Hard Knocks College class of 1929
My Grandfather used to tell me, when the subject of his rise to success came up in conversation, that first he went to school with the Nuns and then the priests at St. Pats, and then the College of Hard Knocks.
What did he learn at HKC?
1. Keep your mouth shut;
2. Be on time, leave on time;
3. Do your job-no more and no less;
4. Always look behind you;
5. Look again, just to be sure;
6. Someone else is always right behind you;
7. The steward and the boss are equal;
8. Keep your head down;
9. Keep your eyes and ears open:
10. Vote early and vote often; (in Chicago)
He learned these lessons during the Great Depression. When the nation recovered from that awful period, some new rules were created, and we emerged with what is loosely referred to as the American Social Contract. This was a deal between the corporate class, the government, and the blue collar class. It went like this;
If the business class followed the rules, they would be given fair and favorable treatment by the government, and be assured a reasonable profit on their investments. Our government would provide strict financial regulation, but not central control of the nation's economy. If the blue collar class put in an honest days work and stayed true to their employers, they could look forward to sending their kids to college, paying off their home, and retiring with some modest security and dignity.
And grandfather did just that. With the lessons learned at Hard Knocks, and the American Social Contract in place, grandfather worked hard, sent his kids to real Universities, paid off his house, and retired for a few years before he died. In our neighborhood, that was a success story with a happy ending. The social contract stayed in place and provided a clear and unambiguous path to the American Dream.
Those days are gone.
The regulations created in the 1930's to create a 'level playing field for all' and avoid another catastrophic financial crisis were slowly eroded if favor of commodity, service, and financial market deregulation. The people with money changed the rules over and over again in their favor, until, in recent years, the Corporate class gutted the economy, left the government powerless, and the blue collar class broke, deep in debt and nearly hopeless; which is where we are now.
Now the corporate class has two basic strategies. First, they are trying to dismantle the institutions that serve the working class. These are local school districts, sports programs, unions, social service organizations, small town and small city governments, small local businesses. These are the places we meet and talk. The other is economic shock therapy. This strategy calls for a series of political and economic shocks-like a debt ceiling shock-that creates an outrageous crisis. Historically this strategy has been uses for many years in other parts of the world. It has created hellish suffering and death, but made the rich much richer and much more in control of the government and working class. The most obvious sign that shock therapy is being used is political and economic confusion and dysfunction. Then comes the unbelievable shocks. Then the suffering as nearly all money and power shifts up.
The money class is trying this out in our country right now. In my old neighborhood we called people like this 'degenerates'.
Ok. They grabbed almost all our money and beat down our government. I covered some of this last week, but I wanted to summarize and bring it into the next context, which is,
" What do we do now? Where to we start?"
The answer: Education, pure and simple.
The College of Hard Knocks isn't around anymore. The American Social Contract is long gone. We are struggling against great odds to keep our schools open. But we have three undisputed facts going for us:
1. Knowledge is Power
2. The human race is self-taught
3. We now have the Internet
We don't need to learn how to run software companies, we just need to learn how to run our own neighborhoods in a way that provides freedom and the most basic security for all participants. There will be no help from the money class. But we have just enough to take back the power if we begin in earnest.
Next time, let's begin.
What did he learn at HKC?
1. Keep your mouth shut;
2. Be on time, leave on time;
3. Do your job-no more and no less;
4. Always look behind you;
5. Look again, just to be sure;
6. Someone else is always right behind you;
7. The steward and the boss are equal;
8. Keep your head down;
9. Keep your eyes and ears open:
10. Vote early and vote often; (in Chicago)
He learned these lessons during the Great Depression. When the nation recovered from that awful period, some new rules were created, and we emerged with what is loosely referred to as the American Social Contract. This was a deal between the corporate class, the government, and the blue collar class. It went like this;
If the business class followed the rules, they would be given fair and favorable treatment by the government, and be assured a reasonable profit on their investments. Our government would provide strict financial regulation, but not central control of the nation's economy. If the blue collar class put in an honest days work and stayed true to their employers, they could look forward to sending their kids to college, paying off their home, and retiring with some modest security and dignity.
And grandfather did just that. With the lessons learned at Hard Knocks, and the American Social Contract in place, grandfather worked hard, sent his kids to real Universities, paid off his house, and retired for a few years before he died. In our neighborhood, that was a success story with a happy ending. The social contract stayed in place and provided a clear and unambiguous path to the American Dream.
Those days are gone.
The regulations created in the 1930's to create a 'level playing field for all' and avoid another catastrophic financial crisis were slowly eroded if favor of commodity, service, and financial market deregulation. The people with money changed the rules over and over again in their favor, until, in recent years, the Corporate class gutted the economy, left the government powerless, and the blue collar class broke, deep in debt and nearly hopeless; which is where we are now.
Now the corporate class has two basic strategies. First, they are trying to dismantle the institutions that serve the working class. These are local school districts, sports programs, unions, social service organizations, small town and small city governments, small local businesses. These are the places we meet and talk. The other is economic shock therapy. This strategy calls for a series of political and economic shocks-like a debt ceiling shock-that creates an outrageous crisis. Historically this strategy has been uses for many years in other parts of the world. It has created hellish suffering and death, but made the rich much richer and much more in control of the government and working class. The most obvious sign that shock therapy is being used is political and economic confusion and dysfunction. Then comes the unbelievable shocks. Then the suffering as nearly all money and power shifts up.
The money class is trying this out in our country right now. In my old neighborhood we called people like this 'degenerates'.
Ok. They grabbed almost all our money and beat down our government. I covered some of this last week, but I wanted to summarize and bring it into the next context, which is,
" What do we do now? Where to we start?"
The answer: Education, pure and simple.
The College of Hard Knocks isn't around anymore. The American Social Contract is long gone. We are struggling against great odds to keep our schools open. But we have three undisputed facts going for us:
1. Knowledge is Power
2. The human race is self-taught
3. We now have the Internet
We don't need to learn how to run software companies, we just need to learn how to run our own neighborhoods in a way that provides freedom and the most basic security for all participants. There will be no help from the money class. But we have just enough to take back the power if we begin in earnest.
Next time, let's begin.
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