What became of the working class hero?
Long ago it was quite normal for simple workers to be taken advantage of. Dickens made a career writing books describing the lives of downtrodden, abused workers in merry old England. Long days of hard work with no benefits, barely enough to eat, squalid living conditions and streets filled with beggars were the norm.
Right here in America it was common for the workers to live in company housing, buy their food at the company store and have literally nothing to show for a lifetime of grinding drudgery. Tennessee Ernie Ford, who I am told once owned property right here in Lake County, sang about it in “16 Tons.” As I recall the lyrics went “You load 16 tons (of coal) and what do you get? Another day old and deeper in debt!”
The tiny minority at the top of the food chain were wealthy beyond all imagination. They lived in virtual palaces, had servants, if not outright slaves, and basically told everyone else that if they were without bread that they should eat cake.
Henry Ford changed all that when he realized that if he wanted to sell millions of cars, he needed millions of people who could actually afford them. He stunned the business world by offering $5 per day to his workers. Soon workers began to organize, risking their lives, since hired “company men” would show up swinging lead pipes at their heads as the corporate response. Slowly, over a span of decades, the American middle class was born and our country became a shining example of what happens when everyone is allowed to share in the bounty of their hard work. Chickens did appear in every pot, a car, then two, appeared in every driveway. Nearly 70 percent of Americans became homeowners. Life was good.
But the “conservatives” yearned for the “good old days,” when “old times there were not forgotten,” or apparently, remembered with any accuracy. Government ceased to be a force for the good of the people, but instead became the enemy. The working class became the enemy as well. With each pay cut or slashing of benefits, they cheered! Close our borders to goods made by slave or child labor in factories with no pollution controls? Well, that would be protectionist and might harm corporate profits! By the way, if we move our corporate headquarters to the Bahamas, we can avoid paying taxes on those profits too! No wonder the lion”s share of George W. Bush”s unfunded tax cuts, which ballooned our deficits, went to the wealthiest few. Isn”t it great that the Supreme Court is about to lift all restrictions on corporations bankrolling campaigns? Yippee!
The past 25 years has been the golden age for those who fit the above description. Our manufacturing jobs have been in steady decline as multi-national corporations have “off-shored” them; the real buying power of middle class wages, after inflation, has stagnated and in many cases actually declined. The wealthiest 1 percent of our population has garnered, according to UC professor Emmanuel Saez, 67 percent of all the wealth created from 2002-2007, during the “jobless recovery.” In fact, according to his research, “more wealth is now concentrated in the top 1 percent than at any time since 1917, surpassing even 1928, the peak of the bubble in the roaring 1920s!”
Why is it that only when the middle class attempts to defend itself do we hear charges of “class warfare?” This war has been going on with great success for some time now but heaven forbid we try to end it, as that would be downright uncivil! I wish someone would explain how driving our standard of living back down to where it was “in the good old days” is either fair or conservative. I kind of like having a chicken in the pot and sure wish I had decent affordable health care that wouldn”t leave me bankrupt if I became seriously ill. Is that too much to ask?
Lowell Grant is a Lakeport real estate broker.
