Layoffs

So now the Koch brothers are warning of layoffs if Obama is reelected joining other rich plutocrats threatening the peasants if the peasants don't act according to their wishes.

Really.  This is where we are in America?  THESE are our leaders of industry?   Men who (like the Koch brothers) have run successful businesses, made themselves PILES of money, and now, somehow, if Obama is reelected they are going to have to lay off everyday workers to stay profitable?

Hmm.  I think this is a load of crap.

Why?

Oh, because of the tens, if not hundreds of millions these men have spent on political campaigns.  Instead of reinvesting it in their businesses, or keeping it for tougher times, no, its their money, they can do what they want, so they try and get friendly politicians elected.

But then, if things don't go their way, they cry, take their ball and go home, and make their workers suffer so that they can keep their huge incomes and replenish the spending cash for the next election cycle in four years.

Look, I understand that its hard to run a business in the US.  We need to overhaul our corporate tax system and we need to streamline and improve our regulating processes.  I am NOT anti-businessman especially since, as much as I despise their politics the Koch brothers at least own businesses that PRODUCE things unlike the Wall Street boys that just shift data in computers.

That said, the whole "I made mine if you don't like it go make your own" mentality of too many of the wealthy in this country is nauseating.  Its selfish and its destructive.  And if they somehow believe that threatening their employees is going to solve America's problems, well, good luck to them on that.

The blind, selfish, willful ignorance and hubris of so many wealthy people sickens me.  Thanks Supreme Court for allowing these guys to try and buy election after election.  That's certainly what the Founding Fathers you hold so dear envisioned that First Amendment being used for.  Nice work.

This probably makes even less sense than most of my posts but I am sick and tired of the rich feeling every bit as entitled (to a far larger piece of the pie, in fact almost ALL the pie) as the poor they like to blame for all our problems.

Meaning in work

I'm currently reading an interesting, if a bit disheartening book, 'Bait and Switch' by Barbara Ehrenreich, about getting a professional white-collar job at or around the age of 40. Its interesting because its a look at people who were discarded by their companies for one reason or another. Down-sizing, mergers, lay-offs, all the different reasons that people lose jobs. Except, what gets missed is that its PEOPLE who are losing their jobs.

When a company, say Chrysler, lays off 5,000 white collar employees, that's 5,000 white collar employees who suddenly are in the job market looking for jobs like the one they had, except hopefully more stable. (I understand that some would just retire, others wouldn't seek another job, but lets just say for simplicity that nearly 5,000 would go looking.) That's quite a few people out wandering around looking for work. Especially since many of the jobs today seem to exist only to insure that people show up to meetings.

This is not a knock on the workers. Sure, there are plenty of 'Wally's' in the workforce, but there are pleny of people who are motivated to do their jobs. Or would be if they could see that their jobs actually mattered. So much time is spent in meetings and speaking a foreign language filled with buzzwords that don't actually mean anything, that lots of companies could cut back payroll by 15% and not notice it if getting things accomplished was actually the goal of management.

Now, I know on a macro level that there are goals and such, but so much focus on the lower level is spent on internal issues as opposed to actually doing things that move the company, or person forward. Too many employees today don't see enough purpose to their work. Since they see no purpose, their output suffers. Also too many managers are looking over their own shoulders knowing an easy way to cut payroll is to eliminate a bunch of $100K jobs.

We have so many "qualified" people and only so many jobs to take them. I see this as a symptom of not actually making things in this country anymore. Someone who's management skills might at one point helped run a plant, is now in charge of PR or Marketing or Accounting shifting money from one part of the company to another. Some of the jobs are VITAL, but there are so many of them now that not all of them are actually useful anymore, and employees feel it.

I'm not a protectionist. I understand aspects of the global economy and our part in it. But, we do need some products made here. Not everyone can be a 'white-collar' professional. There is nothing wrong with that, different people have different skill sets. However, if we don't start creating some jobs that pay a decent wage, i.e. enough that 2 of them can support a middle-class family, serious issues are going to arise down the road. Are arising already in some sectors like housing.

I don't know what the solution is. But I do know that I hate going to the store and being excited to buy something made in Mexico instead of something made in China, and those two being my ONLY options.