Labor in America Does Not Pay

Sartre 
BATR 

Working used to be a proud expression of manhood. Since the days of “Rosie the Riveter”, mothers and daughters joined the work force in mass. Building infrastructure, developing commercial enterprises and producing an endless assembly line of goods led to the greatest expansion of the middle class in American history. In a mere fifty years of planned and coordinated downsizing and out sourcing, the only outcome from honest work is the sweat from your brow. Folks still expend energy and labor at tasks, but few earn a living wage from engaging in industry or commerce.  

General disconnect from hard dedication to achieve a project or manufacture a component and a fair reward for that effort, is the “new normal” standard for life in the 21st century America. Labor Day used to be a celebration of family, friends and fraternal goodwill. Today the picnics are a small diversion from the harsh realities that your children’s futures are destined to be austere, aimless and turbulent. Troubles faced every generation, but contemporary trends are so ominous that it requires a virtual reality hologram to locate a joyful Pollyanna. 

The list is long for the intentional de-industrialization of production. Most intuitively understand that the elimination of good paying jobs is not an accident. Perceptive individuals even know the reasons and players who systematically promote the most perverted of all caught phrases, Free Trade. Yet few are willing to take the great leap to the inevitable conclusion that the country that rebuilt the world after the WWII global conflict, is actually worse off than the vanquished regimes that were beaten back to the Stone Age. 

The imported disposable trinkets that divert attention from the day of reckoning are part of the fallout from a service economy that only provides illusions. With each passing day the crumbling society, that surrounds our communities sink deeper into national insolvency. Working harder or even smarter will not provide the ladder to climb out of this abyss.

The triumphant middle class is rapidly becoming the beholding subsistent underclass.