Dignified wages

It is pretty sad when workers at Walmart have to put out boxes to collect food for their fellow employees, while the owners, the Waltons, have a combined wealth equal to that of the bottom 42 percent of American households.  Wow, hard to fathom isn't it?

Seems to me a modern day Christmas Carol could be written with the Ghost of Christmas past/present/future visiting the Walton family. In a Forbes article, Walmart health insurance could leave a really sick worker broke, it is noted how thousands of full-time employees could become broke given one serious illness.

You can read more about this sad situation from Moyers and Company, Tax-Dodging Wal-Mart holds another food drive for its impoverished workers.

Life and death of a prophet: Nelson Mandela

During an adult study at church this past Sunday we discussed prophets.  These are people who are called by God to speak a word of truth and justice.  Some may be reluctant, such as Moses. Most may be wildly unpopular by those in power.  Jesus and John the Baptist met painful deaths because of their messages and unwillingness to soft peddle the truth. Speaking truth to power is dangerous.

Today a modern day prophet is being laid to rest, Nelson Mandela.  His message of justice brought him 27 years in prison, though he later became South Africa's president. As we were reminded by another modern day prophet, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."  So it is fitting that at least 91heads of state government were present for Nelson Mandela's public memorial service.

President Obama's address to the crowd included the following remarks... “It is hard to eulogize any man — to capture in words not just the facts and the dates that make a life, but the essential truth of a person — their private joys and sorrows; the quiet moments and unique qualities that illuminate someone’s soul,” Mr. Obama said. “How much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation toward justice, and in the process moved billions around the world.”....
“It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well; to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion, generosity and truth. He changed laws, but also hearts.”

Rest in Peace Nelson Mandela.  

Thoughts on the growing economic divide

Perhaps there is no shame in being wealthy.  But how about when one's personal or corporate wealth is shielded from taxes in a foreign country or by numerous tax loopholes?  How about when corporations lay off employees, often creating great stress on those still remaining, simply to maximize shareholder value?  What about when the average CEO makes 360 times their average worker's salaries?  Lastly, what do you think about the growing numbers of people who are working full time but are unable to raise a family, or have health care coverage on their meager wages?

Bill Moyers expounds on the growing gap between the "haves" and "have nots" in his essay "The United States of Inequity."  Mr. Moyer's sums up his observation of the current situation in the United States... “A petty, narcissistic, pridefully ignorant politics has come to dominate and paralyze our government, while millions of people keep falling through the gaping hole that has turned us into the United States of Inequality.”

Labor Day anger

While mowing the front yard yesterday I instinctively waved to a passing car.  While waving, with my red ear muffs on, it appeared a passenger was yelling out some inflammatory remarks.  Perhaps he read one on my recent blogs about "being mad as hell, and not going to take it any longer?".

I'm guessing there is a strong chance that his hostile drive by passenger is a part of the 99 percent, many of whom have seen their financial outlooks become ever bleaker in recent years, while the 1 percent continues to soar.  With uncontrolled, laissez-faire economics it is said that "the rich man's dog will drink the milk the poor man's child needs to survive."

I expect we will, and should, hear more from people who have become disenfranchised by the economic disparity between racial groups and social classes.  Many formerly among the middle class are now strugglng to make ends meet, and have joined the growing ranks of working poor.   These past three years the US has not raised its federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour, which equates to $15,080 for a year. How well do you think you might live on this?

The 99% Spring is a network of organizations that among other things are working to train people to take action regarding economic injustice.  They've got an online training to help people take action on their website, The 99% Spring.

The Hunger Games as social commentary

Jennifer Lawrence playing the role of
Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games
(photo from StarTribune c/o Murray Close, Lionsgate)

If you are not a teenager and haven't yet heard, "The Hunger Games" is the first of a wildly popular best selling book series by Suzanne Collins. It has also just been released as a movie.  I went to the movie yesterday with our daughter and found it action packed, more than a little bit violent, and providing hard hitting social commentary.

In a radio interview Suzanne Collins noted how the impetus for the book was spawned from seeing how widely popular "reality television" had become in American culture. She likened this to the Roman gladiator games, where the entertainment occurs at the expense of the participants, as in old Roman times fighting to their deaths in the coliseum, or being publicly ridiculed on television in today's world.

The widening economic disparity occurring in the United States is also reflected in the futuristic Hunger Games. People in the capital region live lavishly, while the surrounding 12 districts are working to simply eek out a living.  This graphic novel and movie are wake up calls to the often cruel and voyeuristic nature of reality television and our rapidly growing economic gap.  Let's all live and work so that we don't spiral down this trajectory toward The Hunger Games.