As I sit here at a Socialism conference in
Seattle, I am reminded of a recent humiliating experience that I went
through.
To make a
long story short -- this past February, I received a letter from the DA's office
of my county. For the first time ever, I was informed that I "knowingly" passed
a "worthless check" and if I didn't immediately send a money order to pay for
the check, the store fee AND $130 to pay for a "bad check writer's class," that
I would be prosecuted for a FELONY!
I immediately did send a money order and a letter saying that I felt that be threatened for a felony for something that I didn't know happened, and for a first offense was a little over the top. So, instead of taking a Saturday out of my life to take the naughty check writer's class, I had to pay $35 to take the audio course that comes with a "text" book and a workbook.
This audio program was completely humiliating
and degrading. I was told that writing a bad check was comparable to dealing
drugs, because I "knowingly" stole from the merchant and there is NO excuse for
passing a "bad check." And to get my finances under control I should shop at
thrift stores and not grocery shop when I am hungry, etc.
One of the "tips" that I was told, also, was that I should never buy my son "designer sneakers" because he can do with shoes from a discount store or a thrift store. Of course we want to be able to tell the rich kids from the poor kids.
I was instructed on how to balance a checkbook and to make a budget. The more I listened to this program, the angrier I became because it just reinforced to me the intense class divide that we have in this nation/world. If you are in what I call the "Robbed Class," on one hand, we are force-fed a daily dose of Madison Avenue propaganda and we are made to feel less than human if we don't have brand new and brand name consumer goods.
Also, even though the Robber Class mortgage companies and banks enticed and deceived millions of people into their "high risk" low-interest (adjustable) mortgages that were then chopped up into a million pieces in Mortgage Backed Derivatives -- and of course people were able to be led like sheep to slaughter for these loans because we are also mythologized of the "American Dream" of home ownership as the pinnacle of American existence.
Even discounting that our currency is mostly based on magical thinking/credit -- the Robbed Class lives on credit and bases prosperity on hardware that is visible but purchased on credit that is invisible. So, the Robbed Class gets in a virtual cycle of debt slavery to try and keep pace with the American Dream. We work (if we are lucky enough to have a job) real hours to make phony money to pay off our credit obligations to pay for real goods. However, I am convinced that many people are now using credit to buy essentials such as gas and food, not luxuries.
What happens when the credit dries up, like it has? How do we in the Robbed Classes feed our families and purchase gas to get to work? Many people go into further debt by using these check-cashing facilities. I recently saw a commercial for a "signature loan" from one of these places -- it's a great deal -- you can borrow $2500 and pay only 139% interest! Some people are so desperate that they will unfortunately go for it.
So, I finished my bad check writer's course, and in my evaluation, I said that there are worse things than writing a bad check: war and economic exploitation being only two of those things.
I want to share my recent exercise in humiliation to make a point. There ARE Two Americas that John Edwards (former Senator, VP Candidate) knows nothing about.
There's the America that I belong to. The one where mothers often have to miss work or send their children to school or day care ill, because they CANNOT AFFORD to miss work. There's the America where some families and especially seniors have to choose between buying medicine and buying food.
However, the America that I belong to also buys into the Myth that we don't deserve to have healthy food, education, health care, a warm and non-leaking roof over our heads, without living as debt slaves, because we don't belong in the privileged "elite" class.
My America sends our children off to fight and die and kill innocent people in wars that the other America profits off of.
We need a Robbed Class revolution, but before we can have one of those -- our class needs to come to the conclusion that there is something deeply wrong with this U.S. system of out-of-control crony Capitalism.
This Capitalism not only leads to war, but economic and environmental devastation. The gusher in the Gulf of Mexico is happening because of backroom deals between the companies involved and the U.S. representatives who are purchased by oil companies.
Capitalism has brought this world to the brink of disaster, now it's up to the people to bring it back.
I immediately did send a money order and a letter saying that I felt that be threatened for a felony for something that I didn't know happened, and for a first offense was a little over the top. So, instead of taking a Saturday out of my life to take the naughty check writer's class, I had to pay $35 to take the audio course that comes with a "text" book and a workbook.
One of the "tips" that I was told, also, was that I should never buy my son "designer sneakers" because he can do with shoes from a discount store or a thrift store. Of course we want to be able to tell the rich kids from the poor kids.
I was instructed on how to balance a checkbook and to make a budget. The more I listened to this program, the angrier I became because it just reinforced to me the intense class divide that we have in this nation/world. If you are in what I call the "Robbed Class," on one hand, we are force-fed a daily dose of Madison Avenue propaganda and we are made to feel less than human if we don't have brand new and brand name consumer goods.
Also, even though the Robber Class mortgage companies and banks enticed and deceived millions of people into their "high risk" low-interest (adjustable) mortgages that were then chopped up into a million pieces in Mortgage Backed Derivatives -- and of course people were able to be led like sheep to slaughter for these loans because we are also mythologized of the "American Dream" of home ownership as the pinnacle of American existence.
Even discounting that our currency is mostly based on magical thinking/credit -- the Robbed Class lives on credit and bases prosperity on hardware that is visible but purchased on credit that is invisible. So, the Robbed Class gets in a virtual cycle of debt slavery to try and keep pace with the American Dream. We work (if we are lucky enough to have a job) real hours to make phony money to pay off our credit obligations to pay for real goods. However, I am convinced that many people are now using credit to buy essentials such as gas and food, not luxuries.
What happens when the credit dries up, like it has? How do we in the Robbed Classes feed our families and purchase gas to get to work? Many people go into further debt by using these check-cashing facilities. I recently saw a commercial for a "signature loan" from one of these places -- it's a great deal -- you can borrow $2500 and pay only 139% interest! Some people are so desperate that they will unfortunately go for it.
So, I finished my bad check writer's course, and in my evaluation, I said that there are worse things than writing a bad check: war and economic exploitation being only two of those things.
I want to share my recent exercise in humiliation to make a point. There ARE Two Americas that John Edwards (former Senator, VP Candidate) knows nothing about.
There's the America that I belong to. The one where mothers often have to miss work or send their children to school or day care ill, because they CANNOT AFFORD to miss work. There's the America where some families and especially seniors have to choose between buying medicine and buying food.
However, the America that I belong to also buys into the Myth that we don't deserve to have healthy food, education, health care, a warm and non-leaking roof over our heads, without living as debt slaves, because we don't belong in the privileged "elite" class.
My America sends our children off to fight and die and kill innocent people in wars that the other America profits off of.
We need a Robbed Class revolution, but before we can have one of those -- our class needs to come to the conclusion that there is something deeply wrong with this U.S. system of out-of-control crony Capitalism.
This Capitalism not only leads to war, but economic and environmental devastation. The gusher in the Gulf of Mexico is happening because of backroom deals between the companies involved and the U.S. representatives who are purchased by oil companies.
Capitalism has brought this world to the brink of disaster, now it's up to the people to bring it back.
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