It was once said in this once great country of ours, "What's good for General Motors is good for America".  GM at that time was the largest corporation in the World and to a great extent that saying was true. Today Wal-Mart is the largest Corporation in the World. Nobody ever says "What is good for Wal-Mart is good for America" ; because it is not true. The big difference is that GM paid good wages with good Health Benefits and retirement, Wal-Mart does not. Some will probably say that those union negoiated wages and benefits were the cause of General Motors recent troubles but i would remind them there was almost no union presence at AIG or Lehman Brothers or any other of the Wall Stree firms that tanked.  Also Toyota the new number one autoimaker is experiencing losses even though the government of Japan provides the largest portion of Toyota's health insurance cost.

 In those once great old days Organized Labor, Government and Big Business compromised the legs of a three legged stool. But then business teamed up with government under Reagan to kick the labor leg from the stool weakening labor and the government . Once that was successfully accomplished business turned their sights on the government and preached the message through corporate media that "government is bad and interferes with the "free market" and we could all be doing better if we could just get government "off our backs". Grover Norquist, a champion of this idea said, “We need to make government so small we can drown it in a bathtub". That goal was almost achieved, hence the financial meltdown in 2008 occurred because no one was watching business and no one was watching the money. As an aside I think it is interesting that every time business gets into trouble they ask the "hated government" to bail their sorry asses out.

The working middle class does not have to disappear. Any job can and should be, “a good Paying" job. There is no real reason that emptying bedpans or mucking stalls should not pay as well as selling stocks. They appear to have similar job descriptions and educational requirements.

The answer to restoring the working middle class is in returning workers to their rightful place at the table. The first step to do this is passing the "Employee Free Choice Act" or similar legislation to stop the abuse of workers trying to organize. Please call your Representative or Senator today and ask them to support the Employee Free Choice Act. 

In Solidarity,

Charlie Key