You are sort of painting an unfavorable picture of these people who’s expectations are not being met and they are vocal in their complaints. Some of them are also being inflamed by the media and politicians who want them to feel cheated.

Certainly some workers jobs are indirectly subsidized when we don’t fully account for the damage caused by some industries. Consumers also benefit when we don’t make them pay for the environmental damage the products they purchase cause.

I think most workers in the U.S. are paid more than the value of their labor but that is alright because we need them to have the money to support themselves and to purchase products made by others who need the money to support themselves. If we only paid people what they are worth then a lot more people would be suffering.

Since in a system like this we throw value out the window it is no wonder that people have unrealistic expectation about what they should be paid or how much their pay should increase.

Since the bulk of riches begins with extraction of resources and production of pollution apportioning these spoils should be more egalitarian. Should be but apportionment is about power not justice so the powerful get more than the disadvantaged. Governments role could be to redistribute the spoils via a fairer formula but the powerful have coopted the government with payoffs.

That does not mean that all the powerful are evil or undeserving. Some earned and deserve their riches.

We should make polluters clean up their mess and consumers need to pay the full costs for the damage done to create their toys. Resources extracted do not belong to the extractor but the public with the extractor making a reasonable profit for his efforts and investment and windfalls going to the community.

To get there we need to get the money out of politics and end representation democracy and transition to direct democracy.

TEK