The system is broken. The whole system. I don’t care what side of the political aisle you associate with. We’re hemorrhaging money and it may be helping in pockets and in the short term, but, overall, it’s harming us more.
More than $200 billion of unemployment is suspected to have been fraudulent, much of it going to other countries filing for unwitting victims who never see the money.
Small businesses are struggling already under the crushing impact of a COVID economy and millions of people are out of work, yet businesses can’t find people to work. And, frankly, what do we expect? The government won’t increase the minimum wage to be a living wage, but, here, we’ll just give it out. You can collect unemployment and you must prove you’re actively searching for a job so what happens? People apply for jobs and then when you call them to schedule an interview, they’re nowhere to be found. Welp, they tried to find a job.
Half as many teenagers are working part-time jobs now than when I was a kid. Why? Because, the expectations of kids these days has increased ten-fold. They carry backpacks that weigh 50 lbs, and what for? Isn’t everything digital? They’re doing schoolwork 10 hours a day and they have ultra-demanding extracurricular activities, travel teams, and social calendars that leave them never bored, stifle their creativity and create stress and anxiety.
The women’s movement was great, really. Equality should just be the status quo, but what did we buy ourselves? More work, less balance! In effect, inequality in a different sense. We’re expected to do it all. Now we get to be primary or equal income earners, mothers, wives, keep house AND do all the mental gymnastics. It’s exactly why I refuse to learn more new skills in our house. I’m done tacking on new responsibilities without the release of old ones.
When Kaia was born, we were on Medicaid and didn’t have a pot to piss in. It took us 8 years to claw our way out of that system. There’s a whole lot more to our story, but the bottom line is, we were lucky and had more advantages than most (and we worked our tails off.) We aren’t the norm. The system isn’t made to get out of and it works for those who play the game and have or can create the means with which to play the game. And, even then, it’s rigged.
This is all just a slice of what ails me about our system.
I’m quite certain I’ll regret starting this conversation. But, I guess it’s just where I am right now, not usually, just right now. The system is broken. It’s not the Republicans’ fault. It’s not the Democrats’ fault. It’s all of our fault. We’ve created a failing system propped up by greed and a faulty perception of what success looks like.
I’ll take some deep breaths and remember to focus on what I can control. Or at least what I think I control. I’ll let go of the rest. This is just a momentary lapse in my regularly scheduled positive attitude and problem solving M.O. Thanks for listening.
Per usual, my post, my rules. Name calling, politically charged comments and other perceived belligerence will be promptly removed. These are my feelings, my experiences. I’m not intending to portray anyone else’s experiences but my own. I welcome hearing about anyone else’s experiences just know that anything I’ve said is not meant to minimize others. My opinions do not negate yours. And vice versa.