“Business leaders, labor unions, governors, mayors, congressmen and presidents have all complained about a lack of funding for years, but aside from a one-time cash infusion from the stimulus program, nothing much has changed. There is still no consensus on how to solve the problem or where to get the massive amounts of money needed to fix it, just another example of political paralysis in Washington.” YearsStillsProblemPoliticalPresidentLeaderExampleChangedAmountNeededProgramLaborUnionsSolveMassiveOne TimeCashGovernorsConsensusFundingStimulusMayorsCongressmanBusiness LeadersParalysisLabor UnionInfusion Author:Steve Kroft
“In his second term, [Ronald] Reagan completed the work of his first term - the rich got really rich, everything was deregulated, advocacy programs were quashed, the Savings and Loan program was trashed, the deficit was tripled, unions were busted, Housing and Urban Developing was in shambles, banks were closing, the military got lots of new toys, the religious right was strong, and AIDS was ignored.” FirstsStrongTermReligiousRichMilitaryProgramUnionsAidsSavingDevelopingToysUrbanIgnoredDeficitHousingLoanClosingSavingsAdvocacyBustedShamblesNew Toys Author:Kate Clinton
“My television teaches me that everything was wonderful in the Soviet Union. According to the programs I watch, the KGB and apparatchiks were angels, and the Stalin era was so festive that the heroes of the day must still be celebrated today.” StillsTodayWatchesTeachWonderfulTelevisionHeroAngelProgramUnionsErasSovietSoviet UnionFestiveKgb Author:Vladimir Sorokin
“The average student emerges at the end of the Ph.D. program, already middle-aged, overspecialized, poorly prepared for the world outside, and almost unemployable except in a narrow area of specialization. Large numbers of students for whom the program is inappropriate are trapped in it, because the Ph.D. has become a union card required for entry into the scientific job market.” WorldEndsJobsNumbersMiddleStudentsAreasProgramUnionsPreparedAverageCardsTrappedEntryLarge NumbersInappropriateMiddle AgedSpecialization Author:Freeman Dyson
“I work with Kick G.A.M.E., the grassroots artist movement. Not to tell people we have the best union plan in the world, but to show people that if some activists, if some revolutionaries, if some street organizers from the hood can come together and put together a preliminary program to give health care to independent artists.” PeopleIfsWorldGivingShowsCareTogetherArtistPlansStreetsMovementProgramIndependentUnionsHealth CareRevolutionaryKicksActivistHoodOrganizerGrassroots Author:Immortal Technique
“The Soviet Union wasn't so closed - it wasn't North Korea. It was a practical system. People were creative and industrious, so if they wanted to see Western TV programs, they would invent a way to do so. It's strange in a way. There was an official truth, and there was daily life.” PeopleIfsWayWantedCreativeStrangeTvsProgramUnionsWesternPracticalsOfficialsDaily LifeSovietSoviet UnionKoreaNorth KoreaIndustrious Author:Jaak Kilmi
“When the New Deal programs were passed in the mid 1930s, millions of workers were joining unions, striking, and occupying factories to fight for a better life. It was this radical labor movement that forced the establishment to make concessions.” FightingDealsMillionsMovementProgramLaborUnionsWorkersRadicalEstablishmentFactoriesBetter LifeJoining1930sConcessionsNew DealLabor Movement Author:Kshama Sawant
“I had two spinster aunts who were seamstresses, and of course unemployed in the 1930s, but the union gave them a life. They had a couple of weeks in the country for a union installation and they had educational programs and all sorts of things. There was a life, you know, a real community.” KnowsTwoRealCountryCoursesCommunityWeekCoupleProgramUnionsEducationalAuntUnemployed1930sInstallationSpinstersEducational Programs Author:Noam Chomsky
“Policies are designed to undermine working class organization and the reason is not only the unions fight for workers' rights, but they also have a democratizing effect. These are institutions in which people without power can get together, support one another, learn about the world, try out their ideas, initiate programs, and that is dangerous. That's like a referendum in Greece. It is dangerous to allow that.” PeopleWorldTryingIdeasReasonTogetherFightingClassSupportRightsEffectsDangerousPolicyProgramOrganizationInstitutionsUnionsWorkersWorking ClassGreeceGet TogetherInitiateReferendumsWorkers Rights Author:Noam Chomsky
“The union movement has been the best middle class job creating program that America has ever had, and it doesn't cost the government a dime.” Has BeensGovernmentJobsAmericaClassMiddleMovementCostCreatingProgramUnionsMiddle ClassDimes Author:Andy Stern
“Unions have been the best anti-poverty program that actually worked and did not cost the government a dime. But as unions grow smaller- not stronger- our ability to act as an economic mechanism to distribute the gains of our work and raise all workers' wages and benefits up is disappearing.” Has BeensGovernmentGrowsAbilityPovertyEconomicCostBenefitsGainsProgramStrongerRaisesUnionsWorkersDisappearMechanismWagesDimes Author:Andy Stern