TERRY MOSHER
TOP OF THE TOWN – One consequence of the pandemic is going to be further slam on the poor and the middle class. It’s already happening. Workers will be laid off, wages will fall, and the gap between the top one percent and the rest of us will grow even larger. This is like UFC where you can not only get kicked silly but be brutalized after you have been knocked semi-unconscious by your opponent jumping on your body and deliver jackhammer blows to your head that in any other recognized and legal fight would call for disqualification. This is what we are going to see as the pandemic subsides and the economy comes back to life. It already is happening as Boeing has announced it will cut its workforce by 12,000 immediately and another 4,000 or so later. United Airlines will cut 30 percent of its management. Many small businesses will probably not reopen, having already lost life to the pandemic. Professional sports teams are also taken massive hits with teams cutting salaries and furloughing staff. Losing a percentage of a multi-million salary, though, is not the same as a worker making $10 an hour being tossed out of work or being told his wage is being cut to $6. Some of this may be necessary to save businesses, but it is also being done to become leaner and meaner and workers being severely hurt be damned. Another factor that will drive layoffs and wage suppression is the arrival of Websites like Upwork where people can sign-in and register for work in various professions. The sad point, though, is that because of the pandemic sites like Upwork have seen a surge of people registering, which means supply is overtaking demand, and that drives down the wage. One worker, cited in a Time Magazine story, turned down a food delivery offer because it pad just $3, which was less than it would have cost in gas to make the delivery. I have read reports that suggests the virus may never fully disappear. If so, the way we conduct ourselves will have to change. There will be a new normal. What that new normal will be is anybody’s guess. But what I can guess is medium to large companies will take advantage of large worker demand plus low supply to sap wages. The stock market will likely continue to go up, but the average worker’s wages will likely go down. The stock market is never an indication of how the economy is doing. It is an indication of how well large corporations and wealthy investors are doing. As long as the Federal Government cuts their taxes and sends them stimulus checks in the millions these companies will thrive. Not so much for the average worker or the poor. It’s this inequity that will at some point in our history provoke a class war. There has to be. The middle class and poor can only be trampled for so long before they will fight back. So it goes in America, the land of the free and home of the brave. If all of that is not enough of a warning, racism will fuel the coming class war. The rise of white nationalism and the large boot on the neck of minorities from the economy, to civil liberties and injustices in the justice system will add more fuel. I likely won’t be around to fight in it, but success against the oligarchy that controls most of the government may finally restore equal justice to a country that once was a beacon of hope for many around the globe, and may be once again. Ok, that is enough for today.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.
