Business As Usual

The smoke billows from Nine Mile. The attractive display of multinational companies, from McDonald’s to KFC, draws your attention. A police car passes the hospital. Oswego is a microcosm of our country. Beyond its appeal lies a similar struggle. A plague of unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and people who live paycheck to paycheck. It’s easy to forget the US is one of the richest countries in the world. It is one of the richest countries in history. In the US “nearly 14 million children faced hunger in 2023.” Throughout the US “1 in 5 children,” don’t know what it’s like to wake up or go to bed with a full stomach. Upwards of “43 million people” live in poverty with “34 percent of those people (15 million)
[living] in deep poverty.” While 49 million Americans “lived just above the poverty line.” In a significant increase last year, America saw “650,000 people… lack permanent shelters.” Americans with permanent shelters are most likely one of the over 200 million people “living paycheck to paycheck,” with “the rate of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck,” on the rise. The Wall Street Journal reported the cost
of healthcare increased. CNBC reported “rent and groceries have grown faster than wages can keep up.” For those who do make a wage, they work longer hours for less pay. Job security has practically disappeared while work benefits are almost non-existent. There is good news. From 2020 to now “the richest five men in the world have doubled their fortunes. During the same period, almost five billion people globally have become poorer.” These wealthy elites are also smart. As our “richest .01 percent
have accumulated more wealth, they have paid a smaller share of total U.S. taxes.” The associate editor for the Financial Times Rana Foroohar put it best. “Anyone with a pulse knows that in the US today the system is rigged in favour of the wealthy and powerful.” This all has a historical background. James Madison remarked “our government… ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.” In translation, the rich need protection as they plunder the poor. The former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Jay agreed. “Those who own the country ought to govern it.” This maxim allows us to understand the $895 billion in defense spending passed in the Senate. We must
remember that “more than half of the annual Department of Defense budget is… spent on military contractors.” That means “five major corporations: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, et al.,” will rake in
hundreds of billions of dollars. Even after the Pentagon failed its seventh audit in a row. In the season of giving, taxpayer money couldn’t help the impoverished and homeless. Or those who work paycheck to
paycheck. It will be a huge handout to the high-technology industry and major corporations. For the few who concentrated wealth and power, Christmas was early. For the majority and those in Oswego, it’s a
starker question. What can I afford this Christmas?

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