I've actually come to the conclusion that the sole purpose of homework is to condition children into accepting that unpaid overtime and ridiculous hours and not even being able to escape work even in your own home are a normal things to expect in their future.
Explaining to children that they shouldn't worry about a career because the world will be completely unlivable in 15 years and that death will be a sweet relief from living in a nuclear wasteland is probably the hardest part of working at Build-A-Bear.
"Trickle down economics doesn't work, so let's try piñata economics. That's the one where we beat the billionaires until the hoarded wealth falls out."