Writing, I have had a hard time with that lately. One is because of some health problems but another is that I get tired of writing about the same thing over and over again. The older I get it seems the more chaotic it gets and I don’t understand. Every time I sit down to write the thing that is dominating the news is Trump and his multiple trials. When we should be moving forward trying to tackle things like childhood poverty or healthcare instead we are just trying to save our democracy. I was a teenager during the sixties and early seventies. I saw that hate and the racism that was plaguing the country on an everyday basis. What I didn’t see was the homeless and the poverty that we have today. Yes, there was poverty back then but there were also good paying factory jobs. We had welfare systems for the poor and food stamps but to be honest with you I didn’t see the poverty that I see now. Most people could earn a living because they were paid a reasonable wage, what today we would call a livable wage. Even grocery clerks were paid a wage that was above the minimum wage. The biggest reason was we had Unions that worked to protect people’s wages. Almost all my friend’s mothers were stay- at- home moms. My own mother was there every day when I got home from school until my junior year in High School. All these things made a big difference back when I was young.

Today one of the common complaints is the reason there is so much trouble today with our youth is we no longer have stay at home moms. That is an easy statement to make but whose fault is that? Do you really think that the problem is that women no longer want to stay at home with their children? Do you think that a career at Wal-Mart or Piggly Wiggly is so inviting that they just can’t wait to leave the house and go to work? If you truly are saying that you are either delusional or a liar. Why did women have to go to work?  Wages have not kept up with what the actual cost of living in this country, not what the government says is the cost of living but what is the actually cost. We have added all kinds of items that you can say are luxury like the Internet and cell phones but to be honest, they have turned into pretty essential to our everyday life. We add products that enhance our lifestyle and it adds to the economy. All these things are expenses they have today we didn’t have when I was growing up. I won’t even talk about cable television. Introducing and people buying new products and technology is one of the things that moves the economy forward.

There are help wanted signs all over the place here in Southwest Florida. Now, what would happen if all of a sudden we didn’t have the young mothers in the workforce? What would our economy be like with all those workers gone? Our economy is built on the backs of workers that go out and spend their hard earned money. The more workers spending their paychecks the better off the economy is I would think. Tax cuts I don’t think drives the economy, they just make the 1% richer. In my opinion it is workers that drive the economy. Because wages have not kept up with what it actually costs to live decently in America most families have had to have two income earners.

You can almost say that what helps the economy hurts the family structure in America and what would help the family structure would hurt the economy in America. To say that working mothers are the problem to the American family is easy to say but what are your solutions. I think that without those women in the workforce we would have a terrible economy. You can’t solve one problem that will just create what could be a bigger problem. What are the real solutions? I know that Democrats would say more social programs like after-school care and better preschools and many other programs that help working families. I know that Republicans don’t like social programs and wouldn’t propose any in fact, they would rather eliminate the programs we have already. So how do we come about solutions?

I am tired of people talking about the problems but not working on solving the problems. I used to have a boss that didn’t want me to come to him with my problems unless I was already working on solutions to the problems. Maybe that is what gets me so frustrated is the people who will simply say that the problem is this or that but do not come up with real solutions to the problems of the family in America.  It takes serious people to sit down and truly want to come up with workable solutions. It takes people wanting to truly solve the problem that can only be solved by both sides of the aisle working together for the betterment of the family and the country.  Just throwing stones at the problem will not solve that problem. You could actually say if you are not working on the solutions you are part of the problem.