Oliver Anthony struck a cord
Everyone knows it’s not just the music that made Oliver Anthony become an overnight sensation. It’s the lyrics.
Anthony said so many things in one song that appealed to so many people, his song will be more than a small ripple in a pond.
We work for multimillion dollar corporations with high paid CEOs. That’s capitalism, right? It’s normal to make a profit and for people who bring the most value to the corporation to get paid the best. Right?
The problem is, corporations don’t like paying people at the bottom a fair wage. Yeah, I know, I’m starting to sound like a Democrat. Give me a minute.
Years ago, A man could go to work, buy a house, a car and still afford to raise a family. Now, even if the man has two jobs he can’t do the same.
“Strong and independent” women are finding this out as well, except they’re blaming their financial difficulties on the patriarchy.
No, it’s not the patriarchy, average incomes just suck now!
Federal minimum wage currently stands at $7.25 an hour. That’s $290 a week or $1,160 per month. The current average rental price of a place to live is $2,000 per month. Hmm, how much money would you have left over every month for food, gas and essentials?
None!
At minimum wage you would be $840 short of just paying your rent every month.
Many states have raised their minimum wage up to $15 an hour. Big whoop, now you’ve just paid your rent. You can’t afford a house, you can’t buy a car, you can’t buy food or anything else.
Now let’s get to the argument that minimum wage jobs are only starter jobs, not long-term jobs. The problem with that is the higher paying jobs are being outsourced to other countries.
America has become a country of burgers and papers. I predicted this 43 years ago when I first moved here from Germany. It only took me a month to figure out where the country was heading, and I was right.
If manufacturing is moved to countries with cheaper labor and higher paying jobs are eliminated, what’s left over?
Oliver Anthony sings about working long hours for “bullshit pay.” He’s referring to whatever leftover low-paying manufacturing there is in America.
Burgers and papers.
That’s why they are so many fast food restaurants everywhere. That’s why there is the need for secretaries.
As if it weren’t bad enough that most of the jobs out there don’t pay enough to make a living, the jobs that do pay well only keep you employed for a certain amount of time. You won’t be able to work long enough to retire or build up a 401k. In many instances, people are finding out if they get close to retirement, the corporation will fire them so that they can’t collect.
Even the government is doing it. They tried to do it to my dad after 35 years of employment at the Stars and Stripes military newspaper.
Then there’s health insurance. Good luck with that.
Anthony didn’t just strike a chord with the wage issues in America, he touched on pedophilia, suicide and other things we see that get us all angry. If you haven’t heard it yet, here you go. It’s at 26 million views in 11 days and climbing fast.