Tuesday, October 29, 2013
The race-hustlers among us
Years ago, someone said that according to the laws of aerodynamics, bumblebees cannot fly. But the bumblebees, not knowing the laws of aerodynamics, go ahead and fly anyway.
Something like that happens among people. There have been many ponderous academic writings and dour editorials in the mainstream media lamenting that most people born poor cannot rise in American society anymore. Meanwhile, many poor immigrants arrive here from various parts of Asia, and rise on up the ladder anyway.
Often these Asian immigrants arrive not only with very little money, but also very little knowledge of English. They start out working at low-paid jobs but working so many hours, often at more than one job, that they are able to put a little money aside.
After a few years, they have enough money to open some little shop, where they still work long hours, and still save their money so that they can afford to send their children to college. Meanwhile, these children know that their parents not only expect, but demand, that they make good grades.
Some people try to explain why Asians and Asian-Americans succeed so well in education and in the economy by some special characteristics that they have. That may be true, but their success may also be a result of what they do not have; namely, “leaders” who tell them that the deck is so stacked against them that they cannot rise, or at least not without depending on “leaders.
Such “leaders” are like the people who said that the laws of aerodynamics showed that the bumblebee cannot fly. Those who have believed such “leaders” have, in fact, stayed grounded, unlike the bumblebees.
A painful moment came for me years ago, when I was on the lecture circuit, after a talk at Marquette University, when a young black student rose and asked: “Even though I am graduating from Marquette University, what hope is there for me?”
Back in the 1950s when I was a student, I never encountered any fellow black student who expressed such hopelessness, even though there was far more racial discrimination then. We knew that there were obstacles for us to overcome, and we intended to overcome them.
The memory of that Marquette student came back to me, years later, when another black young man said that he had wanted to become a pilot, and had even planned to join the Air Force in order to do so. But then, he said, he now “realized” that “the Man” would never allow a black guy to become a pilot.
This was decades after a whole squadron of black fighter-plane pilots made a reputation for themselves in World War II as the Tuskegee Airmen. There have been black generals in the Air Force.
Both these young men — and many others — have learned all too well the lessons taught by race hustlers, in their social version of the laws of aerodynamics, which said that they could not rise.
You don’t hear about racial “leaders” such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson among Asians or Asian-Americans. Here and there, you may see some irresponsible academics peddling that line in the classroom — some of whom are of Asian ancestry, since no race of human beings is completely lacking in fools.
But they do not get the same attention, or draw the same following, as race hustlers operating in black or Hispanic communities. By and large, Asian youngsters rise and fly.
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I remember after the VietNam war many families were resettled in the U.S. Some of them made it to Houston. They worked on fishing boats and lived, several in a house. They pooled their money and bought a boat. They went out before the local fishermen in the morning and returned after the locals had already gone home for dinner..... they bought another boat and then the house and so on an so forth.... The locals were up in arms that they had their business ‘stolen’ from them....
ReplyDeleteThe only reason that we have unemployment in this country is that we let illegals pick our produce, build our houses and clean the homes of our better off.... while we sit around and block our workers by 1) convincing them that they are better than that. 2) Pricing them out of the job market with minimum wages. 3) provide them with a better living with taxpayer support....
This nation has gone soft... its population (a huge generality) is unable to do a truly hard day’s work... work that others are more than willing to do and much less cost.
I disagree with the notion that Americans won't work hard.
DeleteMany Americans would and will pick produce, work construction, clean, pack meat, etc - they just won't for $15 a day for a 12-15 hour work day and no bathroom breaks, at least not for someone else. I know many people who have worked that hard, or harder, for less when they were trying to get their own business going.
"there were about 1.07 people getting some form of means-tested government benefit for every 1 person working full-time year round.
DeleteThe Census Bureau counted as recipients of means-tested government programs “anyone residing in a household in which one or more people received benefits from the program.” Many of these people lived in households receiving more than one form of means-tested benefit at the same time.
Among the 108,592,000 people who fit the Census Bureau’s description of a means-tested benefit recipient in the fourth quarter of 2011 were 82,457,000 people in households receiving Medicaid, 49,073,000 beneficiaries of food stamps, 20,223,000 on Supplemental Security Income, 23,228,000 in the Women, Infants and Children program, 13,433,000 in public or subsidized rental housing, and 5,854,000 in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Also among the 108,592,000 means-tested benefit recipients counted by the Census Bureau were people getting free or reduced-price lunch or breakfast, state-administered supplemental security income and means-tested veterans pensions."
- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/census-bureau-means-tested-govt-benefit-recipients-outnumber-full#sthash.5P5CuENe.dpuf
"The 108,592,000 people who were recipients of means-tested government programs in the fourth quarter of 2011 does not include people who received benefits from non-means-tested government programs but not from means-tested ones. That would include, for example, people who received Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, or non-means-tested veterans compensation, but did not receive benefits from a means-tested program such as food stamps or public housing.
DeleteIn the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the Census Bureau, there were 49,901,000 people who received Social Security benefits, 46,440,000 who received Medicare benefits, 5,098,000 on unemployment, and 3,178,000 who received non-means-tested veterans compensation.
When the people who received non-means-tested government benefits from programs such as Social Security, Medicare, unemployment and non-means-tested veterans compensation are added to those who received means-tested government programs such as food stamps, Supplemental Security Income and public housing, the total number of people receiving government benefits from one or more programs in the United States in 2011 climbs to 151,014,000, according to the Census Bureau.
The 108,592,000 people who were beneficiaries of means-tested government programs in the United States in 2011 not only outnumbered full-time year-round workers, they also outnumbered the total population of the Philippines, which is 105,720,644, according to the CIA World Factbook. They are also approaching the number of people living in Mexico, which is 116,220,947, according to the CIA."
Two... Three points. 1) People would take more seriously $15 a day if benefits from the government weren’t considerably better than doing the work. 2) People would work for $15 a day if it paid their bills. 3) The reason that $15 a day won’t pay the bills is because of price inflation caused by government monetary policy. Price inflation and wages do not move in lock step, in fact they have been moving counter to each other for years. Some people believe that they should, but it is truly impossible to price labor, consistently, across all geographical locations and industries. Another thing that distorts the real cost of labor and actually prices people out of work is the minimum wage. I know you will argue that those big bad companies are raping workers but the fact is most job creation is done by small business that can’t afford to pay, such as your friend working their tails off starting a business... they might be glad of some unskilled help but can’t afford an arbitrarily government enforced wage.... As a result, they have to work harder and someone is priced out of a job. According to an inflation calculator $15 in 1913 is equal to $354.77 today. This is the effect of having a government that 1) refuses to enforce border and work laws (suppressing wages for low skilled workers and distorting the real cost of the produce) and 2) Over and above induced inflation, government regulations and policies manipulates prices in housing, food, education and healthcare and every other product on the market. 3) Preventing the market from competing for labor fairly.....
DeleteWhile you make some good points about inflation, I think that's a bit of a non-sequitur. Unless I completely misunderstood your comments, your knock was on American workers today, not 100 years ago. My response was based in the reality of today - not in the way things were a century ago or the you wish things are. You're right, if it was 1915, $15 a day would be a princely sum. But it's 2013. Gotta keep it in proper context, particularly when your criticism is being levied at today's "soft" American.
DeleteI'm a bit torn about a mandated minimum wage. It's kinda a damned if you do, damned if you don't prospect - with or without, the taxpayer ends up subsidizing somebody. There are millions of minimum wage workers putting in 30-50 hours per week still qualifying for and receiving food stamps. There was a recent article about that for workers at WalMart - many of them single moms busting their ass and still collecting welfare. They don't make enough money to eat/ feed their families so they get food stamps. Aren't we, the taxpayers, subsidizing Sam Walton's nere-do-well grand kids cuz they refuse to pay their workers a living wage? Idk. I see both sides of the minimum wage debate.
Do you really want to solve the issue of illegal labor? Then go after - I mean really go after - those who would exploit them. Take a fifth of the $ set aside for border enforcement and use it to hammer those that would employ illegals with seriously punitive consequences - exorbitant fines, jail time, revoking permits to operate, etc. I guarantee the population of illegals in this country would drop 90% inside of 24 months if we really went after the employers of illegals. No work available for illegals, no more illegal workers. We wouldn't even have to deport them, they'd leave on their own. We don't have an illegal worker problem in this country - they're just poor folks trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. We have an illegal employer problem. Is it more important to catch the drug dealer or the drug user? Kinda the same principle here. Plus, doing so would also help establish the true market value of labor in the U.S.
One last point TS, and this is not necessarily directed at you specifically but it is the gist of many folks arguments when this topic is being discussed so it bears mentioning: labor costs are always part of the price of doing business. I know it's sucks for businesses big or small that they have to pay their workers. Believe me, I understand this better than you may realize. There is no argument that slave (for all intents and purposes) labor is cheaper than paying an employee a fair wage. I concede this point, it is indisputable. Unless you are going to make a pro-slave or illegal labor argument, there's no need to bring it up.
Sorry about the typos. Stupid iPhone ...
Deletepfunky,
DeleteA verrrry minor point. I've heard now (NPR), for at least two years, farmers complaining about the lack of vegetable pickers. "Up to" $300/day may be a bit misleading, but still, it is money, even if seasonal. Hard work? Yes, I'm sure it is, but it also isn't the most demanding in terms of skill. Kinda makes me wonder about people near those work opportunities preferring to collect instead.
Jean
A dirty little secret if you will indulge me.. Many on unemployment and collecting food stamps work for cash on the side. Or under the table if you will.
DeleteJust a fact of socialistic life.
Q: Is it true that the Soviet Union is the most progressive country in the world?
A: Of course! The life was already better yesterday than it's going to be tomorrow!
http://www.jokideo.com/tag/put-politicians-on-minimum-wage/
DeletePfunk my comment about Americans being lazy is an over generality. Of course some people have very strong work ethics and don’t shy away from hard work but as a population we get more, leisure more, expect more and work less than most people on the planet. I have spent a considerable amount of time working around the world and the life most people have would be considered uncivilized. A good percentage of the rest of the world lives the life of a laborer of a U.S. worker a hundred years ago.
DeleteI will quantify my statement with regard to the ‘soft’ American work force. This statement is first of all with respect to workers in other countries. Having spent a considerable amount of time working around the world, life for most labourers would be considered uncivilized by American standards. My perspective on this is quite involved and taken to its conclusion would be a book. I will try to be brief. Suffice to say, Americans in specific and western nations in general are a product of their own success. Human nature is such that we will take the path of least resistance in our daily endeavours We don’t deliberately take the hard route in completing a task if an easier one is available. Criminals are a prime example of the easy money theory. It is easier to sit in jail for being caught than it is to expended the amount of effort required to get a similar reward via work at, to them, relatively low wage.
In my opinion, we have lost sight of the fact that the civility of our modern world is paper thin. Americans are perhaps the most cuddled nation on the planet. We saw no destruction other than the sacrifice of brave men and women sent to other lands and very little inconvenience during the last 6 major conflicts the U.S. has engaged in. After WWI, the U.S. took the baton of the industrial revolution and after WWII we were the only industrial economy still in tact. Prosperity, suburban living and a steadily rising wage and mobility. Someone who didn’t even finish high school could make a living.
We have stopped educating our children. Since the inception of the U.S. Dept of education, our education results have flattened and with respect to the rest of the world declined. Where I had a mother that stayed home, insisted that I do my homework and helped me where she could, and saw me off to school with a good breakfast, today we have latch key kids who don’t have that structure. Part of that is a world of Fed generated inflation that has forced two earner families, part is the giving up on the nuclear family and the commitment of marriage and a change in attitude about life from one of insuring survival to one of blissful expectation. I don’t mean that to be sexist with respect to women. I do understand that having one’s lot cast at birth can be a drag but not having a parent dedicated and focused on being a parent is taking its toll. I don’t have much good to say about the amount of time spent on rewriting history and ‘progressing’ our country via a public school system which is many times at odds with the parent. Public school seems more intent on socializing society and placating children into believing that everyone is a winner when real life isn’t that way at all.
I was encouraged to work.... I delivered papers, mowed lawns, collected trash, work as a farm hand, made pizza’s, mounted tires and worked at a moving and storage before I was 18. Today a child leaves high school with no vocational skills if they aren’t inclined to college and many who are college bound need remedial instruction is maths and English just to make it the first year. College has for a good percentage become a rite of passage.... frat parties and social relationships. The process of selecting an educational path is more about getting ‘A degree’ than it is about survival and striving for ‘The degree’. We can see this graphically in over $1trillion in college loans; most for degrees that have no jobs waiting.
Continued...
While we talk a lot about life and what it should be, I find it amazingly naive that Americans in particular and westerners in general (those Europeans who do not remember war time Europe) do not understand that life is about survival first and foremost. The veil of civility in this world is quite thin. We have never seen nor take time to imagine our cities gutted by bombs and artillery... the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have sheltered us. Regardless of the trappings of modern America, we are one catastrophe away from a very different world. Our stores have generally 3 days supply of food before they run out... homes rarely have more than that.... six days to starvation. We trust in others to provide much too much.
DeleteThis brings us to a government which has skewed every facet of labor, job creation and the markets. Our expectations of what an employer MUST do and be, as dictated by the state, is very high in comparison to other countries. Our ability to sue for what others would consider ridiculous is common in the west. The paper burden that businesses must contend with to hire us is absurd. So much so that hiring illegals and people for cash is the better option, an option so powerful that business doesn’t want our borders to be secured. We expect that government will intercede with a minimum wage and unions will negotiate our worth for us..... We are truly coddled as a workforce.
Almost everyone in the third world has calluses’ on their hands.... relatively few in America do... Some would say that what we have is ‘progress’... a modern society... I say that we are about to receive a reality check in the form of labor levelling around the world and if the U.S. Government gives a damn about its people, which it doesn’t, it will roll back labor laws to a place where we can compete. Roll back our expectations so we take ‘life’ a bit more serious.... Only liberty and personally responsibility will put this country back on track ... too many people have bought into the state for that to happen I fear and with the addition of another 11 or so million workers used to top down authority our drift to the left will not end. Yes pfunky.... we are softer than the much larger population of the world and they are hungry...
Something I had intended but forgot to mention about your comment:
Delete“Many Americans would and will pick produce, work construction, clean, pack meat, etc - they just won't for $15 a day for a 12-15 hour work day and no bathroom breaks, at least not for someone else.”
Two points. We complain about people not being able to afford food, yet we refuse to buy produce that is not visually perfect. We refuse to buy misshapened tomatoes, contorted carrots and even slightly bruised bananas... food that the rest of the world has no problem eating. Then we sit on the sidelines and watch $15 a day illegal labor take jobs without complaint.... of course if we did complain, the labor cost would immediately rise to minimum wage and vegetable prices would be out of reach of an even greater portion of the lower income. Low income workers have bargaining power but they can’t use it specifically because of the minimum wage.... we could also eat cheaper if we didn’t consider a little imperfection beneath us....
TS,
ReplyDeleteA good article. Thank you. I'll only add that from my knowledge of history, much of what you wrote could have been said about European immigrants.
Jean
Americans won't work the fields are packing houses for $15 an HOUR. It was tried recently. In one group of people ( I think 20 ) 19 quit before the day was over. The other one quit a few days later.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had saved the link.
You know who gets deported these days? Polish immigrants,Czechoslovakians etc...
ReplyDeleteMexicans? Hardly. sometimes if they are really bad drug dealers etc... then they chill at home in Mexico for a month and pop back across the border.