What a world, what a world we live in. As you may have seen from some earlier posts, I am not exactly making ends meet these days. I am underemployed and not finding 'gainful' employment. But does this really matter? So what if I did have a job? I have a friend that is employed in their career path, through a respectable institution, and still has to take on other employment. They went to school specifically to train them for the career they are in and they have had great success in working their way up the ladder to a management position. Yet even with this position, they still can't quite make the ends meet as they'd like and are in danger of having to move back in with their parents. As per the 'American Dream' and our 'ownership society' they should be trying to buy a home, yet instead they are realizing that just making rent may be too much. There is something tremendously wrong with this picture.
What happened to the days fifty years ago when an entire family could live well and own a home off of a single salary? Today a couple that has no children is in a tough spot simply trying to obtain a 30 year mortgage, let alone actually be able to pay off that loan. So many people are defaulting, or never buying because they just simply don't have the means. And not because they aren't trained, experienced, or good at what they do, but because jobs just don't pay as well enough. My friend works a full time job, and now has picked up random work on the side: part time retail, some coaching, and high school officiating. They are looking for other opportunities, trying to not have to move back home, trying to buy a home. But come on, why should a person like this, trained, experienced, and good at their job not be able to make a functional wage? This is the true sham of American society. That hard working, qualified people still don't make enough, still can't have access to some of America's cornerstone dreams.
We as a country are closing the door on ourselves. In an effort to make our selves richer, we are in fact making the most of us poorer as the system increases wages slower than prices. My friend received a 3 percent raise this year - as mandated in their contract - yet their actual pay went down as the cost of their insurance went up. This is before they even had any money to consume with and inflation makes the cost of goods higher (usually averaging 3%). Since the 1970's real wages have been shrinking and people like my friend are definitely feeling the affects.
So would it matter if I even had a job? They have a job, a good one on a career path that they are trained to do, and having success in. But this doesn't matter, it doesn't even pay what is an appropriate living wage. Fact of the matter is, we are all in trouble no matter what. Job or no job, we just don't make enough money. Something has to change...
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
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