"The wokring poor"

Hard work. It is all that it takes to get ahead in this country. If you simply put in the effort, you'll be able to reap the rewards, and live a happy, if not prosperous, life. This is the motto, and the mantra, that has been endlessly repeated and ingrained into the psyche of those who were born here, and into the hopes of those hoping to do so in the future. Poverty is supposedly for the lazy or weak, as they simply don't have the drive or the ablility to escape their own situation. The solution in the past was simply the answer that there must not be enough employment, and that therefor high unemployment rates were the cause. But what can we point our fingers at when we have those that are working full time, and still never breaking the poverty line? These "working poor" do everything physically possible for them to try and get ahead, and yet go no where. Where then, can we set the blame, except squarely upon our own shoulders. The money for that 2nd vacation to Hawaii came directly out of the food bill for someone's kids, or the health insurance for a grandparent. Its our constant drive for lower prices, and the corporate power that makes it possible, to take the savings out of the paychecks of the workers, instead of the salaries of the CEO's

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The affects of working here

I doubt this will come as a shock to anyone, but working in fast food restaurant sucks. A lot. With a concerted effort, it isn't too hard to look past the dismal wages, long hours, and dead end career choice that embody what it is to work in fast food. The poor, or even nonexistent, health insurance and other benefits are just one more thing you can try to ignore as you slave away. Even the costumers, whether its the ones who have no idea what they want to order, the ones who clearly have a stick up their ass, or the just plain annoying ones, can be blocked out with enough concentration. But, the one thing you can't look past, no matter how hard you try, is the general atmosphere and work environment that fosters in a fast food restaurant. The overall feelings of depression cannot be purged, and seem to follow you home, residing over you like a some kind of phantom. The lighting, color schemes, and pictures on the wall all add to the image of fake happiness, only serving to further bury your own as you constantly look around at the fake that encapsulates you.

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Seeing is believing

Why is poverty as an issue ignored? According to Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickled And Dimed, it is because of society's current social/media incarnation. The poor have easy access to the life of the rich, through media, books, TV shows, and the like. They can constantly tune in to the latest happenings of the celebrity world, hearing about the various crisis afflicting the affluent. However, this availibility of information about those different from you is not equal in both directions. The rich have little to no contact with the life and goings on of the poor: there aren't numerous articles about them, they can't view them speeding by on the street, and since most people are constantly looking up, the rich don't have the desire or the want to look at the lifestyle of the poor. Thus, their exposure to the realities of the classes below them is extremely limited: for some, the only glimpse they will ever get of this other world is through the medium of either household servants, or stereotypical representations in the cinema. There is no easy way for them to be exposed to the realities of poverty and hunger, and so their responces to these issues are based off of little to no real information; instead, they come from what they believe to be true, making them that much more assured in their decisions. And so it continues.

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The realities of poverty

Poverty. Everyone knows it exists, but in a sort of way that it sits in the back of our minds, and doesn't affect any of our conscious decisions. When you ask someone what they think about poverty in America, they'll talk about how it affects the lives of many, and allows them to not lead their lives fully. However, people don't realize just how acute an illness poverty is. They picture someone struggling along, trying to make ends meet. They don't picture the family without health care, any kind of insurance, money for anything except food and shelter, and inadequate necessities across the board. The family in which an illness or disease means you have to try that much harder to survive, as a day without pay correlates directly to a day without food.

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(Inspired by passages from Nickled and Dimed)

Back to food

I had no idea that almost all economic factors influence our food choices, and therefore our obesity. It is no coincidence that the majority of those obese come from the echelons of society; while in previous centuries it was the rich who were fat as a symbol of their wealth, now it is the poor who are fat as a symbol of the food they eat. Previously, being fat meant you were wealthy enough to be able to the amount of food it would take to get fat, and lead a lifestyle in which you wouldn't burn it off. Now, however, being fat leads towards the image of a tedious 9-5 job, and lots of McDonalds and burger king.
How does the economy influence this? As i posted earlier, these high gas prices will have an impact not only on how much, if any, people can spend on birthday presents, but also where the majority of their calories come from. Where as before it might have been from ralphs or vons (which are by no means the bar for excellency), there will now be more of them coming from burger king and kfc, as the lower price of food becomes a necessity in order to balance a budget.

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Health Behavior News Service, "Fast Food Density in Poor and Black neighborhoods..." Ann Quigley

Gas prices, low income, and driving(or not)

Well, lately there has been lots of media attention on the continually rising gas prices; and, i think for good reason. While before the steadily increasing price was an inconvenience, it is now becoming prohibitively high for many, many Americans. While many of the news stories focus on those who have to stop going out as much, or drive to the mall fewer times, they seem to ignore those who are effected on an even deeper level then that. Where are the stories about the people who have to start choosing between medical care and being able to get to work; birthday presents or picking their kids up from school; even between what kind of food they are forced to buy or not being able to buy gas at all. Sure, the story of the man who sells his car and buys a motorcycle, reducing his weekly gas bill from 120 to 8 are endearing and show a fighting spirit, the story of the parent choosing between dental care and feeding his kid because he has to get to work don't seem to make it into the news

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(New York Times, 5/24/08, "Teeth Gritted, Americans Adjust to $4 Gas" Jad Mouawad, Mireya Navarro)

Where does my money go

The Communist Manifesto has been making me think, not necessarily about global change or anything like that, but about how money, and its control, is power. Where does my money go? I realize i am far better off then John or Billy, who tend the frier and grill, but even a manager doesn't make that much. I make 31,560 a year. How does that get divided up? How much do i have to burn on necisities; the food, housing, and bills i pay, and how much is left over for me?
more to come

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