SoapZone Community Message Board

I come from a working-class family, though I am not working class. I guess I'm a midlevel white-collar professional (and we have the same issue -- we look at the other guy in the next cubical vs the guy in the c-suite or on boards).

We have to not only stop blaming each other, but start rooting for each other vs rooting for the really wealthy people we dream we'll be (but we wont). Like trust me, no CEO worries they're making too much. They also don't worry about working-class or middle-class Americans, or high risk Americans, like at all. Instead they get worker A mad that worker B is making $69 vs their $39. Or get college professional worker who is making $42 an hour mad at B for making more than them and A for making anywhere near what they make b/c they went to school and should get more.

We are ripping ourselves up. We need to start seeing each other's work as valuable and wanting that person to be paid well for it. No one needs to make 100 million dollars a year, sitting at a desk, jetting around making deals. That is obscene. I say this as someone who truly believes she deserves the Lady Dior handbag, so it's not like I don't want nice things that aren't necessary. I believe the harder you work the more you should get paid, but for some reason we've let the people in charge convince us they work hard and we work hard but our neighbor is the problem. The neighbor isn't the problem!

We've set this up so CEOs and Boards make all this money and make us see each other as enemies. Enough. If a CEO wants to make 100 million billion dollars, fine, but they make it off the backs of those of us who work for them. And they should be required to take care of the communities that they make/sell goods or services in. Why aren't these companies forced to foot the bill for public schools vs homeowners via tax? The kids who go to these schools will one day work for these companies! Why are we setting it up so the person born to someone in an apartment has less choice than a kid who was lucky enough to be born into a home in a nice neighborhood? It's dumb.

All the people in communities that work every day deserve a nice home, to not worry about food or if health care is going to bankrupt them. We need to support our neighbors getting good wages and we need them to support us. We've got to stop looking at the plumber, firefighter, or electrician as the enemy of the marketing specialist, executive assistant, or merchandise buyer. We all need each other -- honestly, CEOs and C-suites need to pay us to do the things that keep them in those offices.

We've turned on each other, when we should be demanding human rights for everyone -- the right to be safe, live a life with some enjoyment while working a reasonable amount of hours.