Reply #5: There can never be "enough" jobs.. [View All]

[SoCalDem]

we have peaked:(

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/SoCalDem/190

Decades-worth of unnecessary jobs/businesses have come to an end.

Posted by SoCalDem in General Discussion

Thu Oct 15th 2009, 04:47 PM

This is what's at the crux of our next problem.

We (the US) are no longer the driving force in the world. We no longer make & provide the necessities of life for the world.

When we stopped BIG manufacturing, on a grand scale, we switched to a "make-work" economy, where paper-pushing, phone-answering, consulting, counseling, tending-to, etc., became our "new way".

We were all told that manufacturing was dirty, time-consuming, back-breaking work...it polluted (it really did), it was costly to maintain and innovate all those creaky old factories, and our "colonies" abroad could do the work for pennies on the dollar...YAY!! cheap stuff.

The manipulation of currency and trade deals and so many other financial shenanigans drove this runaway bus, but it's finally run out of gas, and there are so many enterprises that will never be coming back, and so many jobs will never return either.

We can accept the fact that the fantastic steel mill wages & UAW wages and so many other "good" jobs will never again be here, but even the cruddy soul-sucking desk/cubicle jobs are scarce now.

We overdid it, because so many people had to have an income, and that meant there had to be jobs for people, even if they were not "necessary" jobs.

Those of us who are older, have a reference point to gauge the changes.

A town of 20-30K used to have a few shoe stores, a few good department stores, a couple of grocery stores, maybe 2 or 3 theaters..There was competition, but there was also enough business to support all (or most) of these businesses. Many were businesses that had been there for 50 year or more, and had supported families, employed people, and prospered. They were NOT 110K sq.ft./jammed to the rafters stores. They were modest family businesses. The owners did not "borrow to meet payroll". they paid for their merchandise with the 10-day-discount, they saved their profit, for lean times, and they did not loot their businesses for their own gratification.

Everywhere you go today, things are exactly the same, all towns have the same stores, restaurants, etc. People all work for the same bosses, because a precious few own everything. Entrepreneurs start a business, it prospers a little, and they immediately look into selling it for "big-bucks" to a corporate cannibal, who guts it, lays people off, and passes it on to the next corporate cannibal, looking for a write-off. The customers & employees of that company just fall by the wayside.

There is more to business than just price-cutting and undercutting. People have basic needs and they have wants & desires. Businesses crop up to satisfy these needs & wants, but when there are too many places offering these goods & services, there's not enough demand to keep them all afloat.

People are lazy, and they like to get everything easy. It's no wonder that the shopping center idea took root in the 60's & 70's, but too much it still too much.

We were all better off when we had fewer "choices", but those choices were goods made by, transported by, sold by our own fellow citizens, and the commerce was spread around to everyone along the line. Money circulated and it made stops all along the ladder..top to bottom.

Progress always puts someone out of business, but hyper-progress and mass consumerism has put millions out of work, and millions more deep into life-crushing debt..and lowered wages for most of us.

What's next?

Where will all these unemployed find work?

house building-selling-furnishing? unlikely anytime soon

will 45-60 yr olds "go back to school" so they can start over? unlikely

just how does a 24 yr old saddled with 40K of school debt, ever get out of debt in time to start a life?

If 35-40% of income goes to put a roof over your head and 30% is "acceptable" for medical COVERAGE (not the actual medical procedures), how does the remaining 30% lead one to a comfortable lifestyle?

all questions & no answers yet..

stay tuned..it's going to be an interesting docu-drama