Every generation tends to blame the preceding generation for
some of the failures inherent in society and in many respect they have a right
to do so. Each generation is responsible
for the one that follows. Our parents
are responsible for many of our flaws just as we are responsible for how we
fuck up our children in a slightly different way. There is a fuzzy time where we can longer
blame our parents generation but it isn’t wholly within our power to start
molding the future, or fuck it up as it might be. But I won’t be getting into that fuzzy bit
today. Gosh that sounds very odd taken
out of context. Anyway… the work
environment of this generation and the one previous is rather different. Part of the reason is simple math. There is a lot of fucking baby boomers. It says so in the name of the goddamn
generation. You are famous solely for
being large. As such you take over a
large percentage of the work force and with the economy sucking so much you
aren’t leaving just yet. I certainly
can’t blame anyone for not wanting to retire.
Money is pretty awesome. Some
people say money is the root of all evil and that’s partially true but being
without money isn’t a good alternative you hippy freak. Kidding, I think your commune is a lovely
idea and I wish you the best Mr. Prairie Moonbeam Toaster Love.
I’ve always had the good fortune of good fortune or, rather,
good enough fortune. I’ve been
unemployed for periods of time and basically sat on my ass being as cheap as
possible trying to get a good job. I
didn’t go out much and see shows or eat out a lot even as many of my friends
encouraged me to do so or as they frittered away their money from their crappy retail jobs because I
understand money. I know I shouldn’t be
surprised by stupidity and I shouldn’t be upset by it but I am. I really want people to be smart. But so many seem to be blissfully unaware
that there is a finite amount of money and they just spend every damn penny of
what they make and wonder why times are rough.
You can blame this on stupidity, foolishness, selfishness but I usually
blame ignorance. There are, shockingly
enough, people who have never been taught how to budget for themselves. I remember my father told me in his high
school they offered a course for the people who weren’t going on the college on
things balancing a checkbook and other mundane life skills. This was in public school. Can you imagine the shit that would hit the
fan if that happened now? And yet such
an easy skill seems to elude so many.
And I’m not talking to those poor souls who work two or three jobs to
feed their family. Those people should
be immune from bullshit. Those guys take
enough crap every day. I can only hope
their kids thank them for all the hard work they put in for keeping them feed,
warm and clothed. But that’s asking a an
awful lot from kids. It’s not their job
to know those things yet.
But back to the generational differences. One of the problems my generation is facing
is that my parents generation isn’t going anywhere. And they, having been in job the market
longer, are rightfully in the top spots and demanding high pay. None of this is wrong mind you. If I’ve worked somewhere for twenty years I
sure as hell won’t be making just 40 K a year and reporting to middle
management. Fuck that. They deserve their spots just the problem is
there is only so much room at the top.
Hell there is only so much room at the bottom. And with so many people the job market is
absolutely flooded. You can only fit so
many people through the door until it gets clogged with applicants.
A man from my parents generation could have a decent job
without a college education and get enough to live comfortably with a wife and
two children. They could have a house
and a car plus barbeque on the weekends.
Barbequing was something we brought over from Korean war when we decided
the men needed their own kind of cooking that was manly and not for women. No joke.
Not so much nowadays. I work as a
cube monkey (financial analysts at a start up tech company) and my wife works
as a music teacher. Without the both of
us working things would be really tight.
And that’s just the two of us.
Throw in some nuggets and we’re in trouble if only one of us is
working. That’s just the reality of the
age we’re in. And it’s okay. There are a lot problems with being a working
parent nowadays. Not every business is
kind to expectant mothers and their time off needs. Federal law in regards to time off only
affects businesses of a certain size. If
you are pregnant working for a small company that job does not legally need to
be there when you get back. If you
aren’t working you aren’t earning. This
isn’t a generation thing this is more or less employees being slowly squeezed
tighter and tighter by the elite. The
elite has been tightening their grip slowly over the decades. Just think back how many hours a week was
normal to work ten years ago. How many
sick and vacation days were given. That
shit has been slashed and compromised.
How many people do you know who have covered work for a let go employee
or employees while still keeping up their workload without increase in pay or
benefits and for an extended period of time.
I know several people. Hell, I’ve
done it too. So many people I know are
worked to death with extra hours a week they have to work and aren’t getting
paid for. I’m already at least five good
friends in my head who have had this nonsense happen to them. This is only getting more common. Conditions like this take all the punch out
of my previous commune joke. Maybe it
worth the crappy tofu pizza. Probably
not though. Tofu should be cooked by
people who know to cook it. Like, you
know, Asia. You could say that is racist
comment but you could also point out the fact the west hasn’t been cooking with
Tofu for centuries like the East has.
So the question is, why is this squeeze happening to my
generation? Surely the elite have always
tried to squeeze the populace. It’s kind
of their thing. I could return to the
apathy argument. It fits. Look at the voting numbers in this
country. They suck. Like really suck. Like really, really suck. Like they are so embarrassing we try to avoid
the subject at the world’s dinner table when Austria brings it up. Austria is always trying to get us down. And Britain just sits there quietly and
refuses to stick up for us. Bastards.
Don’t believe me about the squeeze?
That fine just ask Walmart.
"Walmart CEO Michael Duke's $35 million salary, when converted to an hourly wage, worked out to $16,826.92. By comparison, at a Walmart store planned for the Windy City's Pullman nieghborhood, new employees to be paid $8.75 an hour would gross $13,650 a year."
Yeah, because obviously Mr. Duke is worth that much more. His value as an employee has t be that much
better right? Obviously he has some
obvious skills and yes he is running a very important company and yes I’m sure
the job has an enormous amount of stress.
Or do we just pay this small select group of guys way too much money. But maybe this pay amount has been standard
and CEO’s and the like have been this overpaid for a long period of time.
“"We've seen, over the past three
decades, a tenfold-plus increase in the gap between top executives and average
American workers".
Okay maybe not.
Well maybe we can take solace that these guys are paying a shit ton of
money into the system. Which is fair because
the system has given them so much. Some
people argue that wealthy don’t need to pay higher taxes. Why should they pay more just because they
make more? Right? Well what about the fact that we pay taxes
because well we use free services we couldn’t have otherwise. You know how easy it is to run a successful business
in a country full of bandits or one with no roads or reliable electricity. Yeah, the wealthy don’t need those things, right? So maybe it is reasonable that if you take a
lion’s share of the services provided you pay more. So I guess it’s alright if we charge the shit
out of these wealthy guys and girls.
“The top marginal tax rate, he said, dropped from 91 percent in the 1960s to 28 percent in 1980s.
It stands at 35 percent today.”
Or not so much.
But back to the pregnant ladies. The way we treat working parents is not
wholly American lots of countries put pressure on working moms and dads. But there is one country that seems to try
super hard to be very progressive about that subject – Sweden.
"Here in Sweden, however, there is a carefully structured and generously funded social security system that helps both parents take time off, and makes it easy to arrange child care. Imagine a country where each child is entitled to 480 days at home with their mother or father. Imagine a country where full-time child care costs £110 a month. Imagine a country where the state spends more on preschool child care than on its [defense] budget. Imagine a country where there are as many fathers at baby singing classes as mothers. Imagine a country where stay-at-home mothers are discouraged. Welcome to Sweden."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/9096123/Were-just-not-ready-to-be-Swedes-Dave.html
Holy fuck. Can you
even imagine America spending a fifth of the budget for armed forces on
kids? That quote doesn’t include the
high cost of this social perk. Super
high taxes. The article does mention
that but it also talks on the thriving economy in Sweden. Something we here in the states are sorely
lacking. I just wonder when this country
will start looking at copying the activities of successful countries to deal
with the problems we face. This reminds
me of one of my favorite speeches.
Dwight Eisenhower spoke grave warnings on the future of this country when
left office and I fear we ignored him.
He spoke on the prophetically on caution we should have regarding the
military-industrial complex and what he felt America’s role should be in the
future. There are many great quotes but
I’ll leave you with this one:
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the
military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced
power exists and will persist.”
I’ve meandered a bit but as I’ve been finding out nothing is
unconnected. The errors of one
generation are absorbed the one following it and their errors are passed onto
the next. It is our job to try to limit
our errors and much as we can but also to pay attention to the past because it
looks like we haven’t been listening as acutely as we should.
Ben
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Thanks for posting. You are awesome!