Of Course You're Not Happy

Profits over people. Ugly results follow.

You work harder than your parents did. You don't feel like you make as much. You feel like your paying more in bills. You feel like you're less secure than your parents were. You feel like things are stacked up against you. And they are.

For the last 30-40 years in this country, we have been kneeling at the altar of corporate culture, preaching increased productivity, less regulation, less consumer protection, lower taxes, and lower wages. Not shockingly, it has mostly benefitted the wealthy, the well connected, and those in the best position to game the system. Most of us aren't becoming millionaires. Most of us are struggling to make ends meet. During this period, right up until the 2008 crash, we made up for the decline in earnings with cheap and easy credit, but we found that to be a terrible idea too after our economy almost melted down. We have subjugated ourselves to the ridiculous idea that not only should companies make profits every single year, but they should make a bigger profit than last year too. We've even set public policy to help insure such for them. As a result, the public feels like their government doesn't work for them. What the public of course misses is that they continue to vote for these policies every time they get suckered in by some stupid social issue, or some debate about the fictional idea of the government coming to take their guns, or put a terrorist in their home, or whatever other wild-eyed conspiracy they believe in. You are doing this to yourself.

If you feel like the deck is stacked against you, it is. It absolutely is. You can vote that mindset out, but you have to decide you want to. We can stop writing the tax code to shield corporate profits. We can stop de-regulation. We can start raising the wage of millions of workers. These things can work, they do work. You just have to want them again.