Malaise of the Carter Era and Today

Perhaps the malaise of the Carter era indicates what is happening in the US today. People, for the most part, felt helpless in a sinking economy, as now, and very aggressive conservative forces moved into the government to take advantage of inaction on the part of the populace.

There were also the international tensions which facilitated the US becoming more hawkish and warlike pretending they are defending the nation. This also makes people feel helpless because the needs of the "conflict" or "war" supercedes the everyday needs. Normal life is put on hold while these protagonists set themselves up as "heroes".

Today, people feel even more helpless, because, not only do they not have any control over their lives, but opportunistic forces are pushing the government to an even further extreme position to attack the populace telling them it is for their own good when it obviously is not.

It doesn't help that most jobs today require elaborate computer skills, which are basically geared toward getting more people to use the computer for everything and less people to produce anything for themselves or others. The geniuses sought for innovative and inventive/creative positions in IT firms are hired to get more people to click on buttons and links and to monetize these clicks. That is about the extent of the participation today's economy requires of us.

Click on any site you have an interest in and there is a "Buy Now" button or a "Donate" button. There are sites for every belief and activity and product you can imagine and they all want to plug into your credit/debit card, preferably on a regular basis.

At the same time they are reducing wages and trying to shift the expense of benefits to the workers. This is not only a double whammy to the workers' budget... there is a more insidious intention. That is to get the money back from the workers that they paid the worker in the first place.... "I owe my soul to the company store" tactics come to mind.

Best example: Walmart... I worked at The Walmart Deli for a year and a half. Previous to that I was self-employed for 15 years. I was not prepared for their program...I had worked for other companies previous to that. It had been much easier than being self-employed and I felt that working conditions were fair and I was being taken care of. 

There is the work to do, which was really 3 jobs rolled into one without adequate hours to complete any of them but was required to fill out checklists that said I DID complete them or else I would get a "coaching" about the forms. It made me a liar if I checked off things I didn't have time to finish or made me a poor performer if I didn't check these things off.

My schedule was erratic... come in a different time every day and come in different days every week... no time to plan a life outside this 20 hour a week job, much less get another 20 hour a week job. It made me sick with migraines and I was eventually fired for being out too much because of the migraines, even though I filled in for other people on an hour's notice at least once a week. Not very satisfying work.

Then there was the "benefits". Even though I only made about 750 a month, I was pressured to purchase health insurance [which I did not]. I also had my wages Direct Deposited on a Walmart Debit card, which was convenient because I no longer had a bank account due to a cascade of overdraft fees which wiped out the last balance I had.

It turns out that Walmart is part owner of the insurance company which offers the benefits. Also, Walmart is excused from carrying legitimate Worker's Comp insurance because they are offering workers' coverage through this same insurance comapany. Most workers have to fight for two years to be compensated for an injury, if they get anything at all. Injuries abound but workers are afraid to report them. Doing multiple jobs increases the speed with which you have to complete them, which causes most injuries.

Walmart is also part owner of the bank [GE Bank] which issues their debit card. They also offer employees auto loans, student loans and mortgages through THEIR bank. And last but not least, they offer a 10 per cent discount to employees on most items in their store, so they will shop there, but most people don't know that it is counted as INCOME, as opposed to straight discounts at other stores where one shops.

I've have never seen such a bunch of helpless despairing people, myself included, as working under these conditions. And this is where America is headed if unions are not brought back. It took me 6 months to recover mentally, emotionally and physically from working there. I considered it PTSD from being in an exploitive and abusive environment.