What's Up At The Market?

Boy oh boy, the Standard and Poors downgrade of the U. S. rating from AAA to AA1/2 is sure setting a fire under a whole lot of people. Politicians are blaming each other for this bad news, and they're all correct in doing so. The Group of 7 countries are holding a teleconference, Israel is stalling the opening of it's market. All the world markets are in an uproar over it. But ya know what? They're the wrong markets that are in an uproar. Don't get me wrong, the downgrade could send stocks  down which hurts IRAs, and all sorts of retirement funds and credit. But like I said, it's the wrong market to worry about. The market everyone should be worrying about is the grocery market. Food prices keep going up, but fixed income folks aren't getting more income, minimum wage earners aren't getting any help either. Now if your retirement fund takes a hit, that's bad news. On the other hand, you'll still be able to afford to put food on the table and a roof over your head. So, it may not be the roof you always hoped for and it might not be steak, but it's still better then minimum wage. It's still a roof and it's still nutritious. But a minimum wage worker is a code phrase for, no benefits and part time employment. You should try living on $7.50 per hour. I'd hate to have to try. You would too. It wouldn't be so bad if companies had to pay a living wage, or had to sell products and food and rent homes or apartments for an affordable price. I understand that companies have to be competitive, I get it, but how about their employees? Don't they get to be competitive too, when they're at the store or at home? What galls most of these folks is that their bosses are extremely competitive when it comes to their salaries and benefits, but not so much when it comes to the employees. Then they get upset if the employees decide to organize. I'm not asking for a complete redistribution of wealth, but just a little help would be appreciated. Come on. You rich folks can afford it.  Honestly, it's the right thing to do.