Kepler
Cornell Big Red
Re: Obama XVIII : Now with 100% more Gov't sponsored starvation
I think you've identified both ends of the dilemma. We did face this situation in some part before, though, with the transition from agricultural labor to semi- and high-skilled industrial labor. By the end of the 19th century we were seeing the already well-developed agribusinesses moving off shore to cheaper Third World sources. A huge percentage of the American labor pool was still categorized as "laborers" then -- part of what exascrebated the Great Depression was food price deflation. From the 30's through the 60's, jobs moved "indoors" to unionized factory floors, higher education became democratized, and the middle class grew precisely because of a concern for "social justice" now so snidely dismissed by people with a hardon to return to the Gilded Age.
The government doesn't have to be the sole provider of these opportunities -- it seems like half the great men who rose from poverty during the golden age of the America middle class between 1935 and 1975 came from private Catholic schools. But the government does have a role through things like the GI Bill, guarantees of savings, and a progressive tax code that prevents an aristocracy from choking off the American dream.
The Dems were in charge of protecting that until recently, but it appears more and more that even they have been co-opted, in which case we really only have a tiny clique running the show now. It's my clique, and I'll do fine. But if I were the rest of you, I'd be pissed.
I think you've identified both ends of the dilemma. We did face this situation in some part before, though, with the transition from agricultural labor to semi- and high-skilled industrial labor. By the end of the 19th century we were seeing the already well-developed agribusinesses moving off shore to cheaper Third World sources. A huge percentage of the American labor pool was still categorized as "laborers" then -- part of what exascrebated the Great Depression was food price deflation. From the 30's through the 60's, jobs moved "indoors" to unionized factory floors, higher education became democratized, and the middle class grew precisely because of a concern for "social justice" now so snidely dismissed by people with a hardon to return to the Gilded Age.
The government doesn't have to be the sole provider of these opportunities -- it seems like half the great men who rose from poverty during the golden age of the America middle class between 1935 and 1975 came from private Catholic schools. But the government does have a role through things like the GI Bill, guarantees of savings, and a progressive tax code that prevents an aristocracy from choking off the American dream.
The Dems were in charge of protecting that until recently, but it appears more and more that even they have been co-opted, in which case we really only have a tiny clique running the show now. It's my clique, and I'll do fine. But if I were the rest of you, I'd be pissed.
