The stalemate in Congress over relief checks raises larger questions about work and who deserves a dignified life.
On July 31, federal eviction protections and unemployment relief, in effect since late March, expired. After two more weeks of fruitless negotiations, the Senate adjourned, making any new action before mid-September unlikely. Trump’s attempts to play the hero — four executive actions announced with great fanfare — don’t actually mean much. Nationwide, a third of renters have little or no confidence they can pay this month’s rent.
But all of that is somewhat beside the point. Like so much of political speech, the incentive-to-work argument is not really about saying true things. It’s about provoking specific feelings. In this case, the message is that someone else is getting things for free, things they didn’t work for and don’t deserve. The desired effect is that the target audience — people who feel they are working hard and still treading water — resents and blames the people below them on the economic ladder, instead of those above. When this kind of argument also succeeds in its aim — keeping the poor miserable and desperate for work — it creates downward pressure on wages and makes those with jobs feel lucky, insecure and less likely to demand more or to stand up to abuse at work. In other words, it’s about dividing and disciplining the whole labor force.
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