The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (and Neighbors)

Sharon

A while back there was a study that suggested that it is more expensive to be poor in the US in some ways, than it is to be rich. And to anyone who has actually been poor, this probably made perfect sense. Among the ways that being poor cost you money:

1. Your infrastructure is limited, so you are limited to what fits in your infrastructure - for example, you don’t have a car, so you can only shop at the convenience stores or those on your bus line, which are more expensive than the Walmart outside town. Your house or apartment is underinsulated, so your utility bills are extremely high. You have to have food and heat, so you pay them, and struggle.

2. You are less likely to have insurance, or to have exhausted your safety nets, so you are more likely to find yourself paying for acute costs because of things you’ve let go - instead of routine dental care, you don’t got the dentist until there’s a major crisis, involving multiple root canals. You can’t afford to have the roof replaced, so you wait until things start falling on your head.

Read on...

Peacenik finds something almost reassuring about Sharon Astyk's description of the poverty of people and states. The process, the road to poverty is the same. And people and states are now poor, although many are still in denial. Sharon is talking about community and social capital. These are the things that will insulate society from the Mad Max scenario. Society still has choices that it can make. It looks like right now society's leaders are choosing to side with the wealthy. Leaders are still determined to protect the bankers and brokers. Peacenik things society will eventually side with the poor. How quickly society's leaders make this transition will determine which scenario plays out.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Sharon February 11th, 2009

“It was much pleasanter at home, when one wasn’t always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits.” - Alice in Wonderland
Rod Dreher has a fascinating observation over at his blog. He talks about watching an interview on CNBC with Taleb and Roubini:

“Both men are notorious bears, and called the current crash long in advance. Both, CNBC tells us, were the hottest tickets at the recent Davos gathering. CNBC called them in to discuss the crisis. Roubini and Taleb were both trying to make their case for why what’s wrong with the economy is radical, is fundamental, goes to the very base of all our economic assumptions.

The CNBC twits just wanted stock tips and investing advice.”

The more I think about his point, the more I think that it epitomizes something fundamental about the intellectual shift we have to make - and about how hard it is to make it. Moreover, it caused me to think about how hard it will be to unmake that shift. I commented on the piece at Rod’s blog, and said,

Read on...

Peacenik thinks this is an intersting post by Sharon Astyk. It is time for Peacenik to get Peacenik's head around a whole new paradigm. Peacenik doesnt' like the word paradigm. It is a word that has been used by the crooks on Wall Street and in the banks to assure the sheeple that investments were safe. Dot Com bubble. New paradigm. Housing bubble. New paradigm. Credit bubble. New paradigm. If Peacenik criticized the markets, it was because Peacenik couldn't grasp a new paradigm. But now there may actually be a new paradigm. One that Wall St. and the Banks will want to deny. A paradigm where sheeple believe the stock market is not safe and cannot return the 8% return necessary to fund either sheeple's retirement or of course big profits and commissions for the brokers and bankers. That is a scary paradigm. That is reality. That is why Peacenik reads about survivalism and balcony gardening. That is why Peacenik is looking for a backyard to bury Peacenik's coin collection in.