-- Jay Gould
As we celebrate another Labor Day, let us not forget how things were in the last Robber Baron Era.: The 1880’s ...“The Gay 90’s “ ….an era lacking the workers’ rights fought for and eventually obtained by worker/union movements in the 20th century. Prior to unions peoples’ jobs were characterized by long work days of 12 hours or more. No weekends. No vacations. No sick time. Child Labor.
“Jason "Jay" Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has been portrayed as one of the ruthless robber barons of the Gilded Age, whose success at business made him one of the richest men of his era.” (source: Wikipedia)
Krugman explains that we are in another Robber Baron Era and it certainly looks like it to me.
Read: www.forbes.com/…
Whether its Trump, or Walmart, or Safeway, or Amazon, or fill in the “blank” with one of hundreds of the “deregulated” entities of capitalism run amok --the same class that brought us the “Gay 90’s” --The Guilded Age--Our new batch of Robber Barons have managed to engineer our economy such that thousands of workers are suffering from lower wages, longer work days, multiple low paying jobs, little or no health care, little or no sick time, high rents, high food costs, high transportation costs.
Want to know more about conditions at the turn of the last century? Read: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Early worker movements/actions
Watch the movie Matewan
Watch the movie Salt of the Earth
Let this Labor Day remind us of the Gilded Age of the 19th century, the workers’/union movements that brought us the 8 hour day, the weekend, a living wage, child labor laws (to name just a few), the New Deal that brought us Social Security, and finally the recent decades of union decline --bringing us yet a New Gilded Age and a new collection of Robber Barons.
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/george_santayana_101521