I now firmly believe that the era from about 1950 - 1980 was an anomaly.
There was money. And it was spread widely across America.
But that's not how capitalism is meant to work. Capitalism is a game played by capitalists. And I'm sorry to say, if you don't own property that creates income for you, if you don't make profit from the labor of others... You are not playing the game of capitalism. You are merely spectator on the sidelines.
I'd tell you to "get in the game." But that's just a hilarious, sadistic joke capitalists like to tell. There is no way in hell they want you in the game. More players is bad business.
So they pay most people a barely livable wage, often using the tools of the government to support their low wages. Food stamps aren't for the people. Food stamps and subsidized housing is how capitalists can pay slave wages without actually needing slaves. Plus all that government subsidy money ends up right back in the hands of the captialists. So it's a win win for them.
And for white collar workers who make a decent wage, they keep them under the thumb of the banks with home mortgages, leased cars and endless trinkets like Apple watches and designer clothes. Just look at what housing costs in places like San Francisco and many other posh cities.
Always remember this: if you're sitting at the poker table and you don't know who the sucker is: IT'S YOU. America is one giant poker table. You don't even know you're playing the game, much less the easy mark. But that's what you are to a capitalist: an easy mark.
You might think this is all heading to a point where I tell you that I'm becoming a communist. But it's not. The only thing worse than capitalism is socialism (REAL socialism, not the bullshit socialism many of you label free healthcare and free education) and communism. I assure you, capitalists will be just as happy to play their game on a table called Communism as the table they are currently playing on. Corruption is impossible to avoid in communist states.
Plus, capitalism gives us excess that has the potential to slip down to poor people.
Food Banks are this ingenious creation. They are able to let captialists write down the loss of the food they send to food banks so they pay less taxes. Paying less taxes, after all, is one of the funnest things capitalists love to do. And then this excess food goes to poor people. It's really a clever system that works for everyone.
I know you might say that if capitalists payed livable wages we wouldn't need food banks. Maybe. Maybe not. More money on the table in the hands of suckers is just more fun for Capitalists.
I'm telling you, significant poverty is coming to America. Think Hunger Games. It's going to look a lot like that, hopefully without the tributes. But even that aspect of it wouldn't surprise me in the least.
I see no immediate political will to require Capitalists to stop hoarding wealth and put it back on the board. Plus, if anything, the government will just take the money and give it to their own Capitalist friends.
So more poverty with more hoarding by the few is what I see in our immediate future.
I say this for one reason: if this is the game politicians want to play then we must make space for all the poor people. Stop hiding them in the mountains of Appalachia. Stop hiding your homeless under train tressels.
Evey city. Evey ward in every city, particularly the rich cities and rich wards, must make space for slums and tents. If you are going to make a system that is built on a game called Capitalism you can't pretend the consequences of the game don't exist.
Of course I know this won't happen. Part of the benefits of the game for the winners is not having to look at the losers of the game.
Paid For By The People for Sage Lewis