I started "going to work" in America when I was fifteen and from that point forward it has been the center of my existence, the pivot around which everything else turns. Early in this process, I harbored some naive notion that eventually all my hard work would pay off in the form of economic peace of mind. Sadly, this state of being never came to pass. Though it is true that after thirty five years I eventually achieved some semblance of personal satisfaction, economically I have remained firmly within the income range of the "working class".
I'm not going to say that there wasn't some advancement. Over this period I moved from the bottom of the working class income range to the top and now bring home about $40,000 a year. However, in regard to my lifestyle very little has changed. I am still living paycheck to paycheck. Every month I watch the necessities of life gobble up the fruits of my labor, while my labor gobbles up the fruits of my life.
Being in the working class puts a person like me in an economic trap: barely making enough to cover the basics, but too much to get any sort of break from society: no breaks on rent, car payments, grocery bills, student loans, or health care. It is so easy to slip into arrears and if a working class person slips into arrears? We get punished with a fee or a fine or an eviction or a repossession. Usually, there is a collection agent calling on the phone about something we should probably pay but have prioritized to ignore. If a working class person dares to complain he is told that he is not working hard enough or needs to find a second job. As if spending forty plus hours a week doing something soul crushing isn't enough stress and torture. As if enjoying life to any degree is a crime.
The working class person does an upward economic comparison and sees people who are probably working as hard, if not less hard, than she is and living her definition of luxury: able to afford their basic needs and actually having something left over. She does a downward economic comparison and sees people who are probably working as hard, if not less hard, than she is getting "all the breaks" in the form of public assistance.
"Nobody ever helped me!" my friend the working class stooge proclaimed one day in an effort to explain his hatred of the poor. "I work myself to the bone and nobody helps me!"
He's right. Besides being handed an impossible task (to pay what's expected on an income that doesn't cover it), nobody sticks up for him. While democrats defend the poor and republicans defend the rich and they fight over the middle class, this obscene plight of the working class carries on unacknowledged. In addition, the line that is drawn determining who deserves assistance is chronically way too low.
Discussions seeking explanations for working class anger that resulted in the election of Donald Trump rarely reference the very obvious source that I have just described. Fear of changing demographics, racism, anger towards immigrants are all implicated, but never just the fear and anger that results simply from being in the working class.
It wouldn't take that much to help us. We don't need a lot. All we need is a break. For me, if my monthly expenses associated with education and healthcare were eliminated, as Bernie Sanders offered to do, it would return a whopping 18% of my income. This is something for the democrats to consider if they would like to win us back.
