The multi-decade war against working people by “the right” has been disgusting. 30 years ago it was possible to live a sort-of okay life on minimum wage. Now? No way. Almost every basic living expense (rent, food, health care, etc.) has gone up much more than a low-end worker’s pay since 1979.

A typical “right” answer to this problem is to say that low-end workers should get more education or start businesses or otherwise work to better themselves. That’s nice, but we still need people to clean the floors and cook and stock the shelves in retail stores. Sure, we can (and have) turned a lot of those jobs over to illegal immigrants, but that is a sad solution to the problem — or at least what the Richie Riches perceive as a problem — of American workers wanting to earn enough to live on.

We used to talk about people we knew who were “poor but proud.” No one faulted neighbors who chose blue-collar jobs over white-collar ones, and chose to spend their time with their children or doing church work instead of “advancing” themselves.

Now “the poor” are looked down upon by their “betters” who now seem to use “poor” as a synonym for “criminal.” I’ll bet Bernie Madoff and the Enron crowd all avoided poor people and poor neighborhoods like mad because they didn’t want to be around “criminals.” Amusing in a way, but with an awfully sad tinge to the laughter.

We have lost respect for what we used to call “honest labor.” Most of the money in this country now seems to fall into the hands of speculators, lawyers, and others who make and do nothing useful. Investors and executives whine when they are asked to pay a tax rate on their investment “earnings” that are as high as the FICA (payroll tax) each and every legitimate worker pays on each and every dollar of his or her income.

Today’s “conservatives” seem to have forgotten the old Goldwater maxim about how it’s easier to pay $10,000 in taxes on a $100,000 income than to pay $1 on a $10,000 income. Goldwater also once told a Tucson audience, “You should consider yourself lucky that you make enough money to complain about how much you pay in taxes.”

I personally have no problem paying an extra dime or two for a fast-food meal if that little bit means the person making that meal is paid enough to afford a decent — if humble — apartment, decent food and clothing, and possibly a decent — although certainly not new — car.

Note that the non-union Japanese-owned auto plants in this country keep unions out not by shady tactics but by paying their people well enough that they have no incentive to organize. Also note that they have not been in this country long enough to have as many retirees as the American auto companies. This will change over time.

Are auto workers’ and other union retirees’ pensions excessive? Possibly. Considering that all of them over age 65 get Medicare, are their medical benefits excessive? Probably. But do these excesses even begin to compare with the “golden parachutes” and “buyouts” and “separation bonuses” given to laid-off or fired executives? No way.

We need to rethink who gets paid what in this country. Those of us who work have subsidized our richest citizens for too long, and now that the Era of Greed is coming to an end, even the Richie Rich crowd is seeing that when the working people don’t have money to buy cars and houses and even a few luxuries now and then, the stock market tanks and even the richest Richie Rich loses some of his or her fortune.

When the Richie Rich crowd talks about “class warfare,” it sounds like Hamas whining about Israeli retaliation for missiles fired from the Gaza strip. If you’re a Richie Rich, and you are tired of “class warfare,” you need to stop firing economic missiles at those of us in this country who do the Real Work that keeps things going. Then, and only then, will “class warfare” in this country come to an end.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.