A good economy? Just add work

Despite erratic leadership in the White House and an extremely unstable global order, 2017 seems to have shaped up to be one of the better economic years of the past 10 years. Unemployment is down, the stock market is up and — so it seems — American workers are better off than they have been in a decade.

However, it is possible that this apparent success is a veneer covering up a larger sea change in American working society.

The future is never clear without seeing the past clearly. Let’s look back:

After World War II — and despite the fury of the distant Korean War — America was a booming, noveau riche giant among nations. Untouched by bombs, stalwart against the gale winds of Communism and the nationalist shake-off of colonialism, this was the America That Was Great before a marketing strategist somewhere came up with the idea to Make America Great Again.

Nearly everyone in the final half of the 20th century believed America was great (even allowing for the racially and socially oppressed — there were many — who still believed they, too, could escape upward). As for MAGA, the slogan made popular in the last presidential election? It is contemporary politi-speak, of course. But dismissing it as just that overlooks a fundamental change experienced, knowingly or not, by the 99 percent — another 21st century colloquialism — to describe the vast majority of Americans not named Scrooge McDuck and in possession of vast billions, or even lesser millions.

This new, rather unpleasant reality is best described by holding up our time to the mirror of the past.

In the latter half of the 20th century (it is bitterly ironic that it has been widely described as the American Century) a man like Mike Brady from television’s classic The Brady Bunch sitcom could raise a gaggle of kids in a large suburban house in Southern California and still afford Alice the live-in housekeeper, a station wagon, pets and his adorable wife, Carol.

It is not a stretch to imagine Mr. Brady owning a powerboat and perhaps a lake house, if that’s what the rest of the Brady Bunch wanted. Today? For starters, Carol Brady would be working a full-time job. Mr. Brady’s insurance would not be affordable for such a large family. As for all those college loans, forget about it. The big house in a primo location in L.A. or one of its suburbs? Try way out in the heat of the valley and a two- to three-hour commute.

The power boat sank, along with their hopes of ever enjoying the comfortable retirement their own parents did in an America that vanished without any of us noticing. The past moved to a cheaper condo.

Had it become a sequel, the show might better be called The Brady Diaspora — with suburbs in city after city throughout the country rolled out like pizza dough over land that used to actually be called the country.

Worst of all, neither of the present-day Bradys would ever think of taking a job that didn’t include insurance benefits. Can anyone over the age of 50 remember their parents making a job decision based on how much insurance a prospective employer offered? With access to health care so uncertain today, insurance is a prime mover in employment prospects. That leaves workers stuck too often in jobs they do not like, unable to pick up stakes and try something new.

That leaves a country with less innovation and risk-taking. In 2017, fewer Americans relocate because they can’t afford to MORE.. In what’s left of small-town America, a legion of Dollar Store shoppers live a business model betting on permanent lack of mobility. Meanwhile, Congress is trying to reform taxes, but by giving back billions to the 1 percent, pretending all the while that these wholesale changes would help working men and women. In Maine, voters chose to expand Medicaid and the governor is trying to block their desires. Leading the instability is a president who shouts, “Make America Great Again,” without doing the hard work of improving the lives and opportunities of citizens.

How about a simpler idea, one many of us could embrace? Just make America work again. Do that with jobs that aren’t part time, lacking benefits or predictable hours. Oh, and have these jobs pay wages that cover the cost of living and provide real access to the American dream. Make America Work Again, not as a slogan, but as a way of life.