JournalInquirer.com

The war between the classes is over: Guess who won
CT@Work
By Leo Canty
Published: Thursday, January 14, 2010 12:08 PM EST

Let me be first to declare that the most recent war of the classes is over. As has been the case throughout history, the wealthy class has won again.There never was a real contest in this round. Victory was pretty much snatched from the armies of the nonwealthy when weapons and resolve were abandoned as they became convinced class warfare is nothing but a symptom of a socialist disease that needed to be purged from American tradition.

Of course, as always, the ones who were actually screaming the loudest and fighting the hardest in this bout were the richest few, along with those on their payroll and everyone else who wished they were.

A few years ago early hints suggesting victory for the richest was near came from the woolly caterpillar for the ruling class, Warren Buffett. In a New York Times article written by Ben Stein, Buffett said, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” That was then affirmed by an observation that showed that, in 2007, 23.5 percent of all income in America went to the top 1 percent of earners. The last time that happened was 1929.

Evidence of the victory is mounting daily. Last month, third-quarter reports revealed a huge up-tick in worker productivity, with an 8-percent increase that showed the American workforce producing more and getting nothing in return. The productivity/profit curve continues to leave out the workforce from the reward cycle.

It’s a simple age-old equation that was amplified back in the day by John D. Rockefeller who said: “I’d rather earn 1 percent of 100 people’s effort than 100 percent of my own.”

So, it stands to reason that the net would improve by chasing a bigger effort from fewer people. Why create new jobs when you have more to squeeze out of the ones you have left.

As Elizabeth Warren, chair of the congressional oversight panel created to oversee the banking bailouts, stated in her “America Without a Middle Class” article: “Today, one in five Americans is unemployed, underemployed, or just plain out of work. One in nine families can’t make the minimum payment on their credit cards. One in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. One in eight Americans is on food stamps. More than 120,000 families are filing for bankruptcy every month. The economic crisis has wiped more than $5 trillion from pensions and savings, has left family balance sheets upside down, and threatens to put 10 million homeowners out on the street.

Profits are rising, the Dow is rapidly recovering ground, black ink is flowing in bailed-out companies, and hedge funds are hedging again. All while the workeras are getting squeezed even harder.

But the most recent and conclusive indicator this war is over came with last week’s outbreak of giddiness on Wall Street as bankers bid on the number of zeros — six, seven, or eight — that need to be penned on their bonus checks.

It’s over. They won.

Peace is good, right?

It’s a new day and a new beginning. It’s time to rebuild the class war-ravaged economy and renew the commitment to competition.

As the captains of business and industry might say, it’s time to clean out the junk that slows our state’s and nation’s business down — health plans, pensions, sick time, and all that hampers competitiveness. High wages and government-sponsored safety and security nets are barriers to profits — we must tear down those walls. Workers’ quality of life expectations can be adjusted for us to compete with India, Singapore, China, and hungry emerging nations, the victors suggest.

To the victors of war goes that booty, and just because American wealth has already won all contests with the rest of the world in disproportionate levels, that’s no excuse to trim the chasm between the wealthy and the rest of us — even if it leads to another collapse bigger than the last two.

Can’t beat ’em; can’t join ’em. What’s left?

How about some real competition between workers and the wealthy to win a bigger share of the pie?

"Healthy competition" is not a socialist disease, right?

Let’s rumble.

Leo Canty is a labor and political activist. He lives in Windsor.