How Globalization Is Creating a New European Underclass

Spiegel online International ^

[Republicanprofessor]

In the West, gradual de-industrialization has created a new underclass of the unproductive and intellectually depraved. The spiritual cousin of the American phenomenon of "white trash," these strangers in their own land have become a serious threat to democracy.

The modern-day member of the underclass is not hungry. He has a roof over his head, he is not disproportionately vulnerable to illness and he even has a bit of cash in his pocketbook. In every Western European country, he is both a citizen and a beneficiary of the welfare state, even if the state's services are no longer as generous as they once were.

Such luxuries, bare bones though they may be, are relatively new for the Western proletariat. The best lodging his pauper predecessor could have hoped for was a homeless shelter or a men's hostel.....

Rather, what stand out are the symptoms of intellectual neglect. The poor of today watch television for half the day. These days, television producers even refer to what they call "Underclass TV."

[Republicanprofessor]

Editor's Note: The following essay has been excerpted from the German best-seller "World War for Wealth: The Global Grab for Power and Prosperity" by SPIEGEL editor Gabor Steingart. SPIEGEL ONLINE is publishing a series of daily excerpts from the book.

[Republicanprofessor]

Education ping.

If you want on or off this education ping list, let McVey, JamesP81, or me know.

[Blueflag]

This is a good read. I suggest FReepers click the link and read it.

e.g.,

"But the main thing that sets the modern poor apart from the industrial age pauper is a sheer lack of interest in education. Today's proletariat has little education and no interest in obtaining more. Back in the early days of industrialization, the poor joined worker associations that often doubled as educational associations. The modern member of the underclass, by contrast, has completely shunned personal betterment.

He likewise makes little effort to open the door to the future for his own children. Their language skills are as bad as their ability to concentrate. The rising rate of illiteracy is matched by the shrinking opportunities to integrate the underclass. The Americans, not ones to mince words, call them "white trash.""

[metmom]

Looks like homeschoolers WILL be having the advantage. Funny how the system that the liberals put so much faith in looks like it's allowing for those they oppose to rise to promonent positions simply because they're educated.

[Blueflag]

I am gona bump this a couple times cuz it is such a good read. I sent an email and link to Boortz cuz I thought it would hit his "somebody's gotta say it" button.

[milwguy]

The same logic could be applied to much of our own underclass. The same deindustiralization, combined with the welfare state and lack of interest in education, characterizes much of our inner cities.

[Blueflag]

Absolutely!

The article referred to "white trash" not to single out whites , but to point out that the US has already coined a phrase.

For the Germans, it could just as easily be 'turkish trash,' for the FRENCH it's the algerian trash.

[ClaireSolt]

I love the way people like this talk about jobs without any real idea of where jobs come from. I learned it when I participated in a group sponsored by the labor department when downsizing had created a pool of 450 unemployed managers in Omaha. A few repackaged themselves and found jobs, but more importantly, a few more decided that they would start businesses. Within two years the unemployed were all soaked up. In 91 I had 100 applications for a secretary job but by 94 there were none. Necessity is the mother of invention, and Europe has taken away the sting of necessity.

[Little Ray]

This is one more reason that democracy, or, at least, universal suffrage, is a really, really bad idea.

[ClaireSolt]

I love the way people like this talk about jobs without any real idea of where jobs come from. I learned it when I participated in a group sponsored by the labor department when downsizing had created a pool of 450 unemployed managers in Omaha. A few repackaged themselves and found jobs, but more importantly, a few more decided that they would start businesses. Within two years the unemployed were all soaked up. In 91 I had 100 applications for a secretary job but by 94 there were none. Necessity is the mother of invention, and Europe has taken away the sting of necessity.

[1234]

from the article: "...The Americans, not ones to mince words, call them "white trash."

the author's on to sumptin....so many in US society, of whatever color, ethnicity or immigration status, fit into this socioeconomic 'typing'. tax payers r gonna take a big hit, causa PC concerns, supporting the underclasses....

[Young Scholar]

They seem to be describing a class more akin to the British "chavs" than the American "white trash."

[DH]

You don't seem to understand...Sports and entertainment is far more important than an actual education in either the professions or technical fields.

Bread and circuses.....the downfall of Rome!

[Carry_Okie]

It is no mere coincidence that the rise of the new underclass is happening in tandem with the erosion of industry jobs.

It is also no coincidence that European unemployment would disappear were Muslims deported.

[theFIRMbss]

>...Sports and entertainment is far more important than an actual education in either the professions or technical fields

-------------------------------------------------------------------

When they turn the pages of history
When these days have passed long ago
Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow
We turned our gaze
From the castles in the distance
Eyes cast down
On the path of least resistance

Cities full of hatred
Fear and lies
Withered hearts
And cruel tormented eyes
Scheming demons
Dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude
And scoffing at the wise

The hypocrites are slandering
The sacred halls of Truth
Ancient nobles showering
Their bitterness on youth
Can't we find
The minds that made us stong
Can't we learn
To feel what's right and wrong

Cities full of hatred
Fear and lies
Withered hearts
And cruel, tormented eyes
Scheming demons
Dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude
And scoffing at the wise
Can't we raise our eyes
And make a start
Can't we find the minds
To lead us closer to the Heart

[jordan8]

Any German who wrote a book that called nonwhites in Germany a name equivalent to "white trash" would literally be on his way to prison. You can hardly find a better example of the new racial hierarchy in Western society. The really offensive thing is the idea that it is this class that is a danger to society. It isn't the poor who are flooding Germany with foreigners, pushing the EU, and groveling in self-loathing, and it isn't the poor who are pushing MTV morals, these things are being done by the class this author belongs to. The upper classes, particularly the upper middle class have waged what can be called with scant exaggeration a pitiless war against the white working class. As the author of this piece says "his predecessor may have been on the margins of society, today he is an outsider." That didn't just happen to happen, it happened because it benefited those with power, including class benefits. The working class, along with the lower middle class has borne the brunt of all the disastrous social experimentation the upper middle class has practiced on Western society since the 60s, particularly multiculturalism and immigration. It is the lower classes that are in direct economic competition with immigrants, and worse in direct social contact with them. For the upper classes diversity means a wide choice of restaurants, for the lower class it is the reality of the ghetto and barrio, of threats and assault, and being chased from their neighborhoods at devastating cost.

[theFIRMbss]

>For the upper classes diversity means a wide choice of restaurants, for the lower class it is the reality of the ghetto and barrio, of threats and assault, and being chased from their neighborhoods at devastating cost

I think of this stuff
as really good incentive
to get really rich.

It has always been
better to be rich than poor,
but in the future

it's gonna really
suck being poor while rich folks
will lead a great life.

And, unlike the past,
when underclasses could fight,
could revolt, these days

the Establishment
has Spectre gunships and things
like Metalstorm, so

any mass revolt
that really threatens to change
the Order Of Things

will get blown away.
So, be rich and successful.
That solves everything!

[DH]

Excellent!