The railroad workers are only the latest example. What would we do without agricultural workers? Child care? Sanitation workers? Delivery drivers? Construction laborers? Every major city in the country would be paralyzed within a week without tow truck drivers. People who care for the elderly? For Dog’s sake, what would we do without teachers?
And now ask yourself, what would we do without Elon Musk? Without Tim Cook? Without Jeff Bezos? Without Bill Gates or Peter Thiel or Warren Buffett? What, precisely, are they adding to the economy to justify their obscene wealth?
The fact that Congress can only get its act together in a bipartisan manner to force railroad workers back to work speaks to how important they are. Why doesn’t their compensation reflect that importance? Because the unimportant and trivial people are the ones calling the shots.