Nurses, Recession,Anxiety,Fear and the Great Depression

Just got home from work.
What an evening. It was very quiet , only 10 very settled patients on the unit and 5 staff so we spent almost all the entire shift talking about the economy, about pension plan losses and fears and having to work after retirement age . About debt and the difference between the so called real economy and the bubble economies of debt and credit. Even got to explain over production and neo-liberalism and the Chicago school of economics and Thatcherism and Reaganomics , deregulation and free trade export zones, workers in Mexico and Asia and the horrible conditions they work in with no safety regulations for less than the about one third the minimum wage in Ontario and shockingly about 1/20 the hourly wage we were making this evening. They were really interested in how globalization was a quest for cheaper and cheaper labour among other things. Discussed how even though the employer must make up difference in 25 percent loss in pensions –that eventually they will take that back through layoffs and service cuts and may even request that our collective agreements be opened up to take back our small gains .
I was amazed at the degree of concern and worry and general acceptance that this was a significant historic event . I am also amazed that so many workers had such a good sense of what is going on.
We all spoke of the vast increase in knowledge that had occurred among workers over even the last month.
One nurse really got it and was furious that these rich 5 percent get to walk away and the workers will pay. General acceptance that all the pain and loss and suffering would be on the backs of the workers.
They are scared. One worker when we were talking about the great depression and the new deal and Keynsianism etc concessions that the capitalist class had to make to avoid deep social unrest and then RED threat etc even said “well what would happen if there had been a revolution or if there ever is one?”
I replied that that was unlikely in this period but more likely in the 30s related to the influence of the former Soviet Union as deformed as Stalinism was and what would happen would be a planned economy and eventually jobs for all and free health care and education –pointed out to them the gains made in the former Soviet Union despite the Stalinist bureaucracy etc etc.

Amazing really how interested they were and how much they listened. We spoke as well about the need for collective activity and they were really interested in the poll tax struggle and the water tax struggle in Ireland.
Anyway no converts for sure but consciousness has shifted a bit and these workers are wondering and asking a lot of questions.
So I am exhausted just trying to keep on top of their excellent questions. They were even asking about derivatives – imagine that!
I cannot believe we covered all that in an evening. I haven’t yet got the FFWP and supplement to the printer but see that I must do that early next week for times like this evening.
I did print copies of the supplement out at work on the printer and we referred to it this evening. I also leave copies on the counters in the nursing station – always do that.