Earning (and Trying to Live on) Minimum Wages in America Today, Part I
You may not know Peter Van Buren* unless you've been keeping track of what happens to whistleblowers in this country. Peter worked for the State Department, lastly in Iraq, and drew on those experiences to author We Meant Well: How I helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People.
Because he had the temerity to speak openly about the shoddy work of the State Department in Iraq during the war he was promptly given the boot on publication of his book. Eventually his resources ran out and he had to seek work in the post 2008 economy--which meant he had to look for a minimum wage job at age 53.
Last post I took a class warfare stance toward the abomination our democracy and economy have become. I will underscore that with urging you to read Peter's article linked below. Not since Barbara Ehrenreich wrote Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America has anyone written as succinctly about trying to live on the minimum wage as has Peter Van Buren in the article below.
*Peter Van Buren is one of the few whistleblowers who have not served jail time as John Kiriakou is now for openly discussing torture in the CIA or as is Chelsea Manning for showing American war crimes in Iraq or as Edward Snowden is virtually exiled to Russia by Attorney General Holden's promise of his prosecution for his revelation that all our communications are open to NSA recording and inspection (Hi, Barack).
In his early and innocent years candidate Obama talked a strong suit about whistleblowers deserving government protection. But then he also talked about closing Guantanamo and reforming the immigration mess, among other things. (Good night, Barack.)
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