Myself and a friend were recently talking about the “economic outlook” of the country. He was told to scale back his hours to a more part time schedule. Then, I took a look at my own department at work. Seventy percent of my department was all hired in the last 2 months and they are mostly part timers. With our own experiences we came to a few conclusions. That the problem probably isn’t as bad as we probably perceive it is. Also, that corporate America is using it as a scapegoat to downsize their work force and maximize their profits.

It all boils down to this. Companies LOVE part time employees now days. Mainly because they don’t give them benefits, which saves them a ton of money against their bottom line. Secondly, if you are in a field with a high attrition rate, you haven’t lost that much impact time if you have to fire an employee. So, where does this leave us as a nation? As my friend and I summed it up with one statement, “Rich people are douches.”

Lately, the more I read and learn about certain circumstances, and since yesterday was earth day, about pollutants and big hitting polluters, I’ve grown more left in my opinion. I’m entirely convinced that big business has to go. Nothing was more evident than when the head of division at my work, was talking about one of my co-workers. While introducing him to one of his management cohorts he said and I quote “This is Richard. He’s a real asset.” Just by the mere management lingo, I was appalled. If I ever had someone call me “an asset”, I’d probably tell them to go to hell. When you call something “an asset”, it denotes some sort of control and ownership. The mere arrogance that Corporate America views it’s employees as such is probably going to be the downfall of our way of life.

Gone are the days of company softball games, and treating them as they should be treated, as people. When the concept of corporate conglomerates appeared in the 50’s. The overall owners still had a sense of public support and wanted to give the image that they cared about their employees. Much of that was cast by the wayside during the 80’s, and the invention the market corporate sharks depicted in the movies like Wall Street. Now, we’re left with our current fiscal situation.

By now, I consider myself an independent. I’m neither liberal, nor conservative. I do believe in fiscal responsibility, and I believe we demonstrated that in the 90’s. I believe in small government, and gun rights. I believe in environmentalism and high penalties for companies who are not responsible. I believe that Americans have to completely rethink the basis of their lives. We cannot just continue doing the same old, same old. I read a great article on Reuters, that I actually agree with. You can view it here. It basically states that Conservatives are pissed, but can’t do anything. The article recognized that the polar sides of the political parties no longer represent most of America. 90% of our politicians are not in touch with their own constituents any longer.