AN EVENING IN BAINPORT

There's been a story developing in my neck of the woods for the last year or so, that is beginning to gain national attention, and deservedly so.  Because the story is a microcosm of the larger socio-political world we're living in, and one that presents a clear choice for the future of our country, especially as it pertains to the upcoming elections.

Freeport, Illinois is a typical Midwestern small town, about 30 miles from where I live.  (King-Cat readers may remember me talking about wanting to move there in issue #65.)  One of the industries in Freeport is a Honeywell automotive sensor making plant.  In early 2011 it was reported that a company called Sensata Technologies had purchased the sensor-making business, and planned to ship the 170 jobs at the plant to China within two years.  Now, those two years are up.  The plant is moving overseas.

Well, it turns out that Sensata Technologies itself was purchased in 2006 by a firm called Bain Capital.  Bain Capital??  Where have I heard that before...?  Oh yeah, it's the company that presidential candidate Mitt Romney created to purchase businesses, manage them briefly, and then "harvest" them for a profit (his words).  Bain Capital is now "harvesting" the jobs of 170 working class American people.

Yes, that's right-- right here, right now, the Republican candidate for President, in the middle of a presidential campaign, is making a profit off shipping American jobs to China.  And this is how Mitt Romney plans to bring manufacturing back to the US?

A few facts:

Workers at the sensor plant made up to $17.00 per hour.  The Chinese workers replacing them will make 99 cents an hour.  Management in many cases forced soon-to-be laid off workers to train their Chinese replacements, who in China will work up to 16 hour shifts per day, with one day off per month.

Sensata is a non-union plant.  So all you right wingers who try to pin the blame for the death of American manufacturing on unions, I'd like to hear who your scapegoat is this time.

And this is also not a case of someone buying a dying business and selling it for parts.  Sensata made 500 million dollars net profit in the second quarter of 2012.  I guess that wasn't enough money for the shareholders?

As I've written before, when will these people be satisfied?  How much suffering imposed upon regular Americans for the profit of the rich will be enough?  Where does the greed end?

I used to think it was in the best interests of those with wealth and power to have a stable, comfortable middle class below them.  Stable, comfortable middle class people bear the costs of running our society, they like the status quo, they don't want to rock the boat, and they buy lots and lots of consumer goods.

It has occurred to me over the last several years, that these people don't give a damn about the middle class, or anyone for that matter, outside their circle of friends (and I wouldn't even count on that!).  Thanks to globalization, they don't need an American middle class anymore.  I see our society quickly slipping into a kind of modern day feudalism, where those with money and power live in castles on the hill, while the rest of us peasants muck it out in the valley.  The two worlds are not connected anymore.  They don't give a damn about American workers, or those in need, why would they?  Their focus is on the expanding markets of China and India.  They took away people's jobs, then conned them into three decades of debt-maintained lifestyles, and now that's over too.  To them, America is a husk that's been drained of resources and buying power.  They are living in America, but not of it.  They couldn't care less.  All that matters to them is their pathological accumulation of money, no matter the damage it inflicts on others.

American jobs -- how quaint!  A thriving middle class--  no longer necessary!

A few days ago the progressive talk show host Ed Schultz came to Freeport, where the displaced workers have set up a protest camp across the street from Sensata, named Bainport.  I drove out to show my support and see what the scene was like.

The road to Freeport is straight down beautiful Highway 75.

Bainport fire ring,

The Freeport High School sports teams are famously named the Pretzels.

Big Ed Schultz.

Cheri Bustos, congressional candidate for Illinois' 17th District, and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky talk to Ed.

Look at faces on these people.  These are ordinary, working class people.  We're witnessing the development of a new populist political movement in the United States.

The Nation's John Nichols and Ed joke around with the crowd.

Make no mistake, Sensata is the economic future that the Mitt Romneys of this country are shooting for.  To elect him president of the United States would be the worst case of putting the fox in charge of the hen house that could be imagined.

If you agree with me, please do your part to help re-elect Barack Obama on November 6th.  Vote, of course, but try to find other ways to help.  Tells friends and neighbors about Sensata, and what it means for the future of our country, volunteer in get-out-the-vote drives, stand on the corner and wave a sign.  In these difficult times, anything helps. The right wing in this country is counting on fear, misdirection, corruption and lies to give them even more power.  But I guarantee you there are more of us than there are of them:  99%.  Stand up for yourself and your family and neighbors.  This is it.

More useful links:

Bainport Homepage
Cheri Bustos
Jan Schakowsky
Ed Show Clips
Rock River Times article
Democracy Now
Alternet
Boston.com
American Conservative (!): "Revolt of the Rich"
Bain Capital PDF on the "benefits" of outsourcing

POST OFFICE

Capitol Hill Station, Denver, CO

As a zine person I'm someone who spends an inordinate amount of time in Post Offices.  I love the Post Office.  People complain about it, but the fact that I can send something around the world for a few bucks has always been amazing to me.

In case you're not aware of it, the US Post Office is under fire.  There are people in this country (Republicans and their Corporate Overlords) that hate the fact that some people value things more than money.  They would love to destroy the Post Office for that reason.

You hear in the news every year or so about how deep in debt the Post Office is, how the price of a first class stamp is going up again, how Saturday delivery might be suspended and on and on.  But do you know WHY this happening?

I suggest you watch this video of progressive talk show host Ed Schultz explaining in simple terms what's been going on.

As a person in the world of small press comics and zines, if the Post Office goes out of business, I go out of business.  And there are plenty of small businesses around the country that are in the same boat.  Not to mention the postal workers and their families that will be affected by the heartlessness of the Republican agenda.

Paris cartoonist Laurent Lolmede holds up the King-Cat I mailed to him from the South Beloit Post Office.

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Meanwhile, here's a brief trip down memory lane, about all the Post Office Boxes I've had:

PO Box 403, DeKalb, IL; 1992

After using my parents' house in Hoffman Estates as my de facto zine mailing address for years, I finally broke down and got my own PO Box in DeKalb.  I think there were only one or two issues of King-Cat that included this address in the indicia, because shortly after securing the box I decided to move to Denver.  Coincidentally, when one of my best friends, Al Stark, got a DeKalb PO Box about a decade later, he was also assigned #403.  So it's easy for me to remember his address when I send him a letter.

PO Box 18510, Denver, CO; 1992-1998

My original box at the funky and groovy Capitol Hill Post Office on Marion Street in Denver was a nearly daily stop for me in the six years I lived in Denver originally.  I'd load my backpack with outgoing orders and trade them for new mail when I got there.  I remember many sunny Denver afternoons walking slowly back down Marion Street to 8th Ave reading letters I'd received.

Seeing the same clerks every day, you get to know them a bit.  It becomes part of your day, part of your connection to the neighborhood, to the city.  When I was sick in 1997 I needed someone not related to me to witness my Do Not Resuscitate form, and it was counter clerk Tim at the Capitol Hill PO who signed it for me.

PO Box 95826, Hoffman Estates, IL; 1998

After my surgery in '97, Kera and I moved back to Chicagoland to be closer to our families.  My dad rented me this PO Box in anticipation of our arrival.  My memories of this PO are mostly stopping in at night, after the counter had closed, to pull mail from my box (I worked the late shift).  I remember the warm summer nights, the parking lot lights, the humidity in the air, and how good it felt to be back home.

PO Box 881, Elgin, IL; 1998-2002

After moving to Elgin in the summer of '98 I got this box at the downtown PO.  It became part of my crucial Saturday routine:  Walking down to the library to check out books, over to the PO to get my week's worth of mail and send same, and then over to the thrift store on South Grove to buy old New Yorkers for a dime.  I still remember the clerk who told me that Engelbert Humperdinck was the singer's real name.

PO Box 300637, Denver, CO; 2002-2003

This was the box I had for the one weird year I lived back in Denver in '02-'03.  I lived on Marion Street two blocks south of the PO and there were many afternoons of dragging my Rolly Cart through snow, slush or simply over Denver's raggedy sandstone sidewalks.  Always rushing to make it there before they locked the doors on Saturday at 12:30.

PO Box 170535, San Francisco, CA; 2003-2006

After a year in Denver we moved to San Francisco so Misun could finish acupuncture school.  My PO Box was at the Clayton Street Station, right off Haight Street.  Waiting in the enormous lines, sidestepping crusties and their pitbulls on my way there, seeing the same people in line everyday:  the guy who sold books over eBay, the Amoeba employees with their carts of mailorder...

PO Box 18888, Denver, CO; 2006-2010

And back to Denver.  I got another Capitol Hill PO Box, though we ended up living in the West Highlands our first year and a half back.  After that we lived at First and Broadway, so it was still a trek--  I'd drive my $600 1993 Subaru up there on Saturday mornings.  You'll notice the preponderance of "8"s in my PO Box numbers.  That's because ever since I was a kid I've had a hard time writing 8's.  The universe has made sure I've had plenty of practice, though I can't say I've gotten any better at it.

PO Box 142, South Beloit, IL; 2010-present

After my life imploded in 2010, I ended up in the sunny little burg of South Beloit, IL, the "Sand Capital of the World."  There are few anchors to my life here, but the friendly clerks at the Post Office are one of them.  I kind of feel bad on the rare day when I don't stop in.

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If you frequent the Post Office, please be sure to let the employees know how much you value their work.  And write your congressperson and let them know the US Post Office is there for a reason:  because in a civilized society government should play a role in making its citizens' lives better.  It's the American Way.