Our "booming" economy...Oh really!

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s first novel (1952) entitled “Player Piano” envisioned a world where automation had entirely replaced factory workers. Vonnegut’s world consisted of a very small wealthy elite class; an equally small and elite (5 Ph.D.’s were minimum requirements) technical expert class; and everyone else in a permanently obsolete worker class.

In Vonnegut’s view, the worker class was content with a monthly government stipend, with being housed in government-provided “cookie-cutter” houses, and with finding enjoyment in the mundane entertainments of a purposeless existence.

I first read “Player Piano” thirty years ago and at that time I didn’t believe American workers were docile enough to go willingly into the black night of permanent obsolescence. Today, I’m not so sure. My big question is whether they are going docilely, or being pushed.

According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI, “The state of jobs and wages” by Lee Price and Jared Bernstein, 2006), real income for working class people fell last year (2005) by 1 to 2 percent. They further state that the “unprecedented 26-month decline in jobs followed by sluggish job growth ever since has caused many people to simply withdraw from the labor force.” Yet government spokesmen and stock market analysts tout our current economy as “booming” with high profit growth and low unemployment.

Yet, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 15.3 million Americans are under-employed. All of this at a time when good US jobs are being exported via outsourcing and the de-industrialization of America. The economy is strong for those who have money invested in the stock market. For less advantaged Americans, it is deplorable.

Here in heartland America, just a few examples from my circle of friends bear witness to this fact:

· Elaine; 51-years-old, 20+-year employment as a pharmacy technician earning over $10/hour; unemployed due to outsourcing and now working part-time for $7/hour at a retail store.
· Monica; age 46, 20+year employment in the insurance industry earning over $10/hour; unemployed due to downsizing and now working two part-time jobs at just above minimum wage. She’s a single mother of two teen-agers.
· Joanne; age 55, 20+-year history in social work; currently unemployed due to cutbacks in her local school district and finding only part-time work opportunities at very minimal pay.
· Ana; 46, 20+-year history as a translator and manager; currently unemployed due to outsourcing. She is a single mother with a ten-year-old daughter.

Is it really true that our economy needs the flood of illegal aliens continually pouring into this country? Are they merely pawns in a much larger game? The game of lower wages for working-class Americans is the one being played…especially if they are both middle-class and middle-aged.