Mayday call for workers

AY DAY (MAY 1, or International Workers' Day) has come and gone quietly. It was overshadowed by US policies and actions on tariffs, immigration, jobs in government/agencies, total support for capital and select capitalists, and disruption of established norms and processes, with heightened uncertainties on many fronts.

- CKG NAIR

However, the most clear and present danger has fallen heavily on workers and job seekers. The (in)famous experiment of instilling efficiency in government/agencies by the Department of Government Efficiency is playing not only with established systems but also disrupting the lives of many. The tariff wars unfolded chaotically—although it affects goods trade directly, it indirectly affects employment everywhere. Anti-immigration policies directly affect employment—the US' trade-employment-immigration policies have created enormous uncertainty in the global economy. While experts are working overtime in assessing the impact of these volatile policies, one clear outcome is the turbulence it has generated on the employment front. Donald Trump's 100-plus days in office have created years of possible misery for millions worldwide.

In a 2003 book titled Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists: Unleashing the Power of Financial Markets to Create Wealth and Spread Opportunity, Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales argued that a free market (a basic premise of capitalism) protected from powerful private vested interests through appropriate governmental measures including free trade and social safety nets could protect capitalism and is the policy path to progress. While few doubted the sagacity of those neoliberal suggestions, tech-capitalists had different ideas. They struck back in no time, internalized capitalism, and, with growing political clout, started challenging many of those assumptions using their enormous wealth and newfound tech power. They were simply not ready to shrug off their imaginary counterparts in the world of Ayn Rand's