Wall Street’s War Against U.S. Workers: The Political Impact of Mass Layoffs
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2024
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
More than 20 million mass layoffs in recent years have had a devastating effect on individuals, families, and communities. In the past few election cycles, the media has claimed that working class Americans vote for Republicans because they foolishly vote against their own interests. Author and executive director of the Labor Institute Les Leopold argues that they're ignoring the enormous effects of mass layoffs on millions of U.S. workers in recent decades, in his newest book Wall Street’s War on Workers.
Brian is joined by Les Leopold, co-founder and executive director of the Labor Institute and author of several books, including most recently "Wall Street's War on Workers: How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do About It." You can find more of his writing on lesleopold.substack.com.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | According to recent polls, Donald Trump is building a commanding lead over Joe Biden in five of the six swing states likely to determine the outcome of the election this November. |
| 0:13.7 | What neither Biden nor Trump are talking about is Wall Street's war on U.S. workers. |
| 0:20.0 | We need a new system. We need a new society. |
| 0:24.0 | We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible even a few weeks ago, |
| 0:28.3 | but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. Welcome to the Socialist Program. I'm your host, Brian Becker. |
| 0:59.4 | If you enjoy or rely on this show or both, please show your support by subscribing to our show at patreon.com forward slash the Socialist Program. |
| 1:10.7 | Today we're talking with Les Leopold. |
| 1:11.6 | He is a co-founder and executive director of the Labor Institute. |
| 1:16.6 | He's the author of several books, including most recently, |
| 1:20.6 | Wall Street's War on Workers, How Mass Layoffs and Greed are destroying the working class class and what to do about it. You can find |
| 1:31.0 | more of his writings at lesleopold.substack.com. Les Leopold, welcome to the socialist program. Thank you so |
| 1:40.6 | much for having me. I saw your book online and I was intrigued by the title. |
| 1:47.7 | I looked up some of your other articles that have appeared on numerous websites. |
| 1:52.6 | And I wanted to really talk to you about the issue that you're focused on here, |
| 1:57.8 | at least in this book, which is the political and social impact on the millions |
| 2:04.8 | and millions of U.S. workers who have been the victims of mass layoffs in the recent decades. |
| 2:11.4 | Because the narrative going into each election cycle, especially in the last, say, 10, 15, 20 years, as that significant |
| 2:20.0 | sectors of the working class who are voting Republican are doing so because they are either |
| 2:26.9 | extremely racist, very xenophobic, anti-gay, you name it. Now, there is a lot of racism in the country, and there's a lot of xenophobia |
| 2:37.5 | and a lot of anti-gay bigotry, but what you're pointing to is that mass layoffs by capitalist |
| 2:45.8 | corporations have had a tremendous impact on the consciousness and the voting patterns of workers in the |
| 2:53.5 | United States. And I'll just start with one example. Before 2000, before the election in 2000, |
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