[NJFAC] the rise of the precariat

Economic Questions: Guy Standing and the Rise of the Precariat 

From the Guardian last month:

The report, published by the Institute of Policy Studies, focuses on 20 of the S&P 500 corporations that have primarily US-based workforces and report the lowest median wages of the group.

Collectively, this “Low-Wage 20” employs 6.7 million people in the US. The median pay at a majority (75%) of the companies is lower than the income minimum for a family of three to be eligible for Medicaid in most states. At 13 of the companies, median pay was also lower than the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program income threshold for a family of three.

Nearly a quarter of Walmart employees (29.3%) and half of Amazon workers (48.4%) in the Nevada – which collects Medicaid enrollment numbers among employees at large companies – were on Medicaid in 2024, according to the report.....

Guy Standing identified the precariat as a class characterised by uncertainty. Members of the precariat often experience:

• short-term or zero-hours contracts, fluctuating income, limited access to benefits or protections, lack of occupational identity, and minimal control over working conditions.

This is not simply low pay. It is a condition of permanent instability. The precariat cannot plan, save, or build a secure future.

Guy argues that this condition is becoming the norm rather than the exception....

Note that Standing advocates a guaranteed basic income, not a job guarantee, the  NJFAN  policy position. jz

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June Zaccone
National Jobs for All Network
http://www.njfac.org

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[NJFAC] military spending now more detached from civilian use....

Satyajit Das: The Wages of War 

Yves here. Satyajit Das provides a high-level look at the costs and benefits of militarization. There may have been a time when manufacturing was less specialized (think 1930s and 1940s machine shops) where bulking up for huge production of weaponry required only some investment in specialized components. But modern war, particularly when fought US-style, with lots of fussy high priced kit, means single-purpose investment, which Das argues, also have limited spill-over benefits.

Mind you, it may not have to be that way even now. Russia in its Ukraine war production expansion, is endeavoring to have as much of its new capacity as possible be dual-use, as able to later or contemporaneously make civilian goods.

By Satyajit Das, a former banker and author of numerous technical works on derivatives and several general titles: Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives (2006 and 2010), Extreme Money: The Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk (2011) and A Banquet of Consequence – Reloaded (2016 and 2021). His latest book is on ecotourism – Wild Quests: Journeys into Ecotourism and the Future for Animals (2024). This piece was first published in the New Indian Express.....

Second, defence spending may not generate economic activity. Beyond the initial expenditure, there is minimal multiplier effects as most goods have limited consumption or investment value. It is spent on items which become obsolete if unused or destroyed if deployed in combat. There is a diversion of resources and talent. In the longer term, any stimulatory effects of increased military spending are outweighed by higher inflation, budget deficits, and higher taxes which require painful adjustments. If a state does not have the required indigenous industries, then defence spending mainly benefits foreigners, primarily major armaments exporters like the US, Russia, China, France, and Germany. Then, there is human and material costs of wars.....

Third, the effectiveness of defence spending is uncertain. Given that the required capabilities are a function of the adversary, the type of conflict and its duration, it is unclear what target fixed percentage of GDP is appropriate or sufficient.  As the Ukraine war illustrates, no matter how high the state of preparedness, actual conflict requires armaments of different type and a scale of output which is difficult.

The money is frequently eaten up by salaries, pensions, and administration costs. More than one-third and one-half of US and European defence spending, respectively, goes on personnel. Less than 30 percent and 20 percent of US and European spending is on investment.

Advanced weapon systems, the now favoured strategy, are often duds.....

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June Zaccone
National Jobs for All Network
http://www.njfac.org

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