In 1978, I began a 30-year career in carpet installation, just like my dad. He made enough money to support our family and for my mother to stay at home and raise four kids. He could buy a brand-new truck every three years and take us on family vacations.
I wanted a life like that for myself, but it hasn’t turned out that way. My wife and I work full-time but we’ve never been able to take a vacation together. In fact, we struggle every day.
We’ve survived COVID but I’m not sure how we’ll survive financially for the rest of our lives if things don’t change.
When I first started laying carpet I was making $500 to $700 a week, which was a great salary back then. But by the mid-1980s things began to change: My hours got longer, our costs went up and our wages went down. Soon I was working grueling 12 to 16 hour days for six days a week just to make ends meet.
In the 2000s, I had serious back problems and needed surgery, but I kept working despite my injuries until the housing crash in 2008. Installation work dried up so I got a job as a janitor at the University of Utah.
If you told me 20 years ago that I’d be cleaning toilets for $12 an hour, I would’ve laughed.
These days, my wife and I get up at 3:45am to go to work. We work full-time in the richest nation on earth, but my paychecks were bigger 40 years ago than they are today.
We are doing everything right, but still we have to max out credit cards just to make it. Groceries, school clothes, birthdays, Christmas. Every day our debt goes up.
The stress over the years has not only wreaked havoc on my body, but also my mind. There are times when I feel like I can’t breathe. Something is terribly wrong in America when you work hard for 43 years, but keep losing ground. We’re not asking for much -- only that our hard work means we can live a good life.
I recently joined with other hard-working people across the country in an organization called WorkMoney because we need a change in Washington. Too many politicians are out of touch with how everyday Americans live.
I voted for President Trump twice but I support the Biden administration’s plan to help Americans get back on their feet and rebuild our country and economy. It’s not about right or left. It’s about right and wrong.
The time has come for politicians on both sides of the aisle to support the creation of millions of good-paying jobs in this country.
We hear them say they support infrastructure and repairing our roads and bridges, but it never gets done. The president’s proposals will create millions of jobs and bring down the cost of life’s necessities.
I’ve read in the news about the disagreements on how to pay for these bills. It’s simple: Everyone should pay their fair share. Billionaires should not pay less in taxes than hard-working Americans like me. I’m also a grandparent; we’ve raised some of our grandkids in our home for 15 years. I can tell you how difficult it is to raise children in this economy on low wages. Even with two incomes you can’t do it. Working parents need a permanent expanded child tax credit and more affordable childcare.
Like so many others, I’ve worked hard every day since I was 17 years old, but the economy is not working for the American people anymore. It’s time our elected officials stand with us and pass laws that will enable us to work hard, take care of our families and have the opportunity to succeed.
Guy Foote
Guy Foote lives in Midvale and is a member of the nonprofit advocacy group WorkMoney.