Who are we?
We are an American family and friends, closing in on our retirement years, some not in the best of health—but not for lack of taking care of ourselves, no huge nest egg for retirement, watching health insurance premiums drain away our future. Democratic identity politics serve the moral imperative, but have—empirically—taken focus away from other things that also matter. Equality is meaningless without prosperity. The stock market may be up, but life has not improved for those of us whose economic welfare is based on our wages. The average hourly wage in America has quadrupled over the past four decades. But the cost of living has also quadrupled. No wonder it's been years since we felt like we were getting ahead.
We were glad Trump promised to take care of us, of working America. We looked forward with guarded optimism. But less than 100 days into the new administration we were already petrified at the extreme-right agenda being pursued in our nation's capital. An agenda we concluded would ultimately destroy our retirement, force us out of our home, and bring bankruptcy and financial ruin. The simple facts of what has already been proposed and promised in Washington D.C. tell us we are not over-reacting.
After the initial post-election joy or horror, depending on which side you were on, Donald J. Trump's presidency now worries everyone —
- his opposition, who doubted his competence, who saw the return of trickle-down economics as poised to destroy the economic recovery of the last eight years, and
- his supporters, who took him at his word to drain the swamp and remove the influence of special interests, to improve on the Affordable Care Act so it works for everyone, to resurrect the middle class, to "make America great again."
The realities of a Trump presidency are upon us. Thirty million who have health care for the first time worry about losing it. Hard-working Americans wonder if Medicare will exist when they retire. They hope the Social Security future benefits summary they receive still means something, that their retirement won't be privatized away to the very Wall Street interests Trump denounced but are now key members of his administration.
Will Trump restore manufacturing jobs? Or is the best he can do is bribe companies to keep a fraction of their workers on-shore while they take taxpayer handouts with one hand and still ship jobs to Mexico, South America, and overseas with the other.
We can't be the only ones worried. SaveWorkingAmerica! will be watching, investigating, and reporting.
Was the Carrier deal really a win? During his campaign Trump promised to save all the jobs on the chopping block. After discussions with Carrier, Vice President elect and still also governor of Indiana Pence authorized $7,000,000 in tax "incentives" to Carrier. In return, Carrier "saved" 730 jobs, Carrier also promised to "invest in the plant" to modernize it. However, that means robotics and the loss of more jobs in the future. When Chuck Jones, the union president of Carrier's workers, issued a statement indicating Trump was lying about the deal and how great it was, Trump personally attacked him and the union workers on Twitter.
"Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers, no wonder companies flee country!"
"If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues."
Now Trump was blaming the workers, not Carrier, for losing their jobs to Mexico, and that Jones and the union were just mouthing off and should have worked with Carrier to save their jobs. Except they did negotiate and discuss with Carrier, who told him the only way the union could compete on cost was to work for $5/hour and no benefits, no paid sick days, no paid vacation.
That is an America that works for no one.