Wars enrich the richest and as the rich become obscenely wealthy they see themselves as demigods with no limits on fulfilling their desires. People become commodities and concern for them vanishes in the heady air of profits beyond imagination. All of these horrible developments create a nightmare scenario. I submitted the following to my local paper as a "guest essay."
Nothing is more illustrative of the terrible consequences of the growing wealth gap in our country than the deteriorating and unsafe housing so many Americans are forced to suffer in.
The following quotes are from a column, “The housing crisis you’re not hearing about - quality,” by Todd Swanstrom:
“Most lower-income families…rent or buy homes that are so deteriorated…that they have become affordable.”
“They live in homes with unsafe wiring, damaged roofs, leaky plumbing, dangerous mold and uncomfortable temperatures that threaten their health and safety.”
“A report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia pegged the total cost of needed repairs for all occupied housing units in the United States at $198.4 billion in 2024; $4.6 billion of this total would be needed to address the needs of lower income households lacking the resources to fund their own repairs.”
The current net wealth (I refuse to call it worth, these men are worth nothing in the true sense of the word) of Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX) is $725.1 billion, Larry Page (Google) $263.2 billion, Jeff Bezos (Amazon) $243.2 billion. https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/
This means anyone of these men could afford to repair all of these homes, greatly improving the lives of millions and still have a net worth in the billions of dollars.
Democratic Socialists are not trying to destroy the incentives of the capitalist system, but they do want government tax policies that would require the ultra wealthy to pay their fair share. That fair share could be used as interest free loans or flat-out grants to help needy Americans live in safe and comfortable homes, access health care, and educate and properly clothe and feed their children, at the same time, growing the economy and creating meaningful jobs. In the long-run taxes could be lowered as an educated and healthy population will not have to rely on government programs to survive. It could be used to re-fund USAID and help sick and starving men, women, and children around the world.
In the end, the rich would also benefit as our country and others would be stable and war far less likely. But then, so many billionaires make their money through government spending on the military. The military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned would take money from spending for the public good, diverting it to the military, is alive and well and destroying our nation and world. Too many billionaires are willing to risk living in an unstable and violent world for the privilege of having more than they could ever spend. They are willing to support a wannabe dictator, a man who promised peace and delivered a catastrophic war of choice in the Middle East, a man who assembled the most corrupt and incompetent cabinet in our history, to keep the current economy working in their favor.
“We the people” in America will have the chance to begin to right the terrible consequences of the national and global wealth gap this November 3. Let’s do it.
Your writing expresses the truth. The individuals with money don't see the plight of the every day American fighting to survive. I heard today an average apartment is now $1400.00 a month with a month deposit, a security deposit and the first month rent due upon the signed contract. That is $4200.00 A person earning perhaps $20.00 an hour after taxes is bringing home around $29,000. They pay $16,800 for their rent leaving them approximately $13,000 to live on, pay utilities, gas, car insurance and food. How do they save for a down payment on a home that is as you said, in bad condition? They can't so they get deeper and deeper in debt.
Lynn, I would kill for a $1400 a month apartment. My 1979 1-bedroom apartment in California is just shy of $2,500 per month - and this is one of the lowest rents in the area. I live on Social Security and a part time job, making this rent about 50% of my take home pay. This syndrome of being rent poor has kept me from ever having my own place to own. I am only one of millions in the same boat. I wish the government would see people like me, but after all their years of "studying " the problem, they remain ignorant and silent as ever.
Anthony thanks ..An excellent piece . I hope the paper published it. What is it going to take to give these men a conscience and empathy. I know it's a pipe dream .Maybe we can tax them after November. Have them pay there fair share. Shame on them.
"Trump is jacked, best thing he has ever done ..He loves blowing up stuff"Lindsey
If maga thinks all this is alright and everybody does it I don't know anymore. I hope you are right Steve.. The news this a.m. is that the democrats are in trouble and gop might keep what they have. I feel like screaming into Schumers face get off the stage .. Nobody wants them but they turn a deaf ear to the truth. They are no different then Joe and Jill. If they blow the election I will be done .. I have followed politics for my entire life. How I will let go I don't know . I will take up a creative outlet. I am not going to spend what time I have left on the planet being Sisyphus.
This has to stop amongst the Dems. We have only ONE GOAL! The inner fighting is what gives the Rs hope. Just focus all our energies on capturing the House & Senate and restoring Democracy!! Stop fighting within the party!!!!
You said what so many of us have been feeling: we're exhausted cataloguing villains and starving for something to build toward. Thank you for years of naming names when it counted, and for knowing exactly when the format had run its course. Can't wait to see what's next. We're still here, still fighting, and we need writers pointing us toward the win, not just the loss.
Graham, George W. Bush, Cheney, and others were never prosecuted for Iraq. A moral failure by this country. A failure of duty to the 5,000 Americans killed in Iraq.
“Lindsey Graham was the smallest of men.” I believe that description fits POSOTUS even better. And smaller than either is our corporate MSM, from the NYT down (or up, as you will), all of which did a far better job of covering Graham Platner than of POSOTUS’S nightly blizzard of bizarre, alarming, egomaniacal Truth Social posts, the number and content of which relentlessly reveal the dangerous lunacy at the top of our government. Their epic dereliction in pursuit of ROE is unconscionable and damnable. Each of those posts is critically newsworthy, each failure to examine an offense. Corporate MSM reliably holds all Repugnicans to a far lower standard than Democrats. Their failure re: Graham is par for the course.
Thank you, Steve, for keeping us focused. So heartbreaking. And I hope the release of the film puts the fear of God in those around Trump. The truth will come out, and the rats will scatter. Someone will want to be the first to pull the plug, get immunity and spill the beans.
Fascists Will Become Fascists: But It's Karma In The End
People who have no moral compass will always capitulate to $$ and power. It's simply expedient to do so. But those who succumb will face their karma eventually, be it in this lifetime or those lifetimes to come.
No one escapes the karma that their souls create. They think no one is watching. That no one will care but unfortunately for them, the universe is watching and tabulating the check and the waiter in the sky has the bill and it will come due.
It turns out that having a moral compass that some call virtue or leading a good life, has some relevance here. It keeps one on a path that leads to enlightenment or the place where $$ and power are pointless and/or meaningless. That what really matters is the Truth. That what is important is doing the right thing always. That's when one becomes a soul in the light....a bodhisattva. For those without a moral compass that is not even part of their stream of consciousness and for them many lifetimes away because their actions have a ripple effect that impacts the entire universe and their own karma.
Any chance for those of us who bought your Lindsey t-shirt to get a discount on our next purchase?
After all, even here in the deep south it would be considered tacky to wear them still. (Out of decency, I also had to retire my "Leningrad Lindsey Must Go" shirt.)
Last I checked I have at least seven of your shirts (including Lindsey) and a cap, so it's something I truly believe in.
After all, Dr. King said "A time comes when silence is betrayal." Thanks to my many wardrobe items, I haven't been SILENT in public even once in about 10 years now.
"Can wearing progressive messages EVERY DAY for approaching TEN YEARS (so far) make a difference? I hope so…"
Wars enrich the richest and as the rich become obscenely wealthy they see themselves as demigods with no limits on fulfilling their desires. People become commodities and concern for them vanishes in the heady air of profits beyond imagination. All of these horrible developments create a nightmare scenario. I submitted the following to my local paper as a "guest essay."
Nothing is more illustrative of the terrible consequences of the growing wealth gap in our country than the deteriorating and unsafe housing so many Americans are forced to suffer in.
The following quotes are from a column, “The housing crisis you’re not hearing about - quality,” by Todd Swanstrom:
“Most lower-income families…rent or buy homes that are so deteriorated…that they have become affordable.”
“They live in homes with unsafe wiring, damaged roofs, leaky plumbing, dangerous mold and uncomfortable temperatures that threaten their health and safety.”
“A report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia pegged the total cost of needed repairs for all occupied housing units in the United States at $198.4 billion in 2024; $4.6 billion of this total would be needed to address the needs of lower income households lacking the resources to fund their own repairs.”
The current net wealth (I refuse to call it worth, these men are worth nothing in the true sense of the word) of Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX) is $725.1 billion, Larry Page (Google) $263.2 billion, Jeff Bezos (Amazon) $243.2 billion. https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/
This means anyone of these men could afford to repair all of these homes, greatly improving the lives of millions and still have a net worth in the billions of dollars.
Democratic Socialists are not trying to destroy the incentives of the capitalist system, but they do want government tax policies that would require the ultra wealthy to pay their fair share. That fair share could be used as interest free loans or flat-out grants to help needy Americans live in safe and comfortable homes, access health care, and educate and properly clothe and feed their children, at the same time, growing the economy and creating meaningful jobs. In the long-run taxes could be lowered as an educated and healthy population will not have to rely on government programs to survive. It could be used to re-fund USAID and help sick and starving men, women, and children around the world.
In the end, the rich would also benefit as our country and others would be stable and war far less likely. But then, so many billionaires make their money through government spending on the military. The military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned would take money from spending for the public good, diverting it to the military, is alive and well and destroying our nation and world. Too many billionaires are willing to risk living in an unstable and violent world for the privilege of having more than they could ever spend. They are willing to support a wannabe dictator, a man who promised peace and delivered a catastrophic war of choice in the Middle East, a man who assembled the most corrupt and incompetent cabinet in our history, to keep the current economy working in their favor.
“We the people” in America will have the chance to begin to right the terrible consequences of the national and global wealth gap this November 3. Let’s do it.
Your writing expresses the truth. The individuals with money don't see the plight of the every day American fighting to survive. I heard today an average apartment is now $1400.00 a month with a month deposit, a security deposit and the first month rent due upon the signed contract. That is $4200.00 A person earning perhaps $20.00 an hour after taxes is bringing home around $29,000. They pay $16,800 for their rent leaving them approximately $13,000 to live on, pay utilities, gas, car insurance and food. How do they save for a down payment on a home that is as you said, in bad condition? They can't so they get deeper and deeper in debt.
Lynn, I would kill for a $1400 a month apartment. My 1979 1-bedroom apartment in California is just shy of $2,500 per month - and this is one of the lowest rents in the area. I live on Social Security and a part time job, making this rent about 50% of my take home pay. This syndrome of being rent poor has kept me from ever having my own place to own. I am only one of millions in the same boat. I wish the government would see people like me, but after all their years of "studying " the problem, they remain ignorant and silent as ever.
Thank you, very much.
Anthony thanks ..An excellent piece . I hope the paper published it. What is it going to take to give these men a conscience and empathy. I know it's a pipe dream .Maybe we can tax them after November. Have them pay there fair share. Shame on them.
Thank you Mary, I submitted it yesterday so I am awaiting the paper's response.
Jim's view: bYES - LET'S DO IT - and while we are at it —throw their "obscene, flat, blubber butts" in t-Rump's butt ugly self-reflecting pool
That is an excellent piece and I hope that your paper prints it. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Ready for more. I know Lindsey was a war hawk. He never saw me a war he couldn't immediately start over some false pretense.
"Trump is jacked, best thing he has ever done ..He loves blowing up stuff"Lindsey
If maga thinks all this is alright and everybody does it I don't know anymore. I hope you are right Steve.. The news this a.m. is that the democrats are in trouble and gop might keep what they have. I feel like screaming into Schumers face get off the stage .. Nobody wants them but they turn a deaf ear to the truth. They are no different then Joe and Jill. If they blow the election I will be done .. I have followed politics for my entire life. How I will let go I don't know . I will take up a creative outlet. I am not going to spend what time I have left on the planet being Sisyphus.
This has to stop amongst the Dems. We have only ONE GOAL! The inner fighting is what gives the Rs hope. Just focus all our energies on capturing the House & Senate and restoring Democracy!! Stop fighting within the party!!!!
You said what so many of us have been feeling: we're exhausted cataloguing villains and starving for something to build toward. Thank you for years of naming names when it counted, and for knowing exactly when the format had run its course. Can't wait to see what's next. We're still here, still fighting, and we need writers pointing us toward the win, not just the loss.
I hope the film maker has excellent security.
Let's talk about sisters, Lindsey's sister.
Graham, George W. Bush, Cheney, and others were never prosecuted for Iraq. A moral failure by this country. A failure of duty to the 5,000 Americans killed in Iraq.
And Reagan for Iran-Contra.
Uh, when can we expect this epic event to happen?
Yes?! Any info on the when and where of distribution of
“Lindsey’s game”?
Is there a word for "Not surprised but still disappointed overlaid with disguist, anger, and hate"?
“Lindsey Graham was the smallest of men.” I believe that description fits POSOTUS even better. And smaller than either is our corporate MSM, from the NYT down (or up, as you will), all of which did a far better job of covering Graham Platner than of POSOTUS’S nightly blizzard of bizarre, alarming, egomaniacal Truth Social posts, the number and content of which relentlessly reveal the dangerous lunacy at the top of our government. Their epic dereliction in pursuit of ROE is unconscionable and damnable. Each of those posts is critically newsworthy, each failure to examine an offense. Corporate MSM reliably holds all Repugnicans to a far lower standard than Democrats. Their failure re: Graham is par for the course.
Certainly a good sales pitch for the book. Sounds fascinating!
Good riddance Lindsey Graham. You won't be missed. Wait for donald on the ground floor of hell.
Make that the basement of hell.
Thank you, Steve, for keeping us focused. So heartbreaking. And I hope the release of the film puts the fear of God in those around Trump. The truth will come out, and the rats will scatter. Someone will want to be the first to pull the plug, get immunity and spill the beans.
He was always a leech, latching on to any notoriety he could to stay on stage to puff himself up and pretend he was something
Fascists Will Become Fascists: But It's Karma In The End
People who have no moral compass will always capitulate to $$ and power. It's simply expedient to do so. But those who succumb will face their karma eventually, be it in this lifetime or those lifetimes to come.
No one escapes the karma that their souls create. They think no one is watching. That no one will care but unfortunately for them, the universe is watching and tabulating the check and the waiter in the sky has the bill and it will come due.
It turns out that having a moral compass that some call virtue or leading a good life, has some relevance here. It keeps one on a path that leads to enlightenment or the place where $$ and power are pointless and/or meaningless. That what really matters is the Truth. That what is important is doing the right thing always. That's when one becomes a soul in the light....a bodhisattva. For those without a moral compass that is not even part of their stream of consciousness and for them many lifetimes away because their actions have a ripple effect that impacts the entire universe and their own karma.
Steve,
Any chance for those of us who bought your Lindsey t-shirt to get a discount on our next purchase?
After all, even here in the deep south it would be considered tacky to wear them still. (Out of decency, I also had to retire my "Leningrad Lindsey Must Go" shirt.)
Last I checked I have at least seven of your shirts (including Lindsey) and a cap, so it's something I truly believe in.
After all, Dr. King said "A time comes when silence is betrayal." Thanks to my many wardrobe items, I haven't been SILENT in public even once in about 10 years now.
"Can wearing progressive messages EVERY DAY for approaching TEN YEARS (so far) make a difference? I hope so…"
https://medium.com/@foofaraw/many-more-people-will-die-because-of-trump-i-hope-i-wont-be-one-of-them-41b2f1493036