>The reality is, we choose the society we want to have, and how we treat the people at the bottom shows us what we have chosen. Whenever talk of the absence of

>The reality is, we choose the society we want to have, and how we treat the people at the bottom shows us what we have chosen. Whenever talk of the absence of a real social safety net in the U.S. comes up the response is rhetoric about how people's expectations are off and how this kind of social safety net equates to socialism, which is a poison ideology that rots away the motivation to work hard. But when I look at the reality of contemporary America what I see are people at the ends of their ropes, working multiple jobs just to barely stay afloat, being taxed for being poor through fees and fines, and wealth accruing to people who already have the resources to do well. Well, if you look at the rhetoric, the ideology that's been propagated among the people, what you find is that it's all about how working hard is the true good in life. No limit is stated past which it becomes overwork, nor are any guidelines stated for actually compensating work -- only for ensuring that there is work. Even today we still hear talk about "job creation", or in other words, making more work happen. America let the neoliberal genie out of the bottle: if you make a wish for hard work, don't be surprised to find yourself a peon. Neoliberalism is doing exactly what it has always said it does.