Is it time for an American Forced Labor Prevention Act?

Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act?

 

Is it time for an American Forced Labor Prevention Act? 

 

The law, called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, presumes that all of these goods are made with forced labor, and stops them at the U.S. border, until importers can produce evidence that their supply chains do not touch on Xinjiang, or involve slavery or coercive practices.

Evan Smith, the chief executive at the supply chain technology company Altana AI, said his company calculated that roughly a million companies globally would be subject to enforcement action under the full letter of the law, out of about 10 million businesses worldwide that are buying, selling or manufacturing physical things.

-       Companies Brace for Impact of New Forced Labor Law, NY Times

Incarcerated workers in the US produce at least $11bn in goods and services annually but receive just pennies an hour in wages for their prison jobs, according to a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Nearly two-thirds of all prisoners in the US, which imprisons more of its population than any other country in the world, have jobs in state and federal prisons. That figure amounts to roughly 800,000 people, researchers estimated in the report, which is based on extensive public records requests, questionnaires and interviews with incarcerated workers.

-       US prison workers produce $11bn worth of goods and services a year for pittance, The Guardian.

 

 

By Gregg Wall (6-25-2022) 

 

Let’s hear it for America… seems that we are finally going to address China’s slave labor problem, concerning the long abused, and suffering, Uyghur Muslim community.  No doubt, a highly worthy cause.  But American crony-capitalism, globalization and neoliberalism are so addicted to slave labor -- as are the nation’s oligarchy and Wall St. -- that we are not talking about tens of millions of dollars of Chinese goods being blocked from import into the U.S., but rather, billions.  

 

The article, from the NY Times, reminded me of a story that I had recently read in the Guardian, where modern day slaves… in the world’s largest penal system, right here in America… produced $11 billion in goods and services, often at pennies or zero compensation, per hour.  But oddly enough, no mention from the Biden administration about shutting down this slave labor colony, right here in the United States. 

 

It can be easily argued that anyone, in the U.S., who doesn’t make a living wage is not only impoverished, but is also indentured to merely survive, which by itself meets the definition of slavery.  The U.S. spends roughly $7 billion a year, in government aid, just to keep its fast-food workers alive, which is nothing less than a backdoor profits subsidy to their fast-food, fast-profits employers (especially if said employer has gamed the tax code in a given year).  Such irony in the ‘land of the free’, and with Thirteenth Amendment (prohibiting slavery) to the Constitution being passed January 31, 1865, that so many Americans are enslaved, impoverished to a penurious existence.  Wasn’t Reaganomics and Supply-side economics supposed to raise all life rafts?

 

Of course, if Mr. Biden is going to go after U.S. multinational abuse and exploitation of Sino-labor, he’s going to have to dig a lot deeper than the Uyghur community.  China’s average yearly wages only add up to roughly 110,000 Yuan… or less than $16,500 USD.

 

And if Biden is going to crack down on Chinese slave labor, shouldn’t he crack down on U.S. slave labor here at home?  It’s estimated that 36% of American labor is participating in the Gig Economy, as independent contractors, often facing wage theft and abusive work conditions (and those numbers are only expected to grow).  Bloomberg reported in 2021 that half the full-time American work force made less than the median US income of approximately $50,000, which – in most American cities – isn’t enough to live on.  And given the recent surge in consumer price gouging (aka ‘inflation’) $50,000 isn’t going to get an American worker far with soaring rent, fuel prices, and ever escalating food costs.  

Then there's the 1.7 trillion-dollar student debt crisis, another form of indentured servitude and slavery.  No doubt, student debt should be eliminated in its entirety or assessed exclusively to employers, the beneficiaries of an educated workforce.

 

Seems there’s plenty of poverty and workplace abuse for Mr. Biden to tackle, not only in Asia, but America too.  While the donor class has raked in trillions of dollars, in large part, due to Congressional and Federal Reserve intervention in the debt and equity markets, throughout the pandemic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The entire premise of neoliberalism, aside from shareholder value and profit maximization, is based upon labor exploitation and crushing organized labor and unions.  Labor is often a business’ greatest expense.  Since Reagan, Thatcher and the Clintons… globalization, over the last forty years, has led to maximum exploitation of labor, stagnant US wages, and the destruction of the American dream.  Even recent wage increases, much heralded by the MSM, after adjustment for inflation, still remain negative for many Americans.  Contrary to the line we are often fed about a growing middle class in Asia, India and Mexico (i.e. the globalist narrative), the bulk of workers in developing nations and emerging markets remain desperate and impoverished (see China’s average wage).  It’s all a global race to the bottom, with billionaires and multinational boardrooms and C-suites collecting the spoils. 

 

And if we really want to go there and discuss unpaid labor, who toil in slavery… what about all the American women that SCOTUS just turned into baby production machines and incubators with zero pay?  Don’t they deserve to be justly compensated for carrying children, against their will? 

 

Many of these unwanted pregnancies will grow up in highly challenged economic & social environments, a fate often suffered in poorer American communities.   Childhood poverty, last I checked, increased by more than 40% earlier this year... thanks to SCOTUS, and its abortion ruling, those childhood poverty numbers will likely grow.  If Biden was serious about tackling SCOTUS’ abortion ruling, Dems could levy a mandatory tax against America’s multinationals and any foreign multinational operating – or selling goods - on U.S. soil.  The very same multinationals that, all too often, thrive off independent contractor and slave labor; the very same enterprises, run by well-heeled management & ownership, that donate billions to America’s far-right GOP (the same GOP fanatics, who in turn, have stacked SCOTUS with the Christian Taliban and highly dangerous ideologues).  

 

These wealthy actors will be the beneficiaries of America’s pending baby boom of unwanted pregnancies… and these children will often grow up to become badly abused and exploitable labor.

 

Shouldn’t the wealthy pay these mothers to produce these children and future labor?  Can you imagine the screams emanating from corporate, ivory towers (if they were to be taxed, appropriately, for unwanted pregnancies)?

 

But alas, we all know Biden’s M.O. by now, and the Democratic establishment’s standard political operating procedure…  which is to talk a great game but deliver absolutely nothing to their voter base: the gay community, labor, minorities, students, and women. 

 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2022

 

Economic coup d'état?

Economic coup d'état?

  

Earnings of the nation's major oil companies climbed by an average of 68.9 percent in the second quarter, and these gains have revived accusations of oil industry profiteering that promise to become a focal point as Congress debates President Carter's “windfall” profits tax.

 

Some critics point to Texaco's earnings statement as an example of the alleged distortions in the petroleum industry. In the first six months of the year the earnings of Texaco, the third largest domestic oil company, increased 106 percent to $672.4 million. But its production of oil and gas increased by only 7.2 percent. Refinery runs were up a meager 2.7 percent, and the sales volume of petroleum products registered a slight decline.

 

Increase in Oil Company Profits Revives Criticism of the Industry

-       NY Times: July 30, 1979

 

By Gregg Wall (6-11-2022)

 

Since the time of John D. Rockefeller, Big Oil & Gas has a long, unsavory history with America, a track record that has only grown increasingly evil & nefarious over time. 

 

When Big Oil & Gas isn’t burning down the planet, with a pending climate catastrophe, it holds undue sway over global governments, democratic leaders, and political parties.  In the United States, Big Oil & Gas flat out owns the Republican Party, which can always be counted on to champion the deadly energy source’s lost cause.  The MSM and Independent media have documented Cancer Alleys near oil refineries, and it’s been widely reported that one in five deaths is now linked to fossil fuels, production & refining contaminates, and industry related pollution.  Let that sink in.  Twenty percent of the world’s population dies, prematurely, because our ‘leaders’ – not the American public – but because our leadership are either bought off or afraid to take on an industry that has only grown more brazen and powerful. 

 

And it only gets worse from here, as the Big Oil & Gas catastrophe changes climate patterns, heats up the planet, and causes droughts… farmers’ fields and livestock are also threatened.  Which in turn, coupled with food monopolies, sends grocery bills soaring.  

 

Two notable news items this week… clearly drive home the point that, Big Oil & Gas holds a stranglehold over the global economy and governments.  This week, it was reported that US inflation hit a high last seen in the early eighties, at 8.6% (nearly all of it driven by fossil fuels energy and food).  Also reported this week, today in fact, gas has now hit $5 at the pump, for the world’s largest energy producer, the United States.   A figure that is altogether insane, given that the US is a net exporter of gas and oil and is energy independent.  Factor in landlocked Canadian production, sent through the U.S…  and North America – as a matter of public policy, as a matter of energy policy – is exporting production and gasoline offshore, almost entirely for the exclusive benefit and enrichment of Big Oil & Gas utilities, billionaires, and Wall St.  

 

So, to recap, Big Oil is the existential crisis of our times… it threatens the planet, the food we eat, the air we breathe, sound democratic government, cogent & moral energy and public policies, and buys off & corrupts politicians.  Let’s add to the list: finances dictators, despots, terrorism, and war.  See the Ukraine, presently, and any number of authoritarians, human rights abusing dictatorships throughout the Middle East (that the US supports as a matter of national security). 

 

But what if we were to take this a step further.  What if I told you that the power of Big Oil & Gas is so great, its tentacles reach so far into the economy & government, that the industry effectively has the power to remove a U.S. president from office? 

 

Arguably, that’s exactly what happened to U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who served from 1976 to 1980.  Mr. Carter was not your everyday President.  Mr. Carter came to power during a time of great inflation.  In the seventies, two oil price shocks occurred, one of which happened under Mr. Carter’s watch (after the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, a key US ally and supplier of foreign oil).  Granted, unlike today, the U.S. was highly dependent upon foreign oil, but very much like today, Big Oil & Gas made record profits, extraordinary profits, off American consumers with a debilitating impact upon the economy.  In the calendar year of 1979, and conveniently enough headed into Mr. Carter’s re-election, the global price of oil doubled.  American consumers were furious and turned Mr. Carter out of the White House in the next election, in favor of Ronald Reagan and the Republican party (the political party favored by…. Big Oil & Gas).  

 

President Carter was brilliant.  A man way ahead of his times, he knew that America would be at the mercy of the Oil & Gas industry, as long as the country did not build up alternative fuel sources and end its dependence upon foreign oil.  Mr. Carter was big on renewables, solar, hydro, geothermal, and alternative fuel blends.  He actually declared May 3^rd 1978, Sun Day. He had solar panels installed on the White House.  Carter’s actions couldn’t possibly have gone unnoticed by the dictators, politicians, and thugs dependent upon, or owned by, the Oil & Gas industry.

 

In summary, out of control oil prices in the late 70s served to enrich Big Oil & Gas beyond all measure; but also removed a President in power, in favor of a right-wing conservative, that would cater to the Oil & Gas industry’s every whim. 

 

Need another example?  Examine current President Joe Biden… a Democrat, who also had bold Green Energy plans, to be funded under his Build Back Better initiative.  Mr. Biden’s plan was a direct threat to the fossil fuels industry, and so once again, gas prices are soaring at the pump.  And I predict, they are just getting started.  The goal of sending gas prices ever higher, by all appearances, like the 70s, is two-fold: unseemly profits for an industry of crooks, despots, and oligarchy; but also, to remove Biden and any possibility of Green legislation … to be replaced, after one term, by, you guessed it, another Republican president. 

 

Do I know definitively, that the president’s defeat and removal is on the Exxon board’s and CEO’s minds?  No, nor am I aware of any PowerPoint presentations or any news stories that spell out what I’m pointing out today… the net effect of higher gas prices is to reap huge profits, but also overthrow a sitting president (for even suggesting America remove itself from the vice like grip Big Oil & Gas holds on the American economy’s throat). 

 

Coincidence?  We saw it the 70s, under Mr. Carter, and we are seeing it again, now, in real time, under POTUS Biden.  Larry Summers and Republicans have been crowing about inflation for months, and when inflation didn’t materialize, or arrived in a muted form, the price gouging commenced.   

 

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mr. Carter… historians have not been kind to him, but I believe a reassessment is in order.  And that over time, historians will have even greater respect for President Carter, a forward-thinking and very intelligent leader.  Dem leaders, like Clinton and Obama, who have fared well initially upon leaving office with historians… I predict time will not smile on these two presidents.  The two Presidents – Clinton & Obama - authored and preserved neoliberalism, that is the very libertarian policies that led to America’s failed monopoly/Wall St economy.  Moreover, both presidents, Clinton & Obama, failed to take the opportunity to pivot the nation to alternative energy sources (leaving the US at the mercy of Big Oil & Gas, today).  The verdict is still out on Biden.  While his initial goal of passing Build Back Better, with a substantial renewable energy component, was a long overdue and positive development.  Biden has done very little to fight for his program and appears to have pivoted to austerity & policies that crush aggregate demand, with a punishing impact upon Americans and the US economy, as a means to combat inflation. 

 

Biden’s failed neoliberal advisors and economists believe the way to handle inflation is to punish American consumers & workers, by shutting down the economy with higher interest rates and via fiscal austerity.  These so-called liberals have done little, if anything, to raise the minimum wage or increase workers’ rights to organize.  In fact, by sending the economy into a recession, these neolib economists virtually guarantee that disenfranchised workers will have less bargaining power with employers and face even greater wage stagnation.  Biden – like many of today’s Dems and GOP - has shown little courage and initiative, beyond words, in taking on the primary sources of inflation: price gouging cartels, monopolies, utilities, and Wall St. 

 

The bottom line:  Dems will, very likely, lose control over Congress in November.  The fiscal and monetary prescriptions adopted by Dems and the Federal Reserve may mitigate inflation to some degree, by driving the economy into recession.  The policy prescriptions, however, will harm American consumers and labor, while leaving the drivers of inflation – cartels, monopoly, oligarchy, and Wall St – unscathed, unregulated.  Hence, infuriating consumers, labor, voters. 

 

Industries with inelastic demand, and with monopolistic control over their sector -- by accident or design -- can and will likely continue to wage war on the Biden administration & the US economy, effectively waging an economic coup d'état against the president.  

 

Unfortunately, for America, and very much like the televised hearings on the January 6^th Coup… the Democrats, and a handful of Republicans, know what the problem is; but few, if any, lack the courage to act against America’s colossal fossil fuels problem or the fascist GOP that support the fossil fuels industry.  The blame for this failure ultimately falls on Democratic party leadership and their ultra-wealthy donors (many of whom, are cashing in on higher fuel prices at the pump). 

 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2022