When people talk about “making America great again,” what do they really mean? It usually boils down to the state of the middle class and the American Dream of living better than our parents.That in mind, Phil dives deep into the thorny, thorny problem of the American middle class. Plus, Bono has advice for Christian songwriters. Today on the podcast!
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I would suggest the title “A Christian Vote in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Election Day” (to mimic the full title of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”) for Skye’s latest e-book, or even simply “A Christian Vote”.
Thanks, Waylon!
Regarding the podcast on America’s middle class:
Phil, since you are a Disneyphile, do you remember the G.E. Carousel of Progress theater in Tomorrowland? Their refrain was: “There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day.” The theater would showcase how technology (powered by G.E. products, of course) was consistently exceeding the expectations of every previous generation. As the animatronic show concluded, you would exit to view a giant domed model of “Progress City”. They promised us a future quality of life with more hours of leisure time for all, thanks to innovation and automation.
As a child of the 60’s, that had a profound impact on me. I wanted that utopia, and I eventually grew up to become an architect. I have thought about the Carousel of Progress and of Progress City many times since then, because I contrast it with how work has evolved in my own profession. We don’t have more hours of leisure time for all.
Computers have certainly made our office more productive. I can now do the same amount of work that I did 20 years ago with less than half the labor budget. But unlike Progress City, we don’t have the same staff working half-time while making the same money: instead we have half the people working multiple tasks, and doing them faster and under more stress. Staff reduction was accomplished either through slow attrition and non-replacement, or through disruptive events like a recession or change in government policy that spurs restructuring and layoffs.
After this comes a period of “new normal” during the recovery, where we briefly pocket the benefits of our new-found efficiency. Then the rest of the market (including our clients) catches on, and we are all expected to do more with less budget, so we can’t re-hire. That is how our workforce contracts, while the remaining employees work even harder.
On the other side, there are new waves of college graduates knocking on our door for a job, but the bureaucracy and risks of taking on another employee, coupled with the mentality that I can do it all faster myself rather than mentor someone else, makes hiring a much less attractive option.
The third alternative is to hire independent contract labor, a quasi- grey area which you are well aware of in your own profession. This means that the future middle class worker must not only possess skills and independence, but must also have an entrepreneurial spirit just to get the opportunity to show up to work.
All this to say, I wish there was some way that we could share in the efficiencies of the information/automation economy to enrich our lives, rather than have those efficiencies make a few of us frantically busier and the rest of us displaced and idle.
Very well said, Steve. Much of 60’s futurism seemed to be forecasting a “life of leisure” brought to us by technology. Instead we’ve got an “overworked” class, and an “underemployed” class. Very few people are actually happy without meaningful work. And few people are happy working 60+ hours a week. So right now our progress is driving us in two rather unhappy directions. (And yes, I remember the Carousel of Progress quite well. It’s still at Disney World – I visited it last just a couple of years ago. Though the Progress City model is long gone, I believe.)
I have just watched your 199 podcast- very interesting. My husband and I love watching your podcast on youtube. You guyz are amazing and the podcasts are very educational for us.
It kind of disturbed me that at the end of this 199 podcast you said “WE who are non-immigrant descendants.” Your grand grand grand grand grand parents also immigrated to America. You are, Im sorry to say this, kids of former immigrants. Maybe this should be a future topic for your podcast.e g …..% of Americans are of immigrant descendants / non-immigrant descendants.
Many thanks
Thembela
Only watched a few so far. Will need to go back a watch some more. Very thought provoking. Here is a question for episode #200. What are your thoughts on spanking or “spare the rod and spoil the child?”
Thanks