Poverty is a Feature, Not a Bug

This is an uncut, unvarnished fulmination about US economics, living in the US, growing up “American”, etc.

It’s raw, not polished and dropped on the table in front of you. It’s a reality check for some, and a wake up call for others. Some may disagree with some points, but I’ve lived this for 50+ years. I have a lot of experience and done a ton of research on these topics.

The American Dream is a Carrot on a Stick

In the 80s, they said to get ahead you need to work hard, and put away 30% of your income to earn enough to thrive.

In the 90s, they said you need to better yourself, take night school, pull up your bootstraps, and get a better job to earn enough to live on.

In the 2000s, they said you need to get a 2nd job, get a roommate, tighten your belt, and create a side business just to survive the rising cost of living.

In the 2010s, they said you’ll need a 3rd job, sell on eBay or Etsy, drive for Uber & Instacart, rent your rooms and couch out on Airbnb just to avoid living on the streets.

Now in the 2020s, they say you need to stop eating meat and embrace lentils and rice, walk or bicycle or take public transportation to each of your 3–4 jobs, don’t buy anything you don’t require to survive, sell your blood & organs, shack up in garages or live in your cars, just to avoid being incarcerated.

In the 2030s, they’ll say you need to remain in line or your spot in the shelter will be given to someone else.

There will not be any 2040s for those who don’t comply and adhere to the demands of unfettered capitalism. They don’t plan to tell you how to escape abject poverty. They plan to put you to work in the many sweathouses that are coming, or a work-labor camp in prison.

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — for ever.”

― George Orwell, 1984

The Rush to Find the People’s Breaking Point

Here’s just one example of how our reckless economic system chips away at every chance to undermine the people’s ability to survive.

There’s a drought in California. It’s been this way for years with only brief periods of near normal rainfall.

For almost a decade, residents have been finding all kinds of ways to cut back, conserve, and generally save water. They have been doing a fairly decent job of mitigating the water shortage.

Meanwhile, water companies have seen profit losses because of reduced usage. So this year they want to raise rates 8% to 13%. During a pandemic. While most people are struggling with massive inflation, high gas prices, and low wages.

Where are regular people supposed to find an extra 13%?

Rents are up 17% and expected to continue increasing rapidly next year.

Are we just giving up and letting 50 million people fall into extreme poverty? Is that the plan?

Here’s another…

The average commuter in California drives about 25 to 30 miles each way to work, pays bridge tolls, etc. That costs around $20 per day just in gas (plus bridge tolls).

Because of inflation (greed) and gas prices, most people are paying hundreds of dollars more per month just to survive with less than they could afford last year or the year before.

The morning of the war gas stations immediately bumped up their prices saying the price of oil was going up due to the invasion.

A few days later oil prices plummeted. Gas prices didn’t budge.

The other morning oil prices plummeted again. Still no change in gas prices.

Truth is, the gas at the pump was purchased by gas companies months ago at the lower rates. They bumped up the prices artificially falsely claiming they had to. They didn’t.

They know the oil they buy today is cheaper than yesterday, but they’re going to suck as much life out of the public as they can to make their shareholders happy.

It’s getting very dystopian in America.

Automation and Robotics, and forcing YOU to work for them…

You go to the grocery store and discover that you have to self-checkout. Which means they let cashiers go and now customers are doing their work (but not getting paid for that work).

Banks lay off tellers and make customers use their phones to do our own banking online and deposit checks (but not getting paid for that work).

Remember when you went to a Thrift store and could browse all the used items? Well, the other day I went to a Goodwill store and inside was just a giant warehouse of bins with piles of donated used goods. Instead of hiring people to sort, clean and display these items, they just let customers dig through the unsorted mountains of stuff and they charge you by the pound.

The list of robots, automation and you doing the work for these corporations is endless. It reduces the number of jobs and decreases the cashflow that communities depend on and replaces it with shareholder profits.

Corporate Loopholes are a Feature, Not a Bug

Wall Street isn’t Main Street. We should not measure how the economy is doing by keeping track of how the rich are doing.

Yesterday, the stock market was up, no mention of why.

Today, stocks are down, media claims it’s the war.

I call bullshit. It’s a cycle that benefits the wealthy. When stocks go up it’s a selling opportunity for those who have lots of stocks. When stocks go down it’s a buying opportunity for those who can afford to buy more.

When you hear the news saying the stock market is dropping because of some war in another country, or when the media says oil prices are going up because some country invaded another country, you know it’s bullshit.

Today’s oil price drop and the stock market gains are more proof that the stock market and oil prices are only changed by artificial manipulation by investors.

Russia is still invading Ukraine. But oil prices are dropping dramatically and the stock market is going up. This proves that war was never a reason those went up in the first place.

Everything is in decline. Food shortages, water shortages, rising costs, low wages, higher poverty, increased suicide rate, crime on the rise, etc. There is no labor shortage, however. There’s only a shortage of employers willing to make the right choices and do the right thing.

The reason why we keep having problems in society is because our economic system requires profits over people.

Sometimes that means corporate interests want to create a reason to convince taxpayers the government was forced to buy weapons from weapon manufacturers. Or some other artificial reason. That’s capitalism.

Do you have your pitchforks and torches ready?

With skyrocketing housing, food, and fuel costs, I wonder how long it will be until most people will be living in their cars and paying nightly for parking. Millions are already, but where’s the tipping point?

Gas isn’t the only artificially inflated necessity, but it’s recently newsworthy according to the media. If wages kept up with productivity and corporate profits over the last 40 years very few people would be upset about $6.00/gallon gas prices.

If the average price of gas in the US is $4.17 per gallon, that means everywhere that’s more than that is overcharging because they can. They call it, “what the market will bear”, but it’s greed.

Ask yourself; do gas companies sell gas for less than they pay for it? If the answer is “no”, then everywhere gas is being sold higher than the average is purposely inflated for the sake of profits for shareholders.

They claim “supply chain issues” and the “war”, but the reality is that all the gas being sold today comes from oil that was purchased and refined long ago.

Rest assured, the trillions of dollars of profits oil companies make comes from making excuses like war and supply chain, and figuring out who to gouge and charge high prices.

“Once poverty is gone, we’ll need to build museums to display its horrors to future generations. They’ll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society — how a few people could live in luxury while billions dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair.”

― Muhammad Yunus

We Live in a Corporatocracy, not a Democratic Republic

There seems to be a strong correlation between the completely inexcusable rise in the cost of living and the dramatic increase in suicides, crime, violence, health problems, homelessness, debt, etc.

Meanwhile in congress, republican lawmakers are expressing their primary concern is judges who might be too lenient. To be lenient means to be merciful. This means republicans want judges who are the opposite of merciful, which is cruel.

Democrats use the excuse of republicans. But both parties seem happy to kick the can down the road.

It’s like we’re living in a dystopian movie. Maybe that’s why so many dystopian movies have been blockbusters in the last two decades.

The movie “Joker” is an amazing perspective on the human condition. It’s strikingly consistent with what’s actually going on in this country, but shown in an artsy nostalgic manner.

It’s a dark look into how some people perceive the world and themselves. But they aren’t wrong to have that perspective.

It speaks to what happens when an artificial economic construct is forcibly smothering the majority of people for the sake of a few.

Other dystopian movies come to mind; V for Vendetta, 1984, Soylent Green. It’s like the Oligarchs are gambling on which future they can create most like one of these movies.

I believe this is what it might look like closer to the end of the USA’s economic collapse. The people will finally break down and take up masks, torches and pitchforks. I’ll be there handing out masks, empty bottles and rags.

I’m constantly wondering how much longer till we the people take up pitchforks and torches.

We are all being transformed into the Walking Dead

We’re all sick (literally), and tired (fatigued, weak)of congress kicking the can down the road… We crave something fresh and new, almost anything. Meanwhile, we eat our own and claw our way up the invisible ladder towards a pound of flesh, the one everyone else also wants.

We’re tired of inaction.

We’re tired of corporations influencing congress.

We’re fed up with low wages and high costs of living.

We’re fed up with predatory banking, debt, credit, and finance.

We’re disgusted with party propaganda.

We’re disgusted with money in politics.

We’re upset with the lack of progress.

We’re upset with the lack of accountability.

We’re angry about 40+ years of the peoples wealth shifting to corporations.

We’re angry about 4 decades of wealth inequality.

We’re furious that congress refuses to act.

We’re furious that congress has failed the people for 50+ years.

We’re no longer accepting platitudes and broken promises.

We’re no longer putting up with the two parties pitting us against each other to ratchet the country to the right of center.

We don’t want to participate in elections that require settling for the lesser of two evils.

We’re as mad as hell, and not going to take this anymore! Or are we?

Inflation is also a Feature, Not a Bug

If fewer and fewer people can afford housing, education, healthcare and transportation over time, it is by definition unsustainable.

With each new generation, from the silent generation on, the percentage of people able to thrive in society declines dramatically.

This means that continuing the current economic system is guaranteed to fail. It’s a sure thing. A certainty.

Those who cling to the current system are thinking for themselves, not their kids or future generations.

On the radio a reporter was interviewing a man who said he struggles to stay healthy living on the streets. Last year he had serious health problems and the local shelter let him stay because they thought he was dying.

As soon as he started feeling better they realized he wasn’t going to die and forced him to leave. He’s been back on the streets with his health deteriorating ever since. He thinks he may die soon.

That’s America today

After a while, the human mind gets tired of that which it sees as wrong. When something doesn’t work, repeating it over and over diminishes the human spirit. When you feel like a hamster on a hamster wheel, constantly running but not getting anywhere, despair sets in.

America doesn’t work and it hasn’t been functioning for the people for more than 50 years. The side effects of this have been appearing for decades. The people are stressed out, burnt out, struggling, suffering, addicted, broke, broken and falling apart.

It’s not a character flaw or something wrong with people. It’s the economic system that’s at the core of our collective problems.

OMG, but the Democrats are going to save us…

No. No they’re not. The biggest problem facing the Democratic Party is re-election, not progress. They don’t want progress.

November 2020, democrats faced an onslaught of gerrymandering, Hunter Biden evidence, Fauci fuck ups, Afghanistan screw ups, Russia stuff, poor ratings, dismal pandemic results, and lack of accomplishments.

And so far it’s all true despite the claims of the left. Republicans are just as bad if not worse.

I’m trying really hard to see an honest way to vote for democrats, but I keep running into lies, roadblocks and dealbreakers. There’s zero reason to ever vote for republicans either.

If the Democratic Party had been focusing on progress instead of merely re-election via corporate partnership these past 20+ years, the country would be a much better place today.

Most Americans are conditioned to pick a side and root for that side even when that side sucks.

That’s what has been happening with politics in this country. People are conditioned to think their side is better, so they will accept anything their side does and blame all the bad on the other side.

It’s pathetic.

Despite the Corporatocracy, Young People are Not Falling for the Bullshit

If you’re over 40, you might not realize that most people under 30 are not opposed to Marxism, Socialism, or even Communism because they haven’t been brainwashed to believe in the myths of unfettered capitalism like most people over 40 are.

Another possibility is that people over 40 might be less inclined to believe we can change our economic system, while people under 40 are eagerly working, dreaming, and hoping to do just that.

I’m 100% in support of those young folks who want change.

On the radio this morning they were discussing a study that described a dramatic increase in young people either staying with their parents much longer, or moving back in with their parents.

The person being interviewed was never asked why people might be shacking up together, nor did the interviewer ask any questions about what might the cause be.

That’s called shitty journalism. “It’s the economy, stupid”.

They talked about how some parents are taking care of their kids and helping them financially. The whole interview was biased towards saying these young people need to move out and make a living on their own. And that’s the 1980s capitalist thinking.

But the core reason is because wage stagnation and unregulated inflation under the guise of capitalism has caused all the reasons why people are struggling. Unfettered capitalism is the root of all our problems. Do the research yourself and drill it down.

Duh. The fact that I need to explain all this is ridiculous. We’ve all lived it for decades. But some have managed to shelter themselves from our reality.

Unfettered capitalism is at the core of most of the world’s problems… including climate change.

Toxic Positivity Buffering the Privileged from the Havenots

I get it. Some people just want the bad news to go away. Many just want to find peace in the troubled world we live in.

And tens of millions of people are sheltered from the struggle by having a financial buffer or steady income that’s enough to get by.

Many have the privilege of avoiding conflict and suffering; freedom from the the worry of extreme poverty, hunger, and lack of shelter.

I get it. I’m fairly certain most people would like to live in relative peace and the comfort of avoiding despair and avoiding economic disaster or political fallout.

I get it, but I can’t set aside my sense of community and fellowship with those struggling with all the unnecessary, unjust and unreasonable artificial economic and political constructs that are the root causes of most of society’s problems.

I simply cannot sit idly by while injustice and oppression permeates the fabric of our democracy, our constitution, and our human rights.

I understand if you can’t take it and must turn and look away. I just can’t. I must witness and raise my fist against all that perpetuates economic oppression and political chaos.

There may come a time when each of us will be called upon to stand up for each other. I’ll be up in front of the line.

I get it. Do you?

It Doesn’t End Well…

The future is approaching fast. A couple years ago I predicted that poverty would get much worse, the media would lie more than ever, and that our society would be crumbling under our feet. That’s all come true.

Now, looking ahead, I see the long term effects of Covid becoming a health condition that we’re all dealing with as a chronic illness.

I see food, water, shelter and energy becoming scarce and barely affordable for most people.

In the near future, climate disasters will increase in frequency and magnitude. And the number of people effected will be unprecedented.

The incredibly fragile unfettered capitalist society will continue to breakdown and soon the fabric weaving us all together will start to tear apart.

But there’s a faint glimmer of hope in the distance. Hope that something can be changed to prevent the worst case scenarios ahead. A giant meteor. Aliens arrive to fix us, or else. A virus that only infects those rich and powerful who are undermining democracy.

The actual American Dream is a better future for everyone. And despite the near certainty that our current society is actively seeking to ensure our demise, there’s still this human spirit that hold out hope for tomorrow.

What I Would Say to My Younger Self (or my child)

The wise will tell you of a hollowness that grows in our hearts that’s filled with the dust of a thousand dried up dreams.

Don’t let your dreams dry up. Water them daily, give them lots of light, and watch them grow.

Living a life toiling away, cradle to grave, chasing a carrot that’s always more than an arms-length away isn’t really living after all.

Don’t chase carrots on sticks. Grow your own, share your harvest, and teach others how you did it.

We learned that when perhaps it’s too late to change course in our lives. Oh sure, there are little hints along the way. When you wake up and somehow know you are doing something you hate just to afford a lifestyle you don’t particularly like anyway. You get the picture, but you proudly hang it where everyone can see. The days go by in a blur and suddenly you’re old and weak and perhaps unable to work or take care of yourself anymore.

Don’t wait to live your life. Make the days count. Do what matters to you now.

I’m one of the lucky ones who has managed to embrace a little bit of freedom from the trials of adhering to societal norms. I’m fortunate to have found a few ways to eek out an existence despite the requirements of “civilized society”. It’s not easy, but I’ve been lucky.

Be the best version of yourself, but only according to your perspective, not someone else's. Eek out happiness and share it. When you look in the mirror reflect on what possibilities are ahead, not how others might perceive where you’ve been.

I relish the idea of doing the unpredictable or non-traditional. Being secretly myself. Eating the last cookie. Drinking an ice-cold sugary beverage on a hot day. Of course I know I’m “not supposed” to do those things. My days are therefore numbered. But only because they count and every day matters.

Be eccentric if you want. Being different might be the best example ever. If it makes you happy, more the better. Don’t worry about counting your days. Just keep exploring and experiencing what makes you smile.

The rest of this artificial economic construct is bullshit.

Don’t fall for it.

In the end you won’t regret not having a bank full of cash. But you might regret spending your entire life focusing on society’s idea of “success”.