1. The main lesson these last three years have taught us is, we can’t all be rich. The idea of everyone living in a 4 bedroom house, driving a fancy car, and watching a big-screen plasma TV are nothing but Bear Sterns and Wal-Mart pipe dreams.
2. Believe it or not, May Day used to be (and still is) a big deal in many parts of the world, including the USA. There was a time when Socialist candidates routinely ran for public office, Socialist newspapers were for sale right alongside the major dailies, and discussions about unions extended beyond the concerns of pro athletes and Big Three automaker pensioners. These days, it seems the only collective action that’s spoken favorably of in the media is military action, and the idea of mobilizing workers to petition for their rights is basically equivalent to treason.
3. I like Capitalism. Of all the economic systems invented by large societies to interact with each other, the second worst is Capitalism, the first worst is everything else. I just don’t think Capitalism is nearly as omnipotent as some people would like everyone else to think it is. One unfortunate characteristic of the Capitalist is his continuing effort to get someone to give him money in exchange for something worth less than the money received (unlike, say, bartering, where an amount of something is given in exchange for an equivalent amount of something else). To some this way of life reflects the Profit Motive. To others it’s a race to the bottom that we’re all now seeing the effects of.
4. Capitalism was supposed to be about businesses competing with each other to stay alive. But lately the only competition I see are workers competing with each other for the ever-dwindling number of jobs out there that pay a halfway-decent wage.
5. Marx talked a lot about two classes of people – workers and ownership. I think there are four classes of people working in the USA. From the largest, poorest group to the smallest, richest, group, they are Laborers, Managers, Owners, and Creators. To use Starbucks as an example – the person at the register handing you your coffee is a Laborer, the person in the back supervising the store and signing timesheets is a Manager, the rich person or financial institution that owns lots of Starbucks stock is the Owner, and the guy who thought up the idea for Starbucks is a Creator. Each of these groups has its own talents and motivations which could harmonize but more often than not conflict.
6. Considering all the guns and drugs and anger in this country, a true class war in the USA would be a bloodbath on par with what happened in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge or Stalanist Russia. I don’t see a shooting war happening, though, because despite the efforts of Conservatives and fringe groups, most Americans truly want peace and are used to settling differences in a relatively orderly way. So long as we remain a nation of laws instead of men, I think Americans will look for change through the law first before taking up arms against their fellow man.
7. A great way to decrease your bank account is to own money you don’t control. This last decade, if you put your cash into a 401(k), a mortgage, or the stock market, you might as well have piled it up in the middle of the street and lit it on fire. The financial “experts” who taut their business savvy are WORSE than you at handling your money, because unlike you they really don’t give a shit if you lose it all.
8. Like it was prophesied in “Battlestar Galactica,” this has all happened before and will all happen again. The Little Guy thought he learned his lesson in the 1800s, in 1921, in the 1970s, and 1980s. But we didn’t, and now we’re learning it again in 2009. And will learn it again in 2020, 2045, 2060…
9. If I was giving a Commencement address this spring, here’s the advise I would give students: find a descent-paying job, work your butt off, live as poorly as you can stand, save as much money as you can, then, after 10 or 15 years, retire and spend the rest of your life doing something you love. Don’t go into debt. Don’t join the Corporate Tournament where someone dangles the possibility of you becoming Vice-President someday in exchange for your 80-hour weeks of minimum-wage or free labor. And don’t forget to have fun.
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