Our Shrinking Sheep: Middle-Class Joins Wage-Slave Service Economy

America eats its own:

As head of human resources for Nationwide Auction Systems, it was Wivory Bell's job to travel around California in late 2008 and tell people they were being let go. By last April, there were so few humans left, her own services were no longer required.

From an AP story personalizng the results of boom-&-bust economic cycles & the bizarre desire of corporate entities to destroy the nation's consumer base.

One of the ways they get away w/ it:

But his Pentecostal faith tells him that things happen for a reason. Although his salary isn't quite where it was, he's with a good company, one where he seems to fit.

"I think I really have to experience the things I've had to experience to get me where I'm going," he says. "I can't really explain it, but I'm a whole lot happier than I've been in a long time."

As if on cue, the couple's dilapidated van died recently. They bought a replacement, meaning their hopes of socking away some money will have to wait a bit longer.

"Just once I want to catch a break," Marshall says.

Does his Pentecostal faith tell him that the "reasons" for which things happen aren't necessarily good, & that he shouldn't be taking this lying down?

Up-Close & Personal:

"I didn't think it was going to be like this," he says. "I thought, `I'll be a doctor of chiropractic. I'll work hard, save up a bunch of money, maybe retire early.' Now it's like, work until you die."

We Told You So; Now We're Going to Rub It Your Faces Segment:

"Nation of Sheep
Stupid wage-slaves
Your bosses will work you
'Til you're in your graves"
— The prescient Malignant Bouffant, ca. 1983.