The great divide...

[Javaman]

I was just reading Krugmans piece on the widening wealth devide. And one thing jumped out at me. I maybe pointing out the obvious, but never the less it still struck me as a sad statement on our society.

In 1969 GM was the largest corporation in the U.S. next to AT&T, today it's walmart.

GM produced cars, AT&T provided telephone service. walmart sells cheap crap.

If this isn't a more glaring example of how we have gone from being a producer to a user in the world over the past 35 plus years, I don't know what else is?

(I think this is the one fact that has gone undefined, for me, up until this moment as to why I have such a deep down revulsion of anything walmart)

This single fact sums up the blight that is upon our nation.

We are called consumers for a reason, but that is not a correct term for what Americans have become. Anyone in the world that eats and wears cloths is a consumer. What we have become is the sadly comical version of what is termed a consumer. We are far beyond that, to coin a phrase, we have become obscene Mega consumers.

In the rush for the almighty dollar what seems to have been lost in the shuffle is the concept of working for what we produce. What I'm driving at is, we the people want to work, we want to produce, however, it's the corporations that if given the ability would produce things without having to spend a dime to do it, they would in a heartbeat. (In some third world countries where jobs are out sourced, they are doing just about that) So, with that kind of mentality, is it no wonder that the gap is growing larger and larger between the have mores and the have even less?

Over the last 35 years we have, as a nation, been subject to death by a thousand corporate cuts. They whittle down our rights, they whittle down our unions, they whittle down our voice all for a bigger cash reward in the end at the expense of millions of peoples lives, both ours and people in third world nations.

As the wealth gap increases and jobs continue to go abroad to nations that produce things we used to make at less then 1/4 the price, it's no wonder that the rest of the world looks upon as as lazy, they are doing the work we want but were given away by the corporation and have left us unemployed.

The question then is: As corporations parcel out our future to the lowest third world bidder to make their products, what alternative does that leave the American worker?

If this trend continues into the foreseeable future, and the gap increases to ever larger lop sided proportions, history has proven time and time again, the people, shall we say, speak up.

But the next question that remains to be asked is; when will that be?

[Crankie Avalon]

1. That's why we have an administration that tried to classify McDonald's short order cooks...

...as manufacturing jobs. Enron style accounting can't hide that the manufacturing base is skrinking and shrinking, though. There was a book called "Theocracy" a few months ago that also treadted this, and made comparisons with other "empires" that fell once their manufacturing sector dried up (e.g., Spain, Holland).

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I've heard it said

that the only jobs to be had in the US in five years will be those that require on site service, like fixing a car or doing plumbing. But who will have the money to pay for any of these services?

[katsy]

3. By that time...

the corporate-fascists will have moved on to find their fortunes in other countries.

Why would they care about who has the money to spend on their crap here?

The funny part of all this is that every one of us has, through corporate welfare paid for this travesty.

They take our money, develop products and move our jobs overseas to cheaper labor. They keep selling this crap here until new markets (i.e. mega-consumers) stabilize, and then they repeat this ugly cycle over and over again.

All money and power becomes concentrated to the fortunate few.

Unless, as the OP states people revolt.

[Clark2008]

4. And education and government...