12-16 Laurie King: Labor and the Economic Crisis

Laurie King, Chair of the Economic Crisis Committee of Portland Jobs with Justice, discusses the "sea that we swim in. That sea is not a recovery for workers even as the top 1% and especially the top one-tenth of 1% have done very well. With the wealth and income flowing up, they need to invest in order to increase employment but it is not in their interest to do so. Laurie discusses the Republican and Democratic budget proposals and contrasts them with the proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus. We, the progressive people, need to focus on our program instead of being focused on the false choices which the Democrats and Republicans will present during the upcoming election. But the question is how do we do that. Laurie discusses how we need to support various worker struggles and the need to make connections between worker struggles and other struggles going on. Occupy has been an important development. Goes on to discuss ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and then what Jobs with Justice is doing.