The most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau reveals an
increasing gap between rich had poor not seen since the time of the
Great Depression, as the number of Americans included in the ranks of
poorest poor has reached a record high - 20.5 million citizens. These
poorest of the poor - 1 in 15 people out of a current estimated
population of 312 million -are dispersed widely throughout metropolitan
areas after the collapse of the US housing bubble which had lured many
inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and reduced
jobs and income. Previously, the bureau reported that, as of 2010, 46.2
million people Americans by lived in poverty. That number represents
16 per cent of Americans.
At the same time the U.S.
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that, as of
October,13.9 million Americans remained unemployed and that the
unemployment rates among blacks - 15.1 percent - and teenagers- 24.1
percent were among the largest affected groups, while 5.9 million of the
total had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. In addition to the
13.9 million Americans who were reported to be unemployed but actively
seeking full time employment, the number of involuntary part-time
workers - individuals who were working part time because their hours
had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time
employment - totaled 8.9 million people as of October.
The bureau also reported that 2.6 million persons were
classified as marginally attached to the labor - defined as
individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for
work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. Hence,
the total of adult Americans, excluding their spouses and their
children, who have been personally affected by the depressed demand for
labor in this continuing Great Recession exceeds 22.4 million adults
and adolescents over sixteen years of age.
Sadly,
despite these grim statistics, there is little evidence to show that
the business or political elite who control the levers of power in this
country have any desire or intention to address the ever-increasing
disparities of wealth and the declining social mobility between the
wealthiest 1% and the remainder of the population. For example, the U.S.
Department of Commerce has reported that U.S. based multinational
corporations alone added 2.9 million workers overseas between 1999 and
2009, while they simultaneously reduced their domestic work force by
864,000 workers. Although this trend toward out-sourcing has undoubtedly
continued to accelerate since 2009, the figures also do not include
the dependence of these multinational corporations upon "unaffiliated"
companies upon which they increasingly depend for their products.
As a reward for their continuing failure to contribute to this
country's economic well-being, Republican Congressional leaders and the
GOP presidential candidates propose that, to create further illusive
jobs, these multinational corporations be permitted to repatriate to the
United States some 15 billion dollars in overseas excess profits that
they have accumulated at drastically reduced tax rates, notwithstanding
the data that has shown that, in the previous repatriations granted
during the second Bush administrations, the billions of dollars
repatriated were invested in zero job creation. Rather, those excess
profits were re-distributed as stock-dividends to shareholders and as
bonuses to already excessively compensated executives.
A further example of moral and economic of myopia of this country's
current elite is provided by the most recent proposal by Newt Gingrich
who now advocates, along with Congressman Paul Ryan, that an
employee-funded component be added to the existing Social Security
system that could be invested in a personal account. Employees would be
given the option of putting money into a range of investments
administered by private companies, similar to a 401(k) plan and these
accounts could be passed on to an estate when the person dies. In the
event, however, that the employee-invested accounts should not perform
as well existing traditional social security accounts, whether because
of financial mismanagement or the stock market volatility, the tax
payers of the Untied States, through the department of the Treasury
would be called guarantee the losses.
This Thanksgiving
provides us with a opportunity to reflect, personally and
collectively, upon the needs of the many versus the needs of the few.
The needs of the few, if they are allowed to continue to accumulate
ever-increasing wealth and power, will only fuel public discord and
will ultimately unravel our political and economic system. By contrast,
a commitment to distribute our blessings and our burdens more
equitably among all citizens may enable our children and grandchildren
to live in a country in which the promotion of social justice becomes
the summum bonum.
This, then,
is the choice each of us as citizens must now make. Ignoring the choice
will only enable others to decide for us.
