It;s hard being a consumer
Hey, I'm back, after writing a paper and doing income tax and stuff. Thanks for waiting, all you loyal readers (Ha). :-) (Is that the way to make a smiley face? I think I have more to learn.)
Just heard on NPR that Lucent is being bought out or something by a French company, and that General Motors is selling its GMAC component, trying to avoid bankruptcy, and that they're both laying off tens of thousands of workers.
This brings two thoughts to mind. The worst is that so many workers are being laid off all the time. Is there anybody out there doing real work, I mean besides thinking up new marketing gimmicks and technology stuff like iPods to confuse us old codgers? But the real message here is that it's a bad time to be in the labor force, with collective bargaining and pensions and stuff having been pretty well dispensed with, and the minimum wage in the pits. And those who are working are overworked, working 60-80 hours a week.
My second thought--sorry I'm so disconnected today--is that the consumers are doing most of the work these days because they (the MNCs) have laid off all the workers. So they shrink wrap and otherwise make everything hard to open. (It took me 4 days to open a bottle of pills that had a white band wrapped around a white bottle, and these are pills for someone with limited vision.) And when you go into a store you walk half a mile before you even see a clerk. And when you try to phone someone you punch buttons for half an hour and still don't get a real person. And heaven help you if you get a package that says, "Some assembly required," the three scariest words in the English language, someone has said. My point is, consumers are doing all the work. The workers who could be helpful have all been laid off. And those who are working are just thinking up ways to catch you, the consumer.
Can anything be done about this? My solution is to elect Democrats and try to get policies in place to honor workers' rights and watchdog the MNCs so they're not making all the rules. After all, we can still vote. Let's think of ways to help workers and consumers.
Just heard on NPR that Lucent is being bought out or something by a French company, and that General Motors is selling its GMAC component, trying to avoid bankruptcy, and that they're both laying off tens of thousands of workers.
This brings two thoughts to mind. The worst is that so many workers are being laid off all the time. Is there anybody out there doing real work, I mean besides thinking up new marketing gimmicks and technology stuff like iPods to confuse us old codgers? But the real message here is that it's a bad time to be in the labor force, with collective bargaining and pensions and stuff having been pretty well dispensed with, and the minimum wage in the pits. And those who are working are overworked, working 60-80 hours a week.
My second thought--sorry I'm so disconnected today--is that the consumers are doing most of the work these days because they (the MNCs) have laid off all the workers. So they shrink wrap and otherwise make everything hard to open. (It took me 4 days to open a bottle of pills that had a white band wrapped around a white bottle, and these are pills for someone with limited vision.) And when you go into a store you walk half a mile before you even see a clerk. And when you try to phone someone you punch buttons for half an hour and still don't get a real person. And heaven help you if you get a package that says, "Some assembly required," the three scariest words in the English language, someone has said. My point is, consumers are doing all the work. The workers who could be helpful have all been laid off. And those who are working are just thinking up ways to catch you, the consumer.
Can anything be done about this? My solution is to elect Democrats and try to get policies in place to honor workers' rights and watchdog the MNCs so they're not making all the rules. After all, we can still vote. Let's think of ways to help workers and consumers.
posted by Gladys at 11:25 AM
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