Submitted by Guest blogger Apryl March
That's the new "American Dream", I guess. If you
work hard, you can starve while you watch our men and women in uniform
get killed over things we don't care about, and make the CEO of your
company enough to buy a few more yachts, but at least we get to judge
young women, barely into adulthood, who have never had a really, normal
life, as they try to figure out who they are while wearing weird clothes
and dancing oddly.
"Bring us your poor, your hungry, your huddled masses". It didn't matter who your parents were or where you were from or how much you started out with in life, if you really were willing to get a job, and work hard, you could achieve at least moderate success. You could have a home and a family and your needs met and even some of your wants fulfilled, and probably have a little left at the end of each month to tuck away to retire some day. It really didn't matter what job you had, you could do it. If you cooked in a greasy spoon, pumped or sold gas, rang up groceries... you could STILL afford to have a life. Sure, people who put more time and money into their educations, like doctors and lawyers could make a lot more, but the average Joe could still get by. Anyone who was both willing and able to work, could manage. And a family could get by on one income.
Now those same people, the restaurant or fast food workers, gas station attendants, cashiers, and other minimum wage workers have trouble getting by even if it's a 2 parent home, with both parents working. Sometimes even when at least one of them has 2 jobs.
I've recently heard people say those aren't "real jobs" and people who work them have no business having families. Really? Just because a person is willing to accept a job that you perceive as being beneath you means they don't deserve a family? They don't deserve a home? Even though they may be working twice as many hours a week as a person in a higher paid job, they are treated as lazy, second-rate citizens.
Minimum wage jobs aren't just for kids making extra pocket money. Next time you decide you want a burger for lunch during the week, take a moment to look at the people working there. It is the middle of the school day, these are NOT teenagers looking for a little gas money. Theses are men and women, and most of them have families. And they are just as deserving of those families as the lawyer sitting in an office make $100 per hour.
And then you hear about huge, multi-BILLION dollar a year corporations, like Wal-Mart and McDonald's, having food drives for their own employees for Thanksgiving, or suggesting to employees that they should sell or return their Christmas gifts to save money. These companies pay their employees as close to nothing as they can legally get away with, and again, make billions of dollars a year in profits. But they don't pay their employees enough to afford food or to give their kids a Christmas?
And yet, it's those lazy workers, not corporate greed to blame? They spend millions of dollars a year on commercials, PR, and buying their way out of lawsuits and scandals, yet the guy spending 60 hours a week on his feet, ringing up purchases and helping people find the right brand of toothpaste can't afford to buy his kid a few toys a couple of times a year?
I get that a cashier can't expect to have a huge house and fancy car. But the supposed American Dream was always that if you are willing to work hard, you should at least be able to expect to get by. And minimum wage jobs are hard work, too.
I guess that's okay, as long as they can keep us distracted with unnecessary wars, reality shows about pawn shops, and the latest zany antics of Miley Cyrus, while blaming it all on illegal immigrants, right? I guess that's what really matters, after all.
If you like this post, be sure to click a share button below, right, and share it or email it to your friends.
Submitted by Guest blogger Apryl March
Nikola Tesla Secret - Exposing Tesla's "FREE Energy" Device
Why has "The American Dream" has turned into complete bullshit?
There was a time in this country when the American Dream actually existed and was a real and attainable thing. People came from all over the world for a chance to find it, it was even encouraged.
"Bring us your poor, your hungry, your huddled masses". It didn't matter who your parents were or where you were from or how much you started out with in life, if you really were willing to get a job, and work hard, you could achieve at least moderate success. You could have a home and a family and your needs met and even some of your wants fulfilled, and probably have a little left at the end of each month to tuck away to retire some day. It really didn't matter what job you had, you could do it. If you cooked in a greasy spoon, pumped or sold gas, rang up groceries... you could STILL afford to have a life. Sure, people who put more time and money into their educations, like doctors and lawyers could make a lot more, but the average Joe could still get by. Anyone who was both willing and able to work, could manage. And a family could get by on one income.
Now those same people, the restaurant or fast food workers, gas station attendants, cashiers, and other minimum wage workers have trouble getting by even if it's a 2 parent home, with both parents working. Sometimes even when at least one of them has 2 jobs.
I've recently heard people say those aren't "real jobs" and people who work them have no business having families. Really? Just because a person is willing to accept a job that you perceive as being beneath you means they don't deserve a family? They don't deserve a home? Even though they may be working twice as many hours a week as a person in a higher paid job, they are treated as lazy, second-rate citizens.
Minimum wage jobs aren't just for kids making extra pocket money. Next time you decide you want a burger for lunch during the week, take a moment to look at the people working there. It is the middle of the school day, these are NOT teenagers looking for a little gas money. Theses are men and women, and most of them have families. And they are just as deserving of those families as the lawyer sitting in an office make $100 per hour.
And then you hear about huge, multi-BILLION dollar a year corporations, like Wal-Mart and McDonald's, having food drives for their own employees for Thanksgiving, or suggesting to employees that they should sell or return their Christmas gifts to save money. These companies pay their employees as close to nothing as they can legally get away with, and again, make billions of dollars a year in profits. But they don't pay their employees enough to afford food or to give their kids a Christmas?
 |
| Something stinks here |
And yet, it's those lazy workers, not corporate greed to blame? They spend millions of dollars a year on commercials, PR, and buying their way out of lawsuits and scandals, yet the guy spending 60 hours a week on his feet, ringing up purchases and helping people find the right brand of toothpaste can't afford to buy his kid a few toys a couple of times a year?
I get that a cashier can't expect to have a huge house and fancy car. But the supposed American Dream was always that if you are willing to work hard, you should at least be able to expect to get by. And minimum wage jobs are hard work, too.
I guess that's okay, as long as they can keep us distracted with unnecessary wars, reality shows about pawn shops, and the latest zany antics of Miley Cyrus, while blaming it all on illegal immigrants, right? I guess that's what really matters, after all.
If you like this post, be sure to click a share button below, right, and share it or email it to your friends.
Submitted by Guest blogger Apryl March
Nikola Tesla Secret - Exposing Tesla's "FREE Energy" Device
