Last night I watched the old movie classic "Grapes of Wrath" and was reminded that some things never change. This old move made from John Steinbeck's novel of same name spelled out the trouble that existed then and we are now experiencing now in our own time.
Just as then and now the issues of who is to blame pops up and the finger was pointed directly at the what we now call the "1.0 percenters" of that time and from what I can see the are the same players today even some of the name are the same.
So what changed and led to the improvement then to the prosperity of the working class folks?
Well in the movie it began with government intervention, The remembering that without a strong working class anarchy can and will rule. That with wealth comes great responsibility not just to the decedents that follow but also to the ones that help great that wealth. This is what we have forgotten that Roosevelt reminded us of and who's social programs sustained the working class until it could sustain it self.
It was the strengthening of the labor laws that made it possible for Unions to step in and bargain for better pay and benefits. The very labor laws that have been systematically dismantled since Regan was President. It is now time to strengthen the labor laws. To quit allowing major industrial corporations to sent "OUR" work and the work of our children off to third world countries because they are not bound by the same social agreement as they are here in the USA.
The "99 er's" and the Unions that support them are right it is time we demand our fair share of the pie.
On a side note one other thing I noticed and that a author I have often of late mentioned Joe Bagneat have also noted and that the elite can aways find members of the working class to beat into submission the members of the working class who complain using their fear of loosing what little they have. This was evident in the movie and in today with the police violence we see demonstrated on TV news today on the OWS people.
By the way my mother was one of those Okie kids whos parents headed out to California to pick crops after their crops didn't make. The stories they told were similar to what you see in the movie and read in the books. Like the Joad's they also had older children who dropped off to fend for themselves to make it easier for the parents to look after the younger ones. But unlike the Joad's when they got out there saw what was going on they came back to their farm that they still owned.
Projects
Well I finished rebuilding the child's writing desk and here are a couple of photos of it even though it is still in need of another coat of black paint. I have a grandchild coming over and the wife wanted it so he could play with it.
Not sure why but forgive the laydown photos.
So, so right about the Grapes of Wrath being as timely now as it was then...we had forgotten and we allowed the failures of 1929 and business greed to be repeated..This time however we may stay depressed....
ReplyDeleteexcellent post
foley
Nice job on the writing desk. It looks well built and I know that kind of hardware can be tricky.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Jeff I had to take it apart, fill in the holes left from previous repairs, sand it all down. It still needs another coat of paint as soon as it dries out and warms up a little.
ReplyDeleteWarren, I have always been a believer in a modified ideal of socialism and of strong unions. We forget that at the end of the the 19 th century and beginning of the 20 th there were strong farmer's coops that were made up of small family farms as these coops declined so did the family farms.