Comment by Qworg
16 days ago
I'm not saying it has to be perfect.
I'm saying that this outcome will never exist because more has changed than just the plant closing. If we coupled "reopen the plant" with "the plant makes entirely new things" and "the plant trains local workers to take these jobs" and "the plant pays above local service/construction wages" and "the plant will be successful in geopolitical competition" and "the plant can do 10x the amount of business due to advances in automation to get to the same level of employment" and on and on.
We could solve _each_ of these problems, absolutely - but they are all interlocking parts of a wicked problem. Blowing up the economy and threatening a global recession won't actually solve any of these.
> Blowing up the economy and threatening a global recession won't actually solve any of these.
But neither will the status quo.
Do you assume it can't get worse? Or that 10 other things could not get worse?
Like, much much worse?
> Do you assume it can't get worse? Or that 10 other things could not get worse?
> Like, much much worse?
It will at least afflict the comfortable, otherwise they wouldn't be so opposed.
And that's fine. We've been running on a twisted "win-win" logic in this country for a long time: no policy can be pursued where the working class "wins" unless the well-off also "win" (because if they don't, there will be much whining), but if the working class loses it's "Who cares! They've got to suck it up and adapt. Be more grateful and go fill the holes in your life with cheap shit from Walmart."
Enough of that, and a lot of people rightly stop caring if things can get worse. Trump is the chickens coming home to roost. If people didn't want this outcome, they should've gotten together to fix the problems with neoliberalism.
1 reply →