New York Times - Bob Herbert - "Losing Our Way"

Friends,

This gets at the heart of a conversation I had yesterday with a good friend and in response to an article I saw posted by my friend Joe, from Holy Cross.  

ARTICLE

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/opinion/26herbert.html?_r=2&src=ISMR_HP_LI_LST_FB 

As Bob Hebert, New York Times Op-ed columnist points out, things don't look very good at the rate we're going.  Where will we be in 20-30 years.  I think my friend was right in saying that a lot of people aren't tuned into the magnitude of where we find ourselves currently.  Just as we have unemployment as a lagging economic indicator, people's attention and understanding of the crucial issues of our time, on the table, that each and every one of us face everyday, is also lagging.  This will become a problem unless we can tip the scale.  The broader question is how do you do this, how do people mobilize themselves in a more constructive and educated manner than the tea party did.  The destructive decision making going on in our country is crucially evident and the political money machine that works to keep us in deadlock with the polarization and inefficiency we find throughout state governments today and in the hallowed halls of the US Congress is apparent more than ever before.  As access to information has grown exponentially so has the truth that uncovers both the inequalities that exist within our system - when the largest financial institutions that dragged us into the financial crisis have yet to be effectively brought to justice - while at the same time revealing what our dream of a truer democracy looks like when we join our voices together and come together for common purposes.  In troubled times, we are faced with a bevy of choices, and every choice we weights heavily. 

Too Comfortable
Today, the economic disparities which have developed since Bill Clinton left office loom larger than ever, we are funding multiple wars and we have supreme court decisions placing corporations as equal entities to individuals when it comes to channeling their support to political campaigns.  We have states ending collective bargaining rights.  In our great country, power and influence have always remained in the hands of a few but the signs seem to be getting worse, and disparities larger than ever.  Is it because we have become deaf as a society, as my friend Peter from Sudan taught me in Arizona in 2003, that we have trended toward tuning into our own lives, versus directing concern and attentiveness to the greater world?    Isn't it time we admit that our lives are not our own when people are working harder than ever to make a living, with an average of 2 jobs per person to maintain a middle class semi comfortable lifestyle?  I think there's a little bit of freedom in admitting that, in the midst of malaise, modern day cynicism, and jadedness that we face and that we fall victim to, that simply ends up doing us a disservice in the end and doesn't solve anything.  People seem tired of what they see going on around them, in both private and public spheres.  We always have the choice to be an observer, or a contributor, a bystander or a participant in our democracy.

Big Fiscal Problems 

Politics.  "Politics as usual" needs to end as Andrew Cuomo, our New York State Governor has indeed said many times over and as Governor Patterson echoed on his way out in 2010.  "Away with the special interests."   Andrew Cuomo has vowed to change State government and he's doing it.  He is really setting the stage for how other states rethink the way they do business and budget their wallets.  It would be nice ideally just to return to "pay as you go" for a brief while.  That is the way things ran back in the 1920s and early 30s until we turned to public benefit corporations and authorities.   I would enjoy returning to the "good old days" as my grandfather, a WWII veteran always described them, when people seemed to appreciate each other a little bit more, when we seemed more united and less distracted, when the average family could have one person working, and one person staying at home with the kids.   How we've gotten to where we are is due to a simple methodology of spend more than you make.  No individual in their right mind can govern themselves with such attitudes, so it was foolish to think we could.  Will government truly change it's tune.  Will Andrew Cuomo sing us a new song, but more importantly, will we sing a new song?  Will we really change business as usual?  As Thomas Jefferson pointed out in his Inaugural Address on March 4, 1801 "If we are demanding of those who govern us, should we not be at least equally demanding of ourselves for the conduct of our self -government?" (Our Sacred Honor, p.347, William J. Bennett).  Add: I'm personally not a huge fan of William Bennet, but "Our Sacred Honor" is worth picking up. 

The rich vs. poor dialogue that Bob Herbert alludes to in his Op-ed is true, but I think it's important that we don’t see this as simply a redistribution of wealth, an example of robin hood economics, of "taking from the rich and giving to the poor."  The problem is more complicated.   The mouths of wealthy and intelligent individuals have agreed that they don't pay enough tax based on their income.   Post passage of federal tax legislation for those making 200k or higher via the Obama McConnell deal, Andrew Cuomo chose not to renew the surcharge on people making more than 200k this year in New York State.  Education groups staunchly oppose this because the sector got a huge hit at the same time and education has taken a back seat to other forces that seem to be driving our ship.  Cuts to school aid this year will impact poorer districts vastly more than richer ones.  See here for absurdity: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/opinion/27sun1.html?scp=1&sq=Rich%20Poor&st=cse


More evidence that we are not bridging the gap and learning from history that we all succeed when the tide lifts all boats versus the tide lifting only the larger ones.  Andrew's father, Mario had a great understanding of this disparity:  


Mario Cuomo, 1984 Democratic Convention Keynote Speaker, San Francisco, CA  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOdIqKsv624


The rich vs poor gap is not only a result of people choosing to pick themselves up by their boot straps, it's not only due to hard work, or good fortune.  Sometimes these boot straps mysteriously don't exist without proper the proper education.  The rant from the right grows old and I've grown very tired of hearing it.  Gene Sperling, Obama’s now chief economic advisor wrote about that premise in a paper title “Rising Tide Economics” in 2007.   There are many wealthy Americans out there whom I've spoken to, some of them, millionaires, who have houses in Paris and LA and New York, that say they can afford to pay a higher percentage tax than they do now, and say that they would be willing to, due to their ability to write off large chunks of their income.

Lesson #1

Don't drink the kool-aid.

What is echoed by some to be a call for redistributing wealth from the onset, seems to make sense.  But it doesn't ultimately solve anything in the end.  When will we get serious about tax politcy.  If we were to keep the taxes on the rich higher in New York or on the Federal level, it would help win support among some voters and even change the course of election cycles, but after thinking it through it’s not lasting change.  What can we do to bring lasting change to the table.  How can we do a better job to encourage giving and philanthropy by some of our wealthier brethren to contribute, and to give back to get at the root of our nations' problems. 

Warren Buffet one of the world's wealthiest and most successful seems to get what is going on, and has been talking about it for years, about the faultiness of our tax code, but even he and the Bill Gates foundation don't get at the root of the problem.  Their wealth goes to heal a broken world, from AIDS giving to trying to fix the mass starvation and hunger problems the world wrestles with in distant corners of our globe, far away from our fat and happy nation. I don't disagree with their efforts, and they are doing enormous good by trying to improve the quality of life for vast populations of human beings, who have only known suffering in their lifetime and would never understand the concept of “getting ahead.”   The question is, are we also working to change the same system that got us there in the first place?  Are they gathering their billionaire friends to go lobby together to re-write the tax code?   The evidence is overwhelming that most people never vote against their self interest.  Although my dad has taught history and sociology all his life and has never formed a company of his own and been what you’d call an entrepreneur, he’s quietly and consistently voted against that which would put more money in his pocket.  He’s always been in love with our country, with the history that’s shaped America, and has taught me the importance of hard work, to take nothing for granted, and to be compassionate for those that have not been privy to what I’d consider to be the intellectual or material fortunes that I have had access to.  There's something very valuable to gain from being selfless.

Excerpt from Bob Herbert’s “Losing Our Way”:

"Nearly 14 million Americans are jobless and the outlook for many of them is grim. Since there is just one job available for every five individuals looking for work, four of the five are out of luck. Instead of a land of opportunity, the U.S. is increasingly becoming a place of limited expectations. A college professor in Washington told me this week that graduates from his program were finding jobs, but they were not making very much money, certainly not enough to think about raising a family.

There is plenty of economic activity in the U.S., and plenty of wealth. But like greedy children, the folks at the top are seizing virtually all the marbles. Income and wealth inequality in the U.S. have reached stages that would make the third world blush. As the Economic Policy Institute has reported, the richest 10 percent of Americans received an unconscionable 100 percent of the average income growth in the years 2000 to 2007, the most recent extended period of economic expansion."

Jobs

What does this ultimately mean for us?  For America?   It's hard to find a good job right now in America.  My good friend's fiancée found this to be the case even with an advanced degree she had and couldn't find a job for over a year.  I found this to be the case when I returned home in 2009 after perhaps 9 months of searching for a job with the Federal government.  Many people have searched for years for a job, but end up settling for a job not commensurate with their abilities or experience, making 25% less or more than they are worth.  Regardless we do face the times when we need to bare down and bare the storm front coming in.  Nothing in life is smooth sailing.  Each of us is called to earn our keep.  We must find our voice, now or never.

If Americans who possess the ability to speak up collectively and in an organized and educated fashion, don't, now, in a way that brings greater light to these problems, then a truer democracy will not be realized.  We have the means to do so, we have the voices.  Our problems will undoubtedly become too large to tackle in the years to come.

What vision do you have for America om 20-30 years?  How many people out there actually think about that when they are trapped in their daily routines.  I think the general premise here is to realize that 90% of our country doesn't think about these factors.  But if those that were paying attention, some of the few, some odd 30 million strong, choose to take up arms, in the peaceful respect as Gandhi and other transformational figures have called us to do throughout the ages, we have to be willing to believe that we would gain something enormous out of that, and we would.  The banks are here to serve us, the defense contractors too although I ideally imagine a more peaceful world, and so it is the duty of our insurance companies.  Let us look upon those entities that we've come to despise most, and let's make them serve us the way they should be serving us.  Our government and society very much needs good people to come to the table, we need new term limits for our legislators, public financing of elections, companies with fresh ideas that understand the growing inequalities and desire to promote a fairer wage that puts the people that make and shape these organizations, over the bottom line.  We need people who want to invest in America, renewed focus and commitment on what it means to be a public servant and more performance requirements and rewards for private sector ingenuity that promotes a new way of doing business.  Our country has a rich history of giving to the world, but it's time, it's time to turn that light in on ourselves and work to heal America and ourselves in that process.

"The Pen is mightier than the sword"--  Edward Bulwer Lytton