Frank Saccone, Jr.

1st paper route at 10. 1st job at 15. 1st Social Security deduction 1968. College, 1969. 1st ‘real’ job 1973. Many promotions, bonuses, stock options, raises. Also laid off seven times, 1st time in 1980. Started over, picked up the pieces. Personal work-ethic abused from the beginning.Watched as the post WWII generations’ rising middle class was destroyed by corporate america.Watched in horror as workers became tools, not humans. Unions broken. Jobs shipped overseas, not for Quality, but for profits. Profits that rarely ‘trickled down' to Main Street. (Reagan anyone?) Profits that stayed in the Wall Street casino, and in the pockets of greed-driven CEO’s.Watched as shareholders came first, not workers and families. Watched as takeover carnivores ate companies, reaped the profits, ended pensions, and spit out the workers.What a long strange trip it’s been… Seriously, WTF? There is no more middle class. There are the rich, the oligarchs, trust-fund babies, and the corporate elite with their Lear jets. Wealth is being concentrated in fewer hands.And we allow it. We’d rather watch reality TV than stand up to the profiteers. (OCCUPY anyone?) We truly have become sheep. In the worst sense. We hang on the every word of some celebrity. We dote on and adore athletes. (Until they take a knee.) We fill stadiums and concert halls with our money, and we think we matter.The ‘titans’ of industry, not happy with their millions, are lining up to further fill their pockets. And share it with the workers? Seriously? (Think $15/hour.)It’s not easy witnessing this. It’s beyond the pale to see the amoral and immoral modern-day slave owners get even more powerful.We’re becoming indentured servants, incapable of escaping debt, medical bills, (Medicare For All anyone?), and we spin our wheels and put it all on a usury-interest credit card.So me? 1st Social Security check cashed in 2018. Penalty free. Still working, still observing.My citizenship in Woodstock Nation remains current, my hair will always be long, my many contributions charitable.My politics will always be liberal/progressive/socialist/green, my belief-system is intact, and the other side can go f themselves. Peace… 😊