In the past two weeks,Ive taken the Amtrak Acela to the Philadelphia and New York stations. In both places there were signs on the train platforms boasting that new construction work there was being paid for by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, that is,the $787 billion stimulus. And what was that work? New lighting so now you can see even better just how disgustingly decayed,undersized and outdated are the rail
platforms and infrastructure in two of our biggest cities.
If we were a serious country,this is what the midterms would be about: How do we generate the jobs needed to sustain our middle class and pay for new infrastructure? It would require a different kind of politics one that doesnt conform to either partys platform.
How we got into this rut is no secret. We compensated for years of stagnating middle-class wages the easy way. Just as baseball players in the 90s injected themselves with steroids to artificially build muscle to hit more home runs instead of doing real bodybuilding our two parties injected steroids,cheap credit,into Wall Street so it could go gambling and into Main Street so it could go home-buying. They both started hitting home runs,artificially until the steroids ran dry. Now we have to rebuild Americas muscles the old-fashioned way.
How? In the short run,well probably need more stimulus to get the economy moving again so people have the confidence to buy and invest. Ultimately,though,good jobs at scale come only when we create more products and services that make peoples lives more healthy,more productive,more secure,more comfortable or more entertained and then sell them to more people around the world. And in a global economy,we have to create those products and services with a work force that is so well trained and productive that it can leverage modern technology so that one American can do the work of 20 Chinese and,therefore,get paid the same as 20 Chinese. There is no other way.
Sure,more countries can now compete with us. But thats good. It means theyre also spawning new jobs,customers,ideas and industries where well-trained Americans can also compete. Fifteen years ago,there were no industries around Google search or iPhone applications. Today,both are a source of good jobs. More will be invented next year. There is no fixed number of jobs. We just have to make sure there is no fixed number of Americans to fill them aided by good US infrastructure and smart government incentives to attract these new industries to our shores.
But not everyone can write iPhone apps. What about your nurse,barber or waiter? Here I think Lawrence Katz,the Harvard University labour economist,has it right. Everyone today,he says,needs to think of himself as an artisan the term used before mass manufacturing to apply to people who made things or provided
services with a distinctive touch in which they took personal pride. Everyone today has to be an artisan and bring something extra to their jobs.
For instance,says Katz,the baby boomers are ageing,which will spawn many healthcare jobs. Those jobs can be done in a low-skilled way by cheap foreign workers and less-educated Americans or they can be done by skilled labour that is trained to give the elderly a better physical and psychological quality of life. The first will earn McWages. The second will be in high demand.
But just doing your job in an average way in this integrated and automated global economy will lead to below-average wages. Sadly,average is over. Were in the age of extra, and everyone has to figure out what extra they can add to their work to justify being paid more than a computer,a Chinese worker or a day labourer. People will always need haircuts and health care, says Katz,and you can do that with low-wage labour or with people who acquire a lot of skills and pride and bring their imagination to do creative and customised things. Their work will be more meaningful and their customers more satisfied.
Governments job is to help inspire,educate,enable and protect that work force.
THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
