Poverty: America's Hidden Shame
(Revised 11-11-2009)
The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. That phrase has been said so many times it became a worn-out cliche, and many Americans have simply ignored the problem. Very few politicians have talked about it in America, and most people just think nothing can be done about it. So poverty, along with so many other political-economic problems, has just gotten worse and worse, particularly during the last 28 years, and especially during the last eight years.
Even worse, when a good, conscientious, influential person has brought the subject up as a political issue, advocating for the working poor, the poor, the disadvantaged, and the least of our brethren, spokesmen for the wealthiest few have immediately accused the good person of "trying to start class warfare."
In fact, since 1980 the right-wing Republican "Neo-Conservatives" have been very successful using such tactics. They’ve even slandered and denigrated good people, and tried to dismiss them as "tax and spend liberals" — a deceptive tactic designed to hide the facts about the national debt and who really benefits from their tax cuts, and, even worse, to try to make "liberal" a dirty word.
I’ve always felt it is amazing that they’ve gotten away with that. After all, the true meaning of the word "liberal" means: "Favorable to progress or reform; advocating individual freedom of action and expression; advocating representational government as opposed to aristocracies or monarchies; advocating freedom from bigotry and prejudice; open-minded and tolerant; characterized by generosity," etc.
These are true spiritual values that all fair people of conscience aspire to, including true Christians. And yet, ironically, most right-wing Republican Neo-Conservatives aggressively and proudly claim to be the "true" Christians.
It has astounded me that they are either so deluded, or so dishonest and deceptive. For example, during the waning weeks of the 2008 presidential campaign, Neo-Conservative Republicans accused Barack Obama of wanting to "redistribute the wealth by taking money out of your pocket and giving it to someone else." But the truth is that they, and all politicians driven or influenced by Reaganism and Bushism have been borrowing and spending, and redistributing the wealth of the nation "up" to the wealthiest few for the last 28 years, and especially during the last eight years during the Bush presidency. And, in stark contrast, Obama is at least moving toward a little more fair tax and economic policies that are a little more in the interests of all the people.
Yet, right-wing Neo-Conservatives have claimed that the American political-economic system has been fair. They have claimed that the rest of us do not get poorer because the richest few get even richer. Many of them have even claimed that their wealth is a "reward from God." Moreover, many of them have claimed that all wealthy people deserve what they have, that the poor simply deserve their lot, and that poverty is an inevitable, natural condition created by the poor themselves.
I will show you why none of that is true, because it's high time to acknowledge that the huge and increasing income gap and income disparity is simply not fair, nor is it "natural." And the inequitable distribution of wealth is absolutely not fair or natural, despite what those who profit from it have claimed.
For example, it absolutely not fair or natural that 90 percent of the total wealth of the nation is pilfered, hoarded and controlled by the wealthiest few, and most of that by the wealthiest one percent of the population.
It is not fair or natural that many Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of large American corporations are enabled to rake in tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
Just for example, here are the average yearly payouts raked in by the CEOs of the financial companies that have been in the headlines recently, based on an average of what they got in 2005, ‘06 and ‘07: Lehman Brothers CEO averaged $79.3 million per year; Morgan Stanley CEO averaged $18.2 million; Goldman Sachs CEO averaged $83.5 million; Bear Stearns CEO averaged $18.4 million; Merrill Lynch CEO averaged $80.5 million; Washington Mutual CEO averaged $13.3 million; AIG CEO averaged $15.4 million; Fannie Mae CEO averaged $5 million; Freddie Mac CEO averaged $5.3 million. And that was their "reward" for putting their companies in the terrible situation they are in.
Even worse, the ten highest CEO incomes in 2008 were as follows: (1) Blackstone Group LP CEO: $702.4 Million; (2) Oracle Corporation CEO: $556.9 Million; (3) Occidental Petroleum Corporation CEO: $222.6 Million; (4) Hess Petroleum Corporation CEO: $159.5 Million; (5) Ultra Petroleum Corporation CEO: $116.9 Million; (6) Chesapeake Energy Corporation CEO: $114.3 Million; (7) XTO Energy Inc. CEO: $103.5 Million; (8) EOG Petroleum Resources Inc. CEO: $90.4 Million; (9) Nabors Petroleum Industries CEO: $79.3 Million; (10) Abercrombie & Fitch CEO: $71.7 Million. And that’s just the top ten CEOs.
It is not fair or natural that the wealthiest few live so very luxuriously and even palatially, while the working poor who work full time and sometimes have to take two jobs to try to support their families, cannot afford some of the most basic necessities of life, like sufficient food, housing, medicine, utilities, transportation, etc.
It is not fair or natural that the disabled and elderly have to live on such meager fixed incomes that they are even less able to afford the most basic necessities of life.
It is not fair or natural that there are now almost 17 million Americans out of work and are looking for work but can’t find a job, and that the number of them is rising rapidly.
It's not fair that the jobless can’t find a job even though there is much work that needs to be done. It’s not fair that the federal, state and city governments claim they cannot "afford" to put people to work, when it is because they’ve cut taxes so much for the wealthiest few and their large corporations that governments don’t have enough revenue to do what needs to be done.
It is not fair or natural that even according to the obsolete and far too low "official" government poverty standard, usually there are at least 14 million American children live in poverty. It is not fair that even according to the inaccurate and underestimated government poverty reports, 78 percent of those 14 million poor children live in families with at least one parent working full time! And it is especially not fair that the actual numbers are far higher than that.
It is not fair or natural that about 20 percent of the population (now about 60,000,000 people) live below the poverty line, which has pretty much been true even since the early 1960s, when that fact was first pointed out in Michael Harrington’s book, The Other America. That 20 percent figure has remained incredibly steady ever since. It has fluctuated somewhat, but it has gotten even worse since the so-called "Welfare Reform" established by the Republicans in 1996. Consequently, the "official" government statistics now don’t reflect how bad the situation actually is, because that legislation not only made things worse but also prevented us from being able to accurately know how bad it is.
Of course, right-wing conservatives will claim I am wrong about percentages and figures. But that’s merely defensiveness and denial, and it is silly to quibble over numbers that go up and down occasionally. Besides, even though government statistics are skewed, they still reveal part of the reality.
According to a federal report released on July 10, 2009, by the forum on child and family statistics, even before the economic crisis the number of American children living in poverty and facing the threat of hunger was growing. According to the report, 18 percent of all children 17 and younger were living in poverty in 2007, up from 17 percent in 2006. The percentage of children living in poverty in spite of having at least one parent working full time was 77 percent in 2007, dropping only one point from 78 percent in 2006. Those living in households where parents described children as being hungry, having skipped a meal or having gone without eating for an entire day increased from 2006 to 2007, the report revealed. And, since the statistics predate the current economic downturn, this forecasts even harder times for the tens of millions of American children who "officially" live in poverty.
The reality is that the actual number of people living in poverty has increased, and the median family income has decreased by tens of thousands, while the wealthiest few have gotten incredibly wealthier under the Reaganites and the Bush Regime.
The reality is that we can and do have a very good idea of how bad the situation actually is, simply by looking at how badly needed all the homeless shelters, food banks, soup lines and toy drives are; how many people don’t have health insurance or are under insured; how many people suffer from food insecurity; how many people are cold and hungry; and how many people live hand-to-mouth and are one paycheck or one catastrophic event away from financial disaster, poverty, hunger, and homelessness.
We can also look at how growing numbers of the increasing working poor population have been forced out of their houses and have to live in campers and cheap used motor homes and trailers, because even though they work full time, they cannot afford to keep a decent roof over their heads, enough food on the table, or enough heat to keep warm. And, if we ask all the people who help or try to help all the people who need help, we really know how bad the situation is. It is actually very easy to see what’s really going on, unless you just look the other way.
Furthermore, if you also consider all the unfair price gouging by oil companies, health insurance companies, monopolistic food production companies, prescription drug companies, credit card companies, "loan shark" payday loan companies, and other predatory loan companies and banks, and all the excess profit they are raking in unfairly from people (most of whom really cannot afford it), then you get a bigger picture of the unfairness and inequity.
By the way, speaking of predatory lenders, you should know that back in February 2008 a prominent whistle blower published an article in the Washington Post, titled Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers.
The article begins with this statement: "Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets. [But] Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers."
The article was written in February 2008 by Eliot Spitzer, then-Governor of New York. A month later, Spitzer was targeted by Bush’s federal prosecutors for illegal misdemeanor private behavior.
Professionally, however, Spitzer was savvy, and correct. The Bush Regime and most other right-wing Reaganite Republicans, with the acquiescence of some Democrats, have not only looked the other way. Over the last 28 years they have enabled predatory lenders and given them free licence to put their own excessive profits ahead of customers’ financial security, and ahead of public good. And while Republicans blame the sub-prime mortgage crisis on "irresponsible" home buyer-borrowers for "getting in over their head," we should understand where the blame lies. The fault lies in deregulation and lack of proper government regulation and oversight, which enabled predatory lenders to misrepresent the terms of loans, make loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, make loans with tempting but deceptive interest rates that were later raised way too high, sneaking in undisclosed charges and fees, and even paying illegal kickbacks.
By the way, in my view, banks and predatory lenders do not deserve to continue operating. I believe banks and lending institutions should be publically owned and non-profit, such as North Dakota’s state bank. It contains all the state's funds, and was established by the state legislature to free individuals, farmers and small businessmen from the control of profit-making bankers and railroad companies. The bank is very successful, and even today North Dakota is running its biggest surplus in history. That is in stark contrast to many irresponsible states that refuse to balance their budgets by bringing in enough revenue (preferring to allow the wealthy and large corporations avoid paying their fair share of taxes). And it is in contrast to many other banks which are strictly for profit and corrupt, as has become increasingly obvious.
The same kind of corruption and unfairness has been rampant in the health insurance industry (which I will reveal below), and in many other industries that have essentially been ripping us off.
The point of all this is that none of the things I’ve mentioned above about economic realities are fair or natural, and there are many other things going on that are just as unfair. And there is just no way that anyone can honestly and truthfully claim otherwise.
I tell you truly, the problem is systemic. It is actually the result of deliberate, legislated, legalized inequity and injustice. It is cold-heartedly planned and calculated, and corrupt legislators have enabled corrupt business and corporate executives who have bribed the corrupt legislators.
It is high time we deal with it, and stop it. After all, between 1998 and 2008, the following industries spent this much on lobbying and influencing members of Congress: Pharmaceuticals $1.5 Billion; Insurance $1.1 Billion; Electric Utilities $1 Billion; Computer & Software Companies $820 Million; Business Associations $745 Million; Real Estate Brokers $696 Million; Oil & Gas Companies $687 Million. That is NOT "democracy at work," nor is it "petitioning the government for redress of grievances," as the lobbyists falsely claim. It’s bribery. A real petition has nothing to do with money or gifts or favors. A petition is a formally drawn written request signed by concerned parties. So let’s get real, and stop the bribery and corruption.
Don't get me wrong, though. I am not saying that all the people responsible for the unfairness and inequity are "evil" people. I believe that in most cases they don’t even realize they have been corrupted, and they may actually believe they are doing the right thing for the country. They may actually believe that if the rich get richer it will benefit everyone. But they are simply wrong about that, and they believe in a right-wing partisan political ideology that was originated to serve the interests of the wealthy few, and over time it has been carefully crafted to appear as if it's the "right" way for patriotic, religious Americans to conduct their political and private business affairs.
Furthermore, I am not saying there's anything wrong with being wealthy if you deserve it. There are some people who very much deserve to be reasonably wealthy, and there is nothing wrong with that. Those who are hard working deserve to be amply rewarded for their hard work, and those who are hard working and highly talented and skilled deserve to be richly rewarded.
However, many of the wealthiest few are really not deserving of the immense wealth they've managed to amass, and no one deserves to be as absurdly and excessively wealthy as some of the wealthiest few are now. The fact is that they have benefitted from and taken advantage of a very unfair, inequitable political-economic system that serves and caters to the wealthy few, at the expense of the majority, the environment, the infrastructure, and everything else.
The trouble is, right-wing conservative Republican politicians have persistently and dishonestly claimed otherwise. Even worse, hypocritical right-wing conservatives who claim and pretend to be "Christian" leaders have persistently colluded with them, and pushed and sold the absurd idea that great wealth is a reward from God, and that the poor deserve their lot because they don't work hard enough and don’t have true faith in God.
Perhaps even worse than that, some right-wing conservative Republican organizations have even presented so-called "research" that is misleadingly designed to "prove" that poverty doesn't even exist. For example, they point out that many low income families can afford television sets and other "luxury" items, and they conclude that therefore these families are not poor. But those right-wing conservatives stoop very low to try to deceive people with that kind of propaganda, and they simply ignore or deny that there are very good reasons why so many people are driven to crime, why so many children are hungry and malnourished, and why food banks and soup lines and food stamps and toy drives and homeless shelters are so badly needed by so many people.
Unfortunately, cold-hearted right-wing conservatives have succeeded in fooling a whole lot of gullible, uninformed or misinformed people, who have bought their lies and consider them as truth. That's why so many people mistakenly think poverty is either inevitable or non-existent. And, if they are faced with evidence of it, as most of us increasingly are, they just look the other way.
Remember, Jesus of Nazareth said that this son of man would say: "I was hungry, but you gave me no food. I was thirsty, but you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, but you did not take me in. I was naked, but you did not clothe me. I was sick, and in prison, but you id not visit me. Then they shall ask him, saying, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not care about you?" (Matthew 25:42-44) And Jesus said this son of man shall answer, saying: "As you do unto the least of our brethren, so you do unto me."
Most Christians do not understand that Jesus was not talking about himself. He said that knowing what would be the case right now, at the end of the age. Moreover, he provided full clarification of who this son of man would be when he said: "I tell you the truth; It is to your advantage that I go away: for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in me [or my teachings]; of righteousness, because I go to our Father [to heaven] and you see me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself [but serve only as messenger]; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he declare, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall declare it to you." (John 16:7-15)
In the Spirit of truth I deliver that prophesied message, because I am the son of man who has first been rejected by his generation and suffered many things. And the message is directed especially at America, not only because it is the most influential and most powerful nation in the world, but because under Reaganism and Bushism (which was an expanded continuation of Reaganism), it most represented the symbolic "Babylon" of prophecy. And I tell you truly that we must now face the fact that even the American political-economic system is unfair and inequitable, and the conditions under which so many people have to live because of it are not inevitable, natural conditions.
It is time to expose the right-wing conservative political claims about economic "realities" as some of the biggest lies ever told. Thank God, enough people have realized that to be able to elect a good, liberal, progressive president, but we must ensure that all Americans now understand the truth. Because we, the people, can do something about it. In fact, we can eliminate hunger, poverty, and homelessness if we finally use the common wealth for the common good.
First, however, everyone needs to know the full story about the cause and the impact of poverty, because unless we all are aware of what the problem is, we cannot fix it. I've told you about some of the unfairness, but I need to tell you much more.
Of course, in America we all know that the rich have gotten much richer while the poor have gotten much poorer. We all know that the highest incomes have kept getting higher while the lowest incomes have kept getting lower, and low and even middle incomes now have far less buying power. We know the middle class has shrunk and is still shrinking, and more and more people are falling into the working poor population. But there is much that most Americans do not know, or do not want to face.
In America there are tens of millions of people working full time but are still living in poverty because their income is simply not adequate and they do not receive a living wage. Far more than half of all American citizens live hand-to-mouth, and are in debt and one or two paychecks away from financial disaster.
Increasing numbers of people are becoming worse off financially, while most of the wealth has increasingly been distributed to and hoarded by a relative few. Consequently, about 35 million Americans suffer from "food insecurity," which means that they often don't have enough money or resources to get sufficient good food. Twenty-four million of them suffer from "low food insecurity," which means they go hungry or are at-risk of going hungry most of the time. And this is according to government reports that are based on grossly outdated formulas for determining poverty, so the actual numbers are far greater than that.
About 40 million Americans cannot afford health insurance. Most high school graduates cannot afford to go to college, and most of those who do make it to college are forced to depend on student loans and go deeply and hopelessly in debt because they have to borrow a lot of money at high interest to go to and graduate from college. Most newlyweds and working poor families cannot afford to buy a home and have to pay absurdly high rents, and face skyrocketing costs for food, utilities, medicine, health care, insurance, etc.
Many severely disabled Americans are denied Social Security Disability benefits, even if and when their eligibility is questionable. In fact, this has become so unfair due to the policies of right-wing Reaganites that there are many American law firms that make a good living by dedicating themselves solely to winning appeals for disabled Americans who have been unfairly denied Social Security Disability benefits. But, in spite of that, the Social Security Administration officials have been ordered to maintain their policies because most disabled people who've been unfairly denied benefits do not realize it, and they accept the denial and suffer in silence.
Indeed, most Americans are suffering in one way or another from the consequences of Reaganism (which was expanded by Bushism). The disabled or dislocated or dispossessed or downtrodden poor and the working poor suffer especially, because the attitude of the New Right Republican Neo-Conservatives amounts to "It's every man for himself." They claim we should be "self-reliant" and "not depend on government." That, however, is a ruse, and it has allowed them to increasingly shirk their responsibilities and pay far less than their fair share of taxes. Consequently, the majority of people suffer in one way or another, while the wealthiest few live palatially in lavish luxury because they rake in, hold and control most of the wealth.
The trouble is not merely that many people have had the wool pulled over their eyes and been led to believe it's an inevitable and natural situation. It's more than that. We have also been kept in the dark about the real cause and impact of the injustice and inequity.
For instance, most people do not know that in America the wealthiest ten percent of the U.S. population -- about 30 million people -- hold 90 percent of all the stocks.
Most people do not know that in America the wealthiest one percent (about 3 million people) hold about 90 percent of the total wealth of the nation, and about half of all the stocks.
Most people do not know that in America the wealthiest one percent have also provided 80 percent of all financial contributions to the campaigns of politicians in both parties, and thus they have been able to wield a considerable amount of control over the country. And the situation got even worse during the last 28 years, because under Reaganism and Reaganomics (which Clinton couldn't stop and Bush continued and expanded), the distribution of wealth has been increasingly flowing to those who were already the wealthiest.
Now we all have to understand how and why this situation was created, and look at it with a historical perspective. Please forgive me, but I think many Americans would benefit from being aware of a little important history.
Money has always ruled, and laws have always enabled the wealthy to use their wealth to gain more wealth. That tradition carried over from Europe, and it flourished in America even though it was, in many cases, unfair.
By the early 20th Century (1900s) it had become absurdly unfair in America. There were no labor unions, and the wealthiest few ruled completely, and often ruthlessly. When the Industrial Revolution ramped up, some people got very wealthy, especially those who owned and operated businesses in the oil/gas and motor vehicle industry. And they brutally put down any movements trying to organize workers or protest the unfairness.
The very wealthiest few flaunted their wealth and lived like European aristocracy, with live-in servants, maids, chauffeurs and gardeners. They became very corrupt, and they abused the power that their great wealth gave them. Then, inevitably, their indulgences, corruption, excesses and carelessness contributed to the conditions that led to the stock market crash of 1929, and to the worst and longest depression America has ever been through. (See the page on Little Known American History.)
Fortunately, the actions and the New Deal of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s improved the situation considerably for several decades. Workers were able to organize and establish some rights. Thus the American "middle class" grew very large and strong, and America, as a whole, became great.
But, when the New Right (also called the Neo-Conservative Movement) came to power in 1980 with Republican President Ronald Reagan, things started to get considerably worse again. Even when Democratic President Bill Clinton was in office in the 1990s he could not stop Reaganism, because too many Americans simply did not realize that Reagan was actually a right-wing demagogue who thumped his bible, waved his flag and rattled his sword in order to appeal to the pride, prejudices and egotism of many American nationalists. Many Americans also did not realize that Reagan actually served the wealthiest few at the expense of the majority, the environment, the infrastructure, and everything else. He served the wealthiest few, and pretended to serve all.
That's why Reaganite (New Right, Neo-Conservative) Republicans were still able to control Congress while President Clinton was in office, and it is why all the political and corporate corruption increased and grew so rampant. That’s why it got so bad that some of the political and corporate corruption became unavoidably apparent in 1990s, and while some corporate executives go very much richer, many people lost a lot of money.
Then, when Reaganite Republican George W. Bush gained presidential power by hook and by crook in 2000, the situation got drastically worse. And I'll tell you how and why.
Consider that in 1982 before Reaganism took hold, there were only 13 billionaires in America, but by 2004 there were 313, and the ten wealthiest of those 313 American billionaires managed to have raked in a total of $209 Billion ($209,000,000,000) just among the ten of them. And now there are more than a THOUSAND billionaires in America, and the ten wealthiest have more than $288 Billion among them.
Consider that now, according to the Federal Reserve, 49,000 U.S. households now have between $50 million and $500 million in net worth, and another 125,000 households have between $25 million and $50 million. Considering that the population of the U.S. is now about 300 Million people, that is a very few who are really rich.
Consider that in March 2006 Forbes Magazine reported that there were then a record 793 multi-billionaires in the world. Twenty years ago there were only 140, so clearly the rich are getting much richer, worldwide. Incredibly richer. The average net worth of the 793 billionaires in 2004 was $3.3 billion, and they were able to accumulate a total of $2.6 Trillion ($2,600,000,000,000) among them, which is 18 percent more than just one year before, and the numbers just keep getting higher and higher, year by year. The right-wing propaganda that Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher touted are largely responsible for that, because it was continued and expanded by many politicians who wanted to gain the favor of the wealthy.
And, by the way, even though the super wealthy few can well afford to be charitable, the amount "given" in charitable donations is essentially gotten back in savings on the "write off" from their tax liability. So, while the money from their charitable donations and foundation grants certainly does a lot of good, it means that the wealthy "donors" are enabled to not pay anywhere near their fair share of taxes. That’s why they make charitable donations and establish charitable foundations. There are now over 100,000 private foundations registered with the IRS, and foundations donate about $50 Billion a year, even though their total assets are about Trillion dollars. And with the increasing number of multi-millionaires and multi-billionaires, those numbers keep growing.
I mention that because most of that money would go into the national treasury if our charitable contribution laws were fair, reasonable and designed to serve the public and the common good. But, as it is, all that money is deducted from the tax liabilities of the wealthiest people, so they essentially get their money back. What’s worse, we, the people, don’t get to decide where the "donated" money goes, or to whom. Under this system, the wealthiest few get to decide what cause or charity or program or institution is worthy, and what is not. And, while many charitable contributions do go to worthy causes and to things that benefit the public, that is certainly not always the case. In some cases the money is distributed out of self-interest or in the interest of corporate share holders.
Even worse, besides the "government welfare for the rich" they receive in tax deductions, loopholes and shelters, the politicians who serve their interests have cut their taxes further and further. Thus the revenue of the national treasury is FAR LESS than it should be and could be. Thus, in effect, the wealthy aren’t losing or giving money away, while our national treasury and our collective ability to afford what our nation needs is drastically diminished.
By the way, I discussed this issue fully in my second book and explained why charitable foundations also enable the wealthy to determine where and how large amounts of money are spent — money that rightfully should go into the national treasury where it could go where it’s most needed, for education and human services, for investment in people and the infrastructure — money that is instead used at the whim of the wealthy. That is not how it should work, because we should ensure that the common wealth is used for the common good. That is, we should ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes so our government can do what good government should do -- ensure domestic tranquility; establish justice; keep the peace; promote the general welfare; provide for public safety, health, education and child care; provide for the common defense; build and maintain our infrastructure; and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
As it is, the U.S. Government really does only one of those things adequately, which is to have mighty police and military forces to protect and gain more wealth for the wealthiest few. But, in far too many cases justice does not prevail, domestic tranquility is not ensured, our infrastructure is not maintained properly, the general welfare is not promoted, many cannot afford health care or higher education or child care, and the blessings of liberty are not enjoyed by all.
You should know that way back in 1948 The United Nations adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 25 states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."
Ironically, the U.S. is one of the biggest failures in the world in that regard. In fact, America has been getting worse in that regard since 1981 because of Reaganism. It has been devastating to the working poor. It has shrunk the middle class. And it has enabled the wealthiest few to have 95 percent of the wealth of the nation to actually "trickled" UP to them, even though they were already excessively wealthy. After all, there were forty-four new American billionaires during the last year, and more this year, which means that more than half of all the billionaires in the world are Americans.
But no wonder! Just in the decade of the 1990s the Reaganite Republican controlled Congress enabled or allowed the income of corporate Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to rise 481 percent! The combined yearly income of America's five highest paid CEOs in 1999 was a staggering $1.2 Billion, and since then the increases have been even greater and more rapid, as I mentioned above.
To show you the rate of increase, back in 1980 the average CEO of a major American corporation was paid 42 times more than an average American worker. By 1990, American CEOs were paid 85 times more than workers. By 1999 (after Congress was controlled by Republicans for just five years), CEOs were paid 476 times more than the average worker. Now, many of them are paid even more, and it now amounts to over 500 times more than the average worker and about a thousand times more than their lowest paid employees, and sometimes much more. And it's only getting worse. In 2005 CEO pay rose 22 percent more, while the average worker's pay rose only 3 percent, and that trend has continued.
This is in stark contrast to the situation in other countries. For example, German CEOs make only 13 times what the average manufacturing employee makes. In Japan, CEOs make only 11 times more. Even in England, where class distinctions are sharp, CEOs are paid just 35 times more. It might make sense that the highest paid executives be paid ten times more, but there is no reason whatsoever for American CEOs raking in 500 times more than the average worker and a thousand times more than their lowest paid employees. That is absurdly unfair and unconscionable. There is absolutely no excuse for it.
Speaking of comparing the U.S. to other places, Americans should know that in Western Europe workers don't even have to collectively bargain for a lot of worker benefits. Whether they belong in a union or not, most Western European workers get from four to six weeks of paid vacation per year, free prenatal care, long maternity leaves, longer parental leave, free child care, free health care, and much longer sick leave than in America. Furthermore, such benefits are guaranteed by the government. They are not something that had to be fought for by labor unions. Of course, they pay taxes accordingly, but fairly and willingly. The wealthy willingly pay about 50 percent of their income in taxes, because they understand that their society is far better off because of it, and the people get what they pay for.
That is in stark contrast to the wealthiest few in America, who wind up paying about seven percent of their annual income in taxes, due to all the tax breaks and tax cuts they’ve been given. The consequence of Reaganism and Reaganomics is that Americans generally don't get what we pay for because all the cream is scraped off the top by the wealthy few who don’t pay their fair share.
Corrupt politicians and their inequitable and unfair laws have enabled American businesses and corporations to indulge in price gouging and cut workers benefits, health insurance, and even pensions. America is going way backwards, while many other countries in the world are going forward because they realize that the better workers are treated, the better off everyone is.
Yet, in spite of that, George W. Bush berated the European models, and said that America "doesn't want to be like Europe." Obviously, this is just one more way that he served the interests of the wealthiest few Americans. And we’ve become painfully aware of the consequences.
During the eight years of the Bush Regime, the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex that President Eisenhower warned us about added 4 Trillion dollars to the national debt because of their self-serving spending. Americans now pay four times more on military activities than we did before Bush gained power, and that is largely because of Bush’s privatization of warfare for the benefit of corporate military contractors.
The health care of Americans depends on profit-making insurance companies who’ve been enabled to determine what health care we receive. The price of prescription drugs depends on profit-making pharmaceutical companies that overcharge us to such an extent that many people cannot afford medicine that could save their lives. Our trade policies are determined by multinational mega-corporations that have shipped many of our jobs to other countries where they can exploit cheap labor. We pay three times more for gasoline and home heating oil. We pay twice what we paid for health care. And millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, their health care, their pensions.
A big part of the problem, as I've mentioned, has to do with the fact that 80 percent of all political financial contributions have been made by the wealthiest one percent of the population to politicians in both political parties. Some Democrats are just as culpable as Republicans, because the politicians in turn created or expanded business-friendly legislation, and they also cut taxes for the wealthiest few people and their large corporations who provided the most financial support to their political campaigns. To reciprocate and reward their supporters, the politicians created more subsidies, tax loopholes, tax shelters and government giveaways, which so obviously benefitted the wealthy few that conscientious critics have called it "welfare for the rich."
The result is that tax revenue was sharply reduced for the federal and state governments, which ultimately resulted in drastic cuts in funding for human services for people most in need, and it disn't stop there. Also sacrificed were vital public services having to do with health care, public safety, public schools, public infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.) and many other badly needed things. Then, the resulting socio-economic decline was used to justify further tax cuts for the wealthy, on the misleading and deceptively false theory (previously called "Reaganomics") that their increased wealth would "trickle down" throughout the whole economy and benefit everyone.
The very wealthy few thought that was great, of course, and their conservative Reaganite/Bushite politician puppets claimed that it showed how great the American system is. But they perpetuated the Big Lie. It was actually tragic and catastrophic, because while the rich kept getting much richer, the poor kept getting poorer and the middle class kept shrinking because more and more workers slipped into the working poor population.
Unfortunately, as I said at the beginning of this page, when anyone raised that point, the Reaganites/Bushites accused them of waging "class warfare" and claimed that the political-economic system is fair and just. In fact, they are proud of the America they have created. They like to wave the flag and say "The USA is Number One," and "America is the richest country in the world." But, unfortunately, that's not really true. In fact, it is a lie.
The truth is that while America has been number one militarily and is certainly great in many respects, it ranks low internationally in many areas, such as education, health care, child care, workers rights, workers benefits, etc., and it has higher rates of child poverty, general poverty, hunger, and homelessness than most European countries.
In fact, it could easily be said that the number one country in that respect is Denmark, where, by the way, organized religion is not a big thing at all, and many if not most people are agnostics or atheists. Yet, in Denmark most of the people enjoy a very high standard of living and far more freedom in their pursuit of happiness, and the child poverty rate is the lowest in the world. That’s not to say Denmark is perfect, but in many respects it is far better than the U.S.A. where the child poverty rate is shamefully the highest in the world!
Furthermore, nearly half (372 of 793) of the billionaires in the world live in the U.S.A., while there are no billionaires in Denmark, because the Danes are more sensible and fair, and ensure that they share the wealth. They use the common wealth for the common good. And I suggest that it is no coincidence that the income gap between the richest and the poorest is so incredibly huge in America, while it is significantly smaller in Denmark. It is a very good indicator of the moral values of leadership in both countries, and it shows me that while much of the leadership in America during the last 28 years has claimed to be in the "moral majority," they are actually the hypocritical minority who have been political influential because they are aggressive and power-hungry. And they have been disingenuous if not dishonest and deceptive in order to have garnered enough support to win power in local school boards, state legislatures, the U.S. Congress, and the White House.
Of course, most Americans are generally very caring and generous, and we want to use the common wealth for the common good. Just look at how generous Americans are in their giving to charitable food drives, toy drives, and relief efforts to victims of natural disasters.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Government has rarely represented the people in that respect. It has in rare cases when it has become absolutely necessary and politically expedient, but it has usually represented the wealthy few, especially under "religious" Reaganite-Bushite Republican rule. Consequently the wealth has not been shared and the majority of Americans are certainly not rich.
While the highest incomes of the rich few keep increasing, the median (average) household income keeps falling. In fact, the incomes of the richest 20 percent of the population grew by 30 percent during the last two decades while the incomes of the lowest paid 20 percent of us declined by more than 20 percent in the same time period, and the buying power of the minimum wage declined significantly.
Another part of the problem is that a lot of people been led to believe that the American Dream is all about making it to the "top of the financial ladder" in one way or another, or grabbing the "brass ring" of fame and fortune. Even worse, too many people have become tempted and corrupted and think they can make it to the top even if it's by hook or by crook, because they think the end justifies the means. That has become a widespread attitude, demonstrated clearly by many people, and even by he who held the highest office in the land between 2000 and 2008.
But, that's just not true and it's not right. The American Dream has been twisted, distorted, and perverted. It's NOT about the individual rising above everyone else. The real American Dream is actually about equality and prosperity and happiness for all -- not just a privileged few.
We should hold this truth to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, and we are equally deserving to be successful in our pursuit of happiness. We should all be able to be fairly rewarded for our labor and enjoy a reasonable and fair level of prosperity. We all deserve that.
But, we have been going backwards, away from that. That's is the real legacy of Reaganism and Bushism, and it has had many terrible consequences, the worst of which is that it has increased hunger, homelessness and poverty. That is even indicated by "official" government poverty guidelines, which, as I said, are far too low because they are still based on outdated 1955 assumptions and formulas. The actual number of American children in poverty is about twice the "official" number, which means there are probably about 30 million American children living in poverty. And it's no wonder. Right-wing conservative Reaganites and Bushites claim that the poor simply deserve their lot because they are lazy. They claim that the poor merely have to work harder and lift themselves up by their own "bootstraps."
In other words, right-wing conservatives blame the victims. And they are simply wrong.
The truth, as I've said and should repeat, is that 74 percent of the tens of millions of American children who officially live in poverty live in families with at least one parent working full time. And in many of those families both parents have to work, and some of them even have two jobs just to try to make ends meet.
The real truth is that the best antidotes to poverty and hunger are jobs that provide adequate wages to support a family.
Besides that, recent academic research studies demonstrate that child poverty's ill effects in a host of areas cannot be explained away as mere side effects of single parenthood or teen parenthood, or race, or parents' low IQs, or lack of education. The research disproves those who blame poor children's problems on deep-seated traits inherent in poor families. The truth is that the problems caused by poverty are not the by-product of poor motivation, poor values, limited parenting ability, or other deep-seated character traits that some misguided American conservatives attribute to poor families. In fact, the research confirms what many compassionate people already knew, especially those who work in public social service agencies and non-profit agencies and food banks that at least try to help those who really need help.
Furthermore, even though right-wing conservative Reaganite Republicans claim that the working poor simply need to work harder or get a better education to get better jobs to improve their financial situation, someone has to do the jobs they are now doing!
So, the problem is not laziness. The problem is definitely that the incomes of the working poor are simply insufficient and too low. No one who works for a living should be poor. Period.
Poverty can, for the most part, be ended by providing a real living wage to those who work for a living, and by ensuring that the common wealth is used for the common good. And, until we finally accomplish that, poverty can in the meantime be alleviated by supplementing the income of those who have insufficient income and cannot afford the basic necessities of life. For it is our moral obligation and duty to care for the poor and the least of our brethren, especially when they are trying as hard as they can but are foiled by a horribly unfair political-economic system that rewards the rich and punishes the working poor.
Of course it’s true that God helps those who help themselves. However, it is not God who helped some of wealthiest few, or those who inherited their wealth. In fact, they are in jeopardy. We see spoiled rich kids on television who are examples of that, because they don’t realize what self-absorbed Narcissists they are because of it.
But, I bring that up not merely to caution the children of the wealthy. I bring it up mainly because the poor, and especially the working poor, do not "deserve" to be poor, as that song seems to imply. It is time that we understand that in most cases the poor and the working poor are poor because the wealthiest few have raked in 90 percent of the wealth, at the expense of everyone else. And it is time that we all realize that as we treat the poor and the least of our brethren, so we treat the Lord and our very selves.
It would also help if we reject the absurd Republican folly of cutting taxes for the rich, and ensure that the rich finally pay their fair share of taxes. After all, as I’ve mentioned, with all the Republican tax cuts, tax loopholes, tax shelters, government subsidies, giveaways and welfare for the rich, most of the very wealthiest Americans had been paying only about 7 percent of their income in taxes while the working poor with the lowest incomes have been paying about 10.8 percent.
I feel I should say again that the wealthiest people can afford to pay and should pay at least 50 percent of their yearly income in taxes, as they do in many European countries. That is how it should be, without any tax loopholes, shelters, subsidies, etc. And we, the people, can ensure that is the case.
We can also restore the estate tax, because one of the deceptive, misleading and expensive Bush/Republican initiatives was to repeal it. Bush and the Republicans deceptively called it the "Death Tax" and falsely claimed it must be repealed to "save family businesses and small farms from being liquidated in order to pay estate taxes," and to "save you from paying half of your net worth in taxes when you die, so that your beneficiaries can receive all that you bequeath to them." But those claims are deliberately misleading, blatantly dishonest, and false. It is a deceptive ruse designed to benefit the wealthiest few, and it is very costly to the rest of us, because it reduces revenues even further for both the federal and state governments.
The fact is that only a small fraction of the estate tax has ever been paid on small family businesses and farms, and most estates could be bequeathed to a surviving spouse free of estate tax. Only about two percent of all Americans have estates that are subject to estate tax when they die, and 98 percent of Americans who die face no estate tax whatsoever! So we must restore the estate tax because it is actually fair and just. It ensures that about half of the largest fortunes that were produced in the country are returned to the country. It's the only way we can ensure that at least some of the wealth generated by the people of this country is rightfully returned to the people.
Along with regulating their tax liabilities fairly, we can ensure that the most wealthy people do not collect Social Security and Medicare benefits. Such benefits should be provided only to those who actually need them. It should be based on an assets and means test, such as the U.S. Veteran's Administration requires of veterans who apply for health care benefits. Only those who really need Social Security and Medicare benefits should receive them, and that, along with the wealthy paying their fair share of taxes, would make the whole system solvent and strong.
We can even ensure that Medicare, Medicaid and the U.S. Veteran’s Administration Medical System is transformed into a new non-profit universal health care system, in which all citizens receive health care and prescription drugs without paying out-of-pocket costs. After all, as it is now, Americans pay more than any other people on earth for health care, and yet the U.S. ranks only 39th in the over all quality of health care!
The U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world that lacks universal public health care. This leaves about forty-two million Americans seriously at risk because they have no health insurance. Most of them have either lost or cannot afford insurance, or were denied it by their cost-cutting employers in order to increase their profit margin. Others are forced to pay for very expensive health insurance from private profit-making insurance companies, and, even though Americans over age 65 have Medicare, it is still lacking in certain significant ways, and seniors find they need supplemental insurance to get adequate coverage for adequate health care and medications.
Besides that, many privatized, for-profit hospitals and other medical facilities have been down-sized and they've reduced their nursing staff to less than a bare minimum to cut expenses and increase profits. Health insurance premiums doubled in recent years, and out-of-pocket costs that are in addition to costly premiums more than doubled. The consequence is that the U.S. health care system us unnecessarily expensive, and it leaves many people uninsured or under-insured. Due to cost-cutting it has become increasingly understaffed and plagued with accidents made by overworked hospital staff. It has many serious faults and shortcomings, all of which would be remedied by a far less expensive, universal, public non-profit health care system.
The profit-making American health care system is totally corrupt, and I should tell you that on June 16, 2009, the House Commerce Subcommittee held a hearing regarding "Termination of Individual Health Insurance Policies." It was a follow-up to a lengthy investigation of health insurers that produced a very revealing congressional report. For example, it found that the total compensation for one of the insurance company’s CEOs was $1.2 Billion; that nullifications and cancellations of health insurance policies had netted insurance companies savings of $300 Million; that the performance of insurance investigators is rated according to the amount of money they saved the company by nullifying and cancelling policies. (The highest rated investigator was praised for having saved his company $10,000,000 by canceling policies and rejecting healthcare claims.) Furthermore, all the insurance companies have established investigative policies that focus on of the claimant’s medical history for the sole purpose of finding any justification for denying the immediate claim and canceling the entire policy, even back to the original date of issue. That leaves the patient with no health insurance coverage, and to add salt to the wound, the patient is required to reimburse the company for any and all claims the company may have paid under the policy.
In spite of all the facts, right-wing "conservative" Republicans don’t want universal health care, and they still want the status quo which is very rewarding to the wealthy few, exorbitantly costly to the majority, and often disastrous and sometimes even lethal for the working poor. In February 2006 George W. Bush reduced Medicaid and Medicare benefits because he and other Republicans actually want to do away with Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Like Ronald Reagan before them, they want to destroy the legacy of one of our greatest presidents, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, who actually served the interests of all the people.
Now, as he promised, and as the American people wanted, President Obama has been trying to reform the health care system at least a little bit. Unfortunately, a fierce propaganda attack has been waged by the Republicans and wealthy HMO corporate profiteers, using push-button words like "government takeover" and "socialized medicine" to scare Americans into settling for the status quo and keep the gravy train running for insurance companies. In fact, so far Obama and the Democrats are not much better than Bush and the Republicans were, opting to perpetuate the predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. They’ve even chosen to strengthen the for-profit health insurance industry, which is the very source of the problem. It drives up the cost of health care. It causes 31 cents of every health care dollar to be spent on administrative costs rather than on providing care. And the biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that did not cover people for desperately needed health care.
It is a sad commentary on American economic reality that our government is willing to give more and more hundreds of billions of dollars to the banks, lending institutions and corporate war profiteers who fuel the war in Iraq to maintain a foothold there in that oil rich region, but not willing to help Americans who are sorely in need. Investments in human services have declined sharply during the last 30 years, especially under Republican control.
We, the people, must stand up and speak out to stop the absurdity, unfairness and inequity. The American political-economic system was bad enough before Reagan came to power. But in the decades and years since then, things got much worse, and more unfair and inequitable. Further deregulation and "welfare" for the rich enabled a whole lot of corruption, the consequences of which we are suffering from. And even though Barack Obama is a good man, he is a politician and will not be able to bring the kind of changes we really need. In fact, as long as we perpetuate this political-economic system, we will not be able to bring about the changes we need.
We must have proper regulation and just government oversight of business and industry. The wealthy in America must be required to pay their FAIR SHARE of taxes, as they do in Europe, to ensure sufficient revenue to balance the budget and provide what our nation really needs, which is quality public education, public health care, public pre-school child care, public welfare, public safety, good roads, bridges, water systems, utilities, and all the other things that we all need. That’s what good government should provide. And it will when we do what is only fair, to require the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes, which they can well afford.
Also, everyone who works for a living should be paid a decent, adequate living wage. That too would be only fair. To claim otherwise is utterly dishonest, and those who have and still do claim otherwise are not only dishonest, but self-serving, deceptive, and unfair.
I tell you that as we treat the poor and the least of our brethren, so we treat the Lord and our very Self, for we are One.
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