Average Americans strike back

For years we've heard politicians say they were going to help regular Americans. Now they're doing it themselves.

Unions are having a moment

For years the union movement seemed to be dying off. Aging members. Dwindling numbers. Less power. At the same time wages have become stagnant. Cost of living has gone up. Average Americans can’t keep up.

On the other side of the divide the rich got richer. C-suite executives became millionaires and billionaires. Entire companies have been bought and dismantled for parts. Company boards only care about “shareholder value” and making sure they maximize their stock price even as companies racked in money like never before.

Year after year politicians vowed to make a difference. Republicans swore they were fighting for the ‘little guy’ then went to Washington and swore allegiance to the kleptocracy with tax cuts for the rich, breaks for companies, and Wall Street all while getting rich trading stocks without any oversight.

This year is showing us that average Americans are sick of waiting to be saved and are taking matters into their own hands. Labor has struck back with strikes involving UPS, healthcare workers, actors, writers, and auto workers all winning massive victories.

Even as Republicans condemned them they quickly realized they were on the wrong side of history as clowns like anti-labor former temporary Missouri Attorney General, and now Senator, Josh Hawley and the Senator from Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance made appearances at picket lines trying to cover for their own records of failure.

J.D.’s visit to a picket line in Ohio led to one of the most epic political stabbings you will ever see from the longest serving woman member of Congress, and union supporter, Marcy Kaptur.

Who will ever forget, “First time here?” He probably didn’t even feel the knife until he was bleeding out later.

The payoff

When the United Auto Workers strike began the Republican field of Presidential candidates condemned it as hurting the economy. There was much wringing of hands when President Biden made his way to the picket line as the first sitting President in history to do it.

Then they won.

I have mentioned it a number of times, but I was struck in the heart by a quote I saw on TV of a striking UAW member in Michigan when asked what they wanted. She said simply, “We want to be middle class again.”

Today I stumbled on to this quote from a UAW member and employee of Ford who spoke with the Lauren Gurley the Washington Post labor reporter:

Think about that. “I can move out of my mom’s house, start looking for my own place. Hell, now I can probably afford my own car insurance.”

The youth are coming

A recent poll showed that voters under 30 show wide support for unions with an astonishing 88% approve of unions and 90% say they support strikes. Gen Z and Millenials recognize what they have lost since the 2008 recession. So many in our society complain about them living with their parents still.

We did that.

Now they are ready to fight back for better pay, better cost of living, and real benefits that older generations took for granted but have been completely dismantled in the last two decades. Change is coming and anyone running for office or running a company better get on the bandwagon and support real average Americans or they are going to get run over.

This Thanksgiving a lot of Americans will have even more to be thankful for as they worked together to better their lives and those of others. I hope we go into the election year understanding that we must help them. We must make their lives better and not just kiss the rings of the billionaires.

History tells us how that ends.

My latest for MeidasTouch

My latest video touches on what I discussed in my last newsletter about the draconian measures that we can see coming if the Trump and Stephen Miller immigration plan is implemented. I saw what happens in Iraq. I hope you’ll check it out.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you surrounded by friends and family. If you are not I hope you take a moment to cherish life and the good you have made in it. We have much to be thankful for even as we face difficult times here and around the world.

Thank you,
Fred