Hamilton Nolan purports to be a author whose subjects are labor, politics, and energy. Based on his web site, he has over 8,000 subscribers. Frankly, I’ve by no means heard of him and I’m fairly certain he has by no means heard of me both. In an op-ed for The Guardian on September 21, 2023, he says that Tesla “is now US labor’s most necessary goal. If Musk doesn’t like that, he’s welcome to settle it with an auto employee by cage match.”

Shawn Fain vs. Elon Musk. Now, there’s a picture you’ll be able to’t unsee! On your personal consideration and common amusement, go forward and browse the full story earlier than transferring on to my takeaway on it.

Picture courtesy of Tesla

The Takeaway

I’ve made my very own pro-union proclivities abundantly clear (the evils of Jimmie Hoffa however). Alternatively, I’m additionally a kind of “cult-like buyers” Hamilton speaks of, so I’m of two minds about his screed op-ed. To me, it comes all the way down to this: Ought to American employees have the ability to lead a solidly middle-class way of life or are they wage slaves who should work two or typically three jobs whereas dwelling of their mom’s storage?

The weaponized capitalist system has given us a category of rich plutocrats who, due to the ignorance of John Roberts, can plow infinite quantities of cash into supporting political candidates who will promise to chop taxes on the wealthy. It has additionally given us globalization, a system that outsources jobs to the bottom wage areas of the world the place individuals labor in slave-like situations to fill the cabinets at Walmart with low cost imported items.

There are such a lot of transferring items to globalization, not the least of that are the large carbon emissions created when thousands and thousands of containers are despatched throughout oceans to be distributed by thousands and thousands of tractor trailers. Since there isn’t any worldwide worth on carbon, that price by no means will get added to the gross sales worth of these items, which is a gross distortion of the financial system and creates a “Heads we win, tails you lose” state of affairs.

In reality, these foreign-made items needs to be marked up by 20% or extra to compensate for the environmental hurt related to their manufacture and distribution. As soon as all the prices of manufacture get taken into consideration, these foreign-made items aren’t practically as low cost as they’re claimed to be.

As well as, what made America nice was a strong and thriving center class. Till that comes again, America can by no means reclaim its self-proclaimed mantle of greatness. The nation is nicely on its option to changing into a feudal society based mostly on a plantation mentality that robs employees of their dignity.

So, deliver on the cage match between the UAW and Tesla. Simply let me know when it’s going to occur so I can promote my Tesla shares first!

Submit Script

As I used to be scripting this, I used to be listening to Pandora when Johnny Money’s Man In Black got here on. I hadn’t heard it for some time, however I used to be struck by how his phrases spoke so eloquently to the troubled occasions we discover ourselves in. There may be a lot knowledge in his music, and so I believed that, since this text is partly about social justice, this is perhaps a very good time to share it with you all. Get pleasure from!