The New Career Economy (new is not good)

The phrase New Career Economy has recently been cast to describe a sea change in how we all consider our life’s work. A “Career” may now be a term fondly recalled but never to be seen again (except maybe as a federal employee). Remember your parent, uncle, or cousin who worked for the big company? Twenty years plus they were loyal and true and maybe this company fed the whole town in a rural area. The company did well enough to pay the best wages and added great benefits, and of course they were rewarded with the best and brightest in that town.
So what happened! Some Americans think that NAFTA or CAFTA did us in; but really, it was bigger and deeper. After WWII, America took its manufacturing advantage and became the greatest producer of goods and produce (via farm machinery) ever seen in the world. From autos to toasters and from tomatoes to cornflakes we were the super-super market for low cost products. In the 70’s- 90’s the world starting catching up and the Japanese realized they could copy and improve on what we made. I can remember visiting the Chicago tool show in 1980, there was a new CNC milling machine that turned at 40,000 rpm’s. The machine took 5 min to reach top milling speed. There were hundreds of oriental engineers surrounding the machine all taking notes. Soon great machines at lower prices were arriving from all over the world and American companies were losing world market share.
Wages in Japan, Mexico and then China and India, were a tenth of our wages. To compete, our companies had to move production offshore and take advantage of those wages. Some industries like steel, auto’s, textiles, and furniture were just not nimble enough or were too capital intensive to compete in the new low wage, low margin environment. Globalization of manufacturing was the cause of this New Career Economy. Big manufacturers can no longer be loyal to their once beloved employees and they particularly can’t afford high wages and benefits.
The New Career Economy is”new”; but, surely not what we need for a solid retirement. If your hair is starting to gray and your children are back home after college, this recession of 2007 is catching many of us off guard and left us longing for days gone by. Fortunately the technology industry has continued the dream for a few; but, the post war glory days are gone forever. Alas we have become a service economy! Lawyers, doctors, accountants (did I say we have too many lawyers) are at the top of the food chain. Right below are the hundreds of thousands of small businesses serving our every need. Unfortunately, except for the professionals, profit margins are low and ultimately can we continue to just serve each other? Or will somebody have to actually make or produce a product. If China is producing all the steel and making the tanks, missiles, and airplanes, what does that all mean?