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National Karma Talk It Out Sessions About Talk It Out Featured Band About Jodi Leib Love is Mystical Movie Theater March for Women's Lives Contact Jodi |
I’ve been thinking of an article I just read where Americans, on average, are grossly underpaid for their work. This is the sign the middle class is shrinking, as it was predicted to many years ago. For the past few years, actually since I started working full-time in the workforce, in contrast to being self-employed many years before, I’ve thought about why salaries have roughly stayed the same in American culture since probably the 1950s, even though the American lifestyle lived to the fullest requires so much more income. As a self-employed person, I didn’t wonder why I was making so little money, definitely not what I deserve and definitely not enough to live comfortably. I just had to blame myself for not having learned the right tools to earn a living in our culture. But, as a full-time employee, my base salary at $60,000 per year is not enough to pay for my apartment, food, clothing, savings, travel, hobbies, grooming, personal items, healthcare, exercise, investments, charity, and fun. I don’t have children, I don’t own my own home. I couldn’t do so on my salary. So why, when I’m making in the top 75% of my field for the work that I do in my day job, is my income still not good enough? When I think of all the secretaries out there in America making $30,000 per year, I cringe, wondering how in the world they do it.
This is part of a deeper discussion of the American economy and what it means to be an underpaid member of society, when our work drives the culture and economy. The psychological impacts of this ironic dichotomy are profound. Salaries for workers have stayed in the $30,000 – 80,000 range for many, many years. A mid-level manager probably makes anywhere between $60,000 - $80,000 per year, and has for many, many years. Why, when rent in Manhattan has tripled in recent years, haven’t our salaries?
The threat of out-sourcing and unions can be blamed, but that’s not the truth of the underlying cause. Yes, America was built on slavery, and that may be one underlying truth and cause, but it’s not the main one even. The real truth of why Americans are so distracted by media, war and politics, focused only on their daily survival for a reason, is so that they don’t have to change. Leadership is dead. It went out with John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, and John Lennon, to name only a few. Violence is so pervasive an epidemic in our culture, we have destroyed the vision of leadership in America almost to the point of despair – and we don’t even realize we are helpless victims, until we read about a school shooting where children or youth are affected. Somehow they tap into our sensitivities like no other and our heart goes out to them, but could we do for ourselves what we want to do for others? Could we compassionately listen to various viewpoints, even if they threaten our vulnerabilities?
This is what National Karma is about. National Karma. How can we care about our land, people and civilization, our country and its issues, without being murdered for it? How can we invest with our care and feelings so that we create a sustainable cultural agriculture and comfortable cultural climate? The cultural landscape relies on people standing up for their beliefs. I understand, how could we when our greatest leaders were ruthlessly murdered for standing up? But, that doesn’t mean it will happen to us. Television and American politics want you to believe it will happen to you…so you’re scared. But it may not. You could rise and win. How do we get back our love and investment in our country? National Karma says we will get good out if we put good in. National Karma says we will get bad out if we put bad in. We are getting bad out because people shot our leaders. We have to acknowledge this and we must mourn it once again.
Intolerance is the plague affecting most Americans. Intolerance for choice, intolerance for religion, intolerance for peace, intolerance for sustainable income, intolerance for sharing, intolerance for healthcare, intolerance for acceptance, intolerance for equality.
All this intolerance causes obesity, heart failure, and disease after disease. This intolerance causes political greed and control. It’s sad when American hope is buried by the unconscious manifestation of ratings, violence and corporate domination of media.
The media has been hijacked by fear, threat and persuasion. I am an independent voice in media and proud of it. People have tried to quiet me down, and it has worked at some times. Other times, I will stand, rise and express my dissatisfaction with our National Karma. We must turn it around. We must create new leaders unafraid of being shot. We must stop shooting our leaders. We must learn from them and everyone and we must change.
We need to increase our standard of living….we need to be paid more. We need to make products available that are affordable and environmentally sustainable. Food should not have pesticides in them. Cars should be made exclusively as hybrids. The market must embrace better heating and cooling methods. And, if these new products are expense, then pay us more so we can buy them. What goes around comes around and America must expand its view of abundance. Stop being cheap! We shall earn what we need and we shall give back…I say to all politicians reading this – promote most Americans earning $100,000 per year and I assure you, you will create a healthier society.
Blog Archives:
National Karma 3/20/07
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