[Marxism] YADL (Yet another disillusioned liberal)

[Joaquin Bustelo]

Marv Gandall writes: "I'd also like to see Joaquin expand on his view that
the relative political passivity of the current generation of US workers is
mainly the result of it's continuing to "bribed" by imperialism. The
condition of the US working class has, in fact, worsened over the past three
decades when it should, according to this logic, have improved during a
period when US imperialism rose to unchallenged supremacy precipitated by
the collapse of the USSR, the transformation of China, the decline of the
trade unions and left-wing parties in the advanced capitalist countries, and
the failure of left-led resistance movements in the oppressed ones. It seems
particularly amiss to allude to bribery in the context of the even more
abrupt deterioration of US living standards which has accompanied the
current crisis."

I've written about this here before, and I hesitate to do so again,
especially because this may now be an exclusively historical dispute, but I
do not believe the period from roughly 1970 to today or at least recently
has been marked by a declining standard of living for working people in the
United States. In part this is due to the "age effect" as US wage structures
are highly stratified by age. So even if it is true that a 25 year old today
makes less than a 25 year old did 25 years ago, the 50-year-old on average
makes much more today that s/he did back then as a 25 year old.

But in addition, I don't believe the median real standard of living has
deteriorated, or at least had deteriorated until the year 2000 or so.
Certainly, by every objective, material statistic I've been able to find,
households at the beginning of this century were better off than those 30
years previously. This is documented in all sorts of ways, from the number,
size and quality of electronic entertainment devices to the square footage
of houses to the number and age of cars per 1000 households. And it is
reflected in what is considered the minimal or "entry level" qualities of a
given item, from televisions to computers to housing units. Today, for
example, housing without central air and heating, laundry facilities and a
dishwasher is not considered low end or entry-level housing in the Atlanta
area but sub-standard, below the minimum level for the retail market, and
saleable only as a "fixer upper" or "investment opportunity." That was not
true when I moved here 20 years ago.

I believe two factors are involved: one is that bourgeois statistics
overstate inflation by being unable go accurately take into account the
quality of goods. The other is that although nominal household income
adjusted for inflation hasn't changed much, the SIZE of households certainly
has, declining from three persons circa 1970 to 2.5 today, which
automatically means a big rise in household income *per person.*

I think this is a central reason why especially the left's economic
discourse finds little echo among working people. It fundamentally does not
correspond to their own lived experience. It certainly does not correspond
to my lived experience or those of people I know.

This may all be changing now, I'm not speaking particularly about the
current conjuncture but rather the broad sweep from 1970-2000 or 2005.

Joaquin