"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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working class

America is about freedom and opertunity, right? Everyone is supposed to be able to achieve their dream, they simply have to want it bad enough, and work hard enough. But what happens when pay grades go down, not up, and hours increase with no subsequent increase in wages? The Communist Manifesto touches on these issues. It says that this is the work of the bourgeoisie, or those in control over the masses through thier wealth and economic power. How is it possible to survive, when things get worse, not better, as you continue to go on. Is there even any point? Luckily, I am not a part of the pure labor workforce, but if i was, this coninually spiraling closed system would make me want to give up hope. Food for thought. Back to frenchfries.

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Food

I was reading this very interesting book, Parable of the Sower, and it made me think of a real world correlation. In the book, food is so prohibitively expensive, that many people are forced out of their homes because of the prices they are paying simply to stay alive. The obesity epidemic could be seen as an early warning sign for the same thing. Fast food is so much cheaper and easier to get, when people begin to go beyond their means, food is one of the easiest things to reduce the price on. But what happens when food becomes so scarce, fast food companies cannot afford to buy mass quantities of it cheaply? Will we start to experience the same problems that plague the people in Butler's fictional society, or will we be able to find a solution to the problem of rapidly dwindling resources, and a continually increasing population.

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Back to work

Well, its tuesday, and that means the week is still fresh! Over the weekend, i decided to go to a seminar on child obecity in america. I was shocked, not only at the number of kids who are fat, but that the number is climbing at such a steady rate. I don't think its a coincidence that so many adults in our country are fat, and that now we are a seeing a parallel rise in child obecity percentages. We need to be better role models for our kids, showing them ways to stay healthy and active, and not simply grouping all food that is healthy in the least into one big catagory of lima beans, bruccle sprouts, and spinach. Juxtaposition.

The weekend

We'll, its the weekend!
I don't work on saturdays, so today is my day to relax
And rant of course.
Minimum wage sucks
a lot
just wanted to throw that out there
it sucks alot
just fyi
incase you hand't realized

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Tucker Irwin Peterson

Walking

Why doesn't anyone walk anymore?
I was looking out the pickup window, and i saw someone come out of starbucks, get in thier car, drive 20 ft to the store next to starbucks and then walk in. Not only would it have been quicker to walk their, most likely 3 or 4 times quicker, but the added hastle of backing up, parking, and trying to navigate a supercenter parking lot wouldn't have been nesicary. All because someone was too lazy to walk 10 seconds to the next store they were going to. And it happened to be a foot locker. Like running shoes are going to help keep that person is shape.
sigh

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Tucker Irwin Peterson

Saving the world

What if for every dollar spent on food, 5c of it went to help relieve poverty in third world countries. Imagine how much it would help out those who needed it most. Almost none of us would notice the increase in price, and even if we did, the strain it would put on our budget would be soooooooo insignificant when compared to the potential benefits of that much foreign, reliable, and steady aid made available to those countries in need of it most.
I heard that much of the aid we give to starving countries gets wasted. Why? Because we're so inconsistant with the amount we give, and who we give it to, that if countries depend on it to help feed thier citizens, and try to focus on getting other things back to normal, their people starve the next year or the year after when the aid ceases to come
It seems so moronic that we can't even figure out to help people without decimating their economy after we're finished. America FTW, I guess.

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Tucker Irwin Peterson

obesity is slowly climbing on the deadly scale

Well, obesity is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. Where are before gun violence, the army or whatever were the big killers in society, now obesity is slowly taking the spotlight away from those killers, and focusing it on itself. As being fat not only becomes more socially unacceptable, but diseases thought to be random are now being shown to be caused, at least in part, by an excess of pounds, obecity's stature in relation to public health is rapidly rising. As people become more and more aware of the problems that obesity causes, not to mention the social side effects of being fat, hopefully americans will be able to give up the position of the fattest nation in the world.

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Tucker Irwin Peterson

Reflections on eating

I saw a homeless person on the street today on my way to work, with a sign begging for food. Then i arrived at work , and watched as people ate enough food for 3. It really stuck in my mind, the way that we eat, and what we eat, compared to those people who can't eat at all. To think that all the food that gets wasted, shoved down our throats, or simply thrown away in the kitchen could be feeding the starving puts a taint on the jolly american lifestyle. All the excess that we have here could be actually helping someone somewhere.

Or, we could continue going on the way we are going, shoving down double cheeseburger after double cheeseburger, and with an occasional kilo of frenchfries thrown in.

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Tucker Irwin Peterson

Morning break

Well, i'm on my monring break right now. I work in the mountain timezone, so its actually 10. From what i can see, obesity is a problem that america is going to have to deal with, sooner rather then later. It seems like almost everyone who comes in here is overweight, or at least a little chubby. Just makes you think about the kind of lifestyle that most americans lead. Even if you come every other day for one meal, thats still a lot of time left to eat regular, if not healthy, food. The amount of sitting around that most of us do is incredible. It seems to me like you'd have to make a concerted effort to do as little excersise as most people in out state, and most likely our country, do

alright, going back to work

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Tucker Irwin Peterson

Home

I've finally gotten off my shift, heading home now. Just wanted to share a story from today. I was taking orders, when this incredibly obese man walks into the store. He comes up, stands in line, and when its his turn, orders 4 double cheeseburgers, and 2 extra large DIET cokes. I just don't get it. Whats the point of getting diet soda, when you're going to drink a gallon and a half of it? Blows my mind. Going to sign off now. Will keep you all updated

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Tucker Irwin Peterson

Introducing myself

To everyone who may be reading this, my name is Tucker. I've just gotten my blog up and running, and i'll be updating it frequently. The starbucks next door to my burger king has wi fi, so i can go over there on my breaks and vent if i need to.
just wanted to pop on and say hello, and see how this thing works
will be back with more

T.I.P.
Tucker Irwin Peterson