Thanks patrick This is so similar to my own experience. The start of outsourcing and web design earnings pushed down. Then moving into academia which is also so insecure. Its reassuring though to hear that my experience is typical in some way. Politicians in UK talk lot about immigration as blame for workers suffering when outsourcing more to blame and yet never discussed. Great posting and will read in detail and your references also. Dave On 4 Jun 2014 17:02, "temp" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > >A Lament of the Precariat: > >an anecdotal narrative > >Patrick Lichty > > > >Capitalism is an acquisitive strategy based on the > >proposition that all assets within its field of discourse are evaluated, > >accounted, and extracted of value, then discarded. Upon the time of > >exhaustion of values > >(symbolic or material value) of elements in the system, wither new > >reservoirs > >of value must be located, the frame of valuation shifted, or the modality > >of > >exchange must be changed. This includes > >people. All bodies trapped within this > >recursive squeezing of value and subsequent accumulation of profit from > >the > >system of exchange either inordinately accumulate the profitability of the > >unsustainable system or they progressively enter into increasing states of > >precarity. The construction of precarity > >through the credit-state is a tool of mass control that effectively > >prevents > >revolts through debt-indenture, causing the precariat to fear the loss of > >what > >little they have before they are consigned to the street. However, it is > >exactly where capitalism would > >have them, as those bodies have become so devalued as to be equivalent to > >worthless as labor, and have been drained of capital so that they are > >questionable as consumers, and likewise valueless. > > > >This is a process, at least in terms of the United States, > >this devaluation of the masses and the creation of the precariat as > >subject of > >hegemonic control, that has been unfolding for the past forty years. As > >a Youtube video featuring the words of > >former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich states, ³Inequality is personal, > >it¹s expensive, > >and it¹s created.² In this video, he eloquently > >discusses the inevitable concentration of wealth through downsizing, > >outsourcing, offshoring (free-trade capitalism such as NAFTA, CAFTA, et > >al) and > >the systematic de-industrialization/ephemeralization of the United States > >into > >a service and consumer economy. This was > >no more evident than during the Second Gulf War when President George W > >Bush > >assured the masses to not worry about the war(s) and continue to drive the > >economy through robust spending. The > >fact that much of this spending was based on the lure of easy personal > >credit > >is another issue. > > > >When I entered the workforce in 1985, the (in contrast to > >2008) minor recession of the early 80¹s was receding, and from my > >standpoint, > >things were fairly good. I worked for a then-major computer corporation, > >sales > >were brisk, and our engineering division was strong. At that time, three > >things had not happened > >computer installation was skilled labor and not service, the computer > >itself > >had not become a commodity appliance, and the market had not flooded. Of > >course all these things changed with > >economies of scale, the personal computer, despite planned obsolescence, > >became > >commodified. The machines themselves > >with their increased complexity, became machines that could no longer be > >repaired in the field, and operations contracted into more remote regional > >centers. And, with the promise of > >well-paying jobs in the computer field, universities (institutions which > >are > >often complicit on the capitalist cycle of valuation and extraction of > >desire) > >pumped out electronic technicians and engineers, driving wages down. > > > > > >My anecdotal counterpoint anecdote is only part of the story > >relating the shape of capitalist oppression in the 2010¹s that have given > >rise > >to reactions such as the Occupy Movement. > >It is, however, a metaphor for the overall gestures taken in the North > >American continent, and to some extent, the First World through > >strategies like > >European austerity the decrease of flow into the ecology of capital > >through > >commodification, increases in productivity, and devaluation of workforce > >skill. > > > >Two other events built the foundations for the society of > >the precariat in 1994 and 1997 (surprisingly, under the Democratic US > >President > >Bill Clinton). These would be the passage of the North American Free Trade > >Agreement (NAFTA) and the decrease in capital gains (the tax paid on > >gains made > >from holdings like stocks or real estate) from 35% to 14% in 1997. The > >first would enable Adam Smith¹s > >prediction of redistribution of wealth through free trade, as money flowed > >through the US border into areas with cheap labor, foregrounding a new > >form of > >precariat, the maquiladora in towns such as Cuidad Juarez. This has a > >double gesture, of breaking unions > >in the US and creating a lure for subsistence farmers in the South to > >come to > >the border to be subjected to substandard working conditions on the > >border. The reduction in capital gains > >in the US created the ability for the upper, and especially Wark¹s > >Vectoral > >Class, the one that extracts value most vociferously from symbolic > >exchange, to > >increase their concentration of wealth. > >Conversely, the lower classes are less likely to invest in the Market, > >and thus become excluded from the market-centric view of Late Capitalism. > > > >Seen through the anecdotal, the latter half of the 90¹s was > >the rise of the Web, and as the computer industry has long fallen into the > >genre of consumer electronics, I had gone into Web Design, and also > >Internet > >activism. As with other sites of early > >techno-adoption like the personal computer before it, the emergent > >Vectoral > >Class was hard at work evaluating this new milieu of information for the > >extraction of wealth. Companies like > >Accenture, Allstate, and many other Fortune 500 companies were creating > >their > >infostructures, and web design was still skilled labor. However, the > >labor pool for that mode of > >exchange would be changed forever. > > > >One key flaw in a majority of programs created in the > >previous thirty years was that is had not allowed for years above 1999 > >the > >Y2K Bug. This event created a major > >upheaval in the cyber-economy. First, > >with the sheer magnitude of the problem, there were not enough programmers > >available in North America to solve the problem, and India became the > >solution > >to the issue through outsourcing. With > >sheer numbers of technically literate individuals and a devalued > >currency, the > >market for infoworkers in the United Stated collapsed along with a market > >realization that many of the tech start-ups that were lavishly funded in > >the > >90¹s were simply not going to turn a profit. > >This created the Y2K/Dot.Com Crash of the early 2000s. it also opened > >the doors to offshoring in > >Asia, as tariffs relaxed for hungry Chinese manufacturers as well. > > > >Anecdote. Back in my hometown of North Canton, Ohio, The > >Hoover Vacuum Cleaner company became consolidated onto Maytag, and then > >outsourced to Mexico and China. The > >companies I had designed for dumped their web personnel, and ads for web > >design > >from India for $15/hr (I used to charge $75/hr) emerged. Wark¹s Hacker > >class (the shapers of > >information), if for a time, became a prime target of precarity as > >practices > >changed to higher degrees of skill, and necessities of locality for > >valuation. > >As a critical gesture, I even began to outsource my oil painting to > >Chinese > >ateliers on the grounds that Gainsborough had inexpensive assistants. > >Globalist Realism, I called it. > > > >This whole period of neo-liberalism and free market trade > >also had a parallel discourse in the realm of debt-based securities. The > >roots of the housing bubble caused by the > >progressive trading of conglomerates of housing based speculation based > >off of > >derivative securities consisting of sub-prime housing loans begins in > >1938. That year, so-called ³Fannie Mae² federal > >loan corporation is signed into being as Franklin Delano Roosevelt¹s ³New > >Deal² > >(1934) agendas continue to unfold. > >Fannie Mae would be converted into a government-sponsored entity (GSE) > >linked to the private sector in 1968 as part of the Housing and Home > >Development Act, signaling early beginnings of privatization. > > > >The groundwork for the housing speculation bubble would be > >implemented in 1970, as Freddie-Mac, another GSE that buys mortgages on > >the > >secondary market to create derivative securities made of conglomerates of > >these > >mortgages. This legislation created the > >first major step towards incentivizing the leverage of sub-prime loans as > >speculative securities. Subsequent > >policies such as the elimination of tax credits for credit card interest > >(1986, > >pushing individuals towards home equity loans) and deregulation of > >securities > >practices (1985-1991) would open the door for a downward spiral of greed. > > This would occur as higher-risk in the > >sub-prime market which have higher interest rates, would be folded into > >securities until the Market would Œsuddenly realize¹ that rising defaults > >in > >housing loans would cascade as the Housing Crisis of 2008, which would > >create a > >worldwide recession. > > > >Anecdote. After the dot-com crash, instability seemed to > >become manifest. My wife at the time > >became concerned for her employment as the academic sector came under > >siege in > >Louisiana, and I went to graduate school, for better or worse. At best, > >I thought it would make my prospects > >better if the worst were to happen. One > >of the great mantras of capital is that of retrainingŠ I got a 4.0 GPA, > >and immediately moved to > >Chicago for my first academic job. I was > >above the media line, and things seemed bright. > > > >The result of this crisis would be the pouring of billions > >of dollars into collapsed industries and financial institutions like > >Goldman-Sachs as institutions deemed ³too big to fail². However, another > >function of the general > >trope of financial crisis as factor in precarity through redistribution of > >wealth has been aptly described by Brian Holmes on the Nettime list and > >in his > >seminar on the New Economy at Mess Hall in Chicago. What Holmes has > >noticed is the draining of > >capital by margins traders that make split-second trades on the > >fluctuations of > >the market. In short, crisis, however > >short, create radical fluctuations of stock prices, allowing for the > >siphoning > >off of capital injected by world governments, exacerbating wealth > >disparity and > >the state of precarity. Also, it > >reestablishes instability in the market, encouraging the next crisis and > >next > >iteration of wealth extraction, wage deflation, inequality, and precarity. > > > >As an intermezzo to this rather depressing decades-long > >cycle, it is worthy to note that these socio-economic desiring-machines > >have > >not gone without notice for any number of decades. Effects of the > >expansion of late capitalism¹s > >exponential expansion have been documented in media such as The People > >Bomb (population), Rachel > >Carson¹s Silent Spring (environment), > >and many others. In fact, a recent ICCC > >study has shown that because of the global effects of capitalism, > >capitalism, > >and carbon emission, even under best-case circumstances of carbon > >limiting, > >humanity is likely going to create an environment incapable of sustaining > >a > >northern polar icecap by 2050. > > > >Although my conflation of population, ecology, economy and > >the housing bubble may seem disparate, they are all facets of the original > >argument that capitalism by definition consumes all in its path, > >morphologically changing until all possible assets and resources are > >accounted, > >valuated, leveraged and converted to money, creating a global ecosystem of > >wealth concentration in the planet¹s rich, and an expansion of precarity > >throughout the planet. My example of the > >housing bubble, is merely a metaphor of one facet of the global > >neo-liberal > >systems concentration of wealth and propagation of precarity; > >economically, > >ecologically, socially, and so on. > > > >What, you may ask, is my terminal strategy to this > >tightening web of accounting, acquisition, and extraction of value? One > >American example comes from the late > >1800¹s in the Deep South. After the > >abolition of slavery in 1865, about 40,000 Blacks and Creoles found > >themselves > >suddenly free of indenture. However, as > >a visit to historical Louisiana plantations revealed, the former slave, > >now > >free to exercise the holy Capitalist communion of ³choice², was offered > >employment for the plantation, now as a worker. > >However, to the surprise of the newly emancipated worker, they were > >often beholden to the plantation¹s company store through specious credit > >practices and inflated prices. This > >would create a situation in which the already precarious worker would > >quickly > >be debt-indentured, merely remediating the situation from slave labor to > >slave > >wages and debt. This would be reiterated > >later in Appalachia through the coal mining industry, as heralded by > >Tennessee > >Ernie Ford¹s classic song, Sixteen Tons, > >in which he sings: > > > >Sixteen Tons, and what > >to you get? > >Another day older, > >And deeper in debt. > >Saint Peter, don¹t you > >call me, cause I Can¹t go, > >I owe my Soul to the company store. > > > >Much can be said today for the crisis of debt in the American economy. As > >of > >September 2013, current US credit card debt averages over $15,000 per > >capita > >for a total of $11.5 Trillion dollars, which nears the $15.82 Trillion > >dollars > >of the US Gross Domestic Product in 2012, and the October 2013 US debt of > >$16.7 > >Trillion dollars according to the website usnationadebtclock.us. > >Contrasted > >with the median per capita income of $39,000, it would take the average > >American until May, with no other expenses or accounting for frequent > >24-29% > >interest rates to pay off this debt. However, > >as one might expect, personal debt and interest rates skew toward the > >bottom > >demographics. Furthermore, the San > >Francisco Department of Public Health has released statistics that on > >average, > >it takes 5.5 full-time minimum wage jobs just to have a subsistence living > >inside the city. This is a spurious > >fact, but is important to consider when thinking that San Francisco was > >once > >the haven of free love and bohemian living. > > > >Is the system of debt indenture under the current global neoliberal > >capitalist > >system surprising? Hardly. In The > >Making of the Indebted Man, Maurizio Lazzarato reveals the weaving of debt > >as a fundamental machine of control under the project of neoliberal > >capitalism. I want to emphasize that > >this is not just the individual, but also the state to itself and to > >corporate > >power. The attention to the core problem > >in indenture itself is redirected through rhetorics of productivity, > >innovation, and entrepreneurism through the creation of small business, > >when > >the income creation of said small business is a small fraction of the > >GDP. The masses are fed stories like those in popular > >intellectual talks, Richard Florida¹s The > >Rise of the Creative Class, and pundits, like Napoleon Hill¹s > >Depression-era classic, Think and Grow > >Rich. However, as a 2013 Salon essay, by Thomas Frank states, the myth of > >the creative, the entrepreneur, is dangled out as an imaginary before the > >desperate precariat who are holding to the shreds of the American Dream. > >According to Frank, the truth is that the exemplars held forth again and > >again > >are the same ones lionized in the cultural canon, and anaesthetize the > >masses > >as they are held ³guilty and responsible in the eyes of CapitalŠ before > >the > >Great, the Universal, Creditor² as Lazzarato states. > > > >The bleakness of this situation is obvious and appears to be > >a terminal strategy of eventual collapse, which is the unspoken taboo of > >speaking that Capitalism itself is beholden to Malthusian limits in a > >finite > >milieu. The individual is merely a site > >of leverage in the capitalist scheme of value extraction, and reversing > >this > >progression requires strategies of resistance. > >There are a multitude of sites rising forth in solidarity against debt > >indenture, including the Debt Jubilee movement (which buys personal > >defaulted > >debt for pennies and erases it), strikedebt.org, All in the Red, and the > >Occupy > >Student Debt campaign. Lazzarato > >advocates these resistive strategies, and suggests that the indentured > >even > >taking more extreme measures, such as the use of personal bankruptcy as > >anti-corporate > >social tactic. > > > >What is clear is that clearly America, much of Europe and > >significant elements of the First World are locked in a systematic > >enforcement > >of precarity that is both the product of late capitalism¹s early stages of > >exhaustion and mass control. The general > >result of these states of symbolic and material exhaustion have been > >revolutions and depressions, from the October Revolution to the American > >collapse of the trusts with the rise of labor in the late 1800¹s. With > >the failure of austerity in the Eurozone > >and the rapid expansion of precarity in the United States with the > >unraveling > >of regulations, checks, and balances under neoliberalism, the world as a > >whole, > >and not just the First World, is faced with social pressures that > >threaten to > >rend the fabric of modern society. > > > >Ending Anecdote: As of 2013, academia is riddled with outcomes-based > >evaluation, > >massive online courses, and University of Texas just laid off 20% of their > >administrative staff. My old college > >underwent a massive reorganization, and I found a better position, but > >with > >greater precarity as the worker structure takes on a Metropolis-esque > >scene of > >a highly-paid administrators, vanishing hopes for tenure, and a seething > >sea of > >contingent educators. It just seems that > >this story has merely been a mirror of the macroscopic predicament. > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >
_______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
