Inequality in America Gerry OShea
Gustavo Gutierrez, the famous Peruvian
theologian, defines poverty as “premature and unjust death,” explaining that
“the poor person is someone who is treated as a non-person, considered
insignificant from an economic, political and cultural point of view.”
A recent
study asserts that poverty is one of the leading causes of death in the United
States. This catastrophic situation for so many of our citizens results
directly from refusing people access to basic needs, denying them a sense of
economic security in this rich land, and thus cutting them off from a
meaningful life and happiness.
The other
part of the theologian’s quote about insignificance is also interesting and needs
explication. It is surely telling that our TV shows, our movies, and our
children’s books do not represent life for the millions of families struggling
at the bottom of the economic ladder. In reality, these sad and estranged
people are sidelined to a different lifestyle in the non-entities corner,
erased from everything we are watching and reading to our kids.
Professor
Bessel van der Kolk, a world expert on trauma, identifies a major impediment to
social progress in “the cascade of humiliations of the powerless” that directly
causes “an avalanche of cruelty perpetrated by the strong against the weak.”
The
professor’s insight is supported by New York columnist and philosopher, Tom
Friedman. In a recent article about the awful crisis in Gaza he pointed to
“feelings of humiliation and questing for dignity, the two most powerful human
emotions” as the missing ingredient for peace between the two sides in that
troubled part of the world.
The great
Protestant ethical writer Rheinhold Niebuhr addressed a similar theme when he
urged Christians to get involved in politics “to keep the strong from consuming
the weak.”
The faith
perspective dominates Gutierrez’s writing, and so predictably, he goes to the
bible to highlight what, from his years of study and prayer, he identifies as
God’s angry perspective on poverty. He mentions that Jesus didn’t just request
that the money changers leave the temple, he showed an unexpected side of his
character and chased them out with a whip.
Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr was right when he said: “we must recognize that we can’t solve
our problem until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political
power” in America. That statement is truer today than it was in King’s time in
the 1960’s.
America is a
radically unequal society. Between 1989 and 2016, the working class's share of
total income in the United States sunk from 45% to 27%. Unbelievably, just
three Wall Street firms (Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street) control assets
over $20 trillion and are the major stockholders in 96% of S&P 500
companies.
We have more
income and wealth inequality than at any time in the last 100 years, with, for
instance, 55% of seniors trying to survive on an annual income of $25,000 or
less. More than one in twenty-five Americans aged 65 or older lived in deep
poverty in 2021, meaning, according to this study, that they would have to
double their income to even reach the poverty line.
Disgracefully,
we now have the highest rate of child poverty covering more than 90% of
developed countries, and millions of kids, disproportionately Black or brown, face
food insecurity every day. We are the only modern Western country without paid
family and medical leave.
Paul Tough,
in his highly-rated book entitled “How Children Succeed,” shows that harsh
early-years poverty can permanently change a child’s ability to learn. The malnourished
kid heading off to school has serious strikes against her that she doesn’t understand
and can’t control.
Capitalism,
as practiced in America seems to prove its dynamism by pointing to the millions
who never make it to the second step of the wealth ladder. Their failure proves
the superior worth of millionaires and their ilk. This system of maintaining
power and control is appropriately understood as a crude game of one-upmanship.
A recent
report by the Irish Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) makes clear
that despite the strong national finances in Ireland and the talk of a generous
giveaway budget, the number of materially deprived children in Ireland has
increased from around 200,000 in 2020 to 230,000 now living in dire
circumstances in the country.
This recent
research raises alarm bells in a related report by Community Foundation Ireland,
which focuses on the polarizing effect these figures have on the whole country. Entire communities are beginning to disengage
from civic society, which, predictably, has led to lower levels of satisfaction,
increased isolation, and a breakdown in community engagement – a breeding
ground for anti-immigrant threats and protests.
Imagine for
an hour a system where poverty is eliminated, where every resident has
sufficient healthy food, a good education and a home that meets all safety
needs. The adults in that house would be paid a living wage as determined by an
independent body agreed after negotiations with a trade union representative.
Some readers
will respond that I have set impossible standards and that I am talking about
some kind of a utopian state. Perhaps! But are we saying that productivity will
continue to increase every year, driven by developments in AI, and the top 2%
will move from millionaires to possessing bank accounts with more zeros and we
will call that success?
Please comment below with your thoughts.
Gerry
OShea blogs at wemustbetalking.com
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