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  TechnologyExpert1 year ago

  BILL MOYERS: A janitor, I understand, is the fastest growing job in America, right?

  BARBARA EHRENREICH: It is. And that's something to think about when we're told, "Oh, don't worry about the-- the class polarization in America and the shrinking middle class and things like that." There's-- you just have to get an education to get ahead. Get an education to get ahead when the fastest growing jobs have been in things like janitorial services and food services and, you know, home health aides.

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  Bkumm1 year ago

  I have always respected Bill Moyers. I don't like what he has to say sometimes, but I've always respected his point of view.

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    engineer1 year ago

    You may not like him, but he is telling the truth. In the 1960's 30 percent held 90% of the wealth. Now it is less than 10%. Education is no longer a guarantee. Five graduate engineers including myself with degrees through PhDs from schools as high as YAle cannot find employment. I know personally three physicians who have turned in their licenses. Indebtedness out of college makes education much less attractive. Where is this country going!!

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      lestparker1 year ago

      really? I am currently trying to hire 4 engineers and cant find a quallified applicant. I personally no of Zero engineers who are out of work.

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        chevydog1 year ago

        I don't know you personally, but here is one. I am a ChemE /MBA who was RIFfed in 2004. Have been able to find nothing but part-time menial work (and little of that) since then. No bleeding heart, just frustration. A recent insult was a local grocery chain informing me that I was "psychologically unqualified" to unload trucks or stock shelves.

        Don't know what you consider qualified. For many companies, the ideal is a 35-year old with 20 years experience (15 in supervision) and extensive knowlege of all the latest bells and whistles. For most of the unemployed engineers I know, the latter is a given driven by professionalism; after all, education should never end. But, led on by our "nothing but the best" gurus, companies are not reluctant to ask for the impossible; unsurprisingly, most of the time they don't get it. Then they complain about education instead of looking in the mirror.

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        GHOSTWHOWALKS1 year ago

        Then you haven't been advertising in any of the right places. I know 3 who are looking for jobs and have been interviewed by top notch companies. They aren't hired because they're salary requirements are more than the companies want to pay. Why? It cost $80,000 to get a degree and more if they are PHD's. Starting salary's won't pay for college loans, housing, car, expenses, etc.

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      NelsonR1 year ago

      Louis and Antoinette revisited???

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  Harbeas1 year ago

  This problem must be addressed. Too many people see nothing wrong with this situation. You have a CEO who is fired and gets 200 million in severance pay! You have hostile takeovers that result in mass layoffs so the principals can recoup their investment quicker! Just how much is too much? How can you justify people making millions a year and others trying to subsist on minimum wage? The fastest growing sector in the US is the service industry. Whoop dee do they pay minimum wage or slightly above. Isn't there something seriously wrong here? Let's don't try to white wash this by saying a college education is the answer. Many of those working in the service sector are college grads. There are no other jobs for them.

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    vor1 year ago

    They justify this as the capitalist system which like the food chain, works by survival of the fittest. More and more lately that means those with capital to invest. Not exactly what Emma Lazurus had in mind but the American economic reality.

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  oldgringo1 year ago

  Great Article, TechnologyExpert. This is why I subscribe to The Economist. They've printed several articles on the growing wealth gap in America. The problem is, I've yet to see anyone come up with an answer. Unless shareholders look past profits and "retake" the board room, you're not going to see much happen. It's like pro sports. You want a winner, you pay for a winner. And everyone else suffers.

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    BruiserTom1 year ago

    For one thing we need to eliminate the power of money in politics. *Votes* - as in "one man, one vote" - should be the ONLY political currency.

    I'm not anti-capitalist. The self-proclaimed capitalists are the anti-capitalists. If they really believed in true capitalism they wouldn't be using their wealth to subvert the political process in order to give themselves a politically enforced economic edge against the poor and middle class. They don't believe in capitalism. And they certainly don't believe in democracy. They believe in what they practice, and they practice facism.

    Just some food for thought for you who preach the virtues of capitalism and democracy in defense of the status quo.

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  lestparker1 year ago

  Decent article. I tend to be a "hands off" type of person when it comes to goveernment involvement, but the loss of pensions, lack of mobility thing is what happens when there is not enough enlightenment on the business side (read too much short term greed) and not enough enlightenment on the government side (read out of touch with the world).

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    BruiserTom1 year ago

    Don't feel guilty about not being "hands off" when it comes to government involvement. The people who have caused the problem certainly have not been "hands off" when it comes to government involvement. They have corrupted the government to their own ends while preaching laissez faire.

    We need to make THEM (the rich) keep THEIR hands off the government.

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  mamasan1 year ago

  I worked waitressing for many years.

  Super hard work. I always tip very good for good service.

  But sadly this type of work will never be valued or payed well.

  The hardest thing was always the medical coverage...meaning lack of.

  if we had universal coverage these types of jobs would be much less burdensome.

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  DoerNotASayer1 year ago

  Of course, El Drugbo and his ilk scream "class-warfare", but the fact is that the ruling class has engaged in all out class warfare ever since Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers.

  And due to the ignorance of most Americans, they have been winning. All the while taking away workers rights, throwing people in jail and seizing property for drug possession, and promoting a failing health care system that makes it impossible to break away from large corporations because you can't afford to walk away from the health insurance.

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  htht1 year ago

  "fairtax" would eliminate government corruption, hedge funds and "grease ball money".

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  ZippySpincycle1 year ago

  I know that Moyers mentions it several times in the interview, but Barbara Ehrenreich's _Nickel and Dimed_ is one of the best nonfiction books of the last 20 years. It really is an eye-opener, and should be mandatory reading for anyone who thinks the working poor are simply "lazy."

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  NelsonR1 year ago

  When you have despicable people like Stephen Swhwartzman with a net value of 5 billion dollars willing to screw people for more money you have a dilemma. That name, I ponder, what ethnicity is it. Hope you take it with you and greet god with the greeting, "I have alms for you."

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  GHOSTWHOWALKS1 year ago

  Well get ready for a change in this sorry state of affairs. One day the people who actually make things, serve the meals, clean the rooms, etc., are going to sit down and not do anything. Then this country will grind to a halt until the necessary changes are made.

  It's time to top paying millions for people who don't create anything and start paying the people who actually work a living wage.

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    NelsonR1 year ago

    Ghostwhowalks - How true, the fatcat rule today but tomorrow will come. I see the elite rule our world but as you say when the average middle class, "Walk off" they will receive their reality check. Money begets money and the Wall street corrupt and bankers with the acquiescence of our politicians can poke humans just so far while the rich and greedy acquire more without conscience. Who the hell perpetrated the prevailing wage scale of various occupations, answer the rich money grubbers.

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    BruiserTom1 year ago

    Then "Atlas Shrugged" will become a reality, but not exactly the way Ayn Rand envisioned it.

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  Antitax1 year ago

  Ghoshtwhowalks has just delivered the Communist manifesto. I'll bet he supports Hillary and joins her in her income redistribution beliefs.

  POWER TO THE PEOPLE. Comades come join Hillary and I we will tax these men out until we have redistributed his wealth and tear down his company. We will be happier in the commune!

  You and Moyers get a life. I am tired of being told how bad this country is by idiots! Go to Vermont and join the secessionists. Just go away.

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    NelsonR1 year ago

    Be careful of what you wish for!!

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    schismatist1 year ago

    Antitax, I guess your motto is: Do unto others before they do unto you. Or maybe in your case: Screw the other guy before he screws me!!

    You post shows you obviously have no cause or concern for anyone but yourself. Maybe we should all just go away and leave the world to you!!

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    sumptuousdigs1 year ago

    Antitax. . Put your money were your mouth is.

    Don't pay your taxes.

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• lovermanComment removed: User banned.2 Replies

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    cosmogenium1 year ago

    Well said, loverman. I, too, was an out-of-work computer analyst (database admin) who did all the same moves and ended up selling cars (for slightly less than a year, when a manager fired me (the top sales per month) with no warning and no reason; I know it was because after a year they would have to pay standard benefits). After two more years of retail jobs, I managed to get re-instated with the state of NY, thanks to the help of a friend who happened to know someone who happened to need a DBA, etc.) If it weren't for the "inside" influence, it might never have happened. There just aren't enough professional jobs to go around, and we keep giving more of them to immigrants and overseas workers, thereby lowering the pay scales of the good jobs that are left!

    And I'm with you on the ageism, too. I kept getting turned down because I had too much experience!

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    • lovermanComment removed: User banned.
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  ronrad1 year ago

  sure the wealthy are getting richer;bill moyers is one of them, as he sucks taxpayer money on a so called unbiased network called pbs.he can even the gap by giving his money to bottom-shelf wag earners. but the scum sucking hippocrit would not do that

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  ronrad1 year ago

  sure the wealthy are getting richer;bill moyers is one of them, as he sucks taxpayer money on a so called unbiased network called pbs.he can even the gap by giving his money to bottom-shelf wage earners. but the scum sucking hippocrit would not do that

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  ronrad1 year ago

  sure the wealthy are getting richer;bill moyers is one of them, as he sucks taxpayer money on a so called unbiased network called pbs.he can even the gap by giving his money to bottom-shelf wage earners. but the scum sucking hippocrit would not do that

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    sumptuousdigs1 year ago

    ronrad...if you can support that statement, then do so.

    If not, then maybe your alligator mouth overran your hummingbird arse. LOL

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  riverdog1 year ago

  ronrad you are breathing different air, clearly one oar in the water. Bill Moyers for President!!! One of the most articulate, insightful and intelligent persons in the country. Moyers for President !!!

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  amesburyroad1 year ago

  Yeah, the propagandists for the right wing believe if they regurgitate the "rich people make everyone's lives better" mantra ad nauseum, it becomes fact.

  Wrong. My parents were better off in the 60's with union wages than I am now.

  $8.00 an hour, America, brought to you by Reagan/Bush.

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  scriblerus11 year ago

  "Good-bye to my Juan, good-bye Rosalita,

  Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria.

  You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane,

  And all they will call you will be deportee."

  When will American workers stop fighting the "illegals" and realize that they and we are being pitted against each other? In fact, all workers on the planet are being sliced and diced and divided by the elites so that they can buy our blood and sweat very cheap and grow fat.

  If we wish to change our fate, then all workers of the world must unite.

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  sumptuousdigs1 year ago

  Matewan, West Virginia. Classic example of bringing in different ethnic groups to break strikes. It didn't work.

  Murder became the solution.

  These things happen(ed) in the United States, and I'm convinced there is an ignorant portion of our society that wants to return to the 'good old days'.

  Andy's Mayberry is just an old TV show. They know not what they yearn for.

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  exar1 year ago

  How exactly is PBS biased? The people who watch decide what is shown. That's what the pledge drives are for: they show a program, ask for the viewer to make a donation if they enjoy it, then depending on whether PBS reaches their goal in terms of money, the show is either added or not. Sounds fair to me.

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    BruiserTom1 year ago

    The only way PBS is biased is that it concentrates on being informative and educational rather than sensational, unlike most of the rest of television.

    Of course, if it is informative and educational, I can understand why those who now own the government would be against it. Their power depends on a poorly educated populace.

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