Why does this plant close and why are they moving elsewhere? That's what everyone should be asking themselves.
$1 an hour pay, no unions, if unions try to start you hire muscle to kill them or beat them and no one cares, no work safety rules, house them in a decrepit building with no fire escapes, sprinkler so a fire or building collapse kills them all, poison the workers with industrial chemicals and early deaths no problem, dump your waste untreated into the river out back, rely on energy from unscrubbed coal that results in pollution so thick you can't see 1/4 mile on a clear day. Anything I'm missing?
There isn't much you can do. The glory years are over and the world has become more competitive. That's just the way it is.
But our GDP per capita keeps going up and up. There isn't any reason but the rules of the game that those increases must go to the top sliver, with nothing trickling down to the bottom. And I can't imagine it's sustainable. Last time we had inequality this large and growing, we had the union movements, people protesting in the streets, violent confrontations with company supporting police and our military, etc.
Some countries, and people, can adapt to the modern world while others cannot, and governments are limited in what they can do. The US has always prided itself on hard work and initiative but that idea now appears old-fashioned and a more collective society has emerged, encouraged by politicians who say they can offer programs in order to turn things around. Many people still believe that in fact and ask themselves why the government doesn't do something.
There isn't any evidence Americans aren't working hard. We work more hours per week, and have fewer vacation days and sick days than any other industrialized country. And there isn't any evidence of less "initiative" - what kind of "initiative" did it take to work the 90% of jobs that paid wages to a single earner sufficient to raise a family a few decades ago and living standards should have risen since then with the rise in productivity and GDP per capita?
The idea has always been to work your way up or be satisfied with your position in life and find happiness in other areas. There is nothing demeaning in stocking shelves anyway. Honest work is often its own reward.
There isn't anything demeaning about the work, a person just cannot afford food, shelter, healthcare on the wages paid. That's the point. If the job doesn't pay enough for that, then society (taxpayers) will kick in the remainder, somehow.
That's largely why family, relationships, and good planning are important. Realizing you're largely on your own in this world and to take responsibility for your life is the first step toward genuine freedom. I, like many others, have profited greatly from 'the kindness of strangers' and have given kindness in return. The government often ruins those human relationships.
It's nice but not actually an answer. By definition the 90% of waitresses not extraordinary have kids that get sick. What happens when they do get sick? Wish for charities to emerge to help them out? And in the meantime what do they do with their sick child or their own diabetes, or heart disease?