They could pay a decent salary tomorrow, but they choose not to. That's the unpleasant truth.

Every day we wake up and work for someone else's dream. Someone's dreams are built by our time, sweat, health, and sanity. And others, those at the top of the pyramid, are buying themselves another yacht, a new house, and dozens of apartments in new buildings. And at the same time, we are told to enjoy a lower-than-average salary, which is barely enough to last until the fifteenth of the month.

In the mid-1980s, I worked for a company that financial publications wrote about with delight: revenue growth, margin growth. But inside the company, the office culture was like a steam boiler on the verge of exploding. Employees had their bonuses drastically cut in one quarter, even though our own product exceeded all stated goals.

I asked my boss why. He just grinned and said, «First, the shareholders. Always.» I didn't even know what to say to him. It wasn't about merit. Not about the work done. It was about dividends, the share price, and payments to people who had done nothing for the company other than own a portion of its shares.

I remember staying late one night, too tired to go home. I was looking at a presentation slide that explained why our department won't get a pay raise this year. The slide referred to labor as the «cost center.» There was no doubt in those words. There was a red column on the chart.

The value of my entire existence has been reduced to costs that need to be cut. I felt like a comma that they were trying to erase or at least round up.

They don't see people. They see the roles.

My friend worked for a multinational company for a minimum wage. He tried his best, always arrived on time, and was friendly. At some point, he was fired — not for bad work, not for misconduct, but simply because someone at the top decided: you can find the same employee, but cheaper, in a cheaper city. And that's how it became just a line in the quarterly earnings report.

And then I realized: these companies don't care about people. Positions are important to them. Waiter. The clerk. Analyst. Developer. They look at how much profit this position brings to the company, and they don't care at all about how much a person needs to live. It's not personal. It's systemic.

They also sell you an entirely fictional idea: if you want to earn more, become more valuable. Learn new skills. Try harder… That's a lie! If work itself is necessary for society, does this mean that someone needs such positions? And if these positions are necessary, why are we, those who occupy them, considered expendable?

The game was unfair even before we got into it.

When I was young, in the late 80s and early 90s, I believed in capitalism. In a rational way. The one that says: «You'll get what you deserve.» You know, the one that says that good work gets a good reward.

This whole version of the system is a lie that most of us prefer to believe because the truth is too unpleasant. The real game is not about effort or ethics. It's about shares.

Shareholders. They are the ghosts in the meeting room. They don't register at the entrance, they don't manage people. But everything in the company revolves around their desires.

I remember reading the old Dodge vs. Ford case, where Ford was sued by its own shareholders for wanting to pay workers more. That was a hundred years ago. And we are still living in the same cycle.

Because it doesn't matter if it's legal or not, shareholder pressure is always there. It's just that now it's hiding behind metrics and KPIs.

Some say that the huge salaries of «executives» are a false target of criticism. Okay, maybe firing one «supervisor» and dividing his salary among all of them won't solve anything mathematically.

But what is the message if one person earns more in a day than others in a whole year?

This is a signal: it's not that we can't, we just don't want to. This is the signal: you're replaceable, even if your hard work keeps the company afloat.

It's not about logic. It's about how much you're willing to put up with.

More and more often I hear conversations in which the question is posed not like this: «What will be fair?», but like this: «What else can we get away with?»

Top managers don't ask, «What's your rent bill, how much does your child's treatment cost?» They look at market rates and even manage to complain about them, and then they return to talking about competition. They only care about one thing: «Will we still be able to fill this vacancy if we reduce the pay by 10%?»

If the answer is yes, you're done.

And then they wonder why young people don't have loyalty to companies. Why would they even be?

There is no reason to be loyal to a system that encourages the exploitation of people for the sake of shareholders. If the system rewards those who hold shares rather than those who hold everything else, loyalty becomes meaningless.

One of the worst conversations in my life was with a top manager who told me, «If people are willing to work for less, why pay more?»

I can't describe how many nights I couldn't sleep thinking about it. «People are willing to work for less»?

What does it even mean if the only options are starvation and exploitation?

They say the market determines your value. I say: the market has a problem with conscience.

When your entire value depends on how desperate someone else is, it's not a fair system.

This is a casino. And the institution always wins in it.

They confuse exploitation with strategy.

We can no longer pretend that this is sustainable. A society in which profit is the only god is slowly devouring itself.

And maybe I'm naive, but I believe it could be better. I believe that employees should be considered people, not variables. Not only because it's the right thing to do, but because it's reasonable.

People who are well paid are loyal. They are motivated. They are creative. This is not a mercy. It's just common sense.

But the «employers» have gone too far in trying to squeeze the last out of people and then throw them away. This is called efficiency. This is called growth.

But in fact, it's just cowardice disguised as leadership. These are billionaires hiding behind accounting records while the rest of us are trying to scrape together rent.

I don't need a utopian world. I just want a world where doing work doesn't mean fighting for survival. A world in which you are not ashamed of your salary.

A world where you don't have to prove your humanity every time you walk into an office.

Because the minimum should be at least enough for life!!!

Sergeant Major Maxwell “Ace” Archer was precision; a perfect sniper. Every element of his existence, was perfectly ordered. His schedule was a clockwork masterpiece, his accuracy unmatched, and his focus a laser beam. He was the embodiment of the ideal sniper: disciplined, efficient, and relentlessly, terrifyingly, on time. 

Living he's quiet life out in the woods, peaceful expensive house  with anything a human been needs to live a perfect life. With offshore bank account. 

Than as it usually end up happening is he meets a woman, whether its random or through the job he had to do. Falls in love, mad love. A missed shot, a careless mistake in planning, because all of his attention is on the woman, has caused a chaos. Reputation is ruined.

Circumstances of that, he loses the job that he worked so hard for and building trust and perfect job score. 

Him and his woman had to live that life behind to start a family, while killing all the people that was after him for not completing a job. It was a mess, but he did it. He did it for the love of his life and a new chapter they can begin building together. No more secrets and everything is shared. Working a steady construction job with bank account that had enough money to last for ever.

Few months pass and his woman cheats on him with explanation — «You are not the same tough guy I fell in love with and your hands are softer». Than she emptied his bank account, because she's an independent woman and needs to explore her sexuality in Dubai.

He developed a drinking problem and died on the street...

The end.

©Mad

In general, I live in America and lately I have been hearing more and more often from Americans that living in the USA is becoming prohibitively expensive. In addition to this, the other day I came across a post on the Internet where Americans discussed what things suddenly moved from the category of “any homeless person can afford it” to the category of “well, maybe I'll buy it someday”

Fried chicken wings

The fact is that until the 90s, chicken wings were not considered meat at all. Butcher shops simply threw them away or gave them to someone very cheaply, like giblets. In the 90s, many fast food chains realized that it was possible to buy such meat for cheap and earn money from it. So since the 90s, for a long time the price of wings has been around 10-30 cents per wing. These are the prices that many Americans remember, who in college took a couple of beers and a bucket of wings for 2-3 dollars.   Of course, I did not catch this, but even 5 years ago I often took chicken wings at a price of $6 for 8 pieces (80 cents per piece). Now 8 wings cost $15 (almost $2 per wing)

Bowling

Bowling has always been considered the entertainment of the working class, and therefore was very cheap. Think of any American movie from the 80s-90s. Where does a guy relax with friends after work? Of course, in the bowling alley. You pay a couple of dollars for the game, take a beer at the bar for five and have a pretty good evening. Currently, a bowling trip for two can cost around $50-100. Fortunately, there are still places in the «bumblefuck» of America where prices have not changed much since the 90s. I've found bowling for $5 myself. Unfortunately, not only the prices, but everything else has not changed since the 90s — old balloons, worn-out interior, worn and smelly shoes for rent.

Movie tickets

It's exactly the same story as with bowling. It was $1-2 for a ticket, it became $15-25 + a bucket of popcorn with cola will cost the same amount.

Concert tickets

As some Americans recall, in the 90s it was possible to deliver newspapers after school on a bike and easily earn money for a concert of your favorite band, and more than once a month. Now concert tickets have become a real luxury. Firstly, ticket sales are essentially handled by one company that has monopolized the market. Secondly, prices have already soared for everything. That year, I took Pink tickets at a price of $200 per ticket somewhere at the back of the hall. The first rows cost $1500-3000 each. Seriously, even if Pink sings sitting on my lap, well, that's $500 maximum (After all, she's not young anymore). And if you only knew how much tickets for Taylor Swift cost. Google it for fun. Many Americans fly to her concerts in other countries, because even with a flight and a hotel, it is twice cheaper than going to her concert in the USA.

Tacos

In the old days, there were vans on every corner where Latinos sold tacos for $0.5 — $1. Now one taco costs $5 Since I love tacos, I sincerely do not understand why I should take 3 tacos for $20 (with taxes and tips) in some trailer when I can take them for the same price in a restaurant.

Thrift Stores

An era has passed when a used thing could be bought many times cheaper. Now, with the development of the Internet, a crowd of online resellers has appeared, which buys up everything that is of at least some value and resells it at a margin. eBay has turned from an online flea market of used items into a trading platform for resale and online stores. Thrift shops and second-hand shops have begun to inflate prices, as a crowd of overbought people runs in there in search of rarities. If earlier, in the absence of money, it was necessary to go only to the second-hand store, now it does not hurt to compare prices first. Perhaps a new thing in the same Walmart will cost just a little more than a used one in Goodwill (this is a chain of second-hand stores)

Real estate

There's nothing to discuss here. American grandfathers bought houses for a «bag of corn», and now they cost millions of dollars. For old times' sake, local grandfathers continue to tell their grandchildren, “Work hard and then you can also buy yourself a house, like I did in my youth!“. No. No one will be able to buy a house just by working. After all, you are the one who fucked up our economy.

Apparently, an entire era is coming to an end. The America that we saw in childhood in American films is gradually changing. An ordinary American will no longer be able to drive to school in a Chevrolet Camaro, and after college buy himself a two-story house, 2 cars and start a family of 3-4 children. Now it's more like middle-class life.