I was listening to a right wing talk show host tonight lament our entitlement society. Seems the Obama administration wants to extend food stamp privileges to non-citizens, i.e. illegals. Considering our debt not a good idea, but that's not my point. She was going on and on about people taking handouts from government and it occurred to me that there's an underlying reason why, beyond the bad economy. Used to be that in many towns across this country a person could, if he chose to, get a good paying job in a local factory and work there 40 years. And these good paying jobs supported the local economy. Now we can talk all day about why those jobs disappeared, but fact is much if not most of the workforce today wasn't around when unions were pushing for better pay and companies were packing up and moving overseas. Today's worker only knows that it's very difficult to get into anything that pays without getting yourself into serious debt. And he's herded with the masses into corporate McJobs that really only allow one to exist. I believe in the value of hard work, but people aren't fools. They know there's little if any incentive to work hard at many of these companies. So it's no surprise that quite a few are looking for a way out and if the gov't is offering there are plenty of takers. The whole system seems predicated on the notion that people should be willing to live for the benefit of their company's leadership. And with so little opportunity to get ahead or even find another job it becomes necessary to be dependent on the very company that's taking advantage of them. So whether it's dependency on government or a corporation a very large portion of the population is being turned into the kind of exploited people that we fought a civil war over. A kinder, gentler version, but in order for these schemes to work it's necessary to have a compliant, docile underclass that accepts it's place. If you don't believe that look around. Where would Walmart, Office Depot, Target, mall stores, McDonald's, etc, etc be without the majority of their workforce being poorly paid? And FedEx is there with Ground, and getting closer every day with Express. So risk your neck in the military or in an oilfield, or get training in something that pays(but only so many of those jobs are available) or accept that for most disaster is a paycheck away, so keep your mouth shut and your nose clean and don't forget your place.[/QUOTE]
You are spot on sir. In decades past, you could work your way up from an entry-level position to upper management (even WITHOUT that vaunted college education) and know that unless you really were just a total screw-up, you would be able to retire from that company in 30-40 years. Also, the low paying retail jobs were the area for high school kids saving up for their first car, then move on to the factory where Mom and Dad, maybe even their Grandparents, worked. It was called "following in their footsteps". Now it's changed, most of the good paying blue collar jobs are overseas and you have to fight for those low paying retail jobs with the high school kids and a thousand other folks in the same position you are. I guess I am just waxing nostalgic. Hope it gets better for my kids, putting the young one through college is probably going to put me in the ground, but it'll be worth it.
