Thursday, April 19, 2007

American Dream Now a Nightmare for Millions


U.S. Census: One in Five Lives on Less than $7 per day

By William Shanley

New Haven, Connecticut (April 16, 2007) From Combined News Services and Evolution Solutions Newsroom -- A 2004 analysis of data by the US Census reports that 60 million Americans now live on less than $7 per day. That's one in five in the U.S. living on less than $2,555 per year. At the same time, the richest 1 per cent now garners about 16 per cent of national income, double what they earned in the 1960s.[1]

While global income inequality is probably greater than it has ever been in human history, with half the world's population living on less than $3 per day, and the richest 1% receiving as much as the bottom 57%, the fact that so many Americans are living on so little, is particularly confounding.

The so-called “wealthiest, most abundant nation on Earth” now has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation.[2] In light of the fact that one dollar spent in the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia buys what $3 or $4 does in the U.S means the quality of life for tens of millions of Americans is now on a par with huge populations living in the developing world.

And there’s more bad news to report from here. There has been no increase in non-supervisory wages since 1972. Twenty-five million Americans now depend on emergency food aid.[3] This rapidly increasing trend is a brutal reminder of how the extreme political right has eviscerated the social safety net in the U.S. over the last 25 years. At a time when globalization is in full gallop, and its destructive effects are being felt in many working-class communities from Detroit to Connecticut, the national crisis is being exacerbated by the rising power and stature of a winner-take-all culture that celebrates greed and egotism by rewarding the super-rich at the expense of the poor.

With only 6% of global population, the US consumes 25% of the world's resources. A profile of Connecticut, one of America's richest states, is quite revealing. It possesses islands of some of the greatest wealth in the world throughout Fairfield County, yet has three of America's ten poorest cities, Hartford—the capitol—Bridgeport and New London. The New Haven-Meriden corridor has the 7th greatest gap between rich and poor in the US--in close running with some of the Old South’s poorest and most segregated states, Mississippi and Alabama.

Across the nation, the price of this economic dysfunction is an increase in the level of insecurity and pain for everyone, and there is almost no place left to live without encountering violent and non-violent crime, proliferation of drugs, guns, mental illness, lost hope, cynicism and corruption. At the same time, the middle class is being forced to bear the brunt of the economic cost for courts, police, prisons and welfare through taxes. While the median price of a home has doubled in the last five years, and with interest rates now on the rise, home foreclosure rates for first-time homebuyers are skyrocketing. Rents have followed suit, pushing millions more into economic hardship, poverty and homelessness. For too many Americans, the litany of violence, punishment and suffering seems unending, and the American Dream is now a uniquely Made-in-America Nightmare.

Evolution Solutions, a young, New Haven, Connecticut-based Internet start-up, is stepping into the breach to help bridge the chasm by organizing and circulating the enormous untapped wealth via a peer-to-peer gifts and wishes pool called GiveGet Nation. The non-profit social enterprise has launched its beta 1.0 application and its founders are welcoming the public to take the system for a test drive (www.givegetnation.net).

”If we can attract a mere 1% of what people in Connecticut have stored in lockers, attics, closets and basements, for example--a 1% that they will likely never use again--we can begin to wright the course and provide promise and possibility to the weakest among us here in the richest state,” said founder William Shanley. “Everyone, no matter how rich or poor, has needs and resources. We provide a level playing field for everyone to participate in the infinite game of life through sharing.”

“By beginning to circulate the limitless human product, labor, intelligence and spiritual capital of the world, we can transform it a little bit at a time,” said Timothy Wilken, MD, a Carmel, California-based general practitioner and synergy scientist. Dr. Wilken is William’s partner in the initiative and is the inventor of Giftegrity, a give and get synergy engine used in GiveGet Nation based on the work of the late genius Buckminster Fuller. “We not only provide a means to circulate lumpy items like goods, but our application also organizes and circulates work, intelligence and spiritual power to build, solve and heal. If you are retired and need a volunteer to rake your lawn, we can provide it. The same is true with professional counseling, engineering, medical and legal services. If you have artistic and spiritual interests and pursuits, you can post gifts and wishes in those domains, as well.”

“To make a difference, it’s crucial that we get the message out and alert givers and getters to the opportunities and efficiencies afforded by participating in our person-to-person world of sharing,” William continued. “Unlike many other non-profits that use a condescending top-down model with large staffs and overhead, we’re are the action that makes the rubber meets the road, without having to go through a cadre of social practitioners to meet peoples needs.”

US in Denial as Poverty Rises Next door to Yale, the bastion of privilege that turns out the land's leaders, lies a tent city of America's poor, huddled masses

by Ed Vulliamy

The north wind cuts cold and sudden across the historic green of New Haven. It blows through the 'tent city' where the homeless huddle. And it blows round the spires and quadrangles of Yale University, one of America's richest Ivy League colleges…[4]

“I’ve done a lot of research here in our community,” William offered. “One homeless charity here in New Haven spend more than 80%of the $2.4 million it received in 2004 from a variety of government, public and private sources, before it housed one person. It has swank office space, a staff of 60 and only houses 105 people, 30 of them through a 60% rent subsidy. It spent ten years and $10 million to purchase and renovate a 33 unit building. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The city spent $18 million to house the homeless in 2004, yet it can’t tell you how many of its 1100 homeless it housed in any given week. The homeless are in plain site all over town, sleeping on the Green and begging for money on Chapel Street. And if the city housed them all, that would equal more than $16,000 per person, or $1,363 per month, enough to make payments on a $175,000 condo. The story is the same with AIDS services and services for the mentally ill. That’s just not good enough. This is not only true here in Connecticut, but all over the US.”

“HurricaneHousing.org housed 30,000 victims of Katrina in six weeks, and we will create success in this area, too, by connecting needs and resources,” said Timothy Wilken, MD. “Everyone has a story, some wisdom to impart and a contribution to make to society. It’s important that we give everyone a chance. At GiveGet Nation, we can stimulate the flow of abundance between islands of scarcity in society in myriad ways. Give, get, share. Goods, actions, knowing, spirit. We’re a human values economy that runs on the primary sources of human capital that underlie all money and goods and services.”

“We are only as secure as the weakest among us. Increase the level of suffering anywhere, and you increase the level of suffering everywhere. And vice-versa,” said William Shanley. “Everything affects everything else. There are no closed systems in nature." That's 21st century quantum science. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." That's classical physics from the 9th grade. These are laws of the universe, and it's in our own self-interest to do the right thing or we end up bloodying ourselves. This message is not about laying a guilt trip on people, but alerting our neighbors to a daily crisis for 1 in 5 Americans--diminished dreams for at least one, possibly two or even three, in the lower and middle classes --who cannot make ends meet.”

"No matter how rich or poor everyone has gifts and wishes and genius to share. That's our motto," remarked Timothy. “In so doing, we provide an even playing field for everyone to participate in the infinite game of life. ‘As you sow, so shall ye reap.’ ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ These are principles to be found in all spiritual paths, of all people, places and times. And they are also indicative of the nature of nature. We must make these principles come alive again in our communities or our future will most certainly be lost and the promise of America soon forgotten.”

“As you can see, we’re quite passionate about the subject. Many people believe because they are rich and powerful, or because they were born in affluent families, that this is the natural order. ‘Survival of the fittest’ does not explain a Mozart born in Darfur. Nor does it recognize the value of the scores of generations who have come before us who have given us the gifts of language, math, invention, science, technology, the arts, and literature. It’s time for us to give back. ‘No man is an island” and can live in isolation from the air we breathe, the light of the day, the weather and the seasons in the life we share. Everyone needs to give and take. Everyone has gifts and wishes. Giving and receiving are the eternal process of exchange we call nature and the universe. All the great mystics and philosophers have taught the value of giving and receiving. It is not only the right thing to do, it is also what we do as living organisms. All we need to do is awaken to this fact, to project ourselves into the process of give and take, and come alive.”

About Evolution Solutions, Inc.

Evolution Solutions, Inc. is a registered non-profit corporation based in New Haven, Connecticut whose sole purpose is to educate, inform and provide the means for people to consciously evolve “a world that works for everyone.”

For more information about Evolution Solutions, Inc., its founders and associates, please visit the website http://www.givegetnation.net/ or contact William Shanley.

Contact: William Shanley, President at w.shanley@sbcglobal.net


[1] Financial Times of London, “Seasonal cheers for new philanthropists.” December 27, 2006.


[2] Global Issues: Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All. “Poverty Facts and Statistics.” http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp


[3] Alan Whyte, “Hunger in America: 25 million depend on emergency food aid.” March, 2006: World Socialist Web Site: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/mar2006/hung-m09.shtml



[4] The Observer/UK, November 3, 2002.

21 comments:

ecofeco said...

God help us all.

Anonymous said...

God will NOT help U ALL. Only YOU Americans themselves CAN. HANG the bastards from your criminal government! People, it is high time to RISE UP!

Frank said...

anonymous has taken the high ground in this debate!

This is WAR, folks. The bastards have declared WAR on anyone worth less than the required 3 and a half mil (or is it up to 10 mil by now? Check around.) But they declared war in secret. It's not gonna play on FOX and CNN. Time and Newsweek ain't gonna run commentaries about it.

Secret or not, dammit, WAR IS WAR. Hanging? Maybe. We all must chose our own weapons -- whether they are words or anything else.

Just the same cut the bushit that this poverty is anything other than well-planned official NWO policy. It was concocted by the CFR, the PNAC neocons, and all the rest of the rats running the world. Sooner or later we're going to have to drown all those bastards anyway, so enough with the rose-colored glasses chatter already.

This is war. Don't forget it.

Anonymous said...

It's time to eat the rich. They shipped millions of jobs overseas and then they bring in 20 million illegal aliens to flood the job market... Then they jacked up the national debt to give each and every person $190,000 debt to pay off... The rich have highjacked the two party system so, there is no democracy. The average citizen is no more than a economic share cropper these days... if one can even find a job.

Anonymous said...

If YOU have any money - stop buying things - stop consuming - this is the only thing that will stop this crazy system from destroying itself and the planet.

Anonymous said...

Clearly, the U.S. govenment has been hijacked by the rich - and some sort of New World Order is being planned by an unelected elite. This being stated and agreed to, the question remains as to our options. Certainly, we should try to do what we can politically. But another track is to organize at a new tribal level as outlined in the humorous satire: More Monkeys - More Guns. When the House is crooked, you need to establish the House of god. Like Christ, you need to kick over the the tables of the money lenders in the temple - but more importantly, you need to have a new posse of disciples and a new society in the wilderness: Prototopia

Anonymous said...

Seeing as we're all royally F-ed in the A, and soon to be chipped-up, pharmacologically-lobotomized, slaves to our serpentine corporate overlords, why not party hard in the meantime?
Party suggestions:
Gonzalez-themed bash. A tried and true GOP party fave! Just take 66 whippits, four zanax, and your favorite mexican beer. You wont remember anything for your important hearing.
Foley-themed bash. Good ole' NAMBLA style times are sure to be had by anyone daring enough to plumb the depths of this shindig.

Anonymous said...

If American citizens stopped paying taxes en mass, the useless eater elite, who serve no useful purpose, wouldn't be able to finance their pernicious activities, which has been to the detriment of the rest of us. We have to end it, or our own children will be left with nothing.

Anonymous said...

at least some of you are waking up

better late than never

Anonymous said...

Beefed up legislation to cater for the 'war on terror' is the legislative preparation necessary to control the homeless, starving and water deprived minions who seek social justice. If you need food, warmth, shelter and water and can't afford to pay then you will be catered for. It will all be done according to laws now being enacted. The law of those who have power and money.

Gary said...

The problems now affecting the US have been affecting other parts of the world for a long time and is all down to the corruption of our various leaders, Bush family head the list, followed by the European Soviet Union and the likes of B Liar, Tony Blair.

The New World Order (Satanists)are the Puppet Masters bring them down and the corrupt Government will fall. But it is up to the people to rise up and reclaim their democracy, sitting on your butt and drinking booze is no longer an option it takes everyone to to do their bit.

Gary

"The right of revolution is an inherent one. When people are oppressed by their government, it is a natural right they enjoy to relieve themselves of oppression, if they are strong enough, whether by withdrawal from it, or by overthrowing it and substituting a government more acceptable."
Ulysses S. Grant 1822 – 1885 - 18th. US President

Anonymous said...

If the economic sharecroppers could unite - and just for one day - spend NO MONEY! It would be a great blow to the useless eater elite who feed from America's consumption. By reusing, bartering, and being self sufficient, We have the Power to starve them! Don’t be weak and fall for the "it will make you feel better to buy this" MindJob – Don’t give them the power to starve US

Anonymous said...

You blood-thirsty Americans talking about war and revolution - even now after the tragedy at VT! You have poverty because you just don't care. You keep voting for the wealthy-serving, corporate-backed elite - how many congressmen are millionaires? How many political campaigns were supported by corporate millions? And, the democratics - what a spineless bunch who still, after all this time, after so much public demonstration, vote to fund the war. The only place in the USA with any political sense is Vermont who voted a socialist into office. God help America!

Anonymous said...

Well then. Socialism's rebirth. Let's dust off the Brecht music; let's read Kapital in reverent tones; distribute copies of the Little Red Book of Mao. Let's create a gigantic state distibutist machine led only by good people. Let's brutally knock out of the way people (even good people) who disagree with our plans to end poverty. Trotsky knew how, and he's as popular as Che these days.

Come on, come on! Yes, the horror of poverty confronts us every day. And you indict Capitalism. So what's your plan? I'm 69 and I've tried to keep up on alternatives to Capitalism, seeing many other Catholics -- people of good will -- hate the market systems, corporate greed and lust for lucre.
Come on, come on. I'm a guy in the pew who is waiting for justice to spring forth. Give me a convincing alternative. And no pap!

Anonymous said...

Everyone boviates about revolution but no one has a clue how to follow through. Good thing too, because revolutionaries frequently get their bottoms shot off. (or perhaps incarcerated and tortured) Revolutions also end in ugly French bloodbaths. Starving the beast is another quaint idea - particularly the grow-your-own and then barter it idea. The real solution as outlined in More Monkeys - More Guns is to build new tribal cooperatives, based on the best technology. HyperCube Coop in the year 2049 has completely replaced Sprawl-Mart. Alternative energy has broken the oil cartels. Personal home, computer-based manufacturing (Fabbers)has undercut the labor of Chinese prisoners. Hospitals built just over the Canadian border and manned by Chinese and Indian doctors has outsourced medical care from the villainous AMA. If you want to be part of a successful revolution, check out MM-MG and send your application to Prototopia.

Me said...

It is interesting to see how many believe that this is solely an "American problem". If you look even deeper, you may find that this problem is global, the Americans are just not good at keeping things hush-hush. People can be bought.
Look into money systems and usery. These can bring about some interesting thoughts.
Nothing like hating your country of birth and feeling ripped-off every day of your life. Don't worry, I'm not that kind of loner, I figure everyone will get theirs in due time.
And both eyes are now open, and instead of playing the orchestrated blame game, I can now direct my energies at an even more vile and sinister beast; the consumer economies. Created by the predatary capitalist system and meant to keep even those that have dared to believe that they had lived the dream, in slavery; forever feeding the beast, blinded by shiny objects and flashing lights.

Richard Neva said...

I am ready to leave my mortgaged home. Living in my SUV is a real possibility as I head for the shanty towns springing up all over America. At least the credit card companies can't touch me if I am constantly on the move. America never woke up to revolt and now they have to get out of the beds and lounge chairs and hit the road just like me. I think it is funny!

newbury park office space said...

Everyone knows the U.S. economy is teetering on the edge of recession in the next year, but no one knows if it will tip. Today nobody can not say for sure whether the troubles in the housing market and financial markets spill over enough to halt the economic growth in 2008.


Cheers,
Ken

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