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Nordic Whoring: US Workers Get Cheap
Sociologists tell us that the reason an otherwise happily married man will seek the services of a prostitute is because he knows she will do things his wife would never consent to do. Whether or not that explanation is accurate, the same perception appears to be Sweden’s reason for embracing the American worker. Judging from their recent actions, Swedish companies are convinced they can get American workers to do things their own citizens would never do.
Early evidence of this perception was seen in the draconian measures instituted at Sweden’s IKEA manufacturing plant in Danville, Virginia. After getting the local community to pony up more than $12 million in tax breaks and other subsidies (as an inducement for IKEA to locate its factory in this job-starved region of Virginia), it didn’t take long for the company to show its true colors.
They not only hired a union-busting outfit to keep the IAM (International Association of Machinists) from making a run at the employees, they proceeded to drastically slash employee wages, and unilaterally modify long-standing work and overtime rules. Needless to say, these measures not only would have been frowned upon by Swedish society, but most of them would’ve been illegal. They would have been in violation of Sweden’s labor laws.
As brutal as the Danville crackdown was, a similar move is occurring at the AAK (AahusKarishamn) oils and fats processing plant, in Louisville, Kentucky. The Louisville plant was formerly owned and operated by Golden Brands, but was sold to the Swedish multinational corporation last July. Despite having had a fairly cooperative relationship with Golden Brands for more than 25 years, once the company changed hands, things turned ugly in a hurry.
Within months, AAK launched an unprecedented anti-union campaign, one that culminated in—and this is going to sound preposterous—the company circulating a decertification petition, urging the fifty members of Chapter 320 of the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers (NCFO/Local 32BJ SEIU) to voluntarily leave their union.
The arrogance and audacity of such a move was mind-boggling. Had management dared circulate a union decertification petition in Sweden, the company’s executives would’ve been strung up by their Buster Browns and pelted with lingenberries.
But when the decert effort failed, AAK became even more determined. The company not only threatened to fire members of the union bargaining committee if they didn’t recommend to their fellow workers ratification of a grossly inferior contract, but their negotiators came to the bargaining table armed with a set of ultimatums that would have effectively stripped the union of its legitimacy (including abolishing the union security clause and eliminating seniority rights).
Say what you will about the Swedes, but they’re shrewd and resourceful. Accordingly, they were perceptive enough to realize that the United States no longer qualifies, technically, as a “country”—at least not in the way that Sweden qualifies as one.
The U.S. seems to have lost its sense of identity; it no longer feels like a national community. Rather, it has mutated into a gladiatorial arena, a battleground where corporations compete for profits in a merciless zero-sum game, where everything is reduced to winners and losers, and where, unfortunately, the federal labor laws are so weak they practically guarantee that the workers will always be the losers.
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100 Comments so far
Show AllYet another large example of the anti-labor kleptocratic political,legal and economic system that has developed over decades. Judged by distribution of income and wealth, declining life expectancy, poverty levels, violent crime levels, availability of jobs (let alone living wage jobs) access to quality health care, imprisonment rates etc. etc. etc. The US is a "Third World Country" and has been for some time.
So, 200 years of capitalism and the means of production in private hands, be they Eurpoean, American, or Asian hands, has nothing to do with it? It is just some scheme that developed over the past couple decades?
Jumping to conclusions eh: I never said that.
I was speaking of post WWII economic indicators. The bigger picture: Western Civilization is a suicide death cult since the industrial revolution. It will kill off much of the planet's population in the coming decades.
Thanks for the flash, Gordon. BMW pulled the same stunt in one of their plants. They pay half what the German workers get, and nowhere near the benefits. Back in the 80s, there were several European trading companies - stocks and commodities - which paid their US employees the same as their Euro employees, including, dig this - free medical benefits. With the radical moves throughout the Reagan/Poppy Bush/Clinton years, deregulating everything, such perks were no longer made available. The US is completing the race to the bottom - of third-world tax havens for European transnationals. Everything that made the East and Southeast great after WWII - steel, textiles, union workforces - is long gone, and likely never to return. I can still remember the TV spots, with real workers singing 'look for the union label' - the International Ladies Garment Worker's Union - made up of women and men, black, white, brown, whatever. No more.
>>They pay half what the German workers get, and nowhere near the benefits.<<
As they continuously raise the prices of their already overpriced and increasingly unreliable status symbols.
oh boy! as an expat, I find this all rather ironic.
US companies move jobs abroad for cheap labour.
European move jobs to the US for the same reason.
Should have stayed in ol' blighted.
plus ca change
American citizens make excellent slaves.
They will work without question for pennies AND their lack of creativity and imagination will keep them subservient to those with lots of fancy shiny things.
IKEA produces crap, anyway. They are the Swedish Wal-Mart.
Electrolux is another Swedish company. There is a famous case about how, seeking lower labor costs, they moved their plants from the U.S. to Mexico: http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/episode_descriptions.php?page=7
This article and your comment have it wrong - Ikea has NOT been a Swedish company for a long time. It's HQ'ed and incorporated in the Netherlands and in the Netherlands Antilles. The physical corporate HQ is in Delft. A lot of designs are Swedish indeed but this is a Dutch corporation.
The author also managed to get the name of AarhusKarlshamn wrong (TWO spelling errors!), and failed to note that this is a joint Swedish-Danish corporation. Aarhus is one of the largest cities in Denmark, that should have been a clue...
I generally like this fellow's articles a lot but this one is WAY sloppy with basic facts.
Ask any Scandinavian and they'd tell you that IKEA is their version of Wal-Mart (even since its inception). Also, Electrolux is Swedish.
Anyway, here's the excerpt from Wikipedia, for what it's worth, that explains that the Swedish guy who started the company - Ingvar Kamprad - still has control over most of IKEA's stores ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA ):
"Along with helping IKEA make non-taxable profit, IKEA's complicated corporate structure allows Kamprad to maintain tight control over the operations of Ingka Holding [the Dutch corporation], and thus the operation of most IKEA stores. The Ingka Foundation's five-person executive committee is chaired by Kamprad. It appoints the board of Ingka Holding, approves any changes to Ingka Holding's bylaws, and has the right to preempt new share issues."
And, here's more: http://www.evb.ch/cm_data/Ikea_e.pdf
In addition, the current Chairman and CEO is Swedish (Michael Ohlsson).
"Ask any Scandinavian and they'd tell you that IKEA is their version of Wal-Mart" I wrote to the author of this article using the email address provided to tell him what I noted here. He thanked me for the heads up and noted that a number of people ***including a few Swedes*** wrote to tell him the same thing, that Ikea is a Dutch corporation. The fact that many Ikeas are located in Scandinavia means nothing.
Ikea is physically located in and incorporated in the Netherlands. Their management is multinational; the Eurozone makes that easier than ever. Their chocolate is made in Germany and the furniture in China. You are simply wrong and no amount of spin will change that.
I noted yesterday that IKEA has outsourced most of their labor to China (in another set of comments for this article). That's what I meant by IKEA being the Scandinavian Wal-Mart: that the company has been outsourcing labor to sweatshops.
You appear to have failed to read this, which I'll repost here: http://www.evb.ch/cm_data/Ikea_e.pdf
Also, I didn't deny that IKEA is owned by a Dutch Corporation. What you should note is that the Dutch Corporation is ultimately controlled by Ingvar Kamprad, the Swede who originally founded IKEA. And, it looks like this is all a big tax evasion scheme on his part (incidentally, Kamprad joined a pro-fascist movement in his younger years - funny how tax evasion and fascist tendencies seem to go hand in hand). In effect, the company is still owned and controlled by its Swedish founder, regardless of where it chooses to headquarter itself so that it can avoid paying taxes. In other words, Kamprad created a tax haven for himself. That is all. It's like a company that is owned by a U.S. citizen having corporate headquarters in the Caribbean.
Have you ever been to an IKEA store? It is interesting to note that they still fly the Swedish flag outside. In other words, they still brand themselves as Swedish.
Any comments about Electrolux, the other Swedish company with issues that I mentioned earlier?
Is Yum Brands a "Mexican corporation" because Taco Bell is branded Mexican? Is Yum Brands an "Italian corporation" because Pizza Hut is branded Italian?
Spin and spin and spin all you like, IKEA IS A DUTCH CORPORATION.
And no it can't be the "Scandinavian Wal-Mart" BECAUSE THE NETHERLANDS IS NOT A SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRY. Sheesh.
The Netherlands derives a lot of its social approach from a European form of libertarianism which stands in pretty sharp contrast to Scandinavian social democracies. Although all those white people might look alike to you, they are two different societies. Have you ever been to Sweden and the Netherlands? Have you noticed that they fly two different flags, speak different languages and have different governments?
There's an Ikea about a half-mile from me, and it's been there for a decade, and, no, they don't fly a Swedish flag, nor any flag in fact. Yes, they brand themselves as Swedish, but so what? That's not at all relevant to the article.
Ingvar Kamprad was born in 1926. Do you really imagine that he "controls" Ikea? He likely struggles to control his bowels. Do you refer to "INGKA Holding BV"? BV is DUTCH for "Besloten Vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid." When was Delft moved to Sweden?
The European version of libertarianism or even conservatism would look too "left" to most USAns. Say what you want against either Sweden or the Netherlands but at least both of them offer universal health care for all its people and neither nation would ever endorse corporate abusers such as IKEA. As for IKEA, it holds no allegiance to any nation so why bother arguing about whether IKEA is a Dutch or Swedish corporation?
Some large European corporations have taken on American tactics, unfortunately. Who knows how long it will be before health care is privatized in those countries that still have universal health care? Eastern Europe has been experiencing American-style privatization for a while now.
Canada and UK are being experimented for attempts to turn single payer into a USAn type health "care" system. Big Insurance would love to extend its corporatist tentacles without a doubt. From what the articles on this site, Alternet, and others are mentioning about "austerity" in Europe, the leaders there are adapting Washington's thuggish style of ignoring the people while listening to Wall $treet although they are not as evil yet.
The health care systems in Germany and Switzerland, being multi-payer rather than single-payer, are already facing serious issues. While insurance companies are strictly regulated unlike in the USA, the loosening of regulations is all too easy in any kind of a capitalist system. I have been to Poland once and have relatives who live there. From what they say about the health care system, privatization has been picking up and yet the Neil Boortzes of the USA would still lie and slander Poland as "socialist" just because certain health services are free to nearly all Polish residents.
I saw your post where you mentioned your origin. Someone, maxpayne I think, mentioned this months or about 1-2 years ago that if the USA would end the prohibition on hemp and let it be put to industrial use with algal oil to fill in the rest, foreign wars for oil that have scarred one too many great nations and turned otherwise peaceful cities into 24/7 war zones could be averted. Furthermore, thugs such as IKEA would go bust since the quality of production would be likely higher with hemp and algae compared to petroleum and more people especially USAns would find themselves far less materialistic. All said, my heart goes out to the Iraqi people who have had to endure the impact of the irreversible damage done to them.
P.S.: Happy New Year and best to you.
Thank you for your sweet and thoughtful response. I never thought about Big Insurance wanting to "extend its corporatist tentacles" overseas! For some reason, I just envisioned things happening on a more local scale, but I think your vision is probably the more accurate one. Very interesting! Happy New Year to you, as well, my dear!
The author of the article specifically was calling out "Swedish" corporations for bad deeds that one wouldn't get away with in Sweden. As it turns out the one corporation is Dutch and would therefore be subject to Dutch law on its home turf and the other corporation - which the author misspelled in two places (!) - is Swedish-Danish joint owned. This would be sloppy work earning a poor grade in high school and is not up to snuff for representing left opinion in public forums; the author admits so when contacted on it, which apparently I am one of several people (some of them Swedes) to do.
You'll have to ask WonderWoman why she continues to argue against the facts. I thought WW was supposed to have some Lasso of Truth...
Yeah, and I thought actual leftists were supposed to be capable of understanding what a tax haven is and what it means for one of the wealthiest men in the world to evade paying taxes for the company he started in the country in which he is a citizen. I suppose we have both been let down.
Do you understand that Ikea is incorporated and located in the Netherlands for reasons that have to do with Sweden and the Netherlands being two different countries and societies? Do you realize that because Dutch law is very different than Swedish law that it becomes ridiculous to blame the Sweden for behavior effectively allowed by the Netherlands (and for that matter the US - in fact rather more to the point the US, as we're the ones without living wage legislation and without the right to organize)? If Sweden is the problem here then why did Ikea leave Sweden?
OK, so would Harley-Davidson still be an American company if it simply moved its headquarters to, say, the Caribbean? Same ownership, just *headquartered* in another place? They already outsource a lot of their labor to sweatshops overseas, too, btw. And, what if they put American flags on their motorcycles, to help them continue to brand themselves as uniquely American? Just curious what your take would be.
I agree with Jennifer that calling IKEA a MNC is more accurate (which you were indirectly pointing out), but the ONLY reason it is a MNC is because the Swede who owns and founded it moved his company's headquarters from Sweden to the Netherlands in 1982 (IKEA was founded in Sweden in 1943) so that he wouldn't have to pay taxes to his government. In fact, I feel strongly that he's ripping off the Swedish government, not that this is the Swedish government's fault. And, what's even worse is that he's branding a lot of his merchandise as Swedish or Scandinavian (it's implicit, whether or not it's actually stated anywhere)!
"OK, so would Harley-Davidson still be an American company if it simply moved its headquarters to, say, the Caribbean?"
It would cease to be an American corporation. How is this not obvious? They could stick red white and blue anal beads up their butts, they still would cease to be an American corporation. And what's with "simply moved" its HQ?! That means changing the set of laws you operate under, changing your taxation, changing many of your employees, in short changing most things about how the corporation operates.
" just *headquartered* in another place"
By "just *headquartered*"... you mean that the corporation is "merely" subject to the laws and taxation of a different country and the physical offices are "only" staffed largely by people of a different nationality? "Minor" things like that..?
" I feel strongly that he's ripping off the Swedish government"
... and yet the author of this article and most of the commenters are ATTACKING Swedish society for Ikea! Do you not now see why it does matter to get it correct that Ikea left Sweden 30 years ago..?
#1: I didn't think the author was attacking "Swedish society" for anything. Just the corporations. That was *my* interpretation, though. Nor did I say anything about "Swedish society," so I don't know why you bothered to say anything in response to my initial comment, anyway.
#2: Aarhus Karlshamn is actually headquartered in Sweden. So, by your own logic, although some people refer to it as a "Swedish-Danish" company, it must be exclusively Swedish, right?
1) In what conceivable way is an article titled "Nordic Whoring" NOT critical of Nordic society? This is the second of these articles he's written apparently and the author himself feels he's overreached in criticism of Sweden... yet for some reason you don't. Beyond this you can look downthread and see commenters using this article as a platform to rip "the so-called social democracies" of Scandinavia, or ripping Ikea for behaving one way here when they couldn't "at home" in Sweden. It's inaccurate and misplaced.
2) AKK does appear to be HQed in Sweden (in Malmo, which you should know is across the bridge from Copenhagen; the two countries allow people to commute to work from place to the other and that was true before the Eurozone). I don't know if they are only incorporated there or also in Denmark; there's been a merger and after that merger I don't know what the status of Aarhus A/S is, or if it's something else now, or if AKK Sweden is all that remains. I don't even know if "merger" means quite the same things there as here and I'd be surprised if anyone reading this thread does offhand. If they still exist I'd say it's Swedish-Danish and if they don't exist any longer (I tried looking up a few things quickly and don't have the time for this any longer) then they are Swedish. Wikipedia lists them as "Swedish-Danish" but the reference link for that is dead.
People can and many do commute for work daily between Copenhagen and Malmo; they don't and can't commute daily between Stockholm and Delft.
If I were the author that's the type of thing I'd look up *before* writing two articles ripping Sweden. In contrast the fellow couldn't bother to get the name of one of the corporations correct.
I'm sorry, but who the hell cares that 'commenters [are] using this article as a platform to rip "the so-called social democracies"'? I for one, don't care, unless they are specifically addressing my comments. That's free speech, and they just look stupid for making such generalizations (and, before anyone accuses me of being "holier than thou": yes, I'm sure that I've made generalizations that make me look stupid - no one is immune from that). True, I've gotten a little upset at other uninformed comments at CD, but there's not much anyone can do about those comments. I know that *I* didn't rip "the so-called social democracies"', so I don't know why you're taking your anger out on me? That's what it feels like is happening, here, from my perspective, anyway.
As an ASIDE (whether there is misinformation or not in any article published): I believe that it is important to be able to see that there are flaws to be found in corporations from any country in this world. It does NOT mean that I hate those countries. If anything, I would like for those flaws to be acknowledged so that societies can benefit from the way those flaws are addressed and changed for the BETTER. Yes, I thought that this article's title was a bit too dramatic and distasteful (which is why I read it - out of curiosity), BUT, I don't particularly like seeing corporations in those countries - which USED to rely almost exclusively on native labor - go and outsource their labor (and, sometimes evade paying taxes which benefit the public) to sweatshops overseas. Nor do I like seeing those corporations aiding in the plundering of countries that are distant from them for their natural resources. I want to feel proud of those countries for the way that their citizens, including their CEOs, behave. If articles like this (and articles that are critical of the behavior of other corporations around the world) force folks to confront the truth, then I'm all for that.
Now, it has to be mentioned that there is a small labor pool in Nordic countries for a very big market. Nordic design is apparently highly sought after around the world. So, some outsourcing of labor has become inevitable simply because there's not enough labor in those countries for the products that are in high demand. That doesn't mean that those companies that outsource should skimp when it comes to benefits and pay for the foreign labor pool, though, even if laws are different for those workers. Some companies are good about not skimping. Others are not.
BTW, I just drove past the IKEA down the street from where I live - 3 Swedish flags (2 in the parking lot and 1 right in front of the store), flying next to American and state flags, but not a single Dutch flag.
"Who the hell cares?" I should think people who think that facts matter care.
Again and again and again you claim that I must be on the corporate side if I merely want facts to be correct, "minor" things like spelling a corporations name generally correct if you're going to write an article about how terrible they are.
I have no idea why you think the flags matter. Obviously Ikea brands itself as Swedish and is in no hurry to point out to people that they left Sweden 30 years ago. If I see a chihuhua in a sombrero in a Taco Bell window does that make Taco Bell a Mexican corp?
The author of the article didn't say anything against social democracies, silly, just some commenters.
Furthermore, I think it's great that the author pointed out the union busting, regardless of whatever mistakes you think that he made.
And, where did I claim that you are "on the corporate side"? I think you must be confusing me with someone else? If you bothered to read a little farther along on the comments list, I actually acknowledged that you have a good point.
On the other hand, I do feel offended that you continue to remind me of Taco Hell. Is that your favorite restaurant or something? Have you seen this? Scary stuff. And, it's all true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyXC4kyY-s0
Having read this entire thread a few times before coming to judgment, I shall give my take. I appreciate you taking the time to notify the author of minor mistakes for which he acknowledges. However, those "mistakes" are irrelevant and you are making a big deal out of a minor issue especially when IKEA couldn't care less about whose "law" it is under or for that matter its citizenship itself. Do you not understand that multinational corporations have the power to be amoral like that and will be that way at will? Any law that the MNC thugs feels is a "threat" to even a sliver of their profits they will ruthlessly seek to overturn and/or try to get around it in a thuggish manner.
"However, those "mistakes" are irrelevant"
NO THEY AREN'T. First off they aren't quote-unquote "mistakes", they are actual mistakes. The author of the article admits as much, why can't you? Second, as we see below, one commenter has picked up and run with Ikea being "subject to Swedish law", which is not applicable.
How is getting the name of a corporation you are criticizing so wrong that it becomes difficult to any follow-up research not a "mistake", and how is that not relevant? Would you trust an article that criticizes "Borrock Ubumma"? How is an article that makes hay out of the 'Swedishness' (actually this is the second article of the sort he's written) of two corporations that are in whole or part not subject to Swedish law - one in fact which has the name of a Danish city in its name when spelled correctly - not in any way responsible for at least making sure the corporations are Swedish?
Do facts mean anything to you? Do you know the difference between a fact and an opinion?
The two of you seem to think that because I was one of several people to correct the author on his facts that I'm somehow protecting Ikea or defending multinationals' bad behavior. I'm doing nothing of the sort. What I would like to see on left-leaning sites is the same thing I demand from mainstream media - basic accuracy. If some right wing site misspelled the name of Noam Chomsky in two places and claimed that he's Canadian I'm sure you would jump all over it. Sloppy work on the basics makes a person wonder about the accuracy of anything else the author writes, which is unfortunate as I read this fellow's labor columns all the time and think they are usually quite informative (and I wrote him as much.)
Look, we get your point. You do not have to get so pushy about it. Oh, and calling Wonderwoman "wrong" and accusing her of "spinning" and blaming Sweden is way out of line.
Over the past dozen years or so I've noticed that when people in an internet argument don't have the facts on their side they start criticizing their foil's tone.
Thank you Jennifer.
I second your post.
Thank you Tom as well. I am glad that you were able to return despite getting a rude treatment sometime ago. Discussions can sometimes get rough and slip into personal warfare. I admire your ability to stick to the issues and not get taken over by ad hominem attacks from what I read of your posts. Happy New Year and I look forward to reading more from you ahead as well.
Totally agree with you.
When Swedes aren't Swedes! Oh, they must be getting thoroughly Stars and Striped into their new found Neanderthal minds really "tranforming" about like "Western civilzation" as applied to indigenous people in the USA from over 500 yaars ago. They're really getting into their new roles. That's too bad. We liked them much better when Swedes were Swedes.
I don't get your comment. What are you trying to say? The Swedish nobility hardly has a clean history. I'm not glorifying anyone's history or culture, here.
That said, when I say that some country is being "Americanized" (not necessarily Sweden), I mean that the same privatization schemes are being implemented in that foreign country as were formerly uniquely seen in the States. Along with that process we often see the "importation" of U.S.-based corporations into that foreign country (Wal-Mart, McDonalds, KFC, Coca-cola, etc.), as well as "music," "style," and other common American pop culture components. To that extent, I believe that "globalization" is synonymous with "Americanization."
The IKEA down the road from me flies the Swedish flag. Yours probably does, too, but I'm guessing that you've never bothered to look for it. It's outside in the parking lot. You know, on one of the flag poles.
You so obviously didn't read the link to the document that I've put up twice now. It's pretty much the general consensus that the Dutch "company" and the Foundation Kamprad founded serve as his tax haven. Kamprad is one of the wealthiest men in the world - a Swedish citizen who doesn't want to pay taxes to his government, the Swedish government. Even if he's old, his family is benefiting from his tax evasion. This is unlike Yum! Brands, which serves food on par with the furniture that IKEA produces, but is American owned and headquartered in Kentucky (before anyone gets offended that I slammed Taco Bell: I also know what real Mexican food tastes like - a good portion of my family is from across the border, so guess what kind of food we have at family get togethers? Not Taco Hell).
And, yes, I've been to Sweden and the Netherlands. I know a lot about Swedish culture, incidentally - grew up with a lot of kids who have Swedish (and other Nordic) ancestries. I can speak a few Swedish phrases, and regularly employ them when conversing with my Swedish auto mechanic. It helps to bring down the prices on repairs, and he gives me a lot of freebies.
Why no condemnation of the sweatshop labor that IKEA exploits to make Kamprad's crap? And, yes, it is CRAP.
I know where flags are found, I'm not an idiot. They do not fly any flags in the parking lot in the store near me.
" It's pretty much the general consensus that the Dutch "company"..."
No, it's not a "company" it's a limited liability corporation.
"... as his tax haven."
The physical corporate HQ is in Delft. It's not just a tax haven.
We're all very proud for you that you "know what real Mexican food tastes like." I'm sure the average CD reader has some awareness of the difference between Taco Bell and Mexican food. I didn't know that I am required to "condemn" things when leaving a comment about the accuracy of the claims that corporations which are not subject to Swedish law in whole or in part actually are. I've said nothing positive about Ikea, I'm just pointing out that they aren't incorporated in Sweden and have not been for some time, and that their corporate HQ is not in Sweden and that many of their managers are not in fact Swedish.
Dude, *you're* the one who first used the phrase "Dutch corporation" around here. Moreover, you haven't come up with a response that convinces me that the tax evasion claim isn't true.
Dude, you just used the word "company" and I responded to that.
NO ONE IS CLAIMING THE TAX EVASION ISN'T TRUE!!! This is in fact the whole point! The point of the article is to criticize SWEDEN for things that apparently SWEDEN might not allow. THE NETHERLANDS however apparently is a good place to incorporate if you'd like to dodge taxes. My understanding is that U2 and that blowhard Bono did exactly that to dodge Irish taxation.
I wrote "it's not just a tax haven." You're twisting that into "not a tax haven." No wonder you don't care if someone writes accurately, you won't bother reading for meaning anyway.
(And to be fair it's US - it's the UNITED STATES - that's a good place to make things if you want to pay poverty wages. The Taft-Hartley Act and right to work and low minimum wages ain't Sweden's fault).
I agree with you about the U.S. and U2.
Comment removed by me.
And so it goes. Wages in Japanese and Euroean Auto plants - all located in the US South to take advantage of the historically beaten-down and happy-to-be-a-serf mentality of its poor population - are now down to just $12.50 per hour and no benefits. The electric Nissan Leaf - soon to be the next fashion statment amongst the greenie bourgeois liberal class, will be build by people earning about this much in Smyrna, TN.
The US is going to look like Honduras or Guatamala in no time. Indeed, a tiny wealthy minority, an allied, larger "professional" coordinator-class minority, and a great majority in grinding poverty, represents capitalism in its most optimal, stable state.
"The US is going to look like Honduras or Guatamala in no time. Indeed, a tiny wealthy minority, an allied, larger "professional" coordinator-class minority, and a great majority in grinding poverty, represents capitalism in its most optimal, stable state."
don't forget about the death squads. jesus, the things we get to look forward to in the land of the free...
...peace...
A Los Angeles playwright laments the decline and collapse of economic/social structures in the USA? Hmm, perhaps such a decline/collapse occurred while such Merkans were busy defending the prestige of their creative occupations at the expense of a certain social solidarity, for the protection of Merkan small farmers, craftsmen and merchants? I suggest that Coastal/Urban Merka get to work on building such a solidarity, which is going to affect lifestyles. Time for tough choices in Merka.
Macaray has been a union organizer for all kinds of manufacturing settings. You don't think any USAn playwright, artist, songwriter or musician survives without at least one another job, don't you?
And, I never knew that there is something anti-worker about culture. Ever heard of the song "Bread and Roses" sung by the Lowell Textile strikers?
"The U.S. seems to have lost its sense of identity; it no longer feels like a national community. "
Right you are! Fifty states trapped in a bad marriage, an abusive relationship. Time for a divorce. Break the US into several autonomous regions. If the south-east really wants neo-slavery and medieval ignorance, who's to stop them? If the mid-west really wants a re-run of the Salem witch hunts, what can be done about it? At least let the more sane regions opt-out.
Ah yes, the arch-cowardly secession argument! It's 1862 and you're not about to fight to free anyone, are you?
One good thing about this article is that it shows that Sweden and other Scandinavian countries, often touted by social democrats (what we call "liberals" in the US) as ideal societies, are run by the same capitalist logic and ethics that we're familiar with in this country. Social democracy, Keynesian economics, New Deal, what have you; these are not the answer. The answer is revolution.
And, after your revolution, what sort of government do you plan to implement? Or, have you not thought that far ahead? Revolution. It would be FUN, wouldn't it? Just like being on some huge movie set where all the blood, stench, broken bones and grisly deaths are just special effects. Ever been shot? Maybe you should try it. It's a REAL special effect but it doesn't go away at the end of the day.