---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2014 09:44:03 -0700
Subject: Housing Rights Group Says HUD Program Helps Wall Street, But
Hurts small business owners like Archie.
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
How many Archie's have been sacrificed on the Alter of Progress?
Bigger and Better and Cheaper. Or is it? Better and cheaper, I mean.
Certainly it's bigger. But how do we factor in the loss of local
small businesses? Where are the numbers showing the added cost to a
town when the Box Stores move in, and wages are low enough to force
employees to seek government relief? And how do we factor in the loss
of dollars that would have stayed in the community if they had been
spent in locally owned stores? And what about Pride and Dignity? And
when is the last time you attended a community town hall meeting and
sat next to Mister First Class Corporate Citizen, eager to do his part
in supporting his town? These corporations have no loyalties, except
to their bottom line. Profit. They work for Profit. Profit is what
drives them. Profit comes before People. People are reduced to
Consumer. Consumers exist only to be exploited.
My neighbor some many years ago, had two accounts with Sea First Bank.
One month she sat at her desk and wrote checks to cover her bills, and
mailed them off. Being a retired book keeper, she took great pride in
her ability to keep her records in perfect order. So you can imagine
her surprise when she began to receive NSF notices. When she went to
her local drug store the druggist handed her the check she had given
him. "It bounced", he announced, embarrassing her to tears. She had
never in all her years ever had a check bounce.
As it turned out, the bank had used her second account, even though
the checks were written to her regular account. There had been almost
nothing in the second account, so all of the checks she'd written that
month bounced. And Sea First charged her fees for overdrafts. When
they realized their mistake they advised her to cover the original
checks with new checks. And they refused to remove the penalties.
She had thought that the bank might have sent a note to her creditors,
explaining their mistake. We all laughed about that, later. My
neighbor drew out her money and took it to another bank. But Sea
First could care less. My neighbor never got it through her head that
she was not a person in the eyes of Sea First, nor in the eyes of any
bank. She, and her money, were there to serve the bank, not the other
way around. And even worse was the rudeness of the panty waist of a
bank manager, who drew himself up in the beginning and told her in no
uncertain terms that, "We do not make mistakes at Sea First". He
never apologized to her in person. He left that for some lowly teller
to do.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/6/14, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> And that reminds me of Archie, who I haven't thought about for years. But I
> was reminded of him the other day after the trauma of my little corner
> pharmacy closing without notice. The Rite Aid Pharmacy which,
> theoretically,
> will deliver my medication today, (I'll believe it when I see it), was
> built
> in a new building that the Village of Westbury agreed to build several
> years
> ago. The new building was supposed to have a large discount liquor store
> and
> other stores as well. In order for it to be built, a large number of small
> homes and stores had to be demolished. Among these with a little
> neighborhood liquor store that existed for years, owned by an elderly
> African American man whose name was Archie. He was a kind, dignified,
> knowledgeable man with whom I loved to talk, whenever I went into his tore
> to buy something. He had an incredible amount of knowledge about a variety
> of subjects. He had determined that he would not retire, because operating
> his store and interacting with his customers was the most important part of
> his life. That is, he didn't retire until the Village was bought off by a
> developer and agreed to destroy his store.
>
> Miriam
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blind-Democracy [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On
> Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
> Sent: Monday, October 06, 2014 1:12 AM
> To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
> Subject: Housing Rights Group Says HUD Program Helps Wall Street, Hurts
> Homeowners. Duh
>
> Just one more example in a growing mountain of examples, telling us
> very clearly that we are not, "We, the People".
> Unless one or two of you are members in the Ruling Class...if you're
> uncertain, just check with your financial managers...and if you, like
> me, are in "partnership with your bank in the ownership of your home,
> you are at risk every minute of the day. Any contract you have with
> any bank will protect the bank's interest, at your expense.
> Even owning your home is not going to keep you safe. Some 20 years
> ago the neighborhood I lived in was desecrated by the State of
> Washington, when it modified the 405 "S" curves. 21 homes were
> crushed by the Jaws of Death. My once quiet, happy neighborhood
> looked like a war zone. The heavy hammering by the heavy equipment
> caused cracks to appear in my retaining walls, and I had to engage a
> lawyer in order to have them attended to. My lawyer happened to live
> across the street in a beautiful older brick home. Tiles on his roof
> cracked, plaster fell off walls and cracks appeared in his basement.
> Since Renton Hill was riddled with abandoned coal mine shafts, the
> pounding caused several back yards to drop several feet. One home
> lost its garage. In every case the State of Washington balked at
> making good for the home owners. Several did not retain lawyers, and
> they wound up eating their losses.
> Beyond that, the county, city or state can condemn your property for a
> wide range of reasons.
> While I have seen countless examples of homes being razed for "the
> good of the community", it's always been the homes and property of the
> Working/Middle/Lower Class. Find me an example of the property of
> some member of the Ruling Class being condemned in order to build a
> sports arena or a new shopping mall. It doesn't happen.
> The worst case I recall was an elderly lady in the lower end of
> Ballard, in Seattle. A large supermarket decided to expand into a
> mini mall. Quietly they went about the neighborhood buying what
> property they could barter for bottom dollars. These were older
> Working Class homes and most folks bailed when they had the best deal
> they could wrangle. But a few folks held out, including the elderly
> lady. The homes on her end of the block sat high on a bank, with a
> steep flight of stairs leading up to the front porch. The corporation
> put pressure on the few holdouts, threatening some, digging up dirt on
> others, until there was finally only one house remaining. So the
> demolition crews moved in and the huge land movers took down the hill,
> leveling the entire double block. Except for one house. There it
> sat, high above the new asphalt. Its dirt walls crumbling.
> I don't know what ever happened to that lady or her house. Of course
> no one was ever going to pay her for it. I used to shop at that super
> market, from time to time. But I never set foot on its ill-gotten
> property after that.
> I haven't thought about that lady in over 50 years, but it still
> brings a lump to my throat.
> I have to say, I do not understand how some working class folk believe
> that the Ruling Class cares one whit about them. Sure, they look sort
> of like the rest of us. And they even talk sort of the same. They
> even joke with us, and promise us all sorts of crumbs from their
> tables. And at night they bed down together just like we do, except
> they bed down beneath silken sheets in homes that will never be seized
> by the state. And as they settle in for the night, they even chuckle
> about the poor little suckers who slave to make their life so
> wonderful.
> Well, enough of this drivel. This sucker is going to bed. Beneath
> cotton sheets. In a home that could be condemned tomorrow. But I
> never look down on my fellow working class members. We are the real
> back bone of whatever is left of this nation.
>
> Carl Jarvis
>
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