Sunday Reflection: The Way of (Work) Life in the Modern USA
Our 32-year old son left today, to go back "home."
He lives with us every winter, moving in around mid-December and moving back out around March 20th when Spring arrives.
Buds on our apple tree...
Yes, he's employed, and yes has a pretty secure job as an arborist and senior grounds maintenance worker for one of the Seattle area's many "Satellite Cities."
It's basically a decent job, but it has one weird quirk... the city figured it could save a bunch of money by laying people off in December and essentially "re-hiring" them in the middle of March, thereby avoiding having to pay full-time salaries, benefits, medical and so on.
As a result, he's what they call a "Permanent Seasonal" worker, rather than a full time employee. This has been his 6th winter stay with us...
"Well, at at least he HAS a job!"
That is a fact. And he's grateful for that.
But what is also a fact, is that if he were a full-time employee he'd not be bouncing off the poverty line where his 9-month annual gig keeps him. If he were actually a full-time employee, his overall compensation would be about double, and he'd at least close to reaching the bottom rung of the increasingly elusive Middle Class. Instead, he "scrapes by" thanks to the fact that his "apartment" is basically a room with a half bath and a hotplate-kitchen sitting area the size of a large closet... for $775.00 a month.
You might ask "So why doesn't he go out and get a different job during those three months?"
Let's start to answer that with a different question: How many employers are going to hire and train someone they know will be gone again after three months?
The few that would would pay minimum wage, which after deductions and taxes would come to about the same or less than he collects as short term unemployment benefits for three months.
Ultimately, the only thing that will really make him any better off is when his car is paid off, in another 15 months and that $380 car payment goes away. Meanwhile, he's 32 and is still paying on about $70,000 worth of student loans for an education that never actually helped him get a job.
(And — before you ask — his vehicle is too old and unreliable to drive Uber or Lyft)
But this isn't really a post about him. Well, not entirely.
The thing is, his situation repeats across the nation in so many different ways. Ultimately, the net effect is a world that's "squeezing the bottom to feed the top," in different ways. And what's more, his tax dollars — in addition to his reduced opportunity — are going to fund something that doesn't actually serve him in any way... remember, he has a municipal job; this is not a private company with shareholders and investors. And we can be absolutely assured that the pencil pusher who came up with the idea of having workers only work nine months of the year is NOT limited to working nine months a year in his/her corner office.
Which all brought me to thinking about this thing called "Decentralization" we allegedly are all pursuing.
Ultimately, it's not that "having everything conveniently located in a central repository" is a bad idea, it's all that needless "middle stuff" between those who actually create the products and do the work and the uberclass who take on the financial investment risk that's the real problem.
It reminds me of one of my pet peeves from back in the days of mail order: Shipping and "Handling"
I want to be the one who gets paid $9.99 to "handle" something from one table to another, so it can be shipped. What a "cake" way to make things more expensive than they need to be!
I bet Ed Bob in his corner office who dreamed up "handling" also doesn't get furloughed for three months every year to save money...
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful rest of your weekend!
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As a millennial, I find it infuriating when boomers condescendingly tell me I'm being lazy and fiscally reckless if I can't afford a home and nice car. The policies they, their parents, and their grandparents promoted are what created the mess we face today. They already have homes, and see rising prices as validation for wise investment. I see it as a barrier to entry for me, and evidence of a deeply distorted economy. Of course, the proposed solutions are some form of universal basic income and increased minimum wages, but that just adds even more regulatory burdens my generation must shoulder while the people who tell us it's for our own good are mostly retirees now, or work in the political economy where they can just demand more pay through taxation and inflation.
Although I am — age-wise — on the edge of being a Boomer, I have always identified more with Gen-X and have no love of Boomers... a load of once-idealistic Hippies who pretty much invented Wall Street Greed. The Reagan-era caused a lot of damage in this country. Our kids are 33, 32 and 29 and life is a constant struggle for them... I don't have any good answers; being born and raised in Denmark the thing I most notice is the almost complete lack of "other-thinking" in the US; everything is focused on the self and on the individual. Whereas that might be noble on paper, it doesn't make for a functional society.
Healthy individualism is not a rejection of society, but a recognition that the fundamental unit of society is the individual, and "society" has no right to violate the individual just because someone cites some "greater good." What we have now is widespread megalomaniacal egoism masquerading as individualism, and busybody control freaks trying to keep a veneer of "compassion" over their aggression. Trying to choose sides is a losing proposition there.
I scrolled through this morning and am always annoyed when I don't get over here to read. This really struck a chord this morning because I see so much of this around. Nobody likes to hire full-time anymore and pay benefits. The benefit is that you have a job. I probably wouldn't have made out being a young adult in today's society.
I was watching Hive just a moment ago. We all got rich... wait for it... Oh! It's gone.
I am short on time as work is in a few, but, I don't get to comment nearly as often as I like, but, you surely catch my attention.
And thank you!