One of many things wrong with corporations--and America

Check out this ad in the newspaper yesterday in the "Help Wanted" section:

"Administrative Operations Assistant to the President/CEO, a company with properties in 8 states is seeking an Operations Assistant for its Home Office location. This position provides administrative support to the President of the Company in a variety of capacities including developing and preparing presentations and reports for new hotel development, as well as hotel management. The selected candidate will perform special projects as assigned. Other job duties include preparing meeting agendas, notices, minutes and resolutions for corporate meetings. Performs complex and confidential administrative functions including developing and typing written correspondence. The ideal candidate must have excellent organizational skills and can adhere to tight schedules. Experience working in an administrative position, or have previous front office or front desk experience a plus. Outstanding knowledge of excel, and Microsoft products are required. Confidentiality is a must. A flexible work schedule at 40 hours per week, at an hourly pay rate of $8.50 plus Health Benefits and a 401(k) plan is offered."

Check that out. (Ignore the typos, though that could be more of the story, here, too).

Look at all the things they want and require: "complex and confidential administrative functions", "excellent organizational skills", "previous front office or front desk experience", "outstanding knowledge of Excel and Microsoft products", etc.

Can you believe the chutzpah of these people?

They require this and must have that and then they want to pay this person $8.50 an hour.

Nearly unbelievable.

Do you know what that translates to per year, in salary?

It's a little over $12,000.00 per year, after taxes.

A full-time job and you're supposed to somehow live on a little over 12 grand a year.

How are you supposed to keep a car, insurance for it, food on your table, a roof overhead, clothes on your back and all the requisites of a job on 12 thousand dollars a year?

Forget any small entertainment expense. How about the necessities?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we need to become a Socialist country, in its truest sense.

Left to its own devices, the corporations of the United States are eating us all alive.

They chew us up, live on us as long as we will let them or as long as we're alive and then spit us out, either because we're exhausted, or sick or dead.

Coporations aren't even paying living wages anymore. Some of them, anyway, as is evidenced here.

Wal-mart? Retail stores in America? Any of them?

Heck no.

And health care?

Too many corporations don't pay full health care benefits--they put at least half of it back on the employees, even though the company may have the owner's family members secretly on the payroll or they have other arbitrary expenses for the owner's family paid by the organization. The owners usually figure it's due them, "because they own it, dammit."

In my hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri, the hometown newspaper for the last--what?--hundred years has been owned by one family. They are wildly wealthy (they own their own jet, or did, anyway. I think they still do. Or, better put, the newspaper bought them a jet. The company pays for it, you can bet on that).

But do you think the employees had health insurance?

Hell, no.

Can you imagine anything that is more human-reliant, to create and function, than a newspaper?

Who's going to write those stories but humans? Who's going to see to the printing and distribution of the paper?

But do you think they'd offer those same employees health insurance, as a reward for their hard work and creativity in writing, creating, printing and distributing those papers EVERY DAY?

Again, hell no.

And do you know why?

Well, for starters, because they can.

Life is extremely cheap to today's corporations, that's why.

Don't like the working conditions?

Quit.

Don't think you make enough money?

Quit.

Can't live without health insurance coverage by the company?

Screw you.


And it makes me wonder when the American people are going to expect more.

Hopefully, that time is now.

Or very soon, at the very latest.