Amen, Anne. My personal experience: I was hired five years ago with a promise of promotions, stock options, profit sharing, etc. Well, my salary has dropped 10% since then, the stock options are worthless, and due to the economy, there's been no profit to be shared. I did get a couple of promotions, though. Whoopie.
And no one in my company is in a union. No one. The reality is that the bad economy was one punch, and the exporting of great jobs overseas was the other punch. Americans had better come to grips with the fact that as free trade helps the rest of the world enjoy a greater standard of living, our own standard of living will suffer some. We're still the best, and we'll continue to be, but the disparity between the ultra-rich America and the ultra-poor rest-of-the-world is shrinking, and we'll feel that.
And no one in my company is in a union. No one. The reality is that the bad economy was one punch, and the exporting of great jobs overseas was the other punch. Americans had better come to grips with the fact that as free trade helps the rest of the world enjoy a greater standard of living, our own standard of living will suffer some. We're still the best, and we'll continue to be, but the disparity between the ultra-rich America and the ultra-poor rest-of-the-world is shrinking, and we'll feel that.