We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Happiest Place on Earth? Disney forces laid-off employees to train low-paid replacements

Click here to access article by "james321" from Daily Kos. (I am posting news of this event here rather than the NY Times because the latter requires (free) registration that many of you may not have.)

Since this happened the Disney stock reportedly went up 236%. This always happens when a corporation lays off numerous workers or, in this case, hires cheap foreign workers to replace American workers. This illustrates the phony claims that corporations always make about their interest in creating jobs. The reality is that jobs are a cost of doing business which cuts into profits. Hence corporations are always looking for ways to cut costs by replacing workers with machines or hiring cheaper labor. So, whenever corporations like Shell advertise that you should support environmentally destructive projects because they will create jobs, think of reports like this.