You hit the nail on the head, Don. People can work full-time (or more) at minimum wage jobs, and work much harder that those corporate execs (with no paid holidays, no vacations, no sick days), and still not be able to afford to feed their families, pay the rent, get decent medical care. And if you’re on Government Assistance, you can lose your benefits even if you get a part-time job.
It’s also entirely possible that those “working poor” are doing jobs that are far more necessary to society than the CEO’s. But since it’s often work that anybody can do, those who do them are, individually, expendable. Don’t hope for advancement, don’t hope for improvement in working conditions (or even safety), don’t hope for dignity. And you damn well better not organize, or you’re out on your ear.
Unless they’re in their basements changing lead into gold, the fortunate don’t make their fortunes in a vacuum. If nothing else, they’re reliant upon the existence of a healthy middle class that can afford to buy their goods and services. Yes, they DO have an obligation to “give something back”, because if society goes down they go down with it.
“By the way, how much is minimum wage, anyhow?”
You hit the nail on the head, Don. People can work full-time (or more) at minimum wage jobs, and work much harder that those corporate execs (with no paid holidays, no vacations, no sick days), and still not be able to afford to feed their families, pay the rent, get decent medical care. And if you’re on Government Assistance, you can lose your benefits even if you get a part-time job.
It’s also entirely possible that those “working poor” are doing jobs that are far more necessary to society than the CEO’s. But since it’s often work that anybody can do, those who do them are, individually, expendable. Don’t hope for advancement, don’t hope for improvement in working conditions (or even safety), don’t hope for dignity. And you damn well better not organize, or you’re out on your ear.
Unless they’re in their basements changing lead into gold, the fortunate don’t make their fortunes in a vacuum. If nothing else, they’re reliant upon the existence of a healthy middle class that can afford to buy their goods and services. Yes, they DO have an obligation to “give something back”, because if society goes down they go down with it.