Saturday, January 25, 2014

Poverty

When I re-posted a graphic about how just a portion of the defense budget could end poverty, a friend asked a very important question:  “How, exactly?  She noted that we’ve been fighting poverty for a long time, without much success. This came right around the time of the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty promoted by President Johnson.  It’s been customary in conservative circles to point to the continuation of poverty and welfare dependency as proof that the War on Poverty was an abject failure.  The history of what it did and didn’t do is much more complicated, of course, but I don’t think that those of us who are progressive have done a very good job of promoting strategies that would be more effective.

Poverty, like every other social force, doesn’t have one single cause.  I don’t have the ability or desire to try to make a unified strategy about how to combat it.  But I want to raise some points for us to think about.

First of all, what has helped to reduce poverty in the US? Which means it ended it for some.  Well, Social Security greatly reduced poverty among our elders.  The gains of the labor movement brought higher wages and better working conditions.  Until the ‘80’s, when it became fashionable to demonize “welfare moms”, food stamps and school lunch and breakfast programs greatly reduced hunger in the US (it’s on the rise again).  Advances in health care, particularly when universal, made a big difference (think of the eradication of polio).

In my opinion, welfare and many government and charity programs, including food and shelter provision don’t really reduce poverty primarily because they may increase the amount of money or resources a poor person or poor family or poor community has, they don’t usually increase the amount of economic power that a poor person, family or community has.  They can give space for growth and development, they can keep people and communities alive, but they by themselves don’t build economic power.  And without economic power, or the ability to create it, it’s very hard to move out of poverty.

This is where conservatives and progressives both have something to offer. Economic power has a lot to do with one’s character and utilization of gifts (initiative, desire for education, determination, willingness to sacrifice, a commitment to save and invest).  Economic power also has a lot to do with social forces (access to capital, public investment in sectors of the economy that are developing, breaking barriers to hiring and advancement, access to information).

I’ve worked in building character and personal strength—particularly in young people—in poor communities for almost 30 years, and I see how family and cultural systems can sometimes frustrate that growth.  I’ve also seen how poor neighborhoods and poor families have been systematically red-lined by the private sector and by government.  Why hasn’t the banking industry in the US, for example, not developed a micro-credit and savings program that could design products that would make a difference in poor communities? They have the knowledge and the financial capital to do so.  But the profit margins would be low (you could still make a profit) and so can’t compete on a pure dollar basis with investments in wealthier sectors (let alone investments in derivatives of investments of other investments).

One more thing.  As much as we might think that everyone having the potential to gain economic power, there are forces at play that simply do not want economic power to grow among those who have less.  The powerful almost always feel threatened by others seeking power, and will do anything to resist that (including restricting voting rights).  Look at what has happened in many cities and states since the recovery from the Great Recession began.  Cuts in public workers salaries and pensions, cuts in education.  This at a time of great expansion of wealth in the country. And a continued expansion of our military budget, which is already bigger than the next 10 nations combined (which includes Russia, China, the UK, some pretty big spenders on bombs and warships).

I don’t think this is going to answer my friend’s question.  In fact, I hope not. I do hope that we as a country can get serious about ending poverty.  There is also a whole lot more that could be said about global poverty and what’s needed there—compatible technologies, debt forgiveness, health care, climate change, moving away from economic demands based on export and so on

What do you think?

I started this blog to talk about my passion for justice and beauty.  At the root of most injustice in the world is economic injustice.  And poverty and hunger are the opposite of beauty.

Be justice.  Be beauty.

Patrick

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Sunsets on Face Book

I watched a sunset today.  Not the whole thing, but more than I have of any other in a long time.  The wind chills are dropping rapidly in Minneapolis, so I watched from the third floor of our house, which has three windows facing west.  With the angle of the sun still so far south at this time of year, the sun set between two large houses across the street, giving me a perfect angle to watch the sun descend, flare out, fade, give color to the last of the day even as the day calls to its beloved night.

Why do I not do this more often?

Oh, I’m too busy. Oh my chronic back problem prohibits me from sitting or standing in one place too long.  Oh, I usually think of watching the sun set outside, when it’s warm, but then I worry about mosquitoes, and so on and oh, yeah.

Part of the truth is that I am disconnected from the earth I walk on.  Gravely disconnected from the earth that will likely be my grave longer than it will be my sustenance.  The irony is that I can feel more connected to the world by the technology we own—Face Book friends in Estonia and Korea, talk to relatives in Chile, check the time of the sunrise and sunset from Manila to Antwerp to Valle de Bravo. And yet all these connections to the world virtually leave me less connected to the earth. Literally.

I’m not opposed to modern technology.  We own computers, cell phones, cars, plural.  They make things easier and faster in many ways.  What I do question is how much they distract us from what is real, how much time they take from us, and how they may make us uneasy with the world that is around us, especially when it’s quiet, and there is nothing we can do about it.

I checked my e-mail a couple times while writing this.  It wasn’t that I needed to. I’m not even sure I wanted to.  I just did it, because that’s what you do when you’re on the computer. 

It reminds me of the poem, The Unknown Citizen by W. H. Auden.  It was written in 1939  

The Unknown Citizen
(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace:  when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15549#sthash.NSdZW6Rj.dpuf

Wikipedia interprets the poem in part by saying: “By describing the "average citizen" through the eyes of various government organizations, the poem criticizes standardization and the modern state's relationship with its citizens.

I don’t doubt the controlling aspects of the modern state, although I can’t summon the fear of a representative government protecting the environment or seeing that there is universal health care, as some of my conservative friends can.  But I do wonder how often we stop and think about how the choices we think we make freely, especially about what we buy and use in terms of technology, really binds us to an order to keeps us from the natural order that is so beautiful and powerful.

The sun will rise tomorrow and it will set tomorrow, no matter how apocalyptic the news stations will make the weather seem to tonight.

Be justice. Be beauty. Just be


Patrick

Sunsets on Face Book

I watched a sunset today.  Not the whole thing, but more than I have of any other in a long time.  The wind chills are dropping rapidly in Minneapolis, so I watched from the third floor of our house, which has three windows facing west.  With the angle of the sun still so far south at this time of year, the sun set between two large houses across the street, giving me a perfect angle to watch the sun descend, flare out, fade, give color to the last of the day even as the day calls to its beloved night.

Why do I not do this more often?

Oh, I’m too busy. Oh my chronic back problem prohibits me from sitting or standing in one place too long.  Oh, I usually think of watching the sun set outside, when it’s warm, but then I worry about mosquitoes, and so on and oh, yeah.

Part of the truth is that I am disconnected from the earth I walk on.  Gravely disconnected from the earth that will likely be my grave longer than it will be my sustenance.  The irony is that I can feel more connected to the world by the technology we own—Face Book friends in Estonia and Korea, talk to relatives in Chile, check the time of the sunrise and sunset from Manila to Antwerp to Valle de Bravo. And yet all these connections to the world virtually leave me less connected to the earth. Literally.

I’m not opposed to modern technology.  We own computers, cell phones, cars, plural.  They make things easier and faster in many ways.  What I do question is how much they distract us from what is real, how much time they take from us, and how they may make us uneasy with the world that is around us, especially when it’s quiet, and there is nothing we can do about it.

I checked my e-mail a couple times while writing this.  It wasn’t that I needed to. I’m not even sure I wanted to.  I just did it, because that’s what you do when you’re on the computer. 

It reminds me of the poem, The Unknown Citizen by W. H. Auden.  It was written in 1939  

The Unknown Citizen
(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace:  when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15549#sthash.NSdZW6Rj.dpuf

Wikipedia interprets the poem in part by saying: “By describing the "average citizen" through the eyes of various government organizations, the poem criticizes standardization and the modern state's relationship with its citizens.

I don’t doubt the controlling aspects of the modern state, although I can’t summon the fear of a representative government protecting the environment or seeing that there is universal health care, as some of my conservative friends can.  But I do wonder how often we stop and think about how the choices we think we make freely, especially about what we buy and use in terms of technology, really binds us to an order to keeps us from the natural order that is so beautiful and powerful.

The sun will rise tomorrow and it will set tomorrow, no matter how apocalyptic the news stations will make the weather seem to tonight.

Be justice. Be beauty. Just be


Patrick

Sunsets on Face Book

I watched a sunset today.  Not the whole thing, but more than I have of any other in a long time.  The wind chills are dropping rapidly in Minneapolis, so I watched from the third floor of our house, which has three windows facing west.  With the angle of the sun still so far south at this time of year, the sun set between two large houses across the street, giving me a perfect angle to watch the sun descend, flare out, fade, give color to the last of the day even as the day calls to its beloved night.

Why do I not do this more often?

Oh, I’m too busy. Oh my chronic back problem prohibits me from sitting or standing in one place too long.  Oh, I usually think of watching the sun set outside, when it’s warm, but then I worry about mosquitoes, and so on and oh, yeah.

Part of the truth is that I am disconnected from the earth I walk on.  Gravely disconnected from the earth that will likely be my grave longer than it will be my sustenance.  The irony is that I can feel more connected to the world by the technology we own—Face Book friends in Estonia and Korea, talk to relatives in Chile, check the time of the sunrise and sunset from Manila to Antwerp to Valle de Bravo. And yet all these connections to the world virtually leave me less connected to the earth. Literally.

I’m not opposed to modern technology.  We own computers, cell phones, cars, plural.  They make things easier and faster in many ways.  What I do question is how much they distract us from what is real, how much time they take from us, and how they may make us uneasy with the world that is around us, especially when it’s quiet, and there is nothing we can do about it.

I checked my e-mail a couple times while writing this.  It wasn’t that I needed to. I’m not even sure I wanted to.  I just did it, because that’s what you do when you’re on the computer. 

It reminds me of the poem, The Unknown Citizen by W. H. Auden.  It was written in 1939  

The Unknown Citizen
(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace:  when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15549#sthash.NSdZW6Rj.dpuf

Wikipedia interprets the poem in part by saying: “By describing the "average citizen" through the eyes of various government organizations, the poem criticizes standardization and the modern state's relationship with its citizens.

I don’t doubt the controlling aspects of the modern state, although I can’t summon the fear of a representative government protecting the environment or seeing that there is universal health care, as some of my conservative friends can.  But I do wonder how often we stop and think about how the choices we think we make freely, especially about what we buy and use in terms of technology, really binds us to an order to keeps us from the natural order that is so beautiful and powerful.

The sun will rise tomorrow and it will set tomorrow, no matter how apocalyptic the news stations will make the weather seem to tonight.

Be justice. Be beauty. Just be


Patrick