The Ghetto is NOT the problem

This is a comment to the following thread:

 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/ARS9kmgtsR4aUjA-tLV2isJJ6v5Wsz3b6DO-d3zmIX6gl2dej23yB3Q/


Once again, someone always attempts to deflect the focus from  the main issue, which was trying to "fix" the police. Somehow the topic  got twisted into welfare and the "Ghetto", which originally was defined as this : " Italian, orig. the name of an island near Venice where Jews were forced to reside in the 16th century ". How it came to be slang for other ethnic groups is anybody's guess, but that is besides the point. The truth is this system of capitalism so many Americans enjoy cannot work without poverty. The rich trade money for labor, and the poor, and working class trade labor for money. The people with the money will always have the upper hand until the 99% demand a system that no longer makes money a prime mover of their lives. Until a new paradigm is established  between the poor, the working class, and the elite, inequality and suffering  will always be the status quo, and things will stay broken.  This is not going be a problem any of us can pray or vote our way out of.  If that was the case, the problem would have been solved centuries ago.  The truth is law enforcement is not broken, OUR SOCIETY IS. Since we are distracted talking about welfare and all,  If I read this to be true ( http://blog.lowincome.org/2016/04/truth-about-welfare-foodstamps-how-many-blacks-vs-whites.html ), then we need to fix the trailer parks too. Once again, the problem is NOT welfare. The problem is a corrupt system that profits from those in poverty. Think about it. This country has NEVER failed to hit a target it aimed for.  It boggles the mind that this is  the ONLY country that placed a man on the moon, found a cure for polio, Won TWO world wars, created a coast-to-coast interstate system, and offered basic public education to all Americans (after the 60‘s ,of course ), but somehow IT CAN’T DESIGN A SYSTEM TO WIPE OUT POVERTY ???? .   The only reason I see for this problem existing is that the dividends from poverty is paying too many people. You know, The banks and corporations “too big to fail “, and the politicians who use the corporate, international, and domestic welfare state to buy votes from the poor , and power and influence from the rich.  The truth is the largest welfare recipients in this country are the 1% ( over 1 trillion alone went to the banking system in 2008 to fix their gambling problem , but we have such short memories, don’t we ??).  As I said in my last comment, when the elite have us misdirected and fighting each other, it takes the focus from them and their nefarious deeds, giving them more time to leave the ship before it sinks.  I can’t blame them.  If I was rich and didn’t give a d@mn,  that would be exactly what I would do; take care of me and mine.  So America, what will it be ?? Do we let the power elite steer the Titanic that is the U.S. to its certain doom, or do we stop arguing among ourselves and figure out how to get control of country back and change course to steer clear of danger ?? Based on what I see so far, we are STILL DOOMED !!!

No, Mr. Cowen, I will not work harder for crooks :(

 I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors I may have missed.


This is a response for the CNN article “Americans have become lazy, argues economist Tyler Cowen and it’s hurting the economy”.

He writes as if this is the one and only thing that’s hurting the economy.  By this man’s logic if hard work is all it took, The Southeastern United States should be an economic powerhouse today because in the 19th century, a large portion of its population (i.e. African slaves ) gave 100% of their effort for free, often giving up their lives as well. I will not heed the words of an “economist” who makes money just playing with numbers who thinks that cracking a mental whip over the minds of working-class people is somehow going to make us work harder. Nope - that -ish is not going to work any more. I would like to see him write an article on how “Corporate and Government Financial Corruption is hurting the economy “.  I will probably never see him write such an article because of this one simple fact: THE REAL PROBLEM IS most Americans don’t seem to care where the money comes from when they are getting paid. They only seem care when they are getting ripped-off.  A relative once told me that it doesn’t matter if all politicians are crooks, as long as the one you voted for wins and steals for you.  I give you the recent Trump victory as Exhibit A.
 

In a fair, just and balanced economic system, the author may have had a point. The "Occupy Wall Street “ movement started less than a decade ago and somehow 99%ers voted a 1%er into  the office for President of the U.S.  Although this is not the first time this has happened, Americans should wake up to the fact that a crook is a crook whether he or she gets caught or not.  We are sacrificing our liberty for security in the form of a fatter paycheck as opposed to more accountable government / corporate economical practices.  Sure, we have put some people in jail. So what ? in 2008 better than 8 trillion (that 8 million-million, by the way ) evaporated from the hands of working class Americans and then condensed in the hands of the 1%. The graph in article lines up almost perfectly with this fact (note how the number of small business starts plummet around the time of the 2007/2008 crash )  This was not Monopoly money.  That money represented real work, real sweat, and real sacrifice.  What amazes me is that after all these losses (which the big banks actually saw coming because they fixed it that way  ), the American people still had to “bail-out” these “too big to fail” banks to the tune of almost 1 trillion dollars. How much harder do we need to work for crooks before Mr. Cowen is satisfied ?


As for people not starting small businesses, let me play devil’s advocate here.  WHAT SENSE DOES IT MAKE TO START A BUSINESS IN AN ECONOMY WHERE MOST TEND TO FAIL INSIDE OF 5 YEARS, AND BAIL-OUTS ARE NOT OFFERED BECAUSE SMALL BUSINESSES ARE NOT “TOO BIG TO FAIL”? No matter how good change makes you feel, change  and feelings alone does not clear a negative bank balance. Only money does . Mr. Cowen needs to realize that Americans are not lazy, most are just NOT STUPID.  When you have a system that enables dysfunctional behavior, you end up with a dysfunctional economy.  For proof ,  I give you the “American Greed “ TV series available for viewing on Hulu or over the air in certain locales . What Mr. Cowen calls laziness (like the Opioid addiction epidemic)  is a symptom of a much larger problem that takes virtuous, honest, people with very large balls to solve.  How does working harder solve the economy problem when our government dilutes our net worth by printing more money (via quantitative easing), and corporations work hard to keep wages flat regardless of an increase in taxes and inflation ? The only way hard works for you is if you get to keep most (if not not all ) of what you work for, and you truly can get “ an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work”.  If working for crooks is the only choice that  working class Americans have at acquiring any worthwhile standard of living, then most in this country are just as complicit in this criminal enterprise we have come to know as the American Economy.






Mr. Cowen's  article may be found here:

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/12/news/economy/us-economy-big-problem-tyler-cowen/index.html