Forum Post: The War Against the Poor
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 8, 2011, 1:39 a.m. EST by looselyhuman
(3117)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
We've been at war for decades now - not just in Afghanistan or Iraq, but right here at home. Domestically, it's been a war against the poor, but if you hadn't noticed, that's not surprising. You wouldn't often have found the casualty figures from this particular conflict in your local newspaper or on the nightly TV news. Devastating as it's been, the war against the poor has gone largely unnoticed - until now.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has already made the concentration of wealth at the top of this society a central issue in American politics. Now, it promises to do something similar when it comes to the realities of poverty in this country.
By making Wall Street its symbolic target, and branding itself as a movement of the 99%, OWS has redirected public attention to the issue of extreme inequality, which it has recast as, essentially, a moral problem. Only a short time ago, the "morals" issue in politics meant the propriety of sexual preferences, reproductive behavior, or the personal behavior of presidents. Economic policy, including tax cuts for the rich, subsidies and government protection for insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and financial deregulation, was shrouded in clouds of propaganda or simply considered too complex for ordinary Americans to grasp.
Now, in what seems like no time at all, the fog has lifted and the topic on the table everywhere seems to be the morality of contemporary financial capitalism. The protestors have accomplished this mainly through the symbolic power of their actions: by naming Wall Street, the heartland of financial capitalism, as the enemy, and by welcoming the homeless and the down-and-out to their occupation sites. And of course, the slogan "We are the 99%" reiterated the message that almost all of us are suffering from the reckless profiteering of a tiny handful. (In fact, they aren't far off: the increase in income of the top 1% over the past three decades about equals the losses of the bottom 80%.)
The movement's moral call is reminiscent of earlier historical moments when popular uprisings invoked ideas of a "moral economy" to justify demands for bread or grain or wages - for, that is, a measure of economic justice. Historians usually attribute popular ideas of a moral economy to custom and tradition, as when the British historian E.P. Thompson traced the idea of a "just price" for basic foodstuffs invoked by eighteenth century English food rioters to then already centuries-old Elizabethan statutes. But the rebellious poor have never simply been traditionalists. In the face of violations of what they considered to be their customary rights, they did not wait for the magistrates to act, but often took it upon themselves to enforce what they considered to be the foundation of a just moral economy.
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http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/8291-focus-the-war-against-the-poor
That "Invisible Hand" of Adam Smith always seems to be tightening around my throat.
In days gone past there was a slogan that went, "No Justice, No Peace". It seems we are rapidly heading toward that society.
If you would like to get a peek into where our society might be going then read "The Undiscovered Self" by Carl Young. It was written about the group think processes unleashed during the German Nazi movement. In it he indicated that around 70% of the population has a built in, latent psychosis that emerges during times of great societal stresses. You can see those with these symptoms by reading some of the postings on here. It looks to me that our country is in for a hard few years to come.
I agree; it's really apparent that the same forces at play then are at play now - and IMO, it's not like people on the right are entirely unaware of it. This obsession with all things Nazi is a facet of it. Alex Jones and Glenn Beck, with their supposedly anti-Nazi crusades (against the so-called fascist left), really are projecting their own fear and hatred, and need for control - their psychosis - onto progressives. And those of us with justified anger and grievances are demonized and dehumanized by those driven by irrational forces... It is getting ugly.
The right-wing have always waged economic warfare on the majority. That is the nature of society. It is why democracies are formed, to mitigate and regulate the natural right-wing proclivity to prey on others. The right-wing are the predator class and it is their nature to use and abuse whoever they can however they can.
Every few decades the majority are forced and incited to wage civil or global war on the right-wing to restore economic and social justice. That too is the nature of society.
The more things change the more they stay deranged.
Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor. Thomas Jefferson
Roaches too are cannibals.
the thought of a true moral economy is seductively dangerous, to little, and you end up with more people hurt by the implied propervalue of items and end up poorer than normal, to much, and the people providing goods stop, creating shortages. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the rich have gotten richer by the same amount everyone else has gotten poorer, money isn't magic, it moves, fluidlike. That's how economies function, the uber rich have found brilliant ways to have it stop when it reaches them by exploiting the politicians who were supposed to keep the flow strong.
Morality ftw.
Indeed.
sorry, too long
tl;dr? Very smart, guy.
Another post that brings people together.
I find it funny that there is all this talk of being anti-capitalism but OWS functions as an anarcho-capitalist collective.
A moral economy is impossible in a free society.
An ethical marketplace is the best that can be achieved but even that requires a functioning democracy to implement. America, being a failed democracy thanks to Wall Street, has lost its ethical base.
A new or rejuvenated democracy is about all we can hope for but few even see that that is what is needed or how to get there.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1379242
So, if OWS claims to be concerned about the poor.. explain THAT story.
When the poor start creating jobs, get back to us.
We, the happily poor, don't need your market forces. We subvert your market principles for our Causes, and when you lose your magical hand of the market, we will happily write a new booklet. Frankly, you need our disposable incomes more than we need your isms. We are the innovators; you are the imitators. We survive with less; you get by at best. We understand what is important, you chase what is impotent. Once you realize this, you will see that you are our slaves because we see you as nothing more than knaves. You work hard and receive no gratitude, we work smart and have impeccable attitude.
The entrepreneurs take all the risks and therefore are entitled to the greatest rewards. In the meantime, jobs are created. That's what happened with Microsoft, Apple, Dell and thousands of other companies. Capital creates labor/jobs.
We, the poor, will rebuild what you, the rich, and the middle class destroyed through your own selfish greed. I've seen this day coming ever sense the Great Reagan threw the poor under the bus. The last 30 years has been an example of chaos theory applied to a nation; we have hit the point of bifurcation. I hope you are ready because the poor have been training for over three decades. or you can always choose to turn back the clock still, after all, we all have free will.
Amen.
You should arm yourselves. That's the way to real change.
Not really, articulation beats degradation every time.
Yeah, let us know when the articulation starts.
I can't help it you are blinded by your own self worthlessness.
Lol@jesse. Another loser.
See, look how lazy you are. You can't even take the time to write a coherent sentence. What are you doing? Are you directing me to a web address. I did not know my name was a domain.
You're lazy. Get a job and leave OWS to the rats, headlice and STDs.
How come the "poor" have computers, cell phones, cars, and are invariably fat slobs?
That question indicates a level of rudeness and no understanding of dietary needs.
The poor buy computers, cars and so on because the banks lend them the money to do that. The bankers have created the illusion that the more you go in the debts the more you become rich and the more the economy goes on. We have to persuade the poor that they have been cheated by the corporations and that, if they don't spend money anymore and don't ask for new money to the banks, these will collapse in a few days. To clear your ideas, read the books of Sygmunt Bauman.