Re: Class warfare--
Seems appropriate to mention class warfare on Trump's inauguration day. He was elected partly for his representation of the ignored Americans...
I first got a clue about ceilings of class in a former job from a young woman of Barbados. She was an illegal immigrant whose first action after coming to the US was to start a delivery service company. She had two American employees. The somewhat shady firm I contracted with at the time paid her cash under the table to courier packages around. They paid her way less than her competitors, but they did a good job at delivery. About once a week, I would suggest a way for her to get ahead. "Here's a group that helps women business owners," and "This other group helps minorities with business," and "This lawyer donates time for immigrant rights." After about a month, she told me, "You seem to be very sincere, but I have tried all your suggestions and nothing actually works."
This was a real wake-up call for me. Up to that point, I had assumed that upward mobility was an attainable goal for anyone who worked hard at it. She was certainly hard-working, and got a full days work out of her American employees too. But I found that her experience echoed my own. At the time, I was marketing my skills as a sort of one-man temp services firm. I had incorporated, and there were some advantages to that, but my profits were getting eaten up by taxes. I could not find a way to hire employees, and the resources available to me, like those of the Barbadosian, were not working.
The successful entrepreneurs seemed at the time to be those who had a connection in local government, or people who were frankly breaking one or more laws. That was further than I was willing to go, so I gave up and became an employee again. The myth is still out there, that its possible or even likely for someone to bring their small business into the millions. I think it probably does not happen very often these days. Probably this is mostly due, at a macro level, to the tightening of energy supplies and the slow collapse of the American Empire. And in my case, being in a mature industry without too many new variations to exploit.
I will always wonder what happened to that Barbadosian. At the time I used to wonder, if she was caught and deported so as not to take American jobs, whether the loss of her two employees' jobs would figure into that equation. But now I think that her illegal status satisfied the powers that be at several levels. My shady employer was happy to underpay her, and her underpayment helped suppress wages for the fully legal delivery firms that had to compete with her. That benefited businesses in the area, large and small.
The way to solve illegal immigration would be to legislate them the same wage rights as anyone else here. If they have been here working and not doing crimes, give 'em a green card and fine them something affordable, and give them civil rights. If they are criminals, deport them. That seems like the most equitable solution to me...
Seems appropriate to mention class warfare on Trump's inauguration day. He was elected partly for his representation of the ignored Americans...
I first got a clue about ceilings of class in a former job from a young woman of Barbados. She was an illegal immigrant whose first action after coming to the US was to start a delivery service company. She had two American employees. The somewhat shady firm I contracted with at the time paid her cash under the table to courier packages around. They paid her way less than her competitors, but they did a good job at delivery. About once a week, I would suggest a way for her to get ahead. "Here's a group that helps women business owners," and "This other group helps minorities with business," and "This lawyer donates time for immigrant rights." After about a month, she told me, "You seem to be very sincere, but I have tried all your suggestions and nothing actually works."
This was a real wake-up call for me. Up to that point, I had assumed that upward mobility was an attainable goal for anyone who worked hard at it. She was certainly hard-working, and got a full days work out of her American employees too. But I found that her experience echoed my own. At the time, I was marketing my skills as a sort of one-man temp services firm. I had incorporated, and there were some advantages to that, but my profits were getting eaten up by taxes. I could not find a way to hire employees, and the resources available to me, like those of the Barbadosian, were not working.
The successful entrepreneurs seemed at the time to be those who had a connection in local government, or people who were frankly breaking one or more laws. That was further than I was willing to go, so I gave up and became an employee again. The myth is still out there, that its possible or even likely for someone to bring their small business into the millions. I think it probably does not happen very often these days. Probably this is mostly due, at a macro level, to the tightening of energy supplies and the slow collapse of the American Empire. And in my case, being in a mature industry without too many new variations to exploit.
I will always wonder what happened to that Barbadosian. At the time I used to wonder, if she was caught and deported so as not to take American jobs, whether the loss of her two employees' jobs would figure into that equation. But now I think that her illegal status satisfied the powers that be at several levels. My shady employer was happy to underpay her, and her underpayment helped suppress wages for the fully legal delivery firms that had to compete with her. That benefited businesses in the area, large and small.
The way to solve illegal immigration would be to legislate them the same wage rights as anyone else here. If they have been here working and not doing crimes, give 'em a green card and fine them something affordable, and give them civil rights. If they are criminals, deport them. That seems like the most equitable solution to me...
Comments
Post a Comment