Undoubtedly there have been some big stories to grace the airwaves and newspapers of the land this year. I know with all the information that comes our way, it's hard to keep track of all of it, let alone categorize it by importance. Was it the Union busting and subsequent mass protests in Wisconsin? No. Was it the roller coaster ride, known as the stock market? No. Was it the unofficial start to the presidential campaign season and all the whoop la over the candidates? No. Was it the threat of a government shut-down last spring or the huge debt ceiling debacle this summer? No. Was it the killing of Bin Laden? No. Or, Was it the on-going and record number of service people killed in Afghanistan this year? No. Was it the 10th Anniversary of 9/11? No. How about an unemployment rate stuck at 9.1%? No. In my opinion it was none of these items, though each one is important.
The big news I'm referring to broke about two weeks ago. The United States Census Bureau reported that, based on the latest census data, our nation's poverty rate increased to 15.1%. This item was reported in most of the mainstream media. It showed up in the newspapers and even got a mention on the network news shows. It was news for roughly one day. Then, of course, we moved on to the usual reporting about Rick Perry calling Social Security an unconstitutional ponzi scheme; or John Boehner's unwavering support of "job creators"- that elusive bunch who aren't creating any jobs; or what bracelet Michelle Obama was wearing and where she really got it; or President Obama's poll numbers.
In all seriousness, I believe this is the most important news story for this reason: the rise in the poverty rate in this, the richest country in the world, will negatively effect American life for all of us, for a generation or two, at least. Sometimes I think it's hard for us to understand what this actually means. However the implications of this news deserves our utmost attention. I hope we won't just gloss over this issue and toss it aside like yesterday's news. Because unlike many news stories- this one is tomorrow's news as well. We won't feel it all at once, but the effects will creep into our lives in ways that effect all of us one way or another.
Consider what these numbers mean to people in real life. In a country of just over three hundred million, over 42 million of us live in poverty. That is roughly equal to the total populations of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Montana and Arizona. This is the highest level of poverty since 1993. Last year alone 2.6 million more people became impoverished. That's as many people (total) as live in the State of Nevada. That's just the increase in one year. Poverty increased for every racial and ethnic group except Asian Americans. Even more disturbing is that childhood poverty is at 20% compared to general population rates of 15.1%. One in every five children in this, the wealthiest country, is poor. Among African Americans the childhood poverty rate is 40%. This is both shocking and disgraceful.
We tend to absorb numbers and go on our way. Statistics are interesting to a point, but then we drift away from them without realizing the human agony they represent. Perhaps the agony of real life poverty and despair is too much to dwell on. But, in these numbers we should see a grave warning to all of us. When this kind of trend continues we will experience an overall decline in many areas. As poverty increases the standard of living of a whole nation slowly erodes. Education, health care, infrastructure all begin to melt away. We cannot afford to allow our education system to degrade. We already rank a paltry 16th in the world for the proportion of college graduates. And every forecast reinforces the need to have more highly educated people for the jobs of the future. We're headed in the wrong direction.
We also learned from the census report that the median income of Americans has actually gone down 2.3 %. All this has happened while the wealth of the top 2% has increased dramatically. The middle class is shrinking- the poor are increasing in numbers, and the top are accumulating all the wealth. In the midst of this situation the President suggested the millionaires and billionaires pay more taxes- not a ton more- just a rate that goes from a 36% marginal rate to 39%. Three lousy per cent! But the Republican candidates and the House Republicans decided this was "class warfare".
There has already been class warfare in our time. It started about 30 years ago with advent of Reagan's policies. His policies created the greatest wealth disparity in history- until now. The policies of the G.W.Bush presidency pushed it to unbelievable levels. The war is over. The middle class and the poor lost. Today's numbers prove that. But then the poor always lose because this country's balance of power, economically and politically, is measured in money. Those without it rarely win. But, therein lies the warning.
When we look back over the great civilizations and the great empires, we see that greed at the top, and too many have-nots at the bottom, leads to the destruction of those great civilizations. When too many have nothing and too few control too much of the wealth change happens. It is not the peripheral moral issues of the day that decay a people. Those are just the distractions that keep us from dealing with the real issues. Ultimately economic and political justice and fairness define a great people. When 400 families in this country own more wealth than 150 million of us, the situation cries out for radical change. It will inevitably come. It always does when this kind of injustice continues. This many people will not tolerate the injustice. History is very clear on this issue. When this many people are deprived of the necessities of life while the privilidged continue to grab more and more- change comes. Our challenge is to recognize the need for this kind of change and act now to move it forward without the violence that usually accompanies radical change.
I've mentioned before that we are at a cultural crossroads. We must decide what kind of people we want to be. In a land as rich as ours we simply have to develop the will as a people to demand that our leaders work for social justice and against the greed that is hurting so many of us. As of now many of our leaders are owned by the very forces that create and perpetuate these injustices This has to change. This is about our basic values; and more importantly our long-term vision as a people.
Thanks for looking in.
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