I have been thinking thoughts similar to those you gave, Mr Reich. I think *and I hope* that we are seeing a (probably small yet significant) social revolution. Our collective un-unionized "strike" for better pay and working conditions *might* make an impression.
In any case, the combination of the political disaster that is America today, the long-duration failure of the economy to serve working people while opulent excess thrives, the rise in awareness of the continued institutional entrenchment of racism, the unwillingness of the American government to unequivocally acknowledge and take action on climate change, the continuing intransigence of Sinema and Manchin at a critical historic juncture that for them still fails to rise above personal position via campaign financing, the demonstration by the pandemic of many jobs being performable without commuting, and the general, negative mental health impact of the pandemic have all combined to awaken many people from the semi-somnambulistic state in which most of us pass most of our lives.
Digression: I want to say that, as a social phenomenon with the prospect of effecting durable change, this began with Bernie Sanders. Despite the failure of his campaign in the most obvious sense, he opened up the national conversation in an unprecedented way for people to stop pretending everything is pretty much okay so don't rock the boat. I hope that history gives him the credit in hindsight that he deserves for this.
In a word, many at the same time now see the state of our society as broken. It's not just millennials who are in a malaise of "why bother participating" when jobs stink, wages stink, the planet is being destroyed, ... Having come of age with the hippies, I have to compare then with now. We were profoundly disillusioned and angry that the world was not the wonderful place our post-WWII parents said it was - to the point that our own government was actively torturing and killing us by way of the War in Vietnam. But -- however naive we may have been -- we had hope. We believed it was within our power to change things, if only we stayed vocally and persuasively true to our values. Today's young adults and adolescents don't have that, and it's easy to see why.
Lacking that, there will be a social change. What we have before us is the opportunity to make it a good one, or let it default to being a catastrophically bad one. Will we go beyond the Civil Rights and Women's and ecology movements of the 60s to materially advance that work, or will we invite the Trumpsters of the world to take over completely and destroy everything? They are eager and active in doing so. Will we strip tax laws down to the point that people can actually understand them, and resume taxation of those who benefit most from capitalism, or further entrench our recent return to Industrial Revolution's robber baron realities? We seem unlikely to produce changes that do more than somewhat mollify the mobs back into obeisance.
I believe that the (damnably slow) arc of history is toward better conditions for larger portions of the population, but we seem to be going through a powerful backslide. What we don't accomplish in the next few years will work against us for *at least* decades to come. I am not confident of our success in the near term. If I were near the beginning or middle of my career instead of recently retired, I would be very despondent. As father to four adult children, I am sorry they have to live in the world as it is today, and worried for how things will play out over the rest of their lives.
Bottom line: there is a shift in consciousness in America — we don’t want to live in an economy, we want to live in a society. After generations of exhaustion from too much work, too little compensation, and feeling indentured to jobs just to obtain health insurance, Americans took time during the pandemic to rest and come to their senses. There’s a greater awareness that employment in mixed economies in Europe is founded on a true valuing of citizens, of community, of shared lives. The deep diseased greed of the corporate beast in America gave birth to the ultimate gangster supremacist in Donald Trump, who exemplifies the worst of America in all ways. Americans are awakening to the opportunity to fulfill the destiny that our founding fathers and mothers projected into the future. All we need be is worthy of taking up their vision and bringing it to fruition.
When I was a kid (boomer here) I was brainwashed into the "any job is better than no job" doctrine. My mom, a single mother, drilled into me that when work wants you to do a task, regardless of how distasteful, you just buck up and do it, no complaints (they might fire you). I killed myself for over 35 years in a mind-numbing career. "Do What you Love and the Money Will Follow" didn't happen for boomers, it happened for our kids. And those kids, now adults, parented their kids into the notion that putting up with crap for work needed to be questioned.
The idea of questioning is a new thing. It's the same thing behind Me Too and Black Lives Matter.
And thank goodness for this. I hope to heck that this is real social change.
Having been out of the active/ traditional workforce since 2013 in order to pursue my third career as a writer, I cannot render any observations from the 2021 trenches, so to speak. However, I find myself both fascinated and pleased with what I've seen in the pandemic-driven labor market despite the fact that labor shortages have contributed to supply chain issues affecting all of us.
Why should men and women break their backs (and/or their brains) in jobs that are slowly killing them? Employers have had the upper hand for a long time, in many cases treating their employees like disposable machines. Wealth has been rising in the upper echelons of corporations for years while the rank-and-file have been been given mere crumbs and told (directly or indirectly) to live with it or go elsewhere.
Now it's becoming a seller's market in many industries and these wealthy companies are finding they have to pony up some of their hoarded wealth to acquire or retain talent. I said good on those employees who've decided to pursue their bliss, either in new jobs, new industries, or early retirement. Eventually (maybe?) employers will catch on that they can't keep treating their employees like so much slave labor.
Prof. Reich, I love you and your work due to the ocean-deep love you have for humanity.
One of the root causes of misery, animosity, corruption, wars, etc. is human greed, which can be shown to be *increasing* if sufficient metrics are analyzed over the past 100 years. But why is that so? Why is it on the rise?
IMO, greed (or wants) increases as people are bombarded with ads for things that are not really necessary for *real* human happiness, which is ultimately what every human on the planet is after. It also increases as we see peers, neighbors, relatives, ... acquire newer, more expensive, fancier things, (phones, cars, home improvements, gadgets, ...), so the younger people particularly then strive to do the same. A cycle and culture of consumerism has thus grown over the last 'n' decades and has become the defacto source of perceived happiness.
So, what is happening for whatever reasons, has the potential to break this cycle, which would give capitalism, unending growth, even climate change a much needed break. It might allow millions to see that life can be beautiful without a ton of materialism, and may usher a bright future for humanity. Though, people must be able to see alternate ways of living to lower costs and consumption, otherwise they might go back to the old lifestyles.
I closed my invention and small business in N. CA in 2005 moving to less expensive but equally beautiful living in the Himalayas. The things I have been able to do and explore in this time, and enjoy life to its fullest (not meaning just travel but working for social causes like you) would never have been possible had I continued to chase money.
The pandemic has helped to reveal the rotten core of American Political Economy. A nation built on genocide, slavery, theft and rapacious ecosystem exploitation cannot stand. As the edifice crumbles under its own weight and we realize the path we are on leads to catastrophe, it is a hopeful sign that people are turning away from the thin gruel we've been offered for generations. Some, sadly, have turned to fascism, thinking that the solution is to double down on the dysfunctional framework that got us here. I recently had the honor of sitting in on conversations with a group of First Peoples who are returning to their pre-colonial lifeways in growing numbers, and restoring the ecological integrity of their place-based economies. This gives me hope. The US has a narrow window of time to change the road it is on. Meanwhile, the Biden administration approves the Formasa Plastics project expansion in Louisiana, and approves pipelines running through wild rice communities, while continuing to arm the world and support violence across the globe.....As Dorothy warned long ago, the sand in the hourglass is almost gone......
This short podcast proves that it was a good decision to join your substack newsletter, Mr. Reich. Thank you for thus thouhht-provoking start of the weekend.
I hope that the reluctance of many Americans to return to work as itwas before the pandemic is - as you suggest - the beginning of profound social change.
I come from The Netherlands, so I have been spoiled with all these amazing programs like health care for all, unemployment benefits, parental leave, a good pension, etc. Now that I have lived in the US for the last decade or so, I have noticed how stressful the system here is for ordinary Americans. Here, there is always something to worry about. Nobody ever gets any piece of mind, everything is a struggle.
I think it is high time that the state (the federal government, I mean) invests in the people and the common good. As a European, I do not share the distrust of big government that is so rampant here. I believe in paying taxes and actually getting a lot for it in return. I believe in a peaceful, non-armed, well-educated citizenry with equal opportunities for all, enforced and facilitated by the government.
I hope the pressure that these people aply by refusing to go back to work builds up and forces some real and tangible changes.
I'm a baby boomer who was disillusioned years ago when companies started layoffs to help their profits. I was laid off from 4 different companies. Then pensions disappeared to help company profits. Everything I was told and believed in when I was young died many years ago when corporations started to care only about profits and their stock prices. Since then, I've just tried to survive and I'm still working to get by. At least I didn't go in debt for college.
So, I agree with the comments made here but my "great re-evaluation" happened a long time ago. Now many more are waking up to reality. I hope the important changes everyone mentioned will come to pass. I doubt I will see it in my lifetime.
Thank you Robert for taking the time to more accurately describe what people are thinking today.
The wealth gap is approximately what it was in France 1789. The only reasons the disenfranchised haven’t rolled out Madame Guillotine are because of TV and professional sports, and cheap beer. It’s similar to the ancient Roman society where dictators kept an angry populace at bay with gladiatorial games. I think Americans are particularly demoralized by the likes of Joe Mancin selling out the BBB plan because of his personal coal interests. Or Sinema with her pharmaceutical interests.
When I heard that people wouldn't be able to buy what they normally buy for the holidays, I thought that maybe people would learn to do without--without the glitz and toys we've been programmed to buy. As hard as times are, especially for those of us at the lower end of the economic scale, it has been an opportunity to evaluate how we live. We no longer choose to be cash cows for the one percent of the one percent. We are considering what we really value. Why should any of us care about the Kardashians or the Royals? Let them live their lives and let us value our own lives. We are not machines; we are a remarkable species on this planet that can do so much to make life livable and enjoyable for all. The one who dies with the most toys, the most money, is not the winner. Everyone who enjoys their life, who loves, who creates, who spreads joy is the winner. It does not require obscene wealth.
I’m a freelance court reporter in Philadelphia, PA and was able to continue working when the pandemic hit. There were a few weeks of uncertain pivoting and ironing out the kinks, but after a couple months I got into the groove of doing everything from home. Is it sometimes a huge pain in the ass? Yes. Do I also realize how much easier it made my life overall? 100%. No more uncomfortable work pants and suit jackets, no more rushing out the door with 30 pounds of equipment to lug through the hot sun or ice-coated streets, no more parking garages, no more finding my way to obscure locations, no more being on the road. I much prefer being at home with all my creature comforts, and who wouldn’t?
Now, I know my situation might be a bit different because I work for myself and can choose my own schedule (which I am very grateful for). I’m not sure if I’ll even *have* to go back to in-person work regularly after this. Fingers crossed.
But despite the overall ease of working from home, I have been taking on a lot less work recently. Most days, I find myself fatigued at the mere thought of work. It’s not only the reality-check of a worldwide pandemic I’m reckoning with, but the four long, hellish years between 2016 and 2020 also. I feel like it’s all beginning to catch up with me. I am under 40 and consider myself a strong and resilient person, but there comes a time when even the best-built car needs a tune-up.
I think the average, middle-class, sensible American is simply beyond exhausted and has been for some time, and I think it’s important at this juncture for us to ration our collective energies carefully. There is a lot of non-occupational work to be done in this country, and we need the majority to be up for it. The fact that so many are at their wits’ end is troubling, but it also whispers hope that things might finally begin to start slowly changing for the better. We have to rely on that optimism and not get downtrodden by crappy employers or the seemingly monolithic, systemic nature of this entire quandary.
Working together and coming together, as we’re doing right here in this discussion, is what we need to do now. I consider all of you, and all likeminded people, my new coworkers. Let’s keep this up. Let’s keep the hive mind alive, the energy high, and the momentum rolling.✊🏼 I’m proud of us.
Many think that their work-contribution to society is not significant or appreciated. They are treated as disposable and easily replaceable by their employer. The phrases from popular songs, “I ain’t gonna do your dirty work no more”, and , “I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more”, come to mind. Once we have enough to get by, our freedom is more important than having more (unnecessary) stuff.
People are willing to dedicate themselves to a worthy cause; they are not willing to be disrespected and disregarded.
The pandemic gave people a legitimate fear of dying because of the behavior exhibited by republicans (almost exclusively). Workers making $9/hr have been assaulted by mask holes just for asking them to comply with safety regulations. . There’s a point for people where, it just isn’t worth it anymore.
People are seeing what is really important and that it is ok to expect a living wage and safe environment.
There is a social revolution picking up steam. The republican party is fascist and authoritarian. Yet, we’ve seen a couple republican groups come out against the rt wing funded Retrumpliscums. Lincoln Project and Republican Accountability Project are 2 that come to mind. It’s a good sign. That is being combined with fury on social networks at lack of immediate action against Trump and those at the top inciting deadly attempted coup. We are fed up and the rumbling is certainly being monitored. Good. There are far more of us and they know this. Only Trump’s tight clan thinks the world is cheering him on.
The money is clearly there to give Americans a better life. Fighting the obvious media lies is the biggest challenge but we’ve had enough.
First off, thank you Mr. Reich for starting this forum. If you decided not to post daily, I would miss it.
Also to the responders, it's heartening to see evidence of lucid thoughts expressed with logic and syntax. Those last two are becoming so rare as to qualify as a super-power.
As to the issue, it's wonderful, isn't it? The average person has had time to self-reflect. Life is short and your feet are not as fully planted on this side of the grave as you assumed.
The average has been forced for decades to make due with an income that's mathematically impossible to do it with. This in the face of the wealthy, however you want to define that, legally indemnified from paying taxes, sometimes getting a rebate.
The laundry list of complaints is a long one but you know what it is.
Maybe I'm wrong, and usually am, but I'm getting a whiff of Feudalism in the air. In fact, it's a bit worse than that. At least in feudalism, the Lord would have to pay for your clothing, tools and housing. Currently, that's your problem.
I'll end with a George Carlin quote, because his words are very quotable.
"It's called The American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it."
Well said as always! I concur wholeheartedly. Another tangential notion that may warrant further exploration is the rise in multigenerational households and the financial backstop it provides, allowing one the opportunity to pursue better opportunities, even if briefly unemployed. As young families leaned heavily on grandparents for childcare during the pandemic, perhaps the allure of multigenerational households has increased, thereby affording individuals more financial freedom to insist on better pay and better working conditions.
I dearly hope we ARE in a social revolution. For the last fifty years the workers of America have suffered with low wages, increasingly low benefits and now in many cases, none. Republican run states have been particularly cruel, declining to even help their working poor with assistance for medical or other issues. In my own case, and I am not on the bottom, I worked very very hard on my own to try to move toward better paying work, took myself to college, and later got a masters degree and psychotherapy license Well for my decision to be a public servant, social worker being over worked with over 30 very seriously mentally ill children and families at a time, and on the brink of diabetes from stress and long work hours, no overtime pay, no pay for extra time starting up new programs and driving all over to home visits, I had to get out or my health was collapsing. I tried to do private practice with a psychiatrist only to have half my income taken for the privilege of getting an office to add to his $500. I now am 70 with the burden of a student loan to be paid off at age 80 not eligible for forgiveness. The cards became increasingly stacked against those on the bottom trying to move up. The fact that the trend for workers over this time has been to pay the supervisor class much more and give them more benefits at the cost of the lower end of the working folk has destroyed the American dream for many. There is little compassion for those at the bottom and often, contempt. As those eating out at expensive restaurants four days a week toss change to those serving them, we need to remember that Ronald Reagan and the Republicans instituted the tax on tips, the taxes on Social Security for seniors who often have only that as a 'pension' and enacted corporate and business tax loopholes and benefits ad nauseum. At some point people ask themselves, is this worth it? Is it worth my working myself to death when I will NEVER reap the benefit of my labor because it is valued so little? At some point, you have say enough...if I return to work, I will pay much higher loan payments, cancelling any benefit, along with higher taxes. The cost of living has gone way up and the wages have been kept low. People have given up a lot of family life for working in jobs that just don't give them much. I shudder when I think that women have to leave little infants to go back to work when they should be able to have time for bonding - France gives two years for families to bond because they know the benefit of good emotional bonding and brain development in infants. We have shattered our connections so much in this country in the pressure of having to survive in a class ridden, racist, and misogynistic environment. We are so behind other developed countries. I am now lower middle class, no chance to get to middle middle, and if nothing changes, moving toward lower class in my old age. We are faced now with possibly moving to find an affordable area. How many boomers are there like me? How many younger workers are just fed up with bad working conditions such as the insane meat industry, agriculture, and service work that grind people into numb slave labor? I hope they do speak out and we have more strikes, and can restore some of the balance in working that once was a goal in our country. Too much greed at the top, too little compassion and fairness. Who was it that said a fair day's wage for a fair day's work? Ain't happening here. Maybe the crisis of Covid will bring more equity, and as we also have to address climate change...newer cleaner industries, enlightened farming and animal husbandry, it's a dream. Wish it could come true.
I have been thinking thoughts similar to those you gave, Mr Reich. I think *and I hope* that we are seeing a (probably small yet significant) social revolution. Our collective un-unionized "strike" for better pay and working conditions *might* make an impression.
In any case, the combination of the political disaster that is America today, the long-duration failure of the economy to serve working people while opulent excess thrives, the rise in awareness of the continued institutional entrenchment of racism, the unwillingness of the American government to unequivocally acknowledge and take action on climate change, the continuing intransigence of Sinema and Manchin at a critical historic juncture that for them still fails to rise above personal position via campaign financing, the demonstration by the pandemic of many jobs being performable without commuting, and the general, negative mental health impact of the pandemic have all combined to awaken many people from the semi-somnambulistic state in which most of us pass most of our lives.
Digression: I want to say that, as a social phenomenon with the prospect of effecting durable change, this began with Bernie Sanders. Despite the failure of his campaign in the most obvious sense, he opened up the national conversation in an unprecedented way for people to stop pretending everything is pretty much okay so don't rock the boat. I hope that history gives him the credit in hindsight that he deserves for this.
In a word, many at the same time now see the state of our society as broken. It's not just millennials who are in a malaise of "why bother participating" when jobs stink, wages stink, the planet is being destroyed, ... Having come of age with the hippies, I have to compare then with now. We were profoundly disillusioned and angry that the world was not the wonderful place our post-WWII parents said it was - to the point that our own government was actively torturing and killing us by way of the War in Vietnam. But -- however naive we may have been -- we had hope. We believed it was within our power to change things, if only we stayed vocally and persuasively true to our values. Today's young adults and adolescents don't have that, and it's easy to see why.
Lacking that, there will be a social change. What we have before us is the opportunity to make it a good one, or let it default to being a catastrophically bad one. Will we go beyond the Civil Rights and Women's and ecology movements of the 60s to materially advance that work, or will we invite the Trumpsters of the world to take over completely and destroy everything? They are eager and active in doing so. Will we strip tax laws down to the point that people can actually understand them, and resume taxation of those who benefit most from capitalism, or further entrench our recent return to Industrial Revolution's robber baron realities? We seem unlikely to produce changes that do more than somewhat mollify the mobs back into obeisance.
I believe that the (damnably slow) arc of history is toward better conditions for larger portions of the population, but we seem to be going through a powerful backslide. What we don't accomplish in the next few years will work against us for *at least* decades to come. I am not confident of our success in the near term. If I were near the beginning or middle of my career instead of recently retired, I would be very despondent. As father to four adult children, I am sorry they have to live in the world as it is today, and worried for how things will play out over the rest of their lives.
Bottom line: there is a shift in consciousness in America — we don’t want to live in an economy, we want to live in a society. After generations of exhaustion from too much work, too little compensation, and feeling indentured to jobs just to obtain health insurance, Americans took time during the pandemic to rest and come to their senses. There’s a greater awareness that employment in mixed economies in Europe is founded on a true valuing of citizens, of community, of shared lives. The deep diseased greed of the corporate beast in America gave birth to the ultimate gangster supremacist in Donald Trump, who exemplifies the worst of America in all ways. Americans are awakening to the opportunity to fulfill the destiny that our founding fathers and mothers projected into the future. All we need be is worthy of taking up their vision and bringing it to fruition.
— Patricia Geary
When I was a kid (boomer here) I was brainwashed into the "any job is better than no job" doctrine. My mom, a single mother, drilled into me that when work wants you to do a task, regardless of how distasteful, you just buck up and do it, no complaints (they might fire you). I killed myself for over 35 years in a mind-numbing career. "Do What you Love and the Money Will Follow" didn't happen for boomers, it happened for our kids. And those kids, now adults, parented their kids into the notion that putting up with crap for work needed to be questioned.
The idea of questioning is a new thing. It's the same thing behind Me Too and Black Lives Matter.
And thank goodness for this. I hope to heck that this is real social change.
Having been out of the active/ traditional workforce since 2013 in order to pursue my third career as a writer, I cannot render any observations from the 2021 trenches, so to speak. However, I find myself both fascinated and pleased with what I've seen in the pandemic-driven labor market despite the fact that labor shortages have contributed to supply chain issues affecting all of us.
Why should men and women break their backs (and/or their brains) in jobs that are slowly killing them? Employers have had the upper hand for a long time, in many cases treating their employees like disposable machines. Wealth has been rising in the upper echelons of corporations for years while the rank-and-file have been been given mere crumbs and told (directly or indirectly) to live with it or go elsewhere.
Now it's becoming a seller's market in many industries and these wealthy companies are finding they have to pony up some of their hoarded wealth to acquire or retain talent. I said good on those employees who've decided to pursue their bliss, either in new jobs, new industries, or early retirement. Eventually (maybe?) employers will catch on that they can't keep treating their employees like so much slave labor.
Prof. Reich, I love you and your work due to the ocean-deep love you have for humanity.
One of the root causes of misery, animosity, corruption, wars, etc. is human greed, which can be shown to be *increasing* if sufficient metrics are analyzed over the past 100 years. But why is that so? Why is it on the rise?
IMO, greed (or wants) increases as people are bombarded with ads for things that are not really necessary for *real* human happiness, which is ultimately what every human on the planet is after. It also increases as we see peers, neighbors, relatives, ... acquire newer, more expensive, fancier things, (phones, cars, home improvements, gadgets, ...), so the younger people particularly then strive to do the same. A cycle and culture of consumerism has thus grown over the last 'n' decades and has become the defacto source of perceived happiness.
So, what is happening for whatever reasons, has the potential to break this cycle, which would give capitalism, unending growth, even climate change a much needed break. It might allow millions to see that life can be beautiful without a ton of materialism, and may usher a bright future for humanity. Though, people must be able to see alternate ways of living to lower costs and consumption, otherwise they might go back to the old lifestyles.
I closed my invention and small business in N. CA in 2005 moving to less expensive but equally beautiful living in the Himalayas. The things I have been able to do and explore in this time, and enjoy life to its fullest (not meaning just travel but working for social causes like you) would never have been possible had I continued to chase money.
The pandemic has helped to reveal the rotten core of American Political Economy. A nation built on genocide, slavery, theft and rapacious ecosystem exploitation cannot stand. As the edifice crumbles under its own weight and we realize the path we are on leads to catastrophe, it is a hopeful sign that people are turning away from the thin gruel we've been offered for generations. Some, sadly, have turned to fascism, thinking that the solution is to double down on the dysfunctional framework that got us here. I recently had the honor of sitting in on conversations with a group of First Peoples who are returning to their pre-colonial lifeways in growing numbers, and restoring the ecological integrity of their place-based economies. This gives me hope. The US has a narrow window of time to change the road it is on. Meanwhile, the Biden administration approves the Formasa Plastics project expansion in Louisiana, and approves pipelines running through wild rice communities, while continuing to arm the world and support violence across the globe.....As Dorothy warned long ago, the sand in the hourglass is almost gone......
This short podcast proves that it was a good decision to join your substack newsletter, Mr. Reich. Thank you for thus thouhht-provoking start of the weekend.
I hope that the reluctance of many Americans to return to work as itwas before the pandemic is - as you suggest - the beginning of profound social change.
I come from The Netherlands, so I have been spoiled with all these amazing programs like health care for all, unemployment benefits, parental leave, a good pension, etc. Now that I have lived in the US for the last decade or so, I have noticed how stressful the system here is for ordinary Americans. Here, there is always something to worry about. Nobody ever gets any piece of mind, everything is a struggle.
I think it is high time that the state (the federal government, I mean) invests in the people and the common good. As a European, I do not share the distrust of big government that is so rampant here. I believe in paying taxes and actually getting a lot for it in return. I believe in a peaceful, non-armed, well-educated citizenry with equal opportunities for all, enforced and facilitated by the government.
I hope the pressure that these people aply by refusing to go back to work builds up and forces some real and tangible changes.
Requiem For The American Dream
I'm a baby boomer who was disillusioned years ago when companies started layoffs to help their profits. I was laid off from 4 different companies. Then pensions disappeared to help company profits. Everything I was told and believed in when I was young died many years ago when corporations started to care only about profits and their stock prices. Since then, I've just tried to survive and I'm still working to get by. At least I didn't go in debt for college.
So, I agree with the comments made here but my "great re-evaluation" happened a long time ago. Now many more are waking up to reality. I hope the important changes everyone mentioned will come to pass. I doubt I will see it in my lifetime.
Thank you Robert for taking the time to more accurately describe what people are thinking today.
The wealth gap is approximately what it was in France 1789. The only reasons the disenfranchised haven’t rolled out Madame Guillotine are because of TV and professional sports, and cheap beer. It’s similar to the ancient Roman society where dictators kept an angry populace at bay with gladiatorial games. I think Americans are particularly demoralized by the likes of Joe Mancin selling out the BBB plan because of his personal coal interests. Or Sinema with her pharmaceutical interests.
When I heard that people wouldn't be able to buy what they normally buy for the holidays, I thought that maybe people would learn to do without--without the glitz and toys we've been programmed to buy. As hard as times are, especially for those of us at the lower end of the economic scale, it has been an opportunity to evaluate how we live. We no longer choose to be cash cows for the one percent of the one percent. We are considering what we really value. Why should any of us care about the Kardashians or the Royals? Let them live their lives and let us value our own lives. We are not machines; we are a remarkable species on this planet that can do so much to make life livable and enjoyable for all. The one who dies with the most toys, the most money, is not the winner. Everyone who enjoys their life, who loves, who creates, who spreads joy is the winner. It does not require obscene wealth.
I’m a freelance court reporter in Philadelphia, PA and was able to continue working when the pandemic hit. There were a few weeks of uncertain pivoting and ironing out the kinks, but after a couple months I got into the groove of doing everything from home. Is it sometimes a huge pain in the ass? Yes. Do I also realize how much easier it made my life overall? 100%. No more uncomfortable work pants and suit jackets, no more rushing out the door with 30 pounds of equipment to lug through the hot sun or ice-coated streets, no more parking garages, no more finding my way to obscure locations, no more being on the road. I much prefer being at home with all my creature comforts, and who wouldn’t?
Now, I know my situation might be a bit different because I work for myself and can choose my own schedule (which I am very grateful for). I’m not sure if I’ll even *have* to go back to in-person work regularly after this. Fingers crossed.
But despite the overall ease of working from home, I have been taking on a lot less work recently. Most days, I find myself fatigued at the mere thought of work. It’s not only the reality-check of a worldwide pandemic I’m reckoning with, but the four long, hellish years between 2016 and 2020 also. I feel like it’s all beginning to catch up with me. I am under 40 and consider myself a strong and resilient person, but there comes a time when even the best-built car needs a tune-up.
I think the average, middle-class, sensible American is simply beyond exhausted and has been for some time, and I think it’s important at this juncture for us to ration our collective energies carefully. There is a lot of non-occupational work to be done in this country, and we need the majority to be up for it. The fact that so many are at their wits’ end is troubling, but it also whispers hope that things might finally begin to start slowly changing for the better. We have to rely on that optimism and not get downtrodden by crappy employers or the seemingly monolithic, systemic nature of this entire quandary.
Working together and coming together, as we’re doing right here in this discussion, is what we need to do now. I consider all of you, and all likeminded people, my new coworkers. Let’s keep this up. Let’s keep the hive mind alive, the energy high, and the momentum rolling.✊🏼 I’m proud of us.
Many think that their work-contribution to society is not significant or appreciated. They are treated as disposable and easily replaceable by their employer. The phrases from popular songs, “I ain’t gonna do your dirty work no more”, and , “I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more”, come to mind. Once we have enough to get by, our freedom is more important than having more (unnecessary) stuff.
People are willing to dedicate themselves to a worthy cause; they are not willing to be disrespected and disregarded.
The pandemic gave people a legitimate fear of dying because of the behavior exhibited by republicans (almost exclusively). Workers making $9/hr have been assaulted by mask holes just for asking them to comply with safety regulations. . There’s a point for people where, it just isn’t worth it anymore.
People are seeing what is really important and that it is ok to expect a living wage and safe environment.
There is a social revolution picking up steam. The republican party is fascist and authoritarian. Yet, we’ve seen a couple republican groups come out against the rt wing funded Retrumpliscums. Lincoln Project and Republican Accountability Project are 2 that come to mind. It’s a good sign. That is being combined with fury on social networks at lack of immediate action against Trump and those at the top inciting deadly attempted coup. We are fed up and the rumbling is certainly being monitored. Good. There are far more of us and they know this. Only Trump’s tight clan thinks the world is cheering him on.
The money is clearly there to give Americans a better life. Fighting the obvious media lies is the biggest challenge but we’ve had enough.
First off, thank you Mr. Reich for starting this forum. If you decided not to post daily, I would miss it.
Also to the responders, it's heartening to see evidence of lucid thoughts expressed with logic and syntax. Those last two are becoming so rare as to qualify as a super-power.
As to the issue, it's wonderful, isn't it? The average person has had time to self-reflect. Life is short and your feet are not as fully planted on this side of the grave as you assumed.
The average has been forced for decades to make due with an income that's mathematically impossible to do it with. This in the face of the wealthy, however you want to define that, legally indemnified from paying taxes, sometimes getting a rebate.
The laundry list of complaints is a long one but you know what it is.
Maybe I'm wrong, and usually am, but I'm getting a whiff of Feudalism in the air. In fact, it's a bit worse than that. At least in feudalism, the Lord would have to pay for your clothing, tools and housing. Currently, that's your problem.
I'll end with a George Carlin quote, because his words are very quotable.
"It's called The American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it."
Well said as always! I concur wholeheartedly. Another tangential notion that may warrant further exploration is the rise in multigenerational households and the financial backstop it provides, allowing one the opportunity to pursue better opportunities, even if briefly unemployed. As young families leaned heavily on grandparents for childcare during the pandemic, perhaps the allure of multigenerational households has increased, thereby affording individuals more financial freedom to insist on better pay and better working conditions.
I dearly hope we ARE in a social revolution. For the last fifty years the workers of America have suffered with low wages, increasingly low benefits and now in many cases, none. Republican run states have been particularly cruel, declining to even help their working poor with assistance for medical or other issues. In my own case, and I am not on the bottom, I worked very very hard on my own to try to move toward better paying work, took myself to college, and later got a masters degree and psychotherapy license Well for my decision to be a public servant, social worker being over worked with over 30 very seriously mentally ill children and families at a time, and on the brink of diabetes from stress and long work hours, no overtime pay, no pay for extra time starting up new programs and driving all over to home visits, I had to get out or my health was collapsing. I tried to do private practice with a psychiatrist only to have half my income taken for the privilege of getting an office to add to his $500. I now am 70 with the burden of a student loan to be paid off at age 80 not eligible for forgiveness. The cards became increasingly stacked against those on the bottom trying to move up. The fact that the trend for workers over this time has been to pay the supervisor class much more and give them more benefits at the cost of the lower end of the working folk has destroyed the American dream for many. There is little compassion for those at the bottom and often, contempt. As those eating out at expensive restaurants four days a week toss change to those serving them, we need to remember that Ronald Reagan and the Republicans instituted the tax on tips, the taxes on Social Security for seniors who often have only that as a 'pension' and enacted corporate and business tax loopholes and benefits ad nauseum. At some point people ask themselves, is this worth it? Is it worth my working myself to death when I will NEVER reap the benefit of my labor because it is valued so little? At some point, you have say enough...if I return to work, I will pay much higher loan payments, cancelling any benefit, along with higher taxes. The cost of living has gone way up and the wages have been kept low. People have given up a lot of family life for working in jobs that just don't give them much. I shudder when I think that women have to leave little infants to go back to work when they should be able to have time for bonding - France gives two years for families to bond because they know the benefit of good emotional bonding and brain development in infants. We have shattered our connections so much in this country in the pressure of having to survive in a class ridden, racist, and misogynistic environment. We are so behind other developed countries. I am now lower middle class, no chance to get to middle middle, and if nothing changes, moving toward lower class in my old age. We are faced now with possibly moving to find an affordable area. How many boomers are there like me? How many younger workers are just fed up with bad working conditions such as the insane meat industry, agriculture, and service work that grind people into numb slave labor? I hope they do speak out and we have more strikes, and can restore some of the balance in working that once was a goal in our country. Too much greed at the top, too little compassion and fairness. Who was it that said a fair day's wage for a fair day's work? Ain't happening here. Maybe the crisis of Covid will bring more equity, and as we also have to address climate change...newer cleaner industries, enlightened farming and animal husbandry, it's a dream. Wish it could come true.