and firing workers to get even richer
American ceos are wallowing in wealth
Also in this issue
- Clinton backs corporate accountability!
- Sen. murray's amazing letter
- Senatorial hot air
- The fowlest u.s. factories
- California gets overruled
THE 8,000-MEMBER GREATER GRACE TEMPLE in Detroit is the home church of many autoworkers, and its Sunday service on December 7 spoke directly to their troubles. The tone was set by the choir's opening selection, "I'm looking for a Miracle." The Pentecostal pastor kept the spirit moving with a sermon he titled "A Hybrid Hope," after which the congregation joined in a full-throated, hallelujah version of the gospel classic, "We're Gonna Make It." For the men and women who actually do the work in automobile manufacturing (America's quintessential industry), the only hope left for dealing with a catastrophic economic meltdown seems to be prayer. 

Sen. murray's amazing letter
We've gotten ahold of a recent letter from Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington State, to President Clinton, and it's filled with such breathtaking ignorance and arrogance, that we want to share it with the world.
Her subject is the big meeting of the World Trade Organization to be held in Seattle this November. Clinton, other heads of state, WTO officials, and corporate executives are gathering to prepare a new round of globaloney to shove down our throats, writing more worldwide rules banning local economic initiatives or labor or environmental protections, which they term "barriers to free trade." But consumer groups, unions, farmers, activists, environmentalists, and other uninvited guests also are planning on attending to protest the WTO's anti-democratic agenda of corporate supremacy.
Apparently, Senator Murray is worried "about security and confrontations with various demonstrators," and wants Clinton to do two things: First, explain to the nation that "The WTO is the indispensable rule making, enforcement body . . . for all countries." Hello, Patty, remember the Constitution? When did we replace our own self-government with the WTO? Second, she wants Clinton to call-in those pesky protesting groups and discourage "disruptive and damaging actions distracting the media and the public from your important goals." Right on! We can't have citizens assembling in the streets and speaking out like this was some kind of a democracy—and we certainly can't allow the people's voices to distract the media from Bill Clinton's "important goals."
Read the whole letter at www.jimhightower.com.