Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Conservative callousness towards the low income worker. *UPDATED*

Saw this quote noted on a post:
But, why should every job pay enough to live on? The whole idea of a diverse economy is that there are many, many, many jobs on which you can make a living, and there are many jobs which are not intended — they’re at the bottom of the scale — they’re not jobs you’re supposed to be able to live on. … When you’re unskilled, you should not expect to be able to make a living off of your ordinary day’s labor.
And this is just a taste of the attitude we see. Some jobs are just "those jobs". And, some people are...you know.

It's a confident callousness towards those that struggle with acquiring a good paying job, with personal problems, with illnesses, with family they take care of, and a whole range of issues and factors. It's an assurance that those you aren't well off, or economically stable are being punished (by God, by fate, by society, by that damn Invisible Hand). Or, you are one of them (the good lot), and one of those type (foreigner, union, atheist, teacher, liberal) screwed you over.

It all fits together to them. If you are getting minimum wage, you are clearly a teenager. You have to be. Otherwise, you'd...you can't be receiving minimum wage, cause that just doesn't happen. Yet, we can see that those getting minimum wage are around 50% people over 25. And if you are a part time worker (which more and more of us are being pushed into) you are more likely to be pushed towards minimum wages. And the trend over the last few decades has been a growth of those with more education and age finding themselves working in lower wage jobs.

I suppose conservatives feel people are being silly taking these jobs. Don't they know better? Just take that high paying job instead!

The reality is people who can't find work in their fields are struggling and looking for work in other areas to sustain them, and what they often find is part time offers.

Sure, if you are at a major news network it probably not too bad to move jobs. Nor if you're at a major think tank. But for the rest of us, it is rough.

Which is why things like food stamps or Obamacare are so desperately needed (Also various government services in dire peril this week.). Yet conservatives are eager to slash at these. It'd be nice if conservatives were helping out. (No. Ending the minimum wage isn't helping.) Not to worry they are sending cash to corporate farming, the military, and military contractors. I'm sure that will...trickle down to us before long.

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UPDATED:

Okay. started seeing typos. Had to step in, and stop hitting my head on my desk.

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