May 7, 2023
Dude who makes $250 million a year tells people should work for the love of it
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Dude who makes $250 million a year tells people should work for the love of it
An artisan working on a building on West Street, ca. 1922.
Photo: Irving Browning via the NY Historical Society
the thing that always intrigues me about post-apocalyptic stories, especially when they're set in western countries, is how quickly everything collapses because of how impossible it is to maintain a modern capitalist society. most people die not necessarily because of zombies or nukes, but because they have no way to adjust to a world which no longer provides relatively easy access to much-needed supplies and resources brought to them from various institutions and parts of the planet. communities are wiped out overnight because fully functioning and self-sustaining communities pretty much do not exist in capitalist nations, except in more rural areas where land is already being tilled and managed, and people generally have to lead a more practical lifestyle.
successful settlements in these stories are generally only found in those small pockets of the remnants of "decent" society, formed long before or after everything else disappeared and are composed of almost entirely skilled laborers and loved ones desperately focused on maintaining and protecting what little they have left. They sometimes even go so far as to literally call themselves communes(!) for god's sake, and it's often shown that they tend to find the most success in surviving post-apocalyptia.
and that point is often lost on many members of the audience.
Around 130,000 skilled workers from India now live in Germany: a trend that is rising sharply. What do German employers expect? What are the
Somewhere on this webbed site is a post about how once you pick up a tool it is integrated as an extension of your body and its motions. I can't find it.
I think this video ^ is the best example of that concept you'll probably ever see.
I remember when the public high schools that my mother taught at, in the US Virgin Islands, offered ‘Shop’ and ‘Home Economics’ classes.
Sadly, those classes are looked down upon and the students that took those classes were too.
You see, we NEED plumbers, electricians, contractors, and carpenters.
Eventually, the ‘Shop’ and ‘Home Economics’ classes were eliminated because parents, teachers, and the government pushed for us to become doctors and lawyers for the so called prestige that these careers yield.
What our parents didn’t know was that the guy that was a general contractor could make $75k or more per year, run his own business and hire people.
You see, the government needs ‘workers’ and one of the ways to guarantee that there’s a long pipeline of workers is to tell people they need to graduate high school, go to college, and get a job where they work 40-hours a week.
You know the rest…..work 20 to 25 years and then retire.
My parents were raised with this mindset, but somewhere along the line they wanted more for themselves and our family.
Since trade skills aren’t being passed along from generation to generation how do we ensure that there are enough construction workers, electricians, and plumbers?
The Government.
On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that will parcel money to local and state government agencies to upgrade the outdated roads, bridges and transit systems.
What we need to do is bring back classes like ‘Shop’ and even create vocational schools.
We NEED these schools in America now more than ever!
Read the NPR article here.
The winter storms that devastated Texas last month led to a major water crisis. But for weeks afterward, there weren't enough plumbers to help customers with the damage. All of this underscores the need for more of these skilled workers. But for women and workers of color, there can be even greater obstacles. Paul Solman has the story for our series "Work Shift."