It's no wonder that they worry that they no longer have the time to build strong families and to teach their children the difference between right and wrong. The problem we face is not only a loss of living standards, but a loss of moral standards as well. Increasingly our economy is sending the message that it values accumulated wealth over honest work. Corporate profits are up. Stock market prices are up.
Executive salaries are way up.
If you work in the corner offices on the top floors of those glass buildings that tower above our nation's cities, these are the best of times. But if you scrub the floors or wash the windows in those buildings, these times are not so good. In too many ways our economy is sending the message that working people and the work they do are being demeaned, not dignified. I trace the demeaning of work in large measure to the decline of the labor movement. Forty years ago unions spoke for one-third of the entire work force.