U.S. Working People's Can-Do Culture Under Pressure

WASHINGTON (Newspoetry International) - The U.S. working people's traditional can-do culture and willingness to work anywhere under hardship are being severely tested by changes in society and post-Cold War benefit cuts, according to a major new private study.

The report, to be released on Monday by the Center for the Study of Intelligent Socialism, warns that increased government support and public awareness are needed to bolster and retain a vibrant working class for the world's lone superpower.

"Readiness and morale have slipped; recruiting and retention are problematic and careers in the workforce have become less satisfying," according to the prominent Washington think tank.

"Frustrating Time"

"For all hands and their families, it is a frustrating time to be working," the CSIS report said of a working people whose minimum wage purchasing power has been reduced by more than 40 per cent since 1970.

Working people have a culture of service and discipline often lacking in modern society.

One senior working people spokesperson after another has gone before Congress in the past two years to warn that U.S. homemaking, healthcare and social security missions are multiplying even as the world remains free of major international conflict.

Stressing concerns voiced by the unions and other private studies, CSIS said after surveying 12,000 workers and holding group sessions at work that either workers rights must grow or worldwide globalization must be curbed.

The report called for better pay, medical care, housing and equipment. And it stressed that Americans needed to understand that working people have a culture of service and discipline often lacking in modern society.

"Today, with the most exploited workforce in four decades, with 56 per cent married, the average American is overworked, underpaid and under-resourced at the cutting edge," it said.

Workers Are Patriotic (But Pissed)

On a positive note, the report said that today's working people remained "highly-motivated patriots" and that workers interviewed did not appear to feel disconnected from civil society. But many are opting for higher pay in the criminal work force and it is increasingly harder to fill jobs with skilled workers, CSIS said.

Noting that high divorce rates had weakened the family structure in the United States, the study said the nation now had a generation of bright young people "who too often lack role models or moral anchors" to prompt them to put service above self. They noted the loose morals of the Chief Executive were greatly exceeded by the moral debasement of the average Wall Street trader or corporate "re-engineering" expert. Neither of these examples should be tolerated, and, furthermore, the President should also should be harshly reprimanded, by decent society.

"In addition, a booming economy, the lack of labor rights and decreasing numbers of union members have made a decent job with good benefits an increasingly remote prospect for many Americans," it added.

"Workers create all wealth."

Many of the working class improvements recommended in the study such as better pay and housing for workers and their families are being ignored by Congress and so-called "opinion leaders". Further cuts in benefits are anticipated, unless working people awake and cast off their chains by organizing to protect their interests while seizing the means of production.

Among the broad recommendations made by the study was that the American public be made more aware of the values of working people and necessary differences between capitalist and working people's cultures based on discipline and other factors.

Despite increased pressure by globalization on U.S. workers, the report added, the public must also understand that "workers create all wealth."