USW Local 7

I read the paper and a shudder went through me “GM to reduce benefits,” Beacon Journal, Oct. 18) I could hear my father’s voice echo from beyond, “What is good for General Motors is good for the country.” He retired from Goodyear, as did many of my frends’ fathers. They all had houses in the suburbs, braces on their kids’ teeth, and Chevies in the driveway. Every dime they made was spent with gusto.
He was just a regular guy, but he had a good job and a union. Most of the neighborhood was the middle class of the ’50s, ’60s and 70s. They made money, they spent money, and our city thrived. And now the last of that bastion of the swollen middle class of those decades is starting to crumble.
The middle class has paid the bills for our government, given up its sons for the wars, bought homes, sent children to college and made every effort to have a wonderful life. We need to realize it is not the workers who are killing the corporations and ruining the economy. It was the workers who created the boom; it was the workers and the unions that created the middle class. It was our fathers and grandfathers who lived through the Depression and war, which made America great. It was their pride in themselves and their lives that lifted the spirit of this nation and gave us all hope we could even soar higher. They were the middle class and the strength of this nation.
And our children and grandchildren will never see the quality of life that previous generations fought so hard for. Their future is frightening. Selling drugs, stripping and stealing have become more appealing to them than $6-an-hour jobs. Even college won’t bring them much hope if there is no place to work. Salaried jobs that used to benefit from a union with the same health-care packages are dwindling.
So we are expected to take our $10-an-hour jobs and be grateful. We are expected to pay one-third of our hourly wage for a gallon of gas, while the price of gas does not even smudge the wages of corporate CEOs. The regular people take huge pay cuts in order to keep a job, while bonuses flow to the top as a reward for such a cost saving.
While we attempt to hold on to the very edge of middle class, we are being pushed over it daily. Maybe my father’s saying should have been: “What was good for the workers of General Motors was good for America.” Because what is now good for GM, the corporation, has finally put the last nail in the coffin of the middle class.
What will our children do to pay their rent and survive? When the middle class is completely gone, who will be left to make this country great?
Cheryl Stanley
Akron

Americas Trade Imbalance: What does it mean?*

There are 150 Million people in the American Workforce.
There are 14.7 Million workers unemployed, underemployed or who have given up looking for work.
43.6 Million U.S. workers have no health insurance and most of the uninsured are working for a living.
There are 4,277 individuals who file for bankruptcy every day.

A Tale of Two Systems
Which of these Healthcare systems would you choose? The following comparison should answer this question as well as illustrate why a complete overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system is so vitally necessary.
Canada United States
Total healthcare spending ‘T’otal healthcare spending
per capita: $2,535 per capita: $4,673
All citizens covered I in 7 citizens not covered (45 million people)
and even more underinsured
Spending decreased as a percentage of (;DF’ Spending continues to increase as percentage of
from a high of 10.2% in the early 1990’s to (iDP 14% in 2000, est. to rise to 16% in the

9.2% in 2000 next few years ‘
Life expectancy - #2 in the world F.i fe expectancy - #25 in the world
Infant Mortality Rate: 5.6 per 1000 Infant Mortality Rate: 7.8 per 1000
General Mortality Rate: 71.2 per 1000 Oeneral Mortality Rate: 85.7 per 1000
Mortality Rate from communicable diseases Mortality Rate from communicable diseases
32.6 per 100,000 46.1 per 100,000
World Health Organization (WHO) Report World Health Organization (WHO) Report
2000- Overall attainment ranking #7 2000 - Overall attainment ranking #15
The United States healthcare system is not working. We desperately need a universal healthcare system, cost controls, and a prescription drug plan that guarantees coverage to all Americans.