According to a National Law Project report, 1 in every 4 jobs is a low wage job in our country and predicted to remain that way to 2020. In Encinitas this seems emphatically true. Practically the only jobs coming to our community this year were the shamefully ill-paid big box retail, fast food and the most contemptible (in treatment of workers), Walmart. There is a generation who has never known what has been stolen of their future. This is all they have known. A year ago I read the following about the debt ridden middle class, and it stuck with me. David Michael Green stated in his piece with the same name, "We. Are. Not. Your. Human. Resources."
"The truth is, the one percent in this country sees the rest of us – not as equals, or even as human beings – but as commodities put on this earth to serve them, no different from machines or infrastructure, computers or chemicals. We are their resources, who just happen to have bodies and minds somewhat similar to their own (though of an entirely different class, of course!). Which means we’re a pain in the ass because, unlike machines, we have an annoying tendency to want a moderately decent salary and time off to spend with our families, not to mention bathroom breaks on the job. What a drag, eh Thurston?! To them, we’re not human beings entitled to human rights and empathetic respect. We are, instead, the frustratingly-expensive remaining elements of a wealth-production machine that cannot (yet) be replaced by computers, robots or Asian peasants."Now for the Tell-A-Vision portion of this situation, is the primary vision of a populace aware of this beyond simplistic blame regurgitated from hate radio and cable tv. A community awareness of the shared challenge of less capital could invite greater respect for the labor opportunities that are gone and probably not coming back. This is pretty fantasy land thinking for 2012's most publicized Encinitas, a community accustomed to wealth and prosperity. But, for the large slice of humanity living on low wages in Encinitas, being seen simply as resources and ascribed moral blame for poverty is a miserable place to be.
Part two is the re-education of our perceptions of value judgements. As Lincoln said, labor is the superior of capital. The video clip below captures this in the actions of an Oakland Teacher who created a computer lab for his school with no money at all. His labor, his imagination and reaching out to the internet, to community and his willingness to try is an inspiration. Robert Litt website
Building a shadow economy is something the very poor have a better handle on than the well to do. Barter is the backbone of this in every culture. It's primary attraction for many is building community, like our own Encinitas resident, Isabelle Baril-Ortley who does food swaps for this very reason. Regardless of what a person's economic standing, the skill and creativity of preparing food of all kinds is a wonderful community connection.
Both of these examples are celebration of labor over capital. These encourage us and our children to see beyond obstacles in problem solving. They empower us to rely on our own abilities rather than to depend on experts, money, leaders and others to do it for us. Lack of capital isn't the end of the world. This doesn't mean we don't insist on a decent quality of life for ourselves and a real future for our children.
These are just a couple of examples of envisioning a different approach to fulfilling our needs. In this last month of summer before Labor Day, there will be more posts on our human labor and finding renewed value in skills for a transitional economy. Nothing and no One thing or ideology will change our broken system, but it is irrational to keep expecting an economy that was built on paper to return.
