Poverty and American Culture

This particular bit of grim news provides information on the state of poverty in the United States. Poverty is on the rise and both its range and depth are simultaneously expanding and deepening. Poverty is more entrenched.

How can this be when the military budget has risen to over $500 billion?

In US, record numbers are plunged into poverty: report

excerpt: ""Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries," the study found.""

That just about sums it up - Corporate profits have dwarfed wages.

When I consider George Bush, I tend to think of him less so as president and much more so as corporate bottom line facilitator.

It has taken me a long time to understand why the Conservative Republican agenda is so much about maximizing corporate profit to the exclusion of any social agenda.

There is a large culture surrounding these notions of corporate profit that provides the reasons, the whys, the validations, the disciplines, to carry on in the face of, or perhaps in spite of, or to the deliberate neglect of growing social needs and concerns for the less empowered.

It also goes to the so called "values" including religion and family life. Remember in some circles George Bush is virtually worshipped as a demigod. Recall the film Jesus Camp where worshipping images of GW occurs.

There are many books written on this topic, from both sides, conservative and liberal. Conservatives have utilized the information in "creative" ways that create a sense of correctness to their vision.

See: Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag' by Bill Berkowitz

Frank Luntz being the king of Republican talking point strategy.

Corporate welfare from the Conservative Republican agenda is a good thing. It is not considered hypocritical to condemn social welfare and at the same time approve of corporate welfare.

There was a time when the graduates of Harvard were ranked not according to their academic achievement and brilliance but were ranked according to thier social standing and wealth. For me, this perfectly explains why an individual like George W Bush can actually become president. Certainly its not about his diplomatic brilliance and or any sense or whiff of selfless compassion to benefit all the people of the USA, or even any memorable statesmanship.

According to the Conservative Republican if you are wealthy then you have fulfilled your spiritual, familial, social, and political reason to be. In this culture, corporate welfare is something that has been earned, it is something that you have a right to. In this Republican Conservative culture if you are poor, basically you have failed spiritually, socially, and politically, and you have not earned the right to welfare.

With the dominant trend of the country being Conservative Republican, and if you don't agree with this then simply list the presidents over the past 60 years, poverty has found an ally. In the Conservative Republican culture it is not the responsibility of the government to assist socially, you are supposed to do it all by yourself.

to be continued ...