Poverty Needs to be Considered in Recession Talk

I believe that when Jesus told his disciples, “The poor will always be with us,” he wasn’t giving a mandate, but was prophesying.

He knew that if they couldn’t understand what he had told them about his impending death, they would not have heard his constant exhortations to feed his sheep, to clothe the poor, to take care of the widows and orphans, to visit the imprisoned.

If they couldn’t spare the time to sit at his feet for the short time he had left on earth and learn from Him up until the moment of his death, how would they (read “we”) ever be able to do the more difficult things he bade them to do?

It is driving me crazy to hear talking heads prattle on about their opinion that we’re due for a recession. When they say, “That’s the way it flows,” they really mean that that is the way the stock market flows.

They don’t, however, mention that in times of either depressions or recessions, the poor are always hardest hit.

Not because they’re lazy. Not because they’re shiftless. Not because they’re stupid. Only because they live in a world whose well-being is dictated by an artificial construct called the stock market.

I’m not an economist, and I’ve never invested a cent. I think I might correctly say, however, that the stock market construct was invented by wealthy people in order to make money off of their wealth and allow them to become even wealthier. In many cases, that wealth was either unearned or created by enslaving people to do the actual work for them and by exploiting others who were paid very little to break their backs working for the wealthy.

One way or another, it is those living in poverty or low wealth who will find it even harder to pay for the very necessities of life than anyone else. So why are they not mentioned in discussions about a recession?

The talking heads also spout on about the great economy were “enjoying.” Great for whom? Certainly not for the 140 million people who live in poverty and low wealth in this country, let alone the millions more around the world who die of starvation every year. Their tone-deafness is appalling.

Since January 1917, I have noticed that prices in the grocery store have risen continually, sometimes even weekly. I do not have a fancy diet. I eat very little meat. Before 2017, my weekly budget for food, entertainment, and incidentals was about $100 a week.  It didn’t need to be, but I didn’t see any reason for it not to be. Now that I’m retired, entertainment and incidentals have gone by the wayside; food alone could cost more than $100 a week if I weren’t paring back and rationing what I buy.

If that is my situation, I can’t imagine the situations of people living in systemic poverty, and especially families. And yet, they are not mentioned in discussions about the great economy and a possible recession.

Why not? If not now, when? All the systems of our government and our economy are stacked against the poor. Yes, the poor will always be with us if we don’t start giving a damn. Jesus prophesied and greedy humankind turned it into a self-fulfilling prophecy by turning deaf ears and blind eyes to what he really meant.

@poorpeoplescampaign

I’m talking to you, @allinwithchris @chrislhayes @maddow @AriMelber @TheBeatWithAri @Lawrence

From the Grip of All That is Evil, Free Us

It was a horrible coincidence for me that I was listening to a new book, Grace Shall Lead Us Home  by Jennifer Berry Hawes about the Mother Emmanuel massacre in 2015 when I heard the news of the El Paso massacre and, later the same evening, the Dayton massacre.

Sadly, I am no longer surprised by such occurrences. Shocked, yes, in the initial receiving of the news, but not surprised. I have said elsewhere that I truly believe the president intends Latinx immigrants, whether citizens, applicants for citizenship, or undocumented, to be killed. It is his war of attrition; if he can’t shut down the border completely or end immigration altogether, he will let the white terrorists do his dirty work for him.

No, what really surprises me is that there is anyone who still expects him to act “presidential,” which is to say, acts like a normal human being.

Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who I respect and like, said the country needed the president to comfort the surviving victims and the families of the dead.  He MUST know that that is organically impossible for the president. He is so completely lacking in sympathy or empathy that I can’t even imagine him comforting someone in his own family were they to suffer a tragedy.

And who would want the author of their tragedy to try to comfort them? Who would want that bloated orange head anywhere near them, saying hollow words that never ring true? I used to think that he used cocaine when he sniffed and contorted his mouth during speeches. I realized this week that it is when he is reading something from a teleprompter that some adviser thinks will strike the right note that he starts sniffing and sounding robotic. Because he simply does not want to be saying those words. He would rather be speaking the trash he has at his command.

Normally I would feel pity for someone with so many mental and behavioral deficits.

But not him. There is something else at work here that preempts my pity. I call it Evil, with a capital E.

I don’t believe in an actual Satan, a fallen angel who tempts humans to sell their souls and work against the Divine’s majestic purposes. But I do believe in Evil, the propensity to which all humans are born. They are also born with the propensity to do much good in the world, and the vast majority of people do exemplify goodness, though not all are celebrated for it.

Others allow the propensity for Evil to guide their thinking and their behavior.  I have no doubt that that had the president been born in a country with a tradition of authoritarianism, he would be an actual dictator by now.

Dictators, however, rarely do the dirty work themselves. They either incite or order others to do it, generally the rising generations. This, for me, is the worst sin, to teach others to do evil, and this is what the president has been doing for most of his life.

He let slip a gigantic Freudian message this week, and I’ve not heard anyone comment on it. He referred to “Obama’s reign.” Presidents don’t reign, they serve. He was thinking of his own time in office and, because he cannot serve, he wants to reign. He has spoken openly about his admiration (read longing) of a lifetime presidency.

So no, I don’t expect him to start acting “presidential” now; in fact, we may have a whole new definition of “presidential” if we don’t rid ourselves of him. Not violently, though being human, I confess that crosses my mind. But through the rule of law while we still have a constitution to guide us. That would be the most fitting method for someone who does not believe in law.