In his Nov. 11 column, Charles Krauthammer said that “Trump spoke to and for a working class squeezed and ruined by rapid technological and economic transformation.” When I think about it, I can see that changes in technology and their consequences on economies have put people out of work since the development of metal. But the difference in our time is that word “rapid.” For instance, U.S. coal consumption recently fell 13 percent in only one year.
This means that workers have always had to adapt to change, but that’s easier said than done. Because of the short time-frame, it’s been hard to tell a trend from a temporary shift. And then, if a worker lost his job, perhaps even her home, where’s the money coming from to get new training, or move to another state? Or the loss of a social network may be seen as giving up more than would be gained by moving.
There are safety nets, of sorts. But just enough to squeak by. Unemployment insurance doesn’t cover all of the bills, much less pay for education. Sometimes services are hard to apply for, or a couple has to exhaust all of their savings to qualify. Or a worker may live too far away from a community college to get training, or even be too discouraged to seek out help.
But I think it’s important to keep in mind that demanding tariffs on imports can start trade wars, which would boomerang negatively on our manufacturing, or trying to limit immigration would cut the number of workers we need. These aren’t solutions. They are expressions of anger and despair looking for something to blame.
It would be much better if we as a state and a nation went all-out to support our displaced, disgruntled working class people to find work that will provide a decent living. And maybe support needs to start with services to help people get beyond their anger and grief to find a new direction for their personal future.
To equalize opportunity, it would be a start if, instead of giving corporations a large federal tax reduction, we taxed them more heavily in order to help those left behind by the economic shifts that have occurred. After all, large businesses have profited enormously by taking jobs overseas and keeping profits there, putting in robots, and paying low wages.
Sonja Larson
Mill Creek
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