Meeting Persephone

First, a couple of minor things. 1) I've changed my template. Not sure whether I like it or not as it makes some of my own navigating a bit more difficult and isn't "friendly" to a couple of widgets that I've enjoyed having on my blog. Don't know if I'm going to keep this one even though I like the look of it. 2) Friday Flicks will still appear today - I just had something I needed to get off of my chest and so I'm going to do that first. 3) And an update for anyone who was curious - the circus thing never happened because the other parents had scheduling difficulties.

Now then... on to the shit that really matters to me.

My husband and I discuss my views on socialism vs. capitalism quite often. He works. I do not (at least not in a financially beneficial way beyond our family). One of his primary complaints about socialism is the same as it is for unions - "I don't want to work my ass off for the same money that the guy next to me makes for doing nothing." I consistently argue against this point of his as being the propaganda fed to him for a very long time by other capitalists and he continues to fight their fight for them and they continue to profit by it.

I wasn't always a stay-at-home mom so I'm not ignorant of the work dynamic. I've worked all variety of menial labor jobs and am quite aware of the mentality and production differences between individuals in the work place. But, unlike my husband, I've always paid attention to things running in a different direction. Since most seem to focus from the bottom to the top (often placing blame on their co-workers), I focus from the top to the bottom. In other words, I look at how those at the top of the "food chain" behave moreso than those "worker ants" at the bottom. I also consider the beyond-the-work place factors. Namely, Wall Street.

My husband has worked for many companies over the years. He's worked for private firms as well as state government. What are some of the glaring differences between the two? Well at the private firms he made slightly more money than he did when he worked for state government and I do mean slightly. Of course at that point in our life he was still barely making enough to keep us above the poverty line which made the 100% and 300% greater wages of his immediate supervisor and the owner of the company (respectively) over his own wages much more painful especially when considering the labor involved in each of these positions. When working for the state we were unaware of what others were making but the differences were harder to detect than in the private sector. He had more paid holidays with state government as well as better health and life insurance and MUCH shorter work days. In the private firm he has always worked long hours in freezing cold and blistering heat and was never guaranteed a cost of living increase (and along with many others has gone years without increases) and often when those increases would come they would amount to only $50 per month. With the state he always got a minimum cost of living increase in his wages at the rate of no less than 3% as well as unemployment benefits during the winter when working conditions were poor.

There is one other great difference between the two. In some of the private firms, those that were large enough (and also bore even greater differences in salaries than the smaller firms I described above) my husband worked for they were actually public meaning that stocks were sold. In the government jobs the product was owned by the citizens who paid for it via tax dollars (which was pretty much all of them) and all citizens benefitted from the labor/product.

Who cares? Well when you're going to complain about those who benefit from the labor of others without putting out their own labor the first place to look is Wall Street - not our welfare system. Why would you complain about the guy next to you making the same miniscule (by comparison as I've pointed out) wage as you instead of looking to those at the top of the chain? Those who are truly benefitting from your labor, telling you what your labor is worth as well as telling you what those things that you spend your wages on are worth, and contributing nothing but some cash while they sit back and collect the checks are the fat cats at the stock exchange. Not to mention the fact that when the end of the year comes around and the firms are deciding on who gets what for their contributions the fat cats are getting theirs first - you are a secondary consideration despite the fact that these places would not function at all without your labor.

Why am I bringing any of this up? Wall Street is the capitalist welfare. They do nothing but collect funds after doing nothing to earn it and cost us more money to support their habits that are so much more expensive than formula for an infant or aid for paying utility bills for low income families. And yet the majority of those who are opposed to a national health care plan for the US are focusing on the "scum of the earth" types who are actually a minority of the population instead of looking to those who are reaping the benefits, contributing nothing, and have everything to lose (including their fancy cars, vacation homes, and Armani suits) if universal health care comes to pass because they are also the ones who own shares in these insurance and drug companies. These are the people pouring $40+ million into lobbying against a national health care plan and convincing you that it's in your best interest. "Private = competition". Except I have a strong moral objection to the idea of competition in LIVES and HEALTH. And you are fooling yourselves if you truly believe that they are acting in anyone's best interest but their own. And these assholes have NO problem being able to afford their own health care because they are making more in bonuses each year than the average American makes in wages over 5 years.

If national health care is so horrible tell me why every country (to my knowledge) that has some form of it also have citizens that live longer on average than those of us in the US?

People hate the idea of entitlement and when it comes to carrying Prada under your arm, I agree - not everyone needs that. But when it comes to your health, the most basic human need, this is most certainly something that everyone needs and should have.

The people on Wall Street have their own sense of entitlement - and they're weak. When the stock market crashed a few months ago - remember? - think about how many suicides took place. Take their money away and life isn't worth living. The average worker pulls themself up by their bootstraps and goes back out there to find a new way to make things work. Not those guys. They've put all value on lumps of shiny yellow rock because someone decided a long time ago that this useless rock has value and whoever has the most of that useless yellow rock "wins". And most Americans are trying to keep up with them and put themselves further into debt every day.

But yeah - blame the little guys who are harvesting cans out of your trash to scrape together enough money to buy a can of soup. They are definitely the criminals! And whatever you do, do NOT help them get to a dentist once a year. That'll teach 'em not to be such "scumbags". (I'll take those "scumbags" over the scumbags screwing and selling out anyone for the sake of their vacations in Monte Carlo or their newest (of 4) Mercedes Benz)

The Trash Heap has spoken again. UGH!