NO, CHEAP CONSUMER GOODS DO NOT ALLEVIATE POVERTY

From a New York Times op-ed piece, courtesy of a facebook friend:

Can’t Save? Here’s Why

But deciding to take your lunch to work or to cancel your cable television won’t help nearly as much as you’d think. For all the attention we pay to overspending, we struggle with our personal finances not because we spend too much money on small luxuries but because salaries have stagnated at the same time as the costs of nonluxuries have gone up. 

Even as the average household net worth plunged by almost 40 percent between 2007 and 2010, the cost of everything from health care to housing has risen for decades at rates well beyond that of inflation. Almost half of us are living paycheck to paycheck, barely able to save a penny.

In fact, it’s long been known that the majority of bankruptcies result from health issues, job losses and fractured families, something no amount of cutting back can protect against. 

Click here for the rest.

"No, no, it's okay to offshore all these jobs, okay to herd people into the service sector because you can get really inexpensive televisions and other consumer goods for cheap these days."  Or "Globalization makes the cost of living less expensive, so it's a wash against lower wages."  Or, "Americans in poverty have it really good; they're all playing video games and watching blu rays."

Actually, that's completely wrong.  It doesn't even out.  Low, low prices at Walmart don't do a damned thing to pay the rent, don't magically create health insurance, don't pay the bills when that insurance runs out, if you're lucky enough to have it in the first place.  Okay, I'm sure that poverty in the US is, indeed, a bit more comfortable than it is in the third world, what with all the cheap gadgets and tricks available.  But all these cheap goods are simply diversions, distractions, doing more to keep people from hitting the streets in protest than making it any easier to actually survive.  And what good is streaming video when you don't have a roof over your head?  Or an electrical system in which to plug your internet device?

The fact is that we make less money than we used to.  And we have to pay more, much, much, much more, for things we absolutely need in order to exist and function in this society.  It's not just about people in poverty, either: it's about the vast majority of people in this country.  We all feel the squeeze, all of us who aren't rich, that is.  We're all struggling.

People from the business sector say, "Trust us; we understand the economy, and we're making it work for your benefit, as well as ours."  I no longer see any evidence of this.  The American business sector is really good at making money for itself, but it has been, through its political proxies called Republicans and Democrats, a really awful steward of the economy.  These people can no longer be trusted to do what they say they're doing.

It's time for entirely new leadership, time for an entirely new philosophy, one that shares the bounty of our vast resources with everyone.  Anything less than that is immoral.

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