High Paying Jobs as an American Priority

Apr 15, 2014

I’m baffled by the shortsightedness of those who seek profit at the expense of the middle class and poor. I don’t understand how it’s so attractive to have more and more of less and less rather than a steady, but small piece, of something that’s healthy and growing.

Or maybe I do understand that: Perhaps it’s as basic as a maligned focus on the short term vs. the long term.

Maximum profit with the fewest jobs

What fascinates me is the seemingly obvious logical conclusion to paying people less and less money to do the same or more work, i.e. the destruction of our union. It’s simply not sustainable.

It seems obvious to me that healthy, productive families are what make America great. They are what produce exceptional people. Not the schools, not the cool technology. None of that. It’s stable, comfortable families that have enough ground under their feet to look ahead to new challenges, or up to the sky.

American thriving sits atop the family, and family thriving sits atop good jobs. To the extent that we destroy high-paying and stable jobs, we attack the family directly. And by extension we attack the very health and vibrance of America.

Trending in the wrong direction

But right now we’re abandoning the American family in the form of abandoning solid, high-paying jobs. And why are we doing that? Because those at the very top can make far more money if they pay American workers less money.

So they will destroy our foundations in order to make a short burning fire that helps only them. It’s sickening to watch. But even more hideous is watching those writhing on the ground after being hamstrung give praise to their assailants.

One path forward

There is but one path forward. Well, only one practical one, for the immediate future. And that is to establish the American job, and the American wage, as primary.

People working a full-time job should make enough money to have healthcare, raise children, pay for their education, go to the movies, to go Disneyland, etc. Jobs that don’t provide this just may be unAmerican.

A job that pays enough to do these things is the epitome of national infrastructure. It’s a bridge and a road and a school all combined into one. It’s a backbone. It’s a soul.

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The soul of a nation.

In no ambiguous way, we have sacrificed that soul on a ritual table of corporate profit and greed. And we will suffer greatly for it. We already are, but it may just cost us everything.

Forget the concept of a “living wage”.

One job for one family. That’s the goal. The obvious minimum. One family member works, and the other doesn’t. They stay home and help the children.

What we lose in profitability of our businesses comes back manyfold in the returns from those workers. Workers imbued and energized by the sustenance of a healthy family, and a healthy country.

More than anything, watch for this. Watch for how this crucial foundation is attacked in the form of lower wages, fewer benefits, and disappearing stability in the American workplace.

It’s disguised as efficiency, as a way to make more profit. But the question must be asked: If those profits aren’t coming to the families that are America, then is it really profit? Is it not just hollow coin for those who matter most?

American corporations are seeing their profits accelerate while our country’s soul begins to fade and flicker out. I only hope we can see these are related before it’s too late.

Apr 15, 2014

Notes

1. Feb 26, 2019 — I no longer see this as a solution because it’s not the responsibility of employeers to provide jobs, and AI/Automation are going to make work mostly obsolete anyway. We need a more dramatic solution.