ALT-1 Why People think their Salaries should be Increased
Does it seem unlikely that most people would want their salaries to be increased? Who wouldn't want a little extra money these days, and has there ever been a day and age in which this was not desirable?
Yes, we've all heard that money can't buy happiness, and in many ways this is true: money cannot buy love as you know, and as a consequence, neither can it get you that deep seated happiness, or else real spirituality, that we call seem to be looking for. Despite this, it's also important to remember that it's very hard to also be truly happy or spiritual when we have too much of a supposedly good thing, so be careful what you wish for - most wealthy people report being less happy than those who do not have as much money by the way.
But money is important in the end, despite it all, and we all need more of it these days to compensate for the high cost of living. From food to gas to car repairs to day care - it's all so complicated and high-pressured that many of us are working one, two, even three jobs just to survive. How many of us wouldn't love to be the next lotto winners? We all think that grand amount of money would give us the "big break" we've been waiting for all our lives.
Before you give in to such dreams though, let's get back to the real world. Life in this real world, combined with that of living on a wage that doesn't really sustain the cost of living is unethical and should be considered inhumane. We not only need a living wage these days, we also need a little bit extra in case of emergencies, the ubiquitous rainy day. We've all had them, and some of us have them too often. For some of us, it's an endless cycle, so much so that many cannot save anything from their paychecks at all. If we all made a little more we would be able to save some in the bank. These days it really is essential to do so. Maybe one day you'd like to send your children to college, or maybe you need to save up for your retirement. So many people have no savings for their retirement and they're already in their thirties and forties.
Even though the big companies are claiming "there is no money," they should take cuts so that we can benefit from the economy. America was not founded on the principles of greed and hoarding. Our founding fathers never envisioned the lives most of us are living, just scrambling from paycheck to paycheck. The only answer to the economic problems today include that the rich pay fair taxes, that CEOs and other big shots are paid less, and that big business is less profit-oriented for only a handful. This way, wages can increase for the rest of us and our society improves as a whole.
