Reich’s Boats
...tions”(292).Furthermore this has affected the bargaining power of unions . Since companies are no longer deathly afraid of work stoppages, union membership has declined along with the power to keep the wages of routine producers high(294). Moreover, increased automation has eliminated many routine production jobs. Reich states that while in 1977 it took factory workers thirty-five hours to assemble an automobile, by the 1990's, the same job took only eight hours(293-294). Reich states “the lesson is clear.”If you drop out of high school or have no more than a high school diploma do not expect a good routine prediction job to be awaiting you(294). The second “boat” Reich describes is the in-person servers, these are the people involved in serving people such as a nurse or a bank teller. Reich states that the “boat containing the in- person server is sinking as well, but somewhat more slowly and more unevenly”(296).Many in- person servers may only work part time, or get paid only minimum wage(296). “ In-person servers must compete with high school graduates and dropouts who years before had move into routine production jobs but no longer can”(296). Therefore, this leaves twice as many people to swim toward a minimum a wage job. Increased automation is also slowly drowning the in-person server boat. “Automated tellers, computerized cashier, automatic car washer, robotized vending machines, self service gasoline pumps, and all similar gadgets substitute for the human beings that a customer once encountered”(297). “ Advanced economies like the United States will continue to generate sizeable numbers of new in-person sever jobs (297). Reich states that for every bank teller who loses her job to an automated teller, three new jobs open for aerobics instructors(297). This meaning that for every in-person sever job lost to automation, a routine production job opens. Although it may seem like there is a life saver floating around waiting to be snatched, this is not the case. Reich states that the intense competition ensures that the wages of in-person servers will remain relatively low (297). Reich says “ postwar baby-boomers will result in a new surge of workers by 2010"(298). Reich also says “as the baby-boomers reach retirement age and live longer, their life expectancies will lengthen not just because fewer of them will have smoked their way to their graves and more will have eaten better than their parents, but also because they will receive all sorts of expensive drugs and therapies designed to keep them alive- barely”(298).Yet, the one thing is keeping this boat afloat is the health care profession. “Millions of deteriorating bodies will require nurses, nursing-home operators, hospital administrators, orderlies, home-care providers, hospice aids, and technicians to operate and maintain all the expensive machinery that will monitor and temporarily stave off final disintegration”(298). In- person servers catering to the old and ailing will be in strong demand(298). Yet, with all the good news comes the bad. A small problem floats to the surface, the baby-boomers will not have enough money to pay for these services(298). Reich states “in consequence, the huge cost of caring for the graying boomers will fall on many of the same people who will be paid to care for them”(299). In-person servers will have an abundance of health-care jobs, but a large portion of their earnings will be devoted to Social Security payments and income taxes, which will be used to pay their salaries(299). Reich states that unlike the boats of the routine producers and the in-person servers, however, the vessel containing the symbolic analysts is steadily rising(299). The symbolic analysts are the people (helpers) who give their insights and opinions to help people worldwide. Yet, not every symbolic analysts is rising as quickly(299). Symbolic analysts at the end of the “boat” are having difficulties holding their own in the world(299). But the ones at the top are having a hard time just trying to keep track of all their salary. Reich states that “almost everyone around the world is buying the skills and insights of Americans who manipulate oral and visual symbols- musicians, sound engineers, film producers, make up artist, directors, cinema...