The Economic Slave Pit

It cannot be easily escaped.

It is a pit - long, wide and deep - that many, many people find themselves in.

There is no digging out of it because so many of us don't have the necessary tools for the digging, regardless of intelligence, experience or creativity.

There is no climbing out, unless it is upon the backs of others. Many of us retain the scruples to not perform this act, though, it would be understandable, if it is necessary for the survival of one's family.

It is the economic slave pit which has entrapped people from all walks of life. It does not discriminate upon any basis whatsoever: nationality, race, gender and age are all in this pit struggling to find a way out.

It is this slave pit which prompts even the most mundane and routine of jobs to require a college degree. Even the position of "floor technician" requires one to have a college education in order to flip a switch and push a buffing machine across a floor.

Those of us who have a job, regardless of what that job is or how little it may pay, are forced to keep those jobs. Because the tools needed to acquire better jobs are money and education: tools we either do not have or do not have access to.

Allegedly, the economy will improve and the job market will open up with better jobs.

In the meantime, those of us in the slavepit must depend upon politicians to bring about the changes necessary to make that happen. And the politicians are dragging their feet, leaving those of us in the slavepit to wallow in despair.

It seems the pit continues to grow wider and deeper. It seems the American dream is achieved by only a select few. It seems retirement is out of the question. It feels like giving up, giving in and throwing in the towel would be so much easier than trying. Fighting the good fight for so long has wearied so many that death would seem a welcome relief. So many of us are so tired of being in this pit, yet we have nowhere else to go.

Yet each and every one of us in this pit continue to stand and try, stand and fight even though we know we will only get knocked down again. And again. And yet again.

The rich keep getting richer while the middle class disappears. Layoffs, business closings and home foreclosures on a daily basis bring America closer to becoming a third world nation. Articles abound on the Internet about how quickly that is already happening. (Click here to read about how quickly the American middle class is dwindling.)

Hope refuses to die but there is little room for hope in the pit. Certainly not enough for it to grow. But there is more than enough room for frustration and despair to grow and their growth is exponential.

A select few get out of the pit on occasion. But their pathway to getting out usually closes up immediately after they make it out and anyone who may wish to follow the example are blocked from doing so.

Which only serves to fuel frustration and despair.

The more those within the pit struggle to secure a better standard of living or to even just maintain the status quo, the deeper and wider the pit grows.

Which only serves to fuel frustration and despair.

It is little wonder that those of us within this economic slave pit seek solutions with desperate measures. Because we are a desperate people. Desperate for solutions. Desperate to provide for ourselves and our families. Desperate for our own survival.

And there is no relief in sight.

But something, somewhere needs to give soon.

Because the bottom-line truth is this: there is a fine line of difference between a pit ... and a mass grave.