Strike!

There are few things that Democrats and the media love more than a good strike. Democrats love it because they can use it to show the vast inequities in American society and the damning consequences of the despised free market. The media meanwhile gets an easy story in which they go out and interview a few of the strikers, pick a few of the most heart-rending stories and then spin a tale involving workers who don't know how they will heat their homes/feed their kids/take care of their grandmother that month up against an evil faceless corporation. It's utterly formulaic.

For a prime example of this phenomenon I invite the reader to take a look at this AP story written about the striking workers at a Republic Windows and Doors factory that have quickly emerged as a cause célèbre, attracting support from such leftist luminaries as Barack Obama and Jesse Jackson. Let's take a look at the story and then translate it from leftese into plain English:

The nation's grim economy now has a rallying point: Employees at a window-and-door factory that went out of business have taken over the building in a siege that has come to symbolize the woes of the ordinary worker.

The Republic Windows and Doors factory closed abruptly last week after Bank of America canceled the company's financing. Since then, about 200 of the 240 laid-off workers have taken turns occupying the factory, declaring that they will not leave until getting assurances they will receive severance and accrued vacation pay.

Upset that they have lost their jobs due to the worsening economic climate, a group of laid-off workers have taken a building hostage, threatening not to return it to its lawful owners until their financial demands are met.

But the standoff has also come to embody mounting anger over the government's willingness to bail out deep-pocketed corporations but not average people.

"There's a simplicity and straightforwardness to this particular case that anybody can wrap their head around," said James Thindwa, executive director for the Chicago office of Jobs With Justice, a national coalition of unions, community groups and other organizations.

The hostage takers are particularly incensed that in the midst of billions of dollars being handed out by the government that they haven't gotten a piece of the action. A supporting quote is given by the director of a left-wing group with heavy union influence.

Apolinar Cabrera, a 17-year Republic employee, lost his job and benefits just as his wife is about to deliver their third child.

"I don't know what to do," said Cabrera, 44, who worked in Republic's shipping department. He has been shuttling between the plant and home so he can check on his wife.

Cabrera should be ashamed of himself. Does he not have a savings account? Why is he having children that he is not sure he can afford? One has to question whether he is even fit to be a father.

...Most of the anger over the plant closure has been directed at Bank of America, not the company, which has not sought to evict workers from the building. Fried said the company cannot pay its employees because the bank will not let it.

Blagojevich on Monday ordered all state agencies to stop doing business with Bank of America to pressure the bank into using federal bailout money it received to help the laid-off workers.

"We hope that this kind of leverage and pressure will encourage Bank of America to do the right thing for this business," Blagojevich said outside the plant. "Take some of that federal tax money that they've received and invest it by providing the necessary credit to this company so these workers can keep their jobs."

So, when Bank of America and other financial institutions were lending out money willy-nilly earlier this decade and fueling the housing crisis that was bad, but now that they are being very careful about who they are lending to that's also bad. Where is the rulebook? Does anyone think that Bank of America wouldn't lend to the company if they didn't see them as a sound investment? Is Bank of America really so stupid that they would just leave money on the table? Are they motivated by a hatred of workers? Do the workers and politicians know more about lending than the bank? If so they are in the wrong line of work.

I noticed that both the governor, and according to this story the attorney general, are all over this, trying to capitalize on public anger for their own ends. This isn't leadership, it's craven cowardice and mob rule.

Governor Blagojevich, meanwhile, was quite literally given a rather rude awakening this morning, handcuffed for "staggering" levels of corruption. Hope and change in Obama's home state of Illinois!

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said he wanted to ask his fellow senators to remind banks that the bailout wasn't to be used for dividends and executive salaries.

"They're for loans and credit to businesses just like Republic," he said.

Again, politicians believe that they know how to run banks better than the banks themselves. This is why we need to keep government as small as possible, the arrogance of the people in charge knows no bounds.

On Monday, about a dozen protesters, including some former Republic workers, rallied outside a Bank of America branch on the city's West Side, handing out fliers, carrying signs and banging drums. Several tried to enter the bank to deliver their message, but were turned away.

The support generated by the sit-in has surprised some workers.

"We never expected this," said factory employee Melvin Maclin, vice president of the union local that represents the workers. "We expected to go to jail."

That makes two of us Melvin. I guess I'll have to content myself with the governor for now.