Bill, this is an EXCELLENT piece and covers much of what has happened in US industry over the past 70 years. I wonder about the carpet industry in Amsterdam, NY and will have to read it's history. Amsterdam was the closest big city to us when we moved to the Hamlet of Glen and it was known as the 'rug city' back in the day.
Personal note: my father had two part-time moonlighting jobs rendering architectural drawings for companies building offices etc. way before CAD was inventented. His regular day job was as an art teacher in Springfield public schools.
My sympathies to your parents who took an awful financial hit in retirement. This SHOULD NOT HAPPEN and we will fight against oligarchs and mealymouthed Dems who try appeasement or 'triangulation' as they called it in Clinton's time.
My grandmother's family lived in or near Glen! Her maiden name was Devendorf. Her Dad operated a broom factory in Amsterdam and was part of the establishment of Schoharie Power (I assume harnessing the river). Her grandpa was named Wait - fought in the Civil War.
And...guess where my Dad went to trade school to learn drafting? Springfield Trade High.
I know that name, Deviendorf!! I probably met than at some point. We were livird there for 33 years! My Dan taught at Van Sickle Jr High, retired, taught at local museums (in Springfield) and even a gig at a community college somewhere. I don't remember where. Or maybe I'm not sure about that part. He belonged to an artist's collective, had some shows. He went to RISD and met my Mom there. Way back in the day when the only degree they offered was in teaching‼️😂
Spot on, Bill. You are absolutely right. Both parties - or at least their executive wings - have caved in to the wealthiest. I may be wrong in lumping them all to the category of GREED, but instead of advancing humanity or the Country or the Planet they have given all to the greediest of the greedy. What's worse are those who admire them. There is nothing admirable about Musk, Thiel, Ramaswamy, or any of the other 868 billionaires. As a group they are the most evil and greedy of the species Homo sapiens and therefore the most useless, I wish none of them well, in fact I wish the Earth would open up and suck them all into the fiery inferno of the core.
As Bob Morgan says beautiful vignette of your folks. The pension disaster is an American tragedy. You are 100% correct on Clinton and Obama. Traitors to working class. For Obama to have bailed out the culprits while leaving ordinary folks locked in debt was catastrophic. Combine your substack with Thom Hartmann on the overwhelming gop media/think tank etc machine and we have what democrats need get moving on. But current leadership is rotten to core ( maybe that’s a tad too extreme).
Preaching to the choir Bill, but it's a great sermon. Trickle-down economics is an elegant theory, but, like most economic theories, including laissez-faire capitalism, if any part of it isn't followed the whole concept collapses. When the holders of wealth discovered that they could increase their own holdings by circulating them among themselves and letting go only the absolute minimum they could get away with that was the end of Mr. Reagan's "Revolution" and the results are obvious. One of the most egregious violations of the notion is the stock buyback. Rep. Casten provides a brief but succinct history here: https://casten.house.gov/media/in-the-news/theres-a-reason-why-stock-buybacks-used-to-be-illegal
Another tool that the middle class used to have was the employee stock ownership plan that enabled the purchase of stock in their employer through paycheck deductions rather than having to use brokers and manage minimum purchase quantities. These were advantageous for the company by providing a pool of engaged and invested employees who generally supported the management team that took care of them and for the employees who did better as their employer was successful. I worked with restaurant servers who, in the days of $2.65 minimum wages for tipped people retired as millionaires based on their ESOP investments. ESOPs largely went away when venture capitalists and investment bankers discovered that buyouts were much more difficult when they had to deal with hundreds or thousands of investors instead of just their peers at places like Vanguard and Black Rock. One recent exception that proves the rule was Bob Moore, of Bob's Red Mill, who on his death bequeathed his entire holdings to his employees, but the downside is shown by UPS, among others, whose front-line employees have had to fight for things as simple as air conditioning for their trucks since the company sold out.
Your story resonates here. Our video productions helped corporations make money for the CEO, Board & investors...but when they sold out to larger companies we were left behind without even a gift card for a nice dinner. My dad was a good draftsman, illustrator and model maker too. Hope you are doing well.
In addition to Thompsonville, Bigelow-Sanford had a carpet mill in Amsterdam, NY, then known as "Rug City" for its booming carpetmaking industry. In fact, Bigelow-Sanford was the result of the merger between Bigelow and the Stephen Sanford & Sons carpet mill. Mohawk Carpets, later Mohasco, was also in Amsterdam. Many of the old mill buildings are still there, although carpet production ended decades ago.
PBGC will be propping up my husband’s Bricklayers Union pension in a few years. For some reason, this pension has never recovered from the 2008 stock market crash and will soon be out of funds. We once received a letter stating that PBGC they, too, were running out of funds, so when they took over the Bricklayers pension, they would only be able to pay 25% of what we were receiving now. Joe Biden then funded PBGC through one of his programs. My husband’s pension will be fully funded and I am grateful. You’d be surprised how many different union pensions are now or will be managed by PBGC.
When people talk about NAFTA - they always simple-mindedly mention Clinton. Yes, he was essentially a moderate neolib - and he did sign the thing. But don't ever forget it was the ruling super-wealthy elite that made Reagan take it on as a 1980 campaign promise. Reagan started it, GHWB actually signed the NAFTA treaty, but as he lost to Clinton in 1992, Clinton simply put on the finishing touches.
Understood and thanks for clarifying. NAFTA is what I would expect Republicans to come up with. My rage is that my party "went along".
That being said, I think globalism is inevitable. Some products need to made overseas - they need jobs, too. My gripe is that we provided very little help for those that are disenfranchised by the process. Companies should be required to work with the government to provide solid assistance to those workers that have been jettisoned.
Basics provided during retraining and relocation help.
And outsourcing as a disruptor of lives is being eclipsed by automation. Is it really a good idea to hire the robot before we have figured out what to do with the worker?
You put your finger on the next "big problem". What will happen when there are not enough jobs for humans to do (or no decent paying jobs). Will a 4 hour day be deemed full employment and be compensated as such? The questions go on and on......... Of course for the reigning billionaire "intelligentsia" these are trivial questions over against figuring how to up their annual income........and divide up the planet.......
As always , thank you for your insightful and enlightening post. I especially agree that we need to first answer the question , “Is it really a good idea to hire the robot before we have figured out what to do with the worker?”
Bill, this is an EXCELLENT piece and covers much of what has happened in US industry over the past 70 years. I wonder about the carpet industry in Amsterdam, NY and will have to read it's history. Amsterdam was the closest big city to us when we moved to the Hamlet of Glen and it was known as the 'rug city' back in the day.
Personal note: my father had two part-time moonlighting jobs rendering architectural drawings for companies building offices etc. way before CAD was inventented. His regular day job was as an art teacher in Springfield public schools.
My sympathies to your parents who took an awful financial hit in retirement. This SHOULD NOT HAPPEN and we will fight against oligarchs and mealymouthed Dems who try appeasement or 'triangulation' as they called it in Clinton's time.
Thank you.
My grandmother's family lived in or near Glen! Her maiden name was Devendorf. Her Dad operated a broom factory in Amsterdam and was part of the establishment of Schoharie Power (I assume harnessing the river). Her grandpa was named Wait - fought in the Civil War.
And...guess where my Dad went to trade school to learn drafting? Springfield Trade High.
I know that name, Deviendorf!! I probably met than at some point. We were livird there for 33 years! My Dan taught at Van Sickle Jr High, retired, taught at local museums (in Springfield) and even a gig at a community college somewhere. I don't remember where. Or maybe I'm not sure about that part. He belonged to an artist's collective, had some shows. He went to RISD and met my Mom there. Way back in the day when the only degree they offered was in teaching‼️😂
I have a friend in Glen!
Who??
Spot on, Bill. You are absolutely right. Both parties - or at least their executive wings - have caved in to the wealthiest. I may be wrong in lumping them all to the category of GREED, but instead of advancing humanity or the Country or the Planet they have given all to the greediest of the greedy. What's worse are those who admire them. There is nothing admirable about Musk, Thiel, Ramaswamy, or any of the other 868 billionaires. As a group they are the most evil and greedy of the species Homo sapiens and therefore the most useless, I wish none of them well, in fact I wish the Earth would open up and suck them all into the fiery inferno of the core.
As Bob Morgan says beautiful vignette of your folks. The pension disaster is an American tragedy. You are 100% correct on Clinton and Obama. Traitors to working class. For Obama to have bailed out the culprits while leaving ordinary folks locked in debt was catastrophic. Combine your substack with Thom Hartmann on the overwhelming gop media/think tank etc machine and we have what democrats need get moving on. But current leadership is rotten to core ( maybe that’s a tad too extreme).
Preaching to the choir Bill, but it's a great sermon. Trickle-down economics is an elegant theory, but, like most economic theories, including laissez-faire capitalism, if any part of it isn't followed the whole concept collapses. When the holders of wealth discovered that they could increase their own holdings by circulating them among themselves and letting go only the absolute minimum they could get away with that was the end of Mr. Reagan's "Revolution" and the results are obvious. One of the most egregious violations of the notion is the stock buyback. Rep. Casten provides a brief but succinct history here: https://casten.house.gov/media/in-the-news/theres-a-reason-why-stock-buybacks-used-to-be-illegal
Another tool that the middle class used to have was the employee stock ownership plan that enabled the purchase of stock in their employer through paycheck deductions rather than having to use brokers and manage minimum purchase quantities. These were advantageous for the company by providing a pool of engaged and invested employees who generally supported the management team that took care of them and for the employees who did better as their employer was successful. I worked with restaurant servers who, in the days of $2.65 minimum wages for tipped people retired as millionaires based on their ESOP investments. ESOPs largely went away when venture capitalists and investment bankers discovered that buyouts were much more difficult when they had to deal with hundreds or thousands of investors instead of just their peers at places like Vanguard and Black Rock. One recent exception that proves the rule was Bob Moore, of Bob's Red Mill, who on his death bequeathed his entire holdings to his employees, but the downside is shown by UPS, among others, whose front-line employees have had to fight for things as simple as air conditioning for their trucks since the company sold out.
Your story resonates here. Our video productions helped corporations make money for the CEO, Board & investors...but when they sold out to larger companies we were left behind without even a gift card for a nice dinner. My dad was a good draftsman, illustrator and model maker too. Hope you are doing well.
Love this, Bill! Thanks for the vignette about your folks. It's great!
Nice balance of humanity, indignation and rage!
Really interesting accounting of what has happened in the US that led to the end of the American Dream.
It's still being dreamed, just not achieved with any regularity.
In addition to Thompsonville, Bigelow-Sanford had a carpet mill in Amsterdam, NY, then known as "Rug City" for its booming carpetmaking industry. In fact, Bigelow-Sanford was the result of the merger between Bigelow and the Stephen Sanford & Sons carpet mill. Mohawk Carpets, later Mohasco, was also in Amsterdam. Many of the old mill buildings are still there, although carpet production ended decades ago.
AMEN!
PBGC will be propping up my husband’s Bricklayers Union pension in a few years. For some reason, this pension has never recovered from the 2008 stock market crash and will soon be out of funds. We once received a letter stating that PBGC they, too, were running out of funds, so when they took over the Bricklayers pension, they would only be able to pay 25% of what we were receiving now. Joe Biden then funded PBGC through one of his programs. My husband’s pension will be fully funded and I am grateful. You’d be surprised how many different union pensions are now or will be managed by PBGC.
When people talk about NAFTA - they always simple-mindedly mention Clinton. Yes, he was essentially a moderate neolib - and he did sign the thing. But don't ever forget it was the ruling super-wealthy elite that made Reagan take it on as a 1980 campaign promise. Reagan started it, GHWB actually signed the NAFTA treaty, but as he lost to Clinton in 1992, Clinton simply put on the finishing touches.
Understood and thanks for clarifying. NAFTA is what I would expect Republicans to come up with. My rage is that my party "went along".
That being said, I think globalism is inevitable. Some products need to made overseas - they need jobs, too. My gripe is that we provided very little help for those that are disenfranchised by the process. Companies should be required to work with the government to provide solid assistance to those workers that have been jettisoned.
Basics provided during retraining and relocation help.
And outsourcing as a disruptor of lives is being eclipsed by automation. Is it really a good idea to hire the robot before we have figured out what to do with the worker?
You put your finger on the next "big problem". What will happen when there are not enough jobs for humans to do (or no decent paying jobs). Will a 4 hour day be deemed full employment and be compensated as such? The questions go on and on......... Of course for the reigning billionaire "intelligentsia" these are trivial questions over against figuring how to up their annual income........and divide up the planet.......
As always , thank you for your insightful and enlightening post. I especially agree that we need to first answer the question , “Is it really a good idea to hire the robot before we have figured out what to do with the worker?”