the peace tree: economy

Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts

Tuesday

americans today and tomorrow cling to yesterday

i listen to quite a bit of van morrison- love the man. but i thought i would take a break the other day and listen to the eagles- long road out of eden- and when i got to the second disc- whoa! now, when you think political music- springsteen comes to mind amongst others, but i will hazard a guess that the eagles don't top the list. you should check them out. it's a great set. henley, frey and the gang don't mince words and they skillfully weave them to get their point across- not just about politics but about culture.

it's funny because i used to think i was outside looking in on the culture- and now, i know i am. american culture sucks- arrogant, self-centered, pushy, rude- or at least it's how it has been. apparently, the right wing screwed themselves because from the sounds of things- folks are turning more liberal. sharing and not buying new? good lord! the rapture must be coming!

i admit, i have not been keeping up with what passes for the news these days- i mean there is only so much outright lying and fakery i can stand. and what i do scan the headlines and see, makes me sad. you aren't going to find many places where information is sewn together to formulate the big picture- it's like a mystery to solve, all of the pieces are there but you have to figure it out yourself. gore vidal wrote a fantastic article a while ago and i have not read it's entirety because it was too much. but putting it together with this article i read through today- really makes me sad. sad because americans are not willing to see what this country is today- americans cling to the notion of what we used to be.

i would love to be able to do that, but i can't. i know where we came from and what we are today- and i have a pretty fair idea of where we are headed. it's not a pretty picture. but i don't want to end on a down note- i love clara. she is a treasure and a gem- and if you check out her youtube channel, you won't be disappointed. she has seen much and lived through much- but her spirit lives on.

Sunday

The Opposite of Peace Is — War?

Been reading a lot about World War II lately. My father fought in that war. He lost the hearing on one side thanks to shrapnel that perforated his eardrum. He lost many of his friends. He nearly lost his life.

But my reason for reading is both greater and lesser than a desire to know a little piece of my father's history: I am writing a novel set in that period.

And today, I came across something that encapsulates very nicely the malaise that the reading of the past several weeks has engendered in me. FTA:

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few – the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.

And what is this bill?

This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.

Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, War Is A Racket

While Japanese farmers, office workers, and civilians were restricted to the grayest of lives by the sumptuary laws enforced before and during WW II, while Japanese intellectuals trembled under the heavy hand of the thought police and suffered torture by the Kempeitai, while Chinese peasants starved and their children were forcibly inducted into the military to fight against superior armies and lose their lives for a pittance, the wealthy crooks who engineered these wars became wealthier still. Come rain or shine, they continued to find ways to profit from the vast human suffering.

George W. Bush paid for the war in Iraq by borrowing billions of dollars from the Chinese. Now your grandchildren will have to repay that debt. I hear some people say Obama is creating a huge debt by borrowing additional monies to stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, the hole that Bush left has to be patched before everything else leaks out of it. And the only way to patch that hole is to stimulate the economy into spending.

People forget that the U.S. economy runs on consumer spending. Before George Dumbya left office, the Iraq war had already cost us three TRILLION dollars. We are bringing our troops back now, but that costs money too. Then there's the issue of reintegrating them into the smashed civilian economy. All the while, the war profiteers like Dick "Dick" Cheney sit back on their seats and bwa-ha-haaa themselves into something like an orgasm. I wish it were an organism. Something intestinal and painful and lengthy.

How many kids have lost their parents in this war? Iraqi kids? Somewhere between one and five million? American kids? Somewhere between three and ten thousand? Nobody really knows. In 2004, when the total casualty figures were around 2,000, Scripps stated that 900 American children had lost a parent to the war. However, the casualty toll has doubled since then, and most of the soldiers in this war have been professional military and reservists, which means they tend to be older, married, and have more children.

How many kids are getting back parents who are not the people they used to be? Broken in body or mind or both? How many kids have to grow up really fast, to become caretakers to their parents instead of being children any more? Smedley Butler was right. War IS a racket.

Blackwater mercenaries made two to three times the salaries of military men for the same work. No-bid government contracts made a lot of people very rich. The wholesale plunder of Iraqi oil made other people (or sometimes the same people) very rich. To us, the taxpayers, is left the broken mess, the debris, the tortured, the cripple, the lame, the halt, the blind, the miserable, people who are still fighting the war in their heads, crying themselves to sleep or drinking or drugging to forget. And they are living among us as are their suffering parents and spouses and children.

The dividends of peace are happy human lives. However, these do not represent adequate profits to those whose greed drives them to profit above all else. And to achieve those profits they will willingly sacrifice every last man, woman, and child of us upon an altar of blood.

Thursday

"It is not necessary to hope in order to persevere."

originally, i thought that i would do a piece on monsanto and genetically modified seeds. they are, imo, simply evil and lacking any sense of morals or ethics- they force farmers worldwide to use their seeds and buy only their seeds- and the seeds don't work. if you don't go along with them, they basically destroy you. but then i thought better of it.

because the problem is so very much bigger. i have been giving some thought as to what american culture is; what the american way of life is; what the 'american dream' is- and i really don't know that we have one that is real. isn't that what we all are grappling with- the fact and reality that 'our way of life' was one big credit card induced fantasy? probably so. but it's easy to throw out the bad stuff and not as easy to really examine what being american really means. we are proud- or we were proud- to be americans and i have a feeling that's really all we know. americans tend to be an incurious lot as a whole.

but i put a bit of time into my thoughts and opinions and came up with- we are a culture of ideas. whether they be right ones or wrong ones- we have them. it has always been our idea that we live in a free democracy and were able to work hard and do better than the previous generation. our idea was that we were always the land of opportunity and betterment and that we were a safe haven for the world's beleagured and mistreated. we were the world's champion of the underdogs. of course, then we got fairly prosperous as a whole and stopped having ideas. we decided to feel rather than think- be hedonistic rather than introspective- and we got lost.

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chris rock puts it pretty much in perspective:

"The number one reason people hate America: the number one reason is because of our religion. Americans worship money, we worship money. Separate God from school, separate God from work, separate God from government, but on your money it says in God we trust. All my life I've been looking for God, and He's right in my pocket. Americans worship money, and we all go to the same church, the church of ATM. Everywhere you look there's a new branch popping up … remind you about how much money you got and how much money you don't got. And if you got less than twenty dollars, the machine won't even talk to you. The machine is like, "You better go see a teller." You ever go to a teller and try to take out eight dollars and fifty cents? Oh, it's disgusting … oh man, you gotta wait on that long ass line, people doing real transactions in front of you, you get on to the fucking front, you fill out your form, eight fifty. The fucking teller looks at it, she look at you, she looks at the check, she don't even take the money out of the drawer, she take it out of her pocket, "Here you go, get outta here." And here's something, man. Drugs are illegal, but ATM machines are open twenty-four hours a day. Twenty-four hours a day. For who? Who the fuck is it open for? Have you ever taken out three hundred dollars at four o'clock in the morning for something positive? Shit, when you press that machine at four o'clock in the morning, I think a psychiatrist should pop up on the screen and go, "Come on, man, save your money, man. Don't buy drugs, buy some rims. They spinning, nigga, they spinning, they spinning, nigga, they spinning." Americans worship money. Shit, you know why banks are closed on Sunday? 'Cause if they wasn't, church would be empty."

i watched bill black on bill moyers and what he said struck me- he said that this whole issue we are having with the economy is- well:

BILL MOYERS: "Yeah, and this week in New York, at this conference, you described this as more than a financial crisis. You called it a moral crisis.

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Yes.

BILL MOYERS: Why?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Because it is a fundamental lack of integrity. But also because, if you look back at crises, an economist who is also a presidential appointee, as a regulator in the Savings and Loan industry, right here in New York, Larry White, wrote a book about the Savings and Loan crisis. And he said, you know, one of the most interesting questions is why so few people engaged in fraud? Because objectively, you could have gotten away with it. But only about ten percent of the CEOs, engaged in fraud. So, 90 percent of them were restrained by ethics and integrity. So, far more than law or by F.B.I. agents, it's our integrity that often prevents the greatest abuses. And what we had in this crisis, instead of the Savings and Loan, is the most elite institutions in America engaging or facilitating fraud. "

and the enormity of that hit me. our entire system is broken. every day i read the news and i see corruption oozing out of every facet of our system- drug and food recalls; people dying from shoddy healthcare or no healthcare; bloated education system based solely on testing, etc., and people firmly plugged into that system- with little choice not to be.

i also watched amy goodman and glenn greenwald on bill moyers- the last great journalist, imo- and listening to them i felt the enormity of broken system. the establishment exists to protect and perpetuate itself:

GLENN GREENWALD: Well, what I think is interesting is to look at what journalists, establishment journalists, who work in the largest corporations in the country, in the media division, say about what their role is. In order to understand how the reporting on Iraq was done. How it's done on the financial crisis. Last month Howard Fineman, the "Newsweek" reporter, and MSNBC contributor, wrote an article in which a column, in which he said that the establishment is now worried that Barack Obama is not up to the job. And he made clear that he was speaking on behalf of the establishment, as a member of it. And he said that the establishment, to the extent it exists in America, is now comprised of three stools. The financiers on Wall Street, political elites in Washington, and media stars in the New York/Washington corridor. And there's a "Newsweek" cover story by Evan Thomas, who's a long time Washington insider reporter. And it's concerning Paul Krugman's status as a critic of Obama from the Left. And in this article Evan Thomas, I thought quite revealingly declared himself, as well, like Howard Fineman did, to be a member of the establishment persuasion, as he called it. And what he said was that, by definition, members of the establishment are devoted to preserving the existing order. The prevailing status quo. Keeping things the way they are.

the fact that the politicians and the bankers and the corporates and the media are all working together to perpetuate an unethical, immoral, greed and wealth driven system on the backs of decent people around the globe angers me like nothing else. and i know that i am not the only one:

chris hedges- resist or become serfs

joe bageant- we have let corporations and the media rob our souls- let's do something about it

washington post reporters call george will out for lying on climate crisis

this economic disaster did not happen overnight- it was a well planned, system wide looting of our monies into the pockets of the very people who are now pocketing our money again in the form of bailouts. we got double dipped and that's for sure. probably triple and quadruple dipped.

make no mistake, there are many everyday americans who don't believe as i do- that every human being deserves basic necessities of life- water, food, clothing, shelter, and imo, healthcare. many folks right now are going about their lives with nary a thought of the suffering going on around the globe- and here in this country- brought on by 'our way of life.' but if and when the shit hits the fan for them- they will be the first ones in line for a handout- from neighbor, family, or government. because we have lived the life of plenty for so long and lost skill sets to help us get through the bad times.

president obama ran on 'hope and change'- those were the two themes throughout his campaign and i really believe he meant it. i don't know that that is what we need. oh, the change definitely- but the hope is that we will stabilize and folks can go back to their old lives. our way of life is gone forever. the houses with the white picket fences and the dog and the 2 kids- well, it was a bit of 1950's tv schtick. the thoughts in my head are far too many for me to keep writing in the post- but it is food for thought.

Wednesday

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT...

-Just when I thought that headlines might not piss me off and begin to make a modicum of sense:

Soldiers choose war over bleak economy ...Pentagon officials report strongest recruiting season in four years

The headline should be,

"Citizens choose war over bleak economy..."

(not Soldiers!)
No! It should be "Citizens choose enlistment in the military over bleak economy"!

-Just when I thought there might be a chance at peace:

Rice flies to India to ease tension with Pakistan

What the-?

By simply flying there Rice is able to ease tension with Pakistan?

What would have happened had she traveled by boat?

(I mean besides the fact that she would have arrived too late,

which ultimately may prove to be for the best as far as India and Pakistan are both concerned…)

-Just when I thought the goddamned scare tactics might vanish from headlines:

Report: WMD Attack Inevitable Before 2013

O! For the love of all things decent!

I suppose I should have expected

such a “timely” report to emerge

just as the Bush regime is taking its final bow,

but for fucks sake,

“WMD”, “Inevitable”, and “2013”

all in the same damn headline!

(Too bad we don’t hold elections

every four to eight years for our Press…)

-Just when I thought Fox, having been snubbed by Obama, might try a different tactic:

No Colorblind Pick for Obama Seat?

And this is a problem, for whom exactly?

The will of the people of Illinois?

Or the will of those that would rather have an all white senate?

-Just when I thought CEO’s were supposed to have business sense... or lose their damn job:

US carmakers publish rescue plans

Where were these grand plans as you were being paid ungodly sums of money,

When you were receiving ungodly grand bonuses and partying on some monstrous yacht in the Caribbean?

Huh?

Now? Now you've a- Now!

Now you have a measly, godforsaken plan?

Isn’t that convenient;

now that you’ve failed miserably,

now that you’ve proven you’re not worth the millions you “earned” or deserving of the corporate jets you fly in,

now that you’ve been found to be incompetent,

that we the people are going to have to bail your sorry asses out

because you’ve been producing shit-sputtering-gas-guzzling-forest-tapping-air-destroying-hunk-assed-chunks-of-friggin'-metal that you call “automobiles”!

Damn it! Just when I thought it was over...they pull me back in!

Thursday

Questions for the Obama Administration

Now that we've managed to elect the better of the two candidates for the office of the presidency I, like many Americans, am beginning to ask the hard questions. Questions that I believe President-elect Obama should be accountable to when he takes office. I don't think anyone expects immediate solutions to every problem we face as a nation and as a planet but I hope that the new president and his cabinet make good on their promises to communicate with the American people and act in our best interest. That includes reaching out to the world community non-violently and restoring our tarnished image overseas. This too is in the best interest of Americans as members of a global society.

The following are a set of questions that I intend to put in letter form and send to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:

Dear President-elect Obama:

With all due respect, I'd like to put forth to you some questions regarding issues that I have been grappling with since your election. I would like to say that I voted for you and have, like so many Americans, put my faith and hope in you to finally provide for our country the leadership it's lacked for the eight years of the Bush/Cheney administration.

If you intend to implement an exit strategy out of Iraq, will you be able to honor the promise you made that such a plan would be done over a sixteen month period? If not, how long do you foresee it taking and what are the specifics of your plan? Further, you made comments during your campaign stating that in terms of Pakistan, you would not rule out attacks to "get" Osama Bin Laden. Is this something that you assume you must do or have you sought the counsel of experts on this issue that include non-militarily aligned and government individuals? Will you use every tool and make every effort you can to avoid military strikes against Pakistan? In regard to Afghanistan you've stated that more troops are needed there.

I don't know enough about the minutia of the many problems of the region but I'm concerned that while we think about potentially pulling our troops out of Iraq, we will send as many troops to Afghanistan. If we are unable to stabilize Afghanistan without more military force, how will we do it? And if we do it, will there be a rational, realistic plan to do the work and leave as soon as possible?

Regarding health care. I was rather disappointed to hear very little of substance about healthcare during your campaign. As you know, we as a nation are experiencing a health care crisis unparalleled by any other major power.

This from your website:

Barack Obama will make health insurance affordable and accessible to all:

The Obama-Biden plan provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, builds on the existing healthcare system, and uses existing providers, doctors and plans to implement the plan.

Hmmm. The term "builds on the existing healthcare system" sounds not only vague, but somewhat suspicious. Since from my estimation, the so-called healthcare system is a powerful, moneymaking industry with powerful lobbyists in Congress, I don't put much trust in "building on it". This type of talk makes me worried that you will cave in to the healthcare industry; one of the reasons, I believe, we have not been successful at getting a proposal for national health care on the table as even a beginning step. Isn't it about time we challenge that industry by confronting the healthcare issue on a national level for the good of all Americans? I'm not satisfied with your plan. I'm hoping, as you've dared to encourage us to hope, that when the pressing issues of the economy are under control, that you will revisit your concept of what healthcare should look like in the U.S. and begin to draw up a plan that will satisfy the needs of the people instead of the needs of the healthcare industry and the pharmaceutical giants.

And speaking of the economy. I'm currently appalled by how half of the 700 billion dollar bailout money is gone and the economy continues to worsen. Where has the money gone, to whom has it gone and for what reasons, exactly? I know you supported this plan, Mr. Obama, and I hope that when you officially take office on January 20, you will begin to take action to make the financial institutions who received money accountable for their part in the economic demise of our country. And what about Main Street, which was ubiquitously discussed through the part of the presidential campaign when our economy hit rock-bottom? When are the folks on Main Street going to see some relief and how?

And the auto industry is now pandering for money as well. It's a failed industry due to mismanagement, poor planning and short-sightedness. Do we now go and bail an industry that has for decades made a mess of itself and sold countless gas-guzzling SUVs to equally short-sighted, gas-glutton Americans? With the track record the auto industry has, it seems like throwing the people's money at it isn't the solution. In fairness, I realize that you are not yet officially our president and that these issues are needing attention right now. What I'm alluding to is my hope (there's that word again) that once you do become president you will ask the hard questions and take the tough stances that are needed to keep the corporations in check.

Lastly, while I understand this is a very unpopular issue nationally, I'm quite disappointed that both you and Senator Biden are apposed to same-sex marriage. If you hold such a belief because your respective religions dictate that you should, I can respect that. But if what you mean is that you will not lend your support to the legalization of gay marriage, then you are as guilty as the last administration of failing to separate your religious beliefs from what is constitutionally reasonable and sane.

Civil unions, which you say you support, are not the same as marriage; not legally nor symbolically. I urge you to rethink your position and why you take the anti gay marriage stance that you do. It wasn't all that long ago that the idea of black Americans being married was socially unpopular as well. That has changed as should the ban on marriage for GLBT people be changed. It has to begin somewhere and I think the time is now. It should begin with your administration. You represent many things to us and one of them is that you, an African-American have been elected to the highest office of our nation. As an African-American, you should be able to understand the struggle for equal constitutional rights and social acceptance. Your administration has a chance to make history. I hope you take advantage of it.

Sincerely,
The Pagan Sphinx

The Next New (Raw?) Deal

Sunday

Continued: Social Justice Quiz 2008

Authored by Bill Quigley, a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. Questions #1-7 are found on The Peace Tree, Sunday, September 14.
Click below for the answers to (and documentation of) today's segment of the quiz.

8. How many people in the world do not have electricity?

9. People in the US consume 42 kilograms of meat per person per year.
How much meat and grain do people in India and China eat?

10. How many cars does China have for every 1000 drivers? India? The U.S.?

11. How much grain is needed to fill a SUV tank with ethanol?

12. According to the Wall Street Journal, the richest 1% of Americans earns what percent of the nation's adjusted gross income?
A) 5%, B) 10%, C) 15%, D)20%

Expand the post +/-

Social Justice Quiz 2008 (click below for answers)

Authored by Bill Quigley, a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. Click for answers (and documentation) below.

1. How many deaths are there world-wide each year due to acts of terrorism?

2. How many deaths are there world-wide each day due to poverty and malnutrition?

3. 1n 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker.
In 1980, CEOs made 40 times more than the average worker.
In 2007, CEOs earned how many times more than the average worker?

4. In how many of the over 3000 cities and counties in the US can a full-time worker who earns minimum wage afford to pay rent and utilities on a one-bedroom apartment?

5. In 1968, the minimum wage was $1.65 per hour.
How much would the minimum wage be today if it had kept pace with inflation since 1968?

6. True or false?
People in the United States spend nearly twice as much on pet food as the US government spends on aid to help foreign countries.

7. How many people in the world live on $2 a day or less?

Expand the post +/-

Answers to Social Justice Quiz 2008

1. 22,000. The U.S. State Department reported there were more than 22,000 deaths from terrorism last year. Over half of those killed or injured were Muslims.
Source: Voice of America, May 2, 2008. "Terrorism Deaths Rose in 2007."

2. About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. Poverty.com – Hunger and World Poverty. Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes – one child every five seconds.
Bread for the World. Hunger Facts: International.

3. Today's average CEO from a Fortune 500 company makes 364 times an average worker's pay and over 70 times the pay of a four-star Army general.
Executive Excess 2007, page 7, jointly published by Institute for Policy Studies and United for Fair Economy, August 29, 2007. 1965 numbers from State of Working America 2004-2005, Economic Policy Institute.

4. In no city or county in the entire USA can a full-time worker who earns minimum wage afford even a one bedroom rental. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) urges renters not to pay more than 30% of their income in rent. HUD also reports the fair market rent for each of the counties and cities in the US.

Nationally, in order to rent a 2 bedroom apartment, one full-time worker in 2008 must earn $17.32 per hour. In fact, 81% of renters live in cities where the Fair Market Rent for a two bedroom rental is not even affordable with two minimum wage jobs.
Source: Out of Reach 2007-2008, April 7, 2008, National Low-Income Housing Coalition.

5. Calculated in real (inflation adjusted) dollars, the 1968 minimum wage would have been worth $9.83 in 2007 dollars. Andrew Tobias, January 16, 2008.

The federal minimum wage is $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008 and $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.

6. True. The USA spends $43.4 billion on pet food annually. Source: American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, Inc. The USA spent $23.5 billion in official foreign aid in 2006. The government of the USA gave the most of any country in the world in actual dollars. As a percentage of gross national income, the USA came in second to last among OECD donor countries and ranked number 20 at 0.18 percent behind Sweden at 1.02 percent and other countries such as Norway, Netherlands, Ireland, United Kingdom, Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and others. This does not count private donations which, if included, may move the USA up as high as 6th.
The Index of Global Philanthropy 2008, page 15, 19.

7. The World Bank reported in August 2008 that 2.6 billion people consume less than $2 a day.
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/Poverty-Brief-in-Eng...

[More Social Justice Quiz next Sunday morning.]
Cross-posted on Border Explorer.

Tuesday

a new world order

commentary is going to be short on this one. i try to write posts that give folks information that they may not get from msm sources and i don't fancy myself a conspiracy theorist. i look at human nature and history as my guides- and i don't get caught up in histrionic, nationalistic, jingoistic patriotism- i look at my country and it's people with a critical eye. and with good reason. bushco has been proven time and again to have lied to america and gone against her best interests. this article puts forth a theory as to why- from an investigator. please take the time to read it- it is a bit long- and think about it and put the pieces together. you have the news bites and the images to go with the theory- they just don't all always come in neat packages.

the battle for america has begun- richard c. cook

By Richard C. Cook
http:// www.richardccook.com

Copyright 2008 Richard C. Cook
Richard C. Cook is a former federal government analyst who was one of the key figures in the investigation of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. He is author of the book - Challenger Revealed: An Insider's Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age is Richard C. Cook's personal story of how he disrupted the cover-ups surrounding the Challenger disaster.

cross posted at sirens chronicles and life's journey

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