The disappearing middle class?

Often during the transit strike of a few weeks back, I heard grumblings from people commenting on the audacity of transit workers who would dare go out on strike considering the benefit package they have. More often than not, these complaints masked a certain amount of jealousy on the part of the speaker. Any complaint about the transit workers was usually accompanied by the statement: “I don’t get a pension!, or I can’t retire at 55! or I have to pay for my medical benefits!

Whenever I heard these comments, my first thought was, “so, because you don’t have a decent benefit package, no one should?”

Instead of working people holding this (the transit workers’ benefit package) out as an example of the way things should be - they just buy into the histrionics of people like Mikey B who compared the transit workers to thugs. Of course, the interesting thing about Mikey B is that he makes more than enough money to pay for his own medical benefits, he’ll never have to worry about his retirement with all the wealth he has managed to amass during the course of his lifetime and hey, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing the guy has managed to make a fortune, good for him.

At the same time though, can we get the people of this country to acknowledge that a higher standard is needed as the low water mark for our citizens? Things like affordable health care, retirement benefits and pensions are not the evils of society they are portrayed to be?

We had a savings and loan failure back in the early nineties, anyone remember that? You should as the cost to American taxpayers was staggering even by today’s standards:

Estimates of a clean-up bill of around $30 to $50 billion shocked US taxpayers at the time, but turned out to be optimistic. Today we know that between 1986 and 1995, when the storm abated, the underwriting of US thrifts by the financial industry and the US taxpayer cost an extraordinary $153 billion.1 The extent of the disaster turned it into a major threat to the US financial system, and one of the most expensive financial sector crises the world has seen.

Yeah, it’s those goddamn workers making $50k and upward a year which are driving our country into the toilet! Puhhllleeeeeezzze!

How about this one for you a running total of the U.S. taxpayer cost of the Iraq War. The number is based on Congressional appropriations.

So, when I read the story linked to below, I shudder.

“They’re destroying the working class. Why can’t people see this?” asked the 38-year veteran. “Anybody who works in manufacturing has no future in this country, unless you want to work for wages they get in China.”

Abby Abdo, 52, of Weirton, said workers once believed that if they accepted pay cuts and shunned strikes, they would keep their jobs. Not anymore.

“Once they get what they want, they kick us to the curb,” he said. “There’s no guarantee anymore. No pensions. No health care. No job security. We have none of those things anymore.”

My point is this, whenever you hear people trying to blame the working class of our country for society’s ills, it’s time to take a step back and point out the skewed priority’s we seem to have as a nation. Affordable health care, pensions, social security, these are not bad things, these are not the evils they are made out to be. A social safety net isn’t something to be ashamed of (as a nation), it’s something to be proud of. Maybe it’s time the people of this country start to sit up and take notice of that and remind there fellow citizens, their elected leaders and the media of that very fact every opportunity we get.