Michael Perelman wrote:
Interesting question. Are wage increases outstripping benefit cuts?
Shouldn't we be looking at the big picture? I just took Michael
Meeropol's "Surrender : How The Clinton Administration Completed the
Reagan Revolution" off my shelf right after the Rosenberg documentary on
HBO and started thumbing through it. It just reminded me of how shitty
the economy has gotten since I entered the workforce in 1968. Back then
you could buy Xerox or IBM stock and be guaranteed that your investment
would be safe and profitable. The NY Times had 4 pages of ads for
programmers every Sunday. In the 1970s things took a turn for the worse
when Carter became President. Maybe it was a coincidence, but I began
hearing him say the same thing that the Exxon ads on the op-ed page of
the NY Times were saying. The good times were over. Then, Reagan came
into office with the understanding that he would bring the good times
back. But all I can remember is getting laid off after one consulting
job after another. Meanwhile, all the rust belt cities were getting
pooer and poorer. I suppose that somebody somewhere is doing better than
they were. I can imagine that somebody selling real estate in Scottsdale
can afford that cherry-red BMW. But here in NYC, shops are closing
down all around me and people I work with have just gotten pink slips.
What will reverse this? Certainly not electing John Kerry.
In my opinion, we have been in a protracted economic slump for the past
25 years. We are in a period of diminished expectations. Because the
impact has been less severe than in the 1930s, the reaction has been
less severe. People tend to look for their own solutions. Getting
retrained. Moving to another city, like in "Roger and Me". But the gravy
days of American capitalism are gone for good.
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