Theft at the Public Till
matters. Modern workers-especially in the fast-growing information sector but in industrial jobs, too-must perform complex tasks that require accu- rate communication, familiarity with technology, and self discipline. The modem economy forces frequent changes both in the type of work you do and in the organization you work for. The average U.S. job lasts little longer than 6 years -- by far the lowest in the developed world. Many new jobs are available, but they demand new skills and, often, relocation. Long- term relationships with employers and employees are vanishing, even at the middle-management level. Even the largest corporations are fair game for acquisitions, often followed by waves of layoffs. Job insecurity is thus now a permanent feature of American society. Frustration and foreboding about the economy have erupted in popular anger at the political system, especially at the federal level, but few believe that public officials will take steps to reverse the gloomy economic outlook. Again, attitudes are inconsistent. People blame Washington both for exces- sive interference with private initiatives and for failure to provide economic direction and leadership. They criticize Congress and federal executives for being out of touch with real people and not caring what ordinary citizens think. At the same time, they castigate officials for being too political and doing only what is popular with voters. Pundits bemoan lack of leadership, while predicting that Americans would reject any potential leader who asked them to make sacrifices or work hard to improve future performance. Quality of life? The daily juxtapositions in our lives are so bizarre that they strain belief, however numbingly familiar they grow. In New York City, directly under the windows of the treasure-crammed five million-dollar apartments that loom over glittering Fifth Avenue, for instance, sleep the homeless, one and sometimes two to a park bench, haggard, usually ill, huddled in rags turned dead gray with dirt and wear. In a gentrified neigh- borhood across town, bustling with upper-middle-class professionals, only a thickness of brick separates a building where staid burghers have paid up- wards of three quarters of a million dollars for an apartment from the squalid crack house next door. Not far away, for the last few Christmas seasons, the line of fur-coated holiday makers jovially filing into a luxury trod store to
65
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online