Justice is blind to those who get left behind.
ABC News did a story about people struggling to make ends meet. They started with Archie Bunker as the typical working class middle income family. That was thirty years ago and things have changed. The woman who moved into the Archie Bunker house many years ago who’s husband was a trucker explained the things have really changed. When they moved into the neighborhood houses cost $60,000 now they cost $800,000. And most of the people moving in now, are bankers and CEO’s.
The next couple live in a small apartment in California. The wife said it a choise between affording where you live and affording a life. Her parents owned their own home and she and her husband are struggling just to pay rent. Prices continue to rise while income stay the same.
The next story is about a young man working two jobs in the fast food industry. Sixteen hour days will take a toll on you. I tried it for a couple of years and it almost wore me out. I didn’t work in the fast food industry but I sold cars and worked in security at night.
In the 1980’s a lot of the workers were young people, now 75% of them are in their 20’s and older. What’s really rough is some of those folks have kids. And minimum pay is not enough to pay the bills and feed the kids. Some people get stuck and don’t move up but they still work hard and deserve to make a decent living wage.
Companies want to maximize their profits and minimize their loses. Fast food places will throw away food at the end of the night to avoid being sued. Maybe some companies think that if they increase wages for their workers it will effect their bottom line. But they made $6.6 billion in 2015 while their employees were getting public subsides to survive. That the working poor!
The CEO of the insurance company was the son of an auto worker, so he knew what it took for his family to take care of him and send him to school. As a results he rose up in the ranks. He took the time to see what was going on at the lower level of the company and raised the wages of his workers. But he is only one of a few.
I worked on the assembly line when I was still in high school and became determined that I would find a way off the line. I enlisted in the Air Force during the time that most of my classmates were being drafted in the Army and the Marine Corps and sent off to the Vietnam War.
As a writer, blogger and a published author I wrote about my journey of working on the assembly line, walking on the flight line and supporting the front line. Standing in the Shadows, Listening to the Greats!!! For me reading was the key. Runaway Inequality An Activist Guide to Economic Justice by Les Leopold explained how things began to change.
People need to get out and vote. No matter who is in charge, if things are not good, it’s time for a change. To all those who though it didn’t matter look at where we are now.
HG.M.
Hackett Global Marketing 