Features » June 2, 2004

Georges Kids

By Naomi Klein

In 1968, the legendary U.S. labor organizer Cesar Chavez went on a 25-day hunger strike. While depriving himself of food, he condemned abusive conditions suffered by farm workers. The slogan of his historic union drive was: “Si se puede!” Yes, we can!

In early May, George Bush went on a four-day bus ride. While stopping for multiple pancake breakfasts, he praised tax cuts and condemned everyone who says American workers need protection in the global economy. His battle cry for laissez-faire economics? “Yes, America can!”

The echo was probably intentional. Bush is so desperate for the Hispanic vote that he has taken to shouting “Vamos a ganar! We’re going to win!” during stump speeches in Ohio.

But the main purpose of the “Yes, American can” bus tour, of course, was to shift the attention of U.S. voters away from the Iraq prison scandal towards the recovering job market. According to a U.S. Labor Department report, 288,000 jobs were created in April. Bush’s campaign has seized on these numbers to further cast John Kerry as the dour New England pessimist, always droning on with bad news. Bush, on the other hand, is the bouncy Texan optimist, always flashing an easy smile and a thumbs-up. “The president has to make sure that we’re optimistic and confident in order for jobs to be created,” he told a crowd in Dubuque, Iowa.

Some jobs, however, are more responsive than others to the power of positive presidential thinking. More than 82 percent of the jobs created in April were in service industries, including restaurants and retail. The biggest new employers were temp agencies. Over the past year, 272,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost. No wonder the president’s economic report in February floated the idea of reclassifying fast-food restaurants as factories. “When a fast-food restaurant sells a hamburger, for example, is it providing a ‘service’ or is it combining inputs to ‘manufacture’ a product?” the report asks.

But not all of the job growth in the United States has come from burger flipping and temping. With more than 2 million Americans behind bars, the number of prison guards has exploded—from 270,317 in 2000 to 476,000 in 2002.

Watching Bush give the thumbs up in the face of so much economic misery put me in mind of a certain widely circulated photograph taken in Iraq. There are Spc. Charles Graner and Pvt. Lynndie England, the happy couple, standing above a pile of tortured Iraqi inmates, grinning and giving the double thumbs up. Everything is fine, their eyes seem to be saying, just don’t look down.

There’s something else connecting the sorry state of the U.S. job market and the images coming out of Abu Ghraib. The young soldiers taking the fall for the prison abuse scandal are the McWorkers, prison guards and laid-off factory workers of Bush’s so-called economic recovery. The résumés of the soldiers facing abuse charges come straight out of the April Labor Department report.

There’s Spc. Sabrina Harman, of Lorton, Virginia, assistant manager of her local Papa John’s Pizza. There’s Spc. Graner, a prison guard back home in Pennsylvania. There’s Sgt. Ivan Frederick, another prison guard, this time from rural Virginia.

Before he joined what Van Jones, a prisoners’ rights lawyer, calls “America’s gulag economy,” Frederick had a decent job at the Bausch and Lomb factory in Mountain Lake, Maryland. But according to the New York Times, that factory shut down and moved to Mexico—one of the nearly 900,000 jobs that the Economic Policy Institute estimates have been lost since the North American Free Trade Agreement came into force in 1994, the vast majority in manufacturing.

Free trade has turned the U.S. labor market into an hourglass: plenty of jobs at the bottom, a fair bit at the top, but very little in the middle. At the same time, getting from the bottom to the top has become increasingly difficult, with tuition fees at state colleges up by more than 50 percent since 1990.

And that’s where the U.S. military comes in: The Army has positioned itself as the bridge across America’s growing class chasm: money for tuition in exchange for military service. Call it the NAFTA draft.

It worked for England, the most infamous of the Abu Ghraib accused. She joined the military police to pay for college. Her colleague Sabrina Harman joined up for the same reason.

Of course, the poverty of the soldiers involved in prison torture makes them neither more guilty nor less. But the more we learn about them, the clearer it becomes that the lack of good jobs and social equality in the United States is precisely what brought them to Iraq in the first place. Despite his attempts to use the economy to distract attention from Iraq, and his efforts to isolate the soldiers as un-American deviants, these are the children George Bush left behind, fleeing dead-end McJobs, abusive prisons, unaffordable education and closed factories.

And they are his children in another way too: It’s in the ubiquitous thumbs-up sign they flash, seemingly oblivious to the disaster at their feet. This is the quintessential George Bush pose. Convinced that U.S. voters want a positive president, the Bush team has learned to use optimism as an offensive weapon: No matter how devastating the crisis, no matter how many lives have been destroyed, they have insistently given the world the thumbs up.

Donald Rumsfeld? “Doing a superb job,” according to the optimist-in-chief. The mission in Iraq? “We’re making progress, you bet,” Bush told reporters one year after his disastrous “mission accomplished” speech. And the U.S. job market, which has driven so many into poverty? “Yes, America can!”

We don’t yet know who taught these young soldiers how to torture their prisoners. But we do know who taught them how to stay happy-go-lucky in the face of tremendous suffering. That lesson came straight from the top.

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• Reader Comments

  As I read this article, I’m broadcasting an episode of Becker in my station’s control room. This job pays 75 cents less an hour than what I was making at age 21.
  Others in my same field have given up and are now working as prison guards. Imagine my seeing this article and being able to relate—the jobs just aren’t there.
  My friend and 20-year veteran of the Air Force is also working as a prison gaurd. You’d think someone with so much time and supposedly doing such a service for “freedom” would be able to find a better job.

  Worse, the numbers of jobs lost are staggering:
  Job Loss or Gain by President and Party

    Roosevelt 5.3
    Johnson 3.8
    Carter 3.1
    Truman 2.5
    Clinton 2.4
    Kennedy 2.3
    Nixon 2.2
    Reagan 2.1
    Coolidge 1.1
    Ford 1.1
    Eisenhower 0.9
    G. Bush 0.6
    G.W. Bush -0.7
    Hoover -9.0

  note: numbers are percentages
  source: US Dept Labor Report

  We’ve got to vote this son-of-a-bitch out. If not for the murders caused by lying to the public to invade a nation, the 9/11 scandal, the Florida debacle, Enron, EPA, mudslinging at a vietnam vet, (jeesh, it goes on and on) at least for the -0.7 job growth.

  Posted by Ammonia D on Jun 3, 2004 at 4:29 AM

  There seems to be something wrong in bashing McJobs. There is something inherently good and noble in all work. Is it better to have a McJob or not to have a job?

  Many seem to forget who was president when NAFTA was enacted. It seems but one more wart on this Character that too many on the left are willing to overlook. Need we even discuss his many other warts?

  Why were so many Democrats willing to support the Debacle in the Desert?

  Yes,we have a real choice: a rich Democrat or a rich Republican!!!

  Posted by eddiej on Jun 8, 2004 at 4:32 PM

  Why did so many Democrats support the war? He lied to Congress, the nation and the world. False evidence that he’s trying to pin on the CIA or any intelligence organization they can. It doesn’t excuse the Democrats, though.

  McJobs, as you say, are one of the reasons the economy won’t grow.
  Recently, someone told me they admired Wal-Mart “because they hire people no one else will hire.” So, the elderly, handicapped and other “unhireables” deserve crappy jobs?
  Higher paying jobs are moving overseas, weakening the economy, eroding the middle-class and keeping the lower class without hope. A college education is the answer? What jobs will be left if this “pResident” is re-elected and further restrictions are relaxed?

  I was against NAFTA when it was signed. Though I supported Clinton, I didn’t back everything he did, like his dumping of 10 tons of Depleted Uranium on Kosovo. Or his continued sanctions against Iraq, starving thousands.
  But as long as we’re comparing actions, the Bush family is responsible for dumping 395 tons of Depleted Uranium on Iraq—chemical warfare at it’s worst. Source: Campaign Against Depleted Uranium.
  Let’s compare jobs. Jr. and Sr., as you see in my previous article, are responsible for a combined total -0.1% job growth. -0.1%!!! McJobs indeed.
  Warts? Except for the blowjob, I think Clinton had this nation’s interests in mind, unlike Bush.
  Bush warts: A recession, roll-back on EPA regulations, an illegal war, torture of prisoners, erosion of civil rights, inflation, higher gas prices, budget deficit, Enron, fixed election, murder….So let’s here it from the man who is the leader of the free world, the most powerful man in the world:

  “Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling.” óGeorge W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004
  “See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don’t attack each other. Free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction.” óGeorge W. Bush, Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003
  “Security is the essential roadblock to achieving the road map to peace.” óGeorge W. Bush, Washington, D.C., July 25, 2003
  “As Luce reminded me, he said, without data, without facts, without information, the discussions about public education mean that a person is just another opinion.” óGeorge W. Bush, Jacksonville, Florida, Sept. 9, 2003
  “It’s very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change America.” óGeorge W. Bush, Dakar, Senegal, July 8, 2003

  Posted by Ammonia D on Jun 9, 2004 at 2:46 AM

  Excuse me, where in my post do I lead you to believe that I espouse anything George Bush stands for? Because I dare say something about slick Willie, I must be a Bush supporter specifically, or a Republican in general?

  You seem to be pissed about jobs. A succession of both Democrat and Republican administrations have stood by while our industrial base has moved overseas.

  You didn’t support Clinton on NAFTA, you didn’t support Clinton on Kosovo. What did you support Clinton on? Let’s face it Clinton was co-opted by Newt and his contract for America.

  Posted by eddiej on Jun 11, 2004 at 5:04 PM

  I don’t recall anywhere where I said you were pro-Bush or Republican unless you take my answering your questions about Democrats as meaning you’re a Republican. I was comparing the bad things Clinton has done to Bush and it’s no contest. I’ll have to defend Bill on all but the earlier things I mentioned and these that I supported:

  Family and Medical Leave Act
  Expansion of Earned Income Tax Credit
  Justice Department crackdown on deadbeat dads
  Deficit Reduction plan
  Economic Plan (Cut taxes to 15 million low-income families and cuts to 90% of small businesses)
  School-to-Work Program
  AmeriCorps
  Northwest Forest Plan
  California Delta Estuary Conservation Plan
  $760 million more to Head Start
  Assault Weapons Ban
  Brady Bill
  Violence Against Women Act
  Low-Income Housing Tax Credit made permanent
  Mortgage Revenue Bond Program made permanent
  Reformed Pension Guarantee Corp., protecting 8.5 million pensions
  Pollution standards to cut pollution from incinerators by 95%
  New standard to cut pollution from chemical plants 90% by 1997
  Executive order to require polluters to disclose information to the public and expanded the public’s right-to-know about toxic releases
  Child Immunization Plan
  WIC on full-funding
  More funds to adoption and foster care programs
  Motor-Voter Registration
  Eliminated the tax deduction for lobbying expenses
  Barred top officials from becoming foreign lobbyists after leaving government
  Lead the effort to make the NPT indefinite

  I know Clinton had a lot of conservative ideas. Overall, I think he did a better job.

  You’ll have to forgive me, I’ll bash W. on every occasion I can. Since your comments excluded anything seriously negative about Bush, I provided my opinion. I’m not angry—I’m just giving you some info.

  Jobs. Yeah, I’m upset about jobs. Despite my degree, my wage continues to drop. Everyone I know is looking for something better with little to no luck. My past two careers have been eliminated (due to technology and nothing to do with administrations). But, the recession forced lay-offs from the best paying and most secure (well, I guess it wasn’t THAT secure) job I’ve ever held. That was in 2001. So, I’m starting over again and it’s okay. But I do really empathize with those struggling and it pisses me off to almost no end that the surplus was given away when it could have been used to help people other than just extending their unemployment.

  Kucinich is who I was for, but I knew he had absolutely no chance.

  What do you think about the rumor McCain may be Kerry’s VP?

  Posted by Ammonia D on Jun 12, 2004 at 10:01 PM

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