right-to-starve states

Of the top 10 states for poverty, 6 are "Right-to-Work" (union busting) states.

Of the top 10 states for hunger, 7 are "Right-to-Work" states.

That should say it all, but the fact that Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby (Alabama - ranked 6th for poverty) are arguing against good union jobs that raise wages across the industry also tells you all you need to know about the divide between the the haves and have-nots in these "Right-to-Work" states: only it's who has representation in Congress, and who only gets lip service (or worse).

While slavery might be dead in the South, employers below the Mason-Dixon still hanker for the lost riches that abundant free labor used to provide. They drive down wages by threatening - or actually - shipping jobs overseas, and by pitting whites against minorities to insure that labor solidarity is all but impossible.

Case in point:

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R- Ala., told reporters Wednesday, “I can not imagine a real justification for a worker in Alabama who does not have any health insurance at his company to be taxed to maintain a Cadillac health care plan for somebody in Detroit.”

Sen. Sessions, when is the last time you supported a bill for universal healthcare that would help out your constituents?

And when is the last time you addressed poverty in your state?

Yes, the Big 3 have been top-heavy and unresponsive to actual market conditions for ages. But we have a chance now not only to save about 3,000,000 jobs (at a time when unemployment is at its highest in 16 years) but to demand concessions from the executives - instead of the workers - that could re-make these critical manufacturers at a time when nothing matters more than creating jobs and improving wages.

Oh, and Sen. Sessions: any bailout to the auto industry would be a loan, not a grant, so chances are your poor and hungry constituents, if they even make enough to pay taxes, won't be out a dime. And neither will the rich, white employers who bought you that seat.

My job in Portland, Oregon depends on exported raw materials coming back into the U.S. as auto glass. The bottom line is that none of us, from the UAW members in Detriot to me to even those Honda workers in Alabama, cannot afford for the country to lose 3 million manufacturing jobs. Demand in this country for everything from hibachis to Hondas would fall so low as to drive us to the edge of a Depression that could last a decade or more (unless we decided another war was the way out).

Peace and prosperity is what Americans want now, Sen. Sessions. Instead of being part of the problem, why don't you shut up and get to work on some solutions?