CONNECT THE DOTS

An infinite number of children's coloring books contain pages in which the child is challenged to connect the numbered dots, with a picture emerging. Unfortunately, the dots of America's coloring book aren't numbered.

Dot: On January 21st of 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, by a 5-4 majority, that corporations, unions and ideological groups could spend as much money as they liked on political advertisements.

Dot: With enormous amounts of money, pomp, pageantry and tea parties, the November 2010 elections ushered in a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and many new Republican governors.

Dot: In the waning days of 2010, Republicans, subsidized by the wealthiest of Americans, threatened to bring the U.S. Government to a halt, if the latter group did not receive a 2-year extension of their Bush tax cuts, which decreased the annual U.S. tax revenues by $130 billion.

Dot: Currently, the top 1% of all income receipients in the United States receive 23 1/2% of all income generated in the U.S., which is more than the total income of the bottom 50% of American wage earners. Also, the wealthiest 0.1% of U.S. citizens recieve 12 cents of every dollar of income generated in the U.S. In regard to this wealthiest 0.1-1%, I purposefully did not use the word "earn," which in my mind implies labor.

Dot: Today, the Republican-dominated Legislatures and the Republican governors of Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio are attempting to pass bills to eliminate the collective bargaining power of their state's unions.

Dot: Regarding the above legislation,, Steve Kriesberg, of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a major public-sector union, said "This is about trying to abolish the unions, pure and simple."1

Dot: Thousands of pro-union protestors are marching on the respective capitols, of the above states. Labor experts say the bills are the largest assault on collective bargaining in "recent memory" and strike "at the very heart of an American labor movement that is already deeply atrophied."2 B. Patrick Bauer, the minority speaker of the Indiana House of Representative, said, "The union legislation ... has been one of many 'wrongful bills' that would 'rip the heart out of the middle class.'"3

I am beginning to see a picture. How about you?


1. The Economist, The Wisconsin Way, 2/19/11.
2. The New York Times, After Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana Face Union Fight, 2/23/11, A1,A2.
3. The New York Times, More Standoffs and Protests, Plus a Prank Call, 2/24/11, A20.