Our 32-year old son left today, to go back "home."
He lives with us every winter, moving in around mid-December and moving back out around March 20th when Spring arrives.
Buds on our apple tree...
Yes, he's employed, and yes has a pretty secure job as an arborist and senior grounds maintenance worker for one of the Seattle area's many "Satellite Cities."
It's basically a decent job, but it has one weird quirk... the city figured it could save a bunch of money by laying people off in December and essentially "re-hiring" them in the middle of March, thereby avoiding having to pay full-time salaries, benefits, medical and so on.
As a result, he's what they call a "Permanent Seasonal" worker, rather than a full time employee. This has been his 6th winter stay with us...
"Well, at at least he HAS a job!"
That is a fact. And he's grateful for that.
But what is also a fact, is that if he were a full-time employee he'd not be bouncing off the poverty line where his 9-month annual gig keeps him. If he were actually a full-time employee, his overall compensation would be about double, and he'd at least close to reaching the bottom rung of the increasingly elusive Middle Class. Instead, he "scrapes by" thanks to the fact that his "apartment" is basically a room with a half bath and a hotplate-kitchen sitting area the size of a large closet... for $775.00 a month.
You might ask "So why doesn't he go out and get a different job during those three months?"
Let's start to answer that with a different question: How many employers are going to hire and train someone they know will be gone again after three months?
The few that would would pay minimum wage, which after deductions and taxes would come to about the same or less than he collects as short term unemployment benefits for three months.
Ultimately, the only thing that will really make him any better off is when his car is paid off, in another 15 months and that $380 car payment goes away. Meanwhile, he's 32 and is still paying on about $70,000 worth of student loans for an education that never actually helped him get a job.
(And — before you ask — his vehicle is too old and unreliable to drive Uber or Lyft)
But this isn't really a post about him. Well, not entirely.
The thing is, his situation repeats across the nation in so many different ways. Ultimately, the net effect is a world that's "squeezing the bottom to feed the top," in different ways. And what's more, his tax dollars — in addition to his reduced opportunity — are going to fund something that doesn't actually serve him in any way... remember, he has a municipal job; this is not a private company with shareholders and investors. And we can be absolutely assured that the pencil pusher who came up with the idea of having workers only work nine months of the year is NOT limited to working nine months a year in his/her corner office.
Which all brought me to thinking about this thing called "Decentralization" we allegedly are all pursuing.
Ultimately, it's not that "having everything conveniently located in a central repository" is a bad idea, it's all that needless "middle stuff" between those who actually create the products and do the work and the uberclass who take on the financial investment risk that's the real problem.
It reminds me of one of my pet peeves from back in the days of mail order: Shipping and "Handling"
I want to be the one who gets paid $9.99 to "handle" something from one table to another, so it can be shipped. What a "cake" way to make things more expensive than they need to be!
I bet Ed Bob in his corner office who dreamed up "handling" also doesn't get furloughed for three months every year to save money...
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful rest of your weekend!
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Created at 20210321 14:01 PDT
0218/1461