IP: A different perspective on boom times

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>
>
>AT THE TURN OF A CENTURY, BETTER OPTIONS REMAIN
>
>By Norman Solomon
>
>         The imminent arrival of 2000 reminds us that life is short. 
> Deadening routines often squander our time, while evasions take 
> unnecessary tolls in human suffering. But much better possibilities remain.
>
>         Every day, a nationwide media barrage encourages us to be cynical 
> and passive. Endless dramas of politics and grand commerce -- amorality 
> plays -- are performed with great zeal. We're supposed to cheer. But many 
> of us find the glorified spectacles to be dispiriting rather than uplifting.
>
>         The words of America's leading politicians reverberate through a 
> national echo chamber. They tout global supremacy and higher market share 
> as ultimate virtues. Dissenting voices are mostly circumspect. Pundits 
> debate how -- but not whether -- the U.S. government should use such 
> measures as diplomatic arm-twisting, financial blackmail and military 
> might to impose its will on the world.
>
>         Meanwhile, news outlets are echoing discussions on Capitol Hill 
> about how to fine-tune the economic status quo -- widely portrayed as 
> wonderful at the end of 1999. But a Boston-based organization, United for 
> a Fair Economy (www.stw.org), offers a reality check, reporting 
> information that can't be found in the media spotlights:
>
>         *  "The record-breaking economic boom of the 1990s has left 
> Americans more polarized and debt-ridden," researchers found. A rising 
> tide "has lifted the yachts to tremendous heights, but many Americans are 
> still bailing out their boats after decades of sinking real wages."
>
>         *  Ten years ago, there were 66 billionaires and 31.5 million 
> people living below the poverty line in this country. Today, "the United 
> States has 268 billionaires and 34.5 million people living below the 
> official poverty line -- about $13,000 for a three-person family."
>
>         *  As 1999 comes to a close, economic inequality is rampant in 
> America. "The top 1 percent of households has more wealth than the entire 
> bottom 95 percent combined." The situation is much worse than it was a 
> quarter-century ago: "Since 1977, the top 1 percent has doubled its share 
> of the nation's wealth to 40 percent."
>
>         *  Currently, the people on the Forbes 400 list of richest 
> Americans "have about as much wealth as the 50 million households in the 
> bottom half of the population."
>
>         *  While news stories hail the glorious achievements of the stock 
> market, a lot of people in the United States "are just plain broke. They 
> have nothing to tide them over in case of a health crisis or 
> unemployment, much less save for college or retirement. Nearly one out of 
> five households has zero or negative net worth (greater debts than 
> assets), compared with one
>in 10 in 1962."
>
>         The questions that journalists pose to elected officials and 
> candidates rarely confront such economic realities. Instead, the repeated 
> queries have a pre-fab quality -- matching the slightly zombie-like 
> verbiage of most politicians, whose language was aptly described several 
> decades ago by George Orwell: "When one watches some tired hack on the 
> platform, mechanically repeating the familiar phrases ... one often has a 
> curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being but some kind 
> of  dummy."
>
>         Faced with a nonstop swirl of media coverage, it's tempting to 
> succumb to chronic cynicism. But journalists -- and the rest of us -- are 
> better off if we can develop an attitude of idealistic skepticism. In 
> 2000 and beyond, giving voice to candor will be a minimum prerequisite to 
> create conditions for realistic hope.
>
>         "I have come to believe over and over again," the poet Audre 
> Lorde said, "that what is most important to me must be spoken, made 
> verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised and 
> misunderstood. ...  For it is not difference which immobilizes us most 
> but silence."
>
>         While 14 million people in the United States are extremely poor 
> -- living at less than 50 percent of the poverty level -- for the most 
> part their plights are dismissed by mainstream journalists as scarcely 
> more consequential than lint in the pockets of the powerful. The same 
> goes for the approximately 1,000 children around the world who die every 
> hour from diseases that are easily preventable. According to UNICEF, the 
> cost of saving their lives would amount to about 10 percent of the 
> Pentagon budget.
>
>         To criticize this institutional madness can seem bold, even 
> brave. How sad.
>
>         "One day posterity will remember," wrote Russian poet Yevgeny 
> Yevtushenko, "This strange era, these strange times, when / Ordinary 
> common honesty was called courage."
>
>         Hopefully, we'll find more strength for such honesty in the 21st 
> century.
>
>_________________________________________________
>
>Norman Solomon is a syndicated columnist. His latest book is "The Habits of
>Highly Deceptive Media."
>
>
>
>


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A Happy Holiday and a safe New Year

from Dave and GG Farber

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