American Anxiety

The 1960s were turbulent. There was the Vietnam War and its many casualties, the anti-war protests, which often turned violent, race riots, polluted waters, polluted air, escalating heroin use, assassinations, and the threat of nuclear war, but America's middle class was thriving, buying homes in the expanding array of suburbs, and all the negatives swirling through the country couldn't overcome that one positive on a collective basis. Many Americans felt they had a decent shot to succeed economically, in spite of all the negatives going on. In more recent times, public opinion generally shows Americans as much more pessimistic and sour on the direction of the country; after all, even when many have jobs, the wages and benefits (if there are many) are not going to give them security. There's an "angst" by many who are living on the edge of poverty, just a few paychecks or less from ruin. Forget about the growth in the economy or the declining deficit, the MONEY is going to the top earners, many of whom are scheming to hasten the upward siphoning effect by further suppressing wages or benefits, or both. Part time work has escalated since the 1980s, and while it may keep some from total poverty, it is no substitute for a good paying job with nice benefits. There's been a growing trend that many jobs do not pay workers enough to provide life sustaining income, thus forcing many Americans to take second, or even third, jobs, if available, or if they don't collapse or drop dead from overwork. And you probably thought the ancient Egyptians, southern plantation owners, and the Nazis were the only ones who loved slave labor. The "angst" has been growing since, I'd say, the 1970s, but it really escalated in the last couple of decades, as Americans saw whole plants move out of the country, along with their jobs. As that happened it put pressure on wages and the spiral downward seems to be never ending. Temporary employment agencies, once seen as saviors in hard times, expanded in numbers, a sign of how serious the nation's fortunes had swooned for workers. This all has created a whole new American underclass, devoid of much hope of living a halfway decent life. All the while the top earners took a larger and larger share of the national income. They often call themselves "patriots" and "religious," although they're neither, but when you have lots of money, you get to define the terms yourself, but then again, we've allowed them to get away with it. It's not without reason that Warren Buffett noted that in the real class warfare being waged, HIS class has been winning. People can muddle through all sorts of problems, but when they have little or no hope of economic security, they'll never feel good.

WORD HISTORY:
Wise-This word, closely related to "wit," goes back to Indo European "weid," which had the notion "to see;" thus, "to know how to go, proceed." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "wisaz," with the same meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) the adjective "wis," which meant "learned, experienced." The same source also gave English the verb form, which meant "to become learned, to become aware," now often used in the expression "wise up,"^ but it can also be used (but seldom is anymore, although some sources say it is still used this way in some dialects in England) from the standpoint of the speaker saying, "I'll wise you up," meaning "to make someone wise/knowledgeable, to instruct someone." Then there's the noun (usually as a noun suffix) form, which is used more in modern times in compounds or expressions like "health wise," "income wise," "likewise." It developed the sense "manner or way of doing something," from the idea of "knowing how to do something from observation," thus "doing something in a particular way." The other Germanic languages have: German has the verb "wissen" (to  know), another verb "weisen" (to show/point out; the sense being to "show the way to go or do something")^^, the adjective "weise" (wise), and the noun "Weise" (manner, mode, style, way of doing); Low German has the adjective "wies" (wise), the noun "Wies" (manner, way of doing), the verb "weten" (to know, see note ^) and the verb "wiesen" (to show/point); Dutch has the adjective "wijs" (wise), the noun "wijs" (mode, manner), the verb "wijzen" (to point out), the verb "weten" (to know); West Frisian has the verb "witte" (to know), the verb (used more in compounds) "wize" (to show/point out), the adverb "wis" (certainly; that is, something known); Danish has the verb "vis" (to show), the adjective "vise" (wise), the verb "vide" (to know); Icelandic has the verb "vita" (to know), the adjective "vitur" (wise), the verb "vith" (to show); Norwegian has the verb "vet" (to know), the verb "vise" (to show); and Swedish has the verb "vet" (to know), the verb "visa" (to show, point out), the adjective "vis" (wise) and the noun "vis" (manner, way of doing).  

^ The same Old Germanic source also gave Old English the verb "witan," which meant "learn, come to understand from observation." The common German verb "wissen" is really the same word, but long ago, the high Germanic dialects that essentially evolved into modern German underwent sound changes, one of which was the tendency for the "t" sound to become "s" or double "s;" thus Old English "witan" and German "wissen." Another couple of examples: English "kettle," but German "Kessel" (all German nouns are capitalized) and English "hot," but German "heiss."
   
^ ^ There are a multitude of German verbs with various prefixes that use "weisen" as the main component of the compound; for instance, "beweisen," which means "to prove;" that is, "show something to be true." Again, "show through knowledge" is the notion behind the overall meaning.