Middle-Class Job Losses Batter Workforce

LANSING, Mich. - Thirty years ago, Dan Fairbanks looked at the jobs he could get with his college degree and what he could make working the line at General Motors Corp., and decided the GM job looked better.

He still thinks he made the right choice. But with GM planning to end production of the Chevrolet SSR and shut down the Lansing Craft Centre where he works sometime in mid-2006, Fairbanks faces an uncertain future.

"Back when I hired in at General Motors 30 years ago, it seemed like a good, secure job," said Fairbanks, president since June of UAW Local 1618. Since then, "I've seen good times and I've seen bad times. This qualifies as a bad time, in more ways than one."

Many of the country's manufacturing workers are caught in a worldwide economic shift that is forcing companies to slash payrolls or send jobs elsewhere, leaving workers to wonder if their way of life is disappearing

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/chasing_prosperity

The economy has not yet started upon the feast of consequences prepared for us by the misadministration.

And it aint gonna be pretty.
Also, unfortunately, what many do not yet
comprehend is that it will not
end with this administration as they
are the tip of a global iceberg of
multi national corporatists who could
give a DAMN about what happens to
any of the serfs on the planet- including
Americans.
BHN

As Paul Volkner said, in order for the
New World Order to succeed (which means
the smallest percent of the population
controlling the majority of wealth) the standard of
living of the average American must decrease.
I'd say we are well on our way to finding out
how the rest of the world has lived for
decades.
BHN

as the world corporatists take charge of the globe. The middle class will be eliminated in order for the wealthy to gain even more wealth.

W is the king of world corporatists and the Bushbots aren't smart enough to see what he is doing to this country.

It's worth a good look...

http://www.apolloalliance.org /

The Apollo Alliance provides a message of optimism and hope, framed around rejuvenating our nation’s economy by creating the next generation of American industrial jobs and treating clean energy as an economic and security mandate to rebuild America. America needs to hope again, to dream again, to think big, and to be called to the best of our potential by tapping the optimism and can-do spirit that is embedded in our nation’s history.

In 1961, John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to send a man to the moon and return him safely home again within the decade. It was an audacious dare. The technology did not yet exist, but he marshaled the resources of a nation -- focusing public investment, research, science and technology education, worker training, and America’s industrial might on a common purpose. It was leadership toward a common positive goal and it worked. In less than eight years Neil Armstrong placed the first human footprint on the lunar surface, and President Kennedy to this day remains honored for his vision and as a leader of courage.

Now America has an Apollo project for the 21st century. Today the stakes are much, much higher. We face an economy hemorrhaging its highest paying and most productive jobs, cities falling apart with over a trillion dollars in unmet public investment in crumbling schools, transportation, and infrastructure. The middle class is increasingly insecure as career ladders are broken and not replaced in new service sector jobs. And on a global scale we face never before seen environmental disruption, rising social inequity, and the emergence of fundamentalist anger that threatens our very security. We need new leaders of vision, and a new unifying call to action.

The Apollo Alliance is a joint project of the Institute for America's Future and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. The Apollo Alliance is a 501-c3 organization.

Apollo Alliance National Steering Committee:

Ruben Aronin, Global Green USA
Andrew Beebe, Energy Innovations
Robert L. Borosage, Institute for America’s Future
Dan Carol, CTSG
Maggie Fox, Sierra Club
Bracken Hendricks, Apollo Alliance
Van Jones, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Mindy Lubber, CERES
Jeff Rickert, Apollo Alliance
Mark Ritchie, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Joel Rogers, Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) *
Marco Trbovich, United Steelworkers of America (USWA)

* Designates Chair of the National Steering Committee

National Advisory Board:

Phil Angelides, California State Treasurer
President Andrew Beebe, Energy Innovations, An Idea Lab Company
Angela Glover Blackwell, Policy Link
Chairman Julian Bond, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
President Thomas Buffenbarger, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Senator Maria Cantwell, MS Congress (D-WA) *
Henry Cisneros, former Mayor of San Antonio, Texas
President Leo W. Gerard, The United Steel Workers of America *
Jan Hartke, Executive Director, EarthVoice
Vice President Gerry Hudson, SEIU Local 1199
Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., US Congress (D-IL) *
Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Systems and Mitchell Kapor Foundation
Bill Lucy, Secretary/Treasurer, AFSCME
William Lynch
William McDonough, Architect, Author, Educator
Kathleen A. McGinty, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Energy
President Terence M. O’Sullivan, Laborers’ International Union of North America
Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club *
Art Pulaski, Secretary-Treasurer, California Labor Federation
Governor Ed Rendell, Pennsylvania
Anthony Thigpenn, Executive Director AGENDA
President Danny Thompson, Nevada Labor Federation

* Designates Co-Chair of the National Advisory Board

The Apollo Alliance has been endorsed by the following labor unions:

AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council (IUC)
AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Dept
National Heavy and Highway Alliance
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Intl. Union (BCTGM)
Boilermakers Union (IBB)
California Labor Federation
Graphic Communications Industrial Union (GCIU)
Hawaii AFL-CIO
Illinois AFL-CIO
Indiana AFL-CIO
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE-CWA)
King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA)
Metropolitan Detroit, AFL-CIO
Michigan AFL-CIO
Minnesota AFL-CIO
Oregon AFL-CIO
Paper and Allied Chemical Employees (PACE)
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA)
Transportation Workers Union (TWU)
United Automobile and Aerospace Workers (UAW)
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)
UNITE!
United Steel Workers of America (USWA)
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Wisconsin AFL-CIO

We have been endorsed by the following environmental organizations:

Center for Environmental Citizenship
Center for Environmental Health
Ceres
Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions
The Detroit Project
Environment 2004
Environmental Law and Policy Center
EarthVoice
Greenpeace USA
Healthy School Network
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
League of Conservation Voters
National Wildlife Federation
Rainforest Action Network
Republicans for Environmental Protection
The Sierra Club
The Sierra Student Coalition
South Carolina Coastal Conservation League
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)

http://www.apolloalliance.org/about_the_alliance/

How many Dan's does it take to give a damn about your neighbors? Guess we'll see...

Since it's the limiting factor, we can say that if a majority of people ever come to start caring about their neighbors (or anyone outside of themselves and their close family/friends), it will occur either on or before the day in which literally everyone is in similarly distressed circumstances (as Dan may be approaching).

Of course, considering the way Republicans/Conservatives think... the answer is never, for while they might offer support amonst subgroups of themselves to varying degrees, there's almost no chance they'll ever care about most people (you know, "other" people). Though, they don't seem to have a problem accepting aid/comfort and support for those very "other" people. Actually, I'm being too severe here--there are some who claim affiliation with that group of close-minded bigots who, either based on their own goodness/integrity/upbringing or by virtue of a proper undersanding of their religion, will help "others". However, that's almost always on an "individual" basis and often requires proximity and/or personal involvement in the situation whereing the "others" happen to be in need. Even then, they may not offer unless asked (or circumstances dictate such action in order to "keep up appearances").

As you said, though, we will indeed be seeing how bad it has to get before all citizens will come together and support each other regardless of race, religion, etc... This is because the economy is destined not only to worse, but to collapse. Globalization makes it inevitable that we lose employment, first in manufacturing, but eventually in all areas--and continue to decline at least until our wages are competitive with the lower paid nations. However, globalization itself wasn't inevitable. Alas, beyond loss of jobs and declining wages, we now face the likely collapse of the value of our very currency. Such are the wages of sin "debt".

Then, most of us really will all be in the same boat. Hopefully, we'll care and share with one another, but it will certainly be a departure from the attitudes so many Americans have long held. Then again, there's nothing like a little suffering (especially hunger) to serve as an "attitude adjustment".

middle class are doing their part to fight inflation with lower salaries and buy civil goods from China because they cannot afford anything else..

What are the rich doing?

...in several states right now. Connecticut is the most far reaching. They have made it illegal for any candidate for public office to take money from any corporation. Their elections will now be totally publicly funded. Similar laws have been passed or are being considered in several states.


This will remove the profit motive from politics. Without the money factor to influence legislators and (very importantly) judges, the corporations that are destroying this nation will no longer be able to control government.

This is the most important thing that could be done. If you are at all active in politics it is what you must push your state legislature to do. We MUST spread this to all the states so we can return to government of, by and for the people.

I DO like the idea of the Apollo project. But I can foresee that it will only be possible when we have wrested control back from the corporations.

My Belief: Living with corporations is like swimming with sharks. You want to keep a sharp eye on them, and you need to be able to kill them when they turn on you. And they will, it's in their nature.

why not retire?

18+30=48

At 48 you'd probably have a severe reduction in your "retirement" check. Not eligible for SS either.

Health care: Many pension and other retirement plans include health insurance that doesn't kick until you reach a certain age: 62, 65, 59.

Even if had gone to college that would not have protected him.

The Dot Com, Aerospace and Information Sciences bust littered the job
market with people who had lost their jobs to outsourcing.

medical insurance payments are largely to blame.. the workers under that age do not go to the doctor much (chilbirth being the exception)..

45 is about the age where two things converge.. the top of the salary levels and the beginning of chronic illness.

To a factory-type environment, the age of the worker is not key..strength and physical abililty as well as the eagerness to move up the ladder, so that the boring work is tolerated..

45 is a good age for the companies to start "moving out" the older employees, and they can do it in many subtle ways..offer early retirements, make the work so utterly boring, that some move out on their own, create such a hostile workplace that the older ones quit in desperation or lash out and get themselves laid off/fired, raise the employee-share of medical insurance so much, that raises are all but eliminated, and some quit in fristration..

45+ers who retire or leave are easily replaced by a few 20=ers who are so desperate for a non fastfood job, they are willing to work for less and ask for little..The nasty trick is that once you leave a job at 45 where you are at the "top" of the earning scale, you will usually have to take on TWO lower paid jobs to fill the gap, and those are liekley to have few, if any benefits..and that 20 years before medicare kicks in is the span of time that will literally determine your ultimate lifespan. Undetected heart disease or diabetes will shorten your life by years, if you have to wait until medicare to have it discovered.

That same 20 year span is when your kids are likely to be needing the largest financial assistance, and the same time when elderly parents are needing help as well..

The real surprise is how resilient the middle agers really are, considering the stresses that hit all at once..

Great quote.

Wakey wakey.

our competititors don't have to worry about paying health care cost since they have national health care insurance.

Think about how middle class college students are going to get kicked in the ass with higher interest rates on student loans, cuts in financial aid, and higher college costs. With job losses in all sectors and the wealthy taking the heap of the tax cuts and robbing the public treasure of money needed for services and aid to the elderly and poor as well as the middle class, will the cost benefit of a college degree be worth it to most people? Especially since the elite have the affirmative actions legacy appointments and admissions and cronyism. The RW has successfully convinced the public to kick unions in the ass and convinced most people that taxes and government are "bahd, bhad, bhad." This nation is in free fall as far as the middle class is concerned. In the end there will only be the wealthy and the poor or the indebted.