On the recordFebruary 9, 2010
if you take a look at the history of this great Nation, at least in my lifetime, you cannot miss what happened to America immediately after World War II. Veterans came back from that war, thousands of them, and they were greeted with the GI bill, which opened the door for them to buy homes, start businesses, start an education, and find good jobs. It may have been one of the most amazing, progressive, positive things we have ever done in our Nation's history: to take a war effort and bring it home to create an economic effort in America. Businesses were springing up in every direction. Workers were finding jobs and building homes. It was a wonderful time in our Nation's history. Parallel to that GI bill and economic development was the rise of unionism in America. More and more workers were able to go into their workplace and bargain collectively for the basics that people need: safety in the workplace, a living wage. So if you work 40 hours a week, you can make enough money to take care of yourself and raise a family, retirement benefits, health care benefits. These all came about at that same period of time after World War II. The rise of the American economy, with the returning veterans, and the rise in the number of people who were belonging to labor unions, in parallel, brought the middle class into reality in America. It was a positive force across our Nation.
