[TheForge] OT: several questions and thoughts

[Demon Buddha]

Justin Fisher wrote:
>  > Unions have been killing this nation since the late 1960s.  IIRC,
> 
>> the death spiral becan with the airlines when the unions demanded
>> that wages DOUBLE.  Assholes.  Now we may be heading toward third
>> rate status.
> 
> 
> The unions have done their share, but take a look at who has the money - it sure isn't the working man, union or not.
> You'll notice that the rich guys are doing better than ever, as always.

	I don't have a problem with that, per se.  One doesn't become wealthy 
punching a clock.  If you want the success you have to pursue it. 
Nothing wrong with that.  What I do have a problem with is this recent 
(past 10 to 15 years) trend of abandoning the precepts of enlightened 
self interest.  This is most disturbing, because longer term views have 
been wholly supplanted with those of the shorter.  What I mean is this: 
at one time, corporate managers accepted as a cost of doing business the 
need of people to have a decent life.  This, in turn, translated into 
wages sufficient to allow for a nice place to live, clothing, food, etc. 
  Furthermore, it resulted in a workforce that was sufficiently well 
heeled to actually afford the products and services that the corporate 
world provided to the markets.

	Today, it appears that corporations in general regard employees as 
"resources" whose costs must be minimized to the greatest extent 
possible.  This appears to be a direct consequence of so-called 
"globalization".  When nations such as China produce goods at near 
slave-wages, all that businesses such as those here in the USA can do is 
cut costs to the bone.  Once the limits of process efficiency have been 
reached, there's not much else to do but cut wages while working your 
people ever harder.  This is OUR fault.  We want the low low KMart 
prices, and we also want our $30/hour assembly line jobs.  Well guess 
what... you can't fit ten gallons into a five gallon hat.  At any rate, 
it's a bit late for regrets.  We are well on the path and cannot turn 
back now.  The question is whether we as a species can recover from our 
folly, or if we're pretty well fucked.  I have no answer.