If you could choose between what we called the Anglo-American political economy and the continental European model of political economy, which would you prefer? Why? Respond to at least two of your classmates' postings and really engage your classmates in conversation. If you do this seriously, you are in for an exciting conversation and one probably full of ideological quicksand.
After watching the President’s State of The Union Address on Tuesday, I became more excited about the changes that are yet to come and perfect timing because I was really starting to feel discouraged when I read the book and hear about things that are so bad for middle class American’s so I would choose the Anglo-American Model. We are in a time of change and Obama did a really great job of tactfully hitting all of his points which included manufacturing job, keeping jobs in the United States, stopping giving the 1% of the richest people in the United States a tax break. I feel hopeful that he will be reelected because people no matter what party they are really want big changes to come and are tired with feeling like no one has their back, when he spoke about the Navy Seals that marched up the stairs to kill Obama you have to trust the guy next to you. When military members wear a uniform it does not matter what your political affiliation is. The most important message he sent out to the room and people watching from their TV’s at home was that we need to work together and that is not going to happen if one party or another puts two bricks over their ears when another party is speaking. I heard a lot more cheering during his monumental speech and it was hard for me to tell who the Republicans were in the audience because everybody stood up so much and I do not think the camera just focused on the Democrats in the room.
I was so upset when I read in the book, “The American-Anglo model, which creates lots of jobs, many with lousy wages, with huge pools of poverty at the bottom and huge pools of wealth at the top” (Harper & Leicht 2011 p. 126), this is so true people in NH want to work, but where do they go? There are temp services that are contracted with many big companies around here like Liberty Mutual, Measured Progress, Lindt Chocolate and Long Term Care Partners are just a few to mention. So what happens is that there are rules that these companies use when they hire temporary workers when the work is done you are done without warning. I like the jobs that already have a time limit like three months or even weeks then I know my job is done and I can continue to look for more work. Most of these companies never intend to hire people full-time and so what happens is people are recycled and then they leave and new ones are hired and the companies could use up to ten different services just to recruit new people. When I look at ads online I know which ones are for Liberty Mutual because the ads are always the same, with the similar job descriptions and the temp services are from all over the place not just the usual ones like Adecco, Office Team, Ranstad, when you apply to more than one company the competition begins for who is going to help you. In our textbook we also learn that on page 101 there is an interesting paragraph about the change in what types of temp jobs and they are not just low level that are “rented” but very skilled people who are in a variety of fields “accountants, architects, engineers, financial advisors, lawyers, nurses and doctors” (Harper & Leicht 2011 p. 101). So if you assumed that all temp workers lack skills that will enable them to get a permanent job outside of the temp services think again.
These jobs that we are competing for that will most likely last a few months during open enrollment or busy time periods, Measured Progress is the company that is in charge of making tests for students all over the United States, Kelly Services has the main contract with that company and they are always looking for people to score tests or work in clerical positions. Since I worked for temp services within the last five years they would not take my references from my temp services, they wanted actual employers who were my managers, it was so hard because I lost my job and the managers cannot give references there, not even the ones I got along great with. I was passed over on that job without even getting to keep my scheduled interview. So when we hear things are unfair with low paying jobs that really makes me mad because a lot of big companies in NH rely on workers that they will never have to pay benefits for. I had an interview with a sales rep from Cell Genix I thought the job was great because I would be the only one in the office for most of the time because the guy travelled all the time. I would help send out the media which were packaged and kept refrigerated because they were treatments for people who had cancer, I wanted to help him out with marketing and research and in the end he went with someone who was in the field. I could have worked part-time and had $18 an hour how perfect would that be?
Getting back to Obama’s speech I was impressed how it was cleverly crafted to get each point out about the changes that he was going to make and he kept encouraging people to work together and put a bill on his desk that he would sign in the morning. Can you imagine Obama having a conversation with George Bush, I do not think the latter would be able to keep up with him unless there was an outlined conversation topic so he could prepare and hope for the best?
Holy Bailey recounted his statement "In the six months before I took office, we lost nearly four million jobs. And we lost another four million before our policies were in full effect” (Bailey, 2012). My call center closed right before Obama got into office because we lost the contract with Department of State and our jobs went to two other companies, that was really hard to take in and even Hilary Clinton, our union the CWA and many other political leaders tried to turn this around but unfortunately it did not happen. I had to go through two rounds of layoffs and it was hard to deal with the fact that I was safe and my friends where losing their jobs and they had a two week notice and it was mass pandemonium because people came back crying and we had to stay on the phones and do our work.
The richest people in the United States will never know the feeling of losing a job, looking for work in a tight economy and having to get social assistance in order to provide for their families, but I am lucky my dad is always there to help me. I was really impressed with his speech “"The state of our union is getting stronger, and we've come too far to turn back now," Obama insisted "As long as I'm president, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place” (Bailey, 2012). This is the tough kind of talk that will bring about much needed change and although it may come slowly he is willing to be persistent and fight the people who want to stand in the way of change and new development and it makes me feel like he understands on some level what middle class Americans are going through. I am excited to see the new changes that he will put in place while he is still President and he will get my vote for sure because I want a job and I want to be treated with respect by my employer. I took a high finance position because it was the first permanent job that was offered to me they did both of us a favor when I was let go, my manager came over and told me to come with her and I went to the HR office and was handed a piece of paper then my manager grabbed my things and I was walked out. Call center’s are like factories you have to meet production standards no matter how crazy they seem or else you are gone, I stayed late and came in early because I had to do work off the phones for my customers which brought my productivity down. You can’t win working for a nasty company like John Hancock.
When reading about the European model of political economy I knew that is sounded worse than being under a Republican President because, “of large bureaucracies, higher taxes, powerful government (corruption was my first thought) and sometimes an inclination for authoritarian “solutions” in hard times”(Harper & Leicht 2011 p. 126). Remember that we have freedoms that we take for granted that other countries may dream of and that is probably why we have a lot of immigrants that come seeking a better way of life with more opportunities. Being poor is awful especially if one has the desire to be successful and have a great job it is hard because social lives and family relationships can be put on the back burner because of all of these stress I have mentioned about. It stinks, but I believe things will change. I will get money from my accident and I can keep my claim open for another two and half years and because the tow truck company was negligent I will be able to get enough to live quite nicely, but I will get a job way before I decide to close out my claim.
Bailey, H. (2012, January 26). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/highlights-president-obama-2012-state-union-address-000338337.html
Harper, C.L. & Leicht, K.L. (2011). Exploring social change: America and the world (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
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