When I was laid-off from the Lynn GE plant in the late 1980’s, it wasn’t because of the cancellation of any military contract. In those days, Lynn produced steam turbines to power civilian as well as Navy ships, commercial electric generating plants and gears for railroad engines, along with military and non-military jet engines. But GE was determined to shrink the Lynn workforce and one-by-one the civilian production lines disappeared. It wasn’t that these businesses had become obsolete or unprofitable; it was just that GE decided that it was more lucrative to move the jobs elsewhere or license the work for overseas manufacture.
Jeff Klein's blog
Workers held hostage to military spending
Submitted by Jeff Klein on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 9:42am.We’re Already Paying a “War Tax” at the Gas Pump
Submitted by Jeff Klein on Mon, 02/27/2012 - 5:46pm.Bay State Banner, Community Voices, March 1, 2012
Senator Kerry: On the Congressional SuperCommittee, No Deal is Better than a Bad Deal
Submitted by Jeff Klein on Mon, 11/14/2011 - 5:25pm.Thousands of people from communities across the state have written cards and letters to Senator Kerry; seniors and union members have rallied and marched; protestors have demonstrated in front of his district offices -- all of them with a simple message for the Senator: “Don’t Balance the Budget on Our Backs!”
Kerry is one of six Democrats, appointed along with six Republicans, to a “Supercommittee” which is supposed to make budget recommendations by November 23. After that, both houses of Congress must vote on the proposals, up or down, without amendments. If no majority agreement is reached among the Supercommittee members, there are supposed to be large automatic cuts in discretionary spending, equally divided between military and non-military budgets.
