Mind Fuck

Today my manager informed us that he would be transitioning to another department. Mainly, he’s leaving our group because he’s no longer needed. I always thought what he did was never really needed, that we could probably use his skills elsewhere. A lot of times, I thought that we were a self run operation, and we never needed him here other than random team meetings he ran or updates on what our program would be taking on in the near future. Red flags went off in my brain, because 3 months ago he said to us, “You don’t see me leaving do you? When you see me leaving this department that’s when you’ve got to start worrying”. And here I am, 3 months later, worrying. I’ve applied for jobs, I have. For some reason I just can’t get an email or a call back. No one wants to hire someone that’s already in a company I guess? I have no idea. Maybe I haven’t been pursuing it as aggressively as I should’ve been. Here’s the weird thing though: They’ve told me I’m going to have a job until at least 2008. And more than likely I will have a job even past then. But now I am not sure of our direction. There is no one to head and represent this department when IT and Service heads come together and talk about the future of me and the rest of our department.

To say the least, I am worried.

But, let’s get to the real point of this post. The forest for the trees. This isn’t happening just to me. This isn’t just happening to half of our IT department. This isn’t just happening to my manager. It’s happening at gigantic corporations around the US and around the world. Jobs are consistently being cut, and a drive towards better, faster, and for less money is the mantra of so many people in the US. Who cares if me, let alone employee X, Y, Z, and A – 200 million other middle class workers such as myself. Where will I go with this post? I’m not really sure. But there are a few points I want to make before it’s over.

First and foremost, although a lot of people have talked about it, and I’m no economic genius or anything but I’d like to include it here: The dissolution of the middle class. Where has the middle class gone? Out sourced, no longer needed, or included in the job functions of the upper and lower classes bearing the mantra “Better, Faster, Cheaper”. Ah, the almighty dollar. The chairmen, sitting there in their lavish million dollar homes and condos, driving 6 different luxury vehicles, if they ever do drive, and setting up trust funds for their children and all the children they may be having in the near future. The board says yay or nay, the stock goes up people are happy, the stock goes down, another few hundred houses foreclosed and bankruptcy filed.

But these corporate heads could really care less right? They’re making hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, and would taking a cut from their salary of even $250K be worth saving another 10 jobs for their company? No, not really. Remember, “Better, Faster, Cheaper”. And the problem with jobs in America? There’s not enough of them to go around with a consistent unemployment rate that never goes away. And as long as there isn’t jobs out there for everyone, employers can not only offer the lowest wage to people seeking employment, they can go outside of the US and look for even more desperate people who would so happy to work for even one tenth of that amount. All to drive that bottom line. And who reaps the benefits of that bottom line? The higher, higher, higher ups. Thus the dissolution of the middle class, and even part of the lower class. The supposed working heart of the United States will cease to beat in what I’m predicting the next 20 to 30 years.

You might be asking, “Well, how’s that going to happen though?”. I know this: The cheapest and fastest and most mistake-free way to do almost anything in the business world is to automate the process. Take it as you will. Automation means less human jobs, means more jobs for our computers to take on for us, maybe even the full realization of artificial intelligence and robots walking and interacting among humans?

What comes at that point? Here is my pillar of capitalism: How much can I screw the other guy out of money? Isn’t that the harsh way we all say the other word you might know, “Profit”? What happens when human minds and human hands no longer do the work? You can’t pay computers. What would they want? What would they buy with the money we paid them? To me, it is obvious that they wouldn’t succumb to the same weak desires of humans, therefore what need do they have for extra money, if at all any money?

But before we get to this point, as the business world evolves the further it automates, the less human work it needs, the less jobs will be available…suddenly everyone but those at the top are in survival mode. “Let’s see. My wife and I don’t have a job or a place to live. My children haven’t eaten in 3 days. But there goes Mr. Hotshot Highup Corporate Employee, surely taking his yacht out again on the water”. Revolution. People will not wait around while their lives waste away. They will do anything to survive. It is one of the most basic human instincts, and that is to persevere. And of course I’m not saying this will happen tomorrow. But it is happening. And it is happening very slowly. I honestly believe that although many historians will point back to the industrial revolution as one of the most amazing advancements of the human race I’m starting to think that’s where the decline began. And what happens to a species that is no longer evolving but decaying? Extinction. Those that can’t adapt will perish.

My assistant manager overheard a coworker and me discussing this whole situation and said this, “All I know is that I just want to put my blinders on and not care. I come to work Monday through Friday, I take my paycheck at the end of the week and that’s the best I can ask for. Wake me up when that changes”. That’s all great and good, but that’s exactly the attitude of those that will not adapt, that of complacency.
This is not my doomsday message. This is my outlook of the business world within my lifetime, if I live that long. A lot of it is very grey and vague, but that’s because I’m not sure. I’m not sure what happens when trillions of dollars are worth nothing, I’m not sure if the whole system of capitalism will be flipped on it’s head. I’m not sure if we’ll all die at the hands of nuclear weaponry in the next 5 years. Hell, I’m not even sure where I’ll be or what job I’ll be working in the next two months. I know it all seems a little far fetched and overblown, but it’s slowly happening all around us. The best I can do is speculate and keep the blinders off for now.