The New Boss

They've done some "restructuring" here at work and I have a new boss. My boss used to be in Cincinnati and I'd talk to him, oh maybe once a year at most. The new guy is in Albany and he is definitely a man with a plan. I met with him Friday here in Boston along with my new Boston boss. They spent a lot of time talking about how my job may be outsourced, a lot of time talking about what a brilliant career he's led, and some of it laying down the law as to how things will proceed from here on out. I spent most of my time trying not too look too pained by it all and mostly not succeeding. At the very end I was asked for my two cents and mentioned that I'm not that happy with the direction the company is taking in general; becoming more corporate by the hour, paying more for less benefits, no real raises, and the expectation that more work will be done by less people. This brought enthusiastic and unanimous agreement. The new boss had meticulously calculated his cost of the new health plan (taking inflation into account) as a 12% pay cut.
All the hard fought for gains the average worker has accumulated over the years seem to be in the process of being systematically dismantled everywhere you look, and everyone just seems to take it lying down. Why is that? As a society we seem intent on going backward...from teaching "Intelligent Design" in the classroom (wasn't that decided by the Scope's trial something like 70 years ago?) to overturning Roe v Wade in the Supreme Court (hopefully won't happen but that is the political intent) and of course the plight of the average shmo and shmoette, working harder for less money and less benefits.
Of course all that money being saved goes somewhere...shareholders. The, from my point of view as a humble worker, downward trend with my corporation began when they went public. And along with being a disaffected working stiff I've also been heavily invested in the stock market for years and have done well by it. I wouldn't have been able to buy my condo without that investment paying off. I'm about to inherit some money from my father also mostly accrued through investment in the stock market which will give me a degree of financial flexibly.
So there you have it. The whole system is skewed to whoever has a little money they can invest. Acutally it's skewed to people who have a LOT of money to invest. Personally I think I'd rather be treated like a human being at work every day and make a little less money on the stock market.