Whose Back Does Sandy’s Aftermath Sit On?
There are many articles and news spots portraying and, in a few cases, magnifying the impact of income inequality in light of Hurricane Sandy’s demolition job on the east coast. I do very readily applaud NYC Mayor Bloomberg for his decision in cancelling the New York City Marathon, however, Bloomberg was the last of his own administration to jump on board with the idea. The New York Times ran an article today pointing out the hardships endured by those in the lower income bracket.
From the article:
The mayor, virtually alone in saying the race should go on, finally relented and canceled it after a conversation with Mary Wittenberg, the marathon director, late Friday. “This isn’t the year or the time to run it,” she said.
Bloomberg, who has advocated (quite well I might add) for the presidential candidates to acknowledge climate change, needs to re-examine the issues facing his own city too. Were it not for a nearly unanimous call for the cancellation of the marathon, Bloomberg would have had the race go on as usual to “portray” an image that New Yorkers are ever so resilient (which they truly are) and everything is back to business-as-usual. Things are not, however, back to normal nor will they be any time soon. Michelle Chen wrote an excellent piece that appeared on Truthout.org revealing many of the inequality issues that New Yorkers are facing. Chen writes:
Though some bus and subway service is returning, many neighborhoods dependent on public transportation remain functionally shuttered. Not surprisingly, recent surveys show that Metropolitan Transit Authority ridership consists mostly of people of color, nearly half living on less than $50,000 a year in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
So who lifts up the storm-ravaged east coast and builds it up again? Who are the people that will rebuild and repair the mess? Chen again states it perfectly:
In the immediate aftermath, however, recovery work–from restoring electricity to rebuilding homes–will be grueling, hazardous and handled by unions that often come under political and economic siege. As Jamilah King points out at Colorlines.com, workers in the city’s transit union, long a bulwark of black and Latino labor (and of militant public-sector organizing) will lead the repair of a city whose politicians have been steadily eroding theirworking conditions and benefits.
Much like the military, it will be upon the backs of the lower income citizens to build up what has been destroyed. Our elites will sit in the ivory towers criticizing the union workers that are rebuilding the nation. Maybe it’s time that the privileged step down from their thrown and get those soft, clean hands dirty and do the real job of nation building – right here in the United States.
A Few Visual Truths for a Saturday…
and leaving it with Howard Zinn…
The Myth of the American Dream…
The American Dream, as defined by Dictionary.com, is “The ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American”. The American Dream is really just that, a dream. For most, it is unattainable, often because of reasons such as race, health, or the misfortune of being born into poverty. Are the “opportunities” truly there for “every” American? I think most of us would agree that that is not the case. We live in a country that is divided down many ideological lines. We are deeply divided by race, gender, religion, and looming over all of these issues, income inequality and taxation.
How did we get to the point of realizing that the dream is only a dream? Many haven’t yet reached that point, but multitudes understand all too well. Apathy plays a big part. I have written about our consumer culture and how it has dumbed and numbed us to the realities of our society. The consumer culture has cultivated the minds of the people to believe that corporations are not only people, but are our friends, that they are there to serve us and nurture our well-being. As this particular mindset grew, the U.S. government, with their infinite wisdom, decided that the corporations do, indeed, know what is best, so they very systematically let go of reins. In deregulating the banking industry, they very effectively created a means of funding the corporate state while imposing very little risk upon that state. After all, that is what the people are for, a corporate safety net.
The idea of the American Dream is absurd. We are part of the lies, the myths, the fictional story of America. We are blind to the truth of what is real. We have bought into American imperialism and have, through mostly apathetic means, allowed our government to engage in terrorism. We don’t like to call it that unless it happen to us, but we really do live in a terrorist state. In an interview on September 20, 2001, Noam Chomsky was asked whether the war on terrorism was winnable. Chomsky responded:
If we want to consider this question seriously, we should recognize that in much of the world the U.S. is regarded as a leading terrorist state, and with good reason. We might bear in mind, for example, that in 1986 the U.S. was condemned by the World Court for “unlawful use of force” (international terrorism) and then vetoed a Security Council resolution calling on all states (meaning the U.S.) to adhere to international law. Only one of countless examples.
So as we condemn other countries who harbor terrorist regimes we look at ourselves as the savior to the world. We will eradicate the world of all the ‘evil-doers’ and do it all under the guise of “national security”. We have the Department of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act to keep us safe. Just keep that iPod plugged in and your credit card in use, we will keep you safe.
As the disparity in income widens and as more corporations pay fewer and fewer taxes, the cavernous divide between the 1% and the rest of us grows. To protect their interests, we having a frighteningly fast growing police state that is swift, brutal, and increasingly in conflict with protesters. The main stream media, wholly controlled by the corporate state, reports little of this opposition. They would rather you focus on your next purchase, or to take an even bigger step into fantasy, focus your attention on the glamorous excesses of the elite.
The elite do not like disobedience. They prefer a docile and complacent population that simply stays in line and follows the rules handed down to them. Noam Chomsky, from his book, 9-1-1, Was There An Alternative?, states,
Of course, there will be those who demand silent obedience. We expect that from the ultra-right, and anyone with a little familiarity with history will expect it from some left intellectuals as well, perhaps in an even more virulent form. But it is important not to be intimidated by hysterical ranting and lies and to keep as closely as one can to the course of truth and honesty and concern for the human consequences of what one does, or fails to do.
The rise of civil disobedience is not comforting to the ruling class. This is evidenced by the tremendous growth in the police state. The corporate class is dying and they are trying desperately to take all of us down with them. We simply cannot allow that to happen. We need to be awake, aware, and vigilant. Henry David Thoreau said it the very best,
If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth — certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.
The World in 2 minutes…
This is a very stunning and powerful video.
Reaping What We Sow: Dumbing Down America
The United States has a multitude of problems. These range from health care, the economy, education, foreign policy, and nearly anything else you can think of. But, why does the United States have all of these problems? The U.S. was once (not long ago) a very prosperous nation with a solid middle class, a sound education system, and an unparalleled infrastructure. Where has that gone? Technology has boomed and information is more readily available than it has ever been. We have so much data at our fingertips and yet, we are dumber than ever before.
To start, why don’t Americans vote? Yes, I know there is voter suppression, but generally, Americans can’t be burdened with the task of voting. The following data is from infoplease:
Year %Turnout of Voter Age Population
2010 37.8
2008 56.8
2006 37.1
2004 55.3
2002 37.0
2000 51.3
So, in 2010, 37.8% of our citizens were burdened with this responsibility. Isn’t that a great representation of the people? I think not. Yes, the years of the general elections are significantly higher, but is 57% a good turnout? In the 60’s the turnout was well above 60% in general elections and close to 50% in other elections. Do we not care? The New York Times ran an opinion blog by Gary Gutting where he conducted a mock interview with Socrates, asking him about the upcoming election. This is part of the answer “Socrates” gives when asked about leaving it up to the people…
I think letting the American people decide is no different from leaving it to chance. The vast majority of you don’t know enough about the issues or the candidates to make anything like a reliable decision. (It was the same in Athens in my day.)
Okay, “Socrates” thinks that, generally, Americans really don’t know enough about the issues or candidates to make an educated decision. Now, given the fact that we have so much information available to us, how can this be possible? Quite simply, we have been dumbed down. We have become a celebrity culture that is defined by a “me-first” attitude and a self-serving demand for instant gratification. We live in a world of make-believe where we idolize celebrities and our measure of success is our outward appearance that showcases the “things” that we buy. Daniel Boorstin, in “The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America” writes:
We risk being the first people in history to have been able to make their illusion so vivid, so persuasive, so “realistic” that they can live in them. We are the most illusioned people on earth. Yet we dare not become disillusioned, because our illusions are the very house in which we live; they are our news, our heroes, our adventure, our forms of art, our very experience.
Chris Hedges, in his book Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, discusses this phenomena in detail. Hedges states,
Our culture builds temples to celebrities the way Romans did for divine emperors, ancestors, and household gods.
That is what we worship, the celebrity. The celebrity culture is a fraud, filled with untruths. Hedges continues:
We consume countless lies daily, false promises that if we spend more money, if we buy this brand or that product, if we vote for this candidate, we will be respected, envied, powerful, loved, and protected.
Celebrity culture plunges us into a moral void. No one has any worth beyond his or her appearance, usefulness, or ability to “succeed”. The highest achievements in a celebrity culture are wealth, sexual conquest, and fame. It does not matter how these are obtained.
We care more about the dissolution of Tom and Katie’s marriage than we care about issues like the LIBOR scandal. We care more about the pennant races in baseball, the Stanley Cup, and possibly the most blatant example of celebrity culture, the Superbowl (yes, I watch it too). We care about our celebrities, but not about ourselves. What would happen if we put the energy expended in celebrity worship to use in education? We don’t do that though. Instead we pump our money into the hands of a few…those who are “better than everyone else”. C. Wright Mills, a noted social critic and theorist wrote:
The professional celebrity, male and female, is the crowning result of the star system of a society that makes a fetish of competition. In America, this system is carried to the point where a man who can knock a small white ball into a series of holes in the ground with more efficiency than anyone else thereby gains social access to the President of the United States.
It’s an example of what our society has come to and what we call sacred. We are now a society that believes in things, and not ideas. Our view of the world is so distorted that we can’t separate reality from fantasy, truth from fiction. So what is the answer? How do we wake up from this nightmare? I don’t claim to know the answers, but a good start would be turning off the television and picking up a book. We need to educate ourselves and stop believing all of the propaganda that is being fed to us. Live life in the truth and in reality, not in the land of make-believe. We need to live our lives with conviction and not be afraid to stand up for what we believe in and what is true. We need to wake up America.
Chris Hedges on corporations…
This man speaks the truth…
Typical Sociopathic Behavior via Michael Bloomberg…
This is typical of the corporate elite…gotta keep the minions down….Bloomberg is a perfect example of corporate elitists’ attempting to rule the world. This is a guy who considers the NYPD to be his own personal army.
Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg Sues to Keep New Yorkers’ Wages Low
The world’s 20th richest man declared recently [1] that a living wage bill passed (over his veto) by New York’s city council was the next best thing to Communist central planning. Michael Bloomberg, who’s also made news recently trying to ban large sodas, today took the next step in proving how serious he is about keeping wages low–I mean, keeping New York City a “business-friendly” climate.
Bloomberg is suing [2] to prevent not just the living wage bill, but a companion “prevailing wage” bill that the City Council also passed over his veto, from going into effect. The living wage bill requires employers that get more than $1 million in taxpayer subsidies to pay their workers at least $10 an hour with benefits or $11.50 an hour without them, and the prevailing wage bill would up wages to $20 an hour for certain building services workers in buildings that receive subsidies of over $1 million or where the city leases a significant amount of property.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
In the complaint filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, Mr. Bloomberg argued that the laws are overridden by state and federal laws. Because the state has its own minimum-wage law, for example, the city doesn’t have the authority to require employers to pay higher wages, the lawsuit said. Mr. Bloomberg also argued that the laws unlawfully limit mayoral powers.
Council spokeswoman Zoe Tobin said the council is confident that it acted within its authority under state law and the City Charter. “These laws were passed over the mayor’s veto with overwhelming support in the council and it is disappointing that the mayor has chosen to challenge these laws rather than enforce them,” she said.
In April, Mr. Bloomberg delivered an unusually sharp rebuke to the council as he vetoed one of the bills, lecturing its backers on “the way the free market works.”
Bloomberg would know how the free market works, after all–it apparently works by handing out millions of dollars of taxpayer money to big businesses so that they’ll stick around and continue to pay low wages. FreshDirect, as we reported, got nearly $129 million in city money to stay in town, despite paying its drivers and warehouse workers around $8 or $8.50 an hour. (FreshDirect managed to get exempted from the living wage law anyway, as Council speaker Christine Quinn maneuvered to make it more palatable to business.)
Of course, Bloomberg is dead wrong on the merits–the “economic growth” that he claims to be protecting would in fact be boosted if New Yorkers could actually, you know, afford to spend some money. $8 an hour won’t let them do that–nor, truly, will $10 an hour. A recent report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition recently noted that it would require 88 hours of work a week [3] to afford a 2-bedroom apartment in New York working at minimum wage–the same minimum wage that Bloomberg thinks these workers, at massively tax-subsidized companies, should get.
thejumbledmind 