Bully/Victim Mentality

Like many of you I’m quite distraught over things that are happening in this country. I don’t remember every feeling quite so hopeless and worried about the world my children will inherit. Are inheriting. Have inherited.

This is how I see it, as plainly as I can explain it.

Unfettered corporate greed (aided and abetted by politicians and uninformed voters) led to the reduction of benefits and wages, and the outsourcing of jobs, in the private sector.

In short, corporate America bullied the private sector.

Now the private sector, reacting as many victims of bullying do, has decided to bully the public sector. “Why should you have a pension and health care if I don’t have it?! If I don’t get it, nobody gets it!”

I wish the response instead, for all of us middle-class Americans, private and public sector employees alike, was to demand equitable treatment from corporate America. To rebuild the quality of life for everyone instead of bring it down for everyone.

To stand up to the bullies.

Comments

[marty]

Jenn, this is the most succinct evaluation of the turn the country has taken I have read. Thanks for summing it up so neatly. I am also fearful of what is in store for my children and grandchildren. How did so many people allow themselves to be manipulated into becoming puppets of greedy corporate America? I have resolved to continue to live my life as best I can, help where I'm able, and take care of my own. Sigh.

[Tammy]

Amen sister!

This is a case of too many Americans watching Fox News and totally eating up what they are saying, instead of taking time to research the facts and become informed. It's so maddening and frustrating. *end rant*

[Busy bee suz]

Amen! Our kids will have a mess on their hands!

[Bramble]

"It is better for the government to help a man make a decent living for his family, than business to make a large profit." attributed to Teddy Roosevelt
Seen in my sons HS Government and Law classroom

[Aunt Snow (g)]

Exactly, Jenn! I have been so mystified at the number of people who react just the opposite from their own best interests. It really is a kind of Stockholm syndrome.

[Suzy]

Corporate greed has been around for a very long time. When we're working and getting paychecks, we don't notice it as much as when we're not.

One of the saddest parts of aging is witnessing younger people willing to work for far less than the generation before them. Corporations take advantage of that. It's been happening in my business for almost 25 years, and I'm far from the corporate grind.

[gary rith]

makes the blood boil, it really does

[green girl in wisconsin]

I'm still waiting for the general population to catch on...
What's really funny is hearing them kvetch about our governor here in Wisconsin and then asking them who they voted for--did you vote for the other guy? They don't even know his name! (Tom Barrett, for the record, and yes, I DID vote for him, not Scott Walker)

[kcinnova]

This is why I will always vote my conscience and never a party line.

[Lena]

Yes!

[Renee]

Very well put!

[lanes]

Agreed, agreed. You've already made the point very succinctly (yet thoroughly!), so I'll just say that I hope a lot more people get mobilized in response to this craziness.

[Mrs. G.]

I know I'm romanticizing the past my grandparents and parents described, but it feels like as country we have stopped watching out and taking care of each other. Why aren't we doing everything we can to make sure people have ample food and healthcare at the very LEAST. Equal educational opportunities would be nice too.

[Brightside-Susan]

Agreed. Not to mention that many of the "benefits" members of the public sector have they pay for and then the city/state has "borrowed" the funds away (illegally) and now can't afford to replace them. Hardly the fault the the employees! Just like Social Security which would be fine if if wasn't constantly pilfered over the years.