Thanks Dick.  I didn’t mean to suggest you were trying to shame anyone—perhaps I was a bit clumsy there.  Your article got me thinking back, and I wanted to list it as one of the many tactics I’ve seen tried, but that ultimately didn’t work.

You can’t name-and-shame those in power into giving it up or sharing it.  Money, space, priority…  Appeals to empathy don’t work.  Centering anyone other than those holding the power is a non-starter.  Impuning their “good-person-ness” / suggesting that they don’t deserve excess wealth more than lower-income employees deserve to live above a poverty threshold…such boldness.

I sat in Bellingham City Council chambers a couple of weeks ago watching corporate landlors cry crocodile tears in their opposition to mostly very young renters testifying in favor of putting an end to junk-fees.  How can we possibly run a business without junk fees, surprise fees, etc.?  I was amazed at some of the stories of these junk fees—truly, if anyone hasn’t learned much about these yet—it’s worth learning about.

I’ve sat at a contract negotiating table with my employer a few times over the past few decades—we get the tried-and-true “We’re in a bad budget situation” nonsense with which they start every negotiation, without fail, even as senior leadership consistently give themselves big raises.  Whatever the budget crisis, when the crisis is over, leadership alwasy finds other things to spend their money on—including a dispairing collection of pet projects that have only the loosest connection with the institution’s mission if any at all—I can’t recall there ever being an offer for cost-of-living recovery for regular staff.

Neither the City, nor my employer, seem to be able to find their way to an adequate min. wage for their lowest-income positions.  Not only less pay, but less vacation (lower-income earners need less time with their families, as it turns out.)

Where is this mythical land of stepping back and questioning economic models…?  Whose names adorne the buildings and scholarships in that place?  Does the renters union in that land get bored with all the fair and stable weather there?  Do the laborers get tired of yet another full night’s sleep without anxiety over paying next month’s rent?  It feels like in order to get there, you have to already be there.  (Take that, Xeno.)