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NationofChange / Op-Ed
Published: Monday 14 May 2012
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” These words, from poet Emma Lazarus, were inscribed on the Statue of Liberty over 100 years ago.
Five Facts That Put America to Shame
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" These words, from poet Emma Lazarus, were inscribed on the Statue of Liberty over 100 years ago. Today the golden door has a lock on it, paid for with record profits from the health care, education, and financial industries.
1. We're near the bottom of the developed world in children's health and safety
According to a 2007 UNICEF report, the U.S. ranked last among 21 OECD nations in an assessment of child health and safety. The assessment measured infant mortality, immunization, and death from accidents and injuries.
A related 2009 OECD study generally agreed, placing the U.S. 24th out of 30 OECD countries for children's health and safety. It also showed the devastating effects of inequality in our country. Despite having the second-highest average income for children among the 30 OECD countries, the U.S. ranked 27th out of 30 for child poverty (percentage of children living in households that are below 50% of the median income).
2. We've betrayed the young people who were advised to stay in school
Over 40% of recent college graduates are living with their parents, dealing with government loans that average $27,200. The unemployment rate for young people is about 50%. More than 350,000 Americans with advanced degrees applied for food stamps in 2010.
As Washington lobbyists endeavor to kill a proposed bill to reduce the interest rates on student debt, federal loans remain readily available, and so colleges go right on increasing their tuition.
Meanwhile, corporations hold $2 trillion in cash while looking for investments and employees in foreign countries, and American students are forced to accept menial positions. Yet delusions persist about our new generation of would-be workers. Conservatives are all bubbly about today's young entrepreneurs creating their own jobs -- jobs that "don't yet exist."
3. The main source of middle-class wealth has been largely wiped out
American homeowners owe almost as much as the students, with $700 billion of debt over and above the value of their homes.
This removes the only source of wealth for middle America, especially for blacks and Hispanics. Remarkably, for every dollar of NON-HOME wealth owned by white families, people of color have only one cent.
So when minority families were specifically targeted for high-risk, subprime loans that could be re-packaged and sold for a quick short-term profit, most of their assets were erased. Median wealth fell 66% for Hispanic households and 53% for black households. For whites the decline was 16%.
With a disturbing note of irony, Sanford Weill, the banker largely responsible for the reversal of the mortgage-protecting Glass-Steagall Act, was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for "extraordinary accomplishment and a call to serve."
4. We give prison sentences for smoking marijuana, but not for billion-dollar fraud
About half of our world-leading prison population is in jail for non-violent drug offenses. Americans have also been arrested for handing out free food in a park. Mothers in Ohio and Connecticut were jailed for enrolling their kids in out-of-district schools. As of 2003 in California there were 344 individuals serving sentences of 25 years or more for shoplifting as a third offense, in many cases after two non-violent offenses.
How does the market deal with this steady tide of petty crime? It strives for more. The new trend of private prisons is dependent on maintaining a sizable prison population to guarantee profits, with no incentive for rehabilitation.
As the number of inmates has surged, the people who devastated countless American lives "get out of jail free." The savings and loan fraud cost the nation between $300 billion and $500 billion, about 100 times more than the total cost of burglaries in 2010. The financial system bailout has already cost the country $3 trillion. Goldman Sachs packaged bad debt, sold it under a different name, persuaded ratings services to label it AAA, and then bet against their own financial creation by selling it short. Other firms accused of fraud and insider trading were Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Bank of America, Countrywide Financial, and Wells Fargo. The New York Times reported in 2008 that the Justice Department had postponed the bribery or fraud prosecutions of over 50 corporations, choosing instead to enter into agreements involving fines and 'monitoring' periods.
5. You can have health care, if you pay for it
A recent Commonwealth Fund study compared U.S. health care spending to 12 other OECD countries. The data shows that reducing our costs to the median level of spending among the OECD countries would save us $1.5 trillion a year, more than our entire deficit.
Unfortunately, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and hospital administrators won't hear of it. There's too much money to be made. Bypass surgery in the U.S. costs 2 to 3 times more than in Great Britain, Canada, France, and Germany. Cataract surgery costs 4 times more.
That's if you can pay for it. There are currently about 50 million uninsured Americans. At the other extreme are $2,400 oxymoronic penthouse hospital suites complete with butler and grand piano. Or, for those who don't get out much, emergency rooms in the home, with private cell-phone access to "concierge doctors."
Inequality in our country is so severe that 120,000 health care workers could have been hired with the salary paid to one man. That's a $40,000 salary for 40 health care workers for every one of the 3,000 counties in the United States. Instead, $5 billion dollars went to one man who reportedly made his first big haul ($4 billion, in 2007) by conspiring with Goldman Sachs in the above-mentioned short sale subterfuge.
The result of ignoring the health needs of the greater population, according to a report in the Annual Review of Public Health, is that "the health rankings of the United States have declined substantially when compared with other nations."
Conclusion
Privatization simply hasn't worked for health care, mortgage banking, higher education, or prison management. There is little incentive for profit motivated firms to invest in disadvantaged or underemployed Americans. That's why taxes are necessary -- to provide for the common good, and to return some of the gains from 60 years of productivity to the great majority of Americans who contributed to our growth. Unfortunately, the golden door on the Statue of Liberty seems to have an invisible hand holding it shut.
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ABOUT Paul Buchheit
Paul Buchheit is a college teacher with formal training in language development and cognitive science. He is the founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, RappingHistory.org, PayUpNow.org), and the editor and main author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (Clarity Press). He can be reached at paul@UsAgainstGreed.org.
20 comments on "Five Facts That Put America to Shame"
May 15, 2012 7:33pm
You forgot Fascism
May 18, 2012 8:34pm
BIGGEST FACT YOU OVERLOOKED:
THE REJECTION OF AMERICAN WOMEN AND GIRLS FROM THE US CONSTITUTION, their nation's contract with its People. NOWHERE are they mentioned, so they have NO GUARANTEED RIGHTS!
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that's been reignited in 7 states (we ONLY NEED 3 more states to vote YES on ERA!) would correct that, but the politicians-corporate twins refuse to consider the ERA "because it would'hurt' Business"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Business profits on the backs of American females--nothing new there; we average only 77% of a guy's salary for the same job, all else held equal.
WE NEED YOU ALL TO STAND TALL FOR GENDER-EQUALITY FOR ALL (we struggle just as hard for males' benefits of the ERA).
I am 78 y/o and I have worked For Free For You for ERA passage into the US Constitution FOR TWELVE LONG YEARS. I spearhead one state, help mentor 6 others (we just need three to vote yes so it passes), and partnered with 3 other states' leaders to create and get filed A BRANDNEW ERA BILL BEFORE US CONGRESS.
I have worked for YOU and ALL of us. Doncha' think it's time to respect females' human rights esp since we make up MORE than 1/2 the populace? Isn't it time to write me at SandyO@PassERA.org and pitch in for some easy but extremely mportant ideas? Go to DoITnow at the top of www.2PassERA.org. Do just one thing there, so I can finally....go to bed. 18/7 year around for 12 years has exhausted me.
HALF THE POPULATION AWAITS YOUR HELP, just a teeny-weenie bit of pitching in would push ERA over the top. Please? for your mom, your sister, your wife, your daughter, or YOU! Do it now. I cannot continue at this pace tho we of National Equal Rights Amendment Alliance has 300 000 members, we NEED MORE MARCHING IN THE STREETS so elected officials will begin to SEE us. Thanks
May 15, 2012 10:23am
What we have in this country is basically Socialism for the wealthiest and the "Free Market" for everybody else.
May 15, 2012 9:20am
40% of college grads can't find jobs in this business environment is true. what is also true is that a lot college grads do not get degrees in STEM specialities, (science, technology, engineering, math) and also business. Many get degrees in fashion design, women's studies, black studies, liberal arts, psychology and other soft degrees where there is no demand. Having a degree from Michigan state in english is pretty much worthless. Why do people pay premium tuition for a non-essential degree. having a worthless or no degree and a high student loan is a recipe for disaster.
The middle class was ruined in some part by unions where a non-essential job will get an annual pay of over $100k. This is one reason that jobs were shipped overseas. another reason was environmental regulations.
The biggest problem is lack of basic education. I remember in college trying to tutor students that were functionally illiterate, they could not read, much less do any higher math. The high school drop-out rate in some areas of the United States exceed 50% in a business environment that is increasingly relying on educated people. Ditchdiggers are a thing of the past.
Why people would buy a house that they could not afford is puzzling to me. Only a lack of education would prompt a person to buy a home that he/she could not afford.
People have to take personal responsibility for themselves. Too many are on the government dole which is bleeding the country dry.
May 16, 2012 10:25pm
The middle class was ruined by corporate greed, corporate fraud, and corporate welfare. The examples you use are all picayune by comparison. Stop looking at the poor stiffs around you as culprits. Start looking up at the big boys , the Corporatocracy and their political whores, who are inexorably bankrupting the US and causing its decline into the history books as another failed empire.
May 15, 2012 8:26am
I have to agree with Prof. Richard Wolff who is an avid defender of Marx's doctrine. Marx has long been vilified by the Capitalist rulers of this country who have long cast a veil of silence over any critical discussion of our financial system. Marx has long been incorrectly cast as an avid socialist by the Capitalist spin machine that has a firm grip on most of the public institutions that spew their propaganda to keep the 99% in the position of indentured servants. It has always amazed me that the U.S. Capitalists partner with their financial counterparts in Europe to generate mutually exclusive benefits while trashing the social order of Europe that has long maintained very generous social programs which Americans can only dream. This question is in the process of being answered now as center left forces in the various countries of Europe are rising up and overthrowing the Capitalist influence in their various governments. An action the cowed submissive sheep in this country have been programmed to avoid lest they be defined as terrorists and subjected to treatment that was illegal under the previous Constitution. This environment was easy to create considering that we have a population who has never experienced war outside of a movie theatre or a tax payer funded, Pentagon approved, embedded media piece that sanctions state sponsored murder of civilians and justifies it as collateral damage. A volunteer military, that is a financial last chance for those at the bottom of the economic ladder, dwarfed by Corporate contracted free lancers that have no obligation to enforce our social and human values. The Peace Nicks of forty years ago thought ending the military draft would get them a free ride out of their obligation to serve, and it did. But they, along with the rest of us, are now paying the ultimate price as they watch this country spend itself into collapse as we ignore the country’s basic needs and aggressively fund expansion toward a world wide military empire using borrowed money. Things are not going to change over night but there is one thing you can do this November, beyond voting for the least worst of the two corporate funded candidates, that will get the attention of the corporate owners; don’t vote at all ! Almost half the voters in this country have already carried out this action in previous years, maybe if nobody votes they will finally get the message !
May 15, 2012 9:34am
This podcast interview development economist Dr. Fernando DePaolis may shed some light on some of this discussion and be informative for readers.
http://blogs.miis.edu/informed/2012/05/09/deep-theories-on-the-economics...
May 15, 2012 7:12am
I find it sad that there are 5 (actually many more) reasons that America should be ashamed of.
These 5 reasons don't even include the fact that many of us must take narcotics for pain management, when it's proven that medicinal marijuana would be helpful and not do the damage to our bodies that all the drugs they pump into us do.
Then there is the fact that so, so many countries allow or even embrass same sex marriage and just plain equality for all it's citizens. Or the fact that our government, once again, wants to tell women what choices, if any, they may be allowed to make regarding their own bodies.
The US used to be considered 'THE' forward thinking/acting country of the world. Now we are looked upon as the 'haters' or 'bigots' of the globe. We are right in there with China, Vietnam and many other countries I'd rather not be grouped with, that deny rights to 'certain' citizens in their countries.
Some of which being women's rights + equality to men or the people of color or the disabled or the poor or the hungry or the LGBT or the sick & indigent without insurance, etc... These are some of the additional items that cause our country great shame in the eyes of it's citizens and the world.
We have people in our country that are sick and can't get the medical attention they deserve. We have people that live outside & under bridges, we have people with mental illness' that have no where they know of to find help and wander the country as poor/homeless individuals, we have people that go to bed hungry and dig in the trash for others thrown away food. We have people in our country with a wide variety of issues that are not helped and yet we are always the 1st to help the other countries when we see a need. I do think that is admirable. However, it would be 'admirable' for us to take care of our own citizens too.
Just my opinion, but I am only one... more people need to care about some of the same issues. More people that are elected officials!
May 14, 2012 5:52pm
The people who built this country are the worker and employees, but they get none of the benefits. Good universal education and health care are their right- they earned it
May 14, 2012 5:42pm
Obama and Holder refuse to look back and criminally prosecute megafraud, deceptive business practices, racketeering, criminal conspiracy, etc. perpetrated by Obama's thieving Wall Street "Savvy Businessmen" billionaire buddies for peddling to unsuspecting suckers their sliced and diced fraudulently AAA-rated subprime mortgage-backed collaterized debt obligations (referred to as "Shitty Product" in Goldman Sachs' internal e-mails) which were worthless trash instead of the wonderful investments they said they were.
Obama and Holder also refused to look back and criminally prosecute Obama's thieving Wall Street "Savvy Businessmen" billionaire buddies for perjury, forgery, falsification of evidence, megafraud, deceptive business practices, racketeering, criminal conspiracy, etc. for having phony mortgages fabricated and forged for introduction into evidence in foreclosure proceedings in the nation's courts.
May 14, 2012 5:22pm
Atleast in crime the rich have the advantage of being able to afford restitituion so that outweighs the punitive aspect from the point of view of some need restitution. Ubnfortunataley they also can afford lawyer who often can keep it from coming to that too.
The legal system forces the rest to cop a plea no matter what they may not have done and then come out with a record the keeps them down for life.
May 14, 2012 4:40pm
RE:
http://www.nationofchange.org/five-facts-put-america-shame-1337005024
SUMMARY: All 5 facts are false.
1 Children's health and safety:
Vaccines - parents in America have the right to refuse.
Should that be denied? Do parents elsewhere? Are the
OECD standards for reporting healthcare identical in
every single OECD country?
2. "Education costs"
Explain in great detail why the cost of a college education
in America is so expensive. What, exactly, caused our
college educations to be so much more expensive than
your other world educations? For an extra credit
assignment, why do foreigners still come to America
(Ackmadinijad (sp? - who cares!), Chinese folks and Iranians/Saudis)?
3. Middle Class Wealth - you are right if you artificially
include all those NINJA loans that elevated those without
"means" to the middle class. You are also right that
the middle class does not include in its "increased wealth"
over the past 30 years the fact that they continued to get
the same health care [despite ever rising costs] from their
employers. No account of "wage stagnation" deals with that
fact. Those who have an agenda hide it.
4. There are zero proven billion dollar frauds - other than
Bernie who is in jail forever. All acted "within the law".
Those who hate them are using the infinitely complex regulatory
quagmire to try to convict them or at least confuse them into
lying - and becoming perjurers. The "drug" thing you mention,
we very probably agree on. Pray tell, how does the Fed Gov
illegalize ANY drug constitutionally.
5. If you or anyone else has not read HB3200, you are ignorant
of what will happen and how your government will become a
"President-Rules" state. HB3200 is a profoundly evil law opening
up dictatorial powers for the POTUS. If you disagree, you,
simply have not read it. All who voted for it neither read
it, nor understood. All who voted for it
were buying votes. If you disagree, please explain
why the "Secretary's" decisions are beyond judicial review.
No one can do that to an acknowledged, knowledgable American.
All 5 of your points are wrong.
May 15, 2012 4:46am
Ed Bradford
Every one of your answers fails the logical fallacy test.
1> A few irrelevant questions do not actually disprove an overwhelming fact that the US pays the most and has the worst outcomes of any OECD country and an increasing number of "third world" countries.
2>An "Elite" education that is unavailable is no education at all. Other countries pay the cost of children's education, even at American Schools because the country gets he benefit. In the US the costs are borne by the student and must then compete carrying that burden, if they can even do that much and the whole country loses.
3> You could feed a multitude with those red herring as well but they do not address the facts
4> Just because a crime is not prosecuted (much less investigated ) beyond reporters digging into the facts, does not make it "not a crime". Far from "too much regulation" what had not been dismantled Bush (& co) chose not to even look, much less regulate
5-The health care bill has no connection to your hyperbole - but "president rules" was initiated by Cheney and most of the abuse is done by people he appointed (see Monica Goodling) and crammed the Bureaucracy with folk that continue his policies . Those are the people who operate the executive branch and cannot be fired. Look out if a president is elected that really wants to run with that crowd.
All of your answers do not even begin to address the issues
(I have no idea why the many links are not working. Just one is -
http://www.deepcapture.com/the-story-of-deep-capture-by-mark-mitchell/ the rest can be found at http://bit.ly/web4lit with a lot more)
May 14, 2012 11:15pm
Ed, let me respond to your points:
1. Yes. If not, they would not be comparable. The number of parents that do not have their children vaccinated is statistically irrelevant. You would know this is you actually did the research.
2. College, from public universities, is so expensive because we have failed to fund them. This causes students to come up with the difference out of pocket. Countries like Finland pay for college education to citizens who qualify--100% free. Some foreigners come to the US for education, some don't.
Most European students stay in Europe or Britain. Those living in other areas like Saudi come to all areas of the globe, but Suadi and China students come to the US more than others. Much about the flow of international students remains beyond a college's control—currency fluctuations, national visa policies, job market, and benefits offered to students to come to the US for political reasons.
3. Working for a major oil company proves your generalization patently false. My healthcare payment went up every year for the six years I was there, while my income never exceeded the cost of living index, and actually fell in some years. Others report similar trends. Does stagnant income become balanced by health care payments made by employers? No. Studies show that people today have less to spend than yesterday, in spite of employer contributions to health costs. In other words, inflation has outstripped wage increases over the last 30 or so years. This stat is an easy one to find.
4. Even if they weren't breaking any laws, they were the ones that got those laws passed. If their own game failed to the detriment of the entire world's economic foundation, then they are at least guilty of gross negligence.
The reason the Federal Government can pass drug laws is because it has the right given to it by the Constitution to protect its interests. Drug laws may be counter productive, but that doesn't mean the Federal government is outside of its Constitutional boundaries. The Constitution wasn't written in black and white terms. It was purposely left vague. If you read a few Supreme Court decisions, you'll see how squishy it really is. It's actually a little scary.
5. Do you mean HR 3200? If so, what does that have to do with Executive power? It's the health care bill. In nay event, here is a good source dispelling some of the myths about the health reform law: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/twenty-six-lies-about-hr-3200/
I don't think, however, that you meant the health care law, but I can't find anything that resembles Executive power called 3200 anything.
May 14, 2012 5:28pm
On the basis that you provide no evidence for your claim that the five facts are wrong- I must say: You fail to prove your irrational claim. Firstly I stopped reading after you presented your argument against fact one. Provide evidence of your claims otherwise you seem like an insane liar.
May 14, 2012 8:42pm
In Bradford's hurry to do some misinformation and spinning for the Republicans he has left out any facts to disprove this evidence showing us that the Conservatives are only full of empty rhetoric.
May 14, 2012 3:30pm
With the exception of for Profit Corporations and Companies, the Profit Motive for the Bottom Line does not correspond to providing the best care in a Capitalistic Country. Therefore I will oppose Privitizing Education, Social Security and letting HealthCare remain private.
May 14, 2012 2:55pm
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Translated---> Wall street elites need desperate, uneducated, highly exploitable 'slave' laborers for their coal mines and factories. 'Freedom" and 'opportunity' were just the sales pitch.
May 14, 2012 2:46pm
I totally get the gist of your five points, and agree with one small exception. It seems to me that if you get caught shoplifting over and over, then you want to go to jail. Most of these guys are not shoplifting the necessities of life. And if you know the legal system, neither are they charged every single time. Many get plea bargained away or they simply aren't caught every time. (The California folks three times and out are not just shoplifters: Having everything not nailed down getting stolen in your neighborhood affects quality of life too you know. It's not just the monetary value of items taken , but the feeling of violation in your own home.)
May 14, 2012 11:10am
About health care: it's not just that some people get too little health care because they can't afford it that puts America so far down in the world's health care rankings; it's also that the rich get the most health care investigations, procedures, and latest expensive medications, which aren't necessarily the healthiest, either. Too many investigations find too many things that may not have had to be treated at all, or tests and treatments may have side effects that outweigh their benefits. In any case, other countries healthcare is better and cheaper.