When people are worried about keeping their jobs, companies take advantage by holding back raises and cutting benefits. "Tough times" = time to improve profits at your expense.
Exactly. A lot of benefits were stripped in 2008, but the average employee has been getting the short end of the stick as far as benefits are concerned for the past 30 years.
That is what you get with free markets, companies don't care about you, you're just a tool to them. The system should be set up to work FOR us, not us working for the system.
And don't be fooled, all the posters you see in here hating on public employees pension plans, excellent health care, retirement at a reasonable age, UNIONS, and job security are purely jealous that the private sector has lost out on all these advantages slowly over the years. We should be looking to get the private sector back up to that level, not drag them down.