“Ever wonder why you work all the time, but never seem to have enough money to actually do anything but… work?

Apparently, you complain too much.

That’s the opinion of many wealthy Americans, those in the top ten percent who’ve managed to “work their way” into financial security. They believe the American dream is alive and well. They believe if you’re not a millionaire, or well on your way to becoming one, then it’s your fault. They think you made poor decisions, or that you’re lazy and entitled.

They think you deserve poverty.

It’s no surprise that empathy is on the decline, and has been since the 1980s. In fact, it fell by 48 percent between 1979 and 2009.”

https://jessicalexicus.medium.com/heres-why-you-re-broke-according-to-wealthy-americans-who-skim

 

 

“Minimum wage is an employer’s way of saying I’d pay you even less, but the government makes me pay a minimum wage.”

—famous Rap artist

 

I am saddened when I hear people blaming or labeling other people, often people of a different race as lazy, freeloaders just waiting on their government handouts, etc. Why? Because the overwhelming majority of us who make up the 99% in America’s class war are victims of the 1% who are obscenely wealthy. And we should feel empathy or compassion for one another because we are all being screwed to some extent. We should be in solidarity, not fighting one another.

 

These are personal experiences, observations, & things I have learned while “wasting my time in college and/or reading non-fiction books.” (sarcasm)

 

• It dawned on me many years ago while checking the job board in an unemployment office that our taxes pay the salaries & operating costs of State unemployment offices, yet they serve the interests of private corporations, not me.
• More & more of the jobs listed in unemployment offices are through temp agencies & every temp agency I’ve ever applied for work in asks what the minimum wage is you’ll accept. And if I dare to ask for a dollar or two above the minimum wage, they always tell me, sorry, that’s too much. So basically, it doesn’t matter how educated you are or how qualified you are, all temp agencies are out to fuck you!
• This is clearly a major conflict of interest because a government agency that supposedly exists to help us, the unemployed, actually serves private industry.
• A supervisor at a job I got through a temp agency once asked me how much I was being paid by the agency. The supervisor was shocked & told me, “They’re charging us nearly three times that & you’re a good employee, I tell you what needs to be done & don’t need to check up on you, you’re doing a great job.”
• Have you noticed over the years how consistently Congress votes against raising the minimum wage but every time we turn around, they quietly raise their salaries & benefits?
• My guess is that the overwhelming majority of corporate business owners call themselves conservatives? Why is that? Could it be that they are unified in their belief that workers or employees are basically a necessary evil & always trying to rip-off their bosses for more money, benefits, rights, etc.?

  

• And these “conservative” business owners are the first & the loudest in declaring workers to be lazy & asking for more but not deserving it. Common sense tells us that if we weren’t making our employers more money per hour than they’re paying us, they wouldn’t have us as their employees.
• In the mid-1950s, one out of every three non-farm workers were members of a union & today, statistics vary from 5% to 10%. What does that tell you about the fate of workers in the U.S.?
• Two of the major union strongholds for American workers today are teachers & postal workers and the “conservatives” have been waging a steady war against them for decades. Why is that?
• In our largest cities & spreading to many rural communities today, the cost of living, most notably in rental rates has been skyrocketing for years. Please explain to me how a person making minimum wage is supposed to be able to afford to pay their bills?
• I just checked the minimum wage rates for each state & California is the highest at $13 per hour while many, if not most states are still at $7.25 per hour.
• I have experienced long periods i.e., six months or more of not being able to find a job in cities like Portland, Oregon & it was almost always a matter of not being qualified or of my being “over-qualified” that was given for the reason they wouldn’t give me a job.
• I was born in 1952 & throughout my public schooling, we were told that if we worked hard in school & got good grades, we would get a good job & enjoy a good standard of living.
• Well, I worked hard & struggled for 14 years to earn my B.A. in English literature but in the long run, it hasn’t meant shit to the overwhelming majority of employers I hoped to work for. In fact, it has been more of a negative than a positive in my search for work over the course of my life i.e., “you’re obviously qualified but how do I know that you’ll stay with us?”
• It’s gotten to where I now practically conduct the interviews when HR depts. Interview me.
• And I have to talk myself down i.e., break it down for the employer how my skills, knowledge, & experience is relevant to their job opening & I assure them that as long as they treat me fairly & give me opportunities to grow, I’ll be one of their most loyal employees.
• I tell you about my personal experiences not to brag but because I’m sure there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other Americans who have experienced similar things.
• My beloved wife who has passed away, once said that I hadn’t ever liked a job I had worked at. I replied, No, you’re wrong. I loved being a teacher. Teaching was the only job I ever felt respected in & where I could put to use my lifelong love of learning.
• I referred to the 1% & the 99% which thankfully the Occupy Wall St. movement made us all aware of. In brief, not since just before the Great Depression has there ever been such a vast chasm of inequality in America.

  

• And I’ve learned over the decades how the wealthy maintain their stranglehold over us & one of their most powerful weapons is their consistent propaganda with one goal in mind i.e., divide & conquer. The more they can keep us fighting amongst ourselves & blaming one another, the longer they have power over us & can keep us in “our place.”
• Throughout our inglorious history, Blacks have been more consistently the targets of prejudice, hatred, & violence than any other race, or class of citizens except the indigenous native people whom we stole “our” nation.
• I believe this cruel & ugly history is why so many Black citizens have such a bitter hatred & distrust of the White or Caucasian race.
• How can I, a white person, ever truly understand their justifiable & deep-seated hatred?

  

• I have long wondered why they call each other “nigger,” and my guess, after reflecting on this phenomenon for many years now is that they do so to weaken or take away the power of that evil label Whites used against them for centuries. Each time they use the word between themselves it’s like saying to Whites, Fuck you, we are united & you can’t break us down anymore!
• All the negative shit I’ve experienced in my life can’t compare, can’t even get close to what they’ve experienced & continue to experience. Look at the facts i.e., just about every week we hear about yet another instance of a white cop shooting a young, black man in the back & not being held accountable.</li>
• Let’s return to the wider picture again, it was that darling of the Democrat leadership, Bill Clinton, who fucked us all royally with not only NAFTA & the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, but his “Crime omnibus bill.”
• Every politician whom I’ve listened to when they were running for office whether local, state, or federal, declares they will wage a war on crime. Note though that they very, very rarely go after the corporate criminals who steal on colossal levels. And it’s not mere coincidence that when Clinton passed his “Crime bill,” is when America’s prison population began to exponentially explode.
• And unless you’re a true Klu Klux Klan member & believe Black men are natural-born criminals, how do you explain the fact that Black men make up the majority of the prisoners in our Industrial Prison Complex?
• Could it be that the corporate cockroach class know that Black America is one of the most vulnerable segments of our population & yeah, I’m not forgetting the Hispanics & others? In other words, the more Blacks these politicians/whores for their corporate masters, lock up, the stronger they appear to their constituents?
• Perhaps the key reason as to why/how Trump became president was his talent for stirring-up the racial prejudices that had been dormant & not okay for decades?
• I believe there is even more prejudice/hatred against Blacks than there is against Hispanics because Hispanics live in constant fear of being deported. And this fear keeps them mostly silent.
• Hispanic people, some of the warmest, friendliest, & hardest working people I have ever known, flee their countries of origin like Mexico because they are killed so frequently with little to no legal recourse.
• Put yourself in their shoes for a minute if you will. They have no rights whatsoever because they’re not citizens & therefore, they must do the shit jobs that not even the poorest White Americans will do. And if they don’t work, they don’t eat!
• But those damn Blacks know that they are citizens & therefore have at least a modicum of rights. Why do you think the GOP is so frantically trying to turn back the clock on Civil Rights, the Right to Vote, etc.?
• Even a cursory look back at world history will show you that the strategy of Divide & Conquer has been around since the beginning of recorded history. Keep the slaves, the peasants, the working poor, & the middle class at each other’s throats & the powers that be will not only retain their power over us, they’ll expand their control over us. So please don’t allow yourself to be their pawns & continue to blame your fellow victims!
• P.S.  A few quotes to mull over on this subject; “I’d like someone to rationally explain to me how factors such as your family situation growing up, your level of education, the job opportunities you are handed, the rate of crime and drug use in your neighborhood – and so many other similar factors that shape our young lives – aren’t supposed to affect a child’s future. https://everydayfeminism.com/2013/07/how-we-ignore-poverty-and-blame-poor-people/
• If you remember, when the French peoples’ rage could no longer be contained & exploded in The French Revolution, perhaps one of the final straws was when the people were begging the aristocracy for bread, Marie Antoinette showed the typical contempt the rich have for the poor with, “Let them eat cake!”
• The peasants showed her & half the aristocracy of France their contempt by making sure they’d never eat cake again by chopping their heads off with public executions by guillotine.
• Something for you obscenely wealthy scum like Jeff Bezos, the Waltons, etc. to “chew over!”
  

  Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (Brotherhood)

• Viva la Revolucion! 

  

  Big business in America has been steadily doing everything possible since FDR passed the New Deal to destroy it & they have largely succeeded in their mission. And the corporate media has helped enormously in these efforts i.e. the myth of a liberal bias in the media. Yeah, right! The 1% who own the media are purposely sabotaging themselves by allowing too many “liberals” spread their propaganda.

• For example, Phil Donahue’s news show on MSNBC had one liberal guest on for every. two conservative guests it had on but that was too much. It was one of the most popular news shows in the country at the time but we were about to invade Iraq & MSNBC (the flagship of liberal bias news in America) didn’t want Fox “news’ to appear more patriotic, so they fired Phil Donahue.