It's the bottom of the 9th inning, and corporate America is just one out away from another major victory. According to a new study from the International Trade Union Confederation, corporate America has all but destroyed workers' rights in our country. The study looked at things like workers' ability to strike or protest, to engage in collective bargaining, and their basic civil liberties.

 

A 97-point evaluation of labor-related criteria by the International Trade Union Confederation found that the United States ranks as bad as Pakistan, Indonesia, and Thailand when it comes to workers' rights. And the only countries that are ranked worse than the U.S. in the study are countries that are experiencing "open violent conflict." Of course this shouldn't come as a surprise.

 

Over the last three years alone, more than a dozen corporate-friendly Republican-controlled states have put limits on collective bargaining for public employees, and 19 other states have pushed for right-to-work-for-less laws that destroy private unions. But the U.S. didn't always used to be at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to workers' rights.

 

For nearly a century, it was unions and strong workers' rights that made us proud to call America home. And it was thanks to unions that America had a strong and robust middle class. But, over the last three decades or so, corporate America and the wealthy elite have been waging an all-out war on workers, and on the very unions that helped build our country.

 

Read more here.

 

-Thom

 

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Time for a carbon cap reality check? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

 

Have a question or comment for Thom? Grab your phone, hit record and send your video to YourTakeMyTake@gmail.com and we may air it on "The Big Picture."

 

Congratulations Thom! Thom Hartmann to Receive 2014 Freedom of Speech Award

 

Need to Know: Time for a carbon cap reality check?
- Dr. Michael Mann, Earth System Science Center-Penn State University / The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars 

 

Big Picture Politics Panel:
- Genevieve Wood, The Daily Signal - Heritage Foundation    
- Nate Sweet, Progressive Commentator  
- Hughey Newsome, Project 21 / MoveOnUp.org      

 

 

Hey Senators...corporations are NOT people!!
- Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Move To Amend  

 

       

Tuesday's Daily Stack 

Article: "BlackJet: Fly private for less" by Laurie Segall.

Article: "No, Vox, let's not abolish the TSA" by Dante Atkins.

Article: "TSA proposes screening private jet passengers" by Thomas Frank.

Site: Uber.

Site: BlackJet.

 

Article: "2010 Austin suicide attack" (Joe Stack).

Article: "Supreme Court Declines To Weight In On Journalist Protections" by TRNS.

Article: "America's poor are its most generous givers" by Frank Greve.

Article: "The Return Of Debtor's Prisons: Thousands Of Americans Jailed For Not Paying Their Bills" by Marie Diamond, December 13, 2011.

Article: "Debt Collectors Have Figured Out A Way To Seize Your Wages And Savings" by Hunter Stuart.

Article: "'Affluenza defence': Rich, privileged and unaccountable" by Anthony Zurcher.

Site: Nouriel Roubini.

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "The Return Of Debtor's Prisons: Thousands Of Americans Jailed For Not Paying Their Bills" by Marie Diamond, December 13, 2011.

Article: "Debt Collectors Have Figured Out A Way To Seize Your Wages And Savings" by Hunter Stuart.

Article: "'Affluenza defence': Rich, privileged and unaccountable" by Anthony Zurcher.

Site: Nouriel Roubini.

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Eliminating Ridesharing Insurance Ambiguity" by Nairi.

Site/movie: Last Hours

Article: "99Rise - Keep an eye on these guys" by NCcoast.

Site: 99Rise.

Site: March for Democracy.

Article: "Report: JP Morgan Chase to pay $13 billion to settle residential mortgage bond lawsuits" by George Chidi.

Article: "Credit Suisse Pleads Guilty in Felony Case" by Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg.

Book: Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-right Alliance To Dismantle The Corporate State by Ralph Nader.

Article: "Elizabeth Warren: 'The system is rigged' " by Joan McCarter.

 

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Bob Ney 

Book: "Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill" by Robert Ney.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 6/3" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 6/2/14" by Victoria Jones.

Quote: "The people can never understand why the President does not use his powers to make them behave. Well all the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway." - Letter from Harry S. Truman to Mary Jane Truman (14 November 1947).

Article: "Statement by the the President on H.R. 4310" (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013).

Article: "Boehner: EPA plan 'nuts'" by Timothy Cama.

Article: "Sen. Bernie Sanders Lays Out New Plan To Overhaul The VA" by Heather.

Article: "Harry Reid: GOP 'double-speak' on veterans" by Burgess Everett.

Article: "Obama taps FEMA to cope with 'influx' of undocumented children" by Erik Wasson.

Hour Three: What's the difference between the rich and poor?
- Jamie Weinstein, The Daily Caller  

Article: "Comedian Adam Carolla on rich people: 'They're better than poor people. They just are'" by Tom Boggioni.

Site: Patriotic Millionaires.

Book: Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty.

Article: "Tech workers seek to use Steve Jobs evidence in upcoming trial on no-hire accords" by Dan Levine.

 

Article: "Jubilee (biblical)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Land-grant university" by Wikipedia.

Article: "China to limit carbon emissions for first time" by Adam Vaughan and Tania Branigan.

Article: "Tiananmen Square 25 years on: 'Every person in the crowd was a victim of the massacre'" by Ma Jian.

Article: "US confirms Syria suicide bomber was American".

Article: "Edward Snowden interview: 12 takeaways" by Ashe Schow.

Article: "Sherman Antitrust Act", 1890.

Site: Washington State Coalition to Amend the Constitution.

Article: "Mincome" by Wikipedia.

Site: Move to Amend

Site: Progressive Democrats of America.

 

Article: "U.S. Ranks Alongside Indonesia And Thailand On Workers' Rights" by Alan Pyke.

Article: "Leaving Homeless Person On The Streets: $31,065. Giving Them Housing: $10,051." by Scott Keyes.

Article: "Thanks To Obamacare, Safety Net Hospitals Are Serving Fewer Uninsured Patients" by Tara Culp-Ressler.

Article: "Workers At This Giant Retail Company Are Really Happy With Their Pay" by Bryce Covert.

Article: "Seattle City Council Panel OKs $15 Minimum Wage" by Manuel Valdes.

  

Wednesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET 

We'll have the best of the rest of the news...all the latest news and information you won't be hearing from the corporate owned news media...

 

PLUS,leave no man behind...? Thom challenges conservative commentator Neil McCabe, Guns & Patriots Newsletter

 

And, your calls too...right here on...

 

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"

 

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Free excerpt, read book for free at Truthout, buy the book!

    

Thank you for being part of our ever growing community for News, Debate and Opinion on the Thom Hartmann Program.

 

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Sincerely,

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Vote here!

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"Crash of 2016" website

Watch Thom on: - MSNBC's The Cycle
- CNN's Crossfire
- Democracy Now!

How Did the President Get Prisoners Out of Gitmo?

Our Militarized Police Tossed a Stun Grenade at a Baby

The Son of a Serial Killer Speaks Out...

GOP Needs to Put Up Or Shut Up On the VA

A Patriotic Millionaire Tells the Truth

Is the Greenhouse Gas Rule a Good Step?

Great Minds P2 - Women Fed Up w/ Violence & Sexism

Great Minds P1 - Women Fed Up w/ Violence & Sexism

Big Picture Rumble - Snowden would not get a fair trial...

Big Picture Rumble - VA: Faux Outrage by GOP!

Full Show 6/2/14: EPA Plan Cuts Carbon Emissions 30% by 2030

Thom discusses the EPA's plan to cut carbon emissions by 30% with Public Citizen's Margrete Strand Rangnes and Activist/Author Paul Loeb, and Obama's swap to bring Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl home with Fordham Law School's Karen Greenberg and Alka Pradhan of Reprieve U.S. Morris Pearl of Patriotic Millionaires talks to Thom about CEO-to-worker inequality and Congressional candidate Marianne Williamson discusses the veterans bill introduced by Sen. Sanders. In tonight's "Daily Take" Thom calls out Georgia's hyper-militarized police for throwing a flash-bang grenade near a toddler.

Callers: Paul Kersey Devalues the Work of Mothers

EPA Greenhouse Rules a Good First Step

Will SCOTUS help BIG Business Bust Public Sector Unions?

The U.S. Has a History of Treating POW's Humanely

Is Congress Illegally Limiting Presidential Powers?

The Thom Hartmann Program - June 2, 2014

Thom Hartmann on Science & Green News: June 2, 2014