I think this is called the "new American economy". Most of us working stiffs sliding into the working poor classification will have to lower our standard of living to keep above the flood waters. Question is: how far will we go? Seems like alot of people don't seem to be upset about. Maybe they finally sold us on the "American guilt" complex and we feel like we are getting what we deserve.
Social Security is talked about as a pyramid scheme. But when you get down to it everything is a pyramid scheme. There's one CEO over the entire corporation. Everything spreads from there. The closer to the pinnacle the better you do. And the dirty little secret of capitalism is in order for those at the top to do well there has to be alot of people at the bottom willing to work for much less. The problem these days is the bottom is extremely wide while the pinnacle sits on a thin tower high above the rest of the pyramid. Lucky you if you're anywhere on that tower.
We have people who come on here and call us sheeple and useful idiots for accepting our lot. Problem is many of us have seen what unions do to whole industries. And we've seen what Socialism and Communism has done to entire countries. We're all for justice but there never really is justice. Just extremes, and greed, and corruption. So we do the best we can with what we are dealt. It isn't pretty, and can be damned frustrating, but still it's better than what some are selling. Beware of anyone who says they care about you, and tells you to follow them for a better world.
When I was in 2nd grade I remember our teacher telling us about these new things called computers that are going to change everything. They sure did. They put alot of people out of work. Made it possible for one person to do the work of many. And now technological advances have increased manufacturing output to where we have an overcapacity. Too much stuff, not enough buyers. Supply and demand has been skewed. This is why there's not enough money to go around, there's no liquidity. Hopefully this will work itself out in time but it appears we will have financial crisis after crisis due to it. And companies will continue to gravitate to the cheapest alternative to get their pkgs reliably. Great for Ground, not so good for Express, and really bad for UPS. It's easy to point fingers, but the fact is the company is positioning itself to weather this new reality. If we are victims it's due to forces beyond our control. And better believe the company will spend those profits continuing to build their empire. It's a corporate world of few haves and many have-nots, and the only real alternatives for a better life are either to get trained in something the corporations will pay well for, or start your own business. For those of limited means, inspire of the Horatio Alger stories out there, life will come down to working long hours to just get by. Capitalism works, but it isn't pretty.
