Yep, when people wonder “why do those folks vote against their own interests” he’s one of the reasons. Or rather, these kinds of arguments are. People are willing to sacrifice self-interest some times for higher moral values and boy will employers and politicians exploit that when they can.
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He’s certainly part of a concerted effort in that direction.
I don’t know how successful that approach still is. Trump was elected on explicit promises to increase the number of blue collat jobs, and their compensation. Not that he’s followed through, or ever intended to. But the Kochs are pretty anti-trump, as are a number of the other sorts that back Rowe and love this approach.
You combine that with the way that the rising progressive movement on the left is predicated almost entirely on addressing this sort of inequality, labor and some pretty geeky ecconomic policy.
I dunno that Rowe’s “who cares if your employer exploits you, be a man, don’t better yourself” pitch sticks the same way it used to.
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I like to think at some point it will fall flat. I’ve heard it my entire life and it’s always been galling.
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The Kochs don’t like Trump because they and the Libertarian movement that existed long before them like to keep their kleptocratic activities on the downlow while the Republicans that work for them dismantle social, economic and regulatory protections. Trump (unintentionally, because he’s an idiot) drags that morally bankrupt worldview out in public. His malignant narcissism makes him a useful idiot to Putin but not to the Kochs.
Rowe, on the other hand is a perfect shill. His “pledge” is that it’s your own damn fault if employers screw you. Keeping workers powerless and non-unionized fits like a glove into Libertarian dog-eat-dog, every man for himself economic “theories”.
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Hey citizen, sign this pledge and donate your body to me so that I can live in my gilded tower while you break your back shoveling my shit!
I used to love watching this guy’s show when I was a kid.
Now, I fucking despise him. This Koch brother funded hack, who was formerly an opera singer with a liberal arts education, trots around in jeans and a flannel acting like he’s blue collar. He’s worth an estimated $35 million, he’s not one of the little guys. He “acted” like he was doing dirty jobs, quickly moving to and from a climate controlled trailer filled with catered food, a private shower, etc…
Now, after years of acting blue collar he gets to tell us that college is only for the weatlhy elite who can afford to send their kids without accruing debt? That everyone else has to sacrifice their body for the betterment of the bourgeois?
Fucking asshole this guy is. I highly recommend you listen to this piece by Citations Needed on what a hack this guy is: Stream Episode 64: Mike Rowe’s Koch-Backed Working Man Affectation by Citations Needed Podcast | Listen online for free on SoundCloud.
In recent years, television personality Mike Rowe has amassed a wildly popular following due to alleged working-class straight talk about topics ranging from the affordability of college to reasserting a culture of pride in craftsmanship and labor. From his 5.2 million Facebook followers to his cable programs, his everyman schtick, on its surface, can be very appealing: after all, who doesn’t love a hard day’s work and loathe detached, ivory tower eggheads?
But hiding under his superficially appealing blue-collar façade is dangerous ideology, one funded by the Koch Brothers and other far-right, anti-labor corporate interests and specifically tailored to pick off a certain constituency of Home Depot Democrats while pushing political impotence, anti-union narratives and anti-intellectualism. Through a clever combination of working class affectation and folksy charm – often exploiting real fears about a decline in industrialization – Rowe has cultivated an image that claims to be pro-worker, but primarily exists to line the pockets of their boss.
Our guest is Street Fight Radio’s Bryan Quinby.
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[quote=“Mister44, post:14, topic:139208”] Most people are hourly in those fields.
[/quote]
Are there any time cards at the job site?
If the foreman can’t pay overtime and “caps” everyone at 40 hours a week, why should someone start working prior to 8am or past 5pm?
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There was an episode of Dirty Jobs that, at one point Mike Rowe said it was his favorite moment because the job safety coordinator would not allow Mike to work a crane because he was not certified. The producers were freaking out and begging the safety guy to let Mike use it and trying to come up with excuses to let him but Mike stopped them and actually thanked the coordinator for standing up to his workers. The Mike Rowe that I’ve seen in the public eye since Dirty Jobs ended does not seem like that kind of man anymore.
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Thanks for the link to the podcast! It’s downloading as we speak.
The only thing I know about Mike Rowe besides his appearance in Dirty Jobs is from this podcast:
(I’ve since removed Tim Ferris from my podcasting list)
From this podcast he seemed like a even cooler person then he was in Dirty Jobs. He tells his story before Dirty Jobs. Kinda sad to learn that he isn’t all that nice 
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Yep, nothing wrong with pursuing the trades. His pledge is a bit corny but I support with his effort to encourage kids to follow the career path of their choice. I sit in an office every day wearing business casual but my real joy comes from hands-on mechanical hobbies and wrenching on the weekends. Sometimes I wish I had gone that route. In any case, Judge Smails said it best…
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It just seems like across the political spectrum the concerns of voters have shifted to why the bulk of the population aren’t doing so well financially.
The right is throwing populist meat to the base by blaming foreign countries, immigrants, and minorities. And the left is shifting progressive surprisingly fast.
Rowe’s schtick seems a bit outdated, and while it’d be easy for him to shift. His backers don’t necessarily like the way this is going.
Because his trade nonsense and isolationism undercuts their ability to make shit gobs of money. The instability in the market he’s triggered, and the nascent willingness to go after large, monopolistic companies (albeit just tech companies Trump doesn’t like) are also frightening to the business class.
We have a kleptocratic oligarch in the White House, and the only people who could potentially move the needle by that being revealed are already on board, or already refuse to believe it. Is this was about cronyism and their ability to make money in sketchy fashion the Kochs would be all about it.
There’s a serious divide in the GOP between pro business, fiscal conservative, libertarian, Paul Ryan group, and the populist Trump camp. The populist swing has made it difficult to sell cut taxes on the rich and corporations as the only policy solution to everything approach that the former prefers.
We can see that in the lack of popular support for their tax plan. Especially as so many are finding it’s significantly increased their taxes for the sake of huge cuts for the wealthy. That bill wasn’t well liked even on the right, it was tricky for them to pass even within the GOP. And it’s popularity is falling as people see it in action.
And there’s a rising amount of discontent that all these record highs and soaring ecconomies we keep hearing about aren’t impacting the daily lives of most Americans.
That’s pretty bad for the Kochs of this world. And at the very least it’s not leaving very much space for them to lead the conversation.
Discovery shows are almost universally non union. As is afaik Mike Rowe. Had the entertainment trade unions been involved with the show, there almost certainly wouldn’t have been situations where his producers pressed him to endanger himself and others. As it is its likely that this safety coordinator existed due to a trade union, so that union was responsible for the safe decisions there.
And yet here Rowe is, actively working against unions.
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Yes, the Citations Needed podcast is the actual critical look at Rowe. He’s a con man.
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At the risk of speaking for others, I don’t think anyone really has a problem with the pledge being corny. The problem I have with it is that it needlessly peddles a very particular libertarian bullshit.
We SHOULD honor and reward productive work in this country far more than we do. It is entirely possible to do so without placing the burden of workplace safety on workers, for example.
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I think that the overall message and intent seem to be constructive and helpful. I have a cousin that loves this guy and chose to get an underwater welders certificate before going to college as a direct result of listening to this guy. He now makes 80k a year and goes to school part time with no loans.
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I also don’t necessarily have a problem with Rowe making a living advocating for skilled blue collar workers. But he’s misrepresenting what his intentions are and where most of his money is coming from. His best interests don’t lie with the success of workers but with the corporations throwing money at him, the fact that its wrapped up in a “Be a man, work hard and don’t complain” image is clever. I definitely can see a lot of right wing folks buying totally into it and not question Rowe’s motives.
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I would imagine that after that episode there was some pressure from the channel or production company that forced him to back up a bit and capitulate.
Me too.
Plus extra characters.
Other posters have covered this pretty well, but I just have to vent a bit.
I’m the university-educated child of generations of blue-collar workers, and while honoring the skilled trades (or any decent work) is ingrained in me, Rowe’s pledge is a piece of boss-class propaganda. Embedded in every reasonable, rational sentiment is an implied opponent, a cartoon stick figure of whiny, entitled, self-indulgence. It’s an insult to the people who worked hard (and organized unions) to give me access to an education, so I would be able to choose whether to work with my hands or my head. So: straw men and false binaries and unacknowledged (though hardly invisible) apologetics for the boss class.
That said, we do have a collective delusion about the necessity of university education for the good life, and it’s undermining the universities, which are under pressure to be job-creation mills. Of course, if the K-12 system were doing its job, we could have skilled trades people who were also literate, numerate, and historically savvy. (I point to my father, who graduated from high school in 1939, worked as a skilled-trades guy all his life, and read archaeology books for fun. He also rebuilt our house from the studs out and in.)
Also: I recall a demographic analysis of Trump voters that located the fat part of the distribution curve as suburban/exurban working men–not ditch-diggers or warehouse box-humpers but guys who could afford a $30K pickup truck and a bass boat.
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He also has a very charming Podcast, “The Way I Heard It.” You’ll laugh and cry in the space of each ten minute episode.
But yeah he’s also a right-wing-light spokesman
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I am pretty sure the answer is yes. I mean, there are labor laws that people who are hourly need to be paid OT, as well as for their hours worked. And for sure people paying people hourly are tracking their time. Because otherwise the more likely event is people showing up late/leaving early. Unless these are under the table jobs paid for like per day work or something, yes, people are tracking time.
I am not in the construction business, but I leave late most days to get the work done. We are allowed a little leeway on over time, but weeks where we are busy then OT is approved for however much work there is.
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His pledge should have clarified that PPE (hard hat, safety glasses, gloves, etc.) must never be overlooked by the individual. General workplace safety guidelines are enforced by OSHA.
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