Working Class Struggles to Stay Afloat in the Rise of a "Big Business" Economy

In Wichita, Kansas a mother watches her 17 year old son struggle with cancer, wishing she could afford to pay for the treatment he needs, the treatment he won't receive. The cure she cannot find. She wonders if she missed something, some sort of key to life that everyone else seemed to have found. A secret that she did not understand. She thinks, maybe if I hadn't dropped out of high school (not that they would have taught her anything that could help her now). If only I had found a man who was responsible (or at least one who didn't end up getting drunk and pushing her around after a few months). As she cleans houses during the day and waits tables in the evenings, she wonders why her son has been left behind by a system which constantly advertises its will to battle adversary and help those in need.

Meanwhile, out in sunny LA, home of the stars, a successful sports idol laughs ironically as he sends his assistant out to buy another $2000 tropical fish for his tank. The small shark he keeps in there has once again eaten the expensive fish instead of the feed fish he buys for her, but no worries. He contributes regularly to his favorite charities and feels he's earned the right to a little luxury and extravagance. If only he knew that for the money he's spent on his aquarium for this house in which he resides a mere 3 months out of the year, he could probably save, or at least extend, the life of a young boy in Kansas.

The problem with America's capitalist economy is that while it is true that everyone has a theoretical chance of rising to the top of the ladder, there will always be many desperately clinging to the bottom rung. In this country, there exists an entire industry for nearly any service imaginable. You can hire people to cook your food, clean your toilets, paint your toenails, even to raise your children for you, but every coin has two sides. Wherever luxuries such as these exist, there must also exist those who perform these services, humbly sacrificing their time, often swallowing pride so that they can take home a paycheck to care for the families they barely have time to see. Many put their energy into multiple part-time jobs that keep them busy 60 hours or more a week, yet they have no way to afford medical bills or insurance for their children. A fender-bender or trip to the doctor that would be a minor inconvenience for the well-off would mean major sacrifices for many less fortunate families.

Large corporations do have their benefits. I know what to expect when I book a hotel in a city I've never visited. I can walk into a grocery store anywhere in America and recognize most of the same brands I have come to enjoy. These businesses offer convenience and a trustworthy atmosphere where the customer is usually right. But why is it that the profits that many of these businesses enjoy cannot trickle down to the lowest employees without which the company could not run? How can the CEO's with their luxury cars and vacation homes sleep at night knowing that they employ people who cannot afford to take their children to the doctor or send them to a decent school? ( I will reserve my rants on the education system for a later time.)

If prosperous Americans want to continue to enjoy the comforts they have come to expect, they should assume some of the responsibility to care for those blue-collar workers who make those same comforts possible. In a country where so much money is spent on luxuries, there should be more concern for taking care of people whose necessities are far from being met.