What’s in a word? Perhaps very little, unless we’re talking about the word gap. No, I am not referring to that fashionable clothing department store with the commercials that give us those warm fuzzy feelings inside; I’m talking about the huge economic gap that has been taking this country by storm.
Many people represent something I like to call “Denialists.” No, you will not find it in the dictionary, but you will find them evenly dispersed throughout the land of America. Yup, can’t miss ‘em because they are the ones pretending that the middle class is secure and of a healthy number. They are the ones clinging to the new “American Dream” which is more disturbing to me than the original dream. Maybe you have heard of it? It is called, “Get rich, no matter what the cost!” This kind of mindset is generally located in that fun-loving guy or gal you meet and attempt to converse with about peace and community building ideas and their general response is a hearty laugh or an angry outburst. “How come the poor and middle-class deserve financial attention and us “richies” don’t?” might be something they would say. Of course, what a silly suggestion! Help those in need? I mean, look at where life has placed them! How about for once posing the latter thought with one slight variation: Look at where our system has placed them. Not all people in the low-to-middle-class range screwed up their lives by continuously making bad choices. Our system is a very difficult structure to break out of and to build upon it something more functional and satisfying.
It may be true that the top .1 percent in America is being taxed at a relatively high rate. However, the top .1 percent are making at minimum 1.3 million dollars a year. But, 1.3 million sliced in half is still 650,000 dollars a year. What a travesty that the “top dogs” must help us lowly workers. Sheesh, I’d be satisfied making $30,000 annually.
According to Princeton professor of economics Paul Krugman, “Middle-class Americans have been caught up in a rat race, not because they are greedy or foolish but because they’re trying to give their children a chance in an increasingly unequal society. And they are right to be worried: a bad start can ruin a child’s chances for life.” People in America’s middle-class are disappearing. However, it is not because our system is set up in such a quaint way that anyone can be bumped up to the upper class. It’s quite the opposite, actually. Here is the dirty, rotten truth: “The fact is that vast income inequality inevitably brings vast social inequality in its train. This social inequality isn’t just a matter of envy and insults. It has real, negative consequences for the way people live in this country” (Krugmen, “Confronting Inequality”). I know about some of these inequalities. I cannot marry in most states, adopt a child in most states or receive specific benefits from the government, at all. If I chose to be in the military, I could be easily discharged, without benefits, if someone found out I was gay or if I was honest about my sexual preferences (in which I would choose honesty). My presence, everyday, is questioned and on display anytime I do not walk “feminine enough” or if I want to hold my girlfriend’s hand. I have few ways, currently, of moving up in the system because of the inequalities between gays and straight people. Being fired from a summer job because of my orientation was my first wake up call, which shown light on the wall dividing heterosexuals from “other.”
In Europe, studies have been done throughout various countries, including America, to show the difficulty of moving from a lower class to an upper class (Krugmen). America, apparently, has one of the most tumultuous and resistant economic systems in the world. Parents often try to provide a good education for their kids by moving to a better school district, which is generally more expensive to live in. However, because they are “ranked” in the middle class, eventually face rising mortgages and are forced to file for bankruptcy, or worse, many of those people are forced to live on the streets. Sounds familiar, huh? Where is the money to ensure a better future for our kids? Why don’t we care more about these families who simply wanted to provide the best that they could for their children?
In our society, we pay our CEO’s roughly $1,000 an HOUR! Would you like to know what we pay the educators of our youth? They receive, in estimate, anywhere from $25,000 to $45,000 a year. At most, that’s around $123 a day. Hmmmm, something must be wrong with this set-up. We seem to punish those who are more intelligent and/or compassionate who choose to participate in life choices which involve helping people, such as our educators. We then continue this imbalanced cycle by rewarding jobs that are hollow and self-gratifying with incredibly high pay.
I like this guy a lot, so I’m going to quote him again. Paul Krugman also points out a curious “quirk” in our tax laws:
“Through a quirk in the way the tax laws have been interpreted, these [hedge fund] managers—some of whom make more than a billion dollars a year—get to have most of their earnings taxed at the capitol gains rate, which is only 15 percent, even as other high earners pay a 35 percent rate. The hedge fund tax loophole costs the government more than $6 billion dollars a year in lost revenue, roughly the cost of providing healthcare for three million children. Almost $2 billion of the total goes to just twenty-five individuals.”
What does this mean to the everyday individual? It means that a huge sum of money ($6 billion), which should be dispersed for more productive purposes, is being kept by big-wig managers who have little empathy for the “little people’s” lives that they are consequently stepping on. This is all because of the way our tax laws were written and the manipulating minds who want to wield the power of its man-made mistakes. I won’t even begin to talk about the Bush tax cuts that were passed, which only helped the top 1 percent. You can do that research on your own. This is, as Krugmen stated, “tax abuse.”
These are just a few of many economic imbalances in our country that contribute to the evident downward spiral our country has been facing. I could discuss this topic for pages more, but I will leave the responsibility to the reader to discover more about these inequalities in our system.
For my reader’s information, Paul Krugmen won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008, and has written many op-ed columns in the New York Times. He has recorded throughout the years some fascinating information about the way America’s economy functions and I recommend anyone daring enough to check out some of his articles. The quotes in this blog were taken from a chapter called “Confronting Inequality”, which was written in his book The Conscience of a Liberal.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The Inviolable War and it's Sacrilegious Foes
I found this rather “foggy” but approachable piece, titled “Anti-war Groups Launch ‘March of the Dead’ Protests," in a news blog by Mr. Donald Douglas. It was posted in American Power, a neo-conservative news and blog site, on October 5th of this year. Mr. Douglas utilizes his big boy words like “anarcho-communist” and “socialism” to degrade the anti-war protesters that marched on “the White House” on the “8th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan.” Rather they marched on it or in front of it has yet to be properly recorded by the neo-conservatives of today’s sophisticated society. I apologize, allow me to re-direct you back to the purpose of this sumptuous blog; In short, a bunch of people from several peace organizations protested against Guantanamo, Bagram, and the “war” in Afghanistan on Monday, the 5th of October. Sixty-one of them were arrested because they protested for the prisoners of this war to be released and for the war to stop. I personally think that there are more constructive routes to pursue other than protesting. Contrarily, I applaud people who attempt something to influence our society in the attempted direction of peace. In America, (and as a living being, if you ask me) it is our inexorable right to speak up about what we believe in.
It was only a few short weeks ago that thousands of conservatives gathered together to protest the bill (still in a neonate stage) for healthcare reformation. Some of the protesters who attended bore signs of hatred and racism which apparently were acceptable to the others present at the rally. I wonder; how long into the day did these angry protesters exercise their right to appear racist and unreasonable until a fellow conservative turned to them to say “dude, the swastika…so not cool.” Does anyone know how many of the people at this, mostly, conservative rally were arrested? I ask with sincerity as I have found only conflicting information.
Mr. Douglas describes the protest in extended detail when he refers to the people as “modern day Leninists” and “neo-communists.” I suppose some of them might be offended by these comments; however, others might be flattered by the suggestion of such a label. Our system is so old and fractured that many of us get little, if anything, from it. What is wrong with pondering other options? Why are we so quick to assume that those who seek a change in the system do not love their country? What if they love it more than those who are unwilling to budge? I have heard from a couple people from socialist countries who declare socialism is working out rather well and that the system here, in their opinion, is way behind. I cannot speak further about socialism as I lack the credentials, but I do feel that the poor in America are just getting poorer and most of the rich…well, you know the saying…are becoming greedier and less compassionate.
My partner is a sustainable designer who is currently working on a house for two people. The house is 3,500 square feet, including two toilets and two showers in their main bathroom, as well as a bathroom specifically for washing the dogs. It has very little ability to actually become a “green” house with all the material and space being used. My partner is in pain every time she looks at the blueprints, and considers in those moments changing her career once she can afford to do so. While Mr. X and Mrs. X. are pre-occupied with creating their ostentatious dream house, people from Katrina are homeless and running out of support from the government and the general population of society. Poor women, without a family and with no ability to support a child seeded by a rapist, are watching their rights being tossed around by society’s elite. To choose a healthy future for themselves (body, mind and emotions) is not really their choice anymore. And this dude wants to bash some people who just want some !@#%*$! peace! Our focus should be directed towards building a safer, more peaceful and inclusive way to live. Instead, we put our money and our rage towards physically and verbally violent outbursts (often against our own neighbors) which only perpetuates this very power-hungry, non-sustainable way of existing.
On that note, I will give Douglas’s pontificating paragraphs a tid-bit of credit. It is, in my opinion, not the most productive way to exercise one’s rights by dressing up and displaying strongly opinionated signs and performances. A person is bound to cross another’s political “line” using this method of expression. Although, I cannot dismiss the idea that “following orders” might not be a valid “excuse” for the Nazi’s who were present at Nuremburg. I do not have enough background information to extend anymore knowledge on this subject to my readers. But, you know what they say when you are in a war; “It’s either kill or be killed,” either by the enemy or by your own higher-ranking officers. That’s why I feel that people should try to avoid joining a military force in the first place, if they can. Too much energy and resource is spent in the endeavor of war. We need to balance it out with some amount of peace.
I found Mr. Douglas’s commentary to be whimsically hypocritical and very narrow-minded. His writing style and views are clearly intended for the right-leaning extremists of society. Again, another politically opinionated individual functioning from fear and driven by the anger germinated within that fear. I could find little credibility on this man, except that it is his blog and someone has created an opposing blog called American Nihilist in retaliation of Douglas’s blog. I found this commentary equally entertaining with quite a bit of dirty language in here, too, just of a different sort. In some ways this blog is less dirty than Mr. D’s, but you need to dig deep (and I mean DEEP) into the “pool of moral scruples” within yourself to get past the obscenity of it. That previous suggestion should be a dare.
Back to Mr. Douglas; his foundation of fact is as hollow and non-compelling as his labeling skills. He seems to box anyone who desires peace as a socialist, communist, neo-communist or anarchist. As a side note, I felt the blight of his spelling and grammar errors to be “giggle” worthy. Of course, the most laughable part of the piece is the very last sentence when he states that he’ll “take these nihilists more seriously when they start burning Obama in effigy.” I took it upon myself to look up the definition of an effigy;
“effigy: n., pl. –gies.- a statue or other image; often a crude representation (for hanging or burning) of a despised person” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, 1995 p139).
Hmmmm, I sense some violent extremism here. But, please, breathe in my opinion with skepticism. After all, I am gay and some would say that my “un-natural, peace-loving” self is in league with “the Anti-Christ.” Oh, and I don’t shave either. Does this make me a smelly, pot-smoking slacker? I will let you decide and then the rest of the country can vote on it on my–unequal–behalf.
It was only a few short weeks ago that thousands of conservatives gathered together to protest the bill (still in a neonate stage) for healthcare reformation. Some of the protesters who attended bore signs of hatred and racism which apparently were acceptable to the others present at the rally. I wonder; how long into the day did these angry protesters exercise their right to appear racist and unreasonable until a fellow conservative turned to them to say “dude, the swastika…so not cool.” Does anyone know how many of the people at this, mostly, conservative rally were arrested? I ask with sincerity as I have found only conflicting information.
Mr. Douglas describes the protest in extended detail when he refers to the people as “modern day Leninists” and “neo-communists.” I suppose some of them might be offended by these comments; however, others might be flattered by the suggestion of such a label. Our system is so old and fractured that many of us get little, if anything, from it. What is wrong with pondering other options? Why are we so quick to assume that those who seek a change in the system do not love their country? What if they love it more than those who are unwilling to budge? I have heard from a couple people from socialist countries who declare socialism is working out rather well and that the system here, in their opinion, is way behind. I cannot speak further about socialism as I lack the credentials, but I do feel that the poor in America are just getting poorer and most of the rich…well, you know the saying…are becoming greedier and less compassionate.
My partner is a sustainable designer who is currently working on a house for two people. The house is 3,500 square feet, including two toilets and two showers in their main bathroom, as well as a bathroom specifically for washing the dogs. It has very little ability to actually become a “green” house with all the material and space being used. My partner is in pain every time she looks at the blueprints, and considers in those moments changing her career once she can afford to do so. While Mr. X and Mrs. X. are pre-occupied with creating their ostentatious dream house, people from Katrina are homeless and running out of support from the government and the general population of society. Poor women, without a family and with no ability to support a child seeded by a rapist, are watching their rights being tossed around by society’s elite. To choose a healthy future for themselves (body, mind and emotions) is not really their choice anymore. And this dude wants to bash some people who just want some !@#%*$! peace! Our focus should be directed towards building a safer, more peaceful and inclusive way to live. Instead, we put our money and our rage towards physically and verbally violent outbursts (often against our own neighbors) which only perpetuates this very power-hungry, non-sustainable way of existing.
On that note, I will give Douglas’s pontificating paragraphs a tid-bit of credit. It is, in my opinion, not the most productive way to exercise one’s rights by dressing up and displaying strongly opinionated signs and performances. A person is bound to cross another’s political “line” using this method of expression. Although, I cannot dismiss the idea that “following orders” might not be a valid “excuse” for the Nazi’s who were present at Nuremburg. I do not have enough background information to extend anymore knowledge on this subject to my readers. But, you know what they say when you are in a war; “It’s either kill or be killed,” either by the enemy or by your own higher-ranking officers. That’s why I feel that people should try to avoid joining a military force in the first place, if they can. Too much energy and resource is spent in the endeavor of war. We need to balance it out with some amount of peace.
I found Mr. Douglas’s commentary to be whimsically hypocritical and very narrow-minded. His writing style and views are clearly intended for the right-leaning extremists of society. Again, another politically opinionated individual functioning from fear and driven by the anger germinated within that fear. I could find little credibility on this man, except that it is his blog and someone has created an opposing blog called American Nihilist in retaliation of Douglas’s blog. I found this commentary equally entertaining with quite a bit of dirty language in here, too, just of a different sort. In some ways this blog is less dirty than Mr. D’s, but you need to dig deep (and I mean DEEP) into the “pool of moral scruples” within yourself to get past the obscenity of it. That previous suggestion should be a dare.
Back to Mr. Douglas; his foundation of fact is as hollow and non-compelling as his labeling skills. He seems to box anyone who desires peace as a socialist, communist, neo-communist or anarchist. As a side note, I felt the blight of his spelling and grammar errors to be “giggle” worthy. Of course, the most laughable part of the piece is the very last sentence when he states that he’ll “take these nihilists more seriously when they start burning Obama in effigy.” I took it upon myself to look up the definition of an effigy;
“effigy: n., pl. –gies.- a statue or other image; often a crude representation (for hanging or burning) of a despised person” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, 1995 p139).
Hmmmm, I sense some violent extremism here. But, please, breathe in my opinion with skepticism. After all, I am gay and some would say that my “un-natural, peace-loving” self is in league with “the Anti-Christ.” Oh, and I don’t shave either. Does this make me a smelly, pot-smoking slacker? I will let you decide and then the rest of the country can vote on it on my–unequal–behalf.
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