There is a line in Bruce Springsteen’s “My home town” that goes: “Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back to your hometown”. The lyrics probably were written some years ago to describe changes in New Jersey, but perhaps they are appropriate to present changes in our country and perhaps even worldwide.
Each month I listen to pundits from the various networks discuss the monthly jobs report. There seems to be something for everyone – the numbers are always positive, but never positive enough. The small business job creators are being handicapped by expectations for health care (is a lack of benefits really part of a productive business model). Schools are not preparing students for the reality of a new world (21 century skills). What if most of the speculation regarding jobs and the economy are missing something more obvious? What if the number of jobs necessary to meet many of our needs is simply not growing? We have advanced and that means we have become far more productive. Part of the problem is becoming more productive and not less productive. Technology is part of this. Being successful has a downside. We need fewer farmers. We need fewer workers to man an assembly line. An economic down turn has not harmed the stock market. Companies can find ways to become more efficient and once greater efficiency has been achieved why reverse course?
We may contribute to this reality in other ways. We prefer cheap as consumers. We shop at Sam’s and Costco. We order from Amazon rather than Borders or specialty book stores and we prefer our technology gadgets from the same source rather than Best Buy. We may also be nearing the peak of our consumerism. How much more stuff do we need? We are partly responsible for decreasing the number of jobs and developing a small group of ultra wealthy capable of biasing our political system to keep our economic system working in their favor.
I am of the opinion that dispersing the wealth is part of the solution. There is enough money, just not enough individuals with access to a reasonable portion. There is no reality in a trickle down philosophy. Trickle, at best, is an apt description. If anything, the data clearly show we are in the midst of an accelerating trend in the opposite direction. The only way I see more citizens receiving the benefits of the productivity of this country is for the government to step in. What concerns me is the model by which politicians secure funds to keep themselves in office and the way this alters priorities sustains the present system.
I have long been a Tom Friedman fan and what I describe here seems similar to some of the arguments he makes – http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/
What is the role for education? I don’t buy the argument that preparing students to be STEM innovators is the only path we should explore. The proportion of students who will have the necessary aptitude and commitment to achieve in this way has a reasonable limit. This argument is akin to the dream of some to become professional athletes. Educators warn against the pro athlete dream and they should recognize that becoming the next Jobs, Brin, or Beezos is even more remote. I also don’t see education as the remedy for inequity. An exception here and there aside, those with advantages going in exit with the same or greater advantages. This is not a failure of the system. All advance, but not to the same degree. The resources available are not sufficient to reverse the disadvantages many face.
I did not used to pay attention to economic news, but my retirement decision is here and I am paying more attention.
The country needs people like me to retire. I am quite capable of continuing to do my specialized job. My mental capabilities are fine and I have the benefit of a lot of experience. The type of job I do pays off late in the game. If you are into the money, you work a long time to get to this level and it is tempting to work a few more years to cash in. However, the number of jobs like mine are relatively limited and there are many talented individuals waiting to be given a chance. Perhaps there should be a way to retire earlier with some confidence about the future. Perhaps working more hours should not be encouraged. What if there are only so many hours of “thing creation” work available and we need to share these hours around. There are certainly some services that could be expanded. If health care is the issue of the future, why is it that the number of providers has not been expanded? If class size in education is an issue, why are we talking about saving money by cramming more and more students into the same number of classes. Why are we presently satisfied because we have found oil and have plenty of coal? We know the downside of taking the short term perspective.
This is not intended to be a pessimistic post. However, doubling down on an unregulated model of wealth creation has to change.