Inert America: Crossroads to the Future Page 2
With hanging chads and months of controversy over the counting of our votes, Americans elected a new Republican president—George W. Bush. On September 11, 2001, we were attacked by terrorists, and, with less than a year in office, the president had to declare war; the war on terror campaign had begun. As the details of the attack unfolded, America went to war with the Taliban in Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden’s network of terrorists. With admirable precision, our armed forces, along with NATO allies, quickly mobilized and overthrew the Taliban regime and reduced both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to hiding in caves. The war should’ve been over quickly, but at the close of 2009, American forces are still in Afghanistan hunting and fighting the Taliban. Osama bin Laden still has not been brought to justice for the atrocity that was 9/11.
With war on our minds and terror, pain, and sadness in our hearts, we were told by our president that there were others out to get us—the axis of evil that included Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. In his State of the Union address on January 29, 2009, President Bush told the nation that we must defend our national security interests. With the war on terror, we couldn’t afford to ignore these nations and the threat they posed to the United States and its citizens.
Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections and then kicked out inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes (Iran, Iraq, and North Korea) pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. 4
And so, we invaded another country on March 20, 2003. Again our armed forces responded admirably, and they did as our leaders and country asked. We overthrew the government of Iraq and Saddam Hussein. The war should’ve been over quickly, but at the end of 2009 we still had about 115,000 troops in Iraq; we’re spending about $7.3 billion per month with a total estimate of about $800 billion spent thus far. We never found those weapons of mass destruction, and we never tied the attacks of 9/11 to Saddam Hussein and his government. In short, this war really had no justification based on these arguments.5 The fact is that there is evidence to support that George W. Bush and several of his top advisers took office with the intent of invading Iraq, as demonstrated by a letter sent to Bill Clinton in 1998 encouraging invasion of Iraq and drafted by Neo-conservatives.6 The American people may never know the truth of the Iraq invasion—at least not until long after it matters.
Of course, we can’t forget about the forces of nature and the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina as it made landfall on August 29, 2005. This hurricane was one of the five deadliest ever to be witnessed in the United States. It wreaked havoc from central Florida to Texas, with the worst devastation in New Orleans, Louisiana. When the levee system in New Orleans catastrophically failed, 80 percent of the city became flooded, resulting in severe loss of property and life. The total loss of life was 1,836 souls and an estimated cost of damage of over $100 billion. This storm was by far one of the worst in recorded history, and the country will feel its mark for many years.
Let’s also not forget the economic crises of 2008 brought on by the bursting of the housing bubble in the United States. Hailed as the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the crisis left the nation’s largest banks teetering on the verge of bankruptcy; to avoid the complete collapse of the banking system, the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve had to step in and loan banks billions of taxpayer dollars. Scholars will debate the factors that caused the calamity for years to come, but the major contributing factors were as follows:
The unprecedented rise in home prices from the mid 90s until about 2005.
The low interest rates and easy terms that allowed home owners to get huge amounts of equity out their homes while refinancing.
The downturn in the economy coupled with the maturation of many sub-prime mortgages to a level beyond home owners’ means to pay.
The sudden drop in home valuations that left owners owing far more on their mortgages than their home’s value.
The default on an unprecedented number of home loans.
The over-valuation of credit derivatives guaranteed by default swaps that came due as a result of the loan defaults.
These factors culminated in the perfect economic doomsday machine at the end of 2008, as Congress and the Senate passed the huge bank bailout legislation known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
We also shouldn’t forget the astronomical rise in the price of oil in 2008 that resulted in the energy crisis. With the price of a barrel of oil reaching an all-time high of $147.30 in July 2008, most Americans were forced to pay $4.00 or more at the pump for each gallon of gas. This crisis stemmed from the estimates of low petroleum reserves, tensions in the Middle East, and oil price speculation.
With all these crises fresh in their minds, voters entered the voting booths for what would be an historic election in the United States—an African American was elected president. On January 20, 2009, Barrack Hussein Obama became the forty-fourth president of the United States of America. While many factors contributed to his election, most scholars and commentators would conclude that his promise of change tapped into the hearts and minds of the voting population who were ready for something different. After the turmoil of the last eight years, the last thing the vast majority of Americans wanted was more of the same. Although it was mentioned, who else but the son of a white woman and a Kenyan could come along at this point in our history to finish the healing process we so desperately needed in the U.S? Racism didn’t die with his election, but we took a step forward to unite the country at a time when we need all Americans working together regardless of the color of their skin.
THE NEED FOR REFORM EVERYWHERE
With all that the American public has experienced during the first decade of the twenty-first century; it’s not hard to understand the need for change. A common theme often discussed in the debates among candidates from both parties was the need for reform. With wars in two countries, economic conditions squeezing families beyond belief, and government bailouts to top it off, it really wasn’t hard to predict a shift in political power as we elected a Democrat president and Democrat majorities in both houses. Similar events have happened in the history of the United States; the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) in 1932, for example. FDR took over leadership from Hubert Hoover during a time of transition for America when the country was embroiled in chaos that included economic calamity and a world war.
In metaphysics, there are three dimensions of space—length, width, and depth—and one dimension of time. Taken together these represent the time-space continuum. Within the time- space continuum, time is constant. It is ever changing in a forward motion. When an object occupies space (length, width, and depth) at a given point in time, it is an event. As events flow throughout the passage of time, they often seem disconnected, but they are not. Events are connected by that thin string that is a constant—time. When events define a specific object, it persists through time until it is destroyed. In other words, the event creates an object that occupies space. It persists and occupies that space until it is destroyed. Perhaps destroyed is too strong a word here. As with all of the life, it dies. It is born (created), it lives (persists), and then it dies. How does this apply to twenty-first-century America and our current situation?
Let’s examine a specific event to help illustrate how this applies specifically to our physical world and society. In the 1930s during the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) created a program called Social Security.7 That social policy put into place (it created) an object called social security. The purpose of the object or structure was to assist struggling Americans, who were without a source of income, especially those
in old age. That object was created on August 14, 1935 when FDR signed the act into law. When the policy was put into place, there were slightly more than 127 million people in the United States.
The basic idea was that you would work, pay income to the government, and the government would manage and preserve for you until retirement. The government would then return that money to you as a source of income until your death. It was an idea, and on paper, it even had a sound purpose. So this object called social security was created along with a huge bureaucracy to support its implementation. It has persisted for almost 100 years. Over the course of time, money was collected through income to be held in trust by the U.S. government until retirement.
After the social security system was instituted, the nation experienced another unplanned event—the baby boom. Once the baby boom generation came into being, the system should’ve been changed. The fact that it wasn’t shows how poor a job the government does in planning anything. After all, this source of money was useful for politicians who wanted to spend on specialty projects by borrowing from social security. It became a part of budgets and budget planning. We sent elected officials to Washington to watch the treasure chest, but they realized that no one was watching them, so they took from the chest (borrowed is the term they prefer) called social security.8 We’ll pay it back later, they said, but later never came. They kept borrowing, and now there’s nothing left in the treasure chest.
Here’s the dilemma. The first waves of baby boomers are now ready to retire. They’ve paid into the system throughout their working lives, yet there’s nothing there in the system for them at retirement. Where did all the money go? Who has stolen our treasure? Why am I still paying into a system that is bankrupt? Why aren’t these thieves in jail? Well, because it is a loan. It’s going to be paid back. When? How? These are the types of questions that should get asked but never do.
If we could only pinpoint the culprit, we could bring him/her to justice. But under our current system, no responsibility is assigned for these acts, and no one accepts blame. The money is just gone. We are told, “We must get over it and move ahead.” Hmm, that sounds like a good plan for the people who stole the money but not so well for the people who paid into the system. Why can’t we bring responsibility and accountability to our government?9
Wait. There is another solution. Let’s just call up the Treasury Department and have them print up a few trillion dollars worth of security bonds. Then the Federal Reserve can print up a few trillion dollars of money and put it back into the treasure chest, with interest, of course. Who will know the difference? If questions are asked, just say it’s a loan that will be repaid. We’ll be dead and gone by the time it comes to the attention of taxpayers. It won’t matter. Guess what? It matters!
Our children’s future is at risk. Baby boomers are starting to retire, and they want their money. Where will it come from? Perhaps the next generation can work and pay for it? Wrong. Mathematically, it is impossible for our children to work and produce enough value in terms of goods and services to ever pay off the debt. Politicians have literally sold our children into debt slavery. Those chains get tighter with each passing year. Soon, there will be no escape.
We could resort to the same old tired ideas that have already been tried and tested. We did that already. Look around at 12 trillion in debt with trillions more likely over the next decade. Isn’t it accurate to say that those ideas are bankrupt, and our current economic and fiscal situation demonstrates that condition? We need new ideas. We need real change, systemic change, the kind of change that has to come from each and every American.
CRISIS AS THE IMPETUS OF CHANGE
It’s never been true that change, especially major social change, comes about without something pushing for that change. That is to say, people don’t change when things are great; they make changes when things are not great. Crises,
such as we have experienced in the twenty-first century, can also serve as an impetus to change. But why change? Aren’t things great in the United States, you may ask? The answer is no. Some may think it’s great but not most. With the recent economic crises, American families are having a hard time. Jobs are being lost and unemployment rates are at levels not seen since the Great Depression.10
I suggest that America is in the final stages of transition as a society. We’ve seen this type of transition before during the 1930s. This type of transition occurs when the basis of work changes. That is to say, our system of production has changed. Society is a system. When this system is broken, we, the people in that system, experience crises until the system is repaired or changed.
In the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society, we initially experienced a period of prosperity that was a result of increased productivity followed massive unemployment as mechanization greatly reduced the need for farmers and farming. With the transition from industrialization to informatization, we see the same type of changes. Initially there was a period of increased productivity and prosperity, and now we are experiencing massive unemployment brought about by the increased productivity achieved by applying new technology to the old system of production. America is on the precipice of this change. Our actions will determine the short-term and long-term outcome for millions of Americans.
Currently, the major social structures—social, political, economic, and philosophical—of American society are out of alignment with the three macro-level trends that define an information society and a knowledge-based economy. Those three trends are:
The decentralization of production processes.
The elimination for the need of time and space management.
Individuals as the new owners of the means of production.
As long as American society continues down this road, we will continue to be in crisis. Until we make adjustments and realign our major social structures to these three trends, our prosperity is in jeopardy. With any type of social change, there is resistance. Those in power wish to maintain the status quo—it does serve their interest, after all. The risk is a continued downward spiral toward poverty—a very real social problem that continues to threaten our standard of living.
In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.
Confucius
THE SOCIAL PROBLEM OF POVERTY
It has been said that a recession is when your neighbor loses his job, and a depression is when you lose your job. Our government finally made an official announcement that we were in a recession at the end of 2008. Economists determined that we had actually been in a recession for a year.11 Our government seems content to downplay the economic crisis within the country. They use such words as recession only when it’s so obvious that anyone would have to concede that a severe downturn is evident in the economy. Such wording may soften the blow of the news to those who are unaffected by the economy, but for the rest of us who have been affected, it’s a depression. Poverty has found a home. In this chapter, I will present information to help you better understand how poverty in the United States is related to work, labor, and money. I will show a clear connection between government and social policies as root causes to poverty in this country.
There are at least four main elements to a social problem. Most recognized social problems have:
“Been perceived as having caused physical or mental damage to individuals or society.
Offended the values or standards of some powerful segment of society.
Persisted for a period of time.
Generated competing proposed solutions, each being evaluated differently by groups who are in different social positions within society. Disagreements delay the formation of a consensus on how to attack the problem.”12
Poverty meets all of these criteria. Poverty is the only real social problem in America or in the world for that matter. All other social problems are nothing more than symptoms of this single problem. Put another w
ay poverty is a “condition of having insufficient resources or income. In its most extreme form, poverty is a lack of basic human needs, such as adequate and nutritious food, clothing, housing, clean water, and health services.” 13 In the United States, extreme poverty is defined by the Bureau of the Census as a family of four with an annual income that is less than half of the official poverty line. In short, the realization that poverty is related to the amount of income a person or persons in a household receive for work is important to understand the risk facing America. The outcome or “effects of poverty may include poor nutrition, mental illness, drug dependence, crime and high rates of disease.”14
Poverty may simply be described as a lack of resources. When the lack of resources makes it impossible for an individual to procure even the most basic necessities required in life, that is, food, shelter, and clothing, much useless pain and suffering occurs. When those individual human beings are all added up to an aggregate number representing an entire nation, even more pain and suffering results. In the aggregate, it’s no longer a personal problem; it’s now a systemic problem that affects everyone within that society, that country. It’s a systemic problem as evidenced by unemployment rates that currently reside around ten percent in the United States.15 When people can’t find a job, they can’t earn income. Without income, poverty sets in and a whole host of other issues also begin to manifest themselves. When more people enter this category, such as when unemployment sky rockets, the entire country suffers.