American Economics 101: Be Rich, Screw The Poor

Amanda has a good post up at Pandagon about the dismal economic reality we face. Be sure to click on the "ghetto tax" link to zuzu's post at Feministe. It offers excellent examples of how our political and economic system screws poor people over in every way possible. It should be a sobering read for anyone who believes poor people just need to work harder to make it.

Once you've finished those, follow up with Robert L. Borosage's piece at tompaine.com. Borosage points out that all the talk about how the economy is doing great is really just happy spin on the fact that the rich are getting richer while everyone else's income is stagnant or falling. Even the legislation under consideration in Congress to raise the minimum wage is just an excuse to give another goody to the ultra rich.

I'd like to point out what should be obvious. It's not just the economic system that's unfair to the poor. The criminal justice system is also discriminatory. Think about it. If you're poor and you get hit with a $50 fine for speeding, that's a major expense to you, in some cases enough to push you over the edge financially. It's not unthinkable that someone, faced with such a fine, might not be able to make their rent payment, or their car payment, or the cost of their prescription medication.

If you're middle class, you pay the $50 and cancel a planned night on the town. If you're rich, however, $50 is nothing, pocket change. How a system which, for the same crime, places an enormous burden on the poor, a mild burden on the middle class and a negligible burden on the rich can be said to be "just" is beyond me.

And no example is even needed for how the political system shafts poor people. Just look at your elected representatives. Count all the ones who were poor before they gained political office. If your count is more than zero, you've quite probably counted wrong. For a truly poor person to gain local office is extremely unlikely, to gain state office is nearly unheard of, and to gain national office is nigh unto impossible.

It's not really a Republican problem, of course, although things tend to be much worse under Republican administrations. The system was created by wealthy white men for the benefit of wealthy white men. Every gain made by the poor, by minorities or by women has had to be fought for tooth and nail. And after every gain, the rich white men in charge claim that now everything is okay, and all's well that ends well, etc. Then they go back to business as usual.

The system works the way it is supposed to work. That's what nobody seems to want to admit.