The sweat shop, with its dangerous
work conditions, minimum wage not yet legislated, children exploited without compunction,
is not a picture of the dark ages ... "it was only yesterday."
Those conditions were representative
of city life in the early 1900’s. It was the normal environment where a predominance
of new immigrants clustered. This was where they would gather their wits and aim for a
better life. They quickly understood what was required and amidst a maelstrom of
indoctrination hurdles, they forged ahead and their efforts paid off.
Back then, reward for effort might
have appeared to be happening at a snails pace. In retrospect, as my thoughts wander back
to then, I can only regard the advances made at that time to be amazingly rapid. Did this
create a problem? Was this "new" strongly developing class of achievers rising
too fast, getting uncomfortably close to penetrating "Power’s Towers"?
Unionism was surging ahead -- minimum
wage was established -- child labor laws were enacted. Everyone, even those with minimal
education, were climbing the ladder to success. "Achievement," possible for all,
permeated the social climate.
America was surging ahead as never
before. A courageous entrepreneurial climate was largely responsible for ongoing success.
Destructive corporate practices, advanced by socially sanitized MBA’s ... was yet to
come.
For the moment, corporate careers
promised a good living and most important "stability." Newly developing
technologies began to set agendas for the educational system. Students were pleased to
graduate, armed with specialties tuned to industries’ needs. We were still a
manufacturing based society. Employment opportunities were broad ranging. Our industrial
base was expanding ... "not eroding."
Welfare, social security, income tax,
were newly emerging concepts. Prosperity for the increasing middle class was just as new.
They were the avant-guard for America’s surging success. It led to undaunted
progression. Everyone was focused on bettering themselves ... and they could. The notion
of creating government monitored safety nets wasn’t needed. The traditional family
was not threatened. Educational tools were rewardingly accurate. The community was
involved and socially entwined. Concern for others was still alive and functioning.
This "praised, energetic
society" forged ahead. It advanced from crowded city cliff dwellers to suburbanite
home owners. They departed from train, trolley, bus rider, to proud owners of shiny new
automobiles. The sought after forty hour work week became reality. Leisure time,
disposable income, continuing trust that the bubble would only expand, kept it growing
bigger.
Honest effort and pride in
accomplishment was a winning formula. That factor made all else possible, or so it would
seem. In short order, the guidelines became insignificant. A new breed of corporate
masterminds, consumed with greed and rewarded for it ... implanted their
socially destructive objectives.
Product, product quality, worker consideration, fell prey to daily stock market
performance requirements. Paraphrasing a board room remark, "GM doesn’t sell
cars; it sells stock." What was the end result of this arrogance? Japan, Germany,
England, eagerly moved into the U.S. auto market. They remain embedded and prosperous
until today. We are asked to accept a transformed picture of our economy ... the
"nonsense" of an unrestrained global market place.
Our socially responsible formula in
tatters, resentment and mistrust pervades the mass of hurting, disillusioned, workers ...
destroying their social fabric. Workers that made America great, vested their future in
believing, are now suffering the treachery of trashed promises. Again, I must repeat ...
"It’s not the buggy-whip syndrome; it’s the greed syndrome."
Our economy has had its ups and downs
before. Unemployment reached much higher levels than today’s publicized numbers.
Temporary disruption of the work force is not a new phenomenon. Abrupt and extreme
dislocation of the work force "is a new and frightening happening." This shift
in job opportunity was formulated behind our backs. If this planned switch to a service
society was forecast, approached honestly, open for national discussion, there might have
been a chance it could have been designed to be successful for all. Would that have been a
bad way to go?
Before society was beset with
today’s chaotic, hateful downsizing and restructuring, people willingly listened to
explanations. When intelligently presented with facts, accepting a glitch appeared to be
reasonable. Faith and the willingness to believe in a return to normalcy was still
possible.
Recessions of varying degrees came
one after another, but as disruptive as they were they seemed manageable. Never did the
"glitch" elevate anxieties to the point where we reached a level of combative
disintegration. During all previous up and down cycles faith in the system prevailed.
There was always a rosier future on the horizon ... a believable rosier future.
Life did get better. A thirty five
hour work week was in the wind. Some corporations had already instituted a forty hour four
day week, affording families more leisure time.
Everyone! banks, corporations,
workers, appeared to be on the same wave length, convinced the future would continue to
promote mutually beneficial advantages for all.
Banks, in particular, were at the
forefront of displaying confidence. Credit was freely dispersed. Weren’t the banks
determined to shower us with credit ... confirming the recipient’s ability to handle
it? If one had any doubts about the future and the ability to repay debt, banks were
instrumental in dispelling such anxieties. We were on our way to owing our lives to the
company store. An accident?
Corporate promised ... workers
believed. We were glad to have them. They were glad to have us. Who did more for whom?
It was a time when I witnessed
computer repairmen advance to marketing executives ... trained within the
company. I witnessed office personnel
at Aramco being sent to the Middle East for high level training ... within the company. I
witnessed many success stories, where people with intelligence, not necessarily with
degrees, made it to the top ... trained within the company.
Small, entrepreneurial family
businesses were sprouting up wherever you looked. Under the elevated trains in Brooklyn, a
cluttered drab store, selling mops, pots, and assorted housewares eventually became a
splendid store on Manhattan’s 5th. Avenue. A hard working electrician, carrying his
load of tools on bus and train, converting gas to electric light, eventually had crews
working throughout the city. A baker from Europe, starting with a small facility, the
bakery and a four table restaurant, eventually grew to develop an extensive bread delivery
business. Another newcomer to America began by nailing shingles on the roofs of Levittown
homes. He grew to the extent where his real estate holdings became legendary and was
written about in the Readers Digest.
While this freedom to progress
appeared to be America’s solid doctrine, all too soon corporations showed signs of
how they could exercise muscle. Merger mania grew, in spite of laws that were supposed to
prevent the inevitable ... "too much corporate power." Mergers with suspicious
motives, hostile take-overs, junk bond deception, were visible gathering storm clouds. It
was obvious, "Power" -- not improvement ... was on a rampage. It wasn’t
long before workers’ notions of opportunity and security, began to melt away. Every
merger or takeover produced sell-offs and lay-offs. As power got fatter, we got leaner.
Many of us went broke.
Middle management, a substantial
segment of the middle class, had the rug pulled from under them. No longer could the
emissaries of power, "our silver-tongued renegades in government" preach the
glory of tomorrow. The words of Barnum, "a sucker is born every minute" had
reached a climax. The sucker was waking up. The "Chip" not yet fully utilized,
was beginning to emerge as the ultimate tool of power. Fighting back still appeared to be
possible. Now! waiting much longer ... may insure impossibility.
The middle class society that brought
America to her greatness was unconscionably altered and dismantled. The dedicated workers
who created the bubble of growth -- who cooperated in every way to ensure its future ...
were unceremoniously dumped. "Power" affirmed its capabilities of ultimate
control. Normally expected job longevity, ensuring a worker’s future well being, was
being eradicated. As a result, the "Family" was relegated to continue its slide
to oblivion.
Debt, so readily showered on us,
became a noose around our necks. As our death rattles grew in intensity, consumerism, the
"wheels of power’s limousines" ... was going flat. That didn’t seem to
matter so much. It’s easier to repair a tire than restore a life. "Power"
knew that and proved that.
Today, turmoil reigns as never
before. Corporations’ profits, greater than ever, stock values flying high, have been
created by inexcusable downsizing ... a practice that will come back to haunt them. Those
who have gotten the ax are being bombarded by government to embrace retraining. Our
government, though they secretly sponsored corporate advantage, now tries to sweet-talk us
into submission. If they succeed we will all wind up "Pushing Hamburger." Will
the Pacific Rim economic expansion be receiving economic refugees from the USA?
As if there is not enough greed
created chaos, more is being cooked up. Welfare reform, an attempt at improvement, is
being engineered by sadistic minds. It is being designed to force welfare recipients into
an already shrinking job base, which has displayed an inability to "keep the American
family together." Crazy? Clever?
General Motors closes a plant in the
U.S.. Needed downsizing and reorganization are some of the publicized explanations. Jobs
gone, a community dedicated to the corporation is put in jeopardy as a new General Motors
plant appears in Mexico. Is this chicanery or stratagem? Does our government intercede on
our behalf? No way! Government steadfastly argues in favor of its appropriateness. They
did sponsor NAFTA ... you know. Tons of our tax money went to Mexico as an outcome of the
deal. Think again ... chicanery, stratagem, or both?
Even if we wanted to be patriotic and
buy American goods to regrow our industrial base how can we, if most aren’t made here
any more. Try a simple experiment. From the time you wake up in the morning and brush your
teeth, till you’re ready to retire, write down where everything you touch or go near
is made. The countries of origin will speak volumes. We, the consumers didn’t want
everything to be made over there. It was our submissive government, bending to corporate
will, that created corporate welfare (tax advantages) and looked the other way, dismissing
our abhorrence to exploited labor competing with us.
There seems to be no end to
suspicious, perplexing inconsistencies. Why, when America attained phenomenal meteoric
growth and dominance in the production of goods for the world market, are we now imitating
the job market of third world economies? There are those who will have lots, as the rest
are relegated to limiting toil. Why, after becoming the world’s leading industrial
power, are we importing so many of our daily necessities and have become the world’s
biggest debtor? Why, when we proclaim to be a utopia, do we lag far behind in education,
health care, crime prevention etc. ... of those we bombed into oblivion? Have the
custodians we entrusted to adhere to "our rational," including the President,
become one with a conspiracy? Are we entering a new age ... "domestication of the
work force"?
Too cynical a thought? Think! Look
back! Only a generation past -- rewarding beliefs, rewarding application of rewarding
employment, usually resulted in rewarding achievement ... and a promising future. Where
have those attributes gone? What kind of future are we being led to?
Simply put, we have come to
disbelief, disillusionment, disconnected depression. This characterization is not
portraying isolated pockets in our society, nor is it the result of isolated intentions of
those in power. It couldn’t be. it’s too pervasive and therefore must be assumed
to have been orchestrated through coalition, and with hidden intent.
Our President has no compunctions of
appearing on television and announcing in emphatic terms, "our country has become a
service society, get used to it." It didn’t just come to his attention, he must
have been in collusion with "power’s agenda" for a long time.
The louder we cry out for our
government to intervene -- to put the brakes on what is happening -- to curtail corporate
abuse of power ... the more defensive and ridiculous become their antidotes.
A persistent ominous thought keeps
surfacing. This recently acknowledged, guardedly admitted to, "New World Order"
-- is it a prelude to strategies of "multi-national organizations" ...
specifically designed to divide a world they will eventually own?
The more I contemplate the
connections in today’s world, the more I have to believe that corporate is bent on
dominating it in their own way. The more I contemplate the outcome, the more I believe an
"Orwellian" era is closing in on us.
Will machine supplant the mind of the
masses? Is man destined to become an organic appendage to the "Chip"?
When 350 of the world’s richest
people have more wealth than 3,000,000,000 of the world’s population, anything is
possible and many things are becoming probable. When 350 are equal to 3,000,000,000, could
there be temptation? You bet!
How might ownership of the entire world be controlled
and administered? Not to worry, it’s already under way. The tool is the chip.
"Chip." A godsend for some ... a curse for most.
Be patient
downloading. It's worth it.
