Letter I sent to WSJ
Dear Gunjan,
Just heard your interview on Andrew Yang's podcast. You sounded sympathetic to working people so I wanted to offer you my perspective as a 66 year old guy, soon to be 67.
A) I was talking a few days ago to someone who was about 30 and I told them that in 1978 I was moving paint cans at Sears for minimum wage of $2.65 an hour. They pulled out their phone to see what that would be like in today's money. He said it was $30.
B) The wealthy have turned housing into a major investment strategy. This has been the single biggest thing that has destroyed the financial balance for working people. Now so much housing is controlled by property management companies on behalf of wealthy owners.
When I was working for $2.65 an hour I had a studio apartment for $60 a month in Denver. Try finding that ratio now where you can pay your rent in 25 hours.
C) when I was growing up the major wealth difference was between the salaries of people.
Once middle class people with disposable income and some financial savvy started investing in the stock market it amplified wealth differences in a major way.
This was exacerbated by the fact that a lot of middle-class people inherited homes that by the time they got them were worth fantastic amounts of money in today's market. People working at Walmart did not inherit homes like that.
Now there is an investment class and there is a working class. I hate the stock market because I know every time it goes up it pushes me down.
The old saying was
"a rising tide lifts all boats"
Now it's
"flood waters sink small craft"
D) the math of America simply doesn't work. If you look at
*The number of jobs available
* What those jobs pay
* The price of housing and other costs
It doesn't add up, at least not for any blue collar worker not in a trade.
I talked to a woman on a bus who had worked 11 straight days and was going to do her laundry on her day off. I didn't ask if she had kids.
E) it is considered taboo to talk about class differences in America but that is the biggest problem.
The lockdowns were class warfare. The middle class worked from home. The poor, if they were able to fill out the forms and deal with the bureaucracy, may have collected some unemployment. Many didn't. I will forever hate the Democrats for that, not that I'm any fan of Republicans. It's the choice between being shot or strangled.
F) social security retirement benefits are a joke.
People work for years and end up with $1200 to $1500 social security in an environment where that's the rent for a one-bedroom apartment. A few get senior subsidized housing, most just spend their declining years in poverty.
G) I am quite fortunate in my own situation in that, although I'm a guitar teacher and musician and have lived on next to nothing most of my life, I am educated and am excellent at managing my money, not that I have any investments myself.
It helps that I never had any desire to own a home or get married and have children. My younger friends that have and do want to do so are struggling.
Years ago I used to have guitar students who were busboys and dishwashers. Now those people can't afford lessons anymore.
Most of my students in recent years have been middle class and wealthy people, many of whom are now too afraid to sit down in person with someone as a result of all the fear-mongering regarding covid.
I was 21 in 1977. In the years since 1980 I have seen the ratio of housing prices to wages go downhill more and more. It is not accidental. There is no mystery why so many people are homeless and why so many people are alcoholics and drug addicts. They have lost hope.
I don't like seeing so many people doing drugs or hanging out doing nothing but I understand it because why would they want to go and be slaves knowing they could lose everything the minute they have a problem. I made more money making $2.65 an hour than people today who make $25 an hour, and very few working class people make anywhere near that.
___
To sum up
if you are working class America is set up for you to fail.
Working class people are simply farm animals there to be exploited by the wealthy and the middle class.
One big company town,
One big factory farm.
Best wishes,
Jay
SocratesThalassos.com