The unemployment rate continues to be dismal. A lot of people can't figure out why, flush with cash, Corporate America has chosen to hand out big bonuses to the bigwigs and then sit on the rest of it. Folks, it's actually very, very easy to understand: unemployment is good for the corporate bottom line.
When there are 5 or more applicants for each open job, Corporate America is under no pressure to offer competitive wages, meaningful health benefits or almost any kind of retirement plans. They also don't have to worry much about workers clamoring for unions.
Desperate people are willing to put up with almost anything just to land a job! Low pay is better than no pay. Health and retirement benefits might be nice, but certainly not a deal breaker. Just as important, workers don't want to jeopardize their positions by talking to a union organizer and taking the chance of receiving a pink slip for their efforts.
The financial captains of the nation are sitting pretty right now and so the last thing they want to do is to create a bigger job market. More jobs means potential applicants can afford to be choosier and being choosier tends to push up wages and other perks. Larger expenditures on one's workforce means less money flowing to the top of the food chain.
This is why we need a federal work program akin to what FDR implemented in the 1930s. It is, unfortunately, about the ONLY way the job market will improve in the near future.
When there are 5 or more applicants for each open job, Corporate America is under no pressure to offer competitive wages, meaningful health benefits or almost any kind of retirement plans. They also don't have to worry much about workers clamoring for unions.
Desperate people are willing to put up with almost anything just to land a job! Low pay is better than no pay. Health and retirement benefits might be nice, but certainly not a deal breaker. Just as important, workers don't want to jeopardize their positions by talking to a union organizer and taking the chance of receiving a pink slip for their efforts.
The financial captains of the nation are sitting pretty right now and so the last thing they want to do is to create a bigger job market. More jobs means potential applicants can afford to be choosier and being choosier tends to push up wages and other perks. Larger expenditures on one's workforce means less money flowing to the top of the food chain.
This is why we need a federal work program akin to what FDR implemented in the 1930s. It is, unfortunately, about the ONLY way the job market will improve in the near future.
Hmm, I dunno. I mean, I agree mostly, but it seems to me when wages are terrible and the economy is in a tank, that's when unions really get going. Like the union movement of the Depression Era, just read Grapes of Wrath. Hell, socialism/communism itself really got going during times of low wages and lots of exploitation. The corporations are walking a very fine line, go too far down this path and it's going to bite them in the ass.
ReplyDeleteOf course, as they only look as far as next quarter, they probably can't see that.
I think you're talking of a bygone era. Union membership in this country today is embarrassingly low and I certainly haven't read about any recent surges.
ReplyDeleteAs to socialism, it's a "bad" word in the US. Heck, members of the Tea Party call the centrist Obama a socialist. Can you imagine how unhinged they would become if a political leader started talking about GENUINE socialism?