I have a 4 year degree, work in a factory, making just over minimum wage, and so many coworkers have degrees as well. I studied hard, graduated near the top of my class, for nothing. Oh well. If I didn’t have this degree, I may be jobless. It’s the same in retail, so many people I know with basic retail sales job have degrees and were jobless for months. Degrees in America usually means debt, so not only are our skills not being used, are we being paid near minimum wage wages, but we have a massive debt on our shoulders to pay off (therefore we are actually earning less). A master’s degree is the new bachelor’s, just don’t expect to find work in the field you studied nor wages that match what you may need to borrow over the course of 6+ years needed to earn that.

I’m not too thrilled (he’s considered rather tame and to the right within that party), but mildly happy. Will be an interesting week/month/year.

The unions as Baby Boomers knew them are nearly dead and no longer represent a large portion of the American working and middle class. The Baby Boomer unions were just there and protected workers. Of course it helped the economic policies in place during that time also helped keep income disparity lower.

So we’re in a position similar to where we were in the early 20th century. If we want the money that is rightfully ours for our work, we have to organize and peacefully fight for it in all ways possible, with the existing union leaders support or not. If we want jobs, we need to demand them, whether a union exists for them already or not.

The problem with relying on the union is the union can’t officially strike. They have to rely mostly on negotiating and when the unions are growing smaller and smaller and the richer have more laws and politicians on their side, that’s not good for the workers. They have to step outside the boundaries, though if there is a way we can help make up for lost pay, that would be an incredible development.

The problem we have as a whole, the vast majority of Americans who are no longer unionized, is all around us. This is one of many actions to strike back at those who have robbed us and continue to rob us, like Goldman Sachs. We cannot stay at home simply because it upsets a few union leaders, who would never really endorse such actions anyway because they can’t.

I’m surprised so many agreed to it so fast, including the Scandinavian countries. Though Sweden has been ruled by the right party for 2 elections now and Denmark only recently, and barely, went left after being ruled by their right party for a decade.

Not that it’s simply a left-right problem. There are “Euroskeptics” on both sides and the dominant parties, left and right, in Europe tend to be very much in favor of the EU. I can understand most of the other agreements, but the common currency and now giving up their fiscal sovereignty to another authority that has shown to be in favor of propping up the big banks and imposing austerity on the public, seems a bit too much.

This may, in an odd way, be good for the US. The wealthy elite may be looking over here again hoping the US can recover and pull the rest of the world out of the gutter, instead of expecting continental Europe, minus PIGS, and Scandinavia to be the new area of prosperity as it was looking like until about 6 months ago.

Even if the US does suddenly get some help in recovery, that doesn’t mean our lives will improve. When that stuff is taken away, people have to fight to get it back.

He’s full of it, but it’s a good sign the Occupy protests and related actions are having an effect. Not that they’ll make him fight for us, but he can’t pretend that America’s greatest problem is the deficit, and the answer is austerity, any longer. So, he has to admit the truth, though he will continue business as usual because he’s at best a status quo politician and at worst a manipulative, deceitful, corrupted (whatever Goldman Sachs and my bank pals want, I’ll do) blue dog Democrat. Keep up the fight, he hasn’t changed.

1. Corruption and pressure from the US and US companies like GE.
2. When nuclear power was introduced there, it was considered safer and better than dirty options like coal. Who could doubt nuclear scientists? Those guys know their shit!
3. Chernobyl showed the truth, but #1 and #2 overwhelmed their fears of that possibility and it continued. Same in Europe. The corruption is too deep. Japan is hopefully moving away from it, and Germany is as well, that still leaves a ton elsehwere in Europe and the US.

The government is making all kinds of horrible decisions and makes the (former) Soviets look far more competent at handling a nuclear disaster than a capitalist government who is more worried about affecting business or who has given up too much power to businesses.

The problem they’re going to have is the radiation spreading via people, goods, food, and weather all over Japan and elsehwere.

They should have closed off the area. Not let anyone return. Closed the farms. Made sure the animals did not get into the flood supply or wander otuside the area (they kill thousands everytime they discover a case of foot and mouth disease).

Most importantly, they shouldn’t have brought radioactive contaminated waste/trash to Tokyo to burn. WTF. That’s what’s happening now. They’re burning that shit right in Tokyo and now more and more high readings are being detected all over Tokyo, not just in the northeast.

There’s currently an ongoing exodus from Tokyo, people moving to cities further away like Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Okinawa. Tokyo-ites and those living closer to Fukushima have 2 options: completely bury their heads in the radioactive contaminated sand and pretend everything is all right because their government says so, or listen to everyone else and common sense and get the hell away if they can.

Still, since the government hasn’t closed off these contaminated farms, this shit is getting in the food supply and spreading all over Japan, perhaps even outside of it.

http://www.enenews.com/

Some shoppers who had seen the stampede said they were shocked. One of them, Kimberly Cribbs of Queens, said the crowd had acted like “savages.” Shoppers behaved badly even as the store was being cleared, she recalled.

“When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ ” Ms. Cribbs told The Associated Press. “They kept shopping.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?pagewanted=all

Societal obligations is the difference. They weren’t super-wealthy countries with a strong middle class (though still a large amount of poverty) where the large middle class got conditioned into a ritual of excessive shopping before Christmas. This conditioning doesn’t just fade away, so people are trying to live up to what they believe is supposed to be the normal ritual (giving [usually store bought electronics or toys] presents no matter how little money or how much debt you have).

Exactly. Hype up Black Friday hoping people think everything is fine, everyone else is buying shit in crazy hysteria, so they must too even if it means going deeper into debt.

Accountants and MBA “consultants”. They have to justify their services and push these shitty changes not taking at all into account employee satisfaction. Perhaps in a better economy, they’d be more reluctant, but that’s not the case, people are desperate and will do whatever they’re told to keep their work as they have almost nowhere else to go.

There’s a societal obligation to give something to those in your immediate family or significant others. If you fail to do this, it makes you feel like a failure and perhaps those who don’t get anything from you will mistakingly think you’re a grinch or are a failure as well. They may not be creative enough to think of other things they could do cheaply or are afraid the person they’re giving the gift to won’t want something simpler, hand made, but rather an electronic item or video game. Hence, we have madness on Black Friday. I think others may just enjoy the excitement, getting out of the house, maybe away from irritating relatives, and may not desperately need the savings.

I’m not sure it’s a good sign for the whole holiday season.

This shows desperation, people who barely have any money who will go through hell to get a deal on some cheap junk just so they’ll have some presents to give on Christmas. You don’t see well off looking people in these videos. Also, you won’t see this sort of desperate behavior in countries with larger middle classes. It’s not that Americans are violent, shopping fanatics. Poverty and a declining middle class turn out this result.

The other thing to factor in is the hours were moved up at many places, so people who were not previously down with camping out in the cold all night could do camping in warmer weather after their thanksgiving dinners.

This means more companies may do this, and the downward spiral continues. Nothing is sacred. The growing lower class who work in retail have no rights. They may be required to work nights, holidays, whatever. Anything to make a buck. Compare this with Europe where even Sundays are still considered holidays, even for those working in retail.

How are they bailing?

I just hope this gets resolved soon, not stretched out over 2-5 years as Roubini says could happen. It’s not only stressful for Europeans, but for much of the world.

Keep in mind who is pushing austerity. The leaders of Europe, Germany and France are under their right coalitions. Italy is and was under Berlusconi. Oddly enough, he appears left of the technocrat banking puppet the right-leaning European parliament put into place. Greece and Spain had socialists in power, but their countries were too weak to fight back by traditional means. They’d need a far left party in power to really tell them to ef off, but instead they have the believers of capitalism who just support social services, welfare, and immigration more than their right counter-parts.

Perhaps even more than the US, the reason the right is in power in many of these countries is immigration and refugees, and a bit of voting against the other party like in the US. Like the US, their left parties do not counter the right parties strong enough anymore, so they appear weak and when shit hits the fan, they appear powerless and complicit.

I hope he keeps getting interrupted. Democrats hope to co-opt the parts OWS they want through their proxies (pundits and organizations) and pretend they’re down with it and are on our side in fighting the corrupt, etc., which is bullshit. It’s hard for them to pull that off when the public sees/hears about the people Democrats and President (via their proxies) supposedly are in line with are protesting them.

Also illustrates there is a solid group of devoted team fanatics who will turn against anyone who makes their team, and especially team leader, look bad.

Movements take time. We’re just over 2 months into this and I can’t recall having a protest movement this large and constant in my lifetime. This surpasses the once a year anti-war marches, or the summit-hopping global justice movement protests. Even if OWS dies off, there’s still a bunch more to remain active. They may change a lot of in a few months. We’ll have to see and stay involved if possible.