Many comparisons are being made between the current economic funk and the recession of the 1980s. That said, it is a connection that I really have difficulty remembering.
During the first four years of the 80s I was a full-time college student drawing the fruits of the GI Bill — where a veteran would get a flat amount each month that was not a match of funds — as well as working full-time as a municipal firefighter. Just prior to graduating I was making about $17,000 a year in 1983, adjusted for inflation, that would have the buying power of more than $36,000 today.*** If I recall correctly, the rent of my first real apartment in those days was about $75 per month. I paid bills for a landline phone, all one had back then, electricity and after a year of working for the FD and just prior to starting college I bought my second new Corolla which set me back a little on the car note and insurance.
***Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator
If one was around back then and perhaps you were going to college you may have had it easier than me financially or perhaps more difficulty making ends meet. I never really worried about paying bills, or eating or where my next cold beer was coming from. No, working as a firefighter and attending college I had more serious things to worry about, such as whether that brunette wanted to go out and if not how easily could I score an alternative.
I didn’t keep up nearly extensively with the news then as I do today, one reason of course is that you are inundated with news choices these days. Plus, besides being active with work, school work, extra-curricular activities and fun extra-curricular activities, I didn’t pay much attention to what was happening with the economy.
With that long-winded preface I must say that I didn’t notice if there were as many workers taking pay cuts back then as it seems there are these days. Maybe there were and I just didn’t notice it.
I have heard of workers whose pay was cut through the years but it was usually in very dire circumstances such as when union members were forced to agree to pay cuts during bargaining with companies that would otherwise give up the ghost. But I don’t know whether it was this widespread in years past as now that people are having pay cuts forced on them. I don’t know how it is for most folks, but for a lot of people such as myself a sudden cut in pay could be or would be catastrophic. Just a very quick Google turned up these recent cuts in pay for workers:
–A group of Microsoft contract workers met on a street corner after work Monday night to organize a protest of a 10 percent cut in pay.
–Declining revenues are compelling employees of E.W. Scripps media company to cut employees’ salaries by 3-to-5 percent.
—This California police department with 126 officers is cutting salaries by 10 percent rather than lose 17 positions.
—Owners of small businesses themselves face pay cuts rather than cut or possibly lose workers.
These are real people with real families feeling real pain from this very real recession or mini-depression or whatever the hell one wants to call it. That’s why I have difficulty shedding tears for conservative leaders who predict the end of the world as we know it unless all taxes known to man are eliminated. The great GOP answer to all ills is “tax cuts.” Things have got to change and change for the better. But will they and will it happen soon enough to prevent perhaps hundreds of thousands of people ending up homeless and on the street? It is something to think about this weekend.