by FRANK PITZ
Glaringly absent from the American debate as we enter a New Year are the poor in the United States. That this absence of discussion is a contrived happenstance rather than one of typical national indifference makes the lack of outspoken disputation criminal in its neglect. That such indifference has been allowed (contrived) by the Bush administration and the American media renders this deficiency of deliberation a national shame for which we are all culpable. This all-out assault on the poor in America as evidenced by hyper-rising poverty rates and homelessness, is truly Bush's other "illegal war." And mistake it not, for it is absolutely a war being carried out by corporate America with George W. Bush at the forefront. This war -like the other in Iraq - (which is all about oil), has an objective and that is the complete subjugation/annihilation of the poor by whatever means necessary. To be certain annihilation will not fundamentally come at the point of a gun - though as violence escalates the gun becomes a sure means to an end - it comes about in many small but destructive designs. The elimination of the social "safety net" which has been with us since the Roosevelt era. The eradication of unions and the return to the low-wage, dangerous work places of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The decimation of welfare and other self-help programs such as housing assistance, food stamps, and medical aid, abolishing early childhood education programs as well as higher education support; all this is constructed solely to enrich the landlords of the Earth.
Familiarity with poverty does not necessarily breed sympathy, but there is certain empathetic public responses such as we see at Thanksgiving and Christmas each year. As long as Bush and the compliant media can keep poverty off the front page it stays unfamiliar, and lacking in public discourse. What will - and does - make the news though is the violence that is ultimately bred from overwhelming poverty. Whereas the correlation between poverty, unemployment and stress is never brought into the picture on the evening news; rather we are inundated with words and graphics which we are led to believe point to generic "senseless violence." Cause and effect are never, ever, brought into the mix and, without the interpretation of "cause and effect" we become desensitized to the overall problem. Consequently the public tends to view violence as nothing more than a transcendent problem which "happens to someone else" particularly when it is normally presented as black on black violence.
A characteristically presented view on this propagandized scenario is the "teen violence" mantra employed by conservatives and their media friends. It is much more palatable for the public to accept a generically whitewashed teen violence condition rather than calling it just what it is, Poverty Violence. Historians recognize and it is very well documented that staggering poverty is a forerunner of violence, it was so during the Great Depression and it is so now during the staggering economic upheavals taking place nationwide. Black unemployment in America is running at an unprecedented rate of 50% in many cities across the country, add to that mix the unparalleled loss of factory manufacturing jobs which have occurred over recent years and one does not have to be a professor of sociology to auger just where such policies will take us as a nation. In 2003 the average poor family (that's a family of four) had an income of just $8,858.00 yearly, that is $738.00 per month. U.S. Census Bureau
Since 2000 the number of people in poverty has risen by 4.3 million and the median income has fallen by $1,535.00 after adjustment for inflation. Coincidentally, the number of people with no health insurance has grown by 5.2 million. U.S. Census Bureau
About 40% of poor single-parent working mothers - paying for child care - paid almost 50% of their income towards that care. Child Trends 2001
Opportunities for the poor trying to work their way out of poverty are degenerating; by September 2003, 2.1 million jobless workers - one-quarter of the total unemployed population - were out of work for a half year or more the highest level in twenty years. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, October 2003
The staggering numbers of children in poverty in this country cry out for redress, but the Bush administration would propose to let God handle it. Last year this administration gave $1.7 BILLION to faith-based (isn't that a misnomer) organizations, supposedly to help the poor. $1.7 billion to the Christians, but nary a penny to the states so that they may cope with the ever-increasing problems within their borders; problems, most state legislators will tell you stem from the policies of the Bush administration.
On average, one out of every three Americans - 34.2% of all people in the United States - are officially classified as living in poverty at least two months out of the year. U.S. Census Bureau - Dynamics of Economic Well-Being
The number of Americans living in severe poverty - with incomes below half of the poverty line - increased by 1.2 million in 2003, to 15.3 million. U.S. Census Bureau
Here is one other little fact I'll throw in, of the top ten counties (in the United States) with the highest poverty rates four of them are in Texas, I can only conjecture that Governor, now President Bush is just continuing his ruinous policies at the federal level.
When one looks at wealth and income in these United States it must be noted that the top 20% of household's control 85% of the country's wealth, the bottom 80% control the remaining 15%. Hooray for Wal-Mart? The United States is unique in that inequality of income here is much greater than in other major countries. Of course, those are the countries that Bush and company belittle on an almost daily basis.
I believe that one can reasonably postulate - given what has (and is) transpiring - in this country that Bush and company have been waging a war on the poor in America which is every bit as illegal as their war against Islam. To be certain the Bush Company does not affix appellations such as terrorists, or insurgents to the poor in this nation; rather, they use buzzwords and phrases. We are all familiar with them; family values, moral values, tradition, reason, no child left behind (or put ahead either), diversity (their own brand of course), one could fill reams with the propagandized words which flow from the Bush administration through the pundits of the media. As with the illegal war in Iraq this illegal war in America is kept under wraps vis-Ã-vis the obedient 'embedded media.' Rather than seeing or hearing those suffering and dying we are treated to sideshows such as "Red State" "Blue State," "Divided Nation," "Sanctity of Marriage," ad-infinitum. This illegal war is also taking its appalling toll on all of us in this country. The young in America are being cast away as the young in Iraq. We are creating a country of homeless refugees, as in Iraq. We have throw away the remaining vestiges of a quiet end of lifetime for our seniors by virtue of the fact of turning over medical quality of life to Big-Pharma. We cast aside the worker and rob him/her of their pension after we send his/her job offshore. And now Bush and company want to destroy Social Security. If this is not an illegal war against the poor, less fortunate and defenseless in America, what the hell else would one call it? Bush and company call it Restructuring. In Iraq it is known as Installing Democracy. This writer believes it is past time for some good old-fashioned democracy in America.
Take Care
Frank Pitz fpitz@comcast.net
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