A friend of mine was in a jubilant mood when we met for coffee the other day.
“What’re you so puffed up about?” I asked
“I just got three weeks work.” He replied
He has been out of work for months and prior to that was working only two weeks out of every four. For some time now, the possibility of losing his home was ever present and is still looming as each day passes.
Another friend was laid off and has been unemployed now for four months. He has a Masters degree and is not short of skills. He has pretty much resigned himself to the fact that he will be thrown out of his home.
“It gets a bit demoralizing,” he tells me, “When you get rejected time and time again by employers despite having a university education that you’re still in debt for at 38 years of age." He went for his 11th interview Monday and has sent his resume to dozens of employers.
Long-term unemployment has devastating effects on people’s lives. This is especially so when the indebtedness of individuals and families is taken in to account. Another factor that adds to the personal crises that can overwhelm us in these situations, is the tendency for people to blame themselves for the mess they’re in.
This idea that we are individually responsible for our own destiny serves the ruling class well. This way we never question the system. Everything is our own personal fault. “If only I were smarter, prettier, or not so stupid, I would have made better decisions.” But while we have free will in the sense that the decision we make is ours, the circumstances in which we make these decisions are rarely of our own choosing. A tiny minority in society decided on the monetary policy that led to the economic crisis and the same minority decides where we drill for oil and whether we should drill at all.
But, in the last analysis, consciousness has a material base. The way we think, the ideas and thoughts in our heads are not our own individual possession, they are the product of the material world in which we live and function; or as Marx put it, "The ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind, and translated into forms of thought."
One thing is certain; the present economic crisis has had a profound effect on consciousness.
A Pew Research Center survey published today paints a more sober view of the crisis that has plagued US capitalism since the collapse of the Subprime housing market. On the severity of the crisis in comparison with the other 13 recessions since the 1929 crash, the survey’s authors write: “none has presented a more punishing combination of length, breadth and depth than this one.” The unemployment statistics, they add, “don’t fully convey the scope of the employment crisis that has unfolded during the recession.”
The survey, reported in today’s Wall Street Journal points out that, "Those without jobs are enduring the longest spells of unemployment recorded in modern history. " and adds that the “Typical unemployed worker today has been out of work for nearly six months, almost double the previous post-war peak.”.
The capitalist class is concerned about this and the effect it has on people’s health and production, but more importantly, on how they perceive the system, the attitude of the masses to capitalism and the free market. We have commented on this many times on this blog.
The survey also reveals:
Three in ten working adults have had their hours reduced
25% have suffered a pay cut
12% have been forced to take unpaid leave
11% have switched from full time to part time work
Men have lost more jobs than women and, as usual, Blacks and Latino’s have shouldered a disproportionate amount of job losses and housing foreclosures. Further crisis is on the horizon as the global economy continues to grapple with it. US workers, by necessity and personal choice, have become far more frugal. The idea that the US consumer is the buyer of last resort or that the US economy is the world’s growth engine has been shattered.
The dollar is under assault which is also a reflection of the increasing weakness of US capitalism on the world stage. A report released yesterday by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs says that that the dollar is an unreliable international currency and should be replaced by a more stable system. This comes on the heels of similar proclamations by the Russians and others.
While the depth of the economic crisis in the US is more clearly understood, the depth of the shift in consciousness is harder to gauge as it has yet to fully reveal itself in some form of major social protest; developments delayed due to the role of the Union leaders who have become full partners in the bailout of capitalism. There is no doubt in my mind that domestic violence, the shattering of family life and personal relations, alcoholism and drug abuse are the first signs of a response. But this too, they will always attempt to portray as personal failings, something that becomes harder and harder as the crisis claims more victims.
It would be a serious mistake to underestimate the level of anger and shift in mass consciousness that has taken place in the wake of this crisis and to draw the conclusion that here in the US we will never see a return to the mass movements of the 1930’s and a repetition of the protests that have occurred in Greece. It's best not to be caught off guard.
The Wall Street Journal article is here
No comments:
Post a Comment