Tags
STAMP SHEET, TPP, USPS, WPA
A GREAT NEW USPS STAMP SHEET! PLEASE READ AND STOP THE TPP!
I know, sometimes I feel like I am talking to a wall, but I feel like I must keep speaking out. The future for so many people is at stake and it seems the media is half asleep, it is half drunk with scandal, after scandal, while the real issues that will affect potentially millions of jobs, are going unnoticed. We get the platitudes, but not the policy.
It is very frustrating to hear some talk about income inequality one day, and the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) the next day. The TPP will only increase income disparity, it will only put more pressure on wages, it will only ship more jobs overseas. We know this pattern, cheap goods if you have a job, or are in a protected part of the economy, low wages or no job if you are one of the unfortunate ones.
Yet this so called fast track continues. A fast track to hell for millions of workers and the US economy. Why aren’t there any labor representatives at these secret negotiations? Why aren’t there any consumer advocates at these secret negotiations? Why aren’t there any environmentalists at these secret negotiations? It begs the question.
And where is the so-called news media? There is only one program, The Ed Show, on MSNBC, that even mentions the TPP, and too shortly at that. Where is the rest of our news media? Chasing Chris Christie or the latest scandal, that’s where. Do you think anyone will really care a few years from now about Chris Christie if their job has left them broke and without a job? Can you see why the news media rates only slighter higher than a much discredited Washington?
With that said we always can turn to the artist for a better vision. Today while I was at the post office dropping off a book to be shipped out, I noticed a new stamp sheet in my Suffern, NY post office display window. The Suffern post office was built during the Depression, by the WPA and features a beautiful Art Deco wall relief by Elliot Means. I wish we had a WPA today to rebuild our country and celebrate our many great artists, but that will be for another post.
Back to the stamp sheet. It celebrates the great work of America, when our government officials supported the idea that we should actually make stuff in the US and not ship all our jobs overseas and all the money to Wall Street. Controversial point of view to some, no doubt.
But when I saw it, I felt a moment of serendipity and placed my order, even though I don’t actually need any stamps. It just ties together some of the themes I have been talking about concerning the USPS, the TPP, and the general state of American politics.
Most of the stamps are based on photographs by Lewis Hine (1874-1940).
The USPS has put together some really great stamp series celebrating America, all of America. This sheet is a fitting tribute to what we once celebrated and hopefully we will celebrate again.
I am so happy to present this to you.
And it is a forever stamp so you can keep it for as long as you like!
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