The mass media bombards us daily with mind numbing ads telling us we need to buy this or that. We live in a 24 hour marketplace in this country, more so than any other. It is the worst country in the so-called industrialized countries to be poor in. In many ways worse than being poor in India or Brazil because poverty exists next to great wealth and the power of the media that tells us the path to riches or security is out there; we just have to be willing to travel it. We are in control of our own destiny and if worked hard like them we could have what they have.
This is not the case but it is psychologically very damaging as the anger at one's condition is internalized; if I were only smarter, prettier, had more initiative. We have it pounded in to us from day one how great capitalism is, how lucky we are to live in such a great system and nation.
I talked with a couple of folks this morning that not only remind me of what nonsense this is but angers me deeply and increases my hatred for the capitalist system and the class that governs and prospers from it.
A woman I have known for a long time called me as she is having some difficulty with her Union. She is in her late 60's and working as a security guard at the company's main gate. She isn't employed by the company whose property she is sort of supposed to protect; they contract this stuff out to another middleman who pays lower wages and less benefits than the parent company. The parent company doesn't have to deal with these things and can sever the relationship when the contract expires.
She is having difficulty getting the contract between the parent company and her employer and wants me to help. She thinks they are keeping something form them, some rights or other stuff they might have. Alongside this she tells me that Medicare won't pay for her drug prescription but takes $100 a month out of her paycheck.
"If they didn't do that" she tells me, "I could pay for my drugs."
Then she complains that the Union takes $30 a month for dues and she feels does very little for her. She is not anti-Union but it doesn't endure her to them. This is an independent Union outside the AFL-CIO so most likely her wages are far below an already inadequate AFL-CIO unionized position like this.
She is a working class woman who should be secure enough to retire and enjoy the rest of her life, but she goes through this stress.
Then another woman also has contacted me. What she told me just made my blood boil. She is living in a motel room with her husband and son, she is also disabled. She wants to fight to get back in her home and against the real estate people who evicted her. She was up to date on her first mortgage but had a second that the lender foreclosed on. They got someone to file an unlawful detainer which is normally between a landlord and a tenant and a judge/commissioner had her thrown out. Her belongings are still in her empty home.
She contacted our Hands off Our Homes Committee but we might be too far away to help her, she is not in this community but is willing to protest and picket the real estate office of the individual who forced her out.
Her husband works but they are having a hard time living in a motel room financially and emotionally.
The US government is spending $50 million to find out why the troops are committing suicide at the rate they are (Hmm, I wonder why?) Maybe a few more million will be paid to some consulting firm to find out why suicides occur among people like this woman living thrown out of her shelter; or why domestic violence, drug abuse or alcoholism is occurring among families, the youth and the unemployed.
I have read little about it but from what I understand, the man that shot the two security officials in Las Vegas was in his 60's and was having some social security benefits curtailed or denied. With no movement there to fight for his interests he took drastic and fatal individual action.
Isn't freedom swell! America the free---free to starve amid plenty.
This is why the student movement that is arising in opposition to cuts in education is so important, it can be the beginning of a movement to drive back this capitalist offensive. The student movement has called for a statewide strike in California on March 4th, the trade Union movement and all workers should also issue this call and participate and build for a successful strike for free and expanded education, an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and an end to this assault on workers and youth, the right to a decent education, a job and a home.
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