Fazal M. Kamal in New York
For a country that’s now producing the almost inconceivable quantum computer — the so-cKamal’s P-1 articlealled Infinity Machine — and which has the world’s largest economy, and in brief is the richest nation in the known universe, it isn’t merely a crying shame but downright unjust that hundreds of thousands of its citizens should be in such an economic state that they simply cannot afford to have health insurance.
According to findings of a survey, for instance, in which nearly 10,000 people age 20 and up participated and reported having one or more chronic illnesses like cancer, asthma, emphysema or a psychiatric illness “23 percent took their medication less often than prescribed because of the cost, 19 percent reported difficulty affording food and 11 percent said they were having trouble paying for both food and medications. In the end, about one in three had trouble affording food, medication or both.”
Additionally, conflicting local, state and national laws have created fissures in the system which has left many outside medical coverage even if one set of rules permits one person to receive government assistance, in a large number of cases, because of the contradictions, s/he would be denied coverage and hence would be in a vulnerable situation.
SH/The big problem
This, however, is only one small part of the problem. The major issue is income inequality which has assumed such potentials that even President Obama has had to address it on a national scale. Mainly due to demographic changes over the decades, with farming losing its earlier importance in economic indexes, and with rapid burgeoning urbanization, the luster of rugged individualism and the lack of awareness of inequities have been vanishing fast.
Consequently, in recent years there has been a flood of commentaries, articles, reports and surveys (not overlooking Wall Street Occupiers who helped to bring attention to the problem) highlighting income inequality in terms that have rarely been used in earlier decades. Given that fact, it’s quite understandable why Barack Obama has been talking of tackling this problem with some urgency. Obviously, the sentiment now is that this has to be addressed, not only for ethical reasons (which may or may not be a factor for many) but also for the sake of sheer practical reasons, like the health of the economy.
In a recent article June Carbone wrote in the New Economic Perspectives: “The winner-take-all system turns the rest of us into losers…It is no longer whether greater inequality exists (it indisputably does) or whether it is a good thing….Instead the big issue is whether the rise of top one-tenth of one percent with their extraordinary concentration of wealth has anything to do with the rise of inequality between the middle and the bottom. The answer is, of course it does, in ways that are both simple and complex.”
To put in some perspective, inequality on a global scale has also been growing though in many countries the gap isn’t as yawning as in a few countries including specifically the United States. As Paul Buchheit noted, “America’s middle class is further from the top than in all other developed countries.” And he also proves, as many others, that it is not difficult to rectify at least some of the more egregious issues. In a commentary in AlterNet he notes, “Extreme inequality means people without homes are freezing to death in America.”
Consequences of inequality
“On a winter day,” elaborates Buchheit, “in 2012 over 633,000 were homeless in the United States. Based on an annual single room occupancy cost of $558 per month, a little over $4 billion would provide shelter for every homeless person for the entire year. The stock market grew by $4.7 trillion in 2013. A wealth tax of just a one-tenth of 1 percent (one dollar out of every thousand) would have provided the $4 billion needed to shelter every homeless American for 365 days.” He concludes by lamenting, “But we have no wealth tax. And the wealth just keeps growing for the wealthiest Americans.”
Naturally, as in other cases too, there are many who are unable to see their feet because of their noses, even though income inequality is obvious, is hurting the economy and for many different reasons ought to be reduced. And they aren’t only people in small towns or in the Republican Party; they are also present in the Democratic Party as well as in some of the so-called progressive segments of the media. One of the ruses they’re utilizing to deflect from the core issues is that equal opportunity should be the goal rather than attacking income inequality.
Former Clinton administration secretary and political economist Robert Reich has been consistently attempting to spotlight the consequences of income inequality and the impediments that have been holding back measures to diminish the varied impacts. Very recently he underscored the unpleasant fact that “America’s savage inequality is the main reason equal opportunity is fading and poverty is growing.”
In this context he noted, “…America’s rich are accumulating not just more of the country’s total income and wealth,” (and this following fact is of enormous significance) “but also the political power that accompanies money. And they’re using that power to reduce their own taxes, and get corporate welfare (subsidies, bailouts, tax cuts) for their businesses…All this means less equality of opportunity in America.”
American bedrock slipping
The issue of income inequality, it has become evident by now that the Republicans in the US Congress as well as outside of it aren’t going to be willing partners with the administration’s proposals in this regard which – if one takes into account practical politics – is somewhat mystifying since opinion surveys have demonstrated that a majority of citizens is not satisfied with the existing level of wealth distribution.
For instance a Gallup poll has revealed that 67 percent of those asked about wealth and income distribution in the US replied that they were dissatisfied and 39 percent said they were very dissatisfied. Equally significantly, 45 percent of those polled by Gallup in its annual Mood of the Nation survey expressed pessimism about their ability to get ahead by working hard. This belief, in earlier times, was universally accepted bedrock of being an American.
Against this backdrop the US government has been announcing its determination to confront this debilitating problem head on. How far the administration’s plans will progress has yet to be seen, but in recent declarations President Obama has said he will launch programs to attack this issue “with or without Congress.” Recently in a radio address he observed that “those at the top are doing better than ever” while “too many Americans are working harder than ever just to get by.”
Source: Weekly Holiday
