Susan, One Year Later

Late last June I wrote an essay in this blog called My Neighbor Susan.  I described my real-life neighbor Susan who had lost her job about six months before. I described how she had worked at a rural Fire District for fifteen years doing all the administrative duties for the Fire District, an how she became a victim of the recession that resulted in so many public sector employees becoming unemployed. One of the political consequences of the Great Recession was the relentless drumbeat of conservative politicians casting blame for the economic downturn on public employees. We saw that played out all over the country where conservative Governors used the recession to sell a public policy stance that says all public service jobs are essentially bad for the economy, and a drag on society.

I discussed how Susan and so many other public sector employees are not the bad guys and how they actually help stimulate the economy, particularly in troubled times. Money paid to public sector employees circulates through the economy just like money paid to private sector employees. But for a few years there, Governors and many in Congress made teachers, cops, firefighters, and other government employees the scapegoat for a growing deficit and a slow recovery. Of course just the opposite is true when it comes to economic recovery. Most leading economists have concluded that our economic recovery would have been much faster and deeper if public sector employment wouldn’t have taken such a deep hit during this recovery period. Private sector growth has been steady since the recession ended, but the net job growth has been slowed by off-sets in public sector layoffs.  In the essay a year ago I described how teachers and cops and city workers go to movies, buy things at malls, and eat in restaurants just like private sector people. They buy clothes for their kids, and they buy cars and washing machines just like everyone else. I pointed out that the politicians who laid blame at their feet never mention that public employees and also just EMPLOYEES- and they do work that is valuable, and often essential for the rest of us. Those folks who were so easily demonized are our neighbors, friends and relatives.

But, back to Susan.  Let me tell you how her real life story ended up one year after I introduced her to you. My wife and I ended up talking to her a short while ago. It had been while since we had spoken and gotten caught up. Just a month ago she told us she got a job after being unemployed for close to a year and a half. We knew that she was having a hard time finding work. She had worked at the Fire District for over 15 years and made about $35,000.00 a year, and she’s in her fifties. So when she told us about finally getting a job, I thought she would be fairly excited to share the news. She was not! Susan was almost depressed as she told us that she was only able to get a receptionist/clerical job at a large, for-profit medical clinic. She felt like she had to take the job because she simply wasn’t able to find any other position comparable to old position or wage. The job at the clinic only pays $10.00 per hour and is highly demanding for the pay. So here is Susan working at a job far below her old position in status and responsibility, making 41% less money than she did before-about 8% more than minimum wage. She said the wage she’s getting isn’t enough to pay all her bills- but she is trying to stretch it where she can. She said she’ll continue to look for a better job, but after a year and a half of already trying hard, she’s feeling pretty defeated. It is no wonder that she was feeling down-in-the-dumps about her situation.

Her circumstance is much like many others who suffered as a result of the Great Recession, and it caused me to think about the place people like Susan hold in our society. Sadly, Susan learned the hard lesson that she, and the labor she provides, is nothing more than a commodity. Industry of all kinds has learned to treat labor that way, with all the ups and downs that any commodity goes through in a capitalist economy. The price we pay for labor is subject to the market forces that any other commodity would have. When the commodity is plentiful and demand is low, the commodity is cheap (low wages). When the demand is high and the availability of the commodity is scarce (or relatively so) it becomes more expensive (high wages). It is basic capitalist Economics 101. Supply and demand applies to labor just like it does with any other commodity.

But there is one difference with the commodity of labor- the difference is that this commodity is human. Humans have needs, and those basic needs go on no matter what the market forces tell you their labor is worth. The pure capitalists will tell you that when labor is cheap and wages are low, the whole economy responds and equilibrium eventually returns. But we know that isn’t true. We know that those who control economies in a capitalist system always seek to increase capital at the expense of those whose labor creates it. That is the true definition of capitalism. I just find it hard to believe that my neighbor Susan is worth (over) 40% less than she was two years ago. But hey, that’s what the market is offering  her right now- and let’s face it she was only making $35,000.00 before she became such an “affordable" employee.  When I consider these economic conditions with low wages and scarce job opportunities, I also feel the need to consider the unmet human needs that accompany those in this predicament. My neighbor is a single woman with grown kids so she’ll have an easier time getting by. I wonder about the young parents who are trying to support families. Granted there are many people who have managed to survive this economy- but there are still too many who are trapped in this cycle of low pay. Those are the people who end up being the butt of jokes and he scapegoats for ignorant or plain greedy politicians.

I have heard too much lately about Food Stamps. Two weeks ago the Congress couldn’t pass a Farm Bill because Republicans tried to slip by a $2 Billion cut in Food Stamps, claiming that Food Stamps rob people of the incentive to support themselves. The Democrats said no. All during the last Presidential campaign I heard President Obama referred to as “the Food Stamp President” because the use of Food Stamps rose during his first term. These self -righteous politicians never tell you that 80% of those on Food Stamps have jobs. Many others in the remaining 20% are severely disabled or elderly. None of those political charlatans bothered to explain that the rise in Food Stamps during the President’s first term was solely the fault of previous economic policies that caused the recession well before he took office. People like Susan (who would qualify for Food Stamps at her new wage) didn’t become poorer because of Obama- she became poorer because the policies that caused the Recession cost her job, and when was able to get another one private industry told her the value of her work had sorely diminished.

The inevitable outcome is that we are creating a new and larger group of working poor- but they still need basic necessities. So they end up on Food Stamps or get other forms of government assistance. They get these programs not because they are lazy or don’t want to work (they are working)- they get them because we have policies in this country that keep them in low-wage jobs that allows them to be eligible for these programs. And, by the way that is not a Presidential decision- that is the revered free-market economy doing its magic.

I only wish that more of us in the voting public would take the time to research aspects of how our economy works and how government programs fit into the complex framework of our society. Instead, I continue to see too many people taken in by the right-wing propaganda that public service is evil and the root of our problems- too many people who will not try to understand that we need a safety net of government programs to ensure our country survives. Instead I see people using social media to judge and defame the poor- including the working poor. They foist placards that depict the old stereotype of Reagan’s “welfare queen” buying steak in her fur coat using food stamps. Or I see sayings that: “welfare was never meant to be a career choice”.  Those kinds of misrepresentations are as ignorant as they are mean spirited. An informed person would know that a household of three (two of which are children) gets $478.00 a month- when the Federal poverty rate for a family of three is $1261. It is ridiculous to think that anyone would aspire to live on the equivalent of 1/3 of the poverty rate- but the politics of greed and privilege keep pushing these false notions about the poor and those folks like my neighbor Susan.

Strangely, the folks who want to do away with the programs that help provide basic needs in government programs are the same ones who base their politics on their strong Christian values- and tell you so whenever they get the chance. Try as might, I could not find a reference in any Christian Bible text that promotes capitalism, or promotes lack of charity towards the poor, or tells us to judge people harshly with false information. In fact I think Christian teachings instead say to “feed the poor” and “care for the sick”. I know there is a basic teaching that says to “love your neighbor”.  As I’ve seen my neighbor Susan struggle with the harsh realities of this economy, I can only wish that more of us could see the struggles of others with a kinder eye and ask our leaders in government and industry to do the same.

Thanks for looking in.