Underclass revolt?

I'm supposed to be sorting out my old life and packing up my house, but here I am, compelled to blog. For four days I have been separate from radio, TV, and (until now) Internet. It has been a blissful separation, allowing me to connect fully with other aspects of life. But my dear husband has emailed me something that demands my return to this blog -- dedicated to creating better thought-worlds -- and to the outer world.

[Here is my footnote, where you can see the Boston.com piece that set Roy and me off: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/08/16/povertys_boiling_point/ ]


It's tempting to republish Simon Waxman's whole article, but then where would I put my own thoughts? Here's a squib, combining two definitions -- short but explosive:

   The root of this uprising [in England] is in economic structures that maintain the distinctions between tony Kensington and burning Tottenham.

   The bottom isn’t in flames because it lacks morals. It is crying out because of persistent poverty. The explicit effects of economic inequality have struck again. Faced with a debt crisis born of the boom-bust cycle inherent in capitalism, the British government has a choice about how to distribute the pain. Should it tax the rich and restrain the greedy, the very people who produced the financial crisis whose fallout has withered government coffers? Or should it threaten and impose austerity measures that primarily affect the poor?

     It should come as no surprise that the British government has opted to distribute the pain downward, much as the US federal and state governments now are. The rich have influence, and the poor do not. That is why economic inequality, not moral failing, is the illness in need of remedy.

Can't seem to help returning to Waxman who
says this so well:  

[T]he ethos of capitalism enforces the notion that we deserve what we have, and what we give to others reflects private virtue. The rabble, in other words, should feel thankful for what they get.

     But they are not always thankful, especially when the equilibrium is disturbed, and their meager slice of the pie is threatened. Without influence in government and media, the only voice left to the poor is either large-scale violent or nonviolent protest, but the latter is much harder to organize and demands committed leadership that does not just emerge overnight. One hopes that aggression gives way to a more Gandhian approach, but, as the more straightforward of two alternatives, violence was foreseeable.

     As predictable as the violence is the response. When the poor lash out, the comfortable condemn their moral decay and decry their criminality.

Charles Dickens would recognize to his horror the current state of affairs. We heeded his 19th C. cry for decency and dignity for awhile, made some heroic or back-to-the-wall changes, but then slipped back into the rich/poor near-paralysis.

I'm staying for a few days in Waldoboro, Maine, and am suddenly struck with the memory of participating in the town food pantry, held in the basement of the Methodist church. What strikes me now, is the good humor and generosity of spirit with which that charity is run. One cannot with assurance tell who are the poor and who are the providers, as they first eat a simple meal together, then all pitch in to be sure the groceries are well shared. It can be done, and surely is being done in other places, with other participants. May this generosity of spirit spread.

Obama the Scapegoat

I notice in the papers, especially in Letters and OpEd sections, that President Barack Obama is singlehandedly to blame for most if not all our national woes. How convenient. Many of my fellow citizens load all our sins on the shoulders of this one unblemished young firstborn and send him off into the wilderness to perish or not among the smog, oil spills, joblessness, foreclosures, quagmire wars on the other side of the world, and flailing economies around that whole world. See Leviticus 16, especially verses 21 and 22, for an ancient religious model for the myth that has been transmuted into the claim that one elected being can be responsible for the accumulated sins of all.

The failures attributed to Barack Obama are largely ours. In that, he fits the sacrificial model. But:  We elected him based on his character and the goals he eagerly espoused, then stepped back to let him accomplish anything that was to be accomplished -- all on his own.  How much help has he had from the big players?  From Congress -- either major party? From the banks and investment firms? From the global corporations? From the media? And from the collectively big players --  the individual voters, all of them, but especially those who put him into office? How many of us have done our part to accomplish what he asked?

And to think out from there:  Why get bent out of shape when any president is not able to accomplish something he or she hoped to accomplish?  Surely we can be smart enough to see that governing the U.S.A. is not a solo act. Nor can someone campaigning for an office know all that will be revealed to him once inaugurated. One notable example is the first President Bush, with his popular campaign promise:  "No new taxes." The realities of governing eventually demanded just that, and he was wise enough to support necessary new taxes.

Voters should look for a refined but sturdy character, flexible consistency, and astounding endurance. Campaign plans and promises are mostly useful for helping reveal the character of the candidate, and who or what may be influencing him or her.

Signing out . . . keep your stick on the ice.

USA earns a sobering "D"

"In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released its comprehensive infrastructure report card. It's not a pretty read," writes Arianna Huffington in Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream
(ISBN 978-0-307-71982-9).

Overall grade on our national infrastructure?
"An appalling D," Huffington continues. And this, she adds, is a downward trend since 2005.

For instance:

Transit and aviation, fell from D+ to D.

Roads dropped from D to D- (how much closer can we get to failing?)

Dams, hazardous waste, and schools remained at their 2005 D grade.

Drinking water and wastewater "remained mired at D-."

According to the ACSE report card, it would take an investment of $2.2 trillion to bring our vital functions up to barely passing, if we were to work at the repair and rebuilding for 5 years. But how much has been budgeted for that 5 years?  $975 billion.

Are we in the eve of the collapse of the American Empire? 

Some Web sites to check:
www.infrastructurereportcard.org
www.asce.org
www.scientificamerican.com  : "It's the kind of report card you . . . " by Katherine Harmon,  "U.S. Infrastructure Crumbling"  28 Jan. 2009.

Huffington covers many other areas of national life which she documents are in decline: education, employment,  upward mobility, government by elected representatives, housing, etc.; but urgent as are all those problems, it is the deteriorating condition of our electric grid, underground water and sewer pipes, bridges, and the like that grabbed my attention. I watched "The Crumbling of America" on the Reelz cable channel during the week I was reading Third World America, so I've had a comprehensive look at what Huffington was writing about. Even after subtracting a percentage for a bit of entertainment hype in each presentation, there's still reason to be concerned. Just look around!

A most appealing feature of Huffington's book is that she devotes a large section to what ordinary individuals can do (and are doing) to help reverse the negative trends.  It can be as simple as withdrawing one's money from a robber baron bank (i.e., Citibank, Bank of America, etc.) and put it in a credit union. Read!

Back to infrastructure:  It's time for Americans to put each other to work not just repairing the decay but leapfrogging over existing ways and means to create stronger, more efficient and long-lasting infrastructure. There's plenty of money floating around (Wall Street? corporations?) to get started on this megaproject.  And perhaps the public-spirited billionaires who are giving their fortunes to various charities could direct some of their largesse to ensuring that the mundane essentials for human life are put back in place.

I live in one of the most affluent towns in a fairly affluent state, and here are some infrastructure problems I pass every day. (Photos by Roy Barnacle)

The snowplow must have done this while trying
to dispose of our monumental quantity of snow.

It's hard to justify the use of non-galvanized
metal guardrails. These posts so readily rotted
that one wonders if they were properly prepared.
Notice the lack of breakdown lane or even ditch.

One person CAN do something:

Here is Roy, putting the yellow visibility
marker back on a chain-link gate.

One small blog post cannot tell all or accomplish all, but maybe this one will help a little. The ball is in our court.