WE ALL NEED PERSPECTIVE

WE ALL NEED PERSPECTIVE

Friday, May 11, 2007

I need an Education

Which party in power has done more for the average Joe?
This post will consist of 2 lists. 1 For Republicans and 1 for democrats. What I ask now is who passed the best legislation for the middle class, Republicans or Democrats?


I invite both views to add or subtract and I will re-edit this post after vetting.


DEMOCRATS

Medicare
Medicade
Peace Corps
Unemployment insurance
Civil Rights
Student Grants
OSHA
Workers Compensation
Marshall Plan
School Lunch Program
Woman's Rights
Minimum Wage
Child Labor Laws
GI Bill
Creating the FDIC
Creating the FSLIC
FHA(Farmers Home Administration)



REPUBLICANS

EPA
Medicare partD

You are either rich, poor or middle class. Pick your label. What federal or local tax policies helped or hurt you the most?
My view is that unless there is a viable middle class any society will fail. History has proven this time and again. We will always have the poor to some degree. We will always have the rich in context. What makes CIVILAZATION is the middle class. Business and trade is very important. What drives the economy is the middle class!
If you have a healthy middle class, society prospers. It is an automatic check on the rich and a rising tide for the poor.
Who or what has helped the middle class?

2 comments:

Andy Rand said...

I like the way you think Shopman!
You are abosolutely right about the middle class and that middle class was created by the Labor movement in this country. Amazingly, workers have unwittingly given back most of what the labor movement fought so hard to gain. And still most Americans can't connect the dots.

Shopman said...

There was a time in this nation when organized labor was vital. Ensuring the 40 hr. week, child labor laws, work place safety etc. I was a member of a union for 30 yrs and I witnessed the slow corruption of the unions as they became big business themselves with millions of members and controlling billions in health and retirement accounts. Now I own a union company and I'm glad to see the tide starting to turn in the direction of greater labor/management cooperation. Manifesting itself in joint safety training,market recovery initiatives and the like. As it stands right now, health care premiums are the single biggest driver of inflationary costs I have to pass on to my customers with workmans comp rates coming in at a very close 2nd. In my opinion, those 2 issues by themselves could spell the end of organized labor not to mention American competitiveness as we are well into dealing with a global economy. Unfair trade agreements and uncontrolled health care will eventually eviscerate the middle class in America,it's affects are already among us. We seem to be in a race to the bottom, and the middle class is winning that race. Ins. companies and big business are having a hey day with these tax cuts. The middle class is paying more for gas, health care and rising crime rates. A rising tide does indeed lift all yachts!