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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

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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

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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.

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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