Yes, it is a strong term but it is not mine. I took it from a discussion with skeechan who insists that labor
should be viewed as a commodity. I do agree that corporate America (well, Wall St specifically) sees labor in that light but IMO that is part of the problem... not the way it should be.
Promotions at Verizon used to be from the field but, ironically, it very often ended up being people that didn't have sufficient skills to be comfortable in the field. 'Truly Valuable' is of course subjective but I think you would agree that skilled workers are not worthless simply because they are not promoted to higher levels. The fact (at Verizon at least) is that no one aspires to enter management anymore because they are treated so poorly... I heard there was another round of management layoffs just announced. I don't even know if the path to 'promotion' still exists for us workers.
I am sure you know, or could guess, that my opinion on corporate taxation is completely opposite of yours... I think we should return to pre-Regan tax rates for corporations and the upper class. Large corporations and their highly successful owners, have profited nicely from our system and it is only right that they should help maintain it. If a company has legitimate operations overseas and wants to keep profits where they were made to pay for operations... that is understandable. When they set up fictitious operations overseas and show profits in those entities because they share your view that they should not have to pay income tax then I think we have a major problem. Someone can set up theirr own such company here:
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www.taxhavens.biz/Illegal, you say? Well with a few layers of removal and the secrecy of the offshore banks, you can easily avoid detection or prosecution.
More on topic though, what is your opinion on the declining state of labor in the country? As unemployment (and the population) increases and business has even more leverage to lower salaries, where to you see that trend taking us? Or, even more important then how you or I see it, is this something that business should consider past their own short term interests?