“What Have We Done?”

The thought struck me, and I got a pit in my stomach like you’d experience in freefall. The reality of the grave situations so many citizens in this country find themselves in, despite their best efforts, was staring me right in the face. I wasn’t having a debate or discussing a policy agenda with a colleague—- I was talking to a man about the daily struggles of his life.  Let me back up and set the scene for you, to give you the context and line of reasoning that made this realization so profound, on a macro level.

Most of you reading this, those who know me, know that I have been highly supportive and involved in the Occupy movement since I first learned of it in August. Many of you know I joined the movement out of a fairly basic notion: our society has become an ugly place and I want it to change.  We live in a country where millions are not able to earn a livable wage. Those who unscrupulously pursue wealth for their own use have ruined the American Dream for the rest of us, who want a good life for ourselves, but not at the expense of our own happiness and certainly not at the expense of others. In my twenties I made a series of career choices, ruling out “good careers” (politician, business executive, lawyer) one by one, until I found myself working in a very lucrative field when the financial crisis of 2007 brought the world down around us.

I saw people in this country struggling. I read the headlines. In my Park Avenue office in Manhattan I enjoyed a rigorous, energetic work atmosphere, with colleagues who were intelligent and who I greatly respected. However, we were all too comfortable. Our business was fully secure, because we operated in the world of the 1%. I got a bonus, a raise, took vacation, I was fine. However, when I left Park Avenue and spent time in my blue collar, New Jersey town on the weekends, I saw the pain of the 99%. I knew my place was not working for those who had so much, isolated from the problems of our society. I knew I could walk away from the paycheck and the perks because I wanted to do something about the homeless, the jobless, the debt ridden, over-worked, underpaid, uninsured, underserved. I couldn’t work in such a world of privilege knowing there was work I could do to help those in need.

I didn’t know what I could do, but I took some advice from a former boss “In order to understand why things are the way they are, you need to understand how we got here.” I entered a Master’s of Public Policy program and fully immersed myself in policy for the past two years. I got a job as a researcher studying workforce development issues. It may seem fairly obvious, but I realized most of the social issues I care so deeply about go back to work. People need good jobs, at livable wages, to care for themselves and their families. That solves poverty, which is then the root of so many other problems such as education, healthcare, housing, and all things concerning an individual’s well-being and thereby their contributions to society and engagement as a citizen.

So I had spent more than two years studying social issues, understanding, discussing, debating…but of course I did not empathize. I was in the Ivory Tower, meaning well, but not in the trenches by any means. Occupy found me at a time when I wanted to take to the streets. I wanted to find a productive way to speak my mind without the confines of an employ that requires funds from those who profited from the system in place, which I so vehemently oppose. As we all know, more often than not, those with “the funds” want to maintain the status quo. I had long since decided the status quo was insidious, divisive, and self-destructive.  

When I first heard of Occupy in August, I had become fed up with the fact that there were egregious crimes against the American people by their fellow citizens, we had become an ugly society, decimated by greed. I joined Occupy out of my sincere belief that we, as global citizens, can and should fight for a system that regards us all as dignified human beings.  And on a basic level, if you work full time, then you should be able to support yourself, plain and simple.

Monday nights we have a General Assembly planning session where those who are interested come to discuss what we think we need to decide on at the GA. Usually the conversations are more in depth than at the GA, we really get into the issues we are addressing, what our objectives are, and how we can accomplish are goals.  We are passionate about the issues, but I guess I just get lost in the rhetoric and the romantic aspect of being an “activist” after spending most of my life on the corporate trajectory.  At recent GA planning sessions, the gravity of what we are really up against, the system, the ugliness that we are trying to overpower… it hit.

I find that I am generally in one of two situations: either I am in a high level policy discussion about a policy issue (most of the time), or I am face to face with someone affected by economic injustice and we discuss their specific problem and possible ways out. I was never in a high level “the system is so F—-ED up and we need to do something about it” conversation with someone who has been systematically screwed by the system. That happened Monday night, and it hit me then and there that all these grievance we discuss at Occupy, again, are people. We are mad about the things that are happening to those around us… or US.

In our meetings we talk about our various actions on the various issues we are addressing, and community members in the room can speak about each issue in depth given their experiences in life. And then I thought about all of them, all the various reason we “Occupy”, because after all “99 reasons to protest isn’t disorganized…. It’s 99 reasons to protest” (my favorite Occupy sign so far). Some of the people who had come to our meetings could speak about all of them from personal experience, because in many communities people are up against a myriad of systematic injustices. I can rattle off disgusting statistics about economic and social inequality in this country, but we all lose sight of the very real ways in which these affect people. And when you think about the fact that there is a population affected by more than one, many times all of them, which are the same reasons this movement is so diverse and so strong, you realize how gravely we have WRONGED one another. Yes. We are all to blame, and before too long we will ALL be victims.  I leaves me thinking, “What have we done?”

“Forget safety. 
Live where you fear to live. 
Destroy your reputation. 
Be notorious.” 
― Rumi

*** I will be following up on this post with data/research on the damages the current economic/political system has inflicted on our fellow citizens in the coming days***

Fantastic excerpt from “The Fight to Save the American Dream” on Salon.com :

‎”We’re talking what it takes to live a decent life. If you get sick without health coverage, inequality matters. If you’re the only breadwinner and out of work, inequality matters. If your local public library closes down and you can’t afford books on your own, inequality matters. If budget cuts mean your child has to pay to play on the school basketball team, sing in the chorus or march in the band, inequality matters. If you lose your job as you’re about to retire, inequality matters. If the financial system collapses and knocks the props from beneath your pension, inequality matters.”

Full article available at http://www.salon.com/2012/01/17/the_fight_to_save_the_american_dream/

The New York Times published an article on New Year’s Eve, as many other news outlets did, to postulate what will be the critical issues the United States faces in 2012. In this particular article the NYT asks the 6 economists who write for its Economic View column to help enlighten the rest of us as to the major issues we must face to improve the economy in 2012 and beyond. The economists feature are people whom I respect and enjoy reading commentary from, if for no other reason than sometimes its a matter of due diligence in my work, and even I would never be so precocious as to call one of these experts irrelevant or wrong. Here is a link to the article, so you can follow along :)

However, the commentaries they each provide in this piece are plebeian, unimaginative, and void of the usual intellectual rigor I expect from each of them. The “issues” discussed in this piece exemplify the fact that our traditional media outlets in this country are catering to mainstream corporatist interests. The corporate media will tell any story they can to distract us from the reality of the woes we are enduring. 

I must give the NYT credit for their honesty in the introduction, but although this portion of the narrative is the most pertinent it is not at all interesting. Readers who have spent even a modicum of time or effort questioning the irresponsibly optimistic data reported on the economy (ahem, 8.6% unemployment rate in November) already know even the best data point cannot gloss over the real pain Americans, broadly, are feeling. Unfortunately, just when I thought a major outlet like the NYT might attempt even a shallow inquiry into the truths about our economy that no other major outlet will touch… this piece retreats. I mean, the editors ran for the hills, and instead of some rigorous insight we get some watered down talking points your econ 101 professor could give you. The ideas in this article are well below the level of inquiry these economist are capable of, and I would argue it is pure blasphemy to assign their names to such hackneyed ideas. 

Now, very quickly, I will raise my qualms with each economist’s contribution, because they are so simplistic its easy to keep this part quick.

Mankiw: I think the fact that we have Romney’s advisor here suggesting clarity on monetary policy will jolt our economy into high-gear is not even worth discussing. In fact, the Fed today said they are considering providing more insight into further actions, so hopefully then we can put this nonsense to rest when we see that this is not a driver in stagnant hiring. And as far as scapegoating the Fed for any economic stagnation is ludicrous— corporations have more money than ever despite the Fed’s actions. 

Romer: Yawn. Why waste time trying to convince folks to support policies Congress will never pass? Why beat a dead horse? I am tired of policymakers, experts and politicians taking a “bold stand” on the same old issue that hasn’t worked. And one that falls short of addressing root causes anyway. You’re really gonna preach to me about Bowles-Simpson and hint at public works programs? Thanks for nothing. You want to suggest a reform, how about getting corporate money out of Congress so that we have some leaders who would be inclined to pass legislation that would help the American workforce. Next!

Cowen: Europe? To be honest I am not focused on Europe these days. If I was worried about the mainstream concerns circulating that a European collapse would surely harm us, due to the interdependence of our financial systems, exports to them and the tourist activity we generate from them, then I might be concerned. However, I believe we face a global plutocracy which really dictates the game for the rest of us, globally. I think the media wants us to be concerned with Europe to distract us from the problems they don’t want to discuss. Capitalism on steroids, out of control financial markets, the power of money in government… these are the problems, and they do not stop at national borders. 

Frank: Hmm, so here I thought we might discuss the working poor, but NO! Frank here laments the plight of parents who work really hard and barely scrape by to send their kids to schools in highly expensive districts. Not the rich, but the near-rich. I do like his point that the wealthy have gotten soooo wealthy in recent decades, thereby raising the living standards of the rest of us without incomes to match. However, when I read the headline for this one I was fooled into thinking I might finally read some comments about the fact that many working Americans are really struggling because they are not being compensated properly, while their bosses get more and more wealthy. I thought he might suggest that business and workers who ADD VALUE to the economy have been replaced by overpaid speculators who invent profits. Silly me. 

Schiller: I actually liked this one. I mean, he could have taken the opportunity here to once again remind readers that it wasn’t faulty borrowers but rather faulty lenders who caused the mess in the first place, but I’ll take what I can get. He did highlight that the banks got bailed out while millions have been made homeless. And I always love someone who challenges the notions of what is possible. Challenging the realm of political will is always a surefire way to win me over. 

Thaler: This commentary  seems to be marginal when we think of the magnitude of the health care problem in this country. The lack of access to affordable care, because this basic and necessary service has been placed in the hands of greedy corporations, is the problem. Healthy incentives in the office would be nice, but come on; is this really the primary issue regarding healthcare in 2012? It’s laughable, really. This would be like talking about the benefits of graduate school to a high-school freshman who is considering dropping out. We have other more pressing issues in healthcare to discuss (and more pressing issues to call employers out on) before we should be demanding salad bars or fun stairwells with music. 

So that’s it. These prominent economist are asked “Where to go from here? And how to face the challenges ahead?” and this is what they come up with? I am not nearly as well educated in economics as any of these scholars, but with a little critical thinking it is not hard to recognize these watered down narratives for what they are. The NYT has merely used the names of these people to give some credibility to irrelevant, dumbed-down chatter to keep the rest of us distracted from seriously considering the real issues we face. The media is bought. The government is bought. We need to change it. Question Everything. Occupy Everywhere. Occupy Everything. 

“Forget safety. 
Live where you fear to live. 
Destroy your reputation. 
Be notorious.” 
― Rumi