It’s the economy that I intend to focus on in this brief article.

In 1973 the average wage in the United States was $13.71 per hour. In 2002 (the latest statistics I can find) the wage was $12.63 per hour. This one statistic alone demonstrates the difficult position we’re all in and makes a direct connection to so many of the problems that vex this nation today.

I believe under the Federal wage control acts in place today’s minimum wage is set at $5.65 per hour. It should be noted that a full time employee working for this wage would find themselves far below what is considered the poverty level in our country.

Industry and employers, by reducing the wages and forcing a 30% increase in the level of productivity over the past three decades, have increased their profits tremendously. Corporations and the executive officers of industrial America live lavish lives beyond the imagination of the average working citizen. By the same token the manipulation of wages has driven 75% of the work force into near or actual poverty levels (given the increases in the cost of living over the past 30 years).

“1.3 million Americans, mostly African Americans and children, joined the poverty lines last year, despite an improving economy.” - Unknown author

The American worker has less time with his family, enduring higher levels of stress, compounded by never ending debt. He’s watched the quality of his children’s education spiral down due to on-going cuts in spending on the state and federal level. These children are left as orphans of big industry to fend in what ever means they can. They lack supervision as most families find it necessary for both father and mother to be in the work force, some actually holding down more than one job. Not only do many of these lost children lack supervision by a parental figure, they lack control over their emotions, there ability to make decisions that will benefit them in later life, they lack the tools that will advance them in an ever more complex society. This becomes even more of an insult to Americans when elected officials run for office proclaiming their platform to be one based in “Family Values”. But perhaps those basic “Family Values” that we hear about from the stumping politician are meant only for the wealthy of this country.

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread.” - Unknown author

Jobs…let’s talk about jobs. Each year we hear about thousands of new jobs created in the nation. What’s not mentioned is the type or quality of these jobs, or the level of pay and benefits offered. One approach industry has taken over the past two decades is to limit employment to low wages, part time status and offer no benefits. It is the opinion of many employers that it is perfectly acceptable practice for an individual worker to maintain two or more part time jobs in order to support themselves and their families without the benefit of health insurance. (This concept can be witnessed every day in your local Wal-Mart store. This company through its massive television campaigns distorts the image of what they are about and what they will offer the community and the individual, all the while reaping some of largest profits ever known to stockholders).

In the past decade, with the assistance of a bought and paid for congress the technologies industry has been allowed to export over 150,000 new jobs a year to countries that will work for a fraction of what American workers will. I witnessed the affects of this out sourcing almost 30 years ago growing up in New Hampshire. The shoe industry packed up and moved to Asia, taking with it the tannery businesses, and leaving the economy of that state and so many of its residents in complete and utter financial ruin. This migration of industry towards countries that allow people to work like slaves only serves to undermine our economy and further the division between the individuals, (who at one time were considered the backbone of this country) our own government and the wealthy CEO’s of American industry.

The loss of jobs to foreign markets, especially those rooted in the technologies, is another lie, another broken promise by the big corporations that have shattered the futures of so many Americans who invested heavily in their own education with the promise that these jobs would be there for them. Sadly, under threat or promise of financial backing our own government has allowed this to happen by legislating a favorable package that permits these companies to perpetuate poverty and unemployment in this country. When you get right down to it you need to ask yourself…Does industry, or for that matter our own government really care about the futures of today’s workers?

“We shall build a tower that will reach to the stars!”

“Having conceived Babel, yet unable to build it themselves, they had thousands build it for them. But those that toiled knew nothing of the dreams of those who planned.

And the minds that planned the Tower of Babel

cared nothing for the workers who built it.

The hymns of praise of the few became the curse of the many…”

So what progress has been made since 1973 in the working man’s world? What new incentive is there to attract vibrant, motivated individuals into the work place? What one thing will lift 75% of the population from the brink of poverty? How much longer will we allow our elected officials to rule over and again in favor of legislation that benefits only the wealthiest of our modern society?

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” - Abraham Lincoln

We stand on the edge of a new industrial revolution, a revolution that will force change on the base levels of our government and bring accountability and integrity back to our nation. This fight in its intensity will be not unlike the Civil Rights movement of the early 1960’s. It will be the common people taking to the streets, creating a grass roots movement to improve their way of life and to close the huge divide between industry and the humans responsible for their success.

Take back your family. Take control of your future. Improve your children’s lives through better education and by having the time to spend with them that they deserve and desire. Don’t settle for less in regards to your wages. Why should we be complacent and accept less than what a generation before earned. The cost of a new vehicle is 5 to 7 times more than it was 30 years ago. The price of gasoline is a dollar and fifty cents more a gallon. Taxes, insurance, homes and furnishings, clothing and food have all increased 6 fold from what they were three decades ago, chief corporate officers paychecks rise to absurd levels and demonstrate the greed of industry, yet all the while the average hourly wage for the workers of this country have declined.

These are issues that need to be addressed. This intentional manipulation, this impoverishment of the American worker is a premeditated plan by industry and a complete betrayal of the working man by his own elected officials, and it should be considered nothing less than a criminal attack on the working citizens of America. Before we give up any more of our civil liberties and human rights, before we allow lobbyists to negotiate away our futures and the futures of our children in the halls of congress, we need to step forward, paralyze the greedy CEO’s and corporate giants, bring accountability back to government, and let them know that we are not going to stand for less. The time has come to take back America. The time for action is now.

Did they think we would stand for this indefinitely?

“Individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring.”

- Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal