“The Democrats had abandoned their
working-class base to chase what they pretended was a racial group when what
they were actually chasing was the momentum of unlimited migration”.
DANIEL GREENFIELD / FRONTPAGE
MAGAZINE
Congress of millionaires robs the unemployed
The refusal of the US
Congress to take action as supplemental federal unemployment benefits expired July
31 for as many as 30 million American workers demonstrates the social interests
that drive the corporate-controlled political system in the United States. A
Congress whose average member is a millionaire has not the slightest concern
for the mass suffering the cutoff of benefits will inflict on the working
class.
Tens of
millions of workers and their families have already begun to experience the
impact of this act of class savagery. Their weekly incomes will be cut by 60 to
90 percent, depending on the level of state unemployment benefits they may
continue to receive. Nearly 20 million households will be unable to afford
their monthly rent, under conditions where a limited moratorium on evictions
was allowed to expire on the same day, Friday, July 31. Millions more will be
unable to buy sufficient food, let alone afford health insurance and medical
care under conditions of a nationwide COVID-19 pandemic.
The cutoff
of supplemental benefits is not the byproduct of “gridlock” in Washington or
the unintended consequence of election-year conflicts between Democrats and the
Trump administration, as the corporate media presents it. This is a deliberate
policy.
For all
their mutual mudslinging and displays of partisan ferocity, the Democratic and
Republican parties and the Trump administration serve the same class interests
and are pursuing the same goal.
BLOG EDITOR: THEIR ‘GOAL’
IS OPEN BORDERS AND NO LEGAL NEED APPLY!!!
They aim to use the
threat of poverty, hunger and homelessness to force millions of workers to
return to work producing profits for the capitalist class, regardless of the
spreading danger from the coronavirus pandemic.
Appearing on
Sunday television interview programs, after a three-hour negotiating session on
Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (net worth $120 million), speaking for the
Democrats, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (net worth $300 million),
speaking for the Trump administration, agreed that the $600-a-week supplemental
benefit would not be renewed in its previous form.
On the ABC
program “This Week,” Mnuchin flatly attacked the supplemental benefit,
repeatedly describing jobless workers who received the $600-a-week payment as
“overpaid” and complaining that the payments had led to widespread refusal by
workers to go back to their jobs when recalled after the end of state lockdowns
imposed because of COVID-19.
When his
interviewer expressed skepticism that an “extra $600” was a disincentive to
finding a job, Mnuchin replied, “There’s no question in certain cases where
we’re paying people more to work—stay home than to work. That’s created issues
in the entire economy.”
The former Hollywood financier, whose personal
wealth would cover the cost of supplemental benefits for 10,000 workers for
an entire year, was giving voice to the claims of Senate Republicans and
numerous corporate employers. They have argued that the $600-a-week federal
benefit made it difficult to induce workers to return to work at low-paying
fast food, retail and sweatshop positions.
Speaking on
the same program, Pelosi tried to make a display of sympathy for the
unemployed, criticizing the Republicans for subjecting jobless workers to a
greater degree of scrutiny than businessmen who collected tens of millions of
dollars in federal payments under the misnamed Paycheck Protection Program.
But she
embraced the suggestion of the second-ranking Democrat in the House, Majority
Leader Steny Hoyer, who said last week that the supplemental benefit was
negotiable, and that the Republican demand to reduce the weekly amount was “not
a deal-breaker.”
Pelosi
suggested a sliding scale of payments, as proposed by Senate Minority Leader
Charles Schumer (Democrat from New York), in which “the amount of money that’s
given as an enhancement for unemployment insurance should relate to the rate of
unemployment. So, as that goes down, then you can consider something less than
the $600…”
Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (net worth $22.5 million) has set August 7 as
the effective deadline for the ongoing negotiations, the day the Senate will
begin its August recess. The House and Senate could well begin their monthlong
break—a period of lavishly-paid vacations far beyond the reach of most American
workers—having either drastically cut benefits for the unemployed or failed to
restore them at all.
On the same
day that federal supplemental benefits expired, the House of Representatives
passed, on a near-party-line vote, a $1.3 trillion bill to fund the Department
of Defense, as well as the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services,
Education, Justice, Transportation, Energy and several other agencies.
The military
component of that bill, close to $750 billion, would by itself have paid for
more than 40 weeks of supplemental unemployment benefits. It includes such
items as $70 billion—four weeks of supplemental benefits—for Overseas
Contingency Operations, the slush fund the Pentagon uses to cover expenses for
wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, as well as drone missile strikes across a
much wider area.
The most
recent bill for a single weapons system, the F-35 fighter jet, at $34 billion,
would pay for two weeks of supplemental benefits. A single Gerald R. Ford-class
aircraft carrier (there are five on order, and 10 planned in total) comes to
$18 billion for research, development and construction—one week’s worth of
supplemental unemployment benefits to keep 30 million American families alive.
There are
other comparisons that can be made. General Motors CEO Mary Barra made $21
million last year, or $420,000 per week, enough to fund the unemployment
benefits of 700 jobless workers.
The
increase since March in the personal fortune of a single individual, Amazon CEO
Jeff Bezos, comes to $74 billion, enough to cover supplemental benefits for
four weeks. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has gained more than $50 billion during the
same period. He could pay the benefit bill for an additional three weeks.
American billionaires as whole have gained $565 billion over the past four
months, enough to finance supplemental benefits until March 2021.
And that
leaves out the rest of the Wall Street investor class, those of less than
billionaire rank, for whom the four months since the passage of the CARES Act
in late March have been the most lucrative period in the history of world
capitalism.
Senator
McConnell claimed that 15 to 20 members of his Republican caucus opposed any
extension of supplemental benefits at all, and several of these diehards have
been quoted bemoaning the colossal federal borrowing that has been carried out
since the coronavirus pandemic forced the temporary lockdown of the US economy.
The
figures cited above, however, demonstrate the lying character of the claims
that “there is no money” to provide necessary support to allow workers and
their families to survive without being forced back into workplaces that would
quickly become focal points of a deadly infectious disease.
NJ Democrats OK Valuable Work Licenses for Illegal Aliens
5:38
New Jersey’s Democratic-run legislature is allowing illegal migrants to take tens of thousands of licensed and professional jobs from Americans.
The state’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, is expected to sign a bill passed in July by the House and Senate that allows illegal aliens to get occupational and professional licenses, according to a July 30 report by NorthJersey.com:
“Governor Murphy believes that immigrants are a critical part of the fabric of life in New Jersey, and that they should not face unnecessary barriers as they seek to participate in our society and economy,” Alyana Alfaro, a Murphy spokeswoman, said prior to the Assembly vote.
The short bill removes the existing state rules against illegal migrants getting state occupational licenses for white-collar jobs such as architects and blue-collar jobs such as electricians. “Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, rule, or regulation, lawful presence in the United States shall not be required to obtain a professional or occupational license, provided that the applicant meets all other requirements for licensure,” says Senate bill No. 2455.
The law will help NJ employers to get their illegal employees’ work certified by state and local officials. State officials rarely penalize or even look for employers who hire illegal migrants, partly because migration rules are set by the federal government.
The bill is touted as an aid for the resident population of migrants who are working legally under the 2012 “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA) amnesty.
But New Jersey also has a large number of illegal aliens, including Mexicans, Central Americans, and a growing number of Indians.
The law will also open new opportunities for unscrupulous employers to skirt federal laws while using illegal migrants as cheap labor. For example, foreign visitors are allowed to enter and depart the country under the B-1/B-2 visa. They are not allowed to work once they enter the country — but there are very few enforcement efforts to deter the widespread hiring of B-1/B-2 visitors in jobs needed by Americans.
The legislation spotlights the deepening alliance between business groups and progressives. In 2019, Murphy also signed a bill allowing illegal aliens to get drivers’ licenses, making it easier for employers to hire illegal migrants for various jobs. In 2013, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was one of the eight senators who pushed the “Gang of Eight” amnesty and cheap-labor bill.
The licensing bill is pushed by Democrat Sen. Nellie Pou. She did not use her Twitter account to tout the bill’s passage.
A variety of donor-funded progressive groups back the legislation. The groups use the #OccupationalLicenses4All hashtag:
Proud to stand alongside all of our sisters and brothers who fought for #OccupationalLicenses4All, helping to ensure we can safely staff our healthcare facilities, especially at a time when our state is fighting a pandemic outbreak. #COVID19 #SafeStaffing https://t.co/CJOpue9FNy— HPAE – Health Professionals & Allied Employees (@hpaeaft) August 1, 2020
The tacit alliance has kept New Jersey’s wage growth among the lowest in the nation, despite the Democrats’ policy of raising the government-directed minimum wage.
The bills were pushed by Democrats but are also supported by some GOP members.
A growing number of other states — including California and New York — allow illegal aliens to compete against American licensed experts and professionals.
There was minimal media coverage of the giveaway bill in the state’s few newspapers. The little coverage focused on the interests of illegal immigrants, not on Americans and legal immigrants. For example, NorthJersey.com led its coverage with a sympathetic coverage of one illegal migrant from El Salvador:
Luis Chirino has spent long hours designing, drawing and building projects to earn a degree in architecture from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, sometimes spending all night in a studio on the Newark campus.But Chirino, 22, who lives in Jersey City, also has wondered whether the long nights of studying will pay off and if he will be able to practice his chosen profession in New Jersey once he graduates. As an immigrant without legal status, he can’t obtain a professional license to work as an architect in New Jersey even if he graduates and passes the required exams.…In New Jersey, dozens of professions and occupations require licenses, including accountants, architects, acupuncturists, audiologists, beauticians, court reporters, cosmetologists, doctors, dentists, engineers, home inspectors, morticians, nurses, occupational therapists, optometrists, pharmacists, plumbers, psychiatrists, real estate appraisers, social workers and veterinarians.
On April 2, Fox News reported comments from pro-American critics of cheap-labor migration:
“Allowing those in the country illegally to get occupational or professional licenses takes jobs away from American citizens and legal immigrants,” said FAIR State and Local Engagement Director Shari Randall.“Already there are more than 1.3 million unemployed individuals in New Jersey who are suffering as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns. Providing occupational or professional licenses to those in the country illegally incentivizes more illegal immigration. With high unemployment, the legislative focus should have been targeted to unemployed citizens and legal immigrants in New Jersey who desperately need to go back to work, instead of encouraging more illegal immigration.”
Progressives & biz groups are lobbying state legislatures to sneak illegals into licensed jobs, ie electricians, therapists, nurses, HVAC, etc.
This would encourage more labor smuggling, and cut wages for the middle-class.
Like #H1B for blue-collars. https://t.co/PKiqa9lHmV— Neil Munro (@NeilMunroDC) July 22, 2020
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