Now that GM has shown it’s corporate arse and the ferret on the President’s head is twittering… let’s talk about jobs. The real jobs.
Let’s kill the meme about ‘re-educating’ people because ‘that is how we’ll fix this.’
No. No it won’t.
I can go into all the actual science about how this will not work. I can go into the actual science about how this didn’t work. I, as an actual scientist, can tell you how a city broke itself trying to fix that.
But I won’t.
Let’s talk about jobs. Actual jobs.
Like my vet, who only needs my herd to be solvent (Hi, Riku!).
Or my local really cute guy who fixes my 103 year old house (what is that stucco falling off my house?)
Or the restaurant across the street who will actually bring me take-out when I effed my ankle. (I was getting my newspaper — supporting local journalism!)
Or the garage who still knows how to fix a 2001 Saturn.
Or me.
I can’t get hired to save my life. I have a doctorate. McD’s won’t hire me because they don’t think I’ll stay. Those wonderful folks on MSNBC? Nope — I’m not pretty enough (but I am! Kinda?). Those Unis want to hire me but someone shot at me and I didn’t press charges. Nope.
But I’m seeing my city die…
If not for the football team (and I’m paying for that shit show — we lost to the Browns!) and the other football team (killing the African-American neighborhood right over there!), we’ll be fine…
It’s not re-education. It’s not education at all. It’s money.
I have spent the last decade educating the ‘uneducatable.’ In college. For jobs. That weren’t there. Not for them. Never for them. Because we’re a racist country.
Full stop.
Why am I writing this? Because I can.
And I feel sorry for the ferret...
So, jobs…
Let’s start here. We don’t need to re-educate folks. We need to support folks. We don’t need more education. We need folks to have enough money to go to the bar, or eat out once in a while, or go to church, or just be.