Original source URL: http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2007/04/american-dream-now-nightmare-for.html THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2007 American Dream Now a Nightmare for Millions U.S. Census: One in Five Lives on Less than $7 per day By William Shanley New Haven, Connecticut (April 16, 2007) From Combined News Services and Evolution Solutions Newsroom -- A 2004 analysis of data by the US Census reports that 60 million Americans now live on less than $7 per day. That's one in five in the U.S. living on less than $2,555 per year. At the same time, the richest 1 per cent now garners about 16 per cent of national income, double what they earned in the 1960s.[1] While global income inequality is probably greater than it has ever been in human history, with half the world's population living on less than $3 per day, and the richest 1% receiving as much as the bottom 57%, the fact that so many Americans are living on so little, is particularly confounding. The so-called ³wealthiest, most abundant nation on Earth² now has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation.[2] In light of the fact that one dollar spent in the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia buys what $3 or $4 does in the U.S means the quality of life for tens of millions of Americans is now on a par with huge populations living in the developing world. And there¹s more bad news to report from here. There has been no increase in non-supervisory wages since 1972. Twenty-five million Americans now depend on emergency food aid.[3] This rapidly increasing trend is a brutal reminder of how the extreme political right has eviscerated the social safety net in the U.S. over the last 25 years. At a time when globalization is in full gallop, and its destructive effects are being felt in many working-class communities from Detroit to Connecticut, the national crisis is being exacerbated by the rising power and stature of a winner-take-all culture that celebrates greed and egotism by rewarding the super-rich at the expense of the poor. With only 6% of global population, the US consumes 25% of the world's resources. A profile of Connecticut, one of America's richest states, is quite revealing. It possesses islands of some of the greatest wealth in the world throughout Fairfield County, yet has three of America's ten poorest cities, Hartford‹the capitol‹Bridgeport and New London. The New Haven-Meriden corridor has the 7th greatest gap between rich and poor in the US--in close running with some of the Old South¹s poorest and most segregated states, Mississippi and Alabama. Across the nation, the price of this economic dysfunction is an increase in the level of insecurity and pain for everyone, and there is almost no place left to live without encountering violent and non-violent crime, proliferation of drugs, guns, mental illness, lost hope, cynicism and corruption. At the same time, the middle class is being forced to bear the brunt of the economic cost for courts, police, prisons and welfare through taxes. While the median price of a home has doubled in the last five years, and with interest rates now on the rise, home foreclosure rates for first-time homebuyers are skyrocketing. Rents have followed suit, pushing millions more into economic hardship, poverty and homelessness. For too many Americans, the litany of violence, punishment and suffering seems unending, and the American Dream is now a uniquely Made-in-America Nightmare. Evolution Solutions, a young, New Haven, Connecticut-based Internet start-up, is stepping into the breach to help bridge the chasm by organizing and circulating the enormous untapped wealth via a peer-to-peer gifts and wishes pool called GiveGet Nation. The non-profit social enterprise has launched its beta 1.0 application and its founders are welcoming the public to take the system for a test drive (www.givegetnation.net). ²If we can attract a mere 1% of what people in Connecticut have stored in lockers, attics, closets and basements, for example--a 1% that they will likely never use again--we can begin to wright the course and provide promise and possibility to the weakest among us here in the richest state,² said founder William Shanley. ³Everyone, no matter how rich or poor, has needs and resources. We provide a level playing field for everyone to participate in the infinite game of life through sharing.² ³By beginning to circulate the limitless human product, labor, intelligence and spiritual capital of the world, we can transform it a little bit at a time,² said Timothy Wilken, MD, a Carmel, California-based general practitioner and synergy scientist. Dr. Wilken is William¹s partner in the initiative and is the inventor of Giftegrity, a give and get synergy engine used in GiveGet Nation based on the work of the late genius Buckminster Fuller. ³We not only provide a means to circulate lumpy items like goods, but our application also organizes and circulates work, intelligence and spiritual power to build, solve and heal. If you are retired and need a volunteer to rake your lawn, we can provide it. The same is true with professional counseling, engineering, medical and legal services. If you have artistic and spiritual interests and pursuits, you can post gifts and wishes in those domains, as well.² ³To make a difference, it¹s crucial that we get the message out and alert givers and getters to the opportunities and efficiencies afforded by participating in our person-to-person world of sharing,² William continued. ³Unlike many other non-profits that use a condescending top-down model with large staffs and overhead, we¹re are the action that makes the rubber meets the road, without having to go through a cadre of social practitioners to meet peoples needs.² US in Denial as Poverty Rises Next door to Yale, the bastion of privilege that turns out the land's leaders, lies a tent city of America's poor, huddled masses by Ed Vulliamy The north wind cuts cold and sudden across the historic green of New Haven. It blows through the 'tent city' where the homeless huddle. And it blows round the spires and quadrangles of Yale University, one of America's richest Ivy League collegesŠ[4] ³I¹ve done a lot of research here in our community,² William offered. ³One homeless charity here in New Haven spend more than 80%of the $2.4 million it received in 2004 from a variety of government, public and private sources, before it housed one person. It has swank office space, a staff of 60 and only houses 105 people, 30 of them through a 60% rent subsidy. It spent ten years and $10 million to purchase and renovate a 33 unit building. But that¹s just the tip of the iceberg. The city spent $18 million to house the homeless in 2004, yet it can¹t tell you how many of its 1100 homeless it housed in any given week. The homeless are in plain site all over town, sleeping on the Green and begging for money on Chapel Street. And if the city housed them all, that would equal more than $16,000 per person, or $1,363 per month, enough to make payments on a $175,000 condo. The story is the same with AIDS services and services for the mentally ill. That¹s just not good enough. This is not only true here in Connecticut, but all over the US.² ³HurricaneHousing.org housed 30,000 victims of Katrina in six weeks, and we will create success in this area, too, by connecting needs and resources,² said Timothy Wilken, MD. ³Everyone has a story, some wisdom to impart and a contribution to make to society. It¹s important that we give everyone a chance. At GiveGet Nation, we can stimulate the flow of abundance between islands of scarcity in society in myriad ways. Give, get, share. Goods, actions, knowing, spirit. We¹re a human values economy that runs on the primary sources of human capital that underlie all money and goods and services.² ³We are only as secure as the weakest among us. Increase the level of suffering anywhere, and you increase the level of suffering everywhere. And vice-versa,² said William Shanley. ³Everything affects everything else. There are no closed systems in nature." That's 21st century quantum science. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." That's classical physics from the 9th grade. These are laws of the universe, and it's in our own self-interest to do the right thing or we end up bloodying ourselves. This message is not about laying a guilt trip on people, but alerting our neighbors to a daily crisis for 1 in 5 Americans--diminished dreams for at least one, possibly two or even three, in the lower and middle classes --who cannot make ends meet.² "No matter how rich or poor everyone has gifts and wishes and genius to share. That's our motto," remarked Timothy. ³In so doing, we provide an even playing field for everyone to participate in the infinite game of life. ŒAs you sow, so shall ye reap.¹ ŒDo unto others as you would have them do unto you.¹ These are principles to be found in all spiritual paths, of all people, places and times. And they are also indicative of the nature of nature. We must make these principles come alive again in our communities or our future will most certainly be lost and the promise of America soon forgotten.² ³As you can see, we¹re quite passionate about the subject. Many people believe because they are rich and powerful, or because they were born in affluent families, that this is the natural order. ŒSurvival of the fittest¹ does not explain a Mozart born in Darfur. Nor does it recognize the value of the scores of generations who have come before us who have given us the gifts of language, math, invention, science, technology, the arts, and literature. It¹s time for us to give back. ŒNo man is an island² and can live in isolation from the air we breathe, the light of the day, the weather and the seasons in the life we share. Everyone needs to give and take. Everyone has gifts and wishes. Giving and receiving are the eternal process of exchange we call nature and the universe. All the great mystics and philosophers have taught the value of giving and receiving. It is not only the right thing to do, it is also what we do as living organisms. All we need to do is awaken to this fact, to project ourselves into the process of give and take, and come alive.² About Evolution Solutions, Inc. Evolution Solutions, Inc. is a registered non-profit corporation based in New Haven, Connecticut whose sole purpose is to educate, inform and provide the means for people to consciously evolve ³a world that works for everyone.² For more information about Evolution Solutions, Inc., its founders and associates, please visit the website http://www.givegetnation.net/ or contact William Shanley. Contact: William Shanley, President at •••@••.••• [1] Financial Times of London, ³Seasonal cheers for new philanthropists.² December 27, 2006. [2] Global Issues: Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All. ³Poverty Facts and Statistics.² http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp [3] Alan Whyte, ³Hunger in America: 25 million depend on emergency food aid.² March, 2006: World Socialist Web Site: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/mar2006/hung-m09.shtml [4] The Observer/UK, November 3, 2002. -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website: http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website: http://cyberjournal.org Community Democracy Framework: http://cyberjournal.org/DemocracyFramework.html Subscribe cyberjournal list: •••@••.••• (send blank message) Posting archives: http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Moderator: •••@••.••• (comments welcome)
