[lbo-talk] As Income Gap Widens, Uncertainty Spreads

[Marvin Gandall]

This article below is well worth reading. Scott Clark, its main subject, is
a good reflection of the changes in the contemporary US working class. At
51, a self-described "proud union man" he found himself out of a job as an
assembler when the Virginia chip plant where he worked was closed. He now
works up to 15 hours a day as a free-lance mail courier, his benefits gone
and retirement plans shelved indefinitely. The Post article notes how the
rapidly growing army of self-employed "contractors" like Clark now
constitute the same percentage of the workforce (13%) as the shrinking base
of organized workers. Clark expresses discontent with Kerry, Bush, and the
corporations, but his confidence in capitalism appears little shaken. As he
indicates to the Post reporter, he is still "pulling in good money" and
continues to see himself as "part of the American dream, doing better than
his parents did".

It probably wouldn't occur to Clark to mention he may be somewhat better off
than his father, but that it now often requires multiple breadwinners -- his
wife and three children are also working -- and a much longer workweek for
an entire household to maintain the approximate purchasing power of a single
male wage-earner a generation ago.

Be that as it may, it seems clear until such time as resilient workers in
the advanced capitalist countries perceive themselves to be "worse off than
their parents", with little opportunity "to pull in good money", no matter
how long the working hours required to do so, we can debate the various
roads to social change until the cows come home. Scott's kids, though, may
well be the first generation to suffer a meaningful decline in their
standards, but whether that drop is relatively abrupt, or is stretched out
and experienced imperceptibly over time, will make all the difference with
respect to whether it radically transforms their consciousness.

Marv Gandall

--------------------------------


>From Dwayne Monroe:


> As Income Gap Widens, Uncertainty Spreads
>
> Mon Sep 20, 9:11 AM ET
>
> By Griff Witte, Washington Post Staff Writer
>
> Scott Clark knows how to plate a circuit board for a submarine. He knows
> which chemicals, when mixed, will keep a cell phone ringing and which
> will explode. He knows how to make his little piece of a factory churn
> hour after hour, day after day.
>
> But right now, as his van hurtles toward the misty silhouette of the
> Blue Ridge Mountains, the woods rising darkly on either side and
> Richmond receding behind him, all he needs to know is how to stay awake
> and avoid the deer.

(snip)

Full:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29609-2004Sep17.html?referrer
=email