I think almost everyone in the country knows that we have some pretty serious problems and are in need of some serious answers. I usually spend my first hour each morning browsing all my news feeds for info to keep me informed and for fodder for my blogs. It seems that at least in my feeds that everyone has at least an idea on how to fix one part or another. Unfortunately, like many things most of us are looking for a silver bullet that can fix EVERYTHING, but we realize that is just not possible anymore, if it ever was.

We continue to fracture into one clan or another and our “fixes” are usually dictated by what our clan selfishly believes. I am in so many different clans and each think they have the solution, so I have lots to post about here on RJsCorner. 🥸 Ok, enough dribble, let’s get on to one of the possible problem fixers for today.

One of the acknowledged facts about capitalism, at least the version that is in the US today, is that wages have not kept up with the wealth they created. It seems that most of the wealth now goes to a small part of our society called the 1%ers. How do we make sure that the wealth created by our efforts is more equally shared with those who generate it?

If you read some of my recent posts you know that I am trying to learn what I can from Sweden in the area of wage inequality. They have pretty much solved that problem with worker unions. Here in the US about 10% of us are union members, but in Sweden that number is over 70%! With that kind of collective power the workers will get their share of the profits.

In the US labor unions for the most part consider the employer as an adversary to be conquered. They are the enemy. While I imagine a degree of that attitude exists in Sweden and most European countries, the dominant view is that labor and business are parts of the same whole. One cannot exist without the other. They seek a win-win situation instead of a defeat-the-enemy one. That is known as the “common good” or win-win.

Even some of the strongest labor unions in the US, including the Teachers Union, just don’t seem to be able to look beyond their own members for what is good for everyone. When there is talk about things like year-round education, the teachers unions seem to automatically be against it. They just don’t look beyond the immediate gain to see that leaving our education infrastructure vacant for about half the year is wasting too much money. They don’t see the possibilities, just the possible problems and inconveniences for their members.

I don’t know how it will happen but this basic attitude needs to change. We need to quit seeing anyone different from ourselves as an enemy, but instead as part of our family. Union greed is no more productive than corporate greed. When we accept that fact reconciliation is accomplished and that will provide a big fix for America.