Friday, May 13, 2005
Then and Now
“…Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things.”
- from a 1954 letter President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote to his brother Edgar
While we can assume that Ike would trim his sails to fit the current Republican tide, it is interesting to wonder how we got to a point in history from there when a President feels that much of what Eisenhower thought back then was so, er, antique…
In the same vein, Paul Krugman's column today is also very much then and now— with respect to the difference in today’s sense of responsibility (or lack thereof) of employers and government towards the working person vs. the America of yore.
“…a reminder of how far we have come from the days when hard-working Americans could count on a reasonable degree of economic security.
In 1968, when General Motors was a widely emulated icon of American business, many of its workers were lifetime employees. On average, they earned about $29,000 a year in today's dollars, a solidly middle-class income at the time. They also had generous health and retirement benefits.
Since then, America has grown much richer, but American workers have become far less secure.
Today, Wal-Mart is America's largest corporation. Like G.M. in its prime, it has become a widely emulated business icon. But there the resemblance ends.
The average full-time Wal-Mart employee is paid only about $17,000 a year. The company's health care plan covers fewer than half of its workers.”
Welcome to the ownership society.
- from a 1954 letter President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote to his brother Edgar
While we can assume that Ike would trim his sails to fit the current Republican tide, it is interesting to wonder how we got to a point in history from there when a President feels that much of what Eisenhower thought back then was so, er, antique…
In the same vein, Paul Krugman's column today is also very much then and now— with respect to the difference in today’s sense of responsibility (or lack thereof) of employers and government towards the working person vs. the America of yore.
“…a reminder of how far we have come from the days when hard-working Americans could count on a reasonable degree of economic security.
In 1968, when General Motors was a widely emulated icon of American business, many of its workers were lifetime employees. On average, they earned about $29,000 a year in today's dollars, a solidly middle-class income at the time. They also had generous health and retirement benefits.
Since then, America has grown much richer, but American workers have become far less secure.
Today, Wal-Mart is America's largest corporation. Like G.M. in its prime, it has become a widely emulated business icon. But there the resemblance ends.
The average full-time Wal-Mart employee is paid only about $17,000 a year. The company's health care plan covers fewer than half of its workers.”
Welcome to the ownership society.
