Guess you could say there is a theme this week here at BGIM land. That theme would be how Average Jane and Joe used to be able to go to their average job and be assured that if they put in 40 hours working for the boss, the boss paid them a decent wage, provided access to healthcare and even tucked a few bucks away so that when Jane and Joe got old, they didn’t have to live in a shoe and eat cat food. The boss used to understand that by treating Jane and Joe well they were loyal and worked hard and in the end happy workers meant the boss made money too! It was a good system until somewhere along the line the bosses got greedy decided to fuck Jane and Joe and I am not talking the kind of fucking that curls your toes and makes you smile.
Suddenly Jane and Joe worked longer and harder, realized their cash didn’t go as far, the boss started devising clever ruses that on the surface made Jane and Joe feel empowered but really didn’t. The boss told Jane and Joe rather than giving you that gold watch and a fixed monthly pension when you retire, I am going to take some money invest it in the stock market, you invest some money and well the stock market will go up and up and shit! You can be rich like me! Jane and Joe liked that, so that said great! The boss took away the health insurance instead telling Jane and Joe now you can have choices…oh, but those choices will cost you a little more money but soon, Jane and Joe couldn’t afford that coverage.
Right now in America it sucks to be an average worker! Whereas many of us used to live in the middle class or at least aspire to it, now we are too busy trying to pay that mortgage we can’t afford anymore and keep Visa from ganking a portion of our wages. Suddenly Jane and Joe realized the whole system is corrupt, the boss don’t give two squats, they see whiz kids creating items they can’t even figure out how to use making billions…hello, Mark Zuckerberg! They see their jobs at the plant being shipped overseas where the boss doesn’t have to pay $18 an hour, instead he pays $18 a day and gets his product manufactured and makes 600 times what his average worker makes. The boss is so rich, that bastard can wipe his ass on $20 bills and flush em down the toilet all the while Jane and Joe have to tell the kids it’s pasta again and no, don’t answer that phone! Just another bill collector calling.
Jane and Joe are fed the fuck up, everywhere they look people are either scrapping to get by just like them, or when they log on the computer or television, they see latte sippers talking about how desperately they want the new iPhone5…while Jane and Joe are still using Motorola Razrs from 6 years ago and barely able to keep the cell bill paid.
The gulf between the haves and have-nots is huge. Eventually Jane and Joe snap there has got to be some out there who stands up for the average folks…oh, but there is! Enter the Tea Party, where they use folksy sounding people who look just like Jane and Joe Average. The Tea Party tells Jane and Joe we want to take America back, support us, never mind that the Tea Party is bought and paid for by real rich folks…hello, the Koch brothers!
Jane and Joe used to be card carrying union members who always voted Democrats but lately they feel like the Dems have let them down. Now it seems when they see Democrats, they are well educated folks who earn way more than Jane and Joe ever will and frankly are disconnected from the real woes of working people. Oh, the Dems talk a good game but ultimately life is hard when you are trying to fit in your next yoga class and figure out your new iGadget. Today’s Dems in the eyes of Jane and Joe have abandoned them for folks who think well just go to school, never realizing that even if everyone in America had a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree that someone still has to do the shit work. Someone has to watch the kids, serve your food, and make the lattes. If you want organic cotton panties, someone has to sew that shit and shouldn’t the people who do all those tasks be well compensated? Yeah, today’s Democrats say they should, but they don’t really put their money where their mouth is. For them activism and involvement is signing an online petition, sending a few bucks to a good cause and maybe posting something on their Facebook page.
On the other hand those Tea Party folks take action, shit they demand that the Republicans listen to them no matter how insane they sound. Jane and Joe know the Tea Party is a tad nutty but shit they are so frustrated, they feel they have to do something.
Where are the Progressive Americans? Why aren’t they out doing something? This past weekend there was an Occupy Wall Street event organized that considering how bad Wall Street has screwed this nation over, you would have expected non-stop coverage; instead the coverage has been a blip. When did we become so damn passive? Or is that we are so scared to lose our little bit of the cheese that we are too fucking scared to speak up and do something? Seems to me those of us who consider ourselves progressive like to talk lofty talk but when it comes to doing something that creates change…well we are out to lunch. How many of us will put our money where our mouth is? Will you create change even if it means less money in your pocket? Or are we just like the greedy bosses, indirectly fucking others over. I admit I rarely get political in this space but I am just frustrated, real change and hope comes from taking action at the grassroots level.
I am sure I might lose some readers for such a post, but that’s okay, this is my reality and my truth.
