50% of the work I do is pro-bono. I also run the Digital Gunslingers class for $1 which goes to either pay for the MeetUp group or to charity, and is, by the way, about 1% of what I had previously been making (per person) teaching those classes. So I want to share this with you, but not for the reason you might expect:
I agree that if people were to volunteer some of their time to help their community, the world would probably be better off.
It is unfair to ask more of this country’s middle class, without first calling to task the ones who orchestrated or profiteered from the downfall of the middle class. Everyone will have to work to fix the economy, but we must first all be playing by the same rules.
When I listen to the tone of Ashton’s message… that our country is in seizure mode, that he has to get people excited to do work for free… I start thinking about what has happened to our country’s middle class. The upper 1% of this country is in possession of 98% of our wealth. Those of us lucky enough to have work toil day in and day out for diminishing wages which cannot compare to the rising cost of living. Those of us who are unemployed… well.
We are circling the drain.
There are two figures I want you to think about: 1) 50% of Gen-Y is unemployed. 2) 70% of Gen-Y will leave their jobs as soon as it’s feasible. With the aging work force, can you imagine what’s going to happen to corporate knowledge when the boomers retire and no Gen-Yers are ready to take over for the Gen-Xers? Either we’ll create a new way of doing things or our country will diminish into obscurity. I’m not being morbid, these are the facts.
Where is the money? If the companies had it, they’d be hiring. If the workers had it, they wouldn’t be losing their houses. The government sure as hell doesn’t have it – just look at the debt clock. The wealth has exited the system – at the top, sucked dry like a chocolate malt. Why aren’t we outraged? Are we so tired from working ourselves to death that we can’t be outraged our share of the pie for an honest day’s work has gone from comfortably filling to choking on crumbs?
But it feels good to help people, right? I mean, we should all be giving back, right? How much should we fucking give?
The sentiment of helping the community is fine, but it should not fall on those living in survival mode, while the people at the top of this pyramid live comfortably without having to face the decision of “helping the community” or cooking a quality dinner for their kids. Now, I’m not saying that rich people don’t have a right to their hard-earned money, but they have quite a lot more of it than you or I will likely ever see, and not because we fail to work just as hard.
It’s hard for anyone to see the light at the end of the tunnel as our jobs vanish, our wages diminish, and the guy down the street who is willing to do our job for pennies on the dollar is asking if there’s any openings. This is not a game we should be playing. As companies hire more desperate, less-skilled workers, stomping out any essence of individuality for a cog mentality of a “better, harder worker” their quality or productivity diminish and god forbid they go out of business. It’s an unsustainable race to the bottom.
I’m looking at you, HP.
We must change the game. Neither the 99% at the “bottom” or the 1% at the top can afford to live with an “us and them” mentality. When the people at the bottom can take no more, they will either riot or die, and either way, the top 1%’s prosperity ends.
The American dream has been subverted before our very eyes; you just can’t ask the victims to give more. Some have given livelihoods, homes, health… in a desperate attempt to provide for the common good. I’m all for volunteer work, but asking people who are losing their homes to volunteer, while Ashton makes more money giving the speech than we’ll see in a month?
My normal response would be to be angry – and believe me, I’m livid. But I also believe in the inherent good of people – that Americans, seeing other Americans suffer, won’t turn a blind eye. The upper 1% know their comfort will only last so long, since it is built on the breaking backs of the failing American middle class. They might outlast us because they played the game better. Some of ‘em might even figure out a way to pervert the American dream a few more times to turn a quick buck at our expense… but someday, just like us, their prosperity will end. And they too will have to send their children to failing schools, in failing communities, with failing cultures devoid of art and music.
But there’s a better option. The upper 1% could invest in small businesses and entrepreneurs. Bring back fair wages and fair jobs. Ensure that teachers earn a fair wage. Help people like me to employ other hard-working people who deserve to earn an honest living for doing honest work. Help us to live beyond survival mode; we will do our part to make sure anyone worth their weight can live comfortably.
You might not be -as- rich as you once were, but you can still certainly be a fair fucking deal more comfortable than the rest of us AND help out at the same time.
Be smart – save for your own rainy day; I’m not asking you to blindly open your wallets. Invest in businesses and things you care about, things you like, things that will make the world a better place.
Can you live with the consequences of failing schools, failing culture, and a failing country? What good is being the top 1% of a slum?
It breaks my heart to compare future America to a slum, but if we don’t change the game, and soon, there won’t be any other word for it. Help us. Help us change the game.
Salt in a Deep Wound
50% of the work I do is pro-bono. I also run the Digital Gunslingers class for $1 which goes to either pay for the MeetUp group or to charity, and is, by the way, about 1% of what I had previously been making (per person) teaching those classes. So I want to share this with you, but not for the reason you might expect:
I agree that if people were to volunteer some of their time to help their community, the world would probably be better off.
It is unfair to ask more of this country’s middle class, without first calling to task the ones who orchestrated or profiteered from the downfall of the middle class. Everyone will have to work to fix the economy, but we must first all be playing by the same rules.
When I listen to the tone of Ashton’s message… that our country is in seizure mode, that he has to get people excited to do work for free… I start thinking about what has happened to our country’s middle class. The upper 1% of this country is in possession of 98% of our wealth. Those of us lucky enough to have work toil day in and day out for diminishing wages which cannot compare to the rising cost of living. Those of us who are unemployed… well.
We are circling the drain.
There are two figures I want you to think about: 1) 50% of Gen-Y is unemployed. 2) 70% of Gen-Y will leave their jobs as soon as it’s feasible. With the aging work force, can you imagine what’s going to happen to corporate knowledge when the boomers retire and no Gen-Yers are ready to take over for the Gen-Xers? Either we’ll create a new way of doing things or our country will diminish into obscurity. I’m not being morbid, these are the facts.
Where is the money? If the companies had it, they’d be hiring. If the workers had it, they wouldn’t be losing their houses. The government sure as hell doesn’t have it – just look at the debt clock. The wealth has exited the system – at the top, sucked dry like a chocolate malt. Why aren’t we outraged? Are we so tired from working ourselves to death that we can’t be outraged our share of the pie for an honest day’s work has gone from comfortably filling to choking on crumbs?
But it feels good to help people, right? I mean, we should all be giving back, right? How much should we fucking give?
The sentiment of helping the community is fine, but it should not fall on those living in survival mode, while the people at the top of this pyramid live comfortably without having to face the decision of “helping the community” or cooking a quality dinner for their kids. Now, I’m not saying that rich people don’t have a right to their hard-earned money, but they have quite a lot more of it than you or I will likely ever see, and not because we fail to work just as hard.
It’s hard for anyone to see the light at the end of the tunnel as our jobs vanish, our wages diminish, and the guy down the street who is willing to do our job for pennies on the dollar is asking if there’s any openings. This is not a game we should be playing. As companies hire more desperate, less-skilled workers, stomping out any essence of individuality for a cog mentality of a “better, harder worker” their quality or productivity diminish and god forbid they go out of business. It’s an unsustainable race to the bottom.
I’m looking at you, HP.
We must change the game. Neither the 99% at the “bottom” or the 1% at the top can afford to live with an “us and them” mentality. When the people at the bottom can take no more, they will either riot or die, and either way, the top 1%’s prosperity ends.
The American dream has been subverted before our very eyes; you just can’t ask the victims to give more. Some have given livelihoods, homes, health… in a desperate attempt to provide for the common good. I’m all for volunteer work, but asking people who are losing their homes to volunteer, while Ashton makes more money giving the speech than we’ll see in a month?
My normal response would be to be angry – and believe me, I’m livid. But I also believe in the inherent good of people – that Americans, seeing other Americans suffer, won’t turn a blind eye. The upper 1% know their comfort will only last so long, since it is built on the breaking backs of the failing American middle class. They might outlast us because they played the game better. Some of ‘em might even figure out a way to pervert the American dream a few more times to turn a quick buck at our expense… but someday, just like us, their prosperity will end. And they too will have to send their children to failing schools, in failing communities, with failing cultures devoid of art and music.
You might not be -as- rich as you once were, but you can still certainly be a fair fucking deal more comfortable than the rest of us AND help out at the same time.
Be smart – save for your own rainy day; I’m not asking you to blindly open your wallets. Invest in businesses and things you care about, things you like, things that will make the world a better place.
Can you live with the consequences of failing schools, failing culture, and a failing country? What good is being the top 1% of a slum?
It breaks my heart to compare future America to a slum, but if we don’t change the game, and soon, there won’t be any other word for it. Help us. Help us change the game.