Today’s links Everyday homeowners are human shields for Wall Street’s Internet of Shit slumlords: Put Wall Street landlords up against a wall. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Everyday homeowners are human shields for Wall Street’s Internet of Shit slumlords (permalink) The American Dream, such as it is, used to be two dreams, one based on work and solidarity, the other on asset appreciation and disconnected individualism. We killed the first one. As the New Deal gave way to the post-war social safety net, Americans discovered two paths to social mobility: they could join a union, and they could buy a home. Joining a union meant that your wages would rise with productivity, and that the democratic ideal that you were meant to approach once every two years at the ballot-box could follow you into the building you spent more waking hours in than any other: your jobsite. Labor unions used their political power to win labor rights, so that even workers who weren’t a union couldn’t be arbitrarily fired, or maimed on the job with impunity, or harassed or abused. And while the labor movement was mired in the same racist legacy that every American institution brought forward out of genocide and slavery, where racialized…Pluralistic: Everyday homeowners are human shields for Wall Street's Internet of Shit slumlords (01 Oct 2024)