The American Scream

The friend i was speaking of in my earlier post (minimum rage) had said something else to depressed me that I had almost forgotten about.  That she was thinking about giving up one or both of her jobs and trying to get on at Wal-Mart.  The dream is still alive I guess.  Is this the best the American people can hope for in today’s world, a slim chance to get a low-paying no room for advancement 38 hour a week position at Wal-Mart?  What a time to be alive. 

A few years ago when the automobile industry imploded, a lot of the blame was heaped on the auto workers union.  Although some of their benefits were a bit outrageous, i doubt that they were as big a part of the problem as the exorbitant executive salaries that permeate American corporations.  Even if some of their demands were over the top, they are almost justified in light of all the abuses carried out against workers for so many years.  Union auto workers were among the highest paid of the working class and blaming them for the meltdown sent a loud and clear message to America, that it is too much to hope for to expect to earn a higher standard of living if you are a simple working class person.  That the idea of being able to comfortably buy a home or send your children to college is out of reach.  Why should it be so unfathomable that a lowly worker could make a better than average living for themselves  even in the richest country on earth.  That the best they can hope for is a lifetime of hard work for low pay and endless struggle and debt.

The problem is that management seems to only see the labor force as a huge financial burden rather than an asset.  As if the products construct themselves so they have no idea why they have to pay all these workers so much money.  I saw the same attitudes while working construction a few years ago.  there was never a contractor who ever made even a single dime on any job.  They just could not understand why they had to pay their employees so much.  Meanwhile the company owners tried to outdo each other in seeing who could buy the most expensive truck.  They also had new motorcycles, boats, their kids and wives had new vehicles, the wives were also on the company payroll (even though they never came in or did any work).  But they never made a dime because they had to pay their employees so much!  These same so highly paid employees wore rags to work and drove old rusted out beater 72 ford pick-ups that only black magic could keep running.  most of these poor saps never even saw their paychecks as their wives would start arriving at the office Thursday afternoon to sit and gossip in their cars while waiting for their husbands checks to come in.  Work hard all week and go home on Friday and be given an allowance by your own non-working wife.  What a time to be alive.

The majority of the taxation of America seems to be the sole burden of the middle class as well.  You can’t tax the poor, at least not much- they don’t have any money.  The wealthy can pay sleazy lawyers and accountants to shelter and hide most of their assets so no luck there.  Companies are given huge tax breaks by local and state governments in exchange for moving  to or staying in a particular area to provide jobs for workers which they can then tax.  (free land is also usually provided)  So now the working people of this country not only pay their own fair share of taxes, they get to make up the difference for corporate welfare that is doled out while the wealthy and their companies skate home free. 

Like I also said in that earlier post, the highest paid employees in a company produce no goods or any services that a consumer  would pay for.  Yet their salaries are drawn off profits from the goods and services provided by the working class.  Sounds like welfare to me.