[R-G] Bloody Monday" and the Changing Consciousness in America

[aaron doncaster]

Bloody Monday" and the Changing Consciousness in America  [image:
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  By John Peterson in the USA
  <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php>   Friday, 30 January 2009

As if losing 2.3 million jobs in 2008 wasn't enough – the most since 1945 –
68,000 jobs cuts were announced on Monday, January 26th. "Bloody Monday" ran
the headlines, as jobs continue to hemorrhage from the U.S. economy with no
end in sight. Since Monday, even more companies have announced layoffs. The
list of companies laying off workers is a "who's who" of corporate America:
20,000 from Caterpillar, 10,000 from Boeing, 8,000 from Pfizer, 8,000 from
Sprint Nextel, 7,000 from Home Depot, 6,700 from Starbucks, 6,000 from
Intel, 5,000 from Microsoft, 5,000 from Schlumberger, 2,000 more from
General Motors, 1,200 more from Ford, S1,000 more from United Airlines, 700
from AOL, 600 from Target, 350 from Brooks Automation, and on and on.

The official unemployment rate is at a 16-year high of 7.2 percent and is
expected to reach 10 percent or higher over the next 12 months. The number
of Americans continuing to claim unemployment is now at 4.78 million, the
highest level since records began in 1967. 11 million U.S. workers are now
officially counted as unemployed, a 48 percent jump from a year ago, even
before this latest wave of cuts. Some two million jobs are expected to be
lost in the coming year, even if Obama's $819 billion economic stimulus plan
manages to create or even merely hold off the termination of hundreds of
thousands of jobs.

Todd Wilson, an Overland Park, Kansas computer salesman put it this way:
"Anybody who is looking for a job now is feeling an economic tsunami. It
feels like all of a sudden, it has just fallen apart." According to Heidi
Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, there are four
unemployed workers competing for every available job. "There are literally
millions of workers unemployed with no hope of finding a new job. The queue
is just too long." And according to Mid-America Regional Council chief
economist Frank Lenk, for every corporate job lost, an average of two others
will be lost.


 [image: Unemployment in the US has been on a steady increase since the
beginning of 2008 and had reached 11 million by the beginning of this year.
Source: Bureau of Labour Statistics.]
 *Unemployment in the US has been on a steady increase since the beginning
of 2008 and had reached 11 million by the beginning of this year. Source:
Bureau of Labour Statistics.*



But 68,000 isn't just a number. These are individual workers with families,
friends, homes, dreams and hopes for the future. With job openings
vanishing, mortgage payments looming, savings evaporating, and credit cards
maxed out, the future looks increasingly bleak for millions of American
workers. The harsh realities of life under capitalism – the crushing of the
"American Dream" beneath an avalanche of debt – has led many to despair.
Quite literally in many cases, capitalism kills.

While some have gone so far as to burn their own homes to the ground in
order to avoid defaulting on mortgage payments, others have taken even more
drastic action. On Tuesday, January 27, one day after "Bloody Monday," the
country was shocked – but not altogether surprised – to hear that yet
another mass killing had taken place as a result of desperation over the
economy. A California man killed his wife, his five young children, and
himself, after both he and his wife lost their hospital jobs. According to
reports, the couple jointly planned the killings as an "escape" for the
family, as they saw no other way out. According to the suicide note: "Why
leave our children in someone else's hands?"

Of course, not everyone who is laid off goes off the deep end. But who can
deny that the pressures of this system drove these "normal" American parents
to the edge? And what about 93-year old Marvin Schur from Michigan, who
froze to death in his own home after the power company restricted his use of
electricity because of unpaid bills? According to the county medical
examiner, the World War Two veteran died "a slow, painful death."

This is the real face of capitalism. It therefore comes as no surprise that
anger and disgust at the bankers, CEOs and the rich in general is rising. On
the same day the 68,000 job losses were announced, it was reported that
Citigroup, a major recipient of bailout cash, was going forward with the
purchase of a $45 million private jet for its CEOs. Corporate excess has
always ruffled the class instincts of working people, but $45 million in
public money for a private jet when millions of workers are losing their
jobs is going "over the line."
 [image: Citigroup are going ahead with their planned purchase of a $45
million private jet.]
 *Citigroup are going ahead with their planned purchase of a $45 million
private jet.*

Incredibly, nine out of 10 senior executives at banks receiving public
bailout money are still on the job. In other words, those who captained this
latest crisis of capitalism are still at the helm. For example, JPMorgan
Chase, which received billions in taxpayer dollars, is still headed by CEO
James Dimon, who made about $28 million in 2007 and stands to make many
millions more. Meanwhile, the company is laying off at least 10 percent of
its workforce.

Unemployment in the banking industry has nearly tripled as some 100,000 bank
employees have lost their jobs over the last two years. According to Rebecca
Trevino of Louisville, Kentucky, a mother of three recently fired from her
job as a training coordinator at Bank of America: "The same people at the
top are still there, the same people who made the decisions causing a lot of
our financial crisis. But that's what tends to happen in leadership. The
people at the top, there's always some other place to lay blame. It is
surprising that leadership can make decisions that lead to financial ruin
for so many, and then get bailed out for it."

With no public oversight whatsoever on the bailout money, it is simply
assumed that the CEOs will make "better choices" this time around. But as
Jamie Court, president of the California-based group Consumer Watchdog put
it: "When you deal with the same dogs, you're going to end up with the same
fleas."

Often, anecdotes tell more about the underlying processes in society than
endless lists of facts and figures. The following is a case in point, an
example of the conclusions being reached by many workers on the basis of
their own experience. While traveling through Chicago's O'Hare airport on
"Bloody Monday," I went to the service desk at my departure gate to confirm
my arrival time. Three airline workers, one working the desk and two crew
members waiting to get on the plane before boarding, saw the news on CNN
that 68,000 workers had lost their jobs in a single day. The looks on their
faces were of concern and disbelief; they were clearly thinking about their
own job security. Then the service desk worker said, "It's a shame, when all
they really need to do is lay off five people." The others looked puzzled.
"Yeah, just five people: the CEOs of United Airlines, American Airlines,
Delta Airlines, etc. and the problem would be solved!" The others chuckled,
and one added, "Make that 10 people – the heads of the banks too!" After
more laughter, the third added: "Let them all get on their Learjets and fly
off to wherever, never to return!"

These are the snippets of conversation one hears across the country as
millions of workers engage in a molecular process of discussion and analysis
of the crisis and its causes, reaching out to one another for ideas and
support. Here are a few more: "Every day it's more bad news and more people
unemployed." "I thought my job was safe, but now I'm starting to worry. The
axe could come down at any moment." "We need to confiscate the property of
the rich." "They built too many stores during the boom and now everyone's
getting laid off."

U.S. workers are beginning to "connect the dots." They instinctively
understand that it is just a handful of people at the top who make the
decisions that affect the rest of us. Just a few months ago, these kinds of
discussions were simply not taking place on such a wide scale: on the bus,
in the grocery store checkout line, at the Post Office, during the football
game, at church, and at the bar, around the dinner table. This is just the
beginning of the beginning of a profound shift in how U.S. workers – yes,
the same workers who in the past voted for GW Bush and supported the Iraq
War – understand and relate to the society they live in. The revolutionary
implications for the future are clear.
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