Living on the Edge

Quite of the Day:
"Nothing is so responsible for the good old days as a bad memory."
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt ~

Thanksgiving. Most people have had a great day watching football, visiting with family members they may not have seen in a while and stuffing their face with Turkey day food. It is both a 'tradition' and a 'celebration'.

One of the things I have observed about the holidays, any holiday, is that discussing 'the good old days' seems to be a hot topic of conversation. Nostalgia reigns and memories sooth away the pain of obnoxious, objective reality.

There are some people who do not have the pleasure of a Thanksgiving filled with friends, family or plentiful food. They live in a world that is marginalized and ignored. They are essentially invisible.

I know a little bit about this; I was there once. It was an experience.

The problem with this attitude is that in today's economy no one knows if or when they will join the ranks of the discarded poor living in this country.

Here are some headlines that illustrate how close some people are to the edge of financial disaster.

• Inflation Up; Wages Down - Factoring in the recent energy-driven increase in inflation, the real wage is down 2.3%, also the largest real loss on record for this series that began in 1981.
• US poor set to loose food stamps - With more than 38 million Americans too poor to buy adequate food, the US Congress has begun to take away the food stamps many of them receive.
• Rich Senators Defeat Minimum-Wage Hike - Congressional Pay Rises While Minimum Stays Same
• GM prepares to wield job ax - The world's largest automaker, which has lost nearly $4 billion this year, has said it will provide details by the end of 2005 about its previously announced plan to cut at least 25,000 manufacturing jobs as part of a broader restructuring plan.
• Ford to cut 4,000 jobs in North America - Ford Motor Co., facing a deepening financial crisis, said on Friday it plans to eliminate 4,000 salaried jobs, or 10 percent of its North American white-collar work force, as part of a larger restructuring plan.

Living on the edge and falling off is not an adventure found in Disney World or Busch Gardens. It is an actuality happening to more and more individuals in the US every day. They are joining the ranks of those Third World countries whose populations have been experiencing abject poverty for years.

Thinking about this makes me wonder if it is part of a plan. FDR also said "In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."

It might be time to take a good look at the other quote about "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

Think about it.

Wage Slaves

Quote of the Day
"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death..."
~ Anais Nin ~

It's been quite a while since the last posting here. A lot has happened. Your not going to hear any excuses or stories. This is, after all, the Compost Files, and excuses are the stuff of cold compost. Excuses are, I think, self justification and nurture self importance. This is the stuffing that makes the easy chair I referred to in the last post so comfortable that when you sit in it you fall to sleep.

The facts and just the facts are what are important.

The fact is ... I went back to working full time and I'm exhausted.

Okay, yes, everyone works full time and some more than that. Actually, I work about fifty five to sixty hours a week. Needless to say, there is not a lot of time left for doing what I really want to do.

I am being sucked back into the Matrix. At least that is what it feels like. Working to pay the bills while at the same time feeding the war machine.

Speaking of the war machine ... the Signs has a report on the latest budget cuts. The "elected officials" say they are trying to cut the Federal Deficit.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Friday to cut $700 million from the food stamp program, despite objections from antihunger groups complaining that estimates show some 235,000 people would lose benefits.


The House bill, which also trimmed other social programs for the poor in an effort to reduce federal spending by $50 billion, was narrowly approved 217-215.

House and Senate negotiators now must write a final, compromise version of legislation to pare federal spending over five years. The Senate did not touch food stamps in its version of a $35 billion budget-cutting bill.

Food stamps, the major U.S. antihunger program, help poor people buy food. Some 25.8 million Americans received food stamps in a program run by the U.S. Agriculture Department.

In the meantime, these same people have voted to increase their own paychecks.

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-controlled Congress helped itself to a $3,100 pay raise on Friday, then postponed work on bills to curb spending on social programs and cut taxes in favor of a two-week vacation.

They need a cost of living increase? Hmm. Back in October, Helen Thomas reported on the dismal future of those who work for minimum wage.

"U.S. senators -- who draw salaries of $162,100 a year and enjoy a raft of perks -- have rejected a minimum wage hike from $5.15 an hour to $6.25 for blue-collar workers.

Can you believe it?

The proposed increase was sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and turned down in the Senate by a vote of 51 against the boost and 49 in favor. Under a Senate agreement, it needed 60 votes to pass.

All the Democrats voted for the wage boost. All the negative votes were cast by Republicans.

Four Republicans voted for it. Three of the four are running for reelection and were probably worried about how voters would react if they knew that their well-heeled senators had turned down a pittance of an increase in the salaries of the lowest paid workers in the country.

The minimum wage was last increased in 1997."

This is not a partisan or bipartisan problem. The ability to make enough money to buy food, gas, heat your living space, and pay the various bills is a necessity. When adjusted for inflation the present minimum wage is equal to $4.15.

If you think the difference of one dollar is nothing to worry about then you might like to know that in 1968 the wage of $1.60 had the buying power of $7.21.

And that's a fact.

Visit the Ecomomic Apocalypse blog to learn why the Bon vivants in Congress have given themselves a pay raise.


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