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Census: Number of Poor May Be Millions Higher
WASHINGTON -- The number of poor people in the U.S. is millions higher than previously known, with 1 in 6 Americans — many of them 65 and older — struggling in poverty due to rising medical care and other costs, according to preliminary census figures released Wednesday.
At the same time, government aid programs such as tax credits and food stamps kept many people out of poverty, helping to ensure the poverty rate did not balloon even higher during the recession in 2009, Obama's first year in office.
Under a new revised census formula, overall poverty in 2009 stood at 15.7 percent, or 47.8 million people. That's compared to the official 2009 rate of 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million, that was reported by the Census Bureau last September.
Across all demographic groups, Americans 65 and older sustained the largest increases in poverty under the revised formula — nearly doubling to 16.1 percent. As a whole, working-age adults 18-64 also saw increases in poverty, as well as whites and Hispanics. Children, blacks and unmarried couples were less likely to be considered poor under the new measure.
Due to new adjustments for geographical variations in costs of living, people residing in the suburbs, the Northeast and West were the regions mostly likely to have poor people — nearly 1 in 5 in the West.
The new measure will not replace the official poverty rate but will be published alongside the traditional figure this fall as a "supplement" for federal agencies and state governments to determine anti-poverty policies. Economists have long criticized the official poverty measure as inadequate because it only includes pretax cash income and does not account for medical, transportation and work expenses.
"Under the new measure, we can clearly see the effects of our government policies," said Kathleen Short, a Census Bureau research economist who calculated the revised poverty numbers. "When you're accounting for in-kind benefits and tax credits, you're bringing many people in extreme poverty off the very bottom."
The official measure is based on a 1955 cost of an emergency food diet and does not factor in other living costs. Nor does it consider non-cash government aid when calculating income, which surged higher in 2009 during the recession.
Short's analysis, published Wednesday as part of a series of census working papers on poverty, shows that out-of-pocket medical expenses had a significant impact in affecting the number of poor — without those costs, poverty would have dropped from 15.7 percent to 12.4 percent.
The effect was seen most notably among older Americans. Under the official poverty rate, about 8.9 percent lived in poverty, mostly because they benefit from Social Security cash payments. But when taking into account out-of-pocket medical expenses and other factors, that number rises to 16.1 percent.
The numbers cited for 2009 are preliminary, but census officials say they offer a good representative look at the state of U.S. poverty and where the numbers are headed when new 2010 figures are released this fall.
Among the findings:
_Transportation, commuting and child care costs weigh on working-age Americans. The official poverty rate for those ages 18 to 64 is currently 12.9 percent, the highest since 1960s levels that launched the war on poverty. Under the revised formula, working-age poverty increases even higher, to 14.8 percent.
_Without the earned income tax credit, the poverty rate under the revised formula would jump from 15.7 percent to 17.7 percent. The absence of food stamps separately would increase the poverty rate to 17.2 percent.
_Taking into account millions of uninsured people in the U.S. had little effect in increasing poverty, mostly because those without insurance tend to forgo medical care rather than find ways to pay for it. Those with government-sponsored insurance generally saw decreases in poverty under the new formula, while those with employer-provided coverage saw increases. Still overall poverty for those with public insurance vs. employer insurance was higher, 31.1 percent compared to 7.2 percent.
_Under the revised formula, the West had the most people in poverty at 19.2 percent. It was followed by the South (16.1 percent), the Northeast (14.3 percent) and the Midwest (12.5 percent).
The supplemental figures could take on added significance at a time when many in the government point to an overhaul of Medicare and Social Security as the best hope for reducing the ballooning federal debt. With the potential to add more older Americans to the ranks of the poor, the numbers may underscore a need for continued — if not expanded — old-age benefits as a government safety net.
77 Comments so far
Show AllAnd like unemployment, you know the official rate is suspect. It's probably worse still.
We're number one! Or some sh*t like that.
The contrived "official" rate of inflation is THE most suspect number and the number that influences all other economic statistics, government and otherwise.
Understating the "official" rate of inflation for the past 30 years 1) caused the housing bubble and its aftermath, 2) drove down wage, pension and Social Security compensation, and 3) is giving the Federal Reserve an excuse to give speculators more free money to use in driving up commodity prices, primarily food and energy, thereby assuring more Americans and others fall further into poverty.
well said.
Certainly, the real unemployment figure is much higher (20%) or more.
But the price of a Lexus came down.
Had to. There aren't enough nouveau rich to buy em.
From the article:
"The official poverty rate for those ages 18 to 64 is currently 12.9 percent, the highest since 1960s levels that launched the war on poverty."
LBJ launched a war on poverty and reduced poverty by about 50%. But in 2011 the GOP and the billionaire class have launched a war on the poor and the GOPillionaires are winning. Too many Democrats are useful idiots and useless tools.
Democrats have moved from being useful idiots and useless tools to being fully complicit in the scam, even taking the lead as Obama did last month when he proposed and legalized the "temporary payroll tax holiday" that will assure the demise of Social Security.
It's not about Dem. or Rep. anymore. It's about ECONOMIC CLASS: Haves & have nots.
As Dubya told a wealthy Connecticut audience in 2004 "They call you the have-mores and I call you my base".
The ranks of the haves are rapidly shrinking while the ranks of the have-mores are growing and the ranks of the have-nots are growing exponentially.
I hate to tell you this but the war on the working was not launched in 2011 but in 1980 by one Raygun Reagan.
You don't need statistics to know that this country is going down hill. It is not only suffering from an increasing economic impoverishment for the average person, which anyone of average intelligence can see who has eyes instead of a personal manager, but it's become a country where it's all right to hold greed up as a virtue. We are becoming a third world country, but we are already a second rate country when it comes to morals. And I'm not talking about the touted 'family values' of the tea partiers and hypocritical neo-conservatives. I'm talking about integrity, honesty, willingness to put people before the 'bottom line', etc. I'm talking about moral fiber.
Well said. I believe that is the crux of the matter.
Until the population understands that a successful community requires moral fiber, there is no hope for a turnaround of our sad state of affairs.
To give you an example of our plight, the other day in Barry, Vermont, a police officer broke into a neighbor's condo and stole her TV. Someone saw him and called (who else?) the POLICE. Shortly before the police arrived at the 'suspect's' home, the 'suspect' threw the TV in the Winooski river (Now that's REALLY serious business in anti-pollution green Vermont so he really must have panicked-Someone saw THAT too-we are quite observant and nosey around here). When the cops arrived, the 'suspect' REFUSED to be arrested. Eventually he agreed to 'accompany' the cops to the station. At the station he was arrested.
Now what can you expect of the people if some police officer in Norman Rockwell land has no integrity? Are we back to the Spartans where getting caught is the only concern?
Moral fiber? NOT!
Your example is interesting, especially the bit "Shortly before the police arrived at the 'suspect's' home, the 'suspect' threw the TV in the Winooski river." That would not be by coincidence, if my life experiences are anything to go by. Obviously the "suspect" had a phone call from the police notifying him of an impending visit.
But your example is by no means unique to where you live, or unique to the current era. I wont bore you with similar tales from my life in Australia 30 years ago. I will just say that police stick together, and have probably always been like that everywhere around the world, and probably always will be.
I understand your point. Many years ago I read a science fiction book in which all police and judicial functions were done by robots and computers because it was impossible for humans to avoid corruption when given police or judicial authority.
I still think the moral rot is getting worse, though.
Since the advent of "I Robot", I've always thought that this would be the perfect duty for robots, the act of administering the laws faithfully and without passion. This is further reinforced by watching that show used to give people an example of what to expect when dealing with law enforcement - "Cops"
This would truly be a basis for an, at least judicially, Utopian society. BUT, wait for it,robots are computers and computers have to be programed and debugged and serviced and someone human must do it. Who watches the programmers? Be careful what you wish for. There are no easy answers.
George,
Thank you for what you said.
In my meanderings, both in casual conversations and in more formal settings with groups of people, I am hearing similar refrains. Our problems, from economic to environmental to military spending to poverty, stem from a lack of moral fiber. And many of the people I speak with are voicing their feelings that what we lack is a spirituality, a loss of our individual and collective soul. We are lost in space and rudderless and it is tearing this nation and its people apart.
A customer at the store I work at asked me whether I made any New Year's resolutions. I thought for a second and said that I hadn't, but my goal is to keep connecting with people and working toward community that lives beyond the material world that we have all been sold. If each one of us can work in integrity and honesty for a soulfull life, we will go a long way toward creating a different world. It is obvious that it won't, and indeed can't, come from the top. We each must do this.
The sickening thing is that even with these awful statistics, our present congress could CARE less. Most will be offered jobs through the revolving door that links Washington Lobbies with "the people's representatives."
With a bulging deficit, it didn't seem to pose any problem for Obama and the two melded political teams to renew expensive tax breaks for those already blessed with embarrassments of riches. Nor did these figures seem to cause any intelligent stir to reduce the numbers/$$$ thrown at the MIC.
Locking all congress critters into session while marijuana fumes are "piped" in might be the only potentially winning strategy in forcing this competing cast of Ebineezer Scrooges to actually begin to show the slightest remorse for "the little guy."
Let's not hold our breath...
The piped marijuana fumes strategy would work only if there was no food in the room and half of the critters ate the other half to satisfy the munchies.
Getting rid of half of them would be a good start.
That's a good one Ray ;-)
Let's only hold our breath, when we partake of the cannabis!
A pot head I am not, but an aficionado I am, but only less than a handful of events per month, and as that is my current self administered legal California "prescription".
As to your cannabis prescription for Congress, I would recommend a nice sativa dominant hybrid, whose mental effects turn toward the psychedelic to best affect those stuck in the current materialistic paradigm.
Oh yes, their solution for the budget deficit is to cause more pain on main street by deeper cuts in domestic spending. They have a solution for everything, don't they.
The Scrooges have never had the slightest remorse for the little guy. The only thing that ever changes their course, or when they act concerned, is when there is imminent threat to their survival, and the only thing that seems to move the mob is the same. It would be wonderful if humans showed more wisdom after all these years.
What really gets me about all this is the suspicion that many rich pigs actually smile with glee at this sort of news and say to themselves, "IT'S WORKIING!".
I'm sure there are a host of congresscritters in that category.
I don't see any help coming from politicians. On the contrary. They want us to stop whining about our poverty and just die so we don't impose on their lifestyle.
Expect more totally insensitive comments from congress about how 'great' the economy is doing.
My dream is that corporations that own our politicians like Goldman Sachs lose so much money that they have to be renamed Leaden Sacks!
The more money corporations lose, the more US taxpayers' money the Congresscritters (that they own) will send their way to bail them out.
Its Win/Win for them and Lose/Lose for us.
Depressing, isn't it?
They've got that accursed legal tender law that forces us to use money that the fed can create out of thin air to help their pals. Hell, they don't even need congress to bail them out anymore. The whole thing is out of control. However, I'm sure a bunch of those crooks got hearburn when the new oil pipeline from Russia to China just opened on the back of the agreement to NOT use US funny money for oil. a small consolation to we average folks, I guess.
Our government is commiting treason against the American people. What a ridiculous situation! The constitution itself says we are obligated to change the government if the government isn't doing it's job. So who is going to change it when they've got the guns? I would last about two minutes after they zapped my pacemaker. Someone else will have to join that revolution. For many, like myself, the choice has been made. We have chosen death over liberty.
Ron Paul talks about reining in the fed. Suppose he succeeds. Then what? Wouldn't the bought and paid for shills in congress just keep bailing out the crooks if the fed can't do it. It's like you say, LOSE-LOSE.
The banksters that own the DC electeds will never let Congress get rid of the Federal Reserve, their bottomless ATM machine funded by you, me and the rest of the US taxpayers.
Even when the US dollar is no longer the global exchange currency, resulting in no other nation willing to loan the US money, Congress will continue expanding austerity programs to fund bailouts for banksters.
Within a decade US roads will be privately owned and you will need to pay tolls to use them and most of the public services we are accustomed to today will be history.
The new paradigm is:
If you want the roads cleared of snow, buy a snowplow.
It is not a matter of 'reining in' the Fed. We must repeal the legislation that created the Federal Reserve in the first place and return to the monetary system as explained in our Constitution. Only the Congress has the right to produce our money---not a cartel of private banksters. Under the Federal Reserve system our government has to borrow the money AT INTEREST to run our nation.
Every transaction we make the Federal Reserve takes a piece of it for their interest. They collect at both ends of the transaction. President Lincoln has the Tresury issue Greenbacks to pay the cost of the civil war. He just had them printed and paid the soldiers and for the war supplies with these bills. These were printed and no interest was charged. That money was legal tender for decades. It can be done again now. We print Treasurey bills. We just need to print them in smaller amounts. (The bankers hated Lincoln for this and he was killed. So was President Garfield when he talked about taking control of the money from the bankers.)
It is the BANKERS who are the cause of the economic collapse we are suffering. The hell with the bankers. Let the banks crash!! Good riddance. With the free flow of money the depression will be over. Happy times can be here again---all we have to do is screw the bastards on Wall Street.
This action would improve the behavior of our elected officials. Now they work dilligently for the bankster's 'donations'. If the banks crash they can't buy the government. And wouldn't that be lovely? We could have REAL DEMOCRACY!!! Congress would listen to us!! Oh boy!!! End the war and tax the rich!
To set these things going you have to take all your money out of the big banks. Move your account to a credit union or a small local bank. The big banks are doing all this damage with your money. Don't let them have it.
Eventually a Dirty Harry we taxpayers paid to train, will figure things out and the gleeful smile will turn to . . . :
Harry Callahan: I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking "did he fire six shots or only five?" Now to tell you the truth I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow you head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?
With the capability of those that have money being able to "make" money by trading that money, where is there a need to deal with factories or those pesky "employee" serfs? Why produce anything when wealth can be derived by trading "money"? And the fact that the government, through the FED provides "betting" money, why should they even risk their own stash of wealth to become even more wealthy? I, in my limited scope of understanding, can see that this is nearing the culmination of a scheme to where the wealthy will need to do nothing but manage that wealth through colossal betting in a made to order casino [Stock Market]. All that is necessary now is to downsize the number of workers so that they can better manage the remaining resources for their own uses. There is little need for the common man with either middle or lower class capabilities in the numbers that was once needed to gather those resources, much of that has been streamlined and made so efficient that we will need to be eradicated because we have become too many... Dark times but if there are any flaws to my vision, I don't see them... If you wish to call me a defeatist, go ahead. I don't have the resources to opt out, I don't see a lot that I can do to stem this tide of pure evil but, rest assured, I am paying attention to suggestions.
[edited for clarity]
Let's start a workingman's black market alternative economy!
They've thought of that. They boxed us in with the legal tender laws. They can literally force us to accept dollars for our goods. Our only recourse would be to price our farm, arts and crafts goods and services in outlandish dollar amounts while establishing a barter goods and services data base so every item or service was cross-referenced in real, tradable value as opposed to dollar federal coercion money.
With computers, it might work. Are you up to it? You would have to list several thousand goods and services with each item value in every other item (fractional items would be necessary as well so a form of credit would be created). It could be done. Additionally, goods that were made without fossil fuels would be given higher value so we could all work towards a sustainable economy.
If we got this thing going, we would still have to deal with trumped up charges from the FDA and tax authorities. Then there's the medical profession and dentists. Can I get a root canal for three chickens? Maybe. It would take community and, as Markley said above, moral fiber.
WAIN: You raised a significant issue. The decoupling of money from any semblance OF actual earning is Wall Street's very own alchemy, a cross between 19th century hucksters talking up all sorts of cures at circus carnivals with organized crime. Where it leads is yet to be seen; but so far, since the banks OWN our representatives, the interests of bankers is what passes for sound government policy determinations. All through Europe the workers are protesting as they can see the con for what it is. While in America, thanks to the authoritarian power of the fundamentalist church added to a controlled media, very few people understand what's really going on. The numbers are kept in secret, with the latest scapegoat "cause" linked to ACORN; nor has anything been done to restore Glass-Steagall even though most of the horses (funds) have already left the barn.
The only worse travesties are the complete lack of responsible action in the face or inordinate climate change, and the continued marketing and manufacture of WAR.
These ARE Dark Times, and just because a few are paid to hover in these CD threads and try to make such statements more about those who make them, than about their actual credibility... hardly makes the truth less painful.
I read a number of books on Alchemy and the pursuit of the "philosphers Stone" that can turn things of no value into Gold.
It breathtakingly simple.
Print up paper dollars.
Claim it has value. Buy gold.
in a situation of increasing operational world-wide scarcity, the winners will win consolidating and protecting their winnings, while the losers are left to die...except that now among the losers is gaia herself...
The poverty rate in 1900 was about 40 percent, a time when there was no significant safety net. Without the skimpy safety net of today, the present poverty rate approaches 20 percent. This is after a century of technological advance that has increased productivity manyfold. It is clear what the reason is: the rich have taken the main course and left crumbs for workers. Where is the rage? Are the people so convinced they do not deserve the wealth created by science and engineering? That they have no value? How sad! They are the ones responsible for creating the wealth in the first place. I guess they don't know it.
dorsera, not sure if your statement of 40% poverty rate in 1900 is correct but the big difference is that 110 years ago the majority of population still lived in rural communities with many working or connected with small farms that actually produced a variety of edible foods. A family could just about sustain itself on large garden, fruit trees, a few chickens and pigs and of course a horse or two.
Todays poor live hand to mouth and often rely on food stamps to get by. Here in Hawaii like many places we only have about a weeks supply of food before serious social breakdown would occur. So I ask who is more vulnerable?
The world most people live in today is far more interdependent and brainwashed by mass media than the world most people lived in 110 years ago was. Most people are therefore much more vulnerable today and because of the influence of the owners of mass media, much more impotent to mitigate that vulnerability.
Time for a new NEW DEAL! Time to redistribute wealth down to those who create it in the first place! The working class; not the owning class/banksters.
Time to read Karl marx and throw away Milton Friedman into the dust bin of history where he belongs.
Those of us who worship more than the dollar have a higher calling in life.
There is a choice, selfishness, or, our obligation to those about us--- humanity.
I offer a certain precedent for your consideration:
“For I was hungry and you did not give me food; I was thirsty and you did not give drink;
I was a stranger and you did not take me in; I was naked and you did not clothe me; I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me.
Then they will also answer and say, Our Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in the prison, and did not minister to thee?
Then he will answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did not do it it to one of these least ones, you also did not do it to me.” --Matthew 25:42-45
Peace my brother
Actually, the Biblical passage I quoted came from the Aramaic Peshitta text. It is the text of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and has little or nothing to do with ancient Greek as it was written in the original language that Christ spoke.
Peace to you
Dear R.Nemo,
Instead of Karl Marx and the examples of Stalin and USSR, etc.,
why not read something more practical like the constitutional
international law, which all the nations worked on and most have
signed and ratified. (It's constitutional because the UN Charter,
the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant on
Economic, Social and Political Rights cannot be abrogated once
ratified. Treaties can be abrogated after a six month warning;
the constitutional international law can only be abrogated by the
nation's withdrawing from the United Nations.) The United
Nations was created to prevent war, and the Charter delineates
the ways to prevent it. The Covenants enumerate the rights of
each individual, including the right to life (Art. 6.1. No one shall
\be arbitrarily deprived of his life.), the right to food, shelter, a
job, an increasing standard of living, free education, medical care,
etc. The only problem, of course, is that a great many nations,
although agreeing, have not implemented the law. The US has
signed and ratified the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
which states, among many other rights, that "Everyone shall have
the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law
(Art. 16), i.e., no Guantanamoes, and "No one shall be subjected
to torture or to cruel or degrading treatment or punishment (Art.7)
i.e., take Manning out of solitary confinement. There should be
lawsuits in the US, as there are in Egypt, based on the
constitutional and customary international law, for example,
for Manning and the prisoners in Guantanamo. And it would be
useful to lobby to get the Senate to ratify the Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights; then there could be lawsuits to provide
medical care for everyone, for example. In other words, forget
the old capitalism/communism dichotomy and work using the viable
synthesis in the constitutional international law.
John_Ellis,
I like you. You certainly possess the courage of your convictions. You are consistent and though you can become quite repetitious, you have come up with some excellent arguments to support some of your positions. That said, I don't agree with some of your positions and find your syntax somewhat stilted. Why do you talk like Yoda? Never mind. I can still understand you. I am intrigued by your low fat diet and robust health. I would like to know more about the "15% fat" limit you mention on your food intake as a guarantee of good health.
Now to the issue you brought up.
CAN A GREEDY MAN HAVE WISDOM? -- NO WAY.
No way, I say, No way and comes now MY logic.
Greed is an emotion. All emotions emanate and originate in the limbic porion of our triune brain. Granted that the limbic portion has higher functions than the stem (reptilian) portion (the part that causes us to react with violence to a threat), the neo-cortex is the part responsible for reasoning and logical thought. Love, hate, sex, compassion, greed, etc. all come from the limbic portion of our brain.
Wisdom and self-awareness come from the neo-cortex. When greed is the guide to your behavior, you are NOT reasoning. You are attempting to function like a pack rat. That works well for pack rats. I like to think humans can do better.
Thank you. I like your diet and will discuss it with the boss (my wife). She is into all the organic stuff so it shouldn't be a hard sell.
Roger on the wait for your research on greed. Take your time. Way back in the eighties I used to think being greedy was part of the 'enlightened self interest' meme that supposedly benefited the economy. That was before some reality hit me like a two by four. It was a scam from Adams to Reagan to the rest of our reptilian con artist presidents.
As you say, one can replace a bunch of 'free market' scam artists with fake socialist con artists and still be eating bantha droppings at their behest. Humans lie a lot and talk so-o-o pretty so often just to lull us into submission. But all that doesn't remove the fact that socialism could work IF we could control the greedy pigs among us.
Yeah, I know. That's a mighty big if.
I'll let her know. She has, since childhood, had a thing about germs. It didn't help when she went to college. She got a BS with a major in chemistry and proceeded to ban the eating of anything that might have ever been treated with a pesticide in her family's home. She drove her parent's half crazy. She's a bit of a fanatic in this area. And she can argue circles around me in the are of bio-chemical interactions, allergy producing chemicals in our food and pesticides and many other chemistry related subjects. I have lots of biology studies under my belt but I have to admit all the pesticides scare the crap out of me. I agree that organic is way too expensive.
As to reactive behavior, you are right. However, most of our decisions are not in the fight or flight area. We have time to use our neo-cortex and reason out what the best course of action should be. In the book Les Miserables, the hero steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving sister. He was being rational in addition to expressing love and compassion. She needed nutrition to be well, period. He knew he could go to jail but his sister's health was the main reasonable consideration.
What is the difference when a CEO calmly 'reasons' that he should starve you and your family so your descendents don't overpopulate the earth? Is he being rational? Some would say yes. I say he is being greedy because he cannot know the future and has not researched all the possible deleterious effects to his health and well being involved in screwing you. His greedy behavior may trigger your reptilian (violent) response. A wise man would think this through and realize that cooperation and community would provide a more beneficial outcome. A greedy man doesn't give a f_ck so he just does it and we are reduced to further savagery. A greedy man doesn't give a f_ck because he doesn't reason.
There is a spiritual issue there as well.
indeed...
the age of digital disappearances is upon us...
as if one's pictures are removed from an existing album, leaving the holes...
are the holes evidence of actual issue, or overreaction?
An interesting post.
My family, for example has members in all the four categories you mention. The hoidy toidy millionaires didn't inherit their wealth. We are a bunch of Army brats (seven of us) raised by a tyrant of a father who was an Army officer and a total fascist. He abused two of my sisters (that I know of when they told me as adults) and psychologically abused the rest of us as well. All this while making us all feel guilty about being useless eaters debendent on all his 'work' and 'sacrifice' to keep us clothed and fed. My mother was a kind, co-depenpent, happy face, don't rock the boat type person. And that's the way the old man liked it. We all wanted desperately to get the hell out of there. We were all trained well to go to church and love money at the same time. Although that doesn't seem to be a contradiction among modern mammon loving 'christians', I came to realize it was total bullshit and became an atheist while still respecting greed. I wanted to be logical and consistent. I was different from the others. My oldest sister married a struggling college student and helped pay for the rest of his studies so he was able to become a dentist. After 20 years he drowned at a beach that almost took me and one of my brothers with him when we tried unsuccesfully to save him (salt water in the lungs burns like hell). My sister got $250,000 from the life insurance and put it in the stock market in 1980 and, as of 2000, was a multi-millionaire skinflint that wouldn't give me the time of day. She actively conspired with one of my con-artist, greed loving brothers to steal my inheritance (she succeeded). One of my brothers got into the country club class. My other syblings were spread across the other three categories. I moved from the educated to the laboring class. I also became a Christian after some rather exciting life experiences (a real Christian - not the modern bullshit kind that loves war and money). But that's another story.
The point I wish to bring to your attention is that humans, regardless of class, have much in common. Our enemy is the lack of moral fiber, no matter the class. It may be absolutely required of certain classes to be greedy and so we can pass judgement on them as a definite obstacle to a healthy community, but it's hard to generalize. I get targeted here for being a Christian because so many assholes out there with that label do everything they can to drag Jesus Christ's name through the mud at every occasion. I don't blame the targeters like metal. Modern churches are mostly whore houses. But despite all the troubles, I, like you, believe I am doing the right thing by eschewing greed and clinging to my Christian 'myth'. Greed is attractive but stupid.
You assume that much of the morality preached is convenient to those who can afford morality. I beg to differ. There are many of us that won't compromise our morality for comfort. I would wager that greed is more common in those who have much than in those who can barely get by.
I will agree with you on one thing you seem to believe; most people can be bought because of their greed. However when an entire society elevates greed to some invisible hand bullshit where you are supposedly doing God's work by being greedy, the destruction of that society is assured.
Now lets discuss your four laws:
Law of Survival:
The fact that we know we live a doomed existence is a function of self-awareness. Scientists believe that the reason religions and other esoteric beliefs like astrology are created by us is because we cannot stand the idea that we will stop. So we 'invented' immortal souls. We don't respond to self-awareness with pleasure seeking. We respond by seeking security. Religions provide that. If God doesn't exist, then I am an insecure idiot. But, what the hell, it makes me feel better.
Law of Conscience, Takers and Givers. Those three 'laws' you mention deal with deserving life or not deserving life. Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic Theologian, claimed that God is providential because He had the option to create us or not. Since He DID create us, we owe Him some gratitude. While many who live lives of desperation feel they owe Him the finger, the issue is that, if God exists, then He must have created us. For what it's worth I feel grateful to have been given life. I don't think the world owes me jack shit. I do believe it ain't over when we are done here so the material concerns of this present existence aren't the most important priority for me. Even though I don't believe in reincarnation like some here, I do believe that we are in 'school' here and grades will be given.
So, while I realize that many harbor entitlement claims, it doesn't translate to an excuse to abuse fellow humans. I believe humans are being silly and frivolous when they look down their noses at people with less education or money. It's some kind of act to be derided, scorned and laughed at. All those assholes who consider working people to be beneath them are morally and spiritually bankrupt.
Well written :-)
"The point I wish to bring to your attention is that humans, regardless of class, have much in common. Our enemy is the lack of moral fiber, no matter the class."
This is used to game society. This lever is used constantly and everywhere. In the far gone past, in tribes there was no place to hide for the manipulators. If someone tried (I take this from the little that I have read) they would either be killed or told to leave the tribe. In today's "modern" world the manipulators find it very easy to hide in the shadows. The consequences of their decisions have now overstepped the bounds of Reality and the system came crashing down. Problem is that for most it is not clear what really happened. And here we have a problem, there is no easy way to explain it, as to drop the "veil" of this lie is going to be very painful and humans want to avoid the pain that what they "believed" was a lie.
The moment the Roman Empire got involved in Christianity was the moment that Jesus's wisdom was desecrated.
I once flew along side a Christian student who told me that he traveled around the US organizing Student Christian Movements on campuses. Details of his org. I do not recall but I found it interesting enough that I thought to discuss some issues with him. I asked him point blank if he believed in the death penalty. He said Yes. I said, so how do you square that with the 10 commandments? And here is where he had a problem. He did not address the commandments but instead proceeded why these people should be punished. I knew that there was no sense to continue but it was interesting how theory and practice is conveniently separated on this micro scale I encountered. Too bad I didn't discuss war for Democracy with him :-)
I am pessimistic in that I do not see any easy way to unwind this mad system. The roots are through and through rotted.
Check out Prof. Hudson here
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php/18061-Income-Tax-Hudson
Thank you. I love the way Hudson always goes straight to the solution (Tax the properties of the rich since they have the most property and those properties require the most community services like police and fire departments, not to mention roads, plumbing and electricity). I have been reading Hudson on Counterpunch for some years now. He supports the stock transaction tax too.
I agree that the Roman Empire morphed into the Catholic Church. In addition, like you said, Jesus Christ's teachings were put through a politically convenient meat grinder to produce a non threatening bible for empire(s) at that demonic Council of Nicea around 315 AD. I have many bones to pick with the 'apostle' Paul. But that is a long, long discussion subject.
Sometimes I think the cognitive dissonace taught young 'christians' like the one you spoke with deprives them of critical thinking skills. They are trained to be good pharisees; hypocritical, sanctimonious and bigoted to the hilt. They are witting and sometimes unwitting tools of empire. I got thrown out of a church for calling them on their hypocricy.
I'm doing fine.
I too have suffered from "takings" too. I also try to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. I'm seeking, daily, a church to attend that is truly a "Christ following" church while I worship at the church that my mother attended. I need little extra reinforcement of the presence of God, gaze into a sunset, a child's face, a tiny flower too small to bring your notice unless you stop and actually look for it, these things are a sign that He is in control. The Bible is for me to use to make myself better, I am not to "expect" anyone else to freely follow those edicts, those are for my use for my enlightenment. I am not allowed to beat anyone over the head with what is written there, only myself. From what I understand, we are well into the breaking of the seals, maybe five of the seven have been broken. Does death trouble me? Not really... only hoping that my children do not suffer the grief that I did on my parents passing, trying to get them to understand that my life should be celebrated, not mourned, for it was a gift, I will have left after having been given much even if I leave today... I hope that I will have returned some...