Laino 1 Kristopher Laino Professor Dr. J.

Moreno-Ikari English 47 February 23, 2013

Essay 1 Where is the American Dream? What and where is the American Dream? I've been lucky enough to work on two sides of the job spectrum. A high-paying, financially stable job, and what Corporate America would call a menial job. What I realized is that, for me, my American Dream didn't change. In each case, I wanted to provide for my family, own a home, earn more, and work less. I still want to do those thing even as a student now, the thing is though, I believe that this American Dream, alive as it is, has changed from the dreams of my grandfather, or even my father before me. The American Dream is alive, but it is buried beneath a mound of debt, inadequate wages, and long arduous hours. In Karen Olsson's report Up Against Wal-Mart, she opens her article talking about the employees of Wal-Mart and the topics of unjust working practices and shortened wages at Wal-Mart. Employees are often quoted as saying that they are underpaid and overworked (612). On top of this, workers are asked to work unpaid overtime, with a majority (40% of more than it's 1 million hourly workforce) opting to forgo medical insurance (Olsson, 608). The way they pay you, you cannot make it by yourself without having a second job, or some-one to help you, unless you've been there for 20 years or you're a manager (Olsson, 607). Wal-Mart has progressed their business model of offering low-cost goods to a vast majority of consumers by using a modified form of Peonage or Involuntary Servitude. [Many] Americans can't live on a Wal-Mart paycheck (Olsson, 608). By keeping the wages of their workforce low, they've essentially created the perfect consumer. One that works for a shortened wage, then turns around and spends that wage at Wal-Mart (since they can't afford to shop

Laino 2 anywhere else), returning day after day in this volatile cycle. In addition to these working conditions, and wage considerations, Wal-Mart in many parts of this country is the only retailer. One employee that Karen interviewed, by the name of Jennifer McLaughlin, works at the Paris, Texas store; A Wal-Mart that employes 350 of the 22,000 in the local workforce (615). This country is in a decline. As Paul Krugman stated, In a world of have and have-nots, those at either end of the spectrum have little reason to believe 'that more people can be trusted'...social trust rests on a foundation of economic equality (594). One of the many things that Mr. Krugman believes is that a return to unionization of trades is a step in the right direction in leading our people away from crushing debt, and lowering the divide of wage inequality we currently face. The drastic decline of the trade union system in this country is a result, not of globalization and competition, but of pressure. Pressure of employers (like that of Wal-Mart) towards our weakened political legislature has resulted in a decline of [our trade unions] almost 20% in 40 years (Krugman, 601). Moreover, Krugman states that a raising of our minimum wage (like that in 2009), can better decrease the divide of wage inequality. Thinking about the slow suffocation of our American Dream, I feel that this idea, along with the return of our jobs actually meaning something more than just a wage, is a step in the right direction to reducing the debt that is crippling the American populace. For all the evils that Mr. Krugman, and Ms. Olsson have eschewed in their articles, they agree (at least under the surface) that Wal-Mart being the giant they are, can enact the change needed to jumpstart a revolution of sorts in our workforce. Without change [in our current] political climate, much of the service economy especially giant retailers like Wal-Mart would probably be unionized (Krugman, 601) Meanwhile Karen Olsson writes If employees succeed in improving wages [at the country's largest employer] they could effectively set a new benchmark for service-sector jobs (618). Overall, it is a change not only in the mindsets of our workers that need to be changed to adjust for this new American Dream, but also the mindsets of big companies and our own government. We will never

Laino 3 change the lack of unions in our trade service-sector if we do not first change the way the government views unions and union protecting laws. In summation, Olsson and Krugman both believe that our salvation, along some condemnation, belongs to the retail giant Wal-Mart. As a company, Wal-Mart should be ashamed of keeping Americans down at the bottom of the wage scale to save a buck (or earn one for their shareholders), but should also be persuaded, wether by it's workforce or the government itself, to turn a new leaf, so to speak, and lead the charge in bringing up Americans into a new age of wage equality and stability.

Laino 4 Works Cited Olsson, Karen. Up Against Wal-Mart. They say/I say :the moves that matter in academic writing: with readings Eds. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2012. 606-619. Print Krugman, Paul. Confronting Inequality. They say/I say :the moves that matter in academic writing: with readings Eds. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2012. 586-605. Print