All Things
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Labor day 2015 Propaganda is intended to mislead. Often it gives a rosy picture when reality is beset by problems. It deflects our opinions...
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The deficit and wages. The Democrats refuse to cut services like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in order to reduce the government deficit. They think that would be totally unfair. The Republicans refuse to raise taxes on corporations...
- Why Are People Afraid Of Socialism?
Twenty years ago the Berlin wall came down and Soviet communism collapsed. Chinese communism has morphed into an authoritatian capitalism that destroys the environment and mercilessly exploits working people. Except for the tiny island of Cuba, communism...
- How High Is Our Standard Of Living?
A young man I know plays in a band. He is a dedicated and promising musician. He went off to college planning to prepare himself for a career as a high school music teacher. But every time he opened the paper, he saw another story about school systems...
All Things
Ashamedofbeingworkingclass?
Theotherday Iwasdrivingbehindatruckwithabumperstickerthatread“Carpenters:RebuildingtheMiddleClass.”
'Sincewhenarecarpentersmiddleclass?'Iaskedmyself.
Thebumperstickerexemplifiesaweirdchangeinourlanguagethatreflectsadeeperchangeinhowweworkandhow wethinkaboutwork.
WhenyoulistentoPres.Obamaandotherpoliticians,therearefourclassesintheUS:thesuperrich,suchasMittRomney,therichexemplifiedperhapsbyNewtGingrichorObamahimself,thevast“middleclass” and“thepoor.”Thereisnomoreworkingclass;ithascompletelydisappeared.Itseemsasifithasbecomeabitofaninsulttocallsomeone“workingclass.” Politiciansavoidthatlanguagebecausetheydonot wanttohurt anyone's feelings.
Howcouldthatbe?Workingpeopleusedtobemanualworkers,manyofthemveryskilled,whobuiltskyscrapers and houses,ranrailroadsandbuiltourcars,whobakedourbreadandcutup carcasses for meat.Theyworkedhardandsteadily;ifluckytheybelongedtoaunion.Theymightownasmallhouseandayardthattheymaintainedmeticulouslywiththeirownlabor.Theyhadchildrentowhomtheytriedtotransmitsomeoftheirskillsaswellasanethicofrespecting the workdonebythemselvesandothers,ofvaluingtheirmoralintegrity,andtheirmembershipinademocraticsociety. They knew they were the salt of the earth and they were proud of it.
The old way of thinking about our society was by reference to what sort of work you did: the working class did manual work, much of it skilled. Small business owners, teachers, lawyers and doctors were in the middle class. Big bankers and big business owners, investors, were in the upper class. But today when we talk about the super rich, the rich, the middle class, the poor we are talking about income. Since many working class jobs paid enough, but barely, many working class jobs have lost their luster in a world that cares not about your skills or the good work you do year in, year out, but cares only about how much money you make. Now, when we think only in money terms, it seems embarrassing to be working class.
Whathashappenedtomakeus ashamed of doing manual labor?Theanswerissimple:wehaveoutsourcedtheworkingclass.AsofJanuaryofthisyear9outof10employed in he USworkedinservices.Productionworkersare10%oftheUSworkforce.WhatusedtobetheUSworkingclasshasbeenturnedintotheChinese,theTaiwanese,theThai,theIndian,Brazilian,Indonesianworkingclass.Whatisleftismostlyservicework.
Serviceworkisofdifferentsorts:therearedoctors,nursesandmanykindsofmedicaltechnicians,thereareteachers,therearepeoplegettinginformationfromthepublic,givingadviceandinformation—allofthemjobs thatrequireaptitude,skill,experienceanddedication.Anyoneshouldbeproudofdoingthatwork.
But the bulk of service work is short term requiring little skill. They are jobs easily learned: being a “sales associate” at Radio Shack, shuffling papers in an insurance company, cutting up vegetables in a restaurant kitchen. Working class jobs used to be life time careers. It took a good while to get very good at them and then you stuck to them because it was good work. Many of today's jobs are dull pretty soon. They do not require a particular commitment; there is not a lot to learn. The jobs are often unstable so people move from one job to another every few years. What you do has lost importance. How much you earn is all that matters. Working people have lost an important source of pride and satisfaction.
Exporting all the good working class jobs abroad may have made a lot of money for capitalists. It has only impoverished the lives of working people by depriving them of their fromer sources of pride. Hence we see much more depression, more addiction, more violence in families and without, more cynicism, prejudice, and just plain nuttiness.
Bringing good work back to the US is not just a matter of increasing income or growing the job market. It has to do with making life better for many Americans.
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Labor day 2015 Propaganda is intended to mislead. Often it gives a rosy picture when reality is beset by problems. It deflects our opinions...
-
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); }P.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif","Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; }P.cjk { font-family: "DejaVu Sans"; font-size: 12pt; }P.ctl { font-family: "Lohit Hindi"; font-size:...
-
The deficit and wages. The Democrats refuse to cut services like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in order to reduce the government deficit. They think that would be totally unfair. The Republicans refuse to raise taxes on corporations...
- Why Are People Afraid Of Socialism?
Twenty years ago the Berlin wall came down and Soviet communism collapsed. Chinese communism has morphed into an authoritatian capitalism that destroys the environment and mercilessly exploits working people. Except for the tiny island of Cuba, communism...
- How High Is Our Standard Of Living?
A young man I know plays in a band. He is a dedicated and promising musician. He went off to college planning to prepare himself for a career as a high school music teacher. But every time he opened the paper, he saw another story about school systems...