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Bush to the rescue

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Forty million Americans can't afford health insurance; the minimum wage hasn't been raised in 10 years and the country has one of the worst poverty levels in the developed world. Yet as soon as the rich squeal $700 billion is magically found. America needs a second revolution.

Not often I agree with the most recommended statement on the BBC Have Your Say page but I'm totally with this one...this situation has, in spectacular fashion, shown up what a sham system American capitalism has become.

I believe in the American dream, but it has become a nightmare of anarcho-capitalism. Katrina, Iraq, the financial crisis...money can be found for some but not a penny for others.

Hell, maybe the bailout is necessary but that's not the point - I really hope for the sake of the American people that they wake up and start to take some action soon.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Indeed, there has been for a long while a significant minority of the American population who a routinely left behind (not that our society is that much better).

    Societies should be judged on how they treat those at the bottom, on that marker the US is failing miserably.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hasn't the minimum wage been really raised in 10 years over there? Fuck!

    Oh well... that's why capitalism is a wild beast that must be kept in check at all times. As the US has been proving for decades, the more capitalist and low-tax a country is, the more people suffer.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    budda wrote: »
    Societies should be judged on how they treat those at the bottom, on that marker the US is failing miserably.
    And are they the only nation failing miserably in this respect? No. Look closer to home at Great Britain plc. Here, we have a government which is forever proclaiming war against benefit fraud, yet refuses to do anything about tax avoidance on a massive level by the rich. We have a government which thinks the poorest in society should pay more tax, hence the utterly disgusting abolition of the 10p tax band.

    Although I suspect all of this might be to do with the fact our political parties are full of very rich white men. The Labour Party has more than its fair share of millionaires in it, people often born into great riches. Didn't Labour once say it was the party of the poor? Never again will it be able to make that claim! The Tory Party is no better - Lord Ashcroft keeps coming to mind, and I somehow doubt that David Cameron understands what life is like for a struggling single mum, or for someone who's stuck in a dead end job because they simply don't know how to better themselves. As long as we have prats like this in charge, things for the poor will not change.

    It's even worse in the United States. Just look at the presidential campaigns. (or should that be campaign, given that McCain has suspended his own?) Look at the millions of dollars required to fund that. It seems that to become US President, you have to be a multi-millionaire as it is. Dubya's certainly not hard up for a few bob, neither was Clinton.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Of course SG, it deeply depresses me to think about how we treat those at the bottom, and that includes those who we lock up.

    As for the presidential race, both candidates have now suspended their campaigns, although in reality they have done nothing of the sort.

    Clinton was rich-ish when he ran for president, but he certainly didnt come from big time riches and nor did Obama. Which is the central myth of the American Dream, you can rise up out of the mire and become whatever you want. Its just a shame that this myth actually re-enforces the idea that people are poor because they are stupid and lazy.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    Hasn't the minimum wage been really raised in 10 years over there? Fuck!

    Yep, its $5.50 I think, and its only about $3 for waiting staff in restaurants because they get tips.

    The cost of living is less in the US, but its not that much less.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not that I want to stop the Bush bashing but

    Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $5.85 per hour effective July 24, 2007; $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008; and $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Many states also have minimum wage laws. Where an employee is subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher minimum wage rate.

    http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/q-a.htm
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fair enough, I knew they were talking about moving it up, I wasnt far off the minimum until a couple of months ago. Still, $6.55 is hardly what I would term as a living wage.

    You are right though in that it is more complicated than it first seems, in many parts of the US the minimum really has no relevance because you just cant get people to work for it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    budda wrote: »
    Fair enough, I knew they were talking about moving it up, I wasnt far off the minimum until a couple of months ago. Still, $6.55 is hardly what I would term as a living wage.

    You are right though in that it is more complicated than it first seems, in many parts of the US the minimum really has no relevance because you just cant get people to work for it.


    And in parts of the US it will be higher, as there are also state minimum wages
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not often I agree with the most recommended statement on the BBC Have Your Say page but I'm totally with this one...this situation has, in spectacular fashion, shown up what a sham system American capitalism has become.

    I believe in the American dream, but it has become a nightmare of anarcho-capitalism. Katrina, Iraq, the financial crisis...money can be found for some but not a penny for others.

    How can you possibly equate the american economy with anarcho capitalism? Private firms buying up debt from government sponsored enterprises guaranteed never to fail is a failure of the state not capitalism.

    A state legislating quasi-socialist enterprises to underwrite risky debt is a failure of the state not capitalism.

    The american mortgage market is "a paragon of socialism, unparalleled in any other Western country". You are right american capitalism is a sham. It's hardly capitalism and hasnt been since Roosevelt had his way.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    minimi38 wrote: »
    How can you possibly equate the american economy with anarcho capitalism? Private firms buying up debt from government sponsored enterprises guaranteed never to fail is a failure of the state not capitalism.

    A state legislating quasi-socialist enterprises to underwrite risky debt is a failure of the state not capitalism.

    The american mortgage market is "a paragon of socialism, unparalleled in any other Western country". You are right american capitalism is a sham. It's hardly capitalism and hasnt been since Roosevelt had his way.


    That analysis seems spot on to me.

    I think any American with any sense would be looking to rescue themselves. Rescinding your social security number would make a good first move. As soon as possible because this criminal act is being orchestrated by the minute.
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