On 2011-01-12, at 10:11 AM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> Software engineers are laborers.
>
> Most of those called "middle management" are laborers.
>
> Reporters are laborers.
>
> College professors are laborers.
>
> Public School teachers are laborers.
>
> Technical writers are laborers.
>
> Entry-level investment bankers are laborers.
>
> Quality-control engineers are laborers.
>
> Are all these people losers?
>
> Do very many people even have the word "losers" in their everyday
> vocabulary, or is that merely a word that intellectuals project onto the
> public?
I expect we'll know the ansewer in the next two years as the assault on unionized teachers, federal and state employees, and other public sector workers, who are currently being made the scapegoats for the fiscal crisis of the state and widespread economic distress, gathers steam. They now comprise the majority of the US trade unionists, and are not as passive as is often assumed by virtue of their relatively higher status and income. In the 70's and 80's, the new unions of teachers, nurses, government workers, journalists, and other administrative, professional, and technical workers frequently engaged in militant strike action. But that was during a period when the public sector was growing rapidly and demand for their services was rising apace. The political and economic circumstances are different today, and whether they will have the will and capacity to emulate their European counterparts and defend their pay, jobs, and pensions in the streets is an open question.