$ 8.50 Per Hour and FREE Rooms at Holiday Express?

My young friend just got a job at the brand new local Holiday Express - she was very excited about getting a job at the front desk earning $8.50 an hour:

But I suddenly realized -"Holy Shit! -the average unhighly skilled American worker is totally doomed!" Oh and this is someone who makes a wonderful appearance -has two years of college -is bright - is literate -and a strong communicator"

I got to thinking about My first job in 1963 where i was paid $125 dollars per week. -- AND - i just discovered that a 1963 dollar is worth $7.10 in 2010 dollars figuring inflation:

SO -my friends $340 paycheck should be roughly $800 if it were keeping up with just basic inflation VS. 1963 -but that's only part of this horrible story if we now look at what you could buy for your bucks back in 1963:

Cost Of Living 1963

How Much things cost in 1963
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.24%
Yearly Inflation Rate UK 1.8%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 762
Average Cost of new house $12,650.00
Average Income per year $5,807.00
Gas per Gallon 29 cents
Average Cost of a new car $3,233.00
Loaf of bread 22 cents
Bedroom Air Conditioner $149.95

So you all know what all this stuff costs now -and even if my friend was getting paid a reasonable salary in terms of the inflation since 1963 she wouldn't be able to buy shit without going into deep debt (and of course credit has now vanished) - But with her roughly $290 weekly take home salary from the big sports at Holiday Express -well - need i say more about her prospects for a bountiful existence?

Oh -and while we're at it - let's take a look at the minimum wage situation facing all those folks who don't have the prescence or skills of my "highly paid" young friend: (if you don't know that was sarcasm stop reading and kill yourself)

This December 1st will mark nine years and three months since the last increase. Thus, unless Congress acts quickly, so that a federal minimum wage increase is actually put into place before then, on December 2nd the federal minimum wage will have remained at the same level for the longest period since it was established

The lack of action on the minimum wage has led to a dramatic erosion in its value.

• The minimum wage now equals only 31 percent of the average wage for private sector, nonsupervisory workers. This is the lowest share since at least the end of World War II.
• Since September 1997, the purchasing power of the minimum wage has deteriorated by 20 percent. After adjusting for inflation, the value of the minimum wage is at its lowest level since 1955.

The decline in the value of the minimum wage is part and parcel of a disturbing feature of the recovery from the 2001 recession: its failure to significantly improve the well-being of most workers. Instead, the benefits of our impressive productivity growth rates have largely flowed to those at the top of the income and wealth scale.

Oh well -like i said at the beginning --"Holy Shit! -the average unhighly skilled American worker is totally doomed!"

You know -another sign of the impending doom struck home when the father of my young friend said "And she gets free rooms at Holiday Expresses all over the World"

"Where in the fuck do you think she is going? -She's a fucking pauper you moron!"

Hey -but the real story here is that the Holiday Express folks give these jobs to kids like my friend who is livin with her boyfriend's parents while finishing college at night -BUT - remember when these jobs went to adults who could support their families comfortably with those salaries back then when there was a fair distribution of the goodies in America (and their wives stayed home with the kids)

Gone forever -next up - I"M afraid - Class Warfare!