Upstairs, Downstairs was a popular British drama series set in a large London townhouse, depicting the servants—"downstairs"—and their masters, the family—"upstairs.” A lot of people are fooled into thinking they are ‘upstairs’ or ‘equal’ when they are in economic reality ‘downstairs’ these days. If you’re wondering, being ‘downstairs’ means you’re much more likely to get screwed in life.
The upper working class—professionals, technical ‘experts,’ administrators—exist in a liminal state as ‘downstairs’ estate caretakers of the bourgeoisie. College education, these days mostly a debt-for-labor credential swindle instead of an opportunity to cultivate human potential—sponsored by universities better characterized as “hedge funds that teach classes”—convey the cultural fairy dust on their c̶u̶s̶t̶o̶m̶e̶r̶s̶ students that allows the latter to have a false confidence in their socio-economic position as ‘upstairs’ equals.
This false confidence was laid bare in the sad but predictable story this week of the gigantic investment company Vanguard announcing to its retired “crew members” the elimination of its retiree medical account (RMA). Vanguard is plugged as a ‘mutual’ concern owned by its shareholders but is actually run by its constituent fund managers—I didn’t get a vote for sure!
The money promised by Vanguard to its retirees came with no guarantees, as many, who didn’t read the fine print, rudely discovered. The RMA was used to reimburse their retiree health insurance premiums, which supplemented Medicare—you’ll recall Medicare doesn’t actually pay for all retiree medical expenses, and none at all for essentials like dentistry. (That proposed expansion is likely to fail btw in the latest legislation with lobbying from dentists who prefer m̶o̶n̶o̶p̶o̶l̶i̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ̶g̶o̶u̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ the free market.)
Every retiree lost their account entirely, including widows and widowers.
Shouldn’t there be a law? In fact, there is. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was established by the federal government in 1974 as a carrot for workers: the law establishes a level playing field of regulation to forestall competitive swindle arbitrage and revolutionary outrage by guaranteeing some pension benefits. ERISA was designed to prevent the worst capitalist abuses: for instance, more than 4,000 workers lost their pension plan benefits when Studebaker-Packard shut its plant in 1963; in another example, Teamsters' Central States Pension Fund brought the issue of fiduciary malfeasance related to retirement accounts into the public eye in the 1960s, involving a history of bad loans to Las Vegas casinos. Btw, the law doesn’t prevent employers from using the system as a subsidy: adept wealthy pig firms will use taxpayer money to feed at the trough as well.
Over time, though, bit by bit, the ruling class has degraded these protections in a variety of attacks, mostly involving health care, which was never guaranteed like pensions under ERISA. The biggest attacks have come to collective bargaining, when companies decided that they didn’t promise retiree health benefits after all, and the bourgeois judges (who own stock in the companies they purport to render decisions for in an impossible conflict of interest!) ‘interpret’ the contracts to eliminate the benefits!
Society’s older members—among the most vulnerable— are thus ripped off even as health care costs spiral higher, putting additional burdens on their families and pushing the marginal into poverty. The larger lesson: don’t suppose that membership in the ‘upper’ working class means you belong ‘upstairs’ when you’re still really ‘downstairs.’
Notes
https://humbledollar.com/2021/10/promises-broken/
https://www.pbgc.gov/wr/trusteed/plans/plan-22217500
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-515_2c83.pdf