>>Once upon a time, someone with limited skills and education could get a decent manufacturing job with good pay and bennies. Alas, most of those jobs are gone from the Fruited Plain (thanks to offshoring and “free trade” agreements) so all that’s left are low-paying service jobs with lousy benefits. That is the “bazooka” that forced these workers to take these jobs<<
Straw man.
You can only afford an apartment near an airport, so move in and then tell them to move the airport.
Those jobs have been gone for over a generation. Even when I was a kid we had moved to a service economy. You can no more hold back globalization that you can stop the ocean tide with your hand.
There is a solution for those with limited skills and education: GET skills and education. And don’t whine “it’s too hard!” My mom got an AA degree at night with 7 kids at home!
Again, here in the Fruited Plain, we have things called “contracts.” They are based on a mutual agreement. If you don’t like the terms, don’t sign the agreement. Don’t sign and then whine and blubber because you don’t like what you signed. And CERTAINLY don’t put other people out because you are such a crybaby.
These folks should be fired wholesale (or retail, either way).
“You can no more hold back globalization that you can stop the ocean tide with your hand.”
That comment reeks of defeatism.
I’m with you on this one. This is very low skill labor. If they want better jobs, it’s up to them to make an effort to improve their skills. Of course I’m actually mistaken. In Obama’s world, it’s up to US to take care of them regardless of their skills and/or effort.