Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

Proof: Poverty Is A Human Invention

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

Think about it.  Then let's maybe do some things about it. All of it.

On That Universal Basic Income??

The futurists and visionaries out in Silicon Valley who see the future coming, seem to agree with me on the need for a universal basic income one day not too far away.

Why a bunch of Silicon Valley investors are suddenly interested in universal basic income

Hint: It's about robots

And keep in mind, this is coming from the very vaulted private sector, too.

A bit from the article:

Basic income is having a moment. First Finland announced it would launch an ambitious experiment to see if it would work to give everyone in a given area is given a set amount of cash every year from the government, no strings attached. Now the Silicon Valley seed investment firm Y Combinator has announced it wants to fund a basic income experiment in the US.

YC's president, Sam Altman, announced on the YC blog that the company wants to hire a researcher to "work full-time on this project for 5 years," and supervise an experiment wherein Y Combinator will "give a basic income to a group of people in the US for a 5 year period, though we’re flexible on that and all aspects of the project."

Y Combinator — a startup incubator that counts Dropbox, Airbnb, and Reddit among its alumni — seems mostly interested in basic income as a response to technological unemployment. In the future, the reasoning goes, enough work will be automated that demand for all but the highest skilled labor will collapse, leaving a small group of programmers and capitalists with all the coconuts and most people with nothing.

I'm skeptical this is ever going to happen (Matt Yglesias makes a good case against the hypothesis here), but basic income is one way to make sure everyone survives structural employment changes in the future.

"I’m fairly confident that at some point in the future, as technology continues to eliminate traditional jobs and massive new wealth gets created, we’re going to see some version of [a basic income] at a national scale," Altman writes.

As for me, I, too am skeptical. I'm skeptical humans would be so smart---or fair and just---to set up such a system.

But there's always hope.

Note:  The article is a fascinating one, telling about different past and current attempts and experiments at what does and does not work with this and the possible ramifications. To me, it's well worth the read.

On Ending Hunger. And Poverty

This will likely surprise you. I know it did me.



I saw a quote a couple weeks ago, haven't forgotten it and couldn't agree more.

"There's so much absurdity. Poverty is so absurd." - Frank McCourt, author.

Quote of the Day -- On Poverty...and Empathy

Calling Gwyenth Paltrow

An open lesson for and to Gwyneth Paltrow on her now-failed attempt to take on the "Food Stamp Challenge."  That is, living on $29 per week.

Gwyneth Paltrow flubs $29 food stamp dare

A not particularly shamefaced Gwyneth Paltrow has admitted she failed to survive for seven days on $29 (20 quid) for food as part of the #FoodBankNYCChallenge, which invites participants "to walk in the shoes of 1.7 million New Yorkers who rely on SNAP (formerly Food Stamps)."

So here's the thing. Here's what Ms. Paltrow should have done if she wanted to survive on a paltry $29 per week worth of food.

First thing?

Consult someone who does it.

That is, get with some man or woman---likely a woman?--who's been doing it. They could tell you how.

Second?

Throw all the ideas about elitism or freshness and fresh vegetables and gourmet and/or healthy this or that out the window. It just isn't going to work.

Here, then, is what you do in order to make a $29 budget work for one person for one week.

Step one:

Go to a "box store." Preferably not Walmart but pick one. Aldi's or Food for Less (also known as "Fight for Food") or wherever. Pick one. Again, if you don't know where to go, ask the person already doing it.

Step two:

Buy fourteen of these:

Yes, that's right. TV dinners.

They can be had for 98 cents each. That's just about 14 precious dollars total. That covers every lunch and dinner for all 7 days. That's making it work. And they have this, of course, with a turkey dinner and a salisbury "steak" dinner and spaghetti with meatballs and all kinds of things so you can get some variety. Again, it's not gourmet--or fresh--but that's not what you get on $29/week, is it? No, it's not.

Step three:

Buy 7 bananas and a half gallon of orange juice. The bananas will set you back about one dollar, give or take and the orange juice, $2.00.

The total? 

$17

So you still have $12 left for week.

You could buy some coffee and filters---again, not the gourmet variety but coffee--and/or other things, to make it work.

So you see, Ms. Paltrow? 

It can be done.

You just have to try.

The More Common but Tragic Racism

"The vast majority of poor people and people of color whose lives have been lost to this inhumane system are never shot or beaten by police. They are not victims of unlawful abuse that can be caught on camera or ferreted out through federal investigation. They are victims of a lawful system of mass incarceration. . . . For every police shooting, tens of thousands of lives will be destroyed by a legal process that wreaks far more havoc on our most vulnerable communities than the illegal use of excessive force by police. . . .The battle for equal justice will only be won when we demand equal treatment in every aspect of our justice system. We must muster outrage over the routine dehumanization that happens in our criminal-justice system, rather than reserve it for the most extraordinary instances of injustice, if we are to maintain a movement for change."

--Jonathan Rapping, lawer and legal defense advocate, author

Links:  Jonathan Rapping — MacArthur Foundation

Jonathan A. Rapping | Harvard Law School

Quote of the day -- on our world's priorities

"The world produces more food than we can consume. Our manufacturing productivity is at levels never before seen, there is plenty of land for all. What has changed is that the bosses are now taking all of the new profits from productivity gains for themselves. Not sharing with workers or with taxing authorities, it's greed, through and through."

--Booth Martin

On Native Americans

And how they live and what we've done to them:



More Americans need to know.

More Americans need to know how Native Americans live.

Because we put them there.

Literally.

We took away their land. We took away their religion. We took away their clothing. We took away their language. We took away their culture.

Then, to fill things in---actually, to make great, big, ugly profits---we gave them alcohol and weapons.

And this, above, is the result, all these hundreds of years later.

Uh, see any correlations?

(click on picture to enlarge)

If you aren't angry--or involved--you aren't paying attention

Statistics on the economic state of too many Americans:

A report released early this year by the organization Oxfam International revealed that the combined income of the richest 100 people in the world is enough to end global poverty four times over, and that the gap between rich and poor has exploded by some 60% in the last 20 years. Rather than hinder this division, the recent global economic crisis has exacerbated it. Money does not disappear, you see, but tends to be translated up the income ladder in times of financial distress.

According to UNICEF, nearly half the world's population lives on less than $2.50 a day. One billion children live in poverty, and 22,000 of them die each day because of it. More than one billion people lack access to adequate drinking water, and 400 million of those are children. Almost a billion people go hungry every day.

The incomes of 100 people out of the seven billion on the planet could fix that, and then fix it again, and then fix it again, and then fix it again. The exact total of the wealth of these individuals is actually something of a mystery, thanks to the tax havens they use to hide their fortunes. There are trillions of dollars squirrelled away in those havens - no one knows quite how much - and the subtraction of that money from the global economy has a direct and debilitating effect on the people not fortunate enough to be part of that elite 100.

In America alone, some $150 billion in tax revenue is lost each year because of these havens, money that could be used for education, food assistance programs, infrastructure repair and health care. Instead, Americans are told the country is going broke, and are force-fed austerity measures by the same politicians who passed the laws allowing the wealthy and corporations to wallow in treasure like Tolkien's dwarves hiding under their mountain.

Link to original post:   The End of the Beginning of the End

How many hours at minimum wage to pay just for an apartment in Missouri and Kansas?

Check it out for yourself (click on image for larger view):

Think there's nothing you (we?) can do to fight poverty?

If you think there's nothing you or I--we--can do to fight poverty, think again.  Here's an even dozen:

This Week in Poverty: Twelve Things You Can Do To Fight Poverty Now

1)  Support an increase in the minimum wage to more than $11 per hour

2)  Tell Publix: Help end sexual harassment, wage theft, and forced labor in the fields—join the Fair Food Program today

Tell Publix Super Markets CEO William Crenshaw to join the fight against human rights abuses in the US tomato industry

3)  Make a Personal Commitment to Helping Homeless Families
You can visit a local shelter, meet a homeless family and see first hand the damage poverty is doing to young mothers and children. Then, become a big brother or sister, a role model for these young families to help them dream again. You are meeting an immediate need while also helping to stem generational poverty.

You can also contact your local department of social services, United Way or religious organization to find out where the need is in your community. Also, speak with the homeless liaison at your local school to see what needs they have identified in your neighborhood. There are many ways that you (and your children) can help families right in your community. Here are a few other ideas.

4)  Fund the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) at the maximum authorized level

Research by Children’s HealthWatch has shown that energy insecurity is associated with poor health, increased hospitalizations and risk of developmental delays in very young children, and that energy assistance can be effective in protecting children’s health. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides low-income households with assistance in paying their utility bills—particularly those that must spend higher proportions of their income on home energy. To be eligible for LIHEAP, families must have incomes at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level—less than $35,000 annually for a family of four.

5)  This is a big one: Support of a living wage and basic labor protections for home care workers

6)  Urge Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act (H.R. 1286/S.631) and a national paid leave program
More than 40 million workers in this country—and more than 80 percent of the lowest-wage workers—cannot earn a single paid sick day to use when they get the flu or other common illnesses. Millions more cannot earn paid sick days to use when a child is sick.
Urge members of Congress to support the Healthy Families Act, legislation that would guarantee workers the right to earn paid sick days. And sign this petition calling on Congress to take up the national paid leave program workers and families urgently need.

7)  Increase regulation of private student loans and hold Sallie Mae accountable for its role in the student debt crisis

8)  Support Pathways Back to Work

Even as the economy recovers, too many unemployed workers and individuals with low education and skill levels face a difficult job market. Nearly two in five unemployed workers have been jobless for six months or more; 6.7 million youth are both out of work and out of school.

Subsidized and transitional jobs are a proven way to give unemployed workers the opportunity to earn wages, build skills and connect to the labor market, while also giving businesses an incentive to hire new employees when they might not be able to do so otherwise.

9)  Invest in the Older Americans Act

The Older Americans Act encompasses a range of programs that enable seniors to remain healthy and independent, in their own homes and communities and out of costly institutions. Services include healthy meals, in-home care, transportation, benefits access, caregiver support, chronic disease self-management, job training and placement and elder abuse prevention.

Funding has not kept pace with the growth in need or numbers, and recent cuts before the sequester hit have further eroded investments in key services.

10)  Tell Congress no cuts to Social Security and SSI through the Chained CPI
11)  Tell Congress: Increase, Don’t Cut SNAP (Food Stamp) Benefits

Tell your Representatives and Senators that the right course for the nation is to improve food stamp benefits (and support at least the temporary benefit boost the President has proposed) and that they must oppose any SNAP cuts being considered by the Agriculture Committees in the “Farm Bill.”

12)  Tell Congress to stop harmful cuts to anti-poverty programs now

Send this e-mail to your Representative and Senators and join hundreds of thousands who are fed up that Congress would ignore these problems while fixing just one thing—inconvenient delays at airports. Also, for weekly summaries of the impact of these sequester cuts, click here.

More Actions:

 

Stand With Detroit Workers

DC/MD: Labor Picket Outside of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee Spring Ball

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Standing for Communities: ‘The Power of Collective’ (from the Marguerite Casey Foundation via Equal Voice News)

Full, original article here, also, that includes many more links at bottom and supporting documentation: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174273/week-poverty-twelve-things-you-can-do-fight-poverty-now#ixzz2TLBIeAUC

Making it easy for the wealthy in America

"Them that has, gets."

Quote of the day--on the poor

Quote of the day--on poverty

Seriously, how do you do that?

Against food stamps and not for a good, "living wage."

A corporation's and business owner's and wealthy person's dream

Republicans, the Right Wing, Christianity, government and America

"If you don't want your tax dollars helping the sick and poor, stop saying you want a government based on 'Christian values.'"  --John Fugelsang

Link: https://www.facebook.com/index.php?stype=lo&lh=Ac9QvaaXe8vaCC5Y#!/pages/The-John-Fugelsang-Page/180058246050?group_id=0

Quote of the day