THE THIRD WORLD -- WELL WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE

The Third World exists in America too

A new Census Bureau report confirms what many people already knew: The Third World exists in the U.S. as well.

The basic findings (for the year 2010):

* Nearly 1 in 6 Americans lives in poverty
* The poverty rate went from 14.3% in 2009 to 15.1% (46.2 million people) in 2010
* That number represents the biggest total since tracking poverty began in 1959, and ties the 1993 percentage and is the highest since 1983
* More than half the poor are black and Latino
* The gap between the rich and poor continues to widen.

A couple of thoughts on this. Firstly, a lousy $22,314 annual income for a family of four is the official poverty level. That's insane. You're talking about a poor quality of life and no health coverage, probably malnutrition, and no security. This number should be higher to even be logical. And if you did raise the poverty line, imagine how many people would really be under it!

Secondly, I have a healthy and well-founded distrust of official figures on unemployment, poverty, etc. There are a variety of factors -- and interpretive devices -- that come into play that make the numbers look better than they are. Certain government "safety net programs" that the report mentions seem to have had such an effect on these poverty numbers.

The bottom line is we have serious poverty in this country. There is devastating poverty around the world and we must not be so parochial as to ignore that. But the severity of the problem right here, in the wealthiest nation in history, is both devastating and pathetic.

Health Coverage

The same Census report stated that, in 2010, the percentage of Americans without health care rose from 16.1 to 16.3 (49.9 million people).

But one must remember that MANY other people are under-covered, and that coverage in general in this country, well, sucks! Try dealing with insurance companies and all their BS and you get the picture fast. We have an overpriced, inefficient health system that is screaming to be taken out of the private sector. Universal health care is the only way. And guess what: Not only will it be much more efficient, it will also save the government a ton of money! True.

General Augusto Pinochet: One of many tyrant leaders that the U.S. has backed

Did You Know?

In addition to what happened here in the U.S. in 2001, September 11 is the anniversary of several other very significant events that we should all be aware of. Here are two major ones:

1/ Sept. 11, 1973. The U.S.-backs a coup by the Chilean military which overthrows the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende (who is murdered in the process). The coup brings the notorious General Augusto Pinochet to power, and decades of murder, torture, repression and terrible suffering for the people of Chile ensue. This was the dawn of a very dark time in Chilean history and another blot on U.S. "foreign policy." Anybody who tries to argue that America is not a terrorist state simply hasn't read enough. All of this is in official documents. It's another part of U.S. history that is swept under the carpet.

2/ Sept. 9-13, 1971. Inmates at Attica Correctional Facility in New York State take matters into their own hands after repeated appeals to have serious grievances remedied are ignored. The climactic day sees a massive teargas assault followed by a hailstorm of bullets -- into the cloud of gas -- by the authorities. Twenty-nine prisoners and 10 guards are killed. The full story is one of torture and abuse of prisoners and all adult Americans should have some knowledge of the events. No, the prisoners weren't totally free of blame, but our prison system is a disgrace and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller should have been locked up to rot for the way he "handled" the Attica bloodbath.

YOU can help save Troy Davis

Please Help Troy Davis

The state of Georgia will put Troy Davis to death next Wednesday unless enough people contact the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to ask for clemency. They hold a final hearing with Troy on Monday (19th). Please email them at Clemency_Information@pap.state.ga.us You can also go here to sign an NAACP petition to the District Attorney in the case who has the power to petition the judge to withdraw the death warrant. Anything you can do is significant and an act of humanity.

Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a police officer in 1991 but nearly all of the original witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony and there is no physical evidence tying Troy to the crime. In addition, another man has been identified as the killer by several people. There is no way this execution should go ahead!

Never stop fighting!
Adrian

YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT TROY DAVIS, AND TAKE ACTION, HERE.

CEOs SUCK (YOUR TAXES)!

Steve Jobs, who just stood down as boss of Apple: "Would the next WASP in line who wants to make an obscene amount of money please step forward."

We all know Chief Executive Officers of large corporations make a fortune, right?

Wall Street can crash, the economy can take a header, unemployment lines can stretch around the block and poverty lines can squeeze more and more people under them. But CEOs are still laughing all the way to the Hamptons.

It's pretty sickening on many levels. For example, these jokers constantly talk about profitability and "remaining competitive." This is corporatespeak for maximizing profits by any available measure... other than cutting their own salaries. And the first port of call is generally the rank and file: pay cuts, benefits cuts, layoffs. Anybody but them.

With the recent attempts to gouge workers at Verizon and in the state of Wisconsin and, well, everywhere else; and with real wages for the majority of the workforce stagnating or declining over the past 30 years, it's nauseating that the top layer of business boys is still at the trough.


THE NUMBERS

So how much do these guys (yes, almost exclusively white males) make? You might want to get out the Mylanta before you read this.

According the the AFL-CIO website, in 2010 the average CEO pay at S&P 500 companies was as follows:

Salary: $1,093,989
Bonus: $251,413
Stock Awards: $3,833,052
Option Awards: $2,384,871
Nonequity Incentive Plan Compensation: $2,397,152
Pension and Deferred Compensation Earnings: $1,182,057
All Other Compensation: $215,911
TOTAL: $11,358,445

Quoting from the same site:

According to the Federal Reserve, U.S. corporations held a record $1.93 trillion in cash on their balance sheets in 2010. But they are not investing to expand their companies, grow the real economy or create good middle-class jobs. Corporate CEOs are literally hoarding their company’s cash—except when it comes to their own paychecks.

In 2010, Standard & Poor's 500 Index company CEOs received, on average, $11.4 million in total compensation— a 23 percent increase in one year. Based on 299 companies’ most recent pay data for 2010, their combined total CEO pay of $3.4 billion could support 102,325 median workers’ jobs.

Fortunately, the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contains new tools to help limit runaway CEO pay. Shareholders now have a “say-on-pay” vote on executive compensation, and companies must disclose the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay at each company.

And on an important side note, let's not forget that corporations are BY FAR the biggest recipients of welfare -- our tax dollars!


CONCLUSION

There's something very wrong here, obviously. Think about how hard you work and how much you make (if you even have a job, of course). Now, if you divide $11, 358,445 by a salary of $40,000, you get a quotient of 283.96. Now, does anybody really work 284 times harder than you? Or is their knowledge or expertise so unique, so irreplaceable, that they are worth 284 times your sweat? And what exactly do they do to make the world a better place?

Times are very tough, brutal, for many many people. And they were tough a long time before the 2008 recession hit for many millions in the U.S. and around the world. But the one constant is that CEOs do very well, living in their own stratosphere of luxury.

But be careful, fellas. The air will get awful thin up there once you piss off enough people. And they ain't gonna throw you an oxygen tank.

Take care,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might also like to take a look at THE REVOLUTION IS KNOCKING -- PT. 1.

MONEY -- Part 1

Be honest: Don't we all see life this way far more than we should

When I was working for a non-profit some years ago, one of my colleagues, in the course of a mini training, asked me: "Do you believe that money is the root of all evil?"

I don't remember my exact words at the time but I'm sure they were along the lines of what I'd say now: "No, I don't. I believe that people are the root of all evil."

After all, without us, money would be powerless. Money doesn't start wars, run away from the poor, or put on a suit and lobby politicians.

It doesn't take itself on excessive shopping sprees or hedge, bob and weave until it makes financial institutions collapse, ruining countless lives. Human beings do that.

I am concerned with global poverty. But it has its roots in us. All change has to start with the grassroots. The consumers of the Western World. Our own attitudes to money; and our attitudes to "our" institutions.

This first blog post on money is about the former, obviously. I'll look at the latter next time.

For my part, I have resolved to spend less, give more, recycle what I can, and be more thrifty with everything from air-conditioning to gasoline to water to food. I will do everything to avoid giving my dollars to the worst corporations and I will be more of an activist in the realm of poverty and hunger. I've been doing these things to some degree for years; but I can do them better. And I will.

Let me ask you:

-- Do you have more than you really need? Much more?
-- Do you indulge in spending sprees or one-off splurges that are like a sugar high but don't really give more meaning to your life; more peace of mind?
-- Are you wasteful?
-- Have you ever taken the time to look at poverty and wealth distribution information?
-- Do you stretch your budget through over-consumption rather than charity?
-- Do you pester the politicians for more humanitarian tax reforms, welfare reforms, tougher laws on corporations, and increased aid to the poor (be they in the Third World that exists within our shores or beyond them)?
-- Have you ever gone to corporate watchdog sites and learned about the horrendous crimes and lies of the biggest corporations?
-- Have you ever gone to a rally or made some overt action to protest the cruel distribution of wealth on this planet? Protest labor exploitation? Protested anything that would help with any of these sub-issues?
-- When is enough enough?

Coming up with the wrong answers to these questions doesn't necessarily make one a bad person. We've all been negligent. But it does make us culpable. There's no way around it. A big part of the blame is squarely on our shoulders. And to do nothing makes us an integral part of the problem. Without our over-consumption and social apathy these wrongs could not exist. We have the numbers. We should be using them.

I ask this question a lot (of myself as well): How would you feel if it was you?

* If it was you and your family who were hungry and cold?
* If it was you watching your children starve?
* If it was you in desperate need of just a little help to save your health, your life?

Would your attitude to money be different? Be honest. Of course it would!

As resources dwindle and greed thrives, as dumb consumption increases and Third World sweatshops make that possible, and as "globalization" and its tools (NAFTA, GATT, WTO, IMF, World Bank etc.) grip the globe, there is only one logical conclusion: If we don't change our attitudes, our habits, and our level of commitment to others, we'll all go down together.

The planet's resources are finite. And yet there are enough of the basics for everyone, for an indefinite time, if distributed humanely. Still, tens of thousands starve every day. It comes back to us.

The time for change is incredibly overdue. The jaws of consequence are gaping in front of us. Let's fire up the last eco-friendly bus to a sane solution.

Take care,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at CHILD HUNGER -- THE SCOURGE OF THE PLANET