For my household, which was deeply affected by the 2008 recession, even making decent wages for the past few years we still have that sense of economic precarity. We struggle with such a deep reluctance to spend money on even quite necessary things, because now we know how arbitrary and capricious things are in America. You can do everything right and be good at your job, and still be thrown to the wolves through no real fault of your own, if the market demands it be so.
Mariana Mazzucato's insight you included is something I find myself constantly thinking about. "She astutely points out that modern economies reward activities that extract value rather than create it, which leads to obvious injustices."
Even in cases where we talk ourselves into investing the money in a needed purchase, it seems a foregone conclusion that every available option is now twice as expensive as it would have been if I could have afforded to buy it 5 years ago AND it's quality or reliability is going to be half what it once was.
The system of extraction is eating the middle class from both ends. We got stagnating wages for decades, while rents/profits on everything grew exponentially, AND the company shaved more nickles out of every purchase by cheaping out on materials, staff, assembly processes, and customer service on the back end.
It's easy to feel like you're working harder than ever and constantly have less to show for it. I can certainly understand the naive attitude that we should just burn it all down and start over from scratch.
For my household, which was deeply affected by the 2008 recession, even making decent wages for the past few years we still have that sense of economic precarity. We struggle with such a deep reluctance to spend money on even quite necessary things, because now we know how arbitrary and capricious things are in America. You can do everything right and be good at your job, and still be thrown to the wolves through no real fault of your own, if the market demands it be so.
Mariana Mazzucato's insight you included is something I find myself constantly thinking about. "She astutely points out that modern economies reward activities that extract value rather than create it, which leads to obvious injustices."
Even in cases where we talk ourselves into investing the money in a needed purchase, it seems a foregone conclusion that every available option is now twice as expensive as it would have been if I could have afforded to buy it 5 years ago AND it's quality or reliability is going to be half what it once was.
The system of extraction is eating the middle class from both ends. We got stagnating wages for decades, while rents/profits on everything grew exponentially, AND the company shaved more nickles out of every purchase by cheaping out on materials, staff, assembly processes, and customer service on the back end.
It's easy to feel like you're working harder than ever and constantly have less to show for it. I can certainly understand the naive attitude that we should just burn it all down and start over from scratch.
Precarity is one of those words that may have resonance with political wonks, but does not pass the political p.r. test. Why not insecurity?