Maybe, the protests, anger, and violence are all really about something that has not been said. Most news outlets will tell you protests and riots are about race and racism, but just maybe that is not the situation at all. What do you think would happen if some of the least educated, least employable people with nothing to lose make up one of the largest demographic groups in America?
The young, many with a very poor education have little chance of success. What do they have to look forward to? What chance to do they have of obtaining the American Dream? That also goes for much of what we have called the middle class but they are at the bottom of that group economically.
This is what they have been given by our leaders over the past 60 years. Ever since the great society was introduced by Lynden Johnson it’s been a downhill slide on the financial slide. Yet, those leaders who come to office with little seem to all leave as millionaires.
An example is a past President who came into office with essentially nothing. But upon retirement, bought with cash, a multimillion-dollar home (Estate) very close to the sea. I guess they know something about sea levels rising that we have not been told.
They have corrupted our system of government and bankrupted our financial system by destroying our currency by printing money out of thin air and pushing us deeper and deeper in debt by more social programs. All that while serving the powerful like big tech, banks and Wall Street.
The typical American household now carries an average debt of 100% more than their annual income and these debts have increased by about 170% since the year 2000. The median family’s income is around $65,000 and the average college debt is more than $30,000. Think of all those below those average numbers.
The typical cost of a house is now more than $300,000 and even a regular apartment is almost unaffordable for most single people. And that is not even in the big cities like New York or San Francisco where costs are staggering.
Ideas that were unthinkable just a few years ago, are now becoming reality. The pendulum has swung so far left, and the debts have reached such extreme levels, that we must print more money which creates more debt. That of course creates inflation which has destroyed so many socialist countries.
Ultimately the only solution is redistribution of the wealth. The promises begin, cancel student debt which could cost over a trillion dollars. Raising the minimum wage to $15 dollars. Store owners pay it or go out of business. Or maybe they automate like they have started at McDonalds. Much higher taxes, forgiveness of debts and confiscation of property. Some might say never, but just look at what other socialistic countries had to do.
Many people have little choice but to fight for a new solution to their problems or give up. They have the large debts with little ability to pay them back. For those just coming into the job market there are far fewer entry level jobs, what do you think people are going to do? The sad truth is, as the light dims all they can do is fight for a new form of government that gives them everything.
And we are now on the threshold of that change. But remember, wealth redistribution, debt forgiveness and the rise in labor costs are never free. Someone must pay and you can bet it is not the people who want the benefits.
Kit Walker says
The problem is that many of these so called protestors are not undereducated youth but professional people like teachers, and lawyers, journalists, etc. They have been totally radicalized by an education system overrun by radical 1960’s Hippie types, and their wards.
Steven Balek says
Well said Kit! You only need to look back at the sixties when it all began.
Margie Gregory says
Amen, Mike Young. Tighten your seat belt. We’re in for a bumpy ride. Obamawood is back and it’s not going to be pretty.Evidently people weren’t happy with a growing economy, more jobs, self-reliance on fuel and a President that put America and it’s people first.
Ben Ham says
The economy sucks, job losses are enormous and the President put himself first period. He ignored the pandemic, didn’t order enough vaccines, reserved half of them, and put so many people at risk that could have already been vaccinated. He is a crappy leader caring for no one other than himself. His lies about the election being stolen are a joke that almost lead to a huge mess and a threat to democracy. Apparently Americans are smarter than you give them credit for and decided to part ways with a narcissist, lying, POS, that he is and Americans saw through it.
Robert Monson says
Very well said Margie I couldn`t agree with you more.
Ann Ott says
And why do you think, Mike, that the “young”, poorly educated citizens have little chance of success? Why do you think they have little chance of obtaining the American dream? Why does the “typical” family carry so much debt? Could it possibly be that a significant percent of our American population has been disenfranchised for almost 250 years? From the beginning, access to the very things that enable success has been denied or suppressed for people of color. Things the wealthy, educated, white people who founded this country and continue to control much of the wealth take for granted are unreachable for most citizens of color. Unequal education in the public schools, discrimination in college admissions and scholarship opportunities, lack of adequate healthcare, poor nutrition, discrimination in housing, unfair employment opportunities, bias in the legal system – all of this has culminated in the situations we find ourselves in currently. But the tide IS Changing – finally. People are no longer willing to accept the past as status quo. They are standing up and speaking out all over this country and they are being heard. The events of Jan 20 and today are proof. Amanda Gorman said it so eloquently at the inauguration when she referred to “the light that is always there, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it”. I do not share Mike’s vision of our future as a country. I am a white privileged American and I am not threatened by the increasing successes of my fellow citizens of color. It does not diminish me to see them succeed. Their successes enrich all of our lives. Their talents and abilities which have so often been wasted or overlooked in the past, will continue to help solve the problems of the future for our country and our world. As a nation, united we will thrive, divided we will fail.
mike young says
Ann – It is wonderful that someone like you would admit to getting ahead by white privileges’ and now, I suspect you will want to repay those that you dis-advantaged by pushing them aside. Perhaps you could support an ex-slave or an immigrant from an African country. I only suggest those possibilities because your use of the term “People of Color” is code for Black folks. I’m pretty sure you’re not referring to the brown folks who stand on the street corner hoping for work or the Chinese who came here to build a railroad and stayed to become rich by working their butts off. Not the people who come unable to even speaking English, driving cabs at night to put their kids through school. Unfortunately, one party is against Charter Schools and even school vouchers or maybe it is the school unions with all their political donations.
I think America has done some effort to those like free housing, of course free food and medical. They were the set asides for college where white folks were pushed out of what their grades earned, to make room for the “People of Color”. Government job requirements for a certain number of minorities, oh and do not forget Equal Opportunity requirements. You did mention poor education, and I hope you were not a teacher or know any teachers because they did fail in what we paid them to do almost always in big cities. Unfortunately, one party is against Charter Schools and even school vouchers or maybe it is the school unions with all their political donations.
Of course we will all need to chip in even more now that the party that only supports “People of Color” is in charge. Those working will need to pitch in so we can increase that “Safety net” even more. Personal help like yours will also need to kick in more. With wage increases like $15 an hour for entry level jobs will eliminate many jobs as automation takes those positions so more “Safety Net”. . I don’t know what you level of giving you will choose will be but since I started work cleaning out manholes in the streets of Los Angeles, went to school nights which was hard and put in lots of free hours, I think I’ll keep what I earned.
Ann Ott says
Mike, you need to read the definition of white privilege. Ask a person of Hispanic or Asian or any other person of color whether person of color just refers to black people. And your sarcastic suggestions about supporting an ex-slave or African immigrant are an embarrassment to all who read your words. I am so thankful that I have lived long enough to see the systemic racism that plagues our country and demeans our citizens finally being recognized for what it is. We all have choices. Mine have always been and will always be for equality.
Teri Nehrenz says
Hi Ann,
What we really need to ask ourselves is how the system is set up for us to put ourselves in debt. You ask why but the answer is simple. It’s all about keeping up with the Joneses and the idea that the better your things shine, the more important you are.
Too many people validate their own lives based on what others think. Many have to have the best car, the biggest home, the most fashionable wardrobe, the most up to date technology. Most people think that because of credit availability they can live above their means and many do just for appearance’s sake.
We don’t stop our own children from shaming the “poor kids” and we certainly don’t want them to be labeled one so we reach beyond our limits to appease others and we haven’t taught our children any different.
The only beings we need to appease are God and ourselves, and too many of us have forgotten that.
WE also need to remind ourselves once in a while that the things you’ve listed didn’t happen to us overnight. We have become a nation of inequity and it isn’t between those of color and anybody white. The inequity is between the elite and us. You consider yourself to be ‘white priveledged’ but how many millions are you stashing away above what Oprah Winfrey, Maxine Waters, AOC, Kamala Harris and others have stashed away on the blood and sweat of the middle class and those at or below the poverty level? The only privileged in this country are those willing to lie, cheat and steal to gain their power/money or control.
Look how easily the people who profess to care destroyed small business only to enrich those who were already wealthy. Jeff Bezos, Big Tech, Walmart…got bigger and more wealthy, when you’re own friends and neighbors barely hung on by a thread and others’ failed completely. Years of their hard work eradicated so easily by those playing the games by their rules alone. They send our family members off to war for the same sick reason.
It’s not a race war we need to fight for equality. The race war doesn’t solve anything when those who are creating it keep wheeling and dealing while our attention is on what they’ve falsely created rather than their crimes against us.
A white person born in poverty has not one ounce of privilege over anybody else.
The very same people who are calling out the White Privilege in America are the ones in charge of creating those opportunities. They have not. All they’ve done is tell us the problems exist but in half a century have not offered one solution to one problem.
They sure spent the past four years blaming their past 50 on someone else.
Ann Ott says
Teri, there is no system set up for us to put ourselves into debt. All of those things you talked about are about choices and their consequences. And if you do not think that the inequality is between those of color and those who are white, then I respectfully suggest that you are not listening to those of color as they speak out. And please look up the definition of white privilege. It isn’t just about people with money. And as for the last 4 years or 50 years or 250 years, what matters today is what we do from now on. The blame game solves no problems, proposes no solutions and is played by people who want no changes. Give it up. The rest of us will be moving on toward better days.
mike young says
One of the systems that put some in very deep debut is school loans. The Government began offering very cheap loans for school. So more money was available for schools to raise the tuition The more they raised it the more loan you owe. Since the money was easy to get, you just got more as the school kept raising their tuition. Even with this situation many people paid off their loans. Now the proposal is to pay off $50,000 or more of those who have not paid their loans. Who then pays? I do, because I pay taxes. Funny thing, I paid for my school with my money now they want me to pay for someone else so they do not have to pay.
Margie Gregory says
Ann Ott, My grandmother, a 20 year old widow, with a 1 1/2 year old son, boarded a ship in 1920 to come to America from Potenza, a small town in Italy.Her husband had died of the 1919 Flu and she had a brother in America who “sponsored” her. That’s the way immigrants were allowed to come to America in the “good old days”. She was put in “steerage” on the bottom of the ship and given gruel and hard bread with water to relish as a meal. When she and her son (my father) arrived in New York, they were sent to Ellis Island to “decontaminate” before released to her brother.A promised marriage to one of her brothers took place shortly after and she began her life in America. She worked in a laundry, cleaning toilets in office building and restaurants and cooking, cleaning and taking care of her son. All that time she studied American History, penmanship, English language and all other requirements to gain Citizenship to America. She bore three more children before her and her husband moved to a small vegetable farm and began producing vegetables. They were called “Wops”, “Dego’s’ and any other inflammatory name of the week. They weren’t the only ones. Irish, Germans, Polish, Jews and all other immigrants were given the same welcoming treatment. They didn’t go to the government demanding handouts, demanding “equality”, demanding a free ride. What they did was, work hard, hold their heads high, teach their children to respect their elders, taught their children that no one deserved a free ride. They had to work for it. My grandmother got her Citizenship Papers sometime in the 50’s. Nearly thirty years after she stepped foot on American soil. She cried.We all cried. That’s what America is. There is no “privileged” or “inequality” in America. All a person has to do is be willing to work for it.
Gary Lapple says
Awesome posting.
Bless you.
Tracey Mapstone says
Thank you Ms. Ott.
Gary Lapple says
Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”