How long can this end-stage capitalism last, when our young people can only be employed in "gigs" as "independent contractors," as "part timers" when really they should be full time (and are, in terms of hours performed)?
Did you see this week that Lyft, whose entire work force is "gig," went public with an IPO? Shareholder value! The entire company is built on people who qualify for Medicare and food stamps!
What we have right now is a workforce that is losing all of its power to self-sustain. I am so tired of it. So. Tired. Of. It.
If I was running this world, I'd stick it to the oligarchs, and not just in this country, but everywhere. There ought to be an international cap on wealth, agreed to by all governing bodies.
Know why that will never happen? The politicians are either bought by the stinking rich, or they are the stinking rich.
One job should be enough. Enough to rent an apartment, enough to support a child, enough to afford a modest savings, a fun vacation, a car. That's not asking much. Why isn't it a platform of the Democratic Party?
Oh, by the way, sweet readers ... I missed you guys! You can comment, and sorry about the stupid verify thing. I'll try to police the sleaze bags.
6 comments:
I agree with you, Anne. A single job at a living wage does not seem too much to ask. However, the gig economy is globalism's answer to sweatshop labour in the third world. It's how globalism has driven down western labour costs. I wonder if that will change.
It's the age of contractors and contract workers.
Goodbye to professionalism and to knowledgeable professionals dedicated to their craft. The mercenaries have fully taken over.
When it gets bad enough, and I don't know how bad that is, I really hope the peasants rise up again and take the countries and cultures back. The U.S. will be at the forefront as it is going down the fastest.
I get so crazy over all this..I swear I'm going to stroke out..
The answer is giving power back to the Unions.
the Ol'Buzzard
Jobs are disappearing. It's partly that pay has not kept up with inflation or productivity, but it's also the jobs are just disappearing -- because of automation, mergers and acquisitions, old people not being able to retire, population expansion, and climate refugees. (My spouse is writing a book on it....) What we need is a vision of an alternative economy that works. We need to know what it will look like in order to steer there. A sustainable, stable-state economy with a way for everyone to make a living wage -- whether it involves a job or not. We are missing a lot of potential jobs in the renewable energy sector because of our lame president. Our government should be supporting inventors -- like garage inventors rather than big companies -- and entrepreneurs. ( I hate that word. Why don't we have a nice short Anglo-Saxon word for it?)
--Kim Cooper
Post a Comment