Showing posts with label Class warfare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Class warfare. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

My Darling Revolutionaries

Children, children, children... 
STOP!


You are DOING THIS WRONG!!!
[warning, this is a little political, though more populist than partisan]


I Feel Your Pain

Seriously. In this economic Debacle, we are hurting, too. We HAVE been hurting since my husband got laid off in 2008. I know we're lucky. We own (some small portion of) our house and nobody is starving, but I also work my butt off and have a master's degree and twenty years experience in my field. It should NOT be this hard. Even now, with hubby at work again, the catching up feels impossible.



We Really DO Need a Revolution

I think at least in the US, this is true. There are people who deserve to be rich, but MOST of the rich have far more than they've ever merited (certainly more than a life of luxury needs). They are the CEOs who got golden parachutes, and the profit skimmers who knew something and got OUT while the rest of us lost our pensions. They are the Sports pros who play games to entertain us and the movie stars. They are lawyers suing needlessly and ambulance chasing to create a society FAR too litigious which costs without creating. They are insurance people dictating that our medical care is paid for based on what will maximize their money.

I hear minimum wage is now $7.25 an hour. When I finished high school it was $3.35—27 years ago. At that time a median new house cost $80,500. This year, it is $235,200. Wage doubles. House price triples. In fact here is some comparing...

Cost of Living 1984 and [now]

Yearly Inflation Rate USA4.3 % [3.6%: a little lower, eh?]
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 1211 [Dec 31 2010=11,578]--holy CRAP somebody made a killing.
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 10.75% [hovering LOW—2.5% or less, so WAY cheaper to borrow]
Average Cost of new house $86,730.00 [$235,200, 3X higher]
Average Income per year $21,600.00 [around $48,000, this change is comparable to minimum wage change]
Average Monthly Rent $350.00 [almost $1300, SAY WHAT?]
Movie Ticket $2.50 [$8.00]
1 gallon of gas $1.10 [$3.80]
Dodge RAM 50 Truck $8,995.00 [$21.810]

And did you know in 1984 a CEO made 42 times what an average employee of the same company did?  NOW, it is 235 times. Did the VALUE of a CEO go up six times faster?  REALLY?


So some things have changed in range of income, but some (in particular, places we LIVE) have gone up a lot faster than wages. While the Dow has increased 10 TIMES. So people who need to use their income to LIVE are pretty much screwed. People who can INVEST have made a fortune. And yes... some of us have some money invested... my retirement is largely stocks... but my $100K accumulated over 10 years (that is actually probably only 80K after last week) is not on the same scale as someone making that annually... or twice that... or ten times that...


Do you Want to Know How this HAPPENED? Because I know...

We can place this solidly in the lap of Ronald Reagan and deregulation. In the 80s credit became CHEAP and so workers stopped insisting on better wages for the jobs they did. The lower wages made the material 'necessity' culture fly because 1) manufacturers could charge relatively little, and 2) we had credit so we could BUY it even though our wages weren't enough...

For two and a half decades this worked. But then the credit came due.

Our GOAL should be to equalize this 'too low of wage thing'--It will be painful. We won't be able to have the same level of STUFF, but in reality this SHOULD come largely from the people who got so rich in this climate.


What we SHOULD NOT Do...

Is riot and destroy the meager or modest possessions, places of business, homes, and means of people who are NOT the super rich...

And we should not destroy the businesses that provide jobs... in fact ANY destruction of stuff or harming of people is counterproductive. When there is not enough stuff for the POOR, the answer is NOT to destroy STUFF. Do you SEE how this doesn't work?

What is needed is POLICY change and POLICY change is arrived at through elections, peaceful protests, influencing public opinion with our WRITING.

So spread the word... Don't wreck other people's stuff, but get MAD, write LETTERS, VOTE, get ACTIVE. As Aerosmith says, it's time to Eat the Rich (but only figuratively... the literal thing would be gross)