Two Observations from Labor Activists.

Like last week I went to a discussion group run by a local affiliate of this relatively new group melding academics and practitioners involved in labor activism.

Two thought-provoking points raised at the group (though who knows if they’re true):

1) Supposedly, at the time of the Great Depression, lack of jobs led to an “arms race” of credentials where overqualified people were in what they perceived as low-level, low-paying jobs – which led to mass unionization and labor unrest after WWII.  One big-player union guy sees parallels now, to the extent that kids graduating with a lot of student debt see no way to pay it off but they do see people high up at their places of employment making bank.

2) The economy’s in a low-growth state from here on out, since people with too much money and power and influence have found ways to keep their profits rising exponentially while everyone else’s situation declines.

The day after, I spoke with my mom, and before I even got through the first point, she was like, “Sounds like now,” and when I told her the second point, she was like, “I’ve been thinking that for a while too, no-one has any money to spend, so how can the economy improve?”, to which I said, “And you’re not even thinking about the massive amounts of student debt people are graduating with.”

At that point, she thanked me for cheering up her day.  “I can always count on you for that,” she was like.

“What did you expect?”, I was like.  “I’ve always been your red son.  The color may be leaving my hair, but it has bled into my very soul.”

Then, I was like, “And always look on the bright side, the revolution is coming!”