Watching the budget proposals for the federal, state, and local governments
in the last thirty days has cause a level of frustration for the
middleclass. While many government officials are talking about “shared
sacrifice”, we have to really look at who is participating in the
“sacrifice”, and why the rich one percent always take a minimum hit or never
participate in this “sacrifice”. Why is it that government officials say
that they are not raising taxes on the middleclass, but always introduce
fee’s (new word for avoiding taxes)?
On a federal level, we watched this week as Democrats and Republicans
debated over cutting funds to Planned Parenthood, Health Care, Medicaid,
Social Security, amongst other things that would affect the middle class. We
must applaud them for negotiating a deal and not causing a government
shutdown on a federal level. But we have to wonder how the 38 billion
dollars in cuts are going to hurt families in poverty and the middleclass.
You have to wonder how many services are going to be cut and what
repercussions the middleclass is going to have to pay.
On the state level, in Maryland as government officials see the 90 day
session come to a close, we look at cuts and tier systems implemented to the
pension system for state employees. Outside of Invest Maryland which helps
small businesses and startup companies, there was a lack of job creation
legislation which would provide immediate help to the unemployed and
underemployed workers. Majority of the session seemed as though workers were
being reactive instead of proactive fighting legislation like Right to Work
for Less, Project Labor Agreement Prohibition, Prevailing Wage Rate Law
Repeal, and etc., while legislation that hold Corporate America accountable
like the Corporate Income Tax Combined Reporting Bill and Millionaires Tax
Sunset Repeal Bill made no traction in the State of Maryland.
On the local level, in Baltimore City our budget has been introduced by the
Mayor and workers have to be concerned about the restructuring of the health
plan for city employees. We have to be concerned with the privatization of
recreation centers which will destroy middle class jobs for City Employees.
It will lessen the accountability for Baltimore City, giving them the option
of blaming the third party for discretionary actions. It will open the door
for private contractors to hire employees without paying unemployment
benefits, healthcare benefits, retirement benefits, and workman’s
compensation benefits. They will do this by misclassifying employees and
calling them 1099 contractors. Last, the most frustration comes from the
undetermined fee for trash removal, which is another burden or payment for
the middleclass.
Can anyone question why young workers are disengaged and frustrated with the
political system and our political leaders? Do our political leaders
understand that creativity and innovation is not cutting or weakening the
benefits of workers? The million dollar question is what has the federal,
state, and local budgets done to restore the middle class? Yes I understand
your frustration, and these are the reasons that working America has to ban
together and organize around these issues to pressure our leaders to make
better decisions and restore the middleclass ourselves. No longer can we let
the richest one percent receive numerous tax benefits, while leaving the
most vulnerable Americans to starve. No longer can we let political leaders
bring Wal-Mart jobs to our neighborhoods and call it job creation, while the
real middleclass jobs leave our country. No longer can we let politicians
say that they are not raising taxes on the middleclass, while charging us
new fees for services. “Our solutions must be beyond anything we have ever
considered, we should not be afraid to try bold new approaches.” -Mary
Landrieu
The solution to the problem is creating middle class jobs and holding large
corporations accountable. When Americans are making a living wage the
economy has been successful and the dollar turns tenfold in our economic
system. When Americans are not making a living wage our economy suffers,
revenue for the government weakens, and it creates a larger division between
the class system. Also we have to begin to hold large corporations
accountable such as General Electric who pays a negative margin in taxes,
while the middleclass continues to cover the tax burdens. Middleclass job
creation and corporate accountability is the key to turning America around;
not weakening the wages, benefits, and conditions for workers.
Really.