From Baltimore IMC, Susan e-mails to note William Hughes' "Jobless America: Outsourcing Prosperity!" Here's an excerpt:
How can there be a so-called "economic recovery" without the creation of new jobs? Well, thanks to author, activist and social critic, Stanley Aronowitz, we now know the scheming Plutocrats have been able to "delink" the two. Speaking in Baltimore, MD, at Red Emma's Coffeehouse, he detailed some of the means used to deprived workers in this country of their jobs. Outsourcing, of course, is only one of those Labor-bashing tactics.
Baltimore, MD - Stanley Aronowitz's timing was impeccable! The activist, author and educator arrived in town, on Friday, May 13, 2005, to talk about a continuing economic crisis. He labeled it as "The Paradox of the Jobless Recovery," which is also part of the title of his latest book. (1) On the same day that he arrived, General Motors' sprawling Broening Highway plant, which had been in operation for over 70 years, closed its doors forever. It is located on the east side of the city. Over 1,100 of its workers were permanently put out of their jobs through no fault of their own. The GM plant's demise, as a manufacturing colossus, follows hard on the heels of the collapse of the once-mighty Bethlehem Steel, and its Sparrows Point plant, and the earlier loss, also on the east side, of the Western Electric facility.
"There are about 121 millions jobs in this country for wages and salaries," Aronowitz began, "in both the public and private sector. A small percentage of the jobs in the private sector, however - very small - are tied to the domestic economy. The rest in the private sector are connected to the global economy. As a result of that connection, we have lost about 10 million jobs, industrial jobs, the very best paying jobs, in recent years. Today, we have an estimated 11.5 million factory jobs left. In the steel industry, back in the late 50s, there were 600,000 steel workers. Today, we only have 175,000 jobs left. We have lost almost 2/3 of the good paying steel-working jobs that we once had in this country," he lamented.
Aronowitz emphasized that this is all part of "the bleeding that is going on in the U.S."
Referring to the GM plant closure in Baltimore and a recent plant closing in New Jersey, he added, "Plants shut down and plants stay open, and the working class, understandably, gets jittery about what is going on. What is going to happen next? Of course, outsourcing is one of the main things that is going on." Over the decades, under Democrats and Republicans, Aronowitz found, as he details in his latest tome, that economic growth had become "delinked" from job creation and that the rich have received "financial windfalls" at the expense of most other Americans as a result of that unfair, deindustrialization process.
Colorado IMC is back up and I know we're all happy about that. Glen Newell has
"Hacker, Schmacker- A COIMC volunteer responds" which is a response to the way the hack has been played out in Boulder Weekly. We're going to note it in full:
Let me begin by saying it's clear to me that Joel Warner is good at his job: He got all the right facts in the right order, he talked to everyone he ought to, and he told a really good story. I was enthralled.
Trouble is, it's just a story.
True- facts are facts, and most of them are there. But facts can be presented in such a way that it becomes clear that rather than tell the story as it is, Joel Warner , the NEWS EDITOR for the Boulder Weekly ('Boulder's true alternative voice'), is about selling newspapers. That's a fact, too. It's his JOB.
First, as a volunteer for the Colorado Independent Media Center , I am disappointed: I am saddened by the characterization of the criminal 'Clorox' as some kind of misunderstood hero. He committed a crime, not only against the law, but against the very principles we hold most sacred as an organization: everyone gets a voice, noone gets shut out, we're a community of volunteers dedicated to serving social good. What he did was the philisophical and moral equivalent of driving by a community center and throwing a brick through the window.
It took very little actual skill, and his tantrum ruined a good thing for a bunch of other people, and only for a short time ( so not only was it childish and selfish, it was wasteful and inefficient). I can't speak for other IMC's, but I can tell you /I'm fairly certain /that no volunteer content manager would 'dump' an article simply because it was pro-bush, if at all. It's simply not true that he was ostracized for his political beliefs.
I will even make an offer publicly that if he is serious about writing, he should post to our open wire. If he's as smart as he thinks he is, and has something to say, I bet there are people who want to hear it. On the other hand, as I understand it, there is some history here, antagonism that goes back further in history than he will admit, and noone is required to facilitate bullying, especially volunteers.
Next, as an Information Technology professional, I am appalled at the comparison of these kinds of miscreants as heros: Clorox the punk has nothing at all in common with Oxblood Ruffin or Kevin Mitnick: both of these men, as well as the MIT engineers who coined the moniker many would like to lend this childish thug, would view him as nothing more complimentary than a precocious infant.
As for 'letting us find him on purpose', that's hogwash. The people that found him are smart, experienced professionals. If he really wanted to do something that he could be recognized for, why has he used TWO diffferent aliases ( that we know of) in his vandalism? What he has proved is nothing more than it is possible to do what he did, but noone ever denied it was possible. It's just that most grown-up people would deny that it was necessary.
One of the subjects Warner interviews tries to liken himself to the 'A Team' ( that's a TV SHOW, by the way...) but this group of common thugs ( okay, goons is an appropriate title) has niether the skill, nor the committment, nor the pr staff for the comparison . And furthermore, the several mis-used references both to 'hacker' culture and technology, bring into doubt the quality of the research conducted, even if he did talk to all the right parties.
"It would be kind of neat to have my face in the paper." (Clorox)
What a telling quote that is. And you, Mr Warner, played right into his adolescent fantasy. I say shame on you.
Glen Newell
Volunteer, Colorado Independent Media Center
Information Technology Consultant
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
