What Are We Really Talking About?

                            What Are We Really Talking About?

Yes, the average American has sufficient cause to be daunted. Many of those with moderate to formidable educations and, by most global standards, considerable tools, skills, energy and ambition to pursue a gainful and rewarding life, have hit a wall.

There were roughly 8.8%, or 13.5 million unemployed in this country as of the end of March. These figures vary and flux within and across demographic groups, and the numbers can only reflect what is reported, which fuels speculation that the figure may be higher, as a number of unemployed no longer regularly search or apply for work.

(Nearly 14 million Americans — 9.1 percent of the working population — are unemployed. That’s just a couple of a million shy of the populations of Greece and Ireland, Europe’s two problem children, combined. Another 8.5 million would like to work full time, but can only find part-time jobs. A further 2.2 million have been so discouraged by the grim labor market that they have given up looking for jobs altogether....http://blogs.reuters.com/chrystia-freeland/)

If we seek statistics, we will find them. They can be more telling than what flies with flurries of bombast, misinformation, shrill rhetoric and non-news we have in our eyes, noses and ears if we’re within ear shot of a speaker or eye shot of a screen. And that would be most of every day, thanks very much. We can shop and compare stats until we’ve a feel for what may be something close to the truth, but most average Americans don’t do that. They haven’t the time, the energy, or even the inclination to wade into the waters of esoterica and factoids which require trained insight and arcane analytical skills.

The wellspring of all data is seemingly and endlessly rife with the trivial to the meaningful and grave, and it’s ironic that this modern day volume of immediate availability is lost on most. Many youngsters, in spirit or age, prefer to skim at light speed across the billion mile deep and wide ethers while immersed a mere inch at most, with eyes barely a squint at best.

The general lot of us who live, love and work daily, maintaining enough spiritual health to find some enrichment in our lives, can only follow our chosen paths and instincts, while keeping our eyes and ears discerningly open.

Keeping our minds and our hearts as open is quite another matter and sometimes the greater challenge.

Somewhere along the line, in the context of an empowering zeitgeist in which opinions--presumably informed opinions--exist on the air, on the web, in the ear, in the palm and feverishly ticking along on the edges of even the most mundane tableaus, we arrived to a point where, each voice can be constantly broadcast and chronically present in a public forum, we feel helpless in attempting to effect any real change with our thoughts and words.

The best we can do is share an article, an opinion—hopefully written by someone educated, dedicated, qualified, and whose job it is to impart insight in an accessible language that gets a salient point across readily, that is, effectively conveying a point that can be understood by more than a relative few.

What’s saddening to me is the banal polarity of this conversation. These days, we find even the most traditional and respectable voices turning shrill. Language on the right actually accuses the left of “attacking” big business and “the rich” for suggesting that it may seem somewhat unfair that they enjoy a greased path to exponential increases in their wealth while a small business owner is still struggling to procure a start-up loan from a “too big to fail” financial institution.

That same person may reflect on this while filling his gas tank only halfway due to you know what. That person, when in line at the checkout, sees the headline that the oil company enjoyed a double digit percentage increase in profits from last year.

He reads a book that states the staggering statistics of Wall Street salaries, while the Supreme Court rules that corporations now may enjoy unfettered contributions to political campaigns, with the same free speech protection of individual persons. Defense of this mostly deplored (by the middle and left) development was prompt and harsh: that this would also apply to labor unions, as though there is some sort of parity in spoils there, especially in light of the radical efforts to bust those same unions, while somehow managing to stigmatize school teachers and public employees in general as villains who are unreasonable in attempting to retain collective bargaining rights after having already made considerable concessions for the common good.

In this land, the rich have gotten richer--exponentially more than ever before. There are statistics that bear out that during the expansive period from 2002 to 2007 we went from a time in which most of the nation’s income gains went to the bottom 90 percent of households (the pattern of the economic expansion of the 1960s) to one in which more than half go to the richest 1 percent.

That’s a lot of wealth going to not a lot of people. I don’t blame those people. I not attacking them. I merely see a playing field before us that’s extremely tilted. If those people are actually paying a lion’s share of utility sustaining taxes, then good. Percentages of a lot amount to more than percentages of a little, and folks that are strapped and making those monthly choices to fill the gas tank or their kid’s stomachs, pay for the blood pressure medicine or the day care, pay the electric bill or the phone bill, don’t have a whole lot to spare. I’m not sure what folks mean when they say the rich will be “taxed into submission”. They proclaim tax hikes as a “redistribution of wealth”. From where I sit, reflecting over hopefully none-too-skewed facts and figures from the last 20-25 years, there already has been a massive re-distribution of wealth. The trickle down economic theories work very well, for folks with money. Do they deserve more because they have more? I do feel there is a moral center to many of these arguments.

That’s the reality, no matter which and whose President passed NAFTA or signed DOMA. If the  folks who are hurting, especially those among that 8-10%, are interested in any pointing fingers, it’s the one’s toward cheap groceries and bargain priced coats. I do feel strongly that they deserve more.  

To the man and woman who were once content while simply working hard, supporting their family while working their shift at the auto plant, or the sneaker factory, or running a small hardware or sporting goods store, these facts serve as a harsh reminder that the days of dreaming of a better future for their kids are over. Yes, it was reasonable that those companies moved their manufacturing overseas to China and the like. It was good for business. The big box stores came, and who could stop them? But one certainly can’t expect those jobless folks to pledge allegiance to the flag quite the same way again, even though there’s probably someone on the air, in a pulpit, or behind a podium somewhere who’s convinced them they should if they ever want to see the light of a gainful day again.     

But all the while, America is still an imperial power. We own or operate military bases in over 130 countries. If asked, I’d be hard pressed to name that many countries.

I hope my Grandkids have an education that allows them to know how health care works in other countries, and be able to name all the states in this one. I hope they grow to care about people regardless of their religion, fiscal worth,  or political leaning. I hope they read much and often, and are able to express their own mind without the help of ubiquitous and anonymous voices to indict and rant and make them feel like victims.

This is a harsh and dismal time for many good hearted and hard working folks. I feel for them as I feel anxious for me and mine. If posting a link to a piece that states a case that furthers what I feel should be a growing proactive dissatisfaction with the status quo offers a little juice for a conversation going on somewhere around a dinner table, then good. But the center of any argument I make is that of compassion for the suffering, and a hope that hard work and caring for our fellow humans wills out.

All the tit-for-tat jockeying we hear, as if for a debate team win using informed angles and extrapolations, at this point, seems trite and a little sad to me, while there are folks merely in need of real help, real hope.

I’ve decided to not post any more vent-oriented provocative articles that, at this point, merely restate  the obvious: that our land is in trouble. Wherever I find data or unbent info, or a piece that may inspire, elucidate or facilitate, or is good for a laugh, I’ll throw it up for whomever may be interested.

But it’s our real blood on the line. And that’s shouldn’t be sport.

~JC   

   

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

The New Republican Austerity

The New Republican Austerity Campaign

The ever more vivid systematic and no longer merely nascent, continuously and progressively codified evisceration of the lower and middle working class in this country has rendered me bitter, daunted and on the brink of despondency.  

Should we give music away for free? | LinkedIn

Should we give music away for free? | LinkedIn

No music, art, nor any form of creativity at all is necessarily connected to a money-meter. You've stated as much yourself. As any endeavor may teach, there are many potentially prohibitive aspects to attaining your "goal", whatever that may be.

Many creative people, who do artistic work as a profession (I'm one) will constantly juggle the money-making projects with the less lucrative, but sometimes ironically more meaningful projects. Whether your own or others', I believe that the music should be approached without cynicism and with full respect and integrity. If you are able to make music, distribute it, etc., and have the (potentially) remunerative aspects be an afterthought, that you're obviously eating and paying your bills. So be it. However, if you wish to do it full-time, and have yourself and/or a family to support, than you'll find yourself necessarily becoming very creative, indeed--at your art as well as at devising a variety of ways to make money from it.

The artist in all of us knows without asking: Music and art existed before money.

If your economical complexion is healthy apart from your artistic endeavors, then enjoy yourself, and hopefully employ some others as collaborators who do rely on music for a living. Most of those folks are pretty good, having learned to do what is called for and do it aptly and economically.

In short: if your calling is in the creative arts, and that is what you want to do ALL THE TIME, and you're not subsisting independently, then you should figure out a way to be paid for your work. Giving it away should be measured and promotional.

Good luck to you in all your projects.

~JC

Report

By JDC88 on 09/21/2010 at 8:04pm

Their is such a gross through-line of disconnect from the working/middle working class in these profiles, it really sickens me. Such an achingly ingracious acknowledgment of the disparity, in human terms, between the banker and the doctor. Interesting that the there was no mention, in any empathetic way, of the effect that this homophilic culture's self-interest had and still has on the 401Ks of normal working Americans, who are merely trying to, and excuse the mundane humility of it all, earn a living and carve out an education and a somewhat improved future outlook for their family. We hear again and again, keep the government's hands off my money! Well how about this: keep Wall Street's hands off my money. Hmmm...how would that privatization of Social Security have worked out, do you think? These fund managers and brokers are bright people who are not, I hasten to point out, blinded enough by the context of their own uber-cultural environment to not be aware of the ramifications in HUMAN TERMS to the type of folks with whom most of them, I suspect, would squirm if expected to spend longer than 5 minutes at a Thanksgiving table. They were irresponsible and the consequences of their actions reached far and wide. I feel absolutely no sorrow for their plight, especially in light of the fact that they were rescued by the tax dollars of those very same folks that will never register on their moral radar screens. It makes my skin crawl.

The Rage of the Privileged Class As It Loses Its Privileges -- New York Magazine

The Rage of the Privileged Class As It Loses Its Privileges -- New York Magazine

The Rage of the Privileged Class As It Loses Its Privileges -- New York Magazine

The Rage of the Privileged Class As It Loses Its Privileges -- New York Magazine

RePost From Comments on Fox

Fox may be the most watched by, and therefore, "trusted" source, an ironic and elastic term in this day and age, but this is due largely to the demographic of it's viewing audience, which ranges from the minimally to marginally educated shallow thinkers, to the educated and accomplished status-quo, "I've got mine and got over" capitalist conservatives who endorse and support the effective way with which this shrill rhetoric maintains that status quo in a time when they are threatened by a liberal administration.

The trajectory of the Fox agenda originates from a sensational, disingenuous source and I have a difficult time separating the political agenda from the commercial one, and wonder if even those folks purveying the programming can discern where the motive meets and greets the merchandise. They most certainly win the "who's most vocal" contest within the broadcast media, and therefore, the most heard, but the caveat there should be "by whom".

As kids, when we would hear something outrageous, offensive or incredible, my father would mollify us with the instruction to "consider the source". We should be able to do that on our own, as sentient, thinking adults, without someone prompting us to while then providing us with thoughts for our heads and words for our mouths. In this day and age, so much information is available to us, yet we've allowed the bullies to rule the schoolyard. It's unfortunate, for the common folks--and by that I mean most of us--that, so far during this administration, we've failed to maintain that same bombastic and resolute tone while helping to push through reasonable, thoughtful reform. It's given me a wimpy feeling. I have high hopes that President Obama will redirect a purposeful agenda with his address tonight.

Our leaders on the left are guilty of corporate cowtowing in the name of concensus, while we the people put up with the Fox-generated haranguing of the right who have successfully sold the scenario of "behind-closed-doors" opaque wheeling and dealing to an angry and hurting populace many of whom are unrealistically looking for overnight redemption. Fox has successfully manufactured a "failed President", who has been in office one mere year. It's time for a lazy electorate to wake up and not stand for this hijack job.

We must maintain the message and push through reason with informed clarity. The bailout needs to be sold again. Jobs need to be created NOW. Reform must continue. With that, perhaps we would not be so eager to have our heads turned by the Fox bullies of the world. In the meantime, folks need to READ MORE and LISTEN LESS.

I firmly request that TVs which are tuned to FoxNews in public places be switched to something else, or demand a good reason why they are tuned to Fox. If they refuse, I follow through on my threat to not patronize their business. This was more difficult recently when my wife and I had a medical emergency. Our Fairfax Hospital had Glen Beck on Fox playing on BOTH its TVs in the ER waiting room. I looked around and no one in the burgeoning room appeared to be watching or even interested. I requested that they change the channel to something more "neutral". The Discovery, Weather or ESPN channels seem to be palatable alternatives.