----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Spencer" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 11:01 PM Subject: [Futurework] Re: Very good stuff from Robert Reich
> > In the middle of a longer paragraph, Ed wrote: > > The middle class isn't really needed very much anymore. > > That's a very thought-provoking observation. > > Of course, the members of said middle class might ask, "Er, needed by > whom?" > > - Mike > Ed says: Well perhaps I overstated things a little. But I was referring to what has happened to the American (and probably Canadian) middle classes during the past few decades. By middle class I mean blue collar workers who have industrial skills of various kinds. I'm not referring to professional people like lawyers or doctors. Since at least the 1970s, several trends have been evident in the production of the kinds of goods we purchase at places like shopping malls and car dealerships. One is the shift of domestic production from the US and Canada to other parts of the world, most notably China. We used to buy manufactured goods that were made in factories located in our own countries. Now goods can be produced more cheaply abroad and moved cheaply via huge container ships. It's not only goods. The production of services has shifted as well - e.g. telephone call centers or the high-tech work being done in places like Bangalore, India. Another trend is the technological displacement of workers. Our assembly lines now have more machines and fewer people on them than they used to have. Displacement can happen in ways that are hardly noticeable. When I visit my dentist I park in a nearby parking lot. To park there, I used to get a ticket from an attendant and pay him on leaving. Now I park, punch a few buttons and put a ticket on my dashboard. No more attendants. We used to have a nice and relatively simple view of the production of goods and services. The consumer wanted goods and made it known to the producer who then provided the goods. For the past couple of decades at least, it hasn't been quite like that. As recent bubbles like the subprime mortgage mess have demonstrated, decisions about production can be made very remotely from the market at issue, and can be made for reasons other than fulfilling consumer demand. In the subprime bubble, blue collars workers built a very large number of houses that now sit empty. Not only were the construction workers affected, but many workers in other fields were as well. A few decades ago, unions were a strong force battling on behalf of the blue collar worker. Generally speaking, they are now far less powerful. According to Hacker and Pierson, they represented some 30% of American wage and salary workers in 1960. Currently they represent a little over 10%. Union membership has remained higher in Canada, but given the current governments actions with regard to Air Canada and postal strikers, one has to wonder if they will be allowed to continue doing what they were established to do. I have to take what I said in my earlier posting back a little, though not very much. The blue collar middle class has not disappeared, but it is no longer nearly as strong a presence as it was a few decades ago.
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