Wealth and Poverty in America

The contrast was striking - an appalling scene of glaring and grotesque disparity and injustice. A homeless woman, presumably too weak from the hunger and years of malnutrition, likely exhausted from the heat and daunting daily ritual of subsistence and survival, standing catatonic after failing to ascend the two inch finely paved rise of the whitewashed sidewalk of 5^th Avenue. The soothing shade cast by the multimillion dollar condos just meters away remained beyond her reach - her cart, the indispensable chest of survival tools and memorabilia of her luckless life, was seemingly too much for her this day.

Behind her the black cars and luxury sedans whisked by, carrying in their climate controlled interiors, the sons and daughters of the world's most prosperous nation. In front of her a doorman eagerly ushered in a well-groomed young couple, assisting them along the way with their generously stuffed bags from the designer boutiques of Madison Ave. The uber-rich, omnipresent, were in full form this sunny Saturday afternoon - the scent of decadence wafted through the air.

As she came into my view from a block away, I noticed her - sadly, I surmise and must acknowledge, because she looked so sorely misplaced among the trappings of the ultra high net worth. An all but dead, withered, decaying and barely recognizable rose tossed atop a meticulously cared for garden, bountiful with an oversized array of genetically enhanced flowers. She was a medium height elderly African American woman, layered in a worn and torn muddle of beaten clothing and rags - her lifeless hair grey and matted, her round leathery face wrinkled and weathered from years of direct and constant exposure to the harsh elements of nature and the harsher elements of industry. If not for the plastic bags she wore on her feet, I would say she looked organic, like moments ago she had emerged from the dirt. Her designer had dressed her for poverty and hardship.

Her raven black eyes were gazing straight ahead but she was not looking, she was lost in thought.

I walked by her that day, stopping only briefly to consider helping. But I didn't help nor did I ask her if she needed any help. I didn't ask her if she needed water or anything else that could help ease her thirst, hunger or discomfort. I strolled by in sync with the others, wholly preoccupied with the trivialities of my materially driven existence - I had a Soho brunch to attend and some important shopping to get done for the evening soiree.

Those eyes are still with me, however, and I often wonder what thoughts consumed her at that moment. Was she reflecting on her childhood and how all her dreams had seemed within reach - of being a prolific writer like Maya Angelou or a famous singer like Aretha Franklin - of wearing the most beautiful princess gown and dancing with the most handsome prince on her wedding day? Or was she reflecting on the seemingly endless misfortune which devoured and swallowed those dreams - the incarcerated father who'd taken life from her mother and happiness from her heart? The stillborn daughter she cradled and rocked for hours, while singing lullabies and kissing the tears which rained on her lifeless cheeks? Did she have fond memories of life before the reign of sorrow and misery began? Or did she care to remember at all, for the memories only added to the insurmountable weight she hauled each day?

I will never know what she was thinking at that moment or what consumes her thoughts each day but I do know what thoughts go through my mind each day that I think of her...

The gross domestic product, a proxy for economic wealth, of the United States is roughly equivalent to that of the entire European Union and roughly three times larger than that of Japan, the world's second largest economy. There are roughly 400 billionaires in the United States, eight times more than the second place country, Germany. New York City, if it were its own country, would have a GDP greater than that of Switzerland, placing it 17^th on the list of the world's wealthiest nations. One can go on and on with statistics such as these, which firmly establish America's relative position in the rankings of economic prowess - it is, by far and away, the richest of the rich. No other country has demonstrated a capacity to generate wealth like the United States - it is the poster child for capitalism, an unmatched engine of wealth creation

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So how is it then that such abject poverty can exist amid such obscene, prodigious wealth - in the Mecca of capitalism, no less, where egregious wealth accumulation is the true and only measure of man? How is it that the world's sole superpower, a country which spends $17 billion annually on space programs and more than the rest of the world combined on its military and weaponry, is home to an estimated 3 million homeless and 30 to 50 million who live below the poverty line?

Is it a flawed economic model, something structural to unfettered capitalism, free markets and international trade, or is it, as I would suggest, the values of the controlling elite and the malleability of the electorate which permits this disparity to exist?

As of July 20^th 2007, the Iraq war has cost the U.S. taxpayers an estimated $889 billion - an amount growing by $6 billion per month (or $200 million per day) and estimated to have a total economic impact in excess of $2 trillion. By some estimates, a mere 5% of the $889 billion spent on this war could eliminate domestic homelessness and less than half the amount, an estimated $350 billion, could eradicate domestic poverty and create multiples in savings from the benefits. This is worth repeating - less than half the amount spent on the Iraq war could eradicate domestic poverty and create multiples in savings from the benefits.

If our hearts are so pure that we can spill our children's blood and spend our hard earned treasure to "liberate the Iraqis from oppressive dictatorship", then why can we not find it in our hearts to throw a little pocket change at the plight of our careworn countrymen?

The answer, sadly, is obvious - the purse strings and will of the nation is not controlled or expressed by the voters but rather by the ruling elite; the purpose and object of this cohort is incongruent and incompatible with the tenets and constructs of humanity, morality and justice. The compass of the ruling elite leads them in one direction only - their true north is absolute power and dominance. They pursue their singular goal of top down, disproportionate wealth creation and capture, with ferocity and utter disregard for the welfare of those beneath them. To perpetuate a system which, by design, creates increasing disparity between them and the masses and which further consolidates power in their hands. An enterprise which has been operated brilliantly to concentrate 40% of this nation's wealth in the hands of the top 1%.

I openly acknowledge the conspiratorial sounding nature of this thesis. One may reasonably ask: do we not live in one of the world's great democracies, the "shining beacon of freedom", where each and every citizen has been empowered with a voice through the constitution and where the only limits to educational and professional achievement are those which are self imposed? Are not our electoral processes and the structure of our government explicitly designed to pursue and protect the interests and rights of the citizenry? Are not all organs and all functions of government under the watchful eye of carefully crafted checks and balances so as to prevent the abuse of power?

To this I retort that I am most certainly not absolving the electorate of responsibility - we do wield the power to hold our representatives in government accountable to the pledges and promises on which they have earned our vote. Our culpability, however, is not one of motive but rather of ignorance and inaction. We are dull, passive participants in the political process, leaving our curiosity, energy and intellectual rigor to other more immediate pursuits. We are regularly complicit in allowing the masters of manipulation and coercion to lead us down a path which disproportionately serves not our interests, but theirs.

While the American Constitution and the Bill of Rights are enlightened documents which form the legal basis and guiding principles of this truly unique nation, it has been demonstrated time and again by various administrations, most recently and most egregiously by Bush-Cheney, that these tenets are a mere inconvenience, easily circumvented when the "appropriate" powers are in the hands of the executive. We need to look no further for proof than the Iraq war, which persists despite overwhelming opposition from the congress and electorate.

Putting aside ethics and morality, for I acknowledge that in human affairs ethics and morality seldom trump greed and ego, the practical side of the argument goes something as follows. If the economic benefits of addressing domestic poverty outweigh the economic costs, as countless scholars and intellectuals have argued, will we not be advancing our goal of ever increasing wealth and prosperity by pursuing this end? If we wish to espouse and promote the virtues of democracy and capitalism, are our voices not heard louder when we can all, together as one nation sharing in the spoils, shout them 300 million strong from our rooftops? If America is the exemplar of legitimate virtues, does it not wield greater and more enduring influence on the international geopolitical stage?

Sadly this may very well be a naive and idealistic worldview - for the architects of this global tussle for wealth, power and status have little patience and little interest in the longer, more balanced road to prosperity. The spoils of war, conquest and exploitation are immediate and accrue more directly to the perpetrators.

Perhaps these were the thoughts on the homeless woman's mind when she stood silently with her empty gaze...

Am I not a citizen of this nation and do I not deserve its protection in times of adversity and need? Does my nation not have the means or the will to cradle me as I cradled my lifeless child? Am I not your daughter America?

In framing the Bill of Rights, I somehow doubt this is the America Thomas Jefferson had envisioned. "The freedom and happiness of man... (are) the sole objects of all legitimate government" he wrote, "the only orthodox object of the institution of government is to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under it."

Due to the many illegitimate and patently illegal actions of the Bush Administration, many leading American thinkers and politicians have argued that America lost its moral standing and authority in the world. I fail to see how our country could have ever laid claim to that position - when 80% of our citizens control less than 8% of our wealth and 30 to 50 million live below the poverty line, the inequality and injustice is so glaring that morality is the last trait we should hang our claims on.

When I reflect on it, I am deeply troubled with my apathy and inaction - that I can glibly sip a five dollar latte on my way to a forty dollar brunch and stroll by a person in great need without lending a helping hand is simply deplorable and inexcusable. It is the behavior of a morally depraved person who has lost his humanity.

For the homeless woman on 5^th Ave and for all humans who are suffering and enduring extreme hardship, I pray that it is not too late - that the purpose and will of the enlightened, compassionate and empathetic will someday overcome the purpose and will of the shallow and egocentric cabals of sociopaths who run our nations.