Spencer Anderson 1

Spencer Anderson
Mrs. Martin
6th Hour Advanced Comp
12/10/14

What Money Means To America

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property and kept in bondage.
Though laws and systems vary, slaves may be bought and sold. Slaves can be held from the time
of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to
demand compensation. Most people disagree with all kinds of slavery. In fact, society forbids it.
We see it as a problem of the past. Yet while slavery was abolished on December 6th, 1865, the
question lingers is slavery it really a problem of the past or does it still exist in some forms in
todays society? Over 149 years have passed since we voided our nation of this practice yet now
other form of slavery are arising in our current century. Not necessarily slavery of owning
people or denying them the right to leave, but slavery of a different kind and it is effecting many
people of society today.
The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines a wage slave as a person dependent
on wages or salary for a livelihood. People today are becoming the very definition of wage
slaves. More and more families are beginning to live from paycheck to paycheck, trapped by
financial controls. Of course just earning wages doesnt make you a wage slave. Its only
slavery when you lose your freedom. But when your boss asks you to do something and you feel
like you have no other choice but to do it, that is slavery. It is a gentle sort of slavery. No one

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person makes you go to work every day, yet you dont have the freedom to say I think I will
take a hike instead.
In this capitalist world we live in, several things have been re-defined. Capitalism has
also seen the growth of the number of wage-slaves. In fact more than 50% of the working
population in the world can be classified as wage-slaves. According to the Pew Research
Center, the number of those who define themselves as lower or lower-middle class has gone up
to 40% in 2014, increasing by 15% since 2008, plus the approximate 42 million people who are
living under the poverty line (Census Bureau). They are more reliant of a paycheck to pay for all
of their bills and the food they need for their family and maybe, just maybe, there will be enough
to enjoy a few of the privileges that many people dont get to have. Gone are the days of old
when people live in harmony and joy, people in the community watch out for each other and a
job is something that one does for money and enjoy. High school students are caught in a trap of
either choosing majors in college that they love to do and truly make them happy, or they are
choosing something that they know for a fact will allow them to keep from becoming a wage
slave, something that will bring them a big paycheck or salary that can not only pay for what
they need but allot them to enjoy the extra things that they might like to do, like take their whole
family on a vacation. Rarely do college students choose the path of a career that will lead them to
financial peril they choose a career that even thought they might not enjoy it, it will help just pay
the bills. Happiness is an afterthought.
In America there are three different classes of living: the upper class, the middle class,
and the lower class. The upper class contains anywhere from 1-5% of Americas population. In
this class there are people who perform white-collar work such as professional, managerial, or

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administrative work. These households make approximately $150,000+ a year (the 5%), or
over $250,000 a year (the 1%) (Alhanati). Some of these people obtain this much wealth simply
by what they do for a living. These would be the Anesthesiologists or Surgeons who, according
to MyPlan.com, making a salary of approximately $230,540 or more. Jobs like this are done by
the 1 percent. The super-rich (the top 0.5 percent of U.S. households) own 35 percent of the
nations wealth, with net assets averaging almost nine million dollar (Kendall). Nurse
Anesthetists and Petroleum Engineers make a salary of approximately $150,000. Other people in
the upper class have gained their large amount of wealth through many generations in their
family. They are practically born into a rich life. It becomes extremely hard to live in this
higher class because of the greed it can put inside of you. You begin to want more and more.
Enough is never truly enough. Youll always want more. People always want more. You end up
spending everything you and before you know it, youve got nothing.
Then you have the middle class. This class is split into two separate classes: the upper
middle class, and the lower middle class. The upper middle class is male-dominated, and has an
income of $100,000 or more annually. These are people who have gone to college and earned a
degree in what they plan on doing. The problem they face is that their degree might not be in
high demand and doesnt pay as much as they expected or their family is simply too big for the
amount they make to cover every bill they have to pay. The lower middle class contains lowerlevel, blue-collar workers who generally earn between $32,500 and $60,000 (Alhanati). These
blue-collar wage-slaves are workers that are paid to do repeated tasks, however, the setting is not
always in an office. Blue-collar workers are workers that do physically demanding jobs, Bluecollar workers are often generally looked down upon by white-collar workers as they are deemed
as uneducated, and everybody can do this job. Many blue-collar jobs, such as carpentry,

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construction, farming and so on are in fact the interests of many people. Yet many no longer
choose these as professions with accusations of you becoming a wage-slave. This is how sad
and degrading our society has turned into and the main focus is usually numbers on a paycheck.
And practically all of the families living in this lower middle class are living paycheck to
paycheck, barely scraping by, only buying what they need with no room for what they want.
These people might make enough not to qualify for financial aid, but they do not make enough to
allow their family to enjoy the fun things in life such as taking vacations. It is very hard for
these families to get out of this social class and move up to the upper class even just the upper
middle class.
Both my parents went to college. My father has his Bachelors degree, Masters degree,
and Specialist Degree in Education. My mother has a Bachelors degree and her Masters degree
in education as well. Yet my family is still considered middle class. My parents are both
teachers in a very successful school district. They are paid well for what they do, but my parents
dont just work from August to June. In order to have enough money to do extra things as a
family my father coaches two in the fall and winter seasons on top of his daily teaching job and
he teaches drivers education in the summer which consists of approximately 8 weeks of 40 or
more hours per week. My mother also takes on extra work and coaches a spring sport when my
dad is not coaching, tutors students outside of her classroom hours and teaches summer school. I
believe they enjoy their jobs it is difficult to find advancement and there are not a lot of other
avenues to try if they ever get tired of the position that they are in. They will need to continue
doing this until retirement because as a family we are at the mercy of their paychecks. If one of
them were injured or had to take a extended leave of absence from their job, our family would
have a very difficult time surviving. We grow up believing that education can defeat all

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circumstance, transcend social classes, and pave a 24 carat, solid gold nugget path to upward
mobility. And, this just isnt the case.
Last but not least, the lower class, also known as the poverty line. Anyone below a certain
level of payment is considered to be in poverty. This class makes up around fifteen percent of
Americas population, or approximately 42 million people (Census Bureau). This class may
include people who have dropped out of high school and never got their GED, they chose career
paths that didnt lead to making enough money or their family is too large for what small
paychecks they might receive. As Sheldon Wolin states: The state is, therefore, allowed to deal
arbitrarily with all welfare recipients, not by lynching them but by redefining the conditions and
categories of their existence (Arnold). The state practically controls the way that every person
on welfare lives. Is this another reason why lower-middle class people and people in poverty
cannot move up to higher social and financial classes? This lower class may also include people
who just have too much debt to their name or they have lost their job and were never able to find
a new one. Since the 1990s, the poor have been more likely to stay poor, and the affluent have
been more likely to stay affluent (Kendall). I truly do not understand how our country plans on
defeating poverty if once you cross the poverty line it is almost impossible for you to go back. It
becomes almost impossible for you to move back up to the upper and even lower-middle class.
Everybody else (the bottom 90 percent of households) owns only 28 percent of the nations
wealth. Like income, wealth disparities are greatest across racial and ethical categories
(Kendall) The people in this class are often doing jobs they hate. Working jobs anywhere from
fast food, to construction, to working repetitive jobs on a production line. They dont have a
choice in what they do, have bosses or managers that treat them unfairly, some suffer insult or
assault, and have unsafe or unkempt working conditions.

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I personally do not want to become a wage slave as I get older. I plan on graduating from
high school and going to college. I want to major in mechanical engineering. I chose this as my
major for two very important reasons. The first reason is because its what I love to do. I love to
build three-dimensional models on a computer and using a 3D printer. I enjoy using a hammer
and a nails and building things with my hands. I want to have the privilege of being the reason
that an individual or a company is successful on a job site. I would like a job where I am
depended on for others success. I like having that responsibility because it means that if I
succeed, other people can and will as well. The second reason is the fact that engineering is a job
that has absolutely exploded in the past few years. According to USNews.com, the average
salary of a mechanical engineer working in Bellingham, Washington is $105,050. As shown in
the graph below, in only 6 years, the average salary of an engineer has gone up nearly 22%. Just
think of what this could lead to in another six years. I do not want to become a wage slave
because that means having to be constantly worried about losing my house, a car, and possibly
everything else I might own. I want to be able to provide for my family and give them the fun
things that make memories. I want my family to be happy and not stressed that we are losing
money. Having money can be very important to living a good life. But, that does not mean that
people should lose sight of doing what you truly love. I have my dreams to pursue and hopefully
becoming an engineer, and I am sure that the people in my family have their own dreams as well
and making plenty of money as I get older and get a good, secure job that pays well will help me
obtain those dreams.

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"Top 300 Highest Paying Jobs in America." MyPlan.com. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1 Jan.
2014. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://www.myplan.com/careers/top-ten/highest-paying.php>.
Colombo, Gary. "From America's New Working Class." Rereading America: Cultural
Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2007. Print.
Colombo, Gary. "Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption."
Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford of
St. Martin's, 2007. Print.
Alhanati, Joao. "Which Income Class Are You?" Investopedia.com. Investopedia, 23 Sept.
2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2014. <http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0912/which-income-classare-you.aspx>.

http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/mechanical-engineer/salary
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/27/despite-recovery-fewer-americans-identify-asmiddle-class/