More responses to American Joe:
By anonymous BND members
September 26, 2021
Hi Joe,
Like the others, I’m not going to try and convince you of anything. I think we’ve all had enough ‘commentary’ to fill a lifetime. By that I mean the talking heads we see on TV that give us their view of how the world works. I just like the basic news. This happened. That happened.
I say this because you strike me as someone who has defined yourself by how you think others see you. You listen to the worldview of others and have decided your place in it isn’t the greatest.
No doubt you work hard for what you get. And you have probably been under-appreciated. “Not enough meat.” That’s what you’re probably feeling about your life. To that, I say become a vegetarian.
What do I mean by that? I mean do not define yourself by what others say or may think. Create your world view and make yourself and that young family the center. You still live in a wealthy country. There will be opportunities. Show others you believe in yourself and do your best at the job you have. Also, there are agencies that will help. They want to help. Help them feel good about themselves and get help yourself.
I must say, I probably had it easier than you. I’m seventy-three now, possibly fifteen years senior to your parents. I grew up in a small town, and my father had a very decent job (after working several low paying jobs for over a decade) in civil service. He began working for the government during the 1950’s. World War II had come to an end and there were still what were called “army depots” scattered throughout the country. They were placed in small towns possibly as a defense strategy. Hide them in places the enemy wouldn’t look. Make them hard to hit.
He basically worked for the government. Even after the depots were moved from small towns, he still maintained his job until his retirement which was in the early 1980’s. Anyway, I’m sure our experience with the government played a significant role in forming my opinion of it. Government was there to keep us safe and that included distributing resources. It could be very effective.
And yes, you are right, machines and globalization have changed a lot. Today the factory jobs are fewer and that is unlikely to change. There are many more jobs in the service economy where my father started. But, as I mentioned, there will be opportunities even within that economy. Just have a positive attitude and be patient. If you are seen as an asset at work, positive things will happen.
One final note, know that there are those of us who believe you have high value. Our people are our infrastructure. Some of us who would like to see even more shared with people in starting positions such as yours. We also want to see the government help spread the resources more equitably. Provide for and make that infrastructure even stronger. As you might have guessed, I’m not a fan of trickle-down economics. Assuring a fair share is much better, and wiser, strategy in my opinion. Let the next generation know we’ve got their back. It’s to everyone’s benefit.
From,
D. S. (read that as you will)
OK, ordinary American Joe,
Unlike some others, I do want to change your mind. I want to change it because we have many of the same concerns and I think we should join the same team to fix them. I want to change it because I am scared that my grandson is going to very soon be in your shoes. He’s in his last year of high school and should graduate, if the schools don’t shut down again for the pandemic. Even if he does graduate, he’s probably not going to college, and I sure don’t want him in the army…. Or the marines. No telling where the next war will be if we don’t get some semblance of sanity in our foreign policy and stop fighting everybody.
If enough of us don’t start telling the government what we want in no uncertain terms, we won’t get it in time for him. What I would like to see for him is more availability of training in skilled trades opening up. His dad is in construction management; was able to start over from scratch after bankruptcy during the housing debacle in ‘o9. He knows how hard it is to get plumbers, electricians, bricklayers…. I even know how hard it is to get, for example, a roofer for the leaks in my house.
You say you don’t mind that the former guy supported the rich because it gave you hope, but your letter doesn’t sound very hopeful to me. I was hopeful for many years while I voted for the R. ‘conservatives’ because they praised the independent guys that worked hard at their blue collar union jobs and then took long weekends to enjoy their boats and snowmobiles with their families. That was the life when I was a stay at home mom who didn’t have to farm my kids out to day care, and get to a job at some inconvenient hour of the day. My daughters have both had to work the whole time their children were growing up because one job in a family isn’t enough anymore.
But all the while, those same R conservatives that I had voted for were building their corporate campaign war chests. And the corporations were whittling away at the unions in the name of freedom for the American worker. When the corporations weren’t satisfied with their profits, they found they could persuade Mexico and China to build factories and employ millions at paltry wages thus doing you and a couple million others out of a good job.
And now, you’re right, the average American worker is free to take a $10/hr. job in retail or food service, or a distribution center packing stuff on quotas. Or maybe they really like being their own boss, and driving other people around to earn enough to pay for their car and insurance. I met a guy recently who said he drops his son off at school and drives till it’s time to pick him up enough days a month (in addition to his regular job) to pay for his car.
My family has paid plenty in taxes all these years. I don’t know about you but I would really like to see some of that money back in the form of services to my kids, grandkids and community. Along with some of the money the rich and corporations have managed to keep for themselves instead of paying their taxes.
And another thing that makes me mad: the Rs are trying to prevent my neighbors from voting. You know, like your black neighbors who you enjoyed a barbeque with? I have black neighbors who have been riffed from the voting roles. One neighbor in particular is a shut in who has voted in every election since he was of age. You wouldn’t believe all the hoops he had to jump through, with me doing the leg work, to get a ballot and get it returned on time last year. So far, I am in good enough health to get to the polls or the post office, but I’m old enough that that could be an issue in the near future. Now they are passing laws that are designed to make it even harder.
I’m hoping that I can persuade my friends and neighbors to go with me to the polls and get us some relief from the stalemate in Washington DC. That will release some of our tax money to improve the quality of life for the next generations. That’s what I pay taxes for…. Not for endless wars. Did you know that the $3.5 trillion proposed over 10 years soft infrastructure bill (that has money in it to pay for training in skilled trades) is about half of the $7 trillion the military spends over 1o years?
You can see that I have many of the same concerns that you do, so maybe I can persuade you to try something different than that same old story. The rich get rich and the poor get poorer. And those of us in the middle are always hoping to join the rich and avoid joining the poor. Hoping is not enough. We need action to balance the scales for the middle guy. Let’s go vote to change that stalemate.
Sincerely,
An old woman…. old enough to have seen it all.
Hey, Joe.
I totally hear the disgust and rage in your voice. And, small wonder! Based on your age, I’m figuring you graduated from high school in about 2009 - right into the middle of a huge recession that wiped out tons of jobs. One of the worst times ever for blue collar guys. And even before that, blue collar jobs had been in sharp decline for decades. A lot of that decline was due to automation. A whole lot more had to do with the rise of China and other developing countries.
Those developing countries pay their workers peanuts - with the result that companies can afford to manufacture things there at way lower prices than they can here in the USA. And on top of that, with way fewer environmental, safety and health protections. So of course they can get away with murder - the murder of US jobs, that is.
So how are we going to fight this? Just stop trade? How is the USA going to be “first” if we’re not even in the mix with other countries? If we just take our ball and go home, so to speak, we’re going to be missing a lot of things we need that we only get via trade. Like the materials to make computer chips - which we need for things as all-American as cars and trucks. And we’re not going to be able to sell things, things like technology and entertainment, that make us a powerful trading partner, that gives us more power in world affairs. If you want to give up being #1, and maybe be more like Switzerland or something, then just closing all our borders and managing on our own might be just fine. (Well, until we need an ally for some reason.)
You know what might help though? It might take some time, but how about that old phrase, “Workers Unite”? How about if the US had laws that stopped our corporations from setting up, or even buying products from companies who weren’t paying their workers a living wage, or who used child labor, or who endangered their workers’ safety, or the environment in their area? Those workers in Asia and Mexico could be your allies in that sense.They would get to steal fewer jobs from the US, but they’d make half-decent pay, and have health protections. That’s a good trade-off for them. And a good one for us - you.
And how about having the US invest in businesses that would build new industries where we could train and hire millions of blue collar workers? Industries like green energy, where we could get a leg up. The US could invest in helping the companies get going, and (here’s where you come in) help by giving people who want to work the training they’d need. And if the workers need retraining, when change inevitably happens over time, the US would subsidize that, too.
And about automation. That could be done a lot smarter than what we have been doing. “Apps” could be designed so that somebody could learn to use it without a PhD in whatever goofy software they came up with. If software engineers are smart enough, they can make software that knows how to communicate with normal human beings - people like you, Joe.
And honestly, I agree with you about automation. I am disgusted myself when I hear, for example, that we’re trying to automate truck-driving so that we don’t need drivers any more. Personal note - I’ve done some software development myself. There’s no way that a computer working all by its lonesome is going to be able to predict every haywire situation that can come up on a road. We need human beings with good common sense and good reaction time. And seriously, we need them in factories, too, to be real.
Is this Pie in the Sky? Well, yes it is - if you and folks like you don’t think about where your political support is going. Wouldn’t you want to support candidates that would do the kinds of things I’m talking about?
You’re predicting that you’ll support a politician in 2024 who is aligned with big business, whose biggest accomplishment was to push through a tax cut for rich people, who would never ever try to raise the minimum wage, or support labor unions, or put labor and safety and environmental protections into the law. A politician who wants to take down the financial protections that would prevent another huge recession like what we had in 2008-2010. A politician who doesn’t want to invest in new industries that could get the US into a great position in world trade, and create lots of blue collar jobs.
A politician whose biggest success is in making people mad. Mad at the wrong things and the wrong people! That Mexican who snuck across the border and is doing farm work or plucking chickens - he’s not the one that took your job, or any job you want.
Don’t get me wrong, you have a lot to be mad about. But direct it at the right targets. Financial operators that are skimming money off the top. Executives who make a thousand times more per hour than their average worker. And … may I add … politicians who do nothing but make you mad at people who have no more than you, maybe less, who could be your allies.
So, are you ready to step out, take a chance, learn another trade, accept that you’ll probably be learning quite a few trades as your life goes on, because things are changing like crazy all the time in this world? Would you vote for the politicians who are trying to develop new industries, who are trying to make sure that everybody has access to health care, that we live in a healthy environment and a relatively peaceful world not disrupted by something unnecessary like climate change? A world that is beautiful with clean water and air for your kids. Are you ready to pick up a little bit of hope?
Please look again at what Joe Biden is doing these days.
Thanks, Joe.
And I wish you and your family the best.
From A Friend Who Lives Across the Street