Paul Krugman: America’s Unlevel Field

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/opinion/krugman-americas-unlevel-field.html

America’s Unlevel Field
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: January 8, 2012

snip//

It’s no wonder, then, that Horatio Alger stories, tales of poor kids who make good, are much less common in reality than they are in legend — and much less common in America than they are in Canada or Europe. Which brings me back to those, like Mr. Romney, who claim to believe in equality of opportunity. Where is the evidence for that claim?

Think about it: someone who really wanted equal opportunity would be very concerned about the inequality of our current system. He would support more nutritional aid for low-income mothers-to-be and young children. He would try to improve the quality of public schools. He would support aid to low-income college students. And he would support what every other advanced country has, a universal health care system, so that nobody need worry about untreated illness or crushing medical bills.

If Mr. Romney has come out for any of these things, I’ve missed it. And the Congressional wing of his party seems determined to make upward mobility even harder. For example, Republicans have tried to slash funds for the Women, Infants and Children program, which helps provide adequate nutrition to low-income mothers and their children; they have demanded cuts in Pell grants, which are designed to help lower-income students afford college.

And they have, of course, pledged to repeal a health reform that, for all its imperfections, would finally give Americans the guaranteed care that everyone else in the advanced world takes for granted.

So where is the evidence that Mr. Romney or his party actually believes in equal opportunity? Judging by their actions, they seem to prefer a society in which your station in life is largely determined by that of your parents — and in which the children of the very rich get to inherit their estates tax-free. Teddy Roosevelt would not have approved.

[Stuart G]

1. k & r thanks for posting...nt

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Beyond the immediate savings generated by removing the safety nets,

we are thus guaranteed a permanent underclass, which, for a variety of reasons, is a vital necessity in any fascist state.

[Warpy]

3. There's plenty of socioeconomic mobility

During my whole lifetime, I've seen that mobility head downward for all of us in the bottom 95%. Only the top 5% has seen any upward mobility, and I put people like Bill Gates into that category. Don't forget that his daddy was well enough off to send Bill to Harvard instead of a state school where he'd never have found the same business contacts.

Now what is officially called poor is really destitute. What is called working class is now poverty level. What is called middle class is really working class, paycheck to paycheck. The upper middle class is barely hanging on to being middle class, still able to save and invest but not much. This has been the pattern my whole working life, this redefinition of our class that makes us think we are who we've always been. The declining expectations and standards of living let us know otherwise.

This is the end game. It can't continue much longer. The only question is whether we'll be allowed another peaceful revolution or if this one will have to be violent. I sincerely hope it's the former. I'm too old for the latter.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Excellent analysis, Warpy! Thank you!

And I quite agree that our ruling class--which long ago abandoned any loyalty to our country and our people--is most definitely flirting with violent revolution. The thing is, they can, very likely, win against a violent revolution, or at least bloodily put it down temporarily (long enough to get any remaining assets out of the country). But the revolution that they really have inadequate weapons to win would be a peaceful one, if it is big enough.

They have two main weapons against a peaceful revolution: 1) The Corporate Press, as their "Big Lie" propaganda machine, and 2) Diebold/ES&S, that is, a private, far rightwing-connected corporation controlling about 80% of the voting systems in the U.S. with 'TRADE SECRET' code and virtually no audit/recount controls (a coup d'etat that occurred by action of the Anthrax Congress during the 2002-2004 period).

The latter is a lockdown on reform. The former--the Corporate Press--is increasingly empty and discredited. Propaganda can only work for so long, then the inherent creativity and curiosity of the human brain kicks in, and people start thinking for themselves. Also, the Corporate Press is increasingly irrelevant in the Age of the Internet--our substitute for the community-oriented social networks, and peasant and worker organizations, that are transforming Latin America into a democratic and progressive region through electoral politics.

Personally, I think that the Diebold/ES&S situation is the key to a peaceful revolution here. It is both THE blockade to reform AND a perfect symbol of what's wrong: Corporate Rule.

I've done a lot of reading/research on how Latin Americans have been able to elect so many leftist/reformist governments (in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Nicaragua and other countries). They, too, have rotten Corporate Press--even worse than ours, in some cases. The difference is that they have done their civic homework on honest, transparent elections. The poor majority can create their own networks of information and organization, to bypass and overcome Corporate 'news' propaganda, and can get their new FDRs into office, IF the vote-counting is honest.

Also, the good news is that, currently, there is NO federal law in the U.S. requiring that states and counties use corporate-run, 'TRADE SECRET,' electronic vote-rigging machines. It was all accomplished by corrupt lobbying. The power over the vote-counting system still resides at the local/state level, which means that ordinary citizens still have the chance to RESTORE transparent vote counting without breaking any law (civil disobedience). It will take a widespread citizen movement, in every state and county, and never-say-die pressure on our local officials, but it is DOABLE. (Election reform at the federal level is not doable, in my opinion, and could make things far worse).

It's a great issue--something that almost everybody would agree on, that vote counting should take place in the PUBLIC venue--and having defeated one, private and highly corrupt Corporate Dragon--the one that has actually stolen our election system--we can then turn to the others.

It will take time to overcome the extremely corrupt campaign contribution system and other problems, but we can't even begin to do so, if we don't have transparent vote counting. That is WHY we don't have transparent vote-counting; why it was taken away from us (first, to create a false endorsement for corporate resource wars, in 2004, and now to do what it is doing--robbing us blind unto the hundredth generation and cementing this Corporate/War Profiteer junta in place.)

A peaceful revolution means re-empowering ourselves--"we the people"--and this one way to do it, by regaining public control of the vote-counting.

[chervilant]

6. True that...

The obscenely wealthy corporate megalomaniacs are scurrying around like cockroaches in the dawning light because their wealth is an illusion. Their hedonism has resulted in the massive Black Hole that the brave and erudite Brooksley Born called the Dark Market. With a current notional value of $680 TRILLION, the 'worth' of these worthless financial instruments exceeds the combined GNPs of EVERY NATION ON THIS PLANET by a factor of ten.

The entire system is broken. Our global economy is undergoing catastrophic change. I find it disheartening that our 'leaders' and 'economists' continue to discuss this issue as though there is a 'recovery' just around the corner. I am equally distressed by the willingness of so many of the Hoi Polloi to snarf the corporatists' 'recovery' red herrings.

We are witnessing a global cultural crisis, and some folks are just not ready to acknowledge that.

Time for change. I am hopeful, now that #Occupy is spreading across the globe. Like you, I hope ours will be a non-violent revolution, promoting Satyagraha.

[JDPriestly]

4. Had two babies in Europe.

The pre-natal care was unbelievably good. A doctor calls the pregnant women in the community together and tells them about things like good nutrition, how to raise their children.

Back then at least, a pregnant woman received a health care booklet in which her doctor wrote down all the important health information for the child -- prenatal visits, then data about the birth, then the visits -- newborn, three months, etc. The doctor wrote all the vital information, the baby's weight and special needs, tests done, illnesses . . . . Everything was recorded by hand. The mother kept the book and brought it to the doctor's office when the baby and child needed care.

My doctors discussed things like diet, etc. with me. Sitting in the waiting room when my first baby was about three months, I noticed that my baby was much, much smaller than the other babies of the same age waiting with me. Nervous as to whether my baby was OK, I asked the doctor why my baby was so small when all the other babies were so large. She paused, looked me up and down and said, "Why, look at you."

The European system is not one size fits all, but doctors really seemed to care about patients. They were less involved in collecting bills and worrying about whether they would be able to pay next month's rent on their offices. At least that was my impression.

That was many years ago -- before free trade and derivatives schemes destroyed the hopes and dreams of the middle class in Europe and the US. I don't know if it would be as good now.

And, by the way, we had a lower income.

[patrice]

7. It serves some to say that the field is level, so the benefits & problems are due to individual

virtue or flaws. Success is fully deserved as is failure, as though individual differences and chance are meaningless.

Solving problems will never succeed if we continue to punish "the color blind" for not being able to "mix paint" correctly. Though those who are "color blind" might learn to do so mechanically, their personal identification with the phenomena cannot be held value-less, especially when there is a NEED for creativity.

This doesn't mean that personal choice and responsibility have nothing to do with why people suffer, just that though they can be necessary conditions in what happens in life, they aren't sufficient to cause and effect, so what choices/responsibilities are perceived is very much a matter of the who/what/where/when/why/how that result in individual identification.

[hay rick]

8. Republicans in a nutshell:

Talk opportunity, live privilege.

[Atypical Liberal]

10. +1

[99th_Monkey]

9. Unlevel? <== Understatement much?

Pretty much the MOST "unlevel" nation on the planet, with nearly the highest rate of incarceration of its population per-capita globally.

Coincidence?