In these nightmarish economic times in America, we who have full-time work and benefits are indeed a bit fortunate; how many people do we know who are struggling, trying to stay in an upside-down home, flustered and frustrated by the porcine bankers, eager to extract every last penny from our pockets?

We have to work to live, to survive and thrive. The 1%’ers, save the trustafarians who have had it handed to them, likely were people like you and I at some time in their lives. I fear their memory banks have now gone shallow- the money and the cars and the travel have somehow guided them into an amesiatic state where they are unable to display a shred of empathy toward…The Rest of Us.

This sickens me, because the 1%’ers are overwhelmed in numbers, but their power is so mighty and dense they seem to be surrounded by a force field,  this bubble of safety that not only encourages greed and graft but also immunizes the criminals from prosecution. Let’s see how many financial sector managers are in jail for the plundering they conducted on the American economy…(drum roll)

…the number is zero.

The former CEO of Countrywide, Angelo Mozilo, bought his way out of prison for the crimes he committed while he was head of the company. He paid the Securities and Exchange Commission 67 million+ dollars to settle a lawsuit, but it’s believed he made many hundreds of millions more at his old job.

The 1% is winning, and they are running up the score as some of us approach endgame.

It pains me to hear people talk about a job they hate.

The grousing about bad bosses, cramped cubicles and unfulfilling paper-pushing is usually followed by this exotic, bitter cocktail of gratitude and regret;

“I’m lucky to have a job, I guess…”

“I wish I could just chuck it all and start over again…”

Given the state of the nation, this last statement seems so daunting, even a little bizarre.

Tomorrow, I will give you a glimmer of hope.

You can quit your job. You can do better. You can be happier.  I’ll show you how.