The strike wave is sweeping across multiple industries! Why do American labor groups take to the streets? Appeal | Life | Society | Economy | Inflation | People | Strike | America
Recently, the "strike wave" has swept across multiple industries in the United States——
In mid July, the Screen Actors Guild of America announced its support for the Writers Guild of America and officially joined the strike. The Associated Press reported that this is the first time since 1960 that two major Hollywood unions have gone on strike simultaneously. The core demand of this joint strike is to increase salary and job security to cope with high inflation, while establishing effective mechanisms to reduce the impact of artificial intelligence on film and television practitioners.
In early July, employees from multiple hotels in California went on strike to protest against rising living costs such as rent, and to fight for higher wages and benefits.
In early June, due to a salary dispute, a total of 22000 workers representing 29 ports on the West Coast of the United States went on strike, resulting in the interruption of freight operations at major ports on the West Coast of the United States.
Simply sorting out the demands of these strike groups, it is not difficult to find that behind the strikes are sustained high inflation, high living costs, and significantly reduced actual income in the United States. It can be said that this fierce wave of strikes is a concentrated outbreak of dissatisfaction in American society.
Since 2021, due to factors such as the US government's flooded economic stimulus policy, the inflation rate in the United States has skyrocketed to a new high since 1982. The persistent high fever inflation has had an undeniable impact on various sectors within the United States: food and energy prices continue to rise, people's purchasing power sharply declines, and household daily expenses face enormous pressure. As a group of middle and low-income workers, they have been particularly severely impacted.
Faced with a difficult living situation, what may disappoint the American people even more is the absent-mindedness of American politicians. Faced with the poor economic situation, politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States did not truly focus on finding effective solutions to address inflation and improve people's livelihoods. Instead, they used this as a tool for mutual attacks, falling into fierce internal conflicts and placing individual and group interests above the immediate needs of the people and the overall interests of the country. No one is making efforts to find a cure for economic difficulties, leading to further deterioration of conditions such as wealth inequality, distribution inequality, and social fragmentation.
US Senator Bernie Sanders cited data from Rand Corporation in 2022, stating that over the past 47 years, $50 trillion in wealth has shifted from the bottom 90% of American society to the top 1% of the wealthy. Even in the event of a major crisis, this process will only accelerate, as the Federal Reserve's long-term implementation of extremely loose monetary policy ultimately leads to severe inflation. The poor have become the main victims of monetary policy liberalization, while the rich have benefited greatly from the currency driven prosperity of the stock and real estate markets.
In recent years, in addition to the frequent wave of strikes, various types of protests and demonstrations have also erupted in the United States. From the "Occupy Wall Street" movement to the "Black Man's Life is Life" protest against violent law enforcement by the US police, they are actually the angry cries of the lower class Americans towards class solidification, wealth inequality, and racial discrimination.
A recent survey by Harvard University shows that 61% of respondents believe that the United States as a whole is on the "wrong track"; 60% of respondents stated that they have "no confidence" in the US government's ability to handle national economic issues. The dissatisfaction of the American people towards the incompetence of American governance is evident.
Affected by the "strike wave", labor shortages, production stagnation, supply chain crises and other issues have become increasingly apparent, and the already fragile US economic recovery is facing more variables. It can be foreseen that if American politicians continue to ignore the voices and concerns of the people, the "storm" from the American people will only become more intense.
