed masters who helped get us into this mess water the spindles to keep them swollen and make the spaces between them tighter?
Whatever happened, we are still trying to find enough wiggle room to get out of that which we have gotten into. What is the safest and most logical way to, as close as we can, get back our way of life? Sometimes it seems like we have no choice but to make nice with those we consider to be more powerful. Sometimes we think, "Hell, NO! We will not give in!" And sometimes it seems that if eventually enough of us are living and dying with our heads caught in those chairs, there won't be enough people, still able to move semi-freely, strong enough, and still willing to work for the masters...
You would think that "they" would soon begin to understand that workers with their heads in stanchions cannot and will not be productive, even if you set them free, and still hold their brothers.
Are we stuck until the "unstanchioned" begin to die off and they need to allow some of us to take their places? Can we maneuver our chairs into position to get to the tools that we may use to free ourselves and finally stand tall as we confront them and refuse to compromise any longer? Can we do it? Will we do it? Are we strong enough? I think we can - I think we can - I think we can.
We need to think smart, be smart, act smart... but be more stubborn than our donkey mascot and out-sly the fox and his big old "saggy baggy elephant" friends.
Anonymous wrote:
ReplyDelete"I feel sad, but also I feel like fighting. This is when we need non-violent, non-cooperation! Where are the demonstrations? The protests? The action?"
Does anyone have any idea at this point what we can non-violently not cooperate with? Any ideas for a meaningful movement that us older folk can join? Something that would shine a light on the fact that so many working people are feeling hopeless and cannot provide enough for their families and themselves? Something that would force the hands of those piling up the money to pay their workers a meaningful wage for their labors? Something that would make people realize that we all deserve to have good health care, a roof over our heads, heat, food and clothing without having to beg for it? Something that would make people feel guilty about the fact that though slavery supposedly ended long ago in this county, all that really happened is that slavery took on another form?
Something that would make people really think about the truthfulness of what they are being told by some in the media? Any suggestions? I guess that basically we need a way to just plain make people think!