Bernie Sanders: Longterm Democratic strategy is “pathetic”, an interview by Thomas Frank for Salon.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, said the Democratic Party is too beholden to big-money donors to do anything meaningful for working people. Instead Democrats pin their hopes on social issues, demographic changes and fear of Republican extremism.
Sanders told Thomas Frank that nothing is going to change until there is a political awakening in this country as to the power of big money and the need to overthrow it.
Obama’s Long Battle to Cut Social Security Benefits by Eric Zuesse for Washington’s Blog.
President Obama throughout his term of office has tirelessly campaigned for a budget-balancing bargain in which Social Security and Medicare would be cut. This is not something Republicans have forced upon him. It goes well beyond anything they have asked for.
None of this is a secret. It is all on the public record. Yet few of Obama’s supporters seem to notice.
Did Indiana Autoworkers Strike a Blow Against Two-Tier Contracts? by David Moberg for In These Times (via Bill Harvey)
Two-tier union contracts, in which newly-hired workers start at a lower pay rate than the incumbents, demonstrate the weakness and lack of solidarity of labor unions and their pessimism about the future.
The United Auto Workers signed a contract with a Lear Corp. auto parts plant in Hammond, Indiana, that supposedly restores the principle of equal pay for equal work. But the price of the contract is wage reductions for sub-assembly workers. So did the workers gain or lose?
My e-mail pen pal Bill Harvey, who sent me the link, pointed out that the two-tier benefits structure remains in place.
After Surgery, $117,000 Medical Bill from Doctor He Didn’t Know by Elisabeth Rosenthal for the New York Times.
Hospitals and physicians jack up medical bills by bringing in “out of network” consultants without asking the patient’s permission. Not every ethical!
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David Malone, a British blogger who posts as Golem XIV, has written a new installment in his series about the strategy of the global over-class. Here are links to the complete series so far.
The Next Crisis – Part Two – A manifesto for the supremacy of the 1%
The Next Crisis – Part Three – The World Turned Upside Down
These articles a bit long to read on a screen, but they contain good information and insight.
Tags: Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, Obama, President Obama, Senator Bernie Sanders, Thomas Frank, Wall Street
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