1. I was about to distance myself from Katha Pollitt (because, you know, everyone just associates us so closely with one another) for being kind of a nutjob. But then it turned out I was confusing her with Susan Estrich. And when I googled "Katha Pollitt" and "Michael Kinsley" to be sure I had the story right (note: I didn't), I found this piece by Pollitt that I really like too. So forget the distance--Yay Katha Pollitt!!
2. The actual thought of the day, which is really the thought of the week since now that I'm teaching and trying to write two papers (or portions thereof), I am apparently just posting on Thursdays. (Before I get to the thought itself, I'll just mention that the Thursday-posting pattern must be because I feel self-indulgent after teaching negotiation on Wednesdays and graduate methods on Thursday afternoons, and can sit down and think my own thoughts for a while!)
Anyway, no links for this one. I heard an interesting quote on the radio the other day (sorry, forgot when/where) about how retirement will be particularly difficult for many boomer-ish executives because they do not realize how much their expense accounts have been subsidizing their lifestyles. True, isn't it? Even for me, I get to eat in fancy restaurants because I am part of the recruiting committee; to stay in high-priced hotels because it's just "expected" of b-school types when we go to conferences; and to travel around the world in ways I couldn't afford because I can arrange to present my research in Spain and Hawaii and Prague.
If a decent-sized chunk of the populace wants to continue reaping these kinds of benefits, then perhaps it's no wonder that we tolerate the privileging of corporate interests over people's interests, of company health over labor vitality.
But isn't it a bit perverse that, while the folks at the top (yes, I too) are being subsidized by the company, the pattern at the bottom goes in reverse. People in hourly jobs are often forced to work off the clock--so they give up the one exchangeable resource they have (their time) for free. Companies continually cut the health coverage of their low-level workers in the name of the bottom line. These workers pay for coverage themselves, or just go uninsured. But the company has all those dollars now! All those millions of low-level, uneducated, powerless workers just happy they are holding on to minimum wage--they are subsidizing the company.
Hierarchical systems work, and are stable, because the folks at the bottom apply their muscle, follow orders, and work hard to keep things running; and the folks at the top are better equipped to plan and direct. In all hierarchies, benefits accrue to the top. They get lots of privileges and, well, stuff. But the key is that they also have to take care of the folks at the bottom--the hierarchy is all about keeping the whole group going strong together. And these guys are ridiculously easy to please. Thank them, act like you really owe them, and be sure they aren't paralyzed with fear because they can't pay the grocery bill, or the heating bill, or the bill for their cancer treatment. It's called noblesse oblige, and it's been around forever.
When the privileged forget about noblesse oblige, bad things happen. Think Marie Antoinette. It takes a while for people to realize they're getting screwed, but once they do--look out.
And so here we are, a society in which we not only blow off taking care of the people at the bottom, but we require them to subsidize our companies, and then the companies subsidize those of us who think it's normal to just eat cake.
The kicker? Having said all of this, I should be running to the dean to ask that my salary be cut and the surplus reallocated to one of the janitors. Guess how fast I'm doing that?
Edited to add: GREAT related post here.
And then...AHA! :The Magic Number"--Found it.
3 comments:
Hey -- you have just written so well about things that have been making me rage all week! You have added fuel to my fire. I'll explain another time -- but thanks for this further food for thought!
SRA
Say wha................????????????
Prague? Who said anything about stinking Prague? OK, for the real message. Thousands of people do backbreaking work every day to bring food to our tables. We in turn throw away about 10% of that food. For the priviledge of working these people receive no benefits, unsafe housing, daily doses of pesticide, and racially motivated discrimination. And still they come. Corporations can fail to care for their workers because there is a constant supply of new people who are willing to make minimum wage for the priviledge of being abused by the system. I also do not ask my employer to cut my salary and give the money to the hardworking families who barely get by while making it possible for me to eat anything I want whenever I want. Where does the revolution begin?
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