The Gap Widens

For as long as I can remember I have been interested in the gap between the rich and the poor. In the past several days I have read or hear about the way this gap is growing. First, I picked a Wall Street Journal while riding the train and was drawn to an article on this topic. It explained how the gap isn't really widening as much as the middle class is dissolving away, being replaced by technology. The lower class seems to be sustaining as the demand for janitoiral and secretarial work has not been greatly affected by technology. And on the upper end, the pay scale is sliding towards the rich as companies are valuing the no. 1 and 2 much more than in the past and paying the no. 25 and 26 much less as a result. One scholar suggested that the school systems needed to restructure to teach students to either embrase technology and use it to there advanatage or to learn to settle in jobs that are completely devoid of technology. Sounds like a prescription for a symptom to me.

Today, I found two stories about the gap getting a little wider. First, Ford is planning to cut 30,000 jobs by the year 2012. Undoubted most of these layoffs are the middle class. Ford's stock price is up about 6% today. So that will work out for those fortunate enough to be able to invest in the stock market.

Second, an article in the newspaper explained how the city of Chicago plans to cut 1,000 teachers in the public school system. All they have to do is make the class sizes larger. But this doesn't seem to be too much of a problem as long as the students learn that all they need to do in life is sweep floors and clean toliets.

As I write this I hear about the end of my profession. New technology is moving in and taking my job. Why hire 10 people to run an operation when you can sit at a computer and do all the work yourself? The rich are having a great time on their trapeze over the economy. But where are the trampolines that help everone else catch up?