The violence of looking away
December 16, 2017 2:55 PM Subscribe
A journey through a land of extreme poverty: The UN’s Philip Alston is an expert on deprivation – and he wants to know why 41m Americans are living in poverty. The Guardian joined him on a special two-week mission into the dark heart of the world’s richest nation by Ed Pilkington
Another Guardian piece, also by Pilkington
Trump turning US into 'world champion of extreme inequality', UN envoy warns
In a phrase that might reverberate around Capitol Hill and the White House, Alston concludes: “The American Dream is rapidly becoming the American Illusion since the US now has the lowest rate of social mobility of any of the rich countries.”
posted by mannequito at 5:12 PM on December 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
Trump turning US into 'world champion of extreme inequality', UN envoy warns
In a phrase that might reverberate around Capitol Hill and the White House, Alston concludes: “The American Dream is rapidly becoming the American Illusion since the US now has the lowest rate of social mobility of any of the rich countries.”
posted by mannequito at 5:12 PM on December 16, 2017 [7 favorites]
Yeah, no. That phrase is getting no attention and having no impact around Republican-controlled Capitol Hill and the White House...
posted by twsf at 5:27 PM on December 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by twsf at 5:27 PM on December 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
The more I read these kinds of articles the more I can't decide if a) I need to accelerate the current plan to move home to Europe or b) stay here and run for office. I already work on large public projects so I have some name value and have an excellent track record of consensus building. These problems are so fixable if people would just try even a little bit!!
posted by fshgrl at 5:56 PM on December 16, 2017 [25 favorites]
posted by fshgrl at 5:56 PM on December 16, 2017 [25 favorites]
I strongly encourage anyone who has the calling to run for office!!!
posted by supermedusa at 6:06 PM on December 16, 2017 [24 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 6:06 PM on December 16, 2017 [24 favorites]
Though, if you run for office, your being from Europe will most likely be turned against you in some very ugly, jingoistic ways, sorry to say.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:35 PM on December 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 6:35 PM on December 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
The thing that depresses me about this article is that it will likely land with a thud in US media. Back when Bobby Kennedy toured the Mississippi River Delta to interact with some of the poorest communities in America, Americans were shocked and appalled at the pictures and sounds that came out of that tour. Doctors were immediately dispatched to deal with rickets and Kwashiorkor. The National School Lunch Program was re-evaluated. A Board of Inquiry was formed. Federal expenditure on food assistance grew by 500%.
What will happen now? Probably nothing. Because some asshole on Facebook is posting right now that he saw someone buying beer with their SNAP card and beggars have "more money in their pockets than I do."
posted by xyzzy at 7:10 PM on December 16, 2017 [57 favorites]
What will happen now? Probably nothing. Because some asshole on Facebook is posting right now that he saw someone buying beer with their SNAP card and beggars have "more money in their pockets than I do."
posted by xyzzy at 7:10 PM on December 16, 2017 [57 favorites]
State funded tent cities for petty criminals, but no State funded tent city for the homeless.
Private Investigators to snoop on people with disabilities, but no private investigators for predatory movie moguls or corrupt politicians.
posted by Beholder at 7:12 PM on December 16, 2017 [12 favorites]
Private Investigators to snoop on people with disabilities, but no private investigators for predatory movie moguls or corrupt politicians.
posted by Beholder at 7:12 PM on December 16, 2017 [12 favorites]
I'm kind of terrified now, in my mid-30s, how many of my friends have mental health problems and are living with their families. They're clearly better off than people who are currently homeless. But that kind of plan for keeping people going--when you're approaching 40, you know what your parents are approaching? Retirement. You know what you aren't doing, if you aren't working? Getting credit towards Social Security yourself. For everybody you see who's in this position, there are several more people who are currently okay only by virtue of having family who are comfortably-employed boomers. We might be getting to the end of their reign, but we're going to have to deal with the fallout when they're gone, and it's going to be bad. The elderly have a rough time now WITHOUT being a generation of people who've had their careers completely derailed and have never been able to make an adequate living.
posted by Sequence at 8:19 PM on December 16, 2017 [32 favorites]
posted by Sequence at 8:19 PM on December 16, 2017 [32 favorites]
But that kind of plan for keeping people going--when you're approaching 40, you know what your parents are approaching? Retirement.
How many jobless (or under employed) people are living off their parent's social security? We don't even know, and when those seniors die, even if the house stays in the family (assuming medicaid doesn't get it), without a job, no utilities and no money for property tax. We are seeing the tip of the iceberg, and it's going to get much worse before it gets better.
Democrats must push for a universal basic income Now.
posted by Beholder at 11:09 PM on December 16, 2017 [11 favorites]
How many jobless (or under employed) people are living off their parent's social security? We don't even know, and when those seniors die, even if the house stays in the family (assuming medicaid doesn't get it), without a job, no utilities and no money for property tax. We are seeing the tip of the iceberg, and it's going to get much worse before it gets better.
Democrats must push for a universal basic income Now.
posted by Beholder at 11:09 PM on December 16, 2017 [11 favorites]
I strongly encourage anyone who has the calling to run for office!!!
But I have a chronic condition (caused by a for profit American doctor pushing a totally unsuitable treatment at me for a minor injury which caused devastating side effects) and it's costing me my life savings and probably my job. So I'm very inclined to sell my house, cash my retirement tell the US to go F itself and go home. Where at least I know I can work part time if I need to and will not shortly after end up in poverty due to a lack of medical insurance because I work part time.
*Even if I win in court, it's a drop in the bucket compared to trying to stay middle class in the US will cost me over the next 25 years.
posted by fshgrl at 12:18 AM on December 17, 2017 [7 favorites]
But I have a chronic condition (caused by a for profit American doctor pushing a totally unsuitable treatment at me for a minor injury which caused devastating side effects) and it's costing me my life savings and probably my job. So I'm very inclined to sell my house, cash my retirement tell the US to go F itself and go home. Where at least I know I can work part time if I need to and will not shortly after end up in poverty due to a lack of medical insurance because I work part time.
*Even if I win in court, it's a drop in the bucket compared to trying to stay middle class in the US will cost me over the next 25 years.
posted by fshgrl at 12:18 AM on December 17, 2017 [7 favorites]
Basic income won’t help anyone but the oligarchs if Ryan Republicans redistribute $1.5BB from workers to themselves.
I don't understand what you are getting at.
posted by Beholder at 4:00 AM on December 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I don't understand what you are getting at.
posted by Beholder at 4:00 AM on December 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
they think if they drive us to guillotines then they'll have the justification to take the kind of control they really want - instead, it will all fall apart and no one will win
wait until a revolutionally minded organization decides to recruit the poor by actually helping them, something like hamas in the middle east - this isn't just a matter of justice, it's a matter of security
our system will not survive another couple of generations with people like this suffering
posted by pyramid termite at 6:16 AM on December 17, 2017 [14 favorites]
wait until a revolutionally minded organization decides to recruit the poor by actually helping them, something like hamas in the middle east - this isn't just a matter of justice, it's a matter of security
our system will not survive another couple of generations with people like this suffering
posted by pyramid termite at 6:16 AM on December 17, 2017 [14 favorites]
One of the (few, weird) side-benefits of having grown up in abject poverty is that I know I can survive on almost nothing. The converse of that is I know how shitty it is to have to.
UBI or STFU would make a nice T shirt.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:01 AM on December 17, 2017 [13 favorites]
UBI or STFU would make a nice T shirt.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:01 AM on December 17, 2017 [13 favorites]
Well, yeah, but a UBI, by definition, would involve a massive redistribution of wealth from wealthy to the poor and lower middle class. No one is imagining it would happen at the same time as tax cuts for the rich.
posted by howfar at 12:10 PM on December 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by howfar at 12:10 PM on December 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
After the Republican tax cut for the wealthy takes effect, there will be no money available for children’s health insurance or Medicare or basic income.
Point of fact, it's a fairly well-agreed-upon understanding that the tax-cut bill is merely a set-up for the gutting of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Because deficits, dontcha know.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:19 PM on December 17, 2017 [12 favorites]
Point of fact, it's a fairly well-agreed-upon understanding that the tax-cut bill is merely a set-up for the gutting of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Because deficits, dontcha know.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:19 PM on December 17, 2017 [12 favorites]
I’m suspicious of UBI cause I think it’ll be used as a Trojan horse to end all other works of safety nets or gaurenttes - a UBI alongside a comprehensive human investment state is fine.
posted by The Whelk at 12:47 PM on December 17, 2017 [16 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 12:47 PM on December 17, 2017 [16 favorites]
I’m suspicious of UBI cause I think it’ll be used as a Trojan horse to end all other works of safety nets or gaurenttes...
Yup. That would be the American way, afterall. I'm afraid the US is in for an extended period that will make the gilded age look like a socialist paradise.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:56 PM on December 17, 2017
Yup. That would be the American way, afterall. I'm afraid the US is in for an extended period that will make the gilded age look like a socialist paradise.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:56 PM on December 17, 2017
UBI has become the Carthago delenda est of progressive politics.
posted by um at 4:40 PM on December 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by um at 4:40 PM on December 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm perfectly willing to accept solutions that aren't UBI if anybody'd like to propose one that fixes the same problems that UBI is supposed to fix. I'm not really that attached to it. I am kind of attached to the continuation of society in the face of increased automation and wealth inequality.
posted by Sequence at 4:47 PM on December 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Sequence at 4:47 PM on December 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
UBI is step 147. We are currently on step -16. The article never mentions UBI. Stop fucking talking about step 147 and start talking about how to get from step -16 to step -15.
posted by um at 5:18 PM on December 17, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by um at 5:18 PM on December 17, 2017 [10 favorites]
Thorzdad: Point of fact, it's a fairly well-agreed-upon understanding that the tax-cut bill is merely a set-up for the gutting of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Because deficits, dontcha know.
Do people seriously not get this? Even from Canada it seems obvious that this is the plan, and I believe Ryan or McConnell has come right out and said it.
posted by sneebler at 6:31 PM on December 17, 2017 [7 favorites]
Do people seriously not get this? Even from Canada it seems obvious that this is the plan, and I believe Ryan or McConnell has come right out and said it.
posted by sneebler at 6:31 PM on December 17, 2017 [7 favorites]
Do people seriously not get this?
You do have to wonder, don't you?
I think most Americans are just so worn out by, and divorced from, the political workings of their country that they simply don't care what happens anymore. In short, shit's going to happen, there's nothing they can do about it, so they just let it happen.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:22 PM on December 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
You do have to wonder, don't you?
I think most Americans are just so worn out by, and divorced from, the political workings of their country that they simply don't care what happens anymore. In short, shit's going to happen, there's nothing they can do about it, so they just let it happen.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:22 PM on December 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
We also have Fox News and other right wing media loudly proclaiming that the tax cuts will definitely create jobs and trickle right down to everyone. That's been the Republican message for 30 years now.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:43 AM on December 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Fleebnork at 6:43 AM on December 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
This brings to mind my memory of hearing Katherine Boo interviewed about her book "Beyond the Beautiful Forevers" wherein she addressed the confused response that many readers had to the seeming indifference of residents of the slums to someone injured and left to die. What she said was that in that context it required heroism to help someone and that a society can not be built on heroes, there are very very few of them in existence. She also described her belief that we were all headed towards this same boat as the forces within globalization reduce us all to a similar condition of powerlessness, or something like that. I think about this all the time now when living in Portland I see somebody who is mentally ill left out to drown.
posted by Pembquist at 2:50 PM on December 18, 2017
posted by Pembquist at 2:50 PM on December 18, 2017
John Michael Greer at the Archdruid Report mentioned years ago that the US was becoming a third-world nation. He outlined several crucial traits that we associate with third world nations:
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:21 PM on December 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
- Import most manufactured goods from abroad; export mostly raw materials
- Inadequate domestic capital: dependent on loans from abroad
- Severe problems with public health, including life expectancy and infant mortality
- Governed by kleptocracy (which, when he wrote the article in 2010, seemed like a controversial and somewhat extreme statement)
There are, in fact, precisely two things left that differentiate the United States from any other large, overpopulated, impoverished Third World nation. The first is that the average standard of living here, measured either in money or in terms of energy and resource consumption, stands well above Third World levels – in fact, it’s well above the levels of most industrial nations. The second is that the United States has the world’s most expensive and technologically complex military. Those two factors are closely related, and understanding their relationship is crucial in making sense of the end of the “American century” and the decline of the United States to Third World status.In short: We have a lot of money and tech, and a whole lot of guns, and we've all been condition to think "money + tech + guns = prosperity" rather than oppression and denial, and not having any connection to the actual living conditions for the majority of a nation.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:21 PM on December 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
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posted by armoir from antproof case at 4:48 PM on December 16, 2017