"I was losing weight because I couldn't afford to buy food.."

[lostnfound]

Today, a microcosm: a single floor in a single workplace. Seven years ago, their salaries were steadily growing, and gas was less than $1.50.

"I keep the heat off in the winter and wear sweaters and blankets, and leave the car parked in the driveway all weekend."

Since then, pay cuts, almost no raises, gas is around $2.90, and co-pays have climbed.

"He doesn't want anyone to know this but he had to file for bankruptcy."

A little shift in the economy, a little shift in management styles, a little shift in the competition. It all adds up.

One floor in one building, all "management employees". Responsible long-term jobs at an employee-friendly company, believe it or not. They all make much more than 'minimum' -- well, except perhaps the invisible janitors who come at night, but that's a job that's "outsourced" to some other company, and hence they ought not be considered "one of us"...

"I don't want to complain, I'm grateful for a job, but they took these medicines off the list and they cost me $200 a month now and it's really hard for me to afford it."

I saw Sicko last week. In a staff meeting today, I opened my ears and eyes and saw it again all around me, on my own office floor.

The one who told me of her year of hunger actually cried.

I am a little different from these long-term employees, hard-working, dedicated people. I worry about politics, and the state of the country. They worry about paying for gas, food, heat and medicine. The trouble is, I know it doesn't need to be this way. I know what it's like for the favored few. I can grasp what a 15% tax on capital gains means, and that brokerage accounts usually yield more than checking accounts. And I can somewhat grasp what it means for a country to be spending a trillion dollars on a war over there. What it would mean for the country to be spending a trillion dollars here, on infrastructure or clean energy projects or health care. What those kind of projects would do for the job market here.

Quite a bit came pouring out when the floodgates opened today. But I happened to hear another story today, earlier in the morning -- a more upbeat story of a young relative, a college grad in a different, more "favored" industry, who had just received $90,000 in severance pay plus 4 months worth of paid time off when she was laid off, and she bounced into a better job at another company in the same field. She is in one of those few industries where the money is really flowing because the industry -- indeed, the company -- has simply bought and paid for the government, and is raking in billions from .. well, from the former middle class. Well, from people like the desperate staff that I was just mentioning.

And yes, this particular lucky young person is not only lucky but hard-working, beautiful and smart, I believe. The go-getters that I regularly meet in business who 'do the big deals' for certain large companies and make six figures are also hard-working and smart -- and completely vested in a system where the best and brightest work frightfully hard to make money for their companies, for specific companies that have become more powerful than "the government". A system that finds me frequently in meetings where 10 or 15 of the best and the brightest figure out ways to eke out an extra few million dollars here or there from a contract, or how to properly count the beans, or how to "improve productivity". That sometimes finds me observing presentations where the best and the brightest are trying to sell nearly-useless services to us at exhorbitant prices using fancy presentations and fifty-dollar words. In my lovely office, I sometimes get phone calls from those who suggest that I should follow the latest management trend; that I should, for example, use the services of Arthur-Andersen-reborn-as-Accenture (in Bermuda-to-avoid-paying-taxes) in order to outsource the entire floor, to cut labor costs in half or in thirds, and to take advantage of tax loopholes. At this, I have to admit, I simply laughed.

But back to those big meetings where the bean-counting and productivity sessions occur. I suspect that many of those best and brightest feel some kind of discontent, in spite of their six-figure salaries; some inner spirit in them would prefer to be using their talents finding ways to reduce malaria or poverty or traffic accidents or homelessness, or to truly improve health care or education or the environment. I find myself wondering, as I look around and think about the thousands of other conference rooms also filled with similarly privileged, talented, and bored people: what kind of country or world would we have, if half of this talent had a better chance to actually focus on -- forgive the overstatement here -- purely human problems, rather than purely corporate ones?

Inside those big meetings all across the country, the Multinational's fortunate ones are engaged in tug-of-war or in "brainstorming sessions" to increase the pot of gold and security for the various owners -- including, admittedly, some middle-class 401K plans and small investors, but largely for the benefit of the 'most fortunate ones'. Outside those rooms, or on a floor below, the squeezed "middle class" is becoming fearful of the precipice, when the paycheck runs out, the car breaks down, or the job is lost and the health insurance along with it. At night, the "invisible ones" come to empty the trash cans, wipe the tables, vacuum the carpets, and clean the bathrooms. The "most favored ones" are busy buying the politicos, to ensure that the goodies keep coming, whether to themselves or to their corporations (and to their "privately held" firms), and trying to keep criminal elements from stealing their money -- which admittedly can be quite a pervasive problem for the semi-rich, as they must trust others to manage their accounts and their businesses, and there are many opportunities for fraud and theft.

Purely speaking, I am not communist, socialist, anarchist or libertarian. I believe in balance and community. I believe in cleaner government and funding basic infrastructure. And I believe that people who show up to work every day and do a decent job sure as hell ought not have to worry about paying for food, health care, heating bills or transportation.

[jbm]

1. a rare gem...

Every so often I'll stumble across a writing that manages to condense an enormous amount of information into a few short paragraphs. It's like finding a treasure. Thank you for this.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. K&R

What will it take for our country to become more humane?

I weep for our stance today...

And for the many who are in the same position as this person...

What is happening is simply criminal...

:cry:

[Arugula Latte]

16. "What will it take for our country to become more humane?"

That's a good way to summarize all of our problems into one question, my dear Peggy. That's what I've been asking myself, but especially since I saw "Sicko." The tales of woe from the un-insured and under-insured made me weep, but so did the vision of the middle class French family who lived a life free from some of our most basic worries. That is what we could have been; but we squandered it by letting corporations take over our politics, our judiciary, our media, and our souls.

[bobbolink]

21. "From ME to WE"

Do we have the will?

[defendandprotect]

28. We have to STOP expressing value via a dollar bill -- end Capitalism --

SICKO may wake Americans up to what a socially responsible government of the people can and does do -- thanks to Michael Moore.

Capitalism has failed repeated, over and again --
The last time was the Great Depression which finally led to FDR's New Deal -- which I understand was really based on Huey Long's Democratic Party leadership/ideals/ideas --
and is basically seen as having "saved capitalism."

At the time of the Great Depression 70% of Americans were ready for a new form of government, a new more democractic economic system.

Reagan, of course, broke the welfare system -- evidently leaving thousands of disabled and handicapped people in situations where they committed suicide; a situation ignored by the MSM.

[candice]

35. Did we let them, or did having consolidated media and the need

for politicians to sell themselves to buy TV ads seal the deal?

The free ranging 60s scared a lot of vested interests, so the businessmen of California propped up a soon-to-be-senile politician who had no qualms dropping tear gas on the streets of Berkeley when innocent people were just walking down the street (it happened to me as I was just visiting). Instead of changing the world, hippies transformed into yuppies. BMW's and cocaine ruled.

[NJCher]

3. I agree about the writing

It was so good I looked for a link, thinking it was a post from a magazine or blog.

Last week I visited a company that's number one in hedge funds. Made me sick. They are adding 500 employees this year. They already added 200 and are adding another 300 before year end.

Why? Because bush has the money channel machine set so all these rich f%@#s have nothing more to do than protect their wealth from what little they have to pay anyway.

Made me sick. Still makes me sick when I think of it.



Cher

[Wiley50]

4. Thank You for being who you are and sharing it with us

things have to change.
some way. some how.

[NMDemDist2]

5. K&N for sad sense n/t

[Warpy]

6. I was very lucky when I was going through poverty

because I had an electric blanket to wrap myself up in when it was too cold for just sweaters but not cold enough to fire up the wood stove.

I had plenty of food, but it was mostly grains and legumes. Root veggies were cheap so I ate those. I sprouted my own sprouts and baked my own bread.

I inherited wisely, so now I'm trying to give back to the thrift shops that kept me clothed and provided replacements for things that broke down.

[onewholaughsatfools]

11. we all should count our blessings each day

Life gives us things that we never ever expect. Good fortune and opportunities and we can feel like we are on top of the world. Then, out of nowhere it comes our lives change over night. We have to change our whole lives, this is the most important time in our lives and we adapt and survive. We pick ourselves up. look at our lives and become better human beings. It's good to know our gains and losses in life can and do make us better human beings. Blessings to you.

[Bozita]

7. Well done, lostnfound! Recommended.

[Blue_Tires]

8. k+r

[girl gone mad]

9. If those best and brightest..

would prefer to use their talents for the good of humanity, then they should give up the materialism and work towards more meaningful pursuits. It isn't complicated. Forget about the big house, expensive cars and designer clothes. Most who don't chase status are much happier for it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. Right, if the wealthy WANTED to work for the good of humanity, they could

I know some who do. They live off their trust funds and spend their time volunteering for something they believe in, whether it's a charity or a political movement.


The less wealthy do it all the time, too, either volunteering or working for low wages for something they believe in.

But it's like when Jesus told the rich young man that in order to be saved, he had to sell his possessions and give them to the poor. The young man walked away sad rather than give up his Stuff.

Today's multinational executives are as arrogant as the kings and queens of old. They seem to believe that they're rich because they're better quality human beings, and they're oblivious to the fact that they couldn't have risen to their current position without the hard work of other people and the tax-supported social infrastructure.

Sad to say, a lot of today's thirtysomethings and younger fortysomethings are the Children of Reagan, young Alex Keatons grown into positions of power without having learned anything but how to maintain the bottom line.

[lostnfound]

23. I think many of them see it but the choices

seem to be between well-paid intellectual jobs working for the multinationals (which provide for their families and retirements and healthcare etc.) OR sacrificial lives doing work with 'more meaning' which are not only low paid but low-resourced, where their contributions are so hampered (and in fact are actively opposed by the powers that be, but that's another story).

On the individual level it is a personal moral dilemna and perhaps they are failing miserably. That's not the point.
The point is the system, whereby the best and brightest are given the best tools and plenty of resouces (and rewards) to find ever-more-clever ways to make a profit, which is not all about ways of making better products or more efficient production, but also about manipulating the system to externalize costs or create monopolies; while the real needs are often hobbling along on crutches. It's about a relative waste of human resources devoted to one goal at the expense of all others.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. Way back during the Reagan administration, Robert Reich warned against

what he called "paper entrepreneurism," getting rich not by making needed products or providing needed services but by manipulating numbers.

[lynnertic]

25. Ha, I was taught that folks who said give up $$$ ran cults or scams.

I might have walked away too, sad to say.

I'm in the middle of lots of people who WANT to do good, do it, and still have important jobs that provide well for their families and green healthy humanitarian lifestyles too.

Bucky Fuller knew
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. Jesus didn't tell the young man to give the money to HIM, but to the poor

:shrug:

[lynnertic]

27. I know the story.

Doesn't change what my folks taught me. They called it "common sense".


On edit: The story is allegorical anyway, and other teachings show that Jesus didn't require his followers to give up all their wealth.

[candice]

36. Christianity spread because it was the first religion for the poor...

When I compared all of the riches inside the Vatican with the relatively poor people I saw on the street, I was told that those people would want the Vatican to have all of its wealth.

Of course those Italians have safety nets that a corporate-run country like the U.S., whose government is oriented toward the death machine (war)--wouldn't consider. It's the fear of the gutter that enslaves the average worker.

[lynnertic]

39. and the fear is exacerbated by separation from one another

and social engineering is keeping us separated: racial profiling, privacy fences, nondisclosure agreements about wages...

[bonito]

10. Kick n /t

[ninkasi]

12. That was beautiful

Thank you so much.

[L. Coyote]

13. There are solutions to problems, some better than others

http://jqjacobs.net/politics/impeach/

[broadcaster]

14. Very reflective of today's reality and may I add...

..that I've seen too that age discrimination is playing a larger part in rendering employees obsolete before their time, and this also carries into the universities, who frown, or downright say no to an older (40+) individual coming out of industry who wants to either retrain or to contribute to some of the fields that you mention in your diary.

And in general of course, when a middle class worker is laid off or tragically is aged out of the system at age 40+, there are very few ways back to a comfortable life (even assuming the hard work to get there).

The middle class is most certainly being edged out of the economic system, and I'm saying that not only is this a problem, but once edged out, there are few ways to sustain one's self as you so clearly mention.

One thing I wrote to the New York Times years ago in response to an article about China's effect on US wages was, fine, pay me 3.00 per hour so we can compete with China, but then also let me buy a 2500 sq foot house for 15,000 and make nice cars for me to buy for 3,000.

Again, great diary. I have been there and still am.

[midnight]

15. This reads like a page from a very suspenseful novel.......

I realized several years ago in my busy suburb that the people at a local restaurant were very tired looking. This was not the staff but the customers. I saw a grayness in this population that was once vibrant and bustling. Six years of this and no-one can stop this. Cindy Sheehan brought attention to the high cost of war because of the loss she sustained. Michael Moore has brought attention to the lack of access to health care in America because of what he saw happen to the first responders. Sybil Edmond brought attention to warnings unheeded because of her outrage about 9-11. Howard Dean has brought attention to sticking together by bringing his 50 state proposal together because of great doctors skills to what is wrong with the election process. Do we have to wait for another election cycle to keep weeding the corruption out?

[irislake]

18. Why do Americans think that socialism is so evil?

Check out what the standard of living is in true socialist countries. Life is much better in the Scandinavian countries than in the US. Research those counties and discover the truth.

Canada, by the way, is NOT a socialist country in spite of our "free" health care. Nor are most of the other Western countries that provide "free" health care.

I would prefer it if Canada had a socialist government. I am not happy with GWB's friend "Steve". Even so our Conservatives -- even with a strain of neocon idiocy is to the left of your present democrats.

I think Americans are totally irrational about "socialism".

Taxes too. But that's another story. Folks are getting a hard lesson about taxes and what they are good for now that people have died because a bridge collapsed.

I think Americans would do well to re-think what socialism means and not fall all over the place disassociating yourselves from the very thought of any such thing. The rich Republican politicians and the corporate media have sure done a good job keeping you down!

[Clintonista2]

20. What defines a "socialist" country?

Canada is socialist in many ways, what is your definition of a "socialist country"? (not being rude, just curious)

[irislake]

40. America is "socialist" too in many ways.

Your public schools and libraries and museums, public roads and bridges are paid for by your taxes. Your army is also. But I see you also have a well-paid private army. If Bush/Cheney leave office, who will direct the activities of that private army?

Corporate America wants to privatize EVERYTHING now --- schools and absolutely everything that can make them a profit. I don't think your water has been privatized and maybe only part of your electricity. But your health services (hospitals included) are privately run and you don't regulate the drug companies at all.
I wish we could nationalize Canada's oil but the Alberta government is "little Texas" --- very Neocon and big on guns and the whole wild west bit. They even wear the hats and the boots and have rodeos.

Both Liberals and Conservatives are trying to privatize our water and would if they could get away with it. (You have to watch your politicians on the left or right like hawks!) The Council For Canadians keeps a sharp eye on politicians and has a lot of clout. We have never had a socialist Federal Government. The New Democratic Party is a socialist party and they occasionally get into power in the provinces. A socialist government in Ontario was followed by a Conservative government that had plenty of Neocon elements. They were too mean so now the Liberals are in.

But to me socialism means that resources (oil for example) and all things like water, hydro, railroads, schools, and so on belong to the country and are run by government employees. It amazes me that Hugo Chavez was able to nationalize the country's oil without bloodshed. There is no WAY Alberta would stay in Canada if we tried to nationalize "our" oil.

I guess I would define a socialist country as one that has a socialist agenda across the board. Once upon a time I would have called the Labour Party in England "socialist" but Tony changed that.

Most countries are a mix of public and private. But the US is so far under the control of the corporations that I would say the present situation (given Cheney/Bush) is fascist. I think you are about as close as you can get to fascism without acknowledging it. Certain no outside country can be "jealous of your freedoms". What freedom?

Noam Chomsky says a failed state is one that puts power and gain ahead of the safety and well-being of its people. I think it's pretty obvious that your government holds the American people and the Democratic opposition in contempt. As Bush said long ago to a critic, "Who cares what you think?"

In a "free" country such a leader would have been out on his ass in 2000 after the people rose up and protested the Supreme Court's coup d'etat. I am shaking in my boots about what that idiot will do next. If he attacks Iran when we are at the tipping point with global warming I fear my granddaughters will never grow up. Chomsky and Seymour Hersh and a number of other thinkers I really respect say the present situation is terrifying. I couldn't agree more.

[lostnfound]

22. I said "purely speaking"..

and I didn't say that it was evil.
I personally could be quite happy living in Sweden, for example (but I think I would prefer Amsterdam).
Honest government can come in various forms.
But some individualistic streak, or some daydream of 'natural man' or of a 'Robinson Crusoe' making a home for himself without any outside interference, makes others rebel entirely against such systems.

[baby_mouse]

37. Because they're TELLING YOU WHAT TO DO!

Booga booga.

[Love Bug]

38. Americans think socialism is evil because we were taught

to hate the communists. To most people, socialism = communism. Do you know Richard Nixon actually wanted the federal government to fund daycare centers but people fought against the idea because they thought the government would indoctrinate their kids "like those Godless communists"?

[Beaverhausen]

19. K&R

there but for the grace of god...

[ikojo]

29. If I didn't house sit for the past two months

I don't know how I'd have paid the rent for August. I have one more month at this place and then I move to a place where the rent is $200 less. It's been real hard since May with me paying all of the rent myself. I asked my roommate to leave because he had become extremely psychologically abusive.

I don't know how I am going to pay rent for half a month in my current place and a whole month in the new place come September but I will manage I suppose.

See where I live they enforced a provision in the lease stating the tenant must give 60 days notice to move. My 60 days is up on September 11. I may be forced to ask my rabbi for financial assistance.

At least in my new place ALL utilities, including electricity are included in the rent. I've been promised that the rent will not increase until Jan 2009, which is a good thing.

[stevedeshazer]

30. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, I have a story, too, lostnfound.

I was one of you. Good paying white-collar job through the nineties. Bought a modest house, had a 401k, drove a decent car, raised two kids, stressful but relatively secure.

Now I drive a delivery truck for ten bucks an hour. We'd sell our house, but the housing market is in the toilet.

I'm not sure how much longer we can make the payments.

I drive a 1985 Honda Accord. The tags are expired, and it won't pass the required emissions test for license renewal. My temporary permit expires in two weeks. I can buy one more, good for three weeks, then DMV won't sell me another. The clutch is shot. The cost of repairs is way more than the car is worth. I start work at 4:00 A.M., bus service is not available.

I had to have surgery to repair my hernia back in February. I have health insurance, but the co-pays added up to $1200. Bill collectors call daily.

Ms. S_D still has a good job, but she's 59 and nearing retirement. I have no idea what we'll do for health insurance after that. Her parents died long ago with no money.

Dad died four years ago. Mom lives alone, an hour away, and needs help to get along and doesn't have a whole lot of money. Little Brother is of little help, he's a self-absorbed Republican whose wife is an elected Republican small-town commissioner who can't be bothered given they have three little kids.

There is a quiet desperation among those of us who are struggling, slipping from the middle class into the working poor, with no relief in sight. I don't know when, or even if, the anger and rage we feel will translate into revolt.

I have a pitchfork and some torches. That's about it.

Anyone else?

[AnneD]

32. I think....

folks are getting desperate. One good downturn and you will see the pitchforks and tar. Many of these Reagan supporters seem to have forgotten why we had these safety nets-we really were a short step away from sweeping socialism. And I think we are coming to that point again.

[PatSeg]

31. Very insightful

and articulate post. What you described is happening all over the country and meanwhile, the MSM still talks about this STRONG economy without mentioning that it is only strong for the top 1 or 2% of the country. One day a right-winger bragged on TV about how many "jobs this administration has created" and I yelled back at the TV, "yeah, and my daughter is working THREE of them!!!"

In the nineties, companies were competing for employees with super duper benefits packages and signing bonuses. How quickly that has changed! I see young people with college degrees working for hourly wages and no benefits. They often have to work two or more jobs to pay for the basics and they left school with huge student loans to pay off. The American Dream has become a nightmare and the future is looking bleak.

More lives will be lost to poverty and illness than will ever be lost to a terrorist attack.

[Hydra]

33. So, we down here at the bottom aren't so invisible now, are we?

As sad as this sounds, it's correcting something VERY wrong here in america. The wisest and most appalling thing I've ever heard was this:

The Lower Class wants everyone to be equal.
The Middle Class wants to have what the Upper Class has.
The Upper Class wants to keep what they have and gain more.

This, hopefully is the death knell of the middle class, who think there is something wrong with people like me who take care of of my disabled relatives(SSDI denied out of hand, appeals take 15 months), and have been denied a wage that would support more than me at every place I've ever worked.

If we're all lower class, perhaps the attitude of "Something's wrong with you if you're poor!" will give way to "This system really doesn't give us real opportunities to succeed" or perhaps even "Maybe socialism isn't evil."

I look forward to the open eyes this tragedy brings, even as I sympathize for people who never would have sympathized with me, had things continued to go well in their lives.

[LWolf]

34. This is too familiar for comfort,

but I thank you for it anyway.