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Employers in the United States and many other countries are awash in cash. In 2020 alone, workers' labor produced one new billionaire every three days in the United States. While that number is eye-popping, China bested it by producing one billionaire every thirty-six hours. And Sweden was second only to Russia in the percentage of GDP gobbled up by the superrich. Sweden/ Global billionaire wealth increased by $5 trillion to $13 trillion in just twelve months, while essential workers-and their families in overcrowded homes-were getting sick and dying. The pandemic has generated many horrifying statistics, but topping the list are the outrageous, unacceptable deaths among people of color, the poor, and the elderly.
Despite staggering wealth and income inequality in the United States, President Biden is bargaining against himself on his already way-too-small proposal to tax the rich, and far too many Democrats oppose the measure. While disappointing, that's to be expected. But what's now becoming absurd in the race to the death of the working class and our unions is the lack of strikes or any serious effort to build the power required so workers can reverse fifty years of nonstop abuse. If unions don't run left now and challenge the administration over who wins in this economy, who will? Isn't it finally time for unions to raise expectations-not just to say that workers deserve more but to use every tool in the shed to win?
A street protest here and there, symbolic demonstrations against fastfood and retail giants-which aren't strikes despite being labeled as such- and pouring workers' money...