A WORLD GONE MAD
A Progressive Liberal News Podcast
Veteran Television, and Radio Broadcaster Jeff Alan Wolf offers his Observations on the issues (many issues) of the week with a fearless liberal bent. His solid delivery, and dry common sense approach sets him apart from other liberals that populate Talk and Commentary Podcasts”
Jeff Does NOT Pull Punches.
He does NOT Make comments that are “SAFE”.
He tells the Truth.
(He Tells It As He Sees It)
He Is Very OPINIONATED!
He says the things Out Loud YOU’RE
already thinking.
Jeff is Unfiltered, Unspun, A little Unhinged, but offers a lot of Common Sense.
This Podcast could make you MAD.
This Podcast could make you SMILE.
Regardless, it WILL make you THINK!
A WORLD GONE MAD
Labor Day’s True Meaning Born from Strikes, Riots, and Sacrifice
Every year, people talk about Labor Day as if it is just a long weekend, a time to grill in the backyard or grab a bargain at the store. I wanted to step back and ask the harder question of what this day was meant to represent in the first place.
When the noise of the cookouts and sales fades, what remains is the story of struggle, sacrifice, and lives that were forever changed by the fight for dignity at work.
Labor Day was not born out of leisure. It came from marches that filled the streets, from strikes that shut down factories, and from people who believed that a fair wage and safe conditions were worth risking everything.
These weren’t abstract battles. They were real people, often forgotten, who stood together because they had no choice but to demand something better.
In this episode, I take a closer look at why the holiday matters and why the history is more urgent today than most people realize. It is easy to believe we are far removed from those early conflicts, but the truth is, many of the same pressures and injustices are still with us.
The names and industries may have changed, but the fight to be treated as human beings and not disposable parts of a machine continues.
I recorded this episode in the shadow of a holiday that has become comfortable, even casual, in our culture. That comfort hides the blood and courage that brought it into being.
What does it mean to really honor Labor Day if we only acknowledge it through hamburgers, fireworks, or a sale sign in the window? The answer is not complicated, but it demands honesty.
As you listen, I ask you to carry forward the memory of those who came before us. Their voices may be gone, but their impact remains in every break we take, every hour of overtime we get paid, and every weekend we spend with our families.
Labor Day is not just a day off. It is a reminder of how fragile progress can be, and how easily we forget the cost of what we now take for granted.
This episode is not about nostalgia. It is about recognition. It is about facing the real meaning of Labor Day and deciding whether we are content to forget it, or whether we still have the will to stand for something bigger than ourselves.
AWorldGoneMadPodcast@gmail.com
This is a world gone mad. This is a world gone mad, mad, mad, mad, mad. Hello, I'm Jeff Allen Wolfe. Welcome back to A World Gone Mad. And it's time for another Monday Fallout the Labor Day Aftershock Special Edition. Labor Day's done, the burgers are gone, the coolers are empty and now you're back at your desk wondering how that three-day weekend vanished faster than your paycheck on rent and groceries. But here's the part nobody ever says out loud Labor Day wasn't created for blowout sales or a chance to argue with your cousin over who burned the hot dogs. It came from strikes, from riots, from workers who literally put their bodies on the line to say, hey, maybe we don't want to drop debt at 35 from a 14-hour shift Fast forward to today. And what do we get? A wealth gap so wide you could lose a satellite in it Corporations posting record profits, while regular people are just trying to make it through Tuesday without crying in the break room and the holiday that was supposed to honor all that sacrifice reduced to clearance racks and one extra day to do laundry. That's the joke and also the tragedy, because here we are, back on the clock, pretending that one long weekend is some kind of cosmic balance sheet Like the system magically evens out if you toss in an extra Monday. And maybe that's the real madness of it all. Okay, here we go. Let's talk about what Labor Day we just celebrated actually means.
Speaker 1:Labor Day didn't fall from the sky like some three-day weekend fairy godmother. It was wrestled out of the fists of factory owners in the late 1800s. 10, 12, 14 hour shifts, no protections, no rights. People died on the job and the response was basically next man up. So workers fought back, they walked out, they shut down railroads and they paid the price. Some were beaten, some were jailed, some were killed. These weren't friendly negotiations over coffee and bagels in an air-conditioned boardroom. This was the raw fight for survival in an America where your life expectancy at a steel mill was about the same as a fruit fly. And out of that chaos, out of the smoke and blood, came the demand for something radical the eight-hour workday. Think about that. Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight for what they called recreation. That's the formula, that's the balance, and even that had to be fought for tooth and nail. And it wasn't just one neat victory. The Pullman strike of 1894 shut down railroads across the country, federal troops were sent in and more than two dozen workers were killed. The Haymarket Affair in Chicago started as a rally for an eight-hour day and ended with bombs and bullets. These weren't symbolic marches, they were wars in the street. That's the soil Labor Day grew out of Fast forward to now.
Speaker 1:And how do we honor that struggle? With 40% off patio furniture, with mattress sales, with Amazon dangling a Labor Day lightning deal like the best way to celebrate workers is two bucks off a ring doorbell With ads that scream celebrate workers by buying a leaf blower 20% off. The same corporations that once sent in strike breakers now send us coupon codes and we're supposed to see that as progress. And if you really want to feel the whiplash, look at where labor stands today. We've got gig workers delivering groceries who don't even get health care, people who don't get sick days, don't get vacation, don't even get the dignity of being called employees, don't even get the dignity of being called employees. Warehouse workers in places like Amazon are tracked every second of the day, bathroom breaks timed with scanners, productivity measured by the millisecond and if you fall behind the algorithm you're out the door.
Speaker 1:Teachers the people shaping the next generation, are working second jobs, from driving rideshare to stocking shelves at night just to cover rent. They're buying school supplies with their own paychecks because funding is so shredded that kids wouldn't have pencils otherwise. That kids wouldn't have pencils otherwise. Starbucks baristas have been fighting tooth and nail to unionize, store by store. And what does management do? Close locations, shuffle schedules, drag it through the courts. Ups drivers just had to go on strike to win something as basic as air conditioning tickets in their trucks in 2025, in America, where working in a vehicle in 110 degree heat was somehow seen as just part of the job. Meanwhile, ceos are walking off with bonuses, so bloated they could buy the small towns those workers live in and then name the town after themselves. This is the real American trick take something dangerous, radical and bloody and sand it down into something safe, marketable and hollow.
Speaker 1:Labor Day has gone from a warning shot to a hallmark card, from a fight to a slogan, from labor rights to labor light. And here's the sad punchline On Tuesday morning. Today, if you happen to be listening, the music stops, the inbox explodes, the boss wants results and that single day off is already fading like smoke in the wind. The system hasn't changed. The pressure hasn't changed. The people holding it all together are still waiting for something better than a 24-hour pause button.
Speaker 1:So what is Labor Day now really? A holiday meant to honor sacrifice that's been reduced to anesthesia, a quick numbing shot to keep us quiet, a reminder of just how easy it is for the powerful to rewrite history, with slogans, sales and a parade that most people don't even watch. That's the fallout, that's the madness. And the question for you, the Wolfpack listeners, is how long do we keep pretending one extra Monday makes up for the rest of the year? Seriously, because here's the truth. It doesn't. One day off doesn't balance a system this tilted, it doesn't erase the grind, it doesn't close the gap, it doesn't put food on the table or air conditioning in a truck. But maybe, just maybe, remembering where this holiday came from, remembering that it was fought for, not gifted, is the first step to asking for more than a three-day weekend is the first step to asking for more than a three-day weekend.
Speaker 1:You got thoughts, wolfpack, I know you do so. Stop yelling in Facebook groups. Send your thoughts to me. Call anytime 833-399-9653. Toll free, or you could email me. Now it's time for you, the listeners, the Wolfpack, to talk back. Here's the new email wolfpacktalks at gmailcom W-O-L-F-P-A-C-K-T-A-L-K-S. At gmail. Don't just listen. Be part of it and please leave a review on Apple or Spotify. It's the only way this podcast gets noticed. I show up every day to call out the people and the news for what they are no dressing it up, no watering it down, no filters. This has it down no filters. This has been a World Gone Mad. Monday's Fallout Labor Day Special Edition. I'm Jeff Allen Wolf. I'll be back Wednesday because someone has to say the shit. No one else will, and apparently that job's mine. Until then, wolfpack listeners stay skeptical, stay focused and, most of all, stay hopeful, and we need to stand up and preserve our democracy. This is a world gone mad. This is a world gone mad.
