Lots to chew on here. Commodity or natural resource, the Working
Class is no longer in the category of First Class Citizen. Capitalism
must have unlimited resources from which to draw in order to continue
expanding. Expansion is the life-blood for Corporate Capitalism. But
of course any Working Class man or woman knows that resources are not
limitless. I mean, we do know that, don't we?
But the Empire's Corporate First Class Citizens don't know this basic
truth. Just for example, old oil wells dry up? Dig new ones, even if
that means going down miles in the oceans or under the ice caps.
We'll never run out of oil! Droughts, floods, famine, over crowding,
dwindling sea life, unemployment, rising crime, religious uprisings,
all of Mankind's troubles are nothing more than golden opportunities
to the Ruling Corporations.
We Working Class folk actually have the smarts and the abilities and
the tools to change the mad, head-long dash toward extinction.
But only if we can get our heads out of the sand and open our eyes and
ears to what is being done to us.
Are we really so frightened of losing, and becoming extinct that we
refuse to deal with reality? "And on the seventh day God rested and
said, "Let them have at it!" And boy did they."
Carl Jarvis
On 12/15/14, S. Kashdan <skashdan@scn.org> wrote:
> The 6-Step Process to Dispose of the Poor Half of America
>
>
>
> By Paul Buchheit [2]
>
>
>
> AlterNet [1], December 14, 2014 |
>
>
>
> http://www.alternet.org/print/economy/6-step-process-dispose-poor-half-america
>
>
>
> One of the themes of the superb writing of Henry Giroux [3] is that more and
>
> more Americans are becoming "disposable," recognized as either commodities
> or criminals by the more fortunate members of society. There seems to be a
> method to the madness of winner-take-all capitalism. The following steps,
> whether due to greed or indifference or disdain, are the means by which
> America's wealth-takers dispose of the people they don't need.
>
>
>
> 1. Deplete Their Wealth
>
>
>
> Recent analysis [4] has determined that half of America is in or near
> poverty. This is confirmed by researchers Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman
> [5], who point out: "The bottom half of the distribution always owns close
> to zero wealth on net. Hence, the bottom 90% wealth share is the same as the
>
> share of wealth owned by top 50 to 90% families - what can be described as
> the middle class."
>
>
>
> The United States has one of the highest poverty rates [6] in the developed
>
> world [7]. It's much worse since the recession, especially for blacks and
> Hispanics [8].
>
>
>
> From 2008 to 2013 the stock market, which is largely owned [9] by just 10%
> of Americans, gained 18% per year [10]. Well-to-do stockholders get capital
>
> gains tax breaks, including a carried interest subsidy thatRobert Reich [11]
>
> calls "a pure scam."
>
>
>
> The bottom half of America, relying on regular bank accounts, earn about one
>
> percent [12] on their savings.
>
>
>
> 2. Strip Away Their Income
>
>
>
> Earnings due to workers for their years of productivity have been withheld
> by people in power. Based on inflation, the minimum wage should be nearly
> three times [13] its current level. An investor report from J.P. Morgan
> noted [14] a direct correlation between record profits and cutbacks in
> wages.
>
>
>
> We hear occasional news about job growth, but low-wage jobs [15] ($7.69 to
> $13.83 per hour), which made up just 1/5 of the jobs lost to the recession,
>
> accounted for nearly 3/5 of the jobs regained during the recovery. And it's
>
> getting worse. Nine out of ten of the fastest-growing occupations [16] are
> considered low-wage, generally not requiring a college degree, including
> [17] food service, health care, housekeeping, and retail sales.
>
>
>
> Among rich countries, according to OECD data, the U.S. is near the bottom
> [18] in both union participation [19]and employee protection [20] laws.
>
>
>
> 3. Take Away Their Homes
>
>
>
> A study [21] by the National Low Income Housing Coalition concluded that an
>
> average American renter would need to earn $18.92 per hour--well over twice
>
> the minimum wage--to afford a two-bedroom apartment. "In no state," their
> report says, "can a full-time minimum wage worker afford a one-bedroom or a
>
> two-bedroom rental unit at Fair Market Rent." Over one-eighth of the
> nation's
> supply of low income housing has been permanently lost since 2001. [22]
>
>
>
> Little wonder that so many people are homeless [23]: over 600,000 on any
> January night in the U.S., tens of thousands of children, tens of thousands
>
> of veterans, and one of every five suffering from mental illness. [24]
>
>
>
> 4. Hit Them with Fines, Fees, and Fleecings
>
>
>
> The poor half of America is victimized by the banking [25] industry, which
> takes an average of $2,412 each year from underserved households for
> interest and fees on alternative financial services; byrental centers [26]
> that charge effective annual interest rates over 100 percent; by payday
> lenders [27] whocharge [28] effective annual interest rates [29] of over
> 1,000 percent; and by the burgeoning prison industry [30], which charges
> prisoners for food and health care and phone calls and probation monitoring
>
> and anything else they can think of.
>
>
>
> On top of all this, bubbly TV personalities rave about all the lottery money
>
> just waiting to be taken home. Poor families account for most [31] of the
> lottery sales.
>
>
>
> 5. Criminalize Them
>
>
>
> Matt Taibbi's recently published book [32] The Divide: American Injustice in
>
> the Age of the Wealth Gapcontrasts the targeting of the poor for trivial
> offenses with a tolerance for the architects of billion-dollar financial
> crimes [33].
>
>
>
> The U.S. court system is flooded [34] with cases for minor infractions,
> including loitering charges reminiscent of the infamous Black Codes [35] of
>
> post-slavery years. The buildup of arrests has added one out of every three
>
> U.S. adults to the FBI's criminal database.
>
>
>
> The poor are criminalized [36] for lying down or sleeping in public; for
> sharing food; for simply havingnowhere to go [36].
>
>
>
> 6. Most Insidious: Let Their Children Suffer
>
>
>
> The U.S. has one of the highest relative child poverty rates [37] in the
> developed world. Almost half [38] of black children under the age of six are
>
> living in poverty. Nearly half of all food stamp [39] participants are
> children. The number of homeless children [40] has risen by 50 percent [41]
>
> in less than ten years.
>
>
>
> Early education is certainly part of the solution, for numerous studies [42]
>
> have shown that pre-school helps all children to achieve more and earn more
>
> through adulthood, with the most disadvantaged benefiting the most. But even
>
> though the U.S. ranks near the bottom of developed countries [43] in the
> percentage of 4-year-olds in early childhood education, Head Start was
> recently hit with the worst cutbacks [44] in its history.
>
>
>
> Meanwhile, public schools in the inner-city are being closed to satisfy the
>
> profit urges of the privatizers, who view our children as commodities. Said
>
> community organizer Jitu Brown [45] after 50 schools were shut down in
> Chicago: "It has ripped black communities apart."
>
>
>
> Americans seek reasons for all the violence in our city streets. With so
> many "disposable" citizens deprived of living-wage jobs and a meaningful
> education and equal treatment by our system of justice, rebellion in the
> form of violence is not hard to understand. The privileged members of
> society would lash out, too, if they were stripped of everything they own
> and tossed into the streets.
>
>
>
> [46]
>
>
>
> See more stories tagged with:
>
>
>
> poverty [47],
>
>
>
> inequality [48],
>
>
>
> economy [49]
>
>
>
> Source URL:
> http://www.alternet.org/economy/6-step-process-dispose-poor-half-america
>
>
>
> Links:
>
>
>
> [1] http://alternet.org
>
>
>
> [2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/paul-buchheit-0
>
>
>
> [3] http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13033599-disposable-youth
>
>
>
> [4]
> http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/more-evidence-that-half-of-america-is-in-or-near-poverty/18551-more-evidence-that-half-of-america-is-in-or-near-poverty
>
>
>
> [5] http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/SaezZucman2014.pdf
>
>
>
> [6]
> http://www.epi.org/publication/ib339-us-poverty-higher-safety-net-weaker/
>
>
>
> [7]
> http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/chart/swa-poverty-figure-7w-relative-poverty-rate/
>
>
>
> [8] http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/07/14/economic-lynching
>
>
>
> [9] http://epi.3cdn.net/2a7ccb3e9e618f0bbc_3nm6idnax.pdf
>
>
>
> [10]
> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/business/economy/sp-has-more-than-doubled-under-obama.html?_r=0
>
>
>
> [11] http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/12/09/wall-streets-democrats
>
>
>
> [12] http://www.thesimpledollar.com/why-are-savings-account-rates-so-low/
>
>
>
> [13] http://inequality.org/minimum-wage/
>
>
>
> [14]
> http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/07/14/269213/report-corporate-profits-wage-cuts/
>
>
>
> [15]
> http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Job_Creation/LowWageRecovery2012.pdf?nocdn=1
>
>
>
> [16] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/most-new-jobs.htm
>
>
>
> [17] http://www.nelp.org/page/content/Unbalanced-Recovery/
>
>
>
> [18]
> http://www.alternet.org/labor/youre-likely-be-lot-poorer-you-were-few-years-ago-and-its-all-design
>
>
>
> [19] http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=UN_DEN
>
>
>
> [20]
> http://www.oecd.org/employment/emp/oecdindicatorsofemploymentprotection.htm#data
>
>
>
> [21] http://nlihc.org/oor/2014
>
>
>
> [22] http://nlchp.org/documents/No_Safe_Place
>
>
>
> [23]
> http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/10/14/ten-facts-about-being-homeless-usa
>
>
>
> [24] https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf
>
>
>
> [25]
> https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2014/rarc-wp-14-007.pdf
>
>
>
> [26]
> http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in-america-why-the-poor-pay-dollar4158-for-a-dollar1500-%E2%80%98rent-to-own%E2%80%99-sofa/ar-BB9w32K
>
>
>
> [27]
> http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/08/john-oliver-examines-the-resilience-of-payday-loans/375850/
>
>
>
> [28] http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2009/200933/200933pap.pdf
>
>
>
> [29]
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-trap-of-payday-loans-can-lead-to-triple-digit-interest-rates/2014/03/25/ca1853dc-b471-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html
>
>
>
> [30]
> http://truth-out.org/news/item/27138-public-prisons-private-profits%20/%20%20http://truth-out.org/news/item/27306-the-shackles-return-why-debtors-prisons-are-making-an-american-comeback
>
>
>
> [31]
> http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/02/25/3326421/state-lottery-education/
>
>
>
> [32]
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Divide:_American_Injustice_in_the_Age_of_the_Wealth_Gap
>
>
>
> [33]
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-divide-american-injustice-in-the-age-of-the-wealth-gap-by-matt-taibbi/2014/04/11/66a1e7c8-b291-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html
>
>
>
> [34]
> http://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-is-swift-as-petty-crimes-clog-courts-1417404782
>
>
>
> [35] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Codes_%28United_States%29
>
>
>
> [36] http://www.nlchp.org/documents/No_Safe_Place
>
>
>
> [37]
> http://www.aecf.org/blog/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-measuring-poverty-in-america/
>
>
>
> [38] http://stateofworkingamerica.org/fact-sheets/poverty/
>
>
>
> [39]
> http://blogs.usda.gov/2011/06/24/fact-vs-fiction-usda%E2%80%99s-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program/
>
>
>
> [40]
> http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/17/study-more-homeless-children-now-any-point-us-history
>
>
>
> [41] http://www.homelesschildrenamerica.org/mediadocs/280.pdf
>
>
>
> [42]
> http://www.nieer.org/news-events/news-releases/nieer-statement-president-obama%E2%80%99s-pre-k-proposal
>
>
>
> [43] http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/CN%20-%20United%20States.pdf
>
>
>
> [44]
> http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/19/stateline-head-start/2671309/
>
>
>
> [45] http://truth-out.org/news/item/27631-tough-lessons-for-rahm
>
>
>
> [46] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on The 6-Step Process to
> Dispose of the Poor Half of America
>
>
>
> [47] http://www.alternet.org/tags/poverty-0
>
>
>
> [48] http://www.alternet.org/tags/inequality
>
>
>
> [49] http://www.alternet.org/tags/economy-0
>
>
>
> [50] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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> Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
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>
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