Kuwoobie wrote:
I feel like we talk about this at least once a month covering all the same things back and forth. It's like everybody forgot that we had this exact same discussion just a month or two ago. There is no topic for me that is more profoundly disgusting-- having lived the low wage American Nightmare all my life, and to this day continue to watch my friends and family and former coworkers scrape by while a bunch of sociopaths call them stupid and lazy for literally not having any other options. Yet I'm somehow expected to take those people seriously enough to find "common ground" with them.
A first step might be not calling them sociopaths. I don't think there's anything wrong with pointing out that most people are actually able to earn more than minimum wage (or even "near minimum wage"). And certainly an even higher percentage are able to over time. That 30% figure is the number at any given time. But there's a constant flow of new workers entering the workforce at the bottom, and presumably a similar number leaving that range as their wages increase above the near minimum wage range. I couldn't tell you what percentage of people work their whole lives stuck in the near minimum wage range, but it's got to be pretty darn small.
So yeah, you'll have to forgive me taking your complaints with a massive grain of salt. What you are describing is not remotely typical. And we certainly should not embark on some broad policy changes because of it. Babies and bathwater and whatnot.
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I'll tell you what. I really don't feel strongly either way about things like abortion or *** marriage or gun control, despite my leanings-- but I will not accept it when I'm told it is fine and normal for human beings to devout their lives to a job that earns them just barely enough to get by on. There is nothing more disheartening than listening to my old friends who've had the wool pulled completely over their eyes talk about "toughing it out" and "being grateful" for the opportunity they have when said "opportunity" is tantamount to slavery.
If you are being honest about your situation, then it's not "fine and normal". But that's the point. Most people are able to improve their economic condition over the course of their lives. If you have not, it's not because the system is broken, but because you have made a set of choices (or I suppose been ridiculously unlucky, just to give you a possible benefit of the doubt) that have resulted in an extremely rare outcome for you personally. But again, that's not normal. Most people don't get stuck in low wage jobs their whole lives. I know that's a narrative folks like to talk about and attempt to push for political change over, but it's just not the typical American worker experience.