Economic Virga

Virga is a meteorological phenomenon that is familiar mostly to pilots and weather geeks. It is when precipitation falls from clouds but evaporates before hitting the ground.

Economic virga is what we have been experiencing in this country for four decades.

I first entered the workforce nearly that long ago. My first real job (other than doing chores and working for neighbors) was in a factory cleaning shipping drums. The workforce was largely male; the oldest workers had been working there since the Harding Administration. A good percentage of the workers were Second World War veterans. They were all supporting their families. Most of their wives didn't work. They owned houses and late-model cars.

Now, after four decades of nearly continuous Republican presidents (Bill Clinton was economically not much different than a Republican), look where we are.

The economic gains of the last four decades have largely been confined to the rich. The middle/working classes have not kept pace. In much of the country, it is impossible to buy a home on one worker's paycheck; the only way that most families have been able to afford to buy a house is if both spouses work full-time.

"Trickle-down economics", the idea of the party of Hoover that things will get better if taxes are cut for the rich, has been economic virga. After 40 years of this bullshit, it is time to try something else.