Aloha, and welcome to Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We broadcast live every Thursday from 2 to 2.30, from the downtown studios of Think Tech Hawaii and the Pioneer Plaza. We are a show that focuses on success stories in Hawaii. We have all heard the challenges. We've heard that there is an environment here in Hawaii that may not be all that business-friendly. But there are success stories. There are companies and individuals that have figured out how to make it work and they come on the show and share their secrets with us. We also have on occasion people to come on and talk about their organizations that help support businesses or get people prepared to engage in business. And today we have Shane Greenland who is the principal of the Academy of Business out in Campbell High School. And he's here today to talk a little bit about that Academy and there's been a lot of changes out there that I'm not familiar with that he's gonna educate me and hopefully you on. Shane welcome to the show. Thank you Reg, thanks for having me. Now you've been in Hawaii for a while? I've been here about 10 years now. 10 years and what brought you to Hawaii? My wife is from here so we were originally teaching and I was teaching and coaching in Las Vegas. Basically living the dream and you know the Ninth Island but she wanted to come back be closer to home so we decided to move back here. Applied for some jobs first teaching job was at McKinley High School. So I spent some years at McKinley, got tutored by a great man there Mr. Neil Takamori, athletic wise, education wise got to learn what the island is about and and see the change. We'd always come over on vacations and look at things but living here after I was at McKinley I went to Pearl City for a year and then I've now been at Campbell High School as an administrator for the last four years. Now for those that don't exactly know where Campbell High School is where is it located? We're in Eva Beach out near Kapolei right next to the the second city or what now is becoming the you know the major city but yeah Eva Beach you know 9 6 7 0 6 our kids take pride in it our alumni and and everybody that lives out there they they love the community I live in the community and it's really a truly a great place to be. Well it has been and I think continues to be one of the fastest growing areas in the state. I just was reading that the sales for homes were up like 16 percent recently. Very much so that there's so much growth that Campbell is actually the largest high school on the island actually in Hawaii we have 3200 students we're continuing it's continuing getting larger the Ho'apili project that's going up the road you know is going to bring in another 15,000 homes so the area is bursting at the seams out there. So you got room for expansion? We just actually got approved last legislative session we're going to be building a $39 million building it's going to be 27 classrooms three stories and it's going to open 2019 2020 school year but the day it opens we're already going to be at capacity based on projection enrollment so we also have 44 portables on our campus so we're we're fine in every area of land we can put classrooms and we're putting them in. You know it gives me a little bit of a flashback as I had lived in Vegas for a little bit myself and at one point during the heyday they were building one school a month. It's very big I think was the fifth largest school district in the nation and it was growing so fast and it until the the boom hit like 2008 you know and then you know home prices went down but it was skyrocketing for a while. And it sounds like you've got a similar type of you know environment out there where the kids are just coming in you can't build a school fast enough to accommodate them all but you've got an interesting concept out there that I'm really fascinated with it's an academy type model that you're using for the entire school. Yeah so a lot of people may have heard you know like why Paul who they get a lot of press with what they're doing and their principal Keith Hayashi he's done a great job with it and Campbell is now we had started a few years ago with some basic academies but now we've gone wall-to-wall with Academy so all of our ninth grade structure is one Academy it's called the freshman freshman success Academy so all ninth graders transition into it they talk about careers try to get a focus more on what they think they want to do long term so that we can better focus on it in grades 10 through 12 and then in that 10 through 12th grade model we now break it up into other academies where they'll have a what used to be our vice principles we're now called principles over the Academy we've breaking it up into five different academies with so many different pathways so just in mind alone we have business agricultural sciences and then we have our international baccalaureate program that goes into mine too so we have a wide range other academies we have digital creative media we have culinary we have in all the public human services the nursing we're going to look at EMT service providers we really try to work with what is the going trends and the going needs on the island and how do we best prepare our students to be able to go in and take jobs with that so we work a lot like with Peter Quigley at UH Manoa trying to look at the different business sectors and then based on the students interest how do we organize and formulate our academies and then teach to those specific things so that kids are interested in what they're doing our building construction automotive program you know our steam Academy engineers technology everything is getting so much bigger based on on what the needs of the kids are and what those interests are but what can we get them a career in we just want to find jobs we want to develop people who can get careers but you know that's very excited and I definitely want to hear more about that but you know I want to loop back for just a second this seems to be a very big a lot of moving parts how did you end up I mean did you set out in life to do this or how did you end up in your career doing something this large and complex I've just always loved working with kids I mean when I originally got into education I actually just wanted to coach I didn't want to teach but they basically told me well you need to teach so that you can coach so I got into it you know and I just really loved working with kids I loved you know trying to go out and get them jobs or even create things to get them jobs and then even in the classroom you know I started teaching PE health weight training drivers it just you get to talk to kids and you really get to build relationships and connections and all kids all kids want to be successful they all want help but all kids have a story and it just it just really started driving me on really what my passion was and what I wanted to do because I've always thought well I need to get out of education if I really want to go make money and then as you start talking to other business people and and you have different mentors and it's it's not always about making more money but it's being happy in what you do and enjoying it and love what you do and I loved working with kids I love teaching I loved it you know being in the classroom and I just it kind of just moved me forward and I had a administrator one time say what why don't you think about getting into administration and I like boy I got enough headaches already but once you get into it you see the impact that you can have and the people that you meet and what you can do when you work well as a team with other administrators then you can really make a huge impact and I just really love working with people I love working with adults I'm I'm so low keyed but I love to get out I don't I don't accept no for an answer I'll go and find ways to get it if we need money I'm go find money if I need you know resources I'm gonna go find them but it you can't stop when it's when it's for kids I mean how do you not try and get them to pursue and have the passion and the drive to go be successful but it sounds like you set a pretty good example for the kids to follow I try to I just always learn it be the first one to work be the last one you know to leave make sure everything's fine I have teachers that'll call me on the weekends or on holidays hey can I get in and work how do you tell them no when people want to go above and beyond what they're doing don't set limitations you find reasons to do it and they understand when I say no you know I can't do it usually if I'm spending time with my family but other than that you find ways to make things happen and and the kids love it and you know you get the respect of the teachers and different groups but it's it's the passion it's the drive I mean if you love what you're doing it's not a job so if there was somebody that was going into you know I guess attending college now want to be a teacher and they're they're listening to what you're doing right now what advice would you give them how could they take their career and get whatever credentials teaching credentials or licenses that they need and end up being this holistic type of coach or mentor for these these kids in school doing what you're doing you know I think you just got to find your niche get into the classroom and and talk to kids you know find out what's important to them take that vested time and that interest and then find out what you truly love I mean teach the subjects that you're passionate about and even if you're not I mean you know educate yourself come across that you know you really care and you want to make a difference and and before you know it that these kids they feel like your kids you know and you really care about them you're finding ways to get them a snack when they need a snack or you know put shoes on them but it's a great profession you know everybody always talks about you know teachers don't make enough which I mean yeah you know you always wish you know you can make more money you wish you could do things but you know when you look at the scope of it I mean teachers have such care and such passion and that they spend money out of their own pockets but at the same time they get so much reward when you see a kid graduate and you see him go on and then they go do things and they're successful and then they come back and as you know they want to tell you hey mr. mr. a miss you know you know I did this or I got this I finally graduate I mean there's always that tie you know and that's one of the biggest things that even the bigger tie in Hawaii is just everybody the first question you hear from everybody when you get here's hey what school you grad from you know so mean it high school is a very commonality you know common spoke with everything it ties communities together and kids and everybody here they really take pride in that and it's really actually something that's enjoyable so we want our kids to feel like they have that that home grown aspect and that feeling from what we do at Campbell but whatever profession you go into but especially teaching and you can just really make a huge difference in an impact on a kid's life you don't realize the mentor or you know the role model that you are until you feel like they're getting affected well and it's something that you experience every day and every day that you're either in the school or in the classroom I mean you've got that opportunity to meet and greet and motivate kids in their daily lives yeah especially when you live right in the community when you go to the grocery store and it's like hey Mr. Green and I can talk to you for one minute but you just have ties you're not going to break those and you know and that there's going to be days when when people are maybe upset with you and there's going to be days when they just truly love you but that's just part of the job but I mean it is it's just an everyday grind and you know nobody goes into the profession thinking you know I don't like kids I mean they really want to you know make a difference it's it's giving them the tools and resources to really do what they want to do and strive for success that's got to be a big part of what you do is you know you've got a bunch of teachers working for you as well or with you and you've got to make sure that they've got the tools and the resources to be able to do what they want to do or should be doing with the kids yeah and and that's one of the main reasons why I'm here it we're always looking for partners always looking for resources always trying to find money I mean it's not you know you don't ever want to have the haves and have nots but how do you really get and how do you provide what you think is best for kids so that you can set them up for success how you can tie the community in and bring them back and and have you know special gatherings and rituals and traditions because it's really the memories that kids you know kids make while they're in high school that they really go member forever but the greatest impact that you can have is going to be so detrimental in the focus and the way they're going to be because they all we want them all to be great moms and dads one day you know aunties uncles brothers sisters but right now when they're in high school we want them to be the best son or daughter they can be how do we teach them those you know that the ethics and the values that they respect rapport how do you be that best person and we really want that to come across but we do that as a you know holistic school model because we want our teachers to model that as well but you know and that's good in a holistic way for the home environment and in the school environment but the businesses also need that too and so having you know some appreciation for coming to work on time being doing your best being properly dressed that sort of thing you know so some of that lessons that they learn carry over into their careers later yeah and that's one of our big focuses that we're going to concentrate on Campbell right now is is really working with our business partners and find out those soft skills what those kids need and you know being able to be a critical thinker and you know and how do you make a person feel like a million dollars those social skills that they could they can just it just becomes reactionary I mean we want them to make people feel so good how do you get things in on time be on time you know not to no call no shows you know I don't want to do this or I mean just really put in force that best effort till you get the best product and then we want those kids so that they can go out and compete with jobs and be able to get everything that they can get and go out and find the career and have the passion to become what they want but yeah the soft skills and really working on what's going to set you apart from everybody else is going to be a real big focus of what we're going to do in our academies well we're gonna have to take a short break here and what what I'd like to be able to do when we come back from the break is to dive into a little bit the details of the academy itself and and what those different academies are of course I would like to focus on the business part of it and get a feel for what the classes are like what the structure is like and how it all kind of flows so we'll get into that in the second half okay sounds great all right this is business in Hawaii with Reg Baker we're here today with Shane Greenland we're talking about Campbell High School and the business academy that they have out there as well as some other academies we're going to take a short 60 second break and we'll be right back hey a lot standing energy man here on think tech Hawaii where community matters this is the place to come to think about all things energy we talk about energy for the grid energy for vehicles energy and transportation energy and maritime energy and aviation we have all kinds of things on our show but we always focus on hydrogen here in Hawaii because it's my favorite thing that's what I like to do but we talk about things that make a difference here in Hawaii things that should be a big changer for Hawaii and we hope that you'll join us every Friday at noon on stand energy man and take a look with us at new technologies and new thoughts on how we can get clean and green in Hawaii for every game day a sign a designated driver and welcome back to business in Hawaii with Reg Baker I'm here today with Shane we're talking about Campbell High School over in the Ewa Beach area a Kapolei area actually I learned that it is the largest high school in Hawaii right now Shane you've got an academy actually I want to understand there may be several different academies out there you're in charge of some of them or at least the business one that I'm primarily interested in can you share with us a little bit on how that set up and how that works and so our business academy the way we're structuring it this year is we offer some basic classes so we have like our business core which is like introduction to business we also have accounting finance marketing and then the economics part of it but some of the things that we're looking at trying to do with within our business department is actually bring other small businesses on campus so we're trying to open up maybe some kiosks we thought about maybe trying to partner with like a Starbucks could we open up a mini little coffee stand and see if kids wanted to buy coffees but we want to generate businesses that are going to be organized and run by students because we want students to kind of have to go through the structure of building business plan develop model you know look at things go out try see if it does it work what doesn't work okay how do you come back how do you refine it make changes we've been trying to work with maybe Adidas and open up an apparel store on our on our campus you know being able to partner with somebody big but have an identity you know with you know Campbell names but it's with Adidas and get it within the community that there's such a great need with you know the marketing and the branding of your campus that we figure why not make that a business model at our school and how do you best promote Campbell high school because you know of course in our minds we think Campbell high school that you know the best high school in the state so how do we best get that message out there how do we make our campus look and have that college feel and and our students they've come up we you know we've done sex surveys and stuff and it's how do we come up with branding how do we change that message in the marketing but also how do you change the feel of what perception of you know Campbell and Eva Beach is so our kids really want to tackle a lot of those things you know we've talked about partnering up and maybe bringing a bank in the in on the campus some of the other high schools on the island have brought the banking in looking at things how do we best support that is is that you know something that would be great for our campus I know they had it at one time before and one of the problems was it was only for deposit only people couldn't get their money out and it's like oh wait a minute that's that's the perfect model for a bank but you know everybody wants their money so I mean we was talking to one of our banking partners he's like well why don't you just put an ATM on a high school campus you know if we could bring in a portable ATM and put it where you could lock them up people could get their money you have special events people don't have to leave and you know the light bulb goes on it's like how why never we think about that before I mean that that's a great idea because that would help us even like when we do registration or parents comm is like no have to run nowhere he can hurry and go get cash and pay it was just a win-win model lunch money lunch money I mean no matter what a kid needed they out they would always have access to it parents have access so we're really looking at you know how we can really change a lot of the things we did but make it more real life you know even like within our like our nursing academy they're gonna build a like a hospital many hospital rooms with a couple beds that so they can go in and train our auto department we've had a business partner that wants to come in and do a diesel mechanic you know shops I mean all within all of these it still functions around that business model and business structure so our kids are actually gonna be intertwined and trying to get into like the project based learning of it how do we intertwine and work with people outside of our academy create that business model other students from other academies are focusing in their pathway but our our business students are still focused on the model in which they want to run you know our campus we have an agricultural science that does a lot with that the horticulture and vegetables Alan Wong comes in gets led us from Campbell high school puts it on his menu says Campbell high school we've had a long working relationship with him so I mean we're just really finding or looking at ways on how do we make life the the education of our students more real life and applicable to that the skills and and and you know dispositions and attributes that they're gonna need so that they can be successful when they leave Campbell high school so that they can have a career we don't want them to just go find a job we want them to have a career with a livable wage so that they can be happy with what they're doing you know part some of what you are just describing made me remember that at one point I was a chairman of junior achievement for the state of Hawaii and we were given a presentation from junior achievement in San Diego and they actually have you're familiar with the food court they actually had a small downtown business location set up like a food court but it would be all these different businesses that would be set up that the students would actually go in and work in those little businesses and the other students in the school would come in and kind of wander around and and for an hour or so a day either before class or after class this would be open to the student body and they would be selling apparel they'd be selling school supplies they'd be selling maybe coffee or whatever and they would be running their own little shops in this area and it was all sponsored by junior achievement need need little concept and really made it seem very lifelike oh yeah but that's what actually what we would like to actually set up at Campbell High School so if there's any business partners out there that want come and set something up in Campbell hey if there's a will there's a way we want to bring things in we want you know real life learning we want kids to see what you know what it's gonna be like and you know really be successful and talking about junior achievement we after I talked with you before we contacted them that they're gonna come in or we're gonna get all students taken financial literacy we want our economics kid you know their students taking economics we want whatever they have a program for we want to also intertwine that with what we're doing because you can never get enough of anything and as long as you know kids they need to learn banking they need to learn how to write a check you know we had a meeting at our school this last Thursday and one of the students said you know I'm not really sure I know how to write a check I've always just used my bank card but I don't really balance it so how do we look at things to make things better and we just want to find ways we want to best prepare our students so when they leave and when they go and apply for a job or they do something you can say well that kid must be from Campbell well and that's a great brand recognition that you want to have and it makes them a lot more valuable yeah because if they can come in to a work environment with already some basic skills particularly the soft interpersonal ones and if they can come in and they're ready to go to work that's gonna put them head and shoulders above a lot of other people yeah and that's really you know our big focus is we want every kid to be every kid to be career ready but we want them to also be college capable you know so if a kid a lot of our students they'll tell us you know mr. I know I'm not sure I can go to college because I don't want to be a financial burden to my family but I think I might have to work when in talking to a lot of the business partners we've been associating with is like Shane let let them come do an internship with me if they have the skills I'll hire them I'll send them I'll pay for their college and now they can go they can work they're getting school but when they graduate they're not graduating with a degree they don't need and they're not gonna be you know 50 to a hundred thousand dollars in debt but if they can have those skills and we can go get them and they can excel in that internship they're gonna be well off our students that already can go take you know our dual credit classes at school where we seen the story about the girl at Waipahu that graduated with an associates before she got a college or a high school graduation that's the goal for every high school how do you set students up like that and those students that can fly let them fly those that you have to work with a little bit more it frees up that time so you can work with them but yeah and you've got the facilities out there to do that you've got the the leeward colleges out there right there's a four-year college yeah we're developing a great a great working relationship with UH West Oahu we've talked with UH Minoa although it's a little ways away leeward community college windward community college everybody is very susceptible to getting on board and doing what's best for kids and our goal and you know even like with the DOE now with like the connect to careers the new superintendent and our CAS that they're all looking at ways how do we best maximize potential of student learning with businesses post-secondary in high school and it's just it's a matter of like we talked earlier if you can get the right people at the table and get people talking the state of Hawaii could do great things because the three entities right there is going to be a life-long dream because you go to high school you go to college or you go work the rest of your life so those three right there gonna be gratefully impactful for what what that student success is gonna be so it's putting everybody at the table make some great decision partnering up and how do we do what's best for kids that's gonna be best for the rest of people on the island well it's gonna benefit the kids it's gonna benefit Hawaii it's a win-win for everybody now we've got a few minutes left and I did want to just ask you to briefly explain to us what the process is okay they come in at ninth grade they get an orientation and in tenth grade they learn about the different academies and in eleventh and twelfth grade they kind of focus on what they've chosen now that was my executive summary can you flesh that out a little bit yeah so the way we structured at Campbell High School is that the transition from eighth grade to ninth grade sometimes can be very difficult for kids in transitioning especially coming to Campbell where you know our ninth graders are now coming into a structure that's you know 3200 students so it's intimidating it's very intimidating so we have an academy which is called our freshman success academy it's run by by three great principles now and they oversee that transition and it's also that career exploration you know give them a taste and a feel of many of the different academies and varieties of what we're going to offer but it focuses them on just coming up make that transition ease into high school and start thinking about what is it that you want to do the rest of your life and then after the ninth grade in the grades 10 through 12 they focus more specific on the academy of what they feel their career is that they want to be the rest of their life and at Campbell if our academies may change because we're going to be focused on what is the student interest so in ninth grade they'll take an interest inventory and it'll talk about the type of careers that they that they feel most interested in and what does a kid want to do so we may change but it's also based on what the needs of the state are because our focus is we want to try and keep kids in Hawaii so in 10 through 12 they would pick one of those academies but after the 10th grade year we allow a student you know if he just made well I made a choice but I don't really like that now but I hear the great things they're doing in this academy or these guys are going to do this we allow that student to make that jump and pick a different academy because the overall goal of the academy program is to get them you know the information and that the soft skills and prepare them for the career they want to go into but they can still graduate on the normal timeline yes everything they still meet and actually with with the bail schedule at Campbell they can have most of their credits by the time they finish their 11th grade year and then our senior year we want our kids getting out and getting into internship so I've been going out and meet with a lot of businesses that are willing to take you know students from Campbell High School to go out and do interns so they can go see the real-life applicability of the job they're gonna choose and the businesses on Hawaii have been great you know I probably talked to two or three hundred businesses and not one of them have said no we don't want to help Campbell High School what kind of businesses are you looking for real quickly because we're about ready to wrap up but but you need businesses to come in and offer internship type programs or what what are your needs yes we're looking for anything so I mean as far as businesses if they're willing to look at like job shadowing you know students to come in and see what careers are like internships are great we want to get our seniors that have that the credits for graduation already we'd like to place them and if businesses like them we want them to you know if it possible we want them to hire them and but and how do they sign up and we're running out of time and I want to get this out there so how do they sign up so businesses they could go to Campbell High.org Campbell High.org that's your website yeah Campbell High.org and it basically if you scroll down on a little bit it had it shows all the academies the academy messages the mission the vision all the contact information or just call Campbell High School and ask for Shane Greenland and I'll put you where you need to go we'll come meet with you we'll talk about what we can do but we want businesses involved with Campbell we want to make things great well we'll have to have you come back on the show again and we'll put that request out there again and make sure everybody gets it and you know having an engagement is going to be an exciting thing to watch so looking forward to hearing back on that sounds great we love it thank you Shane this is business in Hawaii with Reg Baker we broadcast live every Thursday from 2 to 2 30 and we talk about interesting opportunities in Hawaii to help people and individuals and businesses be successful so have a great week we'll see you next week


Hello and welcome to Newsclick. Today we have with us Prof. Prabhat Patnaik and we are going to discuss a little bit of a long-shot view of our history, particularly post-independence and what we are seeing now. Of course, as we know, a new quasi-independence day in which with Ram Rajya appearing with the temple, we are supposed to now see a new dispensation in terms of vision emerging. Of course, as most of us would have commented, this is trying to bring about a Hindu-Rashtra view, though Indian constitution still stands in the way. Prabhat, do you find similar engineering or re-engineering of the Indian political economy? So to say the economic structure that we had, the economic vision we had, that is also being sought to be done at the moment? Yes, very much so. You see, at the time of independence, when we adopted this constitution after the Constitutional Assembly's debates, this constitution carried forward a promise which was made at the Karachi Congress Resolution in 1932. And that had promised a number of things, that had promised a democratic, secular republic, that had promised a federal polity, that had promised that every Indian would have a set minimum standard of life, that had promised free and compulsory primary education, a number of things. And in a sense, the whole constitutional vision was really built at that time in the 1930s. The constitution incorporated some of those into its own corpus. Now it therefore provided everybody a set of fundamental political rights. It did not provide a set of fundamental economic rights, but those were more or less confined to what was called the directive principles of state policy, in which all the economic promises of the Karachi Congress Resolution were put together. Now of course, the basic assumption behind that vision was that the state had the responsibility of converting that vision into reality. This was generally in keeping with the fact that everybody had seen the Great Depression, everybody had seen the achievements of the Soviet Union under state planning. And even in capitalist countries, the huge Great Depression had been overcome basically through state intervention. The post-war period was one through which the state intervened. So the fundamental understanding was that the state has to play a major role in realizing this promise that the constitution had made to every Indian. Of actually creating, if you like, a fraternity of equal citizens with rights and with a minimum material standard of life. Now the basic shift I find in terms of political economy is to believe that really a whole lot of individual capitalists, both multinationalists and corporates are really the so-called wealth creators of the country. That they are the ones who are going to really bring about an improvement in the conditions of everybody. Not that anyone actually talks these days about improvements in people's conditions or everybody having equal rights as citizens with a minimum standard of living. That terminology has gone out of fashion. Suppose you asked somebody in the present dispensation that look, this is what the constitution promised and how do you propose to bring it about? They would say very simply that encourage the wealth creators, which basically means encourage the private corporate sector, encourage the multinationalists. So the assumption is that the more you give to the capitalist, the more automatically would the people benefit by it. So it's producing a kind of fabricated class harmonism, which really is the underlying philosophy of the current dispensation. And that is the excuse under which all kinds of concessions are made to the capitalist. The rights of the tribal people are trampled upon because land is taken away from them in order to set up factories, buy the multinational and corporates and so on. Tax concessions are made to these people. No wealth tax is imposed on these people and so on and so forth. The whole idea is that the more you give to the capitalists, the more they are going to generate wealth and that is going to be of benefit to the entire society. It's the most arch-conservatives bourgeois political economy, which is now the avowed philosophy of the existing dispensation. That's a major change compared to the constitution provisions compared to the vision of the Karachi Congress resolution compared to the post-independence perceptions. So the essential difference is that post-independence, it was felt the state had the primary responsibility of developing the economy. And because the British had clearly siphoned off the wealth, therefore the basic infrastructure which even capital requires had to be built by the state. And therefore the role of the state in building, apart from the infrastructure, even heavy industries. And I remember Ambedkar, which I keep on talking about, was the architect of the 1948 Electricity Act. And he said, providing electricity to every home is the responsibility of the state. It's not the responsibility of private capital who ran some small electricity companies, mostly owned by British capital at that point of time. So that was the distinction that was being made. But at that time, I remember the RSS and its, of course, the political party, which came about in 1951, Janssen, both opposed it to thumbnail and said, this is essentially socialism. This is not how capital should be, not how economy should be built. And planning itself, they considered as socialist. And therefore their argument is market should allow to do what, market should decide what happens. And they also went further. In fact, they were clearly on record saying, if foreign capital wants to come in and develop the country, we have no problems with it. In fact, they're never in all their history of the RSS and the BJP, they never ever opposed foreign capital and they always opposed state intervention in the economy. If you accept this view, which the current government has, then really there is no reason why we should have fought for India's freedom. I mean, in the sense that yes, politically of a government of your own is political freedom. But in economic terms, if the idea is to invite multinationals to come and set up industry here, which is supposed to be the way of India's moving forward. In that case, what was wrong with what the British government was doing? You know, in other words, the colonial government was doing everything was open for people to come in here. The colonial government gave all kinds of concessions to foreign capital. Railways in India, for instance, were built on the provision, 5% guaranteed rate of return and so on. So there is no difference between a colonial government enticing foreign capital into the country to develop the country. And the Indian, you know, independent India's government carrying out an economic policy of the same kind. So if you accept that philosophy, then really there is no economic argument for India's independence.  So it becomes individuals. It's not capital. It's really the capitalist. Yeah, but you know, Indian capitalists also would have been accommodated by the colonial regime. I know that they were not for a very long time. But after the 1930s, you know, because when, if you like, the British capital in the 1930s made an alliance with Indian capital. They had introduced, for instance, discriminating protection. In other words, Britain was kind of, you know, getting more and more cornered as a world capitalist power by empire, you know, by Commonwealth and so on. So increasingly an alliance was coming about. It's in British capital and Indian capital or Indian capitalists and British capitalists, which could have made, from an economic point of view, India's independence. It's somewhat irrelevant if that is the perspective. It's interesting because Pakistan followed exactly that perspective of riding with foreign capital, free inflow of capital and what are the consequences that they could not manufacture anything for a very long time. In fact, that was there. And the other consequence of great importance was the independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh because obviously this kind of capitalist development imposes an enormous burden on the people. You have to really squeeze them very hard in order to kind of transfer funds to the capitalist and which they did at the expense of people in East Pakistan. And as a result, the secessionist movement of East Pakistan were going and Pakistan could actually last as a country because of this kind of strategy. So the other, of course, issue which America raised also in the constituent assembly itself, that yes, we are giving political rights, equal political rights as votes to all our citizens, but we are not giving them equal economic rights. And that is something which is going to haunt India if this is not resolved. So medical was actually arguing that economic equality is something which cannot without which we cannot have political equality. And what we have is complete rejection of economic equality, which is at least in what you said, at least they are somewhere in the guiding principles of the republic. But that this is we are at the moment saying people's rights are something, economic rights are something that the state gives as some kind of charity and not as a matter of right. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. You see, I made the last speech to the Constituent Assembly is where he had actually exercised that, you know, the constitution, political equality, but not social and economic. And for a very long time, it was believed that if the state took the initiative in promoting development, if the state actually followed the directive principles of state policy, in that case, you would find that economic equality would automatically be developed. In other words, you would allow economic inequalities of enormous divergence to come into being. And already by the end of the 1950s, economic inequality were rising because of which Nehru set up the Malanobis committee. But even so, I must say, the kind of economic inequality that existed was really relatively limited. I mean, at least if you look at the statistics produced by Piketty, for instance, and, you know, the other French economy, Piketty and Shanshal, they say that if you look at the percentage of total national income, which accrues to the top 1% of the population, then that percentage was as low as 6% in 1982. I mean, okay, you can quarrel with their figures and so on. That's always possible, I'm obviously. But on the other hand, that shot up during this period of neoliberal reforms, and that has actually shot up enormously now. And now they say it is higher than at any time since 1922, because they use income tax data and income tax introduced in India in 1920, higher than at any time in 1980. But it had gone down greatly until the early 1980s. So to some extent, economic inequality had been kept in check. But what has happened under neoliberalism, and particularly under the current dispensation that is totally wedded to neoliberalism, is really a tremendous widening of income. This of course has happened under neoliberal globalization all over the world. As you said, it starts in the 90s, and we still remember Manmohan Singh's speech where he talked about the animal spirits of capital, and how that must be liberated to develop the Indian economy, which meant greater and greater concessions, giving them free land, free mining rights, access to various other things, virtually gratis in various ways. Airwaves, that also became later on a scandal. So all of these things was there. But this government is combining along with the fragmentation of the people into setting one against the other. It's not just Hindu versus Muslim as it is thought, because the policies that are being set in motion of trying to bring about a unified monolithic Hindu rush denies diversity of various kinds, including linguistic diversity and various other identities besides. But that is being combined in this sense with this extremely aggressive, as you called it, pro-capitalist policies, hoping that people will then not look at all of these issues, but will only look at the Hindu, Muslim divide and rally behind the government. So in some sense, this is a strategy to distract attention away from fundamental issues that are plaguing the people. Actually, no, Hindu rush really is a bit of a misunderstanding, because Hindu rush creates the impression that it is a state in which Hindus are dominant. As a matter of fact, there's no such thing. It is majoritarianism, but the majority has very little to gain out of this majoritarianism. In fact, Hindu rush basically means a move towards an authoritarian fascist kind of state. And that fits in very well with a neoliberal economy, and particularly in a period in which the neoliberal economy is running into a crisis in which the growth rate slows down. As you know, even before the pandemic struck the Indian economy, the economy was doing very badly. It was doing so badly that they even suppressed the real consumer expenditure data, which showed that in rural India between 2011, 2012 and 2017-18, there was a 9% decline in per capita real consumption expenditure, which is an immense decline. So the economy was doing very badly, and so in such a situation, then Hindu rush becomes a way of attacking trade unions, of attacking democratic opposition, of attacking workers' rights, of attacking intellectual opposition and so on. So the Hindu rush is a bit of a misunderstanding, but it's actually a move towards an authoritarian state. Authorities state with the ideology in which they hope they'll unify or create a majoritarian, what shall we say, identity of a certain kind, where the people who are exploited rally behind them as well, thinking they're going to get some identity which will give them some quote-unquote feeling of oneness with the nation. So even if that oneness with the nation means oneness with Mr. Dambani's big telecom and now digital empire. It's a cover behind which you give all kinds of concessions. Yes, that's an interesting proposition. What you're saying is that the ideology is essentially, or the path is neoliberal, the cover. The ideological cover is of Hindu Rashtra, but what it is in essence, politically, it's an authoritarian government that we are going to see, authoritarian state which we are going to see, in which as somebody has written, I think in the Hindu or the expression that the opposition will be consigned to the night. And I like that phrase as the intent that all opposition should be consigned to the night. And that is the intent of this movement, that there should be only people who will say great leader and that is it. No criticism of how you're handling the pandemic, how you're handling the economy, how you're handling anything for that matters. And as you said, this is given the pandemic is given the excuse also for doing away with all kinds of labour reforms, labour rights and so on. Introducing what are called labour reforms, but essentially taking away to workers' rights. Yes, in fact, something with the working class had won after centuries of struggle are just being taken away from them. Including every hour day. Yes, and it's absolutely shocking. Okay, I mean workers not in this country alone, but all over the world had won after centuries of struggle. They've just been taken away, quite amazing. So Pramod, what is the way forward as far as the economy is concerned? As far the workers, the students, the other people, the peasantry, the landless labour. What are the rallying slogans equivalent to the 1930, what you called as a Karachi resolution? What is it that we do today? Basically, the point is that even before the pandemic, there was a very serious problem with the Indian economy. I mean, there was really a massive operation of the people which was taking place. It has been taking place for some time, but it had gathered momentum. And this, by the way, is again an international phenomenon, which is happening with the collapse or with the capitalist crisis. This is something which is there all over the third world, including in India. Now the pandemic has added to it. And therefore, when the pandemic is over, you would not only have the problem of coming out of the pandemic, which is not an easy thing. Because, you know, even if there is some revival of your consumption, revival of your investment would take a very long period of time. 1930s, when various capitalist countries were coming out of the Great Depression, their consumption good sectors revived, but not the capital good sector, not the investment good sector. As a result, the depression continued right until the second world war. So the point in any way, a revival from a shock like the pandemic is a very long drawn out process. But in addition, since the pandemic was occurring in the midst of already an ongoing, very serious crisis for countries like India, this is going to be a very difficult, the coming years are going to be very difficult. Now, many people have been talking about handing over purchasing power, including even the other day Dr. Manmohan Singh wrote about this, that actually there should be the handing over of purchasing power to the people in the state. Now, I am not very much in favor of it because I am in favor of this happening, not as a largesse on the part of the state. But it should be a right of the people. Now, I think therefore I would much rather have the institution of constitutionally guaranteeing a set of economic rights to the people, in which I would talk about the rights to employment, the right to food, the right to universal, publicly funded free healthcare through a national health service, the right to universal, publicly funded free education, at least up to the secondary level to everybody and of course the right to old age pension. So instead of what is being called as universal basic income, universal rights is the right way to go. I would much prefer that because that ensures to everybody the dignity of being a citizen of the country, to have a set of rights.  But along with the formal provision, you have to have an alternative economic strategy. In other words, simply legislating rights is something that does not really or if so fact to ensure that they would get this. So you'd have to have a kind of economic strategy and that economic strategy would have to emphasize the importance of protecting, promoting petty production and peasant agriculture. I mean, this whole idea that let peasant agriculture decline, let petty production by which I mean, let's say, fishermen, craftsmen, handloom weavers and so on, let them decline but because over a period of time they can get absorbed into the expanding capitalist industrial sector, that argument simply does not work. In fact, my view is that in the West it happened because of massive immigration to the so-called new world. 50 million Europeans migrated to the temperate regions of white settlements. We don't have any such possibility. So the idea that let capitalism grow by decimating the petty production sector, these people would get absorbed into the capitalist sector as proletariat is an idea which I think is untenable into this time and certainly in a third world context. Therefore, it will have to be very important to combine support and protection for the petty production and peasant agriculture sector together with modern industry. In other words, literally we have to walk as chairman Mao and sit on two legs that we cannot just have only one leg. We have to walk on two legs and therefore it requires a sort of variegated strategy which would require a planned intervention, a sort of planned intervention by the state and therefore this whole business of leaving things to the capitalist that the other wealth creators is in my mind completely... Any case is not capital that creates wealth but it is really labour. People's work creates wealth. It's a mixture of illusions. You can talk about even wealth created by capitalists. Even mainstream textbooks and economics. I'm not even talking about any philosophical position. Refer to four factors of production. Land, labour, capital and enterprise. So to pick out one of the four as a creator of wealth is something which is really absurd. That's an ideological prediction. It's not textbook economics or it's not understanding society. It's what you want to tell the people. Anyway, thank you Prabha for being with us and of course we'll come back to you on this as well as other issues. This is all the time we have for NewsClick today. Do keep watching NewsClick on YouTube and also visit our website.


Hey everybody, it's Wednesday and we are on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with Jim Cramer following earnings this morning. Jim FedEx expecting this windfall from tax reform. Yeah, well they're looking at their tax rate and they're saying here's what we were getting and it's absolutely true. They also talked about the expense provision, how they'll be able to buy a lot more equipment. They did not necessarily talk about how many more people are going to put to work because that's not clear. They did think the economy is going to grow substantially from the tax law changes, but they also would not quantify that. Suffice it to say that with the new earnings that they're going to get and they can do a buyback, they're not crazy, they don't spend a lot of money on buybacks because remember they have spent a huge amount of money on the supply chain. But the stock should be up more than it is because it is, it didn't factor in the additional money, the additional $5, $4.50 to $5.50 and if they get it $5.50 which I think they can, the stock deserves to go higher. So I think the big question now is, is tax reform priced into the markets? Right and I think that it's case by case. I think that there are a lot of companies that are 30 to 36% say taxpayers where a lot of analysts are going to have to raise numbers. I also think there's a lot of price targets that are being overrun. There was a, just as a curiosity there was a, someone who has a hold on Karnab, which is a great company and had to take his price target from $60 to $69. Now of course the stock is well above where his price target was. That's become a common theme. I think there are many people that take the price targets up Caterpillar and take the price targets up Emerson, take the price targets up Deer. And all of these are going to foment more bullishness, but there's also a selling news crowd that came out in full force at 940. I respect that, but and I also respect, as I said last night, that there will be many people say Fang is dead. Why? Because those companies are going to do well either way. They're not giant beneficiaries. They do have a lot of capital overseas. Like Google, they can go buy back stock, but they never had any problem financing. They're just, look, it's not their day. But remember, if any growth hits a speed bump, you will pay substantially more for Fang. But right now it's Emerson's time, and Caterpillar's time, and new course time. All right, meanwhile, you mentioned Fang. Let's talk about the broader tech sector, Micron with a big earnings beat. Right, now Micron, that's going to just, I think Micron, if I had to say what it will do today, I think it could be down, then up, then down, and then up. And the reason I put it like that is because what you're buying with Micron is a belief that even though the prices of DRAMs and Flash have peaked, or at least peaked in October, they can always come back, the company's now able to make a lot more money off of what it sells. You're also betting that the Korean green field factories that are being built will meet the demand but not exceed demand. So you're really kind of spreading the needle buying Micron here, and that's going to be tough, that's going to be tough to do. But then again, it sells at five times earnings. Why? Because people felt that when we got to 2018 that earnings were going to come down dramatically, and nothing in the guidance indicates that that's going to be the case. So right now if you're, there's something for bulls and bears in Micron, and the bearer's case would be that the company cannot outrun average selling prices going down. You understand, they make DRAMs, okay, and they make Flash. So let me explain this to you, this is important. They have a product, and the product price is coming down, but they're saying they're going to sell far more of that product, and they're saying that the average selling price for their particular kind of chip is not going to go down as much as the chips that you see when you go into the marketplace and you look at the commodity pricing. So that is a very difficult thing to believe, and a lot of people won't believe it. And the stock is up over 100% so far this year. Right, there's a belief that frankly, that business was going to stay good, and it has, but remember, five times earnings. Jim, you have an article in Real Money talking about Micron Red Hat FedEx, and you do a nice job of summing them all together. Right, and like Red Hat is a classic example of what happens when you have expectations that are high, and the company beats the expectations. This is the fang problem at large. Red Hat had an amazing quarter. Amazing. Stocks up 80%. The orders were fabulous. Stocks up 80%. The deferred revenue, fantastic. Stocks up 80%. People keep coming back to that, and then finally, the whole mosaic of Red Hat says, all right, they don't do much better in this new regime. Find me this tax regime. Find me something that does better. I'm going to sell Red Hat and I'm going to take my profits. So where do you come in as a viewer? Well, you wait until Red Hat has been sufficiently annihilated that you start buying it. Why? Because there's always room for the growth stocks. Now, remember, my rap is Newcore, Caterpillar, Emerson. We own a lot of like a waste management fractional works. We have a lot of stocks that benefit entirely because of the tax code. And we put out a good list of what does. But we also have a lot of stocks that are these great secular growth companies that I'm talking about. And those are not going to do well for a little bit because money has to flow out of them and into the Emerson's. I'm thinking of Emerson because they had 15% order growth last night that came out. And people want to own that stock because there's not a lot of guys recommending it right now. Jim, meanwhile, we're waiting earnings from the finish line in Nike tomorrow. Anything you're watching? Well, you know, finish line I think is going to be better than expected, which will therefore drive Nike. OK, and Nike reports after the close. So we'll see how that plays out. All right, Jim, we're going to continue the conversation behind ActionAlertsPlus.com. Many more stocks to talk about. Join us there.


Going on everybody. This is 1920 select basketball two box break number six sold out in jazby's case breaks calm Thanks, everybody for getting in all right Lou. We have a good night We'll see you next time Here is the early bird buy one of the first 15 spots in this break and get entered to win a free spot in this break So roll the dice for all three going seven times Here's the first 15 according to my list so good luck seven times one two three four five six and seven early bird spot Eric got that one nice Grats Eric And now for the list of customer names seven times two three four five six and seven Quentin down to David C and seven times on the NBA teams one two three four five Six and seven. I'll check on it Leonard. I think it should still be processing But I'll check right right now Quentin with the jazz Sam with the Lakers David wizards John heat Matt Clippers Bretton Rockets Matthew Celtics David Hornets Balraj tea tea Wolves Mark magic Zach Sixers Stephen Knicks David O's son Zach Bucks Eric warriors Zach Hawkes John Mavs and Raptors Zach Pistons Matt Stone Thunder Matthew S Blazers Matt Grizzlies very nice Balraj with the calves John with the Spurs Who we got David with the Nets Quentin with the Pacers Eric with the Pelicans Wow Glowbug with the Kings Tim with the Bulls David with the Nuggets There you go. We're gonna pause the video see if there's any trades on this two box break number six All right. Good luck everybody. No trades. So here is the list The last couple boxes from this case and then like I said number seven and eight are from a different case Teddy's already broken a few from that case on Instagram So keep that in mind But we do have those four boxes For sure. Oh, we got a gold coming up right now. It is Isaiah Thomas the current Isaiah Thomas for the wizards Collins Sexton. What's up Adam? Jalen Noel. It's been a nice case. John Morant Should just open this case myself Grizzlies prism for Matt Stone and right behind him John Morant Yeah, I think he's on the Nuggets and then yeah now the wizards He's uh, he's been around the block last few years Dylan Windler Tyler hero nice one there There's Quendaria witherspoon Bruno Fernando There's a red Gorondragic Nassir little Blazers Another Isaiah Thomas completing the rainbow. That's the red had the gold earlier and Justin Robinson All right, so that was box number uno all cards do ship and the second box So coming up next is revolution mixer four boxes of chinese new year 1819 four boxes of chinese new year 1920 Then we have a leaf as a sports two box break and then chronicle football full cancer and then anti baseball And then we'll see if anything else Is officially sold out if not, we'll call it a night Have the store a few more newer breaks coming in the store. So won't reveal them yet have to Visit the website tomorrow To see what they are Ben Simmons red wave nice one there for the Sixers There is Rudy Gobert RJ Barrett There's PJ and Garland There's Lou Will Very nice RJ Barrett Red wave relic auto for the Knicks that's going out to Stephen K. There you go Stephen A little wide on the corner But nice card these autographs are very tough to hit. I think this is only the second autograph From 12 boxes Very nice And one of the better names to get to There's Levine There's uh jail in a well Got d'Angelo Russell Butchovic Derek Rose There's garland red wave nice one there for the caps There's a luca Winnler silver Might be a variation LeBron And anthony davis red wave That'll be it. Thanks everybody for getting in nice two box break number six Jasper's case breaks.com. We have some more right now


Wall Street didn't build the country, the middle class built the country, the middle class. So let's keep going, you deserve what you've earned, and you've earned a hell of a lot more than you get paid now.  This is a really big deal. This has never happened before, because usually presidents will just remain neutral at best during these types of labor disputes. But at worst, they straight up decided with the corporations, because they fund their campaigns. So I mean, why wouldn't they? But in this instance, Biden got it right, and he didn't just get it right. When it comes to who he's siding with, he showed up, and that matters. He deserves the utmost credit for this. And he even went on to give a really good speech about how these workers all got screwed over after they bailed out these companies. So think about this.  Biden actually addressed that. You deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits. Let's get it!  Really, really great speech from Biden, and it's not just significant because it's unprecedented. This matters because it raises the standards for all Democrats, as Maxwell Frost puts it. This also makes Democratic politicians joining pickets an expectation now. Big win. And he's correct about that. Biden showing up to the picket line is no small thing. You can't overstate the significance of this. In fact, he was attacked by an Obama administration official because he showed up and sided with workers. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post shared a quote from Stephen Ratner who led President Obama's auto industry task force, and he said, Listen, if a president putting his thumb on the scale in favor of workers is wrong, then I don't want to be right. But Ratner is speaking to this expectation that presidents must remain neutral when in actuality there's no law that says they have to. They don't have to. But by breaking this custom, it has caused heads to explode in DC because again, presidents don't usually do this. And Biden showing up didn't just spark mass confusion for politicians, but pundits as well because during a White House press briefing, members of the press genuinely did not understand what the takeaway was from this. Just watch this. This clip is amazing. It seems like by going to stand with workers at a picket line, the president is literally standing with them in the terms that they're seeking in the contract dispute. But when you're asked about some of the specifics of that, you seem to be saying you guys don't want to get into the specifics of the dispute. So is he not standing with them on the terms with which they're trying to negotiate?  That is what he's standing with them on. And we've said this, that they get the record profits mean a record contract for UAW. That is why he's going. That is what he's standing for. Now, they're going to negotiate what that looks like for them. That's what they're doing right now. That's what collective bargaining is all about. They're going to talk it through what a win-win agreement looks like. But what we definitely agree on is that they deserve a fair share. But it seems like he's taking away that some past presidents have been an arbiter between two sides that are in conflict. It seems like by going to the picket line, he's not an arbiter between the two sides. He's choosing a side by standing with the union. But we have said over and over again that this is a president that stands with union workers. So does the White House see any political risk in doing this? What the president understands is that he wants to be on the side and is and has been on the side of workers. Wait, hang on. So I can't determine which side he's on. If he's on the picket line with the workers, then how can he still be neutral? What does this mean? What do I take away from this? I mean, look, take away from it what you will. But I think that was pretty clear. That right there, that press briefing, it really speaks to a huge blind spot that the media has. When it comes to these types of labor disputes, they are incapable of viewing these disputes from the lens of workers. And they almost always look at it from the standpoint of the corporations and the economy, right? But I mean, it's obvious why that bias is there because it's built in these networks, their businesses, right? Their goal primarily is not the dissemination of news and information. It is to increase profits, right? And all these corporations who are exploiting their workers, well, they advertise on these networks. So there's that bias there and it shows especially in times like this. So we usually don't get the perspective of anyone but the corporations. How much money will this cost them? How will this affect the economy? But in this instance, the president showing up to the picket line, it kind of helps change this dynamic, change the perspective to where we can finally see how the workers are viewing this because the president is kind of forcing you to pay attention to what they're saying, right? And I just want to take a moment to further emphasize how effective this strike has been. So you have Donald Trump and Joe Biden both fighting for the support of these workers. And that's really nice to see. I mean, if this strike were taking place in a non-battleground state, would they be as vocal? I mean, the cynic in me says no, but in this instance, the intent doesn't really matter. The outcome does. So it is good to see both Biden and Trump trying to win over these striking workers explicitly. And the fact that these workers are in a position where both major presidential contenders are jockeying for their support, it's great. I mean, it would be inconceivable eight maybe even four years ago, but here we are. We're in a situation where labor has grown so powerful that both major presidential candidates are trying to actively win their support. But Trump took a shot at Biden after he announced that he'd be visiting the picket line, writing on Truth Social. Cricket Joe Biden had no intention of going to visit the United Auto Workers until I announced that I would be heading to Michigan to be with them and help them out.  This wasn't Biden's idea. He can't put two sentences together. The idea of the radical left fascists, Marxists, and communists who control him and who in doing are destroying our country. Within three years, all of these cars will be made in China. That's what Sleepy Joe wants because China pays him and his family a fortune. He is a Manchurian candidate. And get this, if the UAW leadership doesn't endorse me and if I don't win the election, the Auto Workers are toast with our great truckers to follow. Cricket Joe Biden is the most corrupt and incompetent president in the history of the USA. If he is able to gather the energy to show up, tell him to go to the southern border instead and to leave the car industry alone. Yeah. So it turns out he showed up and it went really well. Now putting aside the stupidity and him ironically referring to the radical left as fascists and communists simultaneously, I mean the desperation there is palpable. He feels like he's being one upped by Joe Biden and he is. But the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is literally asking for the Union's endorsement.  Yes. But to see a Republican presidential contender actually say, I want that Union's endorsement. I mean that means that the workers are in a very good spot. And perhaps there's a kernel of truth to what Trump said about Biden having no intention of visiting until Trump announced that he'd be going there. But I mean at the end of the day, what matters is that Biden showed up and we know Trump would never do the same as a sitting president. And we know this because it's anti-labor policies tell us everything we need to know about him. And Trump also made a fatal error here. He's not actually going to be speaking at the striking plants. He's holding his rally at a non-union plant. But don't take it from me. Take it from CNN who actually reported on this. We also know from our reporting that a union source telling us that they do not consider former President Trump's visit tomorrow in Detroit at Drake Enterprises, a show of solidarity with the union because that is not a union shop. However, we know that President Biden was invited directly by the union. Oops. Now I have to point out that the Chiron says it all. Biden joins auto workers on the picket line in Michigan. That tells you the importance of the president of the United States showing up and using his bully pulpit to advocate for workers. Because CNN wasn't just reporting on Biden's visit. They had a reporter in the field with striking workers talking to striking workers. So it really goes to show you how important it is for the president to show their support to these striking workers. And even though the media still, as I mentioned, has a lot of blind spots when it comes to labor issues, what we're seeing now is how the labor movement is unilaterally shifting the entire Overton window to the left. And that is really encouraging to see. Now, Tina Desiree of Status Coup spoke with striking workers about Trump's visit in a non-union facility. And they definitely had some thoughts to say the least. Trump is actually going to be speaking at a non-union facility. I don't understand how he can address union workers at a non-union facility and still come off as being pro-labor. It seems to me like, what are you trying to make a play for? Right to work? Like, what's going on here? Do you have any thoughts on that? If you can't talk about it, that's fine. I get it. No, I don't think that Trump is pro-labor. I mean, it's just that simple. He's got a history, a very, very long sordid history of not paying his workers. He's got a lot of people kind of chomping at the bit trying to get paid as it is now. It's not paying his lawyers. So yeah, as far as labor is concerned, it doesn't matter where he goes to speak. None of us are going to believe it. And therein lies the problem. Trump's populist rhetoric may have landed in 2016 because he didn't have a record to look at. But I mean, after four years of him being president, workers felt the pain inflicted by his anti-labor laws. And that's now hurting him.  That's a problem. While the UAW hasn't officially made an endorsement of either candidate yet, they've been openly critical of Donald Trump. And they made it clear that he wasn't welcome there, which is perhaps why he had to show up to a non-union facility. And as the Washington Post reports, Biden comes at the invitation of union leaders. Trump came despite their warnings to keep his distance. Ouch! Biden has touted a record as a pro-union president while at time struggling to maintain the support of rank and file members. Trump calls himself pro-worker while at times clashing with union leadership and implementing policies as president that worked against their interests. And to make matters worse, Trump is also trying to gaslight workers. Ross Doria explains Trump attacked the union workers last week when he spoke with NBC's Meet the Press. Quote, the other workers will not have any jobs, Kristen, because all of these cars are going to be made in China. The electric cars automatically are going to be made in China, Trump told Christian Walker. The former president believes electric cars are automatically made in China, ignoring that Joe Biden's infrastructure package and the Inflation Reduction Act required that for the $7,500 tax credit to be applicable, the cars must meet requirements for U.S. assembly and materials. Yeah, so Trump isn't just talking past the striking workers, he's creating his own narrative and supporting the striking workers on those grounds that he fabricated in his own head. And he's not alone, right? We've seen Republican senators like Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton also signal support for the striking workers on those grounds, claiming that really, they're striking because they don't like Biden's climate policies. When in actuality, they're telling you why they're striking. It's because their bosses are exploiting them and they've had enough. They want a cost of living raised. They want to actually be treated fairly. So, I mean, if their CEOs got a 40% increase, they want a 40% increase, especially considering the fact that they bailed out these companies. So it is really a bad look when Republicans pretend to support the workers, but it's obvious they haven't listened to what the workers have to say. But I don't want to give you the impression that the UAW workers are unequivocally with Biden because that would be inaccurate. Even though he's joining them on the picket line today, there's still some lingering skepticism about him. HuffPost reports, Look, this sentiment is completely understandable. Yes, it is objectively good to see Biden show up to the picket line, but these workers aren't illogical or unreasonable to question whether or not they'd be getting this much attention if this wasn't an election season, right? Worker rights shouldn't live or die based on whether or not it's an election year or an election season, which is why the implementation of policies to embolden unions and workers is absolutely crucial. Now, another issue that some workers have with Biden and rightfully so, I think, is that he'll be attending a fundraiser directly after he's at the picket line. So he's going to leave the picket line and then go to a very wealthy donor fundraiser. So there's this question of whether or not he's telling them one thing and then telling donors something completely different. The article continues, She also pointed out how her union has been a major political backer of Bidens, although the UAW has so far withheld its endorsement of Biden for 2024, while also saying it has no intention of supporting Trump, the likely GOP nominee. Quote, Many of the striking workers describe themselves as swing voters. My job is very important to me and my family, so if you can help me out with my job, that's how you can sway me, said Chris Jedecek, 44, who has worked at Ford for 24 years. I wish there was a third option there. Inside the plan, there's so many Trump supporters I talked to. There's a lot of Democrats, not too many Biden supporters, but there's a lot of Democrats in there. Marissa Beck, 40, said she's voted for Democrats but has moved to the center more recently. While her co-worker, Tony Jarrell, 42, has voted for Republicans, but has also found herself seeking to reevaluate both parties. Both women who began working together in 2007, say they dislike comments Biden and Trump have made about their union and its members. Quote, Their support shown during a moment when we are on strike is appreciated. I don't know what they could say that I would believe it's a political year. So these workers are skeptical still. And I think that this insight, these perspectives are really important. Because since the Democratic Party took a neoliberal turn since the Clinton era, that trust was broken. And fundamentally, that pro-corporate structure within the party has not changed at all as evidenced by the fact that Biden shut down a strike from the railroad workers just last year. So I don't want to make it seem as if I'm unable to take yes for an answer or trying to withdraw credit from Biden or trying to perpetuate some false equivalence between Democrats and Republicans, because that's not the case. But what I am saying is that showing up is important. But it's going to take more than that for the Democratic Party to win back the trust of these voters who felt left behind, right? Having said that though, I think that this is a great start. And Biden certainly gets credit where it's due. But this change that we're seeing, where both major presidential contenders are competing for labor, that is a change that is driven entirely by the labor movement and it demonstrates that real change always comes from the bottom up and not the top down. Now when it comes to the UAW strike itself, even without maximum pressure being applied yet, the union has already been massively successful. The big three automakers have seen their reputations plummet with a majority of Americans saying that they support the strike and on top of that, thanks to the rolling nature of the strike, confused automakers ended up hurting themselves by anticipating strikes at the wrong facilities because they didn't know which ones were going to go on strike. As the Intercept explains, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis stalled production and moved parts out of plants across the country according to rank and file workers self-inflicting financial damage that could have been avoided by meeting workers' demands precisely. So for the first time, we're seeing that the onus is on the corporations and not the workers to do the right thing. The onus is on the corporations to meet the demands of their workers because what they're asking for is incredibly reasonable. So what we're seeing is a paradigm shift in this country currently. And when it comes to the UAW strike, I think needless to say the strike has already been incredibly effective. And corporations across the country are probably seeing what's transpiring here and they're shitting themselves because we're all simultaneously getting a lesson in the importance of unions and the power of collective bargaining. Everyone's paying attention, the world is watching and that's bad news for these corporations. And this is by far one of the most important moments in my generation, if not the most important moment in this generation. So I would highly encourage you to follow this labor movement because this is what is driving change in this country the most. Right? So watch on the ground interviews by Status Koo. I'd also highly recommend the Valley Labor Report. They're actually an Alabama-based radio show, but they cover all types of labor issues. They're also on YouTube as well, so definitely check them out. I think they're really, really on point and very insightful. But I mean, yeah, we'll leave that there all around. This has been a fantastic month for labor and it's only going to get better.