My salary has been frozen since 2008 and now they want us to take a pay cut and lose 300 bucks more

[demtenjeep]

meanwhile, we haven't gotten any compensation for additional education, no experience recognition



Gas prices are rising

My mortgage is rising due to escrow rising because of insurance and taxes

Food costs

utilities


Everything is rising and they want us to cut our salary more and more and more



something has GOT to GIVE

[demtenjeep]

1. Teachers are expected to do more and more every day

our class sizes are bigger, the paperwork is staggaring


we can't do it all yet we do


what do we get? Kicked in the ass

[femmocrat]

10. If you think it's bad now, wait till next year!

Even bigger classes, with fewer teachers on the job. It's a national nightmare.

[Pharaoh]

2. Yes

We must cut taxes on the rich and destroy whats left of the social safety net.

That is the plan at the moment :freak:

[leftstreet]

3. Our leaders tell us we must share the sacrifice...or sacrifice our shares...or

or something like that

:grr:

K&R

[TransitJohn]

4. You're obviously just not too big to fail.

And by that I mean donate enough filthy lucre to pols to matter.
My sympathies.

[IamK]

5. you are pointing the finger at Obama it appears....

[leftstreet]

6. I missed it, where does the OP mention Obama?

:shrug:

[Donnachaidh]

7. really? You have a webcam set up? Skype?

Because those of us who know how to read didn't see one mention of Obama in the OP.

Good luck with that stage act Karnac :sarcasm:

FAIL.

[demtenjeep]

8. no, in my case, I am pointing the finger at my stupid repuke KS lawmakers

who have gutted public education

[CBGLuthier]

23. Is omniscience a burden for you?

I always figured it would be real distracting to know everything.

[madrchsod]

9. neither has my wife and i

my wife works for a unionized private /public health care facility.she has`t received a pay raise in three years. i`m on ss and have`t had a "pay" raise.

[closeupready]

11. The Middle Class squeeze means even you, if you are employed.

It's happening to EVERYONE.

[demtenjeep]

12. yes it is

We struggled and scrimped so that we could better ourselves. We went to college got our degrees...Two associates to BA's and a Master's...


We are not much better off than when we were working dead end jobs at fast food and gas stations...


sigh...

[closeupready]

13. Obviously, I sympathize, same thing has been happening to me since

2007, at least, for many different reasons. :hug:

[midnight]

14. "Money is like manure. It should be spread around." Thornton Widler

[Woebegone]

15. Well,

Does the government punish working people for having jobs? Are we being punished for buying food and clothing? No, taxes are the cost of living in this nation. If you want a great nation, somebody's got to pay for it.

[anarch]

16. yeah, but from what I understand, we should feel lucky we have jobs

I hope life isn't all one big joke, because I don't get it.

[ThomCat]

17. I'm on a fixed income that will never, ever increase

because it is based on a fixed insurance policy. Every year I watch my real income dwindle.

[dkf]

18. Join the club.

[OKDem08]

19. K&R

[Daphne08]

20. My husband received his first raise since 2005 but then they

cut his commissions! :mad:

We understand completely.

[progressoid]

21. Something has GOT to GIVE?

It has been given. Your salary and benefits have been given to the top 1%.

[etherealtruth]

22. I wonder if we work for the same company ;-(

It really sucks

[Juche]

24. Read the article 'the quiet coup'

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/05/the-quiet-coup/7364/

The ex-head economist of the IMF discusses how the US's financial problems are no different than what you see in developing countries, but nobody has the power to force the US to do what it needs to fix them (break up the oligarchs financial power which in the US would include lobbyists, nationalize the banks, clean their balance sheets, resell them in pieces, reregulate the financial industry)

He mentions a progression of events that occurs when oligarchy/plutocracy leads to a financial collapse. First thing that happens is the gov. bails out the wealthy and powerful, which we did. Corporate profits and income on the top 1% are better than in 2007, and TARP recapitalized the banks. But someone needs to be squeezed so nations go after the working class until the riots explode. That is what is starting to happen in the US with wisconsin. I'm sure it'll get worse.


"Squeezing the oligarchs, though, is seldom the strategy of choice among emerging-market governments. Quite the contrary: at the outset of the crisis, the oligarchs are usually among the first to get extra help from the government, such as preferential access to foreign currency, or maybe a nice tax break, or—here’s a classic Kremlin bailout technique—the assumption of private debt obligations by the government. Under duress, generosity toward old friends takes many innovative forms. Meanwhile, needing to squeeze someone, most emerging-market governments look first to ordinary working folk—at least until the riots grow too large."

I have no idea if the rioting and protesting will lead to anything. But that is the jist of what happens.