As a young man, I often wondered at the fact that so many people idolized the wealthy. I still do. I grew up at a time when many of my family and friends worked for large corporations such as Ford, GM and Republic Steel. One person working could support a family. There was a symbiotic relationship between the corporation and the workers, which had been built over decades with the rise of unions and the demands of the men and women who had fought in and sacrificed for the country during World War II. It was not a perfect system, many people were shut out, but the system gave rise to the middle class and supported independent businesses.
In the 1980s, the wealthiest individuals and corporations gained more influence in our government. The government that had supported unions since the late 1930s took an active role in breaking them up. Corporations moved production overseas where they could produce goods cheaply. Smaller businesses went broke or were bought out by the larger ones. Greed is good became the mantra. Fewer large companies controlled their various industries, including agriculture. Farmers and ranchers had to keep growing to try to stay viable until the bottom fell out. The farm crisis resulted in fewer family farms and our food production came under control of a handful of corporations.
Jobs available paid less money and more people had to rely on cheaper goods now available. No longer could one person working support a family. The wealthy became increasingly rich while the working class stayed static or lost ground. It is a self-perpetuating cycle that continues today, but now it is a movement on steroids.
Over the last few months, we have watched while an unelected person took a chain saw (his symbolism, not mine) to our federal workforce. Essential employees were fired, then had to be rehired. Many agencies are completely short staffed. Take the FAA, for example. Newark Airport has three air traffic controllers down from 14. Newark and DIA have experienced unprecedented communication breakdowns, partly, as a result. Aging technology and other infrastructure are also to blame, but there is no denying short staffing plays a significant part.
A lack of safety also applies to the large numbers of the inspectors who kept our food supply safe that are now gone. In the agricultural community, the regulations are still in place but the personnel who helped with compliance are gone. As more farmers and ranchers are forced out of business, our open lands will be bought up by corporate agriculture, developers and investment firms.
We are blessed with living among our federal public lands. We use them for recreation of many types, firewood gathering and just a place to get away from it all. They were already under stress because of the increasing number of people using them. Campgrounds won’t open and enforcement of regulations will now be seriously curtailed. Because of contracts being voided, the men and women who did fire mitigation on the public lands around the urban areas will no longer be working, increasing our risk of catastrophic fire. There are people in Washington, D.C., who want to sell off and clear cut our public lands. They would be sold to the billionaire class and the rest of us would be shut out.
Congress has ceded its job to this Republican administration. Look at the proposed budget. Call your representative to let them know what you think about the cuts. See who benefits and who is harmed. Look at the estimated budgetary effects of the House GOP bill from the Congressional Budget Office and other economic analysts.
I do not begrudge anyone becoming wealthy, though I wonder why that is a goal. But I do despise the fact that some then rig the system to gather more and more while at the same time harming the poorest and most vulnerable. Greed will be our downfall.
Scott Perez is a former working cowboy, guide and occasional actor. He earned a master’s degree in Natural Resource Management from Cornell University and lives in the Animas River Valley.
