Dear Mr. Koppel,
Those big corporations you discussed on your program last night are NOT "just making money for their stockholders ", as Al Dunlap ("Chainsaw Al") contends. His own $100 million personal gain, received for firing 1/3 of the Scott Company's workforce, could, instead, have paid for re-hiring many of those same workers. It is outrageous and immoral that he is only one con-artist in a gang of CEOs who are ripping-off American society.
Mr. Dunlap speaks of coming global giants; these corporations are already here, and are not loyal to our nation, or anyone really, except their own boards and top executives. If they are not stopped by our government NOW, their growing obscene wealth will make it impossible to counteract them in the future.
One cannot do business with a company in America today without several phone calls and long music-automated holds to get satisfaction --- whether it be insurance companies, utilities, or retail operations. Why? Half the workforce is laid-off, and the other half is surly because of ill-treatment and underpayment. Should managers of this mess really be rewarded with stock options and balloon payments?
My husband and I own over $200,000 worth of stock, so I guess we're the "moms and pops" of America who Mr. Dunlap claims "own" the corporations, and yet we have little or no power to change the rapacious habits of the people in charge.
The press, the health-care and insurance establishments, the government, and the lawyers are also, along with this type of business leaders, complicit in this shredding of the American dream for the common workers and citizens. The Dan Rathers and Cokie Robertses making millions as mouthpieces for their corporate owners are just examples of a media that also has become too wealthy to even sound an alarm. No anti-trust enforcement and Congressional pay of $133,000+, with absurd promises not to "raise their salaries this year", show a government that is also bought and paid for by the corporations. Millions of only VICE-presidents like Zoe Baird pulling down a half-million a year in the health insurance industry, shyster doctors demanding $250 to merely walk in the door, and incompetent lawyers and psychologists charging (at the least) $75 an hour (and who-knows-how-much for services to venal members of the jet-set like O.J. and our President?) are all symptoms of this same growing division between the "haves" and "have-nots". The elites are always decrying the possibility of "class warfare"; well, that's what's developing!
I am a former teacher with a master's degree who is unemployed. It's no longer only the poor, backwards people who are "failing". Yes, we are angry and getting angrier. If I'm ready for a revolution, many in the prisons and underclasses and minorities, etc. are closer to such a solution. What LEADER will emerge to take advantage of this situation? A new Hitler? Or a new Roosevelt? I am a liberal socialist who sympathizes with Pat Buchanan's fascist message, so I know his vision of America is what's coming if things don't change.
Our Democratic President, Bill Clinton, is a big joke; the new Democrats he represents are the Republicans of old. The Republican House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, is a master of the new tactic of demonizing words such as "liberal" or "socialism", but eventually laid-off citizens are going to finally get the message that it's time to organize globally to counteract this robbery. Will we then have Oliver Norths and CIAs world-wide, replacing the Pinkertons of the 1930s to keep the revolts under control?
The government must protect the people now: corporations cannot be considered to be "individuals" anymore. They must be reined in. Another need is new labor laws that give workers back some powers to protect their interests.
Since the citizenry is supposed to BE the government, a new progressive movement should require all of the above --- as well as campaign finance reform, free public airwaves for candidate messages, and a mandatory "none-of-the-above" option on the ballots so voters aren't forced to have to vote for only the least-of-many-evils.
The multi-millionaires are getting to the point of diminishing returns. They cannot possibly spend all the money they are stealing, so therefore demand will be slacking, despite the over-supply of baby-boomers.
This situation is going to end! It's just a matter of when and how!
Many in the elite should dust off their old Phil Ochs albums and listen to "The Coming of Revolution" and "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" as a substitute for a glance in the mirror. Can they kill us all as they've been trying to do to leftists in Latin America --- union organizers, teachers, priests, and educated community leaders? How about putting us all in jail like black men, other minorities, immigrants, and civil rights leaders? Will they continue to ignore us and vilify us as kooks and insane people needing Prozac and Lithium?
Wait till I and others get on the Internet, or will they gain control of that medium, too? As you can imagine from this rant, we're sick and tired, and we' re not going to take it anymore. Will it be right-wing militias blowing up public buildings, or will there finally be justice?
The family values hysteria from the right is a cruel hoax these days. How can any parent rightly raise children when working several jobs --- both husband and wife --- to bring in what only a man used to be able to? The women's movement has been a cruel joke as well. All that's been done is to split the money the man used to make, and give both smaller paychecks and fewer benefits. Health care now costs as much in co-payments, deductibles, out-of-pocket requirements, and "above-the-customary-and-reasonable-fee" refusals of insurance companies to pay as it did before insurance existed, and the providers are also getting paid by the insurance companies --- double-dipping?
Who makes the money on a $129-suit made in China? Or $49-jeans made in Guatemala? Or $79-shoes made in Brazil? Certainly not the workers. Maybe computer programmers and design engineers should be paid high salaries, but does my Congressman Frank Cremeans really deserve five times what a garbage collector pulls in? Do crappy CEOs deserve 150 times what their workers make? Hell no!
Jesse Jackson said it many years ago: "Pay on the front side --- education, decent wages, etc. --- or pay on the back side --- prisons, cops, etc., etc."
I taught American history and government for many years, and the Progressive Reforms after the Robber Baron years were hailed. So was an end to Prohibition of alcohol so health standards could be met, the gangster class eliminated, and the government could collect huge taxes. The McCarthy Era and the Trail of Tears were deplored. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Sincerely,
Barbara V. Smith
To the Editors:
In the great discussion of General Motors' falling market share, the media have failed to interview owners. Although I have generally been a patriotic "Buy American" consumer, not even 2.9% financing can be an inducement to buy a G.M. car again.
All the lofty reasons put forth by economists don't compare with having experienced Mr. "Badwrench". My 1978 Chevy Monza 2+2 hatchback never worked properly from the day I bought it new, and after numerous unpleasant trips to rude dealers who charged exorbitant prices NOT to fix constant major problems, I called Detroit headquarters where I also got the run-around. My husband laughed at my loyalty as he tooled around in his low-maintenance Toyota, a year older and with one-and-a-half times more mileage than mine.
I'm finally wising up as are, I'm sure, thousands of other former customers for those cars piling up in dealer inventory lots; we're just tired of always being treated like poor dumb suckers.
Sincerely,
Barbara V. Smith