No Soup For You

The really inequitable and unfathomable part of our slow drudge out of the Great Recession is that while the FIRE industries, which are primarily to blame for the recession, are making huge profits and bonuses again, working- and middle-class Americans are still suffering, sacrificing, and being punished.

To add to the suffering, Scott Walker is now trying to end collective bargaining. This, of course, will have effects on workers' wages, health care, retirement, benefits, hours, labor protections, and any and everything else formerly negotiated under union representation. And, non-union workers should realize that the terms negotiated by unions improve the conditions and terms of all workers.

The share of business profits that go to the financial industry is near 40 percent. The FIRE industries account for almost 20 percent of GDP. The pay per worker in the financial sector as a percentage of average U.S. compensation is nearly 200 percent.

8.4 million jobs have been lost since December 2007. But corporate profits and bonuses are back at record levels. Scott Walker believes we need to deregulate more and cut taxes further even though business appears to be doing fine as it is. On top of that, Walker wants to eliminate the one area - unionization - that could possibly garner workers a fair piece of the pie.

Republicans are doing all they can to help corporate interests, while simultaneously punishing workers through program cuts. Walker's attempt at killing collective bargaining is the pinnacle of class warfare and what could eventually be the death blow to the middle class. Truly a bizarre and sad occurrence we are witnessing.