Class Warfare Continues to Stall Passage of HR3149

Let’s face it, the percentage in Congress whose net worth is not at least a million dollars is miniscule. We all like to think, and at times even pretend ‘hey they’re just like us.’ Sorry to break this to you, they’re just NOT. If at some point they were of modest means like the rest of us, their wealth soon balloons into the millions of dollars after they arrive in Washington. It’s just a fact. It’s also just a fact of human nature that groups with a strong affinity take care of each other first. That’s just the way it is . . .

Take the case of the trillion dollar bail out of Wall Street and the banks. Their crime of unbridled human greed nearly destroyed our entire U.S. economy. Instead of making them pay for their sins, Washington deployed a “to big to fail” smokescreen to protect their fellow millionaires – the American elite. (If our friends go under, with whom will we go yachting?) Even the media handlers at the top, millionaires as well, shoveled the “we must save the economy” manure down to their talking heads and we just lapped it up. At the time, we were just too horrified to think straight. If a talking head says it, it must be true!

In an undeniable cause and effect relationship, the unbridled human greed by Wall Street and the banks directly caused the following (so far): more than 7.2 million lost jobs, 15.3 million currently unemployed, 1.4 million bankruptcies filed last year, more than 20 million Americans virtually starving on unemployment (the rest with zero income) and a projected 3.5 million more homes going into foreclosure this year. For this absolutely outstanding job performance, in just the top 6 banks alone, they have been rewarded with $150+ billion in bonuses. Good job guys! Truly, the American elite in Washington took care of their friends extremely well. (Just imagine the beautiful tans your members of Congress will get as they go yachting next summer with their fellow millionaires from Wall Street.)

Excluding the $150+ billion noted above in blood money bonuses and the trillion dollars the American taxpayer was blackmailed by fear into lending, what do the numbers above really mean? Four words: horrible personal credit reports (by the millions). And what do those four words translate into, “no chance in hell” of ever getting a job or changing jobs for better pay (in order to ever fix a credit report). Why is that you ask? Two words: workplace discrimination! Virtually every employer in America not only continues to use a job candidate’s personal credit report against them, it’s even increasing at an alarming rate! Why would that be you ask? There are just too many resumes and job applicants to process (on average, 6 applicants for every one job that exists and for the really good jobs (a.k.a. “a real job”) thousands and thousands of resumes are submitted for every job) Pulling someone’s personal credit report is quick, easy and cheap for the company. And if all that were not enough of an incentive, it’s a cool way to cull the herd of starving Americans (a.k.a. job applicants). Off the record (of course), virtually every “HR professional” freely admits to culling the herd via personal credit reports, but in public (as they struggle not to smile), they of course cling tightly to corporate speak with “we’re protecting our workplace” from poor character.

So just for a moment, let’s just be absolutely silly and try to measure “character” and “workplace performance” based upon someone’s personal credit report. To perform this analysis let’s pull from the ranks of whom we all admire, the American CEO (a.k.a. the millionaire club with perfect credit scores). Although the news cycle is brisk and America has a short memory, see if these names and companies ring any bells for you: Bernard Madoff - Madoff Investment Securities, Kenneth Lay - Enron, Bernard Ebbers - WorldCom, Dennis Kozlowski – Tyco, Walter Forbes - Cendant Corporation and last but not least Mr. Wall Street himself Richard Fuld, Jr. - Lehman Brothers. These six “characters” represent the “who’s who” of the worst six employees ever employed by any company in modern history. It’s a safe bet that they were all hired by the board (no personal credit check required) and wouldn’t even speak to a lowly HR professional. Since there is no herd at the top, no indiscriminate culling is required. At the top within the American elite millionaire club, billions get stolen. At the bottom of the class structure, someone accidentally walks out with a pencil from time to time. The only difference, the employee that accidentally walks out with a pencil experiences just a little remorse and guilt. That’s called “character.” That surely can’t be said for the American elite. Just look at the $150+ B they just gorged themselves upon at our expense. So quite simply, when the American elite within corporations and Congress spew the word “character,” we now know that’s their code word for “class” as in “not one of us.”

This absolutely hideous class structure inequality could be fixed overnight with the passage of HR3149 now sitting stalled in the House of Representatives. Formally, it’s called The Equal Employment for All Act. Never heard of it you say. If you’re scratching your head asking, ‘how can that be?’ Here’s how: talking heads don’t speak when dared to by their millionaire corporate handlers and Congress dances only when they are told to dance by corporate PACs and lobbyists. The millionaire club is a tight knit group, they inter-marry, they go yachting together and first and foremost they take care of their own.

The American people on the other hand are too busy fighting for the occasional crumb dropped from the table of the American elite to come together and fight as one for passage of HR3149. So as our press is muzzled and our Congress is bribed - “we the people” lay motionless under the boot of the American elite. As we proudly wave our American flag and continue sending our children off to die in war (as the children of the American elite play golf at the country club) . . . we at home aren’t even allowed to work because Wall Street and the banks destroyed our economy along with our credit reports. The corporations (notice we didn’t call them “American corporations”) have been shipping our jobs off shore every since they bribed Congress to pass NAFTA . . . so if our jobs rated zero – we clearly know that our “right to privacy” isn’t real high on their list of priorities. So the American elite continue to take care of their own, while “we the people” pay for their greed and mistakes.

If you agree with upwards of 90 percent of your fellow Americans that, most especially during these difficult economic times, workplace discrimination based upon someone’s personal credit report is WRONG! If you believe that “all men were created equal” and blatant class discrimination by the American elite is WRONG! Then until HR3149 is passed . . . force your members of Congress to post their personal credit reports on their websites for your review. After all, they work for YOU! Then force our so called “free press” to answer to the people and their conscience (instead of their millionaire corporate handlers) by reporting the ugly truth of a second class society being pounded under the boot of the American elite.

Similar legislation is already law in Hawaii, passed but was vetoed by the governor of California and HR3149 has sat stalled on purpose in the House of Representatives since July. Enough of the stall tactics by the American elite - make YOUR voice heard NOW!