Over 800,000 federal employees and 1.5 million federal contract workers are now pawns in Trump’s brinksmanship over shutting down the US government.

Trump has also frozen federal workers’ pay for 2019, stopping the automatic 2.1% cost-of-living increase all civilian workers would have received under federal pay laws. It’s hardly the first time American workers have been pawns in larger power games. It happens all the time in the private sector.

A private-equity firm gains control and eliminates a sizable portion of a company’s jobs. A merger generates a frenzy of payroll cuts. New management threatens to ship jobs offshore if workers don’t accept wage cuts. American capitalism has become more arbitrary and autocratic than at any time in modern history.

Not only have most paychecks stopped rising, but economic security has vanished. Few working people feel any sense of control over their lives. This has happened for several reasons. Capital markets are more demanding. Wall Street is insisting that corporations squeeze out every ounce of profit quarter by quarter. Read More

Related news: Sen. Warren: “The ultra-rich have rigged our economy” – VIDEO

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