Losing the freedom to not work

In the midst of an economy that is falling apart, I find interesting things happening - not in our country and its financial state - but in the minds of the people who live in it. I have talked to several folks who are devastated because a lot of what they had invested has disappeared. As I put myself in their shoes, I can imagine that being really hard. But there is a whole other group of people who have been living like that their whole lives. They haven't lost the ability to not have to work the rest of their lives - they have lost the ability to work and provide for their lives.

Having a retirement is something that is a luxury. Many people in the world don't have that luxury. I don't have one. My dad is 80 and is still working, simply because he can't eat without working. My mom is 76 and still working. I hurt for those who were wise and invested, and now have seen a large part of it vanish. But those that I hurt for more are the ones who will never have a retirement, who have never had the means to put even a few dollars away. I'm sure some are just foolish, but there are others who just plain didn't get very lucky in life. They never got hired on to the companies with the large parachutes attached. They never made enough to meet more than the basic needs. They are those who have been living on less that $40k for most of their lives.

There is a huge slice of humanity who never got the nice stuff. They have never been able to buy a home (let alone a second home to got to for two weeks a year) or a new car (let alone trade up for a new one every other year). Their existence has been hand to mouth most of their lives. They haven't been able to get the education, nor did anyone call them up to that standard. They are the working poor - doing the labor for large corporations at $8 an hour. Have you added it up to see how far $8 an hour goes these days? Try bumping it to $20 and hour and see how far that one goes. And then compare that to the $37 billion per quarter profit earnings of a corporation like British Petroleum.

My point is that losing the freedom to live work free for the rest of your life is hard. AND so is living your whole life without ever being work free. But the poor aren't just losing their freedom to not work, they are losing their freedom to work. When you have to choose between selling your car and selling your house, and you choose selling the house because you can go to work in your car and live in it, I think that is a bigger problem.

Which one would you choose?