Professional Managerial Class: The Super-Wage and Working-Poor

The key characteristic of a benefactor of the Professional Managerial Class is the ability to earn a super-wage, which is many times the managerial salary of the post-war reconstruction and Great Society era. The stagnation of the American working wage was theoretically justified by the completion of industrialization in the United States, suggesting that the age of radical growth is gone, complete, and over on the American continent, and that any future wage growth will be limited by inflation and a technology explosion. However, the explosion of super-wages earned by the Professional Managerial Class (PMC) is justified by investments in “foreign developing markets” in this neo-Keynesian-neoliberal theory. It posits that the PMC are, in actuality, foreign rulers residing on American soil, namely in Wall Street, Miami (or Vancouver), and their wealth is derived from carefully investing in emerging markets such as Nigeria, Indonesia, or India. The rapid expansions of the Super-Wage are correlated with the rapid 5%-7% GDP growth in foreign markets, promoting the new myth that any American can work hard and invest in those exotic stocks. However, accompanying the Super-Wage is not cooperation economy from blue-collar American investors (or a parallel unionist stock market), but the “Working-Poor,” the undeveloped twin of the Super-Wage from the womb.

A scene depicting a high-fashion lady at the Met Gala, riding in a traditional pulled rickshaw. She is adorned in an extravagant, avant-garde outfit, featuring a voluminous, multi-layered gown with elaborate detailing and vibrant colors. Her hairstyle is sophisticated, styled in an updo with intricate designs. The background shows a group of blue-collar workers in a city street, holding protest signs and banners, expressing their discontent. The contrast between the luxurious fashion and the protest emphasizes a social commentary. The setting is an urban landscape with modern buildings and streets.
The Working-Poor is a special phenomenon in America, where hard-working people can become impoverished enough to become energy and healthcare endangered. In other countries, food and housing would either be expensive but come with a high salary, or, in developing nations, with inexpensive basic goods. Neo-Keynesian-neoliberal economists justify this by presenting a new history lesson. They argue that the roaring Reagan era was the fruit of neoliberal global expansion and that the American Free Trade System brought formerly third-world nations into the American economy. Formerly protective and Import Substitution Industrialization nations adopted neoliberal ideology and opened up their markets to trade and acquisition by American capitals. In the following years, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, and Vietnam slowly opened up to American investment and demand, resulting in a technology explosion in those nations. Stagnation was resolved by exporting “unemployment” to the “Asian Tigers,” allowing factories to be turned on and off at the whim of importers like Walmart without fearing domestic confrontation. If the American economy was in an expansion phase, the importer megacorporation could import more, but when Americans have credit problems, they can always import less. If contractionary policies were to happen in America, many people would suffer unemployment when the production order is cut in half, but nobody cares about foreign nations such as communist Vietnam or China. This means that prices are decoupled from inflation and money supply in the U.S., and the supply is perfectly elastic to demand. This also means that the super-wage earners in America can justify their wages and detach themselves from the working-poor. Their super-wages are justified because they are derivatives of the super-profits earned by mega-corporations and chief importers, and they did not directly cut the wages or positions of gig workers in the service economy. The professional managerial class would tell you that even if you tax them 100%, the working-poor will not gain fair housing or good healthcare.

The detachment from the stock market index and average wage tells a similar story: that economic developments contribute the most to stock prices, at least according to neo-Keynesian-neoliberal economists. As more nations industrialize and are adopted into the American market, the indices grow. Despite popular accusations, the headlines tell a different story. Hedge fund tycoons argue that they are merely facilitators of global trade, and their investments have brought lifesaving technologies and equipment to underdeveloped nations. The butlers of Wall Street have saved billions from poverty in the third world and formerly Soviet nations. Americans should be happy and satisfied that such life-saving operations take place on American soil and that the facilitation of such transactions alone could bring employment and good-paying (managerial) jobs to America. Such transactions could take place anywhere, and if Americans are unwilling to host them, they can move to Toronto or London. It was only after China reached a similar level of industrial output between 2013 and 2015 that America was no longer the largest industrial nation in the global market. The “working-poor” had been an American staple longer than that, trailblazing Clinton’s trade deals. After that, economists have seen the working-poor become widespread in post-colonial Africa and the migration of super-wage earners from South Korea (Tigers) to America. There are global patterns of an expansionary wealth gap, and, extremely intriguingly, virtue signaling by online personalities in developing nations similar to American PMC members.

Edward S. Herman, a prominent critic of media and economics, highlighted the issues of media manipulation and the control of public opinion in his works. He famously said,

"The media serve the interests of state and corporate power, which are closely interlinked, framing their reporting and analysis in a manner supportive of established privilege and limiting debate and discussion accordingly."

This ties into how the neo-Keynesian-neoliberal theories and talking points are manufactured consents by the Professional Managerial Class to justify the super-wage and condemn the “working-poor.” To an extreme, the PMC will invent demoralizing myths and stories to justify their mandate and the inhumanity of the “working-poor.” More in-depth analysis can be found in "Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class" by Catherine Liu.

It is a privilege to financially invest and share the profits in a foreign country, and these privileges are bought by the equal rights to rent and acquire capitals from developed nations. Otherwise, the globalization of the financial market is not mutually beneficial, but another round of colonization. Even Hayek would argue Americans can buy water companies in Vietnam, but in reciprocal customs, Hong Kong should be able to buy Boeing jets. Herman's perspective reinforces this view, as he stated,

"The rise of the Professional Managerial Class is a classic case of the rise of a new ruling elite, which uses its control over media and academia to perpetuate its power and privilege."

This highlights the systemic issues within global financial markets and the role of media and academia in shaping public perception and policy.

Below are the Old Contents

A few words about trickle down economics – Politics and Insights
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The Making of American Cultural Hegemony

The key turning point for cultural leaders was the post-war Marxist critique movement, when the West gained a firm understanding of Marxism and an improved version of capitalism finally took shape in the 1970s. American capitalists also advanced more than ever, transitioning from the age of Titanic, where capitalist barons of the East Coast sought inter-caste marriages with European blue-blood aristocracies, to the era of European films dominating the American market.

Just like the clergy who walked among feudal lords, high lords of the Holy Roman Empire were accompanied by lowborn priests. The Professional Managerial Class (PMC) are the new millennium priests for the feudal lords, the Helena of Europe for Boston bankers, and exotic film stars for American consumers. Clergies serving high lords of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) were spiritual leaders second, politicians first, and the Lord’s humble shepherds behind bureaucrats last. Nobody cares about the doctoral dissertations of those in the professional managerial class, although these dissertations, like those for the famous White House, are often laughing stocks among researchers, as Catherine Liu frequently shares with her students. The value of these dissertations is akin to a clergy declaring the Lord of Essex sin-free and a worthy ruler. The PMC can use the academic myth, derived from Übermensch Newton, to consecrate the mayor of Lower Essex with superhuman intelligence and endurance, thus deeming them a worthy ruler. The academic myth, in reality, amalgamates multiple people’s achievements into one mythic holy scientist who received revelation, blessed by God’s providence, making them superhuman. These super scientists can achieve academic discovery and invention in multiple areas of expertise, just like nobilities are made by God to rule and wise men are made by God to guide a nation, a kingdom, and a monarch to greatness. They are the walking good omen from God, a blessing sent by God to the current ruler. Their expertise can sway elections by declaring that their field of expertise supports a candidate’s policy, elevating the nation and ending the suffering of mortals. They are the Aristotles erecting Alexanders, the Hegels of today, certifying world-historical saints. They are the Three Magi, this time certifying Hong Xiuquan's election — elected by the Chinese to be Jesus’ brother. John Kenneth Galbraith discussed how the PMC are here to stay, either to be a philosopher-king or to elect one from the “old world dialect.” The author here begs the question, giving Professor Liu the chance and the power of a kingmaker, would she ascend to be the Magi or be the crown smasher of 1848? After 1848, there were no holy kings nor sacred crowns, only dictators jealously guarding their palaces or figureheads. That would be an appropriate time to read her latest book, "Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional Managerial Class." Please consider purchasing one for yourself. I can only help by providing a link below.

The PMC were also responsible for the destruction of America's production capacity. Mass layoffs for short-term stock price gains permanently destroyed domestic demand in America. In the long run, less demand results in more layoffs and factory shutdowns. The crown jewel of industrial productions and peak manufacturing relies on a market at least the size of half a billion people. The most obvious results are the destruction of American shipbuilding, including rocket manufacture. The renewed space race, after NASA's China ban and the perpetual Artemis delay, showed a clear result of professional managing: American manufacturing is dead, and no smart people are entering underpaid manufacturing. They will find better opportunities in emerging industrialized nations as high-tech engineers than in American factories controlled by professional managers. Another crown jewel of manufacturing capacity, the Titanics of the Seven Seas, luxury cruise ships, is long dead in America. The latest scandals in the civil aviation industry – colloquially known as large planes in airports (contrasting with small private planes and agri dusters) – were another failure, exemplified by the horrible Bombardier deconstruction, where Airbus A320neo sees no rival. A profitable civil aviation or luxury shipbuilding industry requires a nation to be the best in almost all industries – here, 'best' simply means competitive in the international market. The golden age of American manufacturing during the first Space Race is gone; world-renowned craftsmen and contractors cannot survive in the diet of American manufacturing economy when consumer demand is targeted, searched, and destroyed. The most industrialized ideology promotes the idea of a “bride industry,” where an industry is so in-demand that it can be sold to anyone universally. The new crown jewel becomes technology and service, arts and development that, in theory, can be sold universally with the highest mark-ups. If one rogue country decides to disobey the so-called rule-based international neoliberal trade system, the bride industry could be awarded to the arch-competitors of the rogue country. However, there was a critical flaw: without a robust industrial base, the development of arts and services stalled, and the catching-up industrialized nation could quickly develop inferior goods that, in times of sanction and competition, could be perfect replacements. For example, precision silicon manufacture, the crown jewel of this generation's technology and arts, is not irreplaceable. The inferior goods, 1 or 2 generations behind (namely nanometers times 4 or 16, while the current best is 2-6 nanometers), are still valid replacements or even competitors in times of sanction and high demand. For example, China mastered 28-nanometer silicones and they were used as perfect replacements during the 2021 automotive silicon shortage; the Chinese automotive industry did not slow down and wait for chips to arrive. The expansion of the rust belt tells a tale that the prized bride industries are nothing without manufacturing, and without domestic demand, manufacturing will crumble within a generation.

The Ascension of the Professional Managerial Class

The most profound moment for the PMC was when Wall Street realized one simple principle: forget manufacturing, production is less profitable than taxation. When the rent-seeking investment bankers realized the best way to generate profit was not by investing in growing small businesses and venture capitalism in high-tech, but by taxing the entire production chain, the age of de-growth began. The classical liberal or neoliberal prescription of a mutually beneficial relationship from trading and international development is gone. The old tale was that American capitalists lent money to Soviet Bureaucrats, so the Soviet government would have money to purchase equipment and machinery from the U.S., and pay back the loan in the long run through production. This way, the Soviet Union expanded its production capacity and the American capitalists made money through lending, selling equipment, and directing Soviet exports, aka production/supply chain integration. The fastest way of making money without years of waiting for the Soviet Union to industrialize was through taxation, where