Zogby's Dreamless Dead
Pollster John Zogby came up with the term "dreamless dead" to describe americans that have given up on the american dream. The american dream is a belief that if you work hard that you will get ahead and that your children will have a better opportunities in life than you did.
My journey to the dreamless dead began in about 1990 when it started becoming clear that the company I had joined as a startup in 1983 was going global.
The company and my career saw good growth until a corporate giant bought us up in 1986 and installed management zombies throughout the organization. Company and career growth stunted then ceased by 1990. I hoped that somehow things would turn around but by 2000 the company was dying and I was let go.
I took another job that paid well but was a deadend career in another corporate giant that was bankrupt and dying in america as it boomed in Asia. It was always clear that working hard wouldn't translate into anything because dying companies aren't interested in the future, they are dreamless dead themselves.
Now I'm working for another start up company that has a policy of never promoting from within, preferring to hire seasoned veterans for each cog in the corporate machine. A select few top managers trade chairs and get longer titles while 95% of the organization is locked in position forever.
No matter how hard I work, how creative I am or how many hours a day I work I will never advance in this company. It is written in the stars. If the company ever starts giving merit raises, I 'll get the typical raise that covers inflation thus locking in my base salary forever. So I am a dreamless dead, a career zombie stumbling through the workscape until I stop.
Talking with friends and acquaintances it's all the same everywhere. There is just too little opportunity and too much labor in this country. Talent and hard work just let you keep your job, if lucky. Only one of a hundred have that je ne sais qois that creates a path to the american dream. It seems that modern corporate structures are incapable of identifying and promoting talent. It's safer to hire (purchase) the management widget that you need than develop from within. After all, will the company even be around in two quarters or years?
So 99% of us are dreamless dead in the workplace.
My journey to the dreamless dead, with regard to my children, started in 2004. My daughter's bachelors degree didn't mean a good paying job and another daughter's pregnancy didn't mean a family. Six years later, after two bachelors degrees and a third on the way, all three daughters are working in retail/service jobs, making a little better than minimum wage. Two fatherless grandchildren are living on the margins even with ongoing support from grandma and I. What kind of future are these daughters and their children going to have?
Politicians, academics and pundits all say education is the key to success for acheiving the american dream. I'm calling bullshit. Companies have raised the educational bar to get into the door but don't want to pay for it. One doesn't need a bachelors degree to point out the toilet paper aisle at Walmart or check out customers at Best Buy. If you have the smarts and endurance to earn a bachelors degree then working retail would bore you nearly to death and leave you broke just paying back the college loans.
The dream of a stable, conventional family is even out of reach for most young people. Neither of my grandsons will ever have or know a conventional family. Dad is just some mythical construct that you see on television and mom is some stressed out psychobitch who also lives with grandpa and grandma. Kids will make a way for themselves but it won't be anything I know or recognize. Dreamless dead is my daughter's mantra.
For most people, dreamless death is the new normal in america. Society pushes lifestyles that are plain unattainable for most people and no longer has the means to generate wealth that will support those lifestyles. Over educated, unattached employees work for unattached, temporary companies that neither know nor care about the employee-commodities that work for them. Pretend and extend is the order of the day. Nothing is believable or sustainable.
So I am dreamless dead and have been for more than a decade. There are millions just like me.
My journey to the dreamless dead began in about 1990 when it started becoming clear that the company I had joined as a startup in 1983 was going global.
The company and my career saw good growth until a corporate giant bought us up in 1986 and installed management zombies throughout the organization. Company and career growth stunted then ceased by 1990. I hoped that somehow things would turn around but by 2000 the company was dying and I was let go.
I took another job that paid well but was a deadend career in another corporate giant that was bankrupt and dying in america as it boomed in Asia. It was always clear that working hard wouldn't translate into anything because dying companies aren't interested in the future, they are dreamless dead themselves.
Now I'm working for another start up company that has a policy of never promoting from within, preferring to hire seasoned veterans for each cog in the corporate machine. A select few top managers trade chairs and get longer titles while 95% of the organization is locked in position forever.
No matter how hard I work, how creative I am or how many hours a day I work I will never advance in this company. It is written in the stars. If the company ever starts giving merit raises, I 'll get the typical raise that covers inflation thus locking in my base salary forever. So I am a dreamless dead, a career zombie stumbling through the workscape until I stop.
Talking with friends and acquaintances it's all the same everywhere. There is just too little opportunity and too much labor in this country. Talent and hard work just let you keep your job, if lucky. Only one of a hundred have that je ne sais qois that creates a path to the american dream. It seems that modern corporate structures are incapable of identifying and promoting talent. It's safer to hire (purchase) the management widget that you need than develop from within. After all, will the company even be around in two quarters or years?
So 99% of us are dreamless dead in the workplace.
My journey to the dreamless dead, with regard to my children, started in 2004. My daughter's bachelors degree didn't mean a good paying job and another daughter's pregnancy didn't mean a family. Six years later, after two bachelors degrees and a third on the way, all three daughters are working in retail/service jobs, making a little better than minimum wage. Two fatherless grandchildren are living on the margins even with ongoing support from grandma and I. What kind of future are these daughters and their children going to have?
Politicians, academics and pundits all say education is the key to success for acheiving the american dream. I'm calling bullshit. Companies have raised the educational bar to get into the door but don't want to pay for it. One doesn't need a bachelors degree to point out the toilet paper aisle at Walmart or check out customers at Best Buy. If you have the smarts and endurance to earn a bachelors degree then working retail would bore you nearly to death and leave you broke just paying back the college loans.
The dream of a stable, conventional family is even out of reach for most young people. Neither of my grandsons will ever have or know a conventional family. Dad is just some mythical construct that you see on television and mom is some stressed out psychobitch who also lives with grandpa and grandma. Kids will make a way for themselves but it won't be anything I know or recognize. Dreamless dead is my daughter's mantra.
For most people, dreamless death is the new normal in america. Society pushes lifestyles that are plain unattainable for most people and no longer has the means to generate wealth that will support those lifestyles. Over educated, unattached employees work for unattached, temporary companies that neither know nor care about the employee-commodities that work for them. Pretend and extend is the order of the day. Nothing is believable or sustainable.
So I am dreamless dead and have been for more than a decade. There are millions just like me.
posted by lugh lampfhota at 10:46 AM
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