Mark Ames, as stated on his wikipedia page, is a Moscow-based American journalist and editor. His most recent book, Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion: From Reagan’s Workplaces to Clinton’s Columbine and Beyond, he argues the reason and justification for workplace violence. He recently wrote a small article for the Playboy Forum regarding this topic which I’d like to quote and comment on here.
Now, I’m not one to complain too much. Bitch a little? Sure. We all do. I believe its just in our nature. I know that my wife and I are both quite fortunate. We both have fairly well paying jobs that we’ve worked pretty hard to acquire. Her more than I, I should say. Sometimes I feel as if I’m just a tad on the lucky side. But at any rate, I’d like to quote an entire paragraph from this article. Its not that I feel I deserve more. But because I feel we all deserve more. And I think this paragraph illustrates quite nicely the absurdity that has become our corporate America.
The murderers aren’t the ones who should be profiled - they can’t be. Instead, workplaces need profiling. And when you do that, you realize that, for the overwhelming majority of American workers, everything has gotten significantly worse. In 1978 CEOs of major companies earned 35 times their average employee’s pay. By 1997 they earned 115 times their average employee’s pay, and by 2001 it was 531 times. During this period, middle- and lower-middle-class earnings remained flat. In 1997 the average white-collar worker earned just six cents more an hour, adjusted for inflation, than in 1973. This represents a big change from how wealth was distributed prior to the Reagan revolution: For every dollar earned by the bottom 90 percent between 1950 and 1970, those in the top 0.01 percent earned an additional $162. Between 1990 and 2002 that same top 0.01 percent earned an extra $18,000 for every dollar earned by the bottom 10 percent. America now has by far the worst wealth gap of any advanced economy. America’s middle and lower middle classes also have to work harder. Everything from lunch-break time to vacation time is down sharply since the early 1980’s, to the point at which Americans work far longer, with far less leisure time, than any other people in the first world. But unlike their counterparts in any other advanced economy, Americans don’t have guaranteed health care.
- paragraph quoted from “Killing in the Name of” by Mark Ames for the Playboy Forum May ‘07.
Now, I by no means can be considered even an armchair economist. But I do believe that the reason things have gotten this far out is directly related to the Republican Trickle Down make the rich richer and the rest will follow bullshit economics philosophy. I believe that if you entrust the already wealthy leaders of corporate America to “trickle down” that wealth to the middle and lower classes of the common people, you’ll be waiting a long time. There is a reason these people are in the positions they are in and have acquired the wealth that they have. They are driven and greedy people. And given a government that will allow them to do everything they can to squeeze more and more from the people that work under them. They’ll do it. They’ll downsize. They’ll outsource. They’ll cut lower and lower annual cost of living wage adjustments. And they’ll most certainly increase their annual bonuses because of all of the money that they saved the company.
The article makes mention of some specific CEOs that have set precedents on utilizing fear as the ultimate motivational tool. Fear for your job. Your way of life. Your mortgage. Your kids college tuition. And because of this fear, white collar workers work longer hours. Deal with the cubiclization of their office workspaces. Blue collar workers look at added responsibility. Fewer co-workers to share these responsibilities with. And we all do it for little more or even less pay than our predecessors. Do more with less. Do even more with less. Mantras we hear and live with every day. And like everything else that trickles down from corporate America, it all makes sense on one level. Of course you want to do more with less. Just as I want to squeeze the most out of my own personal dollars, CEOs and upper level management would want the same for their companies pocketbooks. And this is most certainly not something I disagree with. Its about balance. Its about the scales being tipped. Tipped to the point that occasionally, someone snaps. And as Mark points out in his article, these aren’t people that have a history of mental illness or even mild disturbances. These could be anyone of your coworkers that have just had it with the diminishing conditions and the degradation.
I could go on and talk of some specifics that I’ve seen regarding the company I work for. But, then I wouldn’t be much of a ‘Team Player’ would I? And if the wrong person were to see it, I could be realizing some of the fear I just spoke of. As I said, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate everything I have. Most of which is a direct result of the salary I get from the company I work for and occasionally bitch (or is it complain?) about. I just hope that things can be pulled a little more in check. A tad more balanced than they are now. Make the portions a little more fair. Not just for me. But for those a bit above me as well as all of those below. I guess its just a little degrading to know that someone thinks their 8+ hour day is worth 531 times what mine is. I cry bullshit! Its not even like they have a job where their life is in danger like a police officer, fireman or military personnel. These are people who put their lives on the line for the betterment of all of us on a daily basis. And they are paid what? Maybe a quarter of most of our elected public officials. Now, the CEO is supposed to be the manager of managers. The sole person responsible for the success or failure of any given company. And you can argue that a person responsible for a company of a given extremely large size should be paid so much more because he holds the jobs of tens of thousands in his hands. But, with a company of any significant size, (quite frankly, I’m somewhat making stuff up here, I really have no idea) I find it hard to believe that a single man is truly responsible. I’m sure there are a team of folks all working together to set managerial strategies and directions for the company. And furthermore, all of the fruits of their direction setting are bore on the backs of the much less paid and arguably harder working managers, technicians, sales people and clerks far below them.
And with this, I will step down off of my soapbox and for better or worse, post this to my blog. This has merely been a small insight into a string of thoughts provoked by an article I had just read. I have never studied economics. I’m just glad I can spell it. I do not have a business degree of any sort. I am merely a blue/white collar worker that ponders what the future holds for our country. Praise or flame as you see fit. Just please don’t fire me.
Balance. Balance and moderation. I believe these are the keys to all.
