By Gavrielle Gemma
Charles Koch, a right-wing oil baron who hates workers, is the seventh wealthiest person on the planet. When once accused of stealing crude oil from members of the Osage nation of the Great Plains, Koch responded, “I want my fair share and that’s all of it.” Koch runs a bag man operation called ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) which gives money to politicians in exchange for legislation that benefits them. Most of the Baton Rouge legislators are recipients of these bribes.
Koch paid Louisiana politicians to oppose a raise in the unlivable $7.25 an hour minimum wage. Why? Like he said, the rich want all the money for themselves.
No one should be fooled into thinking that the super-rich have “earned” their wealth through superhuman powers.
Every penny they hoard comes from the labor of the workers. The ultra-rich are a band of crooks, thieves and murderers, using inherited money to starve people for their profits.
We should be perfectly clear: they are stealing from us. Yet when we get anything—even a modest wage increase—they claim that we are stealing from them. Enough is never enough for them.
The head of the World Bank, representing the U.S. bankers mainly, has said that wages must be driven down even further. We workers don’t have the purchasing power we had 50 years ago. Younger generations of workers struggle with widespread job insecurity and a lack of benefits, accessible housing and affordable education. The rich want to impoverish all workers—technical, manual, and service workers alike.
The filthy rich feel entitled to every luxury. The lives of our children mean nothing to them.
The increasing concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands shows that the capitalist system is an utter failure.
It’s our labor that runs the world. We vastly outnumber them. Ask yourself this question: Can New Orleans run without sanitation workers? No. Can it run without real estate developers? Yes! We can do without them; they cannot profit without us.
Wealth should belong collectively to the working class and our families. We are entitled to a good life. But we must free our minds and organize to get it!