March 28, 2011 9:10 AM

Back to the future...so why does it look so much like 1931?

Welcome to America in the second decade of the 21st century. An army of long-term unemployed workers is spread across the land, the human fallout from the Great Recession and long years of misguided economic policies…. Limitless greed, unrestrained corporate power and a ferocious addiction to foreign oil have led us to an era of perpetual war and economic decline. Young people today are staring at a future in which they will be less well off than their elders, a reversal of fortune that should send a shudder through everyone. The U.S. has not just misplaced its priorities. When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely.

I grew up believing that America was about possibilities. It was kind of hard not to, growing up as I did in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Outside of the turmoil over the Vietnam War and the Generation Gap, a lot was happening in this country, most of it very dynamic and very positive. America was growing by leaps and bounds, it was creating and innovating, it was showing the rest of the world how to get things done. Then came the ’80s, when greed was good and getting everything you could while you still could was not only accepted, it was expected. Turn the clock forward to today…and it appears that not much has really changed in that regard. Greed and self-interest have been our national mantra for so long, it seems as if we’ve forgotten (if we ever really acknowledged) our common interest.

I’m not one to knock success. Hell, this country is built on the idea that success is both real AND possible. With the right idea, the right work ethic, good luck…who know what’s possible, right? Still, somewhere along the way it seems that we’ve lost our way. Our priorities seem out of whack. Of course, there’s a bit more to it that simply contending that our priorities have changed for the worse. Self-interest isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and greed isn’t always a dirty word. Wanting more and better and faster and…well, you get the idea…isn’t in and of itself inherently evil. Striving is what has made this country what it is. The idea of trying to create more and better has spurred the innovation that is part and parcel of the American spirit. Still, there’s something else that is becoming increasingly noticeable in the American spirit that makes me think that perhaps our future might not be all it could be…if only because our present certainly isn’t.

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….

The current maldistribution of wealth is also scandalous. In 2009, the richest 5 percent claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively held just 12.8 percent.

This inequality, in which an enormous segment of the population struggles while the fortunate few ride the gravy train, is a world-class recipe for social unrest. Downward mobility is an ever-shortening fuse leading to profound consequences.

We currently fund three wars…and yet we cannot find it within ourselves to care for those Americans who are legitimately suffering as a result of the current recession. Apparently, doing so would constitute “Socialism” for many Americans, who see no reason why their tax dollars should go to care for the homeless and the unemployed (who all too often are one and the same). We can’t see our way clear to guarantee every American quality, affordable health care…again, because to do so would qualify as “Socialism”. We engage in nation-building in Iraq, Afghanistan, and no doubt soon in Libya…and yet many of us refuse to countenance the same sort of commitment within our own borders.

Somewhere along the line, we’ve lost our bearings. Our moral center has migrated well off-center, so far to the Right that it’s neither “moral” nor “center.” We’ve spent billions, perhaps more than a trillion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan…and yet there are those among us who would define a similar commitment to education, health care, and other social services within our own borders to be opening the door to “Socialism.” We’ve entered a space in which every American is expected to fend for themselves, and those who can’t will simply have to live with the results.

Survival of the fittest is a wonderful philosophy if you’re healthy and wealthy. You have access to health care, your basic needs are guaranteed to be met, and you won’t be worrying about where your next Big Mac is coming from. But what about those less fortunate? What about those who don’t know where their next Big Mac is coming from? What about those losing their home because they’ve been laid off and cannot find gainful employment? What about those who wonder each and every day about how they’re going to feed their families and keep the lights on?

Overwhelming imbalances in wealth and income inevitably result in enormous imbalances of political power. So the corporations and the very wealthy continue to do well. The employment crisis never gets addressed. The wars never end. And nation-building never gets a foothold here at home.

No serious person is going to argue for equitable redistribution of wealth…but there’s something horribly, terribly wrong with a nation unable and unwilling to recognize that millions of their fellow citizens are hurting and in need of help. I don’t pretend to have the answers; the problems we face are too large and too daunting for one mind to address and resolve. We need leadership capable of moving past the rampant, self-absorbed partisanship so common in today’s public discourse. We need leadership willing to admit that where we are is ultimately in no one’s best interest. Most of all, we need leadership willing to take a good look around and admit to the reality we face today- because only when we admit to the undeniable reality of those problems will we be able to address those problems in a way that will allow us to move forward.

I used to work with someone who was fond of repeating the mantra, “If you don’t have the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?” Now is the time when we must get it right, because to continue down the path we’re currently traveling will serve only to widen the gap and heighten resentment. I can’t pretend to have the answers, but I do know that if we don’t get it right now…well, when will we have the time (or the opportunity) to do it over?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on March 28, 2011 9:10 AM.

Dude, it's gonna be tough to get a tow truck out here was the previous entry in this blog.

OK...it's (totally, completely) fake...but it IS funny is the next entry in this blog.

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