On 02/01/2011 05:53 AM, Vaj wrote: > > American values > > Societies have historically rebelled against extremes of inequality, > and recent studies have even suggested that the human brain is > "hardwired" to dislike inequity [19]. For our part, Americans have > always prided themselves on valuing "fair play," a "level playing > field," and "opportunity for all." > > Yet income inequality in the US is rising sharply. It's true that > Egyptians face greater extremes of poverty but the poor in this > country suffer more disease, greater disability, and an earlier death > than other Americans. > > Egyptians face much greater hardships and dangers than Americans do, > and it would be wrong to minimize either their difficulties or their > bravery. But while we shouldn't trivialize our differences, it's also > wrong to ignore our similarities. If we do, it lets our nation's > leaders do far less than they should be doing to create real economic > and political change. It allows us to admire the Egyptian people > without challenging our own consciences. It lets us admire their > activism without seeing the need for action here at home. > > Sometimes it's easier to admire courage in others than it is to seek > it in ourselves.
And I write about these things and some people call me a "conspiracy theorist". Go figure. I'm not sure how hardships in the US will play out. Nabby likes to remind us that MMY sorta indicated that after the fall of the Soviet Union capitalist countries would be next. And I like to remind people that MMY was only echoing sentiments of many political opinion writers of the time. And frankly good on him for doing so. Judy thinks that the people at the top are smarter than we are which is a typical conservative viewpoint. If they are so smart why are they killing off their customers? Their businesses will fail when people can't buy their products. For capitalism to work you need a functioning society. The US is now dysfunctional and it's only a matter of time until things blow up here. They predict there will be even more home foreclosures this year than last. Is that a recovering economy? I don't think so. And when people have nothing to lose they lose it. I'm at ground zero given the California economy but with a twist being in the bluest area of the state. Brown can't raise taxes on the middle class or poor or I myself will organize protests. The solution is to raise taxes on the rich a little and to abolish Prop 13 for commercial properties which were never intended to be part of that deal anyway. So California will probably be the first to fall causing a domino effect. So it goes and may you live in exciting times. ;-)
