Am I the only one who’s sick and tired of hearing how wonderful the economy is doing? Okay, maybe according to the government’s obsolete methodology unemployment is at its lowest level in fifty years, but what does that really mean? It certainly doesn’t make allowances for the fact that many people are forced to work two and three jobs just to make ends meet. You bet they’re employed! Even if they’re working 70 or 80 hours a week, they may not be earning what a single 40 hour a week job used to pay.
That’s no way to live, and people shouldn’t accept the notion that things are finally getting better despite the fact that inflation-adjusted wages have stagnated for over 40 Years. Don’t the people at the top (say, the top 10%) understand that people can’t keep that up indefinitely? Everyone feels like a hamster running on a wheel. Supposedly, at any given time, almost two thirds of Americans don’t have enough money in the bank to pay for a $500 emergency expense.
The system CAN be changed. We don’t need to have socialism for the rich while everyone else struggles with the harsh realities of capitalism (figuring out how to pay the $500 they need to get their car fixed so they can make it to their two or three ridiculously low-paying jobs). And just when things are about to blow (people are so desperate for change that they elect Donald Trump as president!), the powers that be toss out a few crumbs (remember the tax cuts that would supposedly help the middle class?).
It’s not just people of color who need to be rising up in this country. Too many poor white folks take their problems upon themselves and turn to drugs rather than seeing it’s not their fault, it’s nothing THEY’VE done—they’re stuck in a game they can’t possibly win.