Well it is Saturday morning, not much to do the weather is a little damp here (it must have rained last night). I had thought about going out side and do a little yard work, maybe later when the sun dries up the ground.

Anyways I did not hear from any of the companies I interviewed with on Thursday of course I really didn’t expect to hear back from them on Friday construction never works that way. Most companies do not even take applications on Fridays; I guess they are getting ready for the weekend like all the rest of us.

Now I have been chatting with a few people on line both from the left side of politics and the right, and a few have asked why I feel this is due to the new power adjustment this great nation is seeing; Well let me try and explain how it works here in the real world of the 95%.

Ok the company I was working for is one of those small to medium companies most construction companies around here fall into that category. With a owner making around 250,000 to 350,000 a year after wages, employee taxes, workman’s comp. unemployment ins., material .. etc ..etc.

Well he will be seeing his taxes go up what 4 maybe 5%?

So he needs to look at someway to keep his life style going after all he did work hard and invest a lot of money and time into his dream of owning his own company. So the logical thing to do is cut labor cost. This in turn means people like me, 30+ years of experience asking for a decent wage to keep up with inflation must go.

When he can turn around and hire people for $10 maybe $11 an hour, put a half dozen of those with someone who is willing to take a bit less just to keep his job, this becomes a good way to make up that income he sees as a loss. Laying off a guy like me making $17 an hour (I’m sorry but I wont cut my wage to struggle paying bills) just makes good business sense to him.

I know I could ask for a few dollars less and work to live instead of working for a living but that has never set very well with me. I have done my time in the craft and do expect to get paid for what I can do, I am no different then any other red blooded American that feels after years of hard work I should harvest the benefits of my labor.

We have for years struggled to make ends meet with the cost of food, healthcare, utilities, energy, and everything else going up and wages being so low (read the post before this one and you will see that my wage has not kept up with inflation). So before it is all said and done I will most likely have to take a job that will barely pay our bills and if we are lucky and nothing breaks (car, plumbing, health) we will most likely struggle through this. I just really hope all those promises made during the election campaign that”Change can happen” does not end up meaning “Do you happen to have some change”.

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