The new buzz word is “income inequality” which simply means people don’t make the same amount of money or even close to the same amount of money for the various jobs they do or for the welfare and food stamps they get as other people do. In short, some people have a lot, some have enough and some income “equalists” believe others just don’t have enough.
The thrust of the argument is that the wealthy – meaning anyone who makes a lot more than anyone else – must fork over more of their money so that those who don’t make as much will start to catch up. After all, the heads of the giant corporations, domestic and international make a ton of money, far, far (add some more fars to this) more than someone flipping burgers at wherever-the-hell burger flippers flip burgers to earn their own burgers.
I recall when I was a young man – really young like 18 or 19, working in the New York City Housing Authority at a crummy housing project (Smith Houses) making $60 a week and the bosses, who wore suits no less, made far, far more than I did and just seemed to earn this money by walking around the projects watching people such as me and others breaking their backs.
Seriously, back to our burger flipper who might work exhausting 16 hour days (he’s madly motivated), seven days a week (he’s nuts), meaning putting in 112 hours of grueling effort (really, really nuts), more time spent than billionaire Bill Gates spends, but only earning (if he’s lucky) maybe $12 per hour. That comes to a mere $1,344 per week or almost $70,000 a year, far less than George Soros or either of the Koches. Come on. Is this fair to the flipper? Of course not. It’s income inequality all the way.
If we look at our flipper and realize that chances are he only works a 40 hour week (he’s sane) then his pay is a paltry $480 a week or about $25,000 a year. My Lord he must be starving on those wages as must his children – if he has children or if he’s even old enough to even think about having children since most burger-flipping jobs tend to go to the young, like high school and college young; that age.
Young people don’t make as much as older people so when you look at statistics that show you the fast-food industry or this or that company only pays thus and such an amount to their employees you do have to ask yourself this question: How old are their employees (on average)? Are these the type of people who 20-30 years from now will be quite comfortable in their lives?
Let me just point to myself for a minute as I am my own best example most of the time. When I was a little kid my family lived in a “cold water” flat. That meant exactly what it sounds like – a cold water flat. Indeed, two of the rooms were not heated in winter. Although both my parents worked, my mother and father really didn’t start making it until I was long-graduated from college. Thankfully my college was paid for with an academic scholarship. In point of fact, I was the first person in our extended family to go to college.
Still I did work during college despite having a scholarship because during this time my father and mother were in bad times, so I sent most of my paycheck home – in fact, come to think of it I’ve been working since I was 12 years old (I need a nap). Most of my jobs made me an income that was “in-equal” to all the people who hired me. Those people made much more money than I did.
And that’s the way it goes, to coin a phrase.
(My new book is Confessions of a Wayward Catholic!)