If you learn how to be one of these workers, if you pay attention in school, follow instructions, show up on time, and try hard, we will take care of you. You won’t have to be brilliant or creative or take big risks. We will pay you a lot of money, give you health insurance, and offer you job security. We will cherish you, or at the very least, take care of you. It’s a pretty seductive bargain. So seductive that for a century, we embraced it. We set up our schools and our systems and our government to support the bargain.
