MISERY IN THE USA

On December 4th I posted a piece on how the United States has devolved into a 3rd World country. I talked about how the least of us are neglected while the rich are coddled. Our government is running up huge deficits and overall debt, and that's OK, as long as the rich get even more tax cuts. It's generally understood that the money the rich save will not be re-invested in job-producing activities, it will get invested in money-making investments that will allow their wealth accumulation to accelerate. Since there are so few jobs, and even fewer jobs that pay well enough to provide a decent standard of living, there will not be sufficient demand to justify hiring new workers. So, why would rich people who own businesses hire new workers when they can't sell enough of what they make anyway? They won't! They will simply invest in the stock market, which, by the way, fattens the bottom lines of companies that farm their work out to foreign countries.



There are two scenarios pertaining to the redistribution of wealth here in the U.S. One is the stealing of the middle class's wealth by the rich, leaving many destitute, and the other is the redistribution of that middle class wealth from the U.S. to the so-called "emerging economies". The big corporations and the billionaire tycoons, based here in the U.S., will run the factories over in China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, and other countries and collect immense profits because of the cheap labor in those countries. I personally believe that this shouldn't be a zero sum game, but that's exactly what the current policies are dictating that it is - a zero sum game. Rather than everyone in the global economy doing well, America is being forced to relinquish wealth to other countries and force many of it's own citizens into poverty and hardship.

The Republicans, and a few Democrats, are driving this policy of excusing the rich from paying their fair share of taxes under the guise of putting more people to work. Trickle-down doesn't work. Period. They know damn well it hasn’t worked in the past and isn’t going to work now, but they’re relying on the demonstrated ignorance of the American people to vindicate them. They know exactly what they’re doing – they know - they KNOW – that the American people will blame President Obama for the continuing hardship and vote him out of office in two years. The only hope for Obama is that the Republicans currently are fielding the weakest batch of potential presidential candidates in memory, and hopefully the voters will come to understand that elusive fact.


An article appeared today on MSNBC's web page written by JoNell Aleccia asserting that the life expectancy in the US is regressing. The U.S. is 38th or 39th in the world in life-expectancy. People aren't living as long because of lack of health care, low pay or other financial hardship. Many retirees - people who worked hard all their lives and paid into the Social Security Trust Fund, paid their taxes, and led productive lives - are hurting badly. Many simply can't afford to live. And there's talk by conservative politicians of slashing their retirement income even more, of making draconian cuts to their income and to Medicare - all to give the rich even more money. In my view, it's blood money. More money being taken from those less fortunate and handed over to the rich is exactly what it looks like. It's reverse Robin Hoodism - rob the poor and give to the rich. This is more than just my opinion based on what I see in my immediate surroundings. It's in the news and on the cable TV networks, and even congressmen and women are announcing this problem on the air. Other conservative congressmen and women and senators are trying to tell us that by giving the rich more money they'll make jobs and hire more people. As I've already stated, that's not what happens. George W. Bush tried it ten years ago and the trickle-down theory has been proven to not work. Period.

To their credit, many of the mega-rich are in favor of paying more taxes - they consider it their patriotic duty. Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and many other lesser known billionaires are trying to tell the politicians that they want to pay their fair share. But the Republicans in the Senate don't want to hear it. Perhaps they want the tax cuts for themselves.

There were some eloquent comments to the Aleccia piece by other affected people from around the country, and I'm going to paste some testimonials by these people who are suffering great hardship as a result of these terrible, odious tax policies. 

Marlen101917 -


The only way to improve the health of ALL Americans is to take the profit out of health care and go to a single payer system like all other industrialized counties have done. A sick population not only kills our citizens, it kills our economic competitiveness as well.



Abby1588585 says this -


With the recession people cannot afford the same quality and quantity of healthy food. I spoke with a woman in the store the other day who was stocking up on cheap food to feed her family of four. She was just trying to make her food dollars stretch so she was buying the cheapest hot dogs to provide protein, the cheapest brand of macaroni and cheese to fill them up. She said that she couldn't afford fresh fruit and vegetables. She sounded so depressed but grateful her husband and her were both working although she said they were each working two part-time jobs. They have gone through their savings. While we spoke I was reminded of how hard it is so for seniors because we didn't get a cost of living increase last year and won't get one this year. I know seniors who are cutting back on food to save money. Sad, considering how fragile older folks can be.


Wal-Mart has their giving trees up and numerous tags (more than I remember in the past) are still up. People just don't have the money to spare. This is the first year we can't afford to help either. No Christmas gifts for our grandchildren. No money for gifts at all. We told our children we just don't have it to spare.


People are foregoing medical care because they cannot afford co-pays (if they have insurance).


People work longer hours in hopes of retaining their jobs (if they are lucky enough to have one) or are pounding the pavement praying for a job.


The stress alone is detrimental to one's health.

And while all of this is happening the GOP is worried about tax breaks for the rich and refused the $250 for seniors. Thanks for nothing.




ModerationInAllThings says this -


Without a doubt it's true; physiological well being can't be maintained and psychological well being is factored in.... giving up, no hope or limited hope.


The old saying of 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' still holds, but people aren't getting jobs w/ bennies (benefits), they're underemployed, unemployed, and are sacrificing medical needs in lieu of more pressing needs.


Try to blame Dems or Repubs; truth is, NONE have legislated towards American Businesses remaining in America, hiring Americans for American wages, so that Americans can have American benefits and pay what American business(that are now mostly overseas) charge.


American business has become Corporo-government entities that will profit from 3rd world wages, the lowest bidder, and know that eventually the stack of cards will fall, and Our standard of living is going down, down, down......ALL in the name of the farce that is known as 'the global economy'.


It has nothing to do with healthcare, healthscare, insurance co's., etc.... . It has everything to do with people calling afore mentioned American legislation directed towards Americans being labeled as 'protectionisitic'.


Guess I'm a protectionist.....no, actually, I AM a protectionist, and would challenge any to try and defend current economic policies, those for the past 3 decades, and blame any one party for where we're at. Million dollar babies, our supposed Representatives.


Depression, lack of income, basic needs not being met, ..... what was expected?




Here's CJ-747786's view -


Another reason to thank the Bush folks for bringing us crushing financial difficulties in years past, the medical establishment has run rampant. When seniors have to decide between spending their money on medicine or food we are asking for trouble.


So let's applaud the millionaires in Congress, who get free health care thanks to the taxpayers, and who really don't give a damn how many seniors die. If they are too sick to go out and vote then they don't pose a threat. What a great country we live in...this is insane!






These people are representative of hundreds of responders to the article who tell their stories, or describe their situations, or situations people they know are faced with. I don't necessarily agree with every word, but then my view might not be wholly accepted by these commentators either.


I don't see any end in sight. Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic, but then, maybe not. I see it around me. I really hate to come out in the blogosphere with jeremiads all the time, but when I see so much hardship around me, and concurrently I see on the news that it's not just in my immediate neighborhood but this state of affairs is rampant across the country as well. Jeremiads are justified and even called for when the America I used to know has now become a fiefdom for billionaires and multinational corporations. It's what I see and what I will write about from time to time. Actually, I’ll write about it frequently.


Someone on TV recently made the claim that America's poor are better off than the poor in poor nations, but a study (I can't cite the study - I ran across it a couple of weeks ago and didn't notate it) showed that America's poor are much worse off than the poor in other so-called advanced countries and significantly worse off than poor in poor countries because the cost of living here is far higher. Moreover, the safety net here is limited and flimsy, and has lots of holes people fall through. Competent healthcare is unavailable to them. It's even worse for those within coughing distance of the poverty line - but not below it - because they have no medical care available to them at all. These are usually the working poor, and they're the ones who suffer the most hardship of any of us. They, unfortunately, are a rapidly growing demographic, and will further the increasing mortality rate in this country.
This is what the legislators are, and have been, advancing as their policy directives for thirty odd years. It's destroying America from within.

Seeing all this, and seeing all the many injustices exacted upon the least of us is what renders me a cynical cynic. I truly wish it weren't this way, but it is. It is what it is. Period! End of Story!