Many many moons ago I had a hard ass superintendent tell me that I was just a tool in the tool box as he was giving me my layoff notice. He continued, you don't want to get layed off, become a multi-purpose tool instead of a single purpose tool. The prick smiled and walked away, but he did me a great favor. At that young age I learned the value of being multi-crafted before the word ever became the norm. Doesn't save you all the time, but pretty much guarantees you're one of the last ones out the door, the first one to be called back, and gives you a variety of other opportunities with different employers if it comes to that. That said, at the end of the day, if you're working for someone else, you're replaceable and expendable. It's just how it is.
How come 60% of the world can find a way to survive on $2 per day, but an American cant survive on minimum wage ($58 per day) which is 29 times more money? The problem with people in this country is that everyone thinks that no matter what job they are doing, they should earn enough to have there own 3bed/2ba house, a nice car, cable TV, Internet, cell phone, health care, day care, and enough money to go on a Hawaiian vacation every year. If they don't get this, then suddenly they are not getting enough money to "live on". If they do without the luxuries, and share a rental, suddenly minimum wage is more than enough to live on.
I agree that we don't need that much, bu the real problem is that we sometimes don't get even what's important and needed, like health care which is not as accessible to many Americans as it is to citizens of many other developed countries. I am not talking about myself, but just because I am doing fine does not mean the problem is not real.
. . . because the other low risk ways hardly made squat? In a related story, skyrocketing gas prices caused demand to soar and people to abandon their hybrids on the side of the road in favor of gas guzzling 12 door behemoths. Local governments have dropped all mass transit plans and began slashing bus routes. "Good lord, if only gas prices would drop so more people would take the bus again," moaned one official as he cleaned out his desk. "At this point, the price of gas needs to be about 20 cents a gallon in order to push people back on the bus. It's a darn good thing unemployment benefits have been extended to perpetuity to increase employment. Hopefully these additional and ever increasing outlays by the federal government will eliminate our debt."