Republicans Are Assholes. Well, maybe not all - but, I bet all assholes are Republicans.

Economic Desperation - The Manna of Republican Corporatists (Fascists)

Robert Reich has a handle on the economic issues inundating this country today. The right wing/corporate media is complicit in downplaying the problems as well, as we all know. Why is it so hard for the general populous to see that demand side economics are the ONLY answer to the income inequality problems we see today? Because the media, all the fucking media, replays the old Reagan supply side mantra, job creators, ad naseum. I, for one, have had enough of this bullshit. Brainwashed by corporate media, the scared, general population continues to vote against their own self interest only for survival. this is no way to live. Scared, afraid, broke, desperate. Ask anyone, there is no security in this Republican world.

Fear Is Why Workers in Red States Vote Against Their Economic Self-Interest

By Robert Reich

Excerpts:

Last week's massive spill of the toxic chemical MCHM into West Virginia's Elk River illustrates another benefit to the business class of high unemployment, economic insecurity, and a safety-net shot through with holes. Not only are employees eager to accept whatever job they can get. They are also also unwilling to demand healthy and safe environments.

So why wasn't more done to prevent this, and why isn't there more of any outcry even now?

The answer isn't hard to find. As Maya Nye, president of People Concerned About Chemical Safety, a citizen's group formed after a 2008 explosion and fire killed workers at West Virginia's Bayer CropScience plant in the state, explained to the New York Times: "We are so desperate for jobs in West Virginia we don't want to do anything that pushes industry out."

Exactly.

The wages of production workers have been dropping for thirty years, adjusted for inflation, and their economic security has disappeared. Companies can and do shut down, sometimes literally overnight. A smaller share of working-age Americans hold jobs today than at any time in more than three decades.

People are so desperate for jobs they don't want to rock the boat. They don't want rules and regulations enforced that might cost them their livelihoods. For them, a job is precious -- sometimes even more precious than a safe workplace or safe drinking water.

This may explain why Republican officials who have been casting their votes against unions, against expanding Medicaid, against raising the minimum wage, against extended unemployment insurance, and against jobs bills that would put people to work, continue to be elected and re-elected. They obviously have the support of corporate patrons who want to keep unemployment high and workers insecure because a pliant working class helps their bottom lines. But they also, paradoxically, get the votes of many workers who are clinging so desperately to their jobs that they're afraid of change and too cowed to make a ruckus.

Amen, brother.