It doesn't matter if 25% of the staff earn six figures or more. Most of us aren't capitalists; if we are, we're at the will of government policies.
We don't have millions or billions to influence and grab the attention of our representatives. Workers are always disadvantaged, fighting uphill battles. We don't have a labor right's economy, so we take what we get, and none of our politicians fight for us.
Poor countries provide healthcare and federally mandated paid sick, vacation, and maternity/paternity leave. Yet, our government can't afford or refuse to invest in the people who build the nation's wealth. We have the money to support every American, but if there's potential for a significant business to miss out on profits, forget about it.
And I don't think money is the only reason we don't have public goods. The wealthy class, who amassed their fortunes over the last 40 years by influencing government austerity (privatizing services and reducing public spending), won't give us a sliver of because we might ask for more or realize we're collectively more powerful than them.
I wasn't always jaded, but I've experienced our government differently. Our politicians accrue millions to billions while in office, and that's not from working overtime. We lost them to bribes, corruption, and greed, and it's too late. They've stained every government branch permanently. Look at Senators' net worth when they enter office and when they leave.
JFK tried to minimize the CIA's (the elite's private para-military) power after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and a lone gunman blew his brains out in broad daylight, conducting a public execution as a warning. Or, maybe, Oswald was a radical who hated Kennedy and wanted him dead. Either way, our government imploded when JFK's brain matter splattered the face of America. You witnessed our government transition from the New Deal to Business Deals only.
After decades of insane leadership (perhaps excluding Carter), Clinton's presidency offered hope, yet he endured obstruction, sabotage, and lunacy until he surrendered to neoliberalism. Bush should be in jail, and Obama's hope and change dissolved into the same dismal pro-banks, profiteers, corporate stakeholder blackhole.
Trump's presidency was voter backlash and defeat. We believed in Obama, yet he couldn't control the greedy bastards and maintained the trickle-down to-nowhere economics. At the same time, the victims (the public) committed suicide, divorced, gobbled the FDA-approved addictive opioids, and lost all agency and hope. Meanwhile, the culprits responsible for destroying lives globally received vast sums of money because they're the economy, not us, and paid themselves massive bonuses.
Obama could have reinstated a progressive New Deal policy and transitioned away from neoliberal hell, but maybe, he had a gun to his head too, or he sold out. We don't have a government working for us, and you know it, but you still have hope.
Our government preferences a minority, and Americans are so angry at everything that we can't channel our anger into solidarity. Student debt relief is a win for everyone, yet we've become cannibals, hunting each other instead of the predator. A judge denied debt relief, defending bankers and insisting it's unfair, yet no one will enforce food and gas price caps on our behalf.
It wears me down. Like your dad, my dad worked like a maniac only to die when he retired from black mold that consumed his lungs within a month. He ran away from crazy conservative Christian parents when he was a kid and worked his entire life to support himself, four kids, my insanely materialistic mom, and his wife and her family, who fled Lebanon as refugees.
Work for debt until you die if you're fortunate to obtain debt. That's life, though. It's a sad existence when viewed in its entirety, and class war is a middle-class issue now. When my parents were married, I briefly experienced it, but it's rapidly disappearing, and a solid middle class is a critical component that upholds democracy.
Jesus, sorry. I rambled. It's been so difficult to keep my head up. I wish I didn't give a shit about anything.
