On 3/18/13 7:22 AM, Eisboch wrote:


"F.O.A.D." wrote in message


There isn't going to be a real economic recovery until there is a
restructuring of our society. Too much of our nation's wealth is in the
hands of the super rich, and the trend in that direction continues. More
then they have since the 19th Century here, workers have become a
disposable commodity, with more of them working without even basic
protections, with a diminishing number of employers providing health
care, with few employers providing defined pensions, et cetera. It's
becoming much more difficult to put away a few dollars when one is
facing a lifetime of really insecure employment, family medical bills,
et cetera. As a society, we're on the downhill part of a roller coaster
ride that sadly leads only to the bottom.

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Why is that so? I don't agree with your "disposable commodity"
mentality, but I do agree that there is a shrinking middle class due to
a corresponding shrinking job market. Even Al Gore warned of this way
back when. So did Ross Perot.

There has always been "super rich". Why is the "super rich" suddenly
and primarily responsible for the job losses and resultant middle class
unemployment?

The primary reason is global competition for traditional manufacturing
jobs in industry. As Wayne pointed out, there will always be jobs that
can't be outsourced, but everyone can't be a plumber, electrician or
HVAC technician. For a while, everyone and his brother was becoming an
"IT" serviceperson or was setting up website creation and maintenance
services. But with canned software, anyone with half a brain can create
and maintain their own website.

Go to an ER or hospital lately? A good number of the doctors are
transplants from other countries. Cars run for 100,000 miles or more
with only cursory maintenance. Used to require a tune-up every 20,000
miles. Electronic devices like computers and TV's have become
disposable and cheap. No need to repair them and when they can be
repaired, you can usually do it yourself. Magazines and newspapers are
on the decline. Everything worth reading can be found on the
Internet. No need for mechanics maintaining printing presses or truck
drivers delivering bales of newspapers anymore.

If you stop to think about all the technological advances made in the
past 15 years or so and also consider the global competition for the
manufacturing jobs, I think it becomes clear what has happened to
middle class jobs.



There used to be a social compact in this country, a compact that
produced a thriving middle class with significant opportunity for upward
mobility.

The primary reason middle class jobs have disappeared is...greed. The
so-called "investor class" is making money hand over fist and is taking
a growing percentage of national wealth and not investing it here. At
some point, that trend will stop and reverse or you will see more
Russian-like revolutions. The world cannot just exist for the rich.

What you are predicting is an ever growing class of really marginally
employed people in this country. If that continues, there really is no
reason for this country to exist.