|
the DON JONES
INDEX… |
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GAINS
POSTED in GREEN LOSSES
POSTED in RED 9/2/24... 14,765.45 8/26/24... 14,769.49 |
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6/27/13… 15,000.00 |
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(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 9/2/24... 41,563.08; 8/26/24...
41,175.06; 6/27/13… 15,000.00) |
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LESSON for LABOR
DAY... SEPTEMBER SECOND, 2024
“SHAUNS of STEEL”
Today is
Labor Day, and while the Summer of Strikes is largely settling down
(moviemakers making movies, teachers back to school, Americans making, buying
and selling things for the holiday ) there remain some disputes such as a
burgeoning hotel strike (targeting the Hilton chain) and, to our North, a
Canadian railroad strike that is disrupting the American supply chain. Those who care are looking forward with
longing or loathing to the presumed Trump/Harris debate a week from tomorrow.
Politically, the battle lines
are drawn and look more or less as they have looked for half a century...
Democrats capturing most labor unions (nine of the top ten endorsing Harris
already).
But the one exception is amidst
the Teamsters, where President Sean O’Brien kissed off the asses and asserted
at the RNC that Donald Trump could be a friend of labor (even though he agreed
with Elon Musk that striking workers should be fired). While Republicans parsed and said being a
friend of “hard working Americans” did not mean being sympathetic to corrupt
labor unions and their Mafia-soaked leaders, Shaun o’ the Teamsters
Labor’s told story, via Wikipedia at least, will have you believe that the
designation of the first Monday of September is one hundred thirty years old,
(critics may rassle over the actual birthdate – some pointing to the signing
date by then-President Grover Cleveland, still the only Chief Executive to
serve two nonconsecutive terms in the White House.
While the toll of official
union endorsements shows a lopsided lead for the Democrats, the sentiments of
union workers is more nuanced and
those of the unrepresented, the undocumented and underpaid toilers who would
gladly die to help their families move on up to the “getting by” that Harris
derides, in favor of a more aspirational “getting ahead” which her middle-class
supporters view as a birthright.
Everybody wants money. Some got it, some don’t. (Some have way, way too much!) And that means that November’s election will
probably rest, precariously, on kitchen table issues (inflation, food, gas and
housing prices, wages... we know, the old “misery index” meme) along with a few
jokers in the deck like foreign trade, climate degradation and bloated national
and personal debt), as well appeals to Mister Jones’ baser instincts... racism,
sexism, the border.
While the occasional Truth
Social post or Vance vagrancy defends the plutocracy against those putrid
proles that Trump called “basement dwellers” even most Republicans pay lip
service to the inclusion of labor issues amidst the greasy goulash of issues in
November’s pot.
And who better to stand for the
pots, the stoves and the trucks they road in upon than the rival Shauns of Steel... UAW’s Shawn Fain and the Teamsters’ Sean
O’Brien. The spelling is different and
the strategies divergent too – but the common dreams of leadership and
membership remain as they have remained for more than a century... survival for
the labor bosses, money for the rank and file.
So let’s have a look at the
personalities... the Shauns, that it, howsoever differently spelled behind the
propaganda...
That labor (or, if you will,
working Americans... hardened or cubicled...) has
reason and opportunity to call the shots in November is undisputed. That organized labor has long ben beholden to the Democratic Party is also a fact of
life... Biden himself has attended strike meetings, walked picket lines and
portrayed himself as the most labor-friendly President since... well... FDR.
Fully in President Joe’s corner
(and now, like it or don’t, in Kamala’s) nine of the ten major unions have
early endorsed the donkeys for November - the most vocal being the UAW whose
President, Shawn Fain, took America’s autoworkers out on strike last
September... “the first time
in the UAW's 88-year history that the union has launched a simultaneous strike
against the Big Three automakers.”
(Wiki, Attachment One)
Most observers viewed the
resolution as a resounding victory, not only for the human (as opposed to
corporate) carmakers and for the embattled and beleaguered city of Detroit but
for organized labor itself, only now beginning to recover from the low esteem Americans
held it in following the numerous Mafia-related disclosures of the past half
century.
And then a bolt from the
blue... the red, rather... the equally powerful Teamsters’ Union, traditionally
wary in its endorsement procedures flatly turned down a nod to the Democrats
and President Sean O’Brien accepted an invitation to discourse at the
Republican convention in Milwaukee on July 15th – setting up what now seems an
epic confrontation between the upholder and the upstart Shauns
of Steel, with aggressive leaders moving both forward towards November.
The Wikipedia biographies of
Fain and O’Brien show some similarities and a few differences. Both gained their positions at relatively
young ages by leading insurgencies against longstanding political machines
tainted by corruption. Both aggressively
opposed Republicans in the Congress and statehouses and in the streets until
O’Brien’s break with the donkeys this year.
Fain, the stalwart, was born in
Kokomo, Indiana, worked as an electrician and upset Ray Curry to win office in
2023. O’Brien, a native of Massachusetts
deposed the legendary Jimmy Hoffa
That both acquired the same
name, though differently spelt, both overthrew powerful, but rotting,
dictatorships to gain primacy over their membership and both the UAW and
Teamsters are intimately entwined with the grinding, fashioning and forming of
steel into vehicles (the UAW) and driving said vehicles here and there across
the country to transport loads of this and that and other things calls to mind
a third-nomenclatured Shaun... the Simon Pegg portrayed anti-hero of the 2004 zombie comedy “Shaun
of the Dead” (a play on the title of George Romero’s classiz
“zombies in a mall” movie) wherein Pegg’s character
battles and prevails against hordes of mindless (corporate) brainsuckers...
(Wiki, Attachment Three)
·
.
Today the annual Gallup Labor Day poll revealed that
70% of Americans approve of labor unions, while 23% disapprove. That's up from
last year's 67% approval rate. Two years ago, 71% of survey respondents said
they were pro-union, but 26% disapproved, meaning this year's 47-point approval
margin was slightly wider than in 2022.
The
upswing in support for organized labor—which paradoxically comes even as U.S.
union membership remains near
an all-time low—has been attributed to a wave of successful organizing in
recent years including the unionization of
more than 480 Starbucks stores across the country. (Common Dreams, August 29th,
Attachment Four)
And pollster Nate
Silver cited the variant electoral surveys... which either Presidential
candidate can either celebrate or view as a warning sign. While
Harris is beating the former president by 3.8 points based on the updated
Silver Bulletin’s national polling tracker, the vice president’s chance of
winning the Electoral College has dipped.
Silver’s
forecast has Trump with a 52.4 percent chance of winning the Electoral College,
about 5 points higher than Harris’s 47.3 percent.
In “Shaun of the Dead” the
zombie apocalypse has a happy ending... for the dominant class. “(C)ivilisation has
returned to normal but with the added bonus that the surviving zombies are now
used for free labour and entertainment.”
In the real, as opposed to
reel, world, the Shauns have spent 2024, so far,
alternately disrespecting and being disrespected by the political parties.
Dating back to July, the Teamsters first filed a “no endorsement”
against Old Sick Joe with what Reuters called “deep
internal divisions” that mean the union “may not back any candidate at all.
That would mark the first time since 1996, according to news reports.” (July 29, Attachment Five)
After
O’Brian broke with the asses and discoursed at the RNC, Shawn Fain suggested
(somewhat tongue in cheek) that he didn't have a
problem with the
Teamsters President Sean O'Brien addressing the Republican National Convention
last month — but said he wouldn't
have done it. (Axios,
August 20, Attachment Six)
"I give him credit for going into the belly of
the beast and actually speaking about working class issues, but I don't really
think it swayed anybody," Fain said.
Shawn-with-a-doubleyou noted that around one-third
of UAW members had voted for Trump in the previous two election cycles, but
called Trump "a con artist" who made promises to working people but
never delivered even as the UAW is helping workers in Mexico, Brazil and
elsewhere fight for their rights: "We're working with unions all over the
globe right now."
Trump responded that Fain should be fired and the
UAW "ought to be ashamed" over "large factories … being built
across the border in Mexico" and built "by China" to sell cars
with "no tax, no anything."
He’s still banking on the truck drivin’
men (and a few women, of late) to blunt the Democrats’ labor lockdown.
It’s not
every day that you see a teamster walk a tightrope, but on Monday night, Sean
O’Brien, president of the mighty Teamsters union, was doing just that at the
Republican National Convention. (Slate,
July 15, Attachment Seven)
One can
easily imagine O’Brien boasting afterward that he was Daniel in the lion’s den
(or the belly of the beast), speaking truth to pro-corporate power. But
O’Brien’s decision to appear at the convention stirred furious criticism within
the labor movement, “especially when many union leaders insist that Joe Biden
is the most pro-union president since Franklin D. Roosevelt.”
Sean will
have to deal with the liberal zombies within his own acolytes... the liberal
Slate reporting on John Palmer, vice president at large of the
1.3-million-member Teamsters who, slammed O’Brien’s decision to speak at the
convention. In an op-ed, Palmer
wrote that it “normalizes and makes palatable the most antiunion party and
president I’ve seen in my lifetime.”
In his
Monday night speech at the RNC, O’Brien “paid no heed to Trump’s anti-labor
record. His focus seemed to be on flattering Trump with the hope that
Trump, if elected, would be nicer to the Teamsters and to all of labor.” Slate surmised that O’Brien’s other objective
was to educate Republicans and a national audience about the injustices and
tough times that millions of workers face.
“I see
American workers taken for granted,” O’Brien said. With a powerful and at times
angry voice, he proceeded to denounce corporate elites, including Trump enemy
Amazon, saying “their loyalty is to the balance sheet at the expense of the
American worker.”
In his speech,
O’Brien also praised Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican representing Missouri,
noting that Hawley had walked on several Teamster picket lines (just as Biden
joined a United Auto Workers picket line last fall).
As O’Brien
talked, the crowd was at times quiet, uneasy. But it roared with approval when
he lauded Trump, saying, “President Trump is a candidate who is not afraid of
hearing from new, loud, and often critical voices, and I think we all can
agree, whether people like him or they don’t like him, in light of what
happened to him on Saturday, he has proven to be one tough S.O.B.”
“The
Teamsters and the GOP may not agree on many issues, but a growing group has
shown the courage to sit down and consider points of view that aren’t funded by
big-money think tanks,” O’Brien said.
Kara
Deniz, a Teamsters spokesperson, said rank-and-file Teamsters would dictate any endorsement decision. As of Labor Day, no general election has
occurred or been proposed.
The
Atlantic, also liberal but with more intellectual pretensions than social media
scions (Slate, Salon, HuffPost), was far more sanguinary in its estimation of
the Teamsters’ pivot.
“Very few
individuals who attempt to use Donald Trump for their own interests end up
walking away with their dignity intact,” opined Adam Serwer. (Attachment Eight, August 20th) “That’s something that Sean O’Brien, the head
of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, should have considered before he
lent the union’s credibility to the Republican National Convention back in
July.”
One
possible instance of retaliation, according to USA Today, was the DNC
“snubbing” O’Brien when he asked to speak at their convention.
A
Teamsters spokesperson told the Associated Press that O’Brien never heard back
from the Democrats.
USA Today
recalled that O’Brien has appeared beside left-wing Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, in
the past, though recently he seems to have been wary of reflexively throwing
his weight behind the Democrats.
"That's
why I'm here today," O'Brien said at
the Republican Convention last month. "I refuse to keep doing the same
things my predecessors did. Today, the Teamsters are here to say we are not
beholden to anyone or any party."
(Attachment Nine)
To Fain,
such a display of independence is nothing more than propping up Trump’s
essential “scabiness” (Prospect.org, Attachment Ten)
“To any
syndicalists who somehow believe that unions should focus on organizing and
life on the shop floor to the exclusion of political involvement, Fain made
clear the differences between organizing with Joe Biden in the White House and
organizing when Donald Trump was there. Under Trump’s National Labor Relations
Board, the rules governing organizing campaigns and union recognition elections
were rigged to favor management... (including such illegal actions as firing
workers active in the union drive) to deter the workers from voting to
organize.
The Donald
endorsed such revenge and retribution in his recent sit-down with Elon Musk...
Trump’s “greatest cutter” who Fain has tabbed as a potential person of inquiry.
First,
however, he msut go back into the past to enforce the
gains already acquired at the bargaining table, such as a backsliding Stellantis, slow-walking its promised plant reopening and
solidifying wage increases among non-union foreign automakers’ American
plants—Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and the rest—which “significantly raised their
workers’ wages to catch up with the raises the UAW had won.”
And his merchers are moving too... the UAW has already sold
hundreds of the “Trump Is a Scab—Vote Harris” T-shirts that Fain wore during
his speech to the Democratic convention, since the union made it available on
its website.
Prospect
did not report whether or not the T-shirts were made or printed in a union
shop.
Common
Dreams (August 30th, Attachment Eleven) advised Kamala Harris to pay
attention to Fain and his gains in framing their November appeal to labor...
not just with T-shirts, but with his denunciation of corporate greed at the
DNC... declaring that it “...turns blue-collar blood, sweat and tears into Wall
Street stock buybacks and CEO jackpots.”
Explaining the differences between Trump and Fain (if not
necessarily O’Brien) on the ins and out of stock buybacks, particularly as
applicable to the capital gains tax regulations, which Democrats hope to
strengthen.
It's not
too late, recommended CD’s Les Leopold, for the Democrats “to attack Trump and
Vance with one simple proposal—no compulsory layoffs at any corporation that
conducts stock buybacks. If the corporation has the money to return to
Wall Street and CEOs, then corporations have more than enough money to fund a program
of non-compulsory layoffs. That means reductions in the workforce would only be
achieved voluntarily through corporate offers of pay and benefit packages. No
one would be forced to leave.”
Team Trump, however, still hopes that he can lock up the
Teamsters’ endorsement, despite resistance from some of O’Brien’s own cohorts,
like Palmer (Slate, above) – many even accusing Sean of “embarrassing” the group.
Already, the union’s National Black Caucus has
endorsed Harris, calling her “a key partner in leading the most pro-labour administration in our lifetimes” while denouncing
Trump as... guess what?; yes... “a scab masquerading
as a pro-union advocate”. (Financial
Times, Attachment Twelve)
“Probably 40 per cent of our members tend to vote
Republican, and that’s their right,” Palmer said. “But our job isn’t to be
popular with the members and pander to them. Our job is to set the facts out,
and the facts are really clear.”
As time goes by,
the Teamsters
president continues to voice support for progressive labour
policies. After Trump praised Elon Musk last week for his willingness to fire
striking workers, O’Brien said such action amounted to “economic terrorism.”
Asked about the comment at a press conference on
Thursday, Trump called O’Brien “a great guy,” adding that “Sean would
understand it better than anybody”.
Palmer relaunched his campaign for the union’s 2026
leadership election after O’Brien’s appearance at the Republican convention,
saying that it amounted to a “tacit endorsement” of a candidate most labour leaders count as an enemy.
The United
Auto Workers even filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor
Relations Board, alleging that statements from Trump and Musk interfered with
workers who may want to join a union. (Associated
Press, Attachment Thirteen) The NLRB said it would investigate.
When Fain strode
onto the stage at the United Center, took off his blazer and revealed a red
t-shirt that read "Trump is a scab," the crowd, filled with party
faithful who were also wearing the same T-shirt, roared with approval and began
chanting "Trump's a scab."
Calling
Shawn-with-a-doubleyou a “throwback to the more bare-knuckled archetype of
labor leaders”, CBS reported that what they called “choreographed theater”
reflected the methodical planning and preparation by the Harris-Walz campaign
to find every opportunity to amplify labor's message. (August 26th, Attachment Fourteen)
Aware that
Donald Trump's strong performance with union households in battleground states
like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin may have cost Hillary Clinton the
election in 2016, the Harris campaign understands that blue-collar voters may
emerge as this campaign season's version of the suburban soccer mom — a pivotal
demographic for victory.
"There
are 2.7 million union members in the battleground states," wrote Julie
Chavez Rodriguez, the Harris-Walz campaign manager.
Not only
the November Presidential election (as well as the numerous down ballot races
that will determine whether the victor can effectively govern), but the
Teamsters, like other unions, will be holding their own referenda upon their
leadership, and an O’Brien/Palmer rematch might become more important to the
partisans than perhaps a dozen Congressional seats.
O'Brien
had crambled for an opportunity to get back into the
Democrats' good graces; asking to speak at their convention but, reported CBS,
the Harris campaign froze him out, according to a labor source. Campaign
officials didn't even respond to his request. Then, in a move that appeared to
be meant to undermine O'Brien, the Harris campaign invited multiple
rank-and-file Teamsters members to participate in the convention festivities
without their leader.
The
omnipresent “sources” couldn’t agree on whether Harris and the Democrats were
fomenting an insurrection or whether the snub of the scab was meant to send a
gentle message that there could be consequences for backing Trump.
"They
weren't throwing a ball at his head, but maybe slightly inside to make him take
a step back from the plate," said Eddie Vale, a political and labor
strategist who has represented unions including the AFL-CIO.
Harris and
Tim Walz (himself a card-carrying union member of a union — the American
Federation of Teachers) will almost certainly win the labor vote, but what will
really matter, CBS posited, “is Trump's ability to cut into her margins with
appeals to working-class voters on issues like immigration and trade.”
They
interviewed Robert Forrant, a historian of the
American labor movement, who said that the Harris campaign would have to
address inflation, and acknowledge that working people have increasingly had to
hold down multiple jobs to get by, “a reality that has third-order effects,
including damaging family structures.”
One way to
do this, the Guardian UK suggested, was to dig up more spokespersons like John
Russell... a mulleted tree-stump grinder turned
activist journalist from rural Ohio (who seemed a bit of a misfit next to
glamorous speakers like Oprah and the guy who played the president on Scandal)
but gave what GUKsters called “the most radical
speech” in the convention’s history... linking economic, environmental and
political issues in a barrage of blistering remarks that
“cut through the convention’s fever dream” and All That Joy. (See The Nation,
Attachment Sixteen)
As for Tim
Walz and his job, Russell pointed out
Republican Veepster Vance’s work for Peter Thiel and his
fealty to Donald Trump that prove his true loyalties lie with crypto miners,
not coal miners.
The Labor Day labours
of Trump and Harris include rallies with and without Vice Vance in Michigan,
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania... “emphasizing the
importance of these "blue wall" states, which Harris likely can't
afford to lose.” (USA Today, Attachment
Seventeen) Kamala will
travel to Detroit on Monday, before joining Biden in Pittsburgh for a campaign
event, a nod to the president’s union bonafides in
states like Pennsylvania. (Politico,
Attachment Eighteen) Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz,
and first lady Gwen Walz will travel to Milwaukee.
|
Our
Lesson: August Twenty Sixth through September First, 2024 |
|
|
|
Monday, August 26, 2024 Dow: 41,175.26 |
All-out wars rage across the world.
There are the usual in the MidEast... Israel
bombing another hospital in Gaza as Hezbollah (which has more or less assumed
the leading role) fires more rockets into Tel Aviv... and in Ukraine...
Russia strafes more cities while President Zelenskyy begs for more arms –
long range missiles to reach deep into Russia and more F-16 fighter
planes. And new theaters of operations:
cyberterrorists attack the Seattle airport. Conventions over, Biden and
Harris barnstorm the battleground states.
Harris celebrates all the money raised, Trump winning RFK Junior’s
endorsement and waffles on a national abortion ban. Former DHS leader General McMasters writes
a book (“At War With Ourselves”) insinuating that
Trump was manipulated by Putin and
Netanyahu. In tech and space, NASA
delays Starliner again, pivots to Space X to bring
back the stranded astronauts and now hopes for a February return. Polaris Dawn, the Space X commercial
spacewalk venture is also postponed due to technical glitches. France arrests Pavel Durov,
the social media CEO sometimes called the Zuckerberg of Russia. |
|
|
Tuesday, August 27, 2024 Dow: 41,250.00 |
It’s National Peanut Day and the galleries are popping. Seventy million Americans are
wilting under interminable record heat.
Schools are closed and outdoor sports cancelled. NOAA warns that nighttime temperatures over
eighty do not allow human bodies to cool down... there were 2325 heat deaths
in 2023. Israeli military reports
rescuing another 10/7 hostage, pulled out of a Gaza tunnel beneath the ruins. While Harris/Walz enjoy their
bus tour of Georgia,
Jack Smith refiles his charges against Team Trump in the
Capitol Riot, protesting Judge Eileen Cannon’s dismissal of charges. Lawyers are fighting pro and con over the
attempts to trademark the term “very demure.” |
|
|
Wednesday, August 28, 2024 Dow:
41,091.42 |
Smith amends his “Superseding Indictment” against the ruling that
grants Trump lifetime immunity, with the Supremes greenlighting their
overturning. He cuts his charges down
to four. In New York, Judge Ketanji
Brown-Jackson refuses to resign in sex scandal but it now seems all trials
will not be decided until after the electon. In addition to RFK Junior,
former donkey Tulsi Gabbard
switches and joins Team Trump. He
tours the Midwest battleground states – Harris and Walz roam the South and
will do a joint interview with CNN.
And both start air new advertisements with Trump pushing down his
flapping red tie while a “Swifties for Harris”
lobby emerges. Israeli raid on a hospital in
Jenin called the biggest in years.
Netanyahu continues to assert that the terror is being sponsored by
Iran... but the long delayed retaliation for killing a Hamas chief is delayed
long, as is the sad little cease-fire for hostages deal pushed by poor old Blinken. |
|
|
Thursday, August 29, 2024 Dow:
41,335.65 |
Scuffle breaks out as cemetery cops try to prevent Trump using
Arlington’s memorials as a backdrop for one of his commercials. Nobody is injured, nobody arrested. Families of the fallen soldiers protest
exploitation in the interests of political advertising The record heat reaches 95°
at the U.S. Open in New York. Heat
deaths are rising and joined by mosquito-borne illnesses like West Nile and a
new Eastern Equine Encephilitis (Triple-E) disease
that is rarer but deadlier. Also
deadly: Boar’s Head deli meats; a Holocaust survivor becomes another of the
nine... so far... killed due to eating Boar’s Head sandwiches. Agricultural police raid the company’s
factory and report finding mold, insects, rodents and “puddles of blood.” (No boars, no vampires.) In legal news, court cases
for husband killer Kouri Richards rolls on after
she writes a book on grief, as do the proceedings against killers of Laken
Reilly and the Gilgo Beach five (seven?) roll on. Brian Kohberger,
accused of four Idaho college murders wants venue changed from Moscow, hot
water killer cop in Illinois wants pretrial release, citing his colon cancer
and, turning the tables, government seeks to overturn Not Guilty verdict for
terror suspect Adnan Syed. New trials
begin for crooked Erin Brockovich lawyer John Girardi and vengeful parents of
passenger killed in 17 year old’s drunk driving case also want the mother
charged for being a bad mother. |
|
|
Friday, August 30, 2024 Dow:
41,563.08 |
Walz and Kamala, interviewed by CNN, say
that they are good and Trump and Vance are bad. Harris says that while she has changed her views on the border, fracking and the
Green New Deal, she hasn’t changed her values. She again promises an Opportunity Economy
for the middle class, but without details.
Trump also pivots on abortion timelines and now promises “free and
legal” IVF as both target that small slice of the undecided purple voters. A
busy weekend begins for holiday travelers by road or air... not so many by
sea. Delays are expected, and the
weather forecasts are uncertain. Gas
prices are down, however, as are mortgage interest rates – making both
Grandma’s house and visitors to Grandma’s house happy.
Israelis catch and kill another Hamas (or is it Hezbollah?) terrorist
leader in the West Bank. An
American-supplied F-16 crashes in Ukraine while shooting down Russian drones. |
|
|
Saturday, August 31, 2024 Dow: Closed |
Democrats complain that changes in voter
registration laws are disenfranchising million of voters – both legal and
illegal. Armies of lawyers manifest
and papers are filed, but no resolution is expected before November. The
weekend crime roundup includes rounded up mass shooters killing three in
Huntsville, AL, five shot in Euclid, Ohio, a family at Michigan State
college, and three cops in Dallas (one dies, as does the shooter). Where guns won’t suffice, a woman clobbers
strangers in LaGrange, GA with her golf club and another female in Indiana
states that Kanye West ordered her to carjack children “with his
mind.” The
most disgusting is the thief who robs more children’s lemonade stand. Townspeople in Chesapeake, VA captured him
and protected him from vigilantes who, denied a hanging, settle for ordering
lemonade from the grateful merchants. |
|
|
Sunday, September 1, 2024 Dow: Closed |
Outrage grows when Hamas, pretending to
agree to a cease-fire for hostages deal, chooses hostages and then executes
them (including American Hersh Goldberg, essentially ending any peace
prospects as new shelling of buildings and slaughter of civilians erupts in
Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli PM
Netanyahu blamed by both sides as being too harsh or soft on terrorists – Joe
Biden expresses regrets, no comments from Blinken. There are now 101 remaining hostages, seven
Americans. The
MidEast is on the minds of Sunday talkshow talkers; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suspending
his suspicions of Trump to blame the Biden/Harris team for incompetence in
the Afghan runaway that emboldened terrorists and dictators and even killed
the American soldiers whose graves were the brief focus of controversy at
Arlington. (He does say he thinks Trump
should focus on issues, not insults.)
In reply, Govs. Jared Polis (D-Co) and Maura Healey (D-Ma) defend
Kamala’s border policies and call Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” a
“boondoggle.”
Former party chairpersons and usual ABC Roundtable combatants Donna Brazile and Reince Priebus
argue the DNC with Priebus saying Harris’ bump is illusory because she would
win Olympic gold for flipflopping and also is “the arsonist who set fire to
the flame (???)” while Brazile says that
Republicans are attacking the Harris of 2019, not the new, improved 2024
version. After crashing the dialogue
with a plea: “Let me lie!”, Wall Street Journal reporter Vivian Salama cites Kammie’s “charisma” and that the Biden/Harris team
“issued more white papers than any other administration.” Some other guy sits silently while the
panelists argue over whether anybody even cares amidst the Labor Day sales
and football, finally saying candidates have to guard aginst
“overconfidence.” On
CBS, “Face the Nation” introduces Teamsters’ Sean O’Brian, but he is cut off
and interrupted on local stations by religious programming, so we’ll find out
what he had to say in next week’s
Lesson. |
|
|
The wealthy and fortunate retirees enjoy
another mighty week... the working classes a blah one after the three day
weekend. Most indices are down, even
the usually bopping entertainment and miscellaneous ones, but by only a
smidgen as Don Jones is lazy getting back to work, being the work for good or
evil. The politically inclined are
looking to next week’s debate – perhaps the only one before November. |
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|
CHART of CATEGORIES
w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000 (REFLECTING…
approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013) Gains
in indices as improved are noted in GREEN. Negative/harmful indices in RED as are their designation. (Note – some of the indices where the total
went up created a realm where their value went down... and vice versa.) See a
further explanation of categories here… |
|
ECONOMIC
INDICES |
(60%) |
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|
CATEGORY |
VALUE |
BASE |
RESULTS by PERCENTAGE |
SCORE |
OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS |
|
||||
|
INCOME |
(24%) |
6/17/13 revised 1/1/22 |
LAST |
CHANGE |
NEXT |
LAST WEEK |
THIS WEEK |
THE WEEK’S CLOSING STATS... |
|
|
|
Wages (hrly.
Per cap) |
9% |
1350 points |
7/24 |
+0.50% |
9/24 |
1,527.74 |
1,527.74 |
|
||
|
Median Inc. (yearly) |
4% |
600 |
8/26/24 |
+0.028% |
9/8/24 |
673.61 |
673.80 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 39,677 688 |
|
|
|
Unempl. (BLS – in mi) |
4% |
600 |
7/24 |
-4.65% |
9/24 |
530.50 |
530.50 |
|
||
|
Official (DC – in
mi) |
2% |
300 |
8/26/24 |
+0.32% |
9/8/24 |
221.68 |
220.98 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
7,262 285 |
|
|
|
Unofficl. (DC – in mi) |
2% |
300 |
8/26/24 |
+0.24% |
9/8/24 |
228.83 |
228.29 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 13,951
984 |
|
|
|
Workforce Participation Number Percent |
2% |
300 |
8/26/24 |
+0.0006% +0.003% |
9/8/24 |
299.79 |
299.78 |
In 161,271 272 Out 100,241 247 Total: 261,519 http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 61.667 |
|
|
|
WP % (ycharts)* |
1% |
150 |
7/24 |
+0.16% |
9/24 |
151.43 |
151.43 |
https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 62.70 |
|
|
|
OUTGO |
(15%) |
|
||||||||
|
Total Inflation |
7% |
1050 |
8/24 |
+0.2% |
9/24 |
958.62 |
958.62 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.2 |
|
|
|
Food |
2% |
300 |
8/24 |
+0.2% |
9/24 |
272.43 |
272.43 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.2 |
|
|
|
Gasoline |
2% |
300 |
8/24 |
+0.1% |
9/24 |
237.82 |
237.82 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.1 |
|
|
|
Medical Costs |
2% |
300 |
8/24 |
-0.3% |
9/24 |
288.74 |
288.74 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm -0.3 |
|
|
|
Shelter |
2% |
300 |
8/24 |
+0.4% |
9/24 |
261.03 |
261.03 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
+0.4 |
|
|
|
WEALTH |
|
|||||||||
|
Dow Jones Index |
2% |
300 |
8/26/24 |
+1.25% |
9/8/24 |
333.64 |
336.78 |
https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/ 41,563.08 |
|
|
|
Home (Sales) (Valuation) |
1% 1% |
150 150 |
8/26/24 |
+1.54% -1.01% |
9/24 |
127.86 296.63 |
127.86 296.63 |
https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics Sales (M):
3.95 Valuations (K): 422.6 |
|
|
|
Debt (Personal) |
2% |
300 |
8/26/24 |
+0.029% |
9/8/24 |
264.67 |
264.59 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 75,789
811 |
|
|
|
GOVERNMENT |
(10%) |
|
||||||||
|
Revenue (trilns.) |
2% |
300 |
8/26/24 |
+0.24% |
9/8/24 |
427.05 |
428.07 |
debtclock.org/
5,014 026 |
|
|
|
Expenditures (tr.) |
2% |
300 |
8/26/24 |
+0.23% |
9/8/24 |
298.82 |
298.13 |
debtclock.org/ 6,896
912 |
|
|
|
National Debt tr.) |
3% |
450 |
8/26/24 |
+0.054% |
9/8/24 |
381.36 |
381.15 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 35,264
283 |
|
|
|
Aggregate Debt
(tr.) |
3% |
450 |
8/26/24 |
+0.08% |
9/8/24 |
389.15 |
388.86 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 101,735
812 |
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
TRADE |
(5%) |
|
||||||||
|
Foreign Debt (tr.) |
2% |
300 |
8/26/24 |
-0.13% |
9/8/24 |
272.18 |
271.83 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
8,745 756 |
|
|
|
Exports (in billions) |
1% |
150 |
8/26/24 |
+1.60% |
9/24 |
166.41 |
166.41 |
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 265.9 nc |
|
|
|
Imports (in
billions)) |
1% |
150 |
8/26/24 |
+0.68% |
9/24 |
160.87 |
160.87 |
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 339.0 |
|
|
|
Trade Surplus/Deficit (blns.) |
1% |
150 |
8/26/24 |
-3.01% |
9/24 |
289.74 |
289.74 |
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 73.1 |
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
SOCIAL
INDICES |
(40%) |
|
||||||||
|
ACTS of MAN |
(12%) |
|
|
|||||||
|
World Affairs |
3% |
450 |
8/26/24 |
+0.3% |
9/8/24 |
457.53 |
458.90 |
Telegraph CEO Pavel Durov, considered the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia, is arrested in France for hosting a forum for pedophiles, drug and arms traffickers and other nefarious sorts; some (like RFK Jr.) defend him as a defender of the First Amendment, even where they don’t have it. Germany cracks down on immigrants after Syrian’s stabbing rampage kills eleven and neo-Nazis score election victories. |
|
|
|
War and terrorism |
2% |
300 |
8/26/24 |
-0.4% |
9/8/24 |
287.51 |
286.36 |
Israelis and others celebrate IDF
release of hostage Farhan Al-Qadi from the Gaza tunnels then mourn seven
others, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin
killed by cowardly gunshooters instead of public behadings as true soldiers of God, as first promised. Their revenge raid on Palestinian hospital
called the most deadly in decades and it will only be the beginning (see
above). Massive strikes and protests
assail Netanyahu for being either too weak or too bloody. Consider the peace process among the dead. Stateside, the gabsters
are gabbing while liberal wokestors and post MAGA
neo-Nzzis alike are burning American, as well as
Israeli flags. |
|
|
|
Politics |
3% |
450 |
8/26/24 |
-0.1% |
9/8/24 |
478.01 |
477.53 |
Beheadings: new RFK Jr. animal tale
has him cutting off a whale’s dead
head and taking it home.
Defending: Gov. Polis roots for Harris, Senator Graham (despite
warning: elevate issues over insults) says he supports Trump. Defriending:
Meta’s Mark Zuck, accuses President Joe of
censoring plague stories.
Deregistering: Eight Republican state legislatures purge millions of
citizens and illegals from voting lists.
Deducing: DOJ blames FBI for lazy
pursuit of pedophiles like Larry Nasser, FBI profilers say Butler shooter
Crooks had no agenda, he just wanted to be famous. Now he is/was. |
|
|
|
Economics |
3% |
450 |
8/26/24 |
nc |
9/8/24 |
440.58 |
440.58 |
Coming: USPS price hikes and service
cuts. Going: 23 more Red
Lobsters, Pending: Kroger/Albertson’s
merger held
up by FTC as monopolistic and inflationary.
Falling: mortgage rates to 6.35%.
Oil prices jump at Libyan shutdown, then fall back to Labor Day lows.
Labor Day and back-to-school sales draw shoppers and their pelf like Zevo draws flies.
Influencers influence and advisors advise. Consumer reports ranks top five used
cars... all foreign. Offensive office
incidents include co-workers who leave unpopular guy stranded in Colorado
mountains and leave woman lying dead in Wells Fargo cubicle over the weekend
in Arizona. |
|
|
|
Crime |
1% |
150 |
8/26/24 |
-0.2% |
9/8/24 |
226.62 |
226.17 |
Deviant dad kills 12 year old son and
leaves him decomposing on the family couch in Milwaukee. Mass shooters pot six in Mobile, AL and kill many
more (above). NFL rookie Ricky Peagal survives San Francisco shooting by 17 year old
robber wanting his fancy watch.
Outraged parents condemn driver of air-unconditioned schoolbus who refuses to open windows when it’s 95° inTexas. |
|
|
|
ACTS of GOD |
(6%) |
|
||||||||
|
Environment/Weather |
3% |
450 |
8/26/24 |
-0.1% |
9/8/24 |
372.24 |
371.87 |
Heat and floods necessitate a War on
Mosquitoes – particularl in the Northeast where
schools and sports are shut down, spray trucks roam the streets by night and
sufferers wish there were more bats around. |
|
|
|
Disasters |
3% |
450 |
8/26/24 |
-0.2% |
9/8/24 |
417.83 |
416.99 |
Delta jet tire explodes at Atlanta
airport, killing two. Rain-caused
killer avalanche destroys homes in Ketchikan, Alaska landslides. Erupting volcano in Iceland endangers towns
but... beneath Northern lights engenders spectacular views. After quiet weeks, weatherpeople
predict a lively hurricane season for September. |
|
|
|
LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX |
(15%) |
|
|
|||||||
|
Science, Tech, Education |
4% |
600 |
8/26/24 |
-0.1% |
9/8/24 |
623.91 |
623.29 |
Police learning to like Tesla cop cars
that accelerate faster. SCOTUS
dislikes, then kills President Joe’s school debt relief plan while red state highschools are banning books. Bad science texts?... NASA now admits Starlineer astronauts will be “Stuck in Space” ‘til
February. (Grist for the most boring TV series ever??) FAA grounds Space X but not before Polaris
Dawn for private, rich spacewalkers finally blasts off on Wednesday, |
|
|
|
Equality (econ/social) |
4% |
600 |
8/26/24 |
+0.2% |
9/8/24 |
649.31 |
650.61 |
21 year old Karsen
Kitchen becomes the youngest female astronaut to spacewalk for 11 minues on Polaris Dawn (above). Talksters talking
about all the feisty females at the DNC – with, of course, Ms. Harris. Pioneer sportswriter Melissa Ludtke writes her memoirs: “Locker Room Talk”, denies
ogling naked male bodies therein. |
|
|
|
Health |
4% |
600 |
8/26/24 |
-0.4% |
9/8/24 |
451.97 |
450.16 |
High school football players killed in
WVa and Ga, raising questions. Death takes no holidays: USC doctors say
marijuana causes head and neck cancers that will KILL YOU! Talking kdis’
books explode and KILL BABIES!!!, as FDA retaliates by raising legal age for
buying tobacco products (including vapes) to 30. |
|
|
|
Freedom and Justice |
3% |
450 |
8/26/24 |
nc |
9/8/24 |
481.95 |
481.95 |
Jack Smith revises and refiles his
Trump indictment in a busy week of prose and cons. (See above)
Lawyers argue the topic of whether an influencer can trademark the
term “very demure”. |
|
|
|
CULTURAL and MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS |
(6%) |
|
|
|||||||
|
Cultural Incidents |
3% |
8/26/24 |
+0.2% |
9/8/24 |
544.31 |
543.21 |
The fall sports season starts early,
despite the heat and quickly gets weird as Toronto’s Danny Jansen traded
mid-game to Red Sox so plays for both teams. Defending men’s and women’s
champs at US Open, Novo and Coco, are eliminated. Paralympics begin in Paris. The NCAA opening week features a few
thrillers, won by Notre Dame and USC and Top Ten blowouts (#1 Georgia beating
credible Clemson 31-14 while incredible small schools lose to #2 Ohio State
(52-6), #4 Texas (52-0), #5 Alabama
(63-0) and #6 Ole Miss (76-0) And the NFL season begins Thurday
with the Chiefs, Mahomes and Kelcey
(and Taylor).
Summer gives way to September of sequels with Beetlejuice 2 and more
from Venom, Wicked, Gladiator and the Joker.
Oasis reunites to bring back the 90’s to a defenseless America as
feuding Gallagher brothers kiss and make up.
RIP: rapper Fatman Scoop, rassler Sid (“Vicious”) Eudy,
NHL star Johnny Gaudrau, |
|
||
|
Misc. Incidents |
3% |
537.84 |
8/26/24 |
-0.1% |
9/8/24 |
527.11 |
526.58 |
Fun-loving vandals destroy Lake Mead’s
ancient rock formations; now they face ten years and are not so happy. In animal adventures, runaway water buffalo
captured in Iowa. Lady charged with
“enticing” tiger at Jersey zoo. Man
wins lottery in Massachusetts, says he’ll buy socks. (Not
stocks, socks!) |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
The Don
Jones Index for the week of August 26th through September 1, 2024 was DOWN 4.04
points
The Don Jones Index is sponsored by
the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent
Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan,
Administrator. The CNC denies,
emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers
(including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin
Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works,
“Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best,
mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective
legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.
Comments, complaints, donations
(especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com
or: speak@donjonesindex.com.
ATTACHMENT ONE – FROM WIKI
|
15th President of
the United Automobile Workers |
|
|
Assumed
office March
26, 2023 |
|
|
Preceded
by |
|
|
Personal
details |
|
|
Born |
October 30, 1968 (age 55) |
|
Occupation |
|
Fain (born October 30, 1968) is an
American labor unionist who has served as president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) since March
2023. An electrician by trade, he worked at a Stellantis automotive parts plant in Kokomo, Indiana.
He has been a UAW member for 29 years, and is a member of the reform caucus,
Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD).[1][2][3][4] The
first UAW president directly elected by union members, Fain was a central
figure in the 2023 United Auto Workers strike.
In 2023, Fain
ran for the presidency of the union against incumbent Ray Curry,
leading a slate named UAW Members United that focused on opposing corruption,
concessions, and tiered pay structures.[5] In
the first election in which members of the union directly elected the
president, Fain won the election by 477 votes[6] and
took office in March.[7]
In office, he
advocates a more aggressive negotiating style, more member participation, and
for the union to actively support politicians who share the union's agenda.[2][3] Fain's
relative labor militancy and bargaining style contributed to the UAW's decision
to authorize the 2023 United Auto Workers strike.[8] The
strike resulted in wage increases, cost of living adjustments, and the
elimination of the tiered wage system.
Fain spoke at
the 2024 Democratic National Convention on
August 19, 2024.[9]
Early life
Fain was born
in Kokomo, Indiana, on October 30, 1968.[10][11][12] He
is the grandson of two UAW GM retirees. His grandfather started at Chrysler in
1937, the year Chrysler workers joined the UAW after a sit-down strike.[4][13] His
father served as the police chief of the Kokomo Police Department.[14] Fain
is a graduate of Taylor High School.[15]
2023 United
Auto Workers strike
Main
article: 2023 United Auto Workers strike
A few days
after his election, Fain told the automakers that the UAW was "fed up with
the status quo".[16] During
2023 contract renegotiations, Fain has advocated for an immediate wage increase
of 20 percent for workers followed by yearly gradual increases for a total of
46 percent, which he argues would simply be a way to keep up with the enormous
CEO wage increases of auto companies in recent decades. The UAW has since
lowered the demanded increase to 36 percent.[17] Fain
is also calling for the end of tiered wages and benefits, and the roll-back of
concessions made by the UAW during the 2007–2008 financial crisis, including the
reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments and robust pensions.[18][19] Fain's
hard line stance during contract renegotiations contributed to the union's
decision to begin the 2023 United Auto Workers strike on September 15.[8] It
is the first time in the UAW's 88-year history that the union has launched a
simultaneous strike against the Big Three automakers.[20]
Fain has
garnered significant attention for his unorthodox approach to organizing, with
analyst Daniel Ives telling Reuters, "This is not your grandfather's UAW ...
Fain is playing this like a chess player. He's leading 21st century
negotiations for unions".[21] Fain
has embraced social media platforms during the negotiations, publishing short
form documentary style videos.[21]
In a profile
in The New York Times of October 5, 2023, he stated:
"Billionaires in my opinion don't have a right to exist." He is also
attributed with: "There's a billionaire class, and there's the rest of
us."[10]
He appears in frequent Facebook Lives where he directly addresses UAW members, quoting from the Bible and M