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| Photo by jpmatth via Flickr |
Minimum wage in the U.S. is pretty low compared to the standard of living. I know, most of you have probably already realized this. The thing that surprised me was that federal minimum wage has not changed since 2009. It is still $7.25 an hour and basic expenses such as food, utilities, etc are increasing in cost every year. Not to mention the obvious fact that we are in a "Great Recession" where jobs are scarce and getting a home loan is harder than it used to be. My home state of Georgia, along with Wyoming, has the lowest state minimum wage at $5.15 an hour. However in most cases the federal minimum wage applies and not the state minimum wage, but why should the state minimum wage even be as low as $5.15?
Another big issue facing the average American in this economy is that it's very much an employers market. Employers can afford to be picky when it comes to choosing employees and the current employees feel they are privileged to even have a job and therefore put up with working conditions they normally wouldn't have to. I know, I know...life isn't easy and working has always been hard and employers are always mean to their employees and we should just suck it up and stop complaining. I get that. I have no aversion to hard work....well, maybe I do have a little bit of an aversion but I'd still put in the effort. That doesn't mean I'm not justified in being a bit frustrated.
I suppose it's this type of frustration that leads many young people to camp out in local parks and get arrested as some sort of hippie initiation rite. I have no qualms with the aims of the Occupy Wall street movement and other spin-off movements (even though those aims are often vague ideas instead of bulleted points but don't try to regulate our thoughts man) . What I'm not so sure of is the method to the madness. The Occupy movement wants to overhaul the entire political and economic system which can't be done by camping out. A large enough protest can lead to changes in widely unpopular policies but something else has to happen for change on a revolutionary scale to occur. To be honest I'm just not ready for a revolution. I guess I'm a little past the age where the idea of a coup d'etat is appealing to me. If I was an idealistic young person looking to create change on a national level I suppose the first thing I'd do is to make sure I educate myself on the issues, vote, and encourage others to vote as well. If I was unemployed and in need of work I think a better way to spend my time would be looking for work instead of camping out in a park all day and all night long. I also think that a big social statement could be made in the form of organizing, not to camp out in a park, but to volunteer at a soup kitchen or in some form of community outreach program.
I know I'm being hypocritical here as I'm not a member of an outreach program and I'm not actively involved in any political organizations. I do intend to vote on issues that I feel are important and I feel obligated to educate myself on the issues even though it sometimes feels like I'm getting mired in a molasses of ideas and posturing. I guess if there's anything I want people to take away from this is that there are many ways of bringing about change and very few of those ways are instantaneous and complete. Enthusiasm is good as long as we temper it with a bit of realism.
