MiseduKation of the Gringo; Dismantling white privilege
A Maj*K TriK
Maj*K responds to the Ithaca Times: Race & Evolution
Maj*K writing on the Class Caste System in the United States...
Thoughts on the 2010 US Gov't BailOut of Global/National Banks
To begin, I thank you for dedicating your time to engaging in a piece of my opinion. I am a single father of two daughters who I raise in Ithaca NY. Our nuclear family has been living in poverty since its conception. To us poverty is more than an academic subject it is a reality. Under this premise, we believe that the Social Policy practice of using working peoples’ tax money as a financial support to heads of major corporations (mostly banks) is illogical, risky, elitist and dangerous.
In this present time we are all assessing our concerns with the economic crisis and the blowback of the 2010 government “bailout”. Naturally many of us focus on the exploitation of the people of the United States by the large private corporations that dominate our national economic policies. Inside of themselves many people know that they are not being represented our served by our government.
The working class, the middle-class and the upper middle class are the people who are most impacted, repectively, by the current crisis and government responses. We are also the majority of people who reside in Ithaca NY. According to the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce people whose annual family income is $34,000 or less make up 41% of the people in Tompkins County. As we advance upward in income we see that 56% of us earn a family income of 49,000 or less while 74% of us earn less than 74,000. Combined people who earn less than 99,000 a year, make up 85% of the people living in Tompkins County.
With this ratio and organization we can combat what has been proven to us time and again, through outsourcing, disregard for ecosystems and inhumane working conditions and compensation; that the corporations that lobby our government, lack the human condition’s to care, nor recognize consequences! With the “bailout” secure we should begin to prepare to either fight or accept our place as mere instruments in the failing brand of America.
Some kind suggestions:
To begin we should work towards being able to sustain our local population with local materials and supplies. This must happen across all class lines (working class, middle class, upper class, farmers, local artisans and markets). The understanding and mantra needs to be “We as a local community will establish the model of modern day sustainability; socially, in our ecology and passionately”.
In addition to sustainability we can use our state given rights to petition to the people who have the condition to make decisions that drastically impact all people in the United States. We must also continue to use our voice as people, together in the streets, and in our everyday living. When I say voice I am referring to our ability to overcome the temptations of ignorance and to fight for what we collectively KNOW to be our human rights…
When approaching the topic of a government “bail out” it is promising to note that, in part, the influence of many people, through email, calling and letter writing, was successful in supporting our representatives of the House to initially deny the 2010 $700 Billion proposal. I urge people to continue to be organized in our effort to sustain our passion and activism.
In the end the “bailout” passed and we are left to ponder how a federal proposal could pass that blatantly contradicts the way in which the socio-economic structure of the United States works. To the contrary of the logic used by our government when approaching our largest corporations and wealthiest people…we the people have no national health care, a dwindling social security fund and a trillion $ occupation of Afghan/Iraq. As a result of greed we have people in our families and communities that are starving in our streets, we have people who can barely afford to make it to work, we have people who are sifting through garbage to collect recycling (for $7 ½ an hour or $.05 cents a can) we have people who are forced to tape up a wad of toilet paper with duct tape to secure a diaper for their child and we are tired, overworked, uncompensated and fed up of being exploited.
In these modern times we are aware that we are the people who struggle everyday to the benefit of corporations and big business:
- waking up at 5/6 am, dressing in store bought clothes, seeing our children to school in a marketed get-up, going to work (rarely to be compensated for the sacrifice of time that “responsibility” demands), going home to store bought food and setting ourselves and our belongings on store bought furnishings, etc-
We are the loyal consumers that fuel these corporations…and WE deserve a bailout. Not just a cash bail out…we want, need and deserve our nation to use what is left of the “bail out” money to destroy our exploitative labor structure and empower our people to participate in owning our lives in equity. A start is the imposition of financial accountability of corporations and their impact on governmental policy; ending lobbying. The current process is spreading the knowledge, organizing together and having our voice heard and acknowledged through change. Thank you for joining in that process today and much respect for your time; it is our only true commodity…
-Maj*K
In this present time we are all assessing our concerns with the economic crisis and the blowback of the 2010 government “bailout”. Naturally many of us focus on the exploitation of the people of the United States by the large private corporations that dominate our national economic policies. Inside of themselves many people know that they are not being represented our served by our government.
The working class, the middle-class and the upper middle class are the people who are most impacted, repectively, by the current crisis and government responses. We are also the majority of people who reside in Ithaca NY. According to the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce people whose annual family income is $34,000 or less make up 41% of the people in Tompkins County. As we advance upward in income we see that 56% of us earn a family income of 49,000 or less while 74% of us earn less than 74,000. Combined people who earn less than 99,000 a year, make up 85% of the people living in Tompkins County.
With this ratio and organization we can combat what has been proven to us time and again, through outsourcing, disregard for ecosystems and inhumane working conditions and compensation; that the corporations that lobby our government, lack the human condition’s to care, nor recognize consequences! With the “bailout” secure we should begin to prepare to either fight or accept our place as mere instruments in the failing brand of America.
Some kind suggestions:
To begin we should work towards being able to sustain our local population with local materials and supplies. This must happen across all class lines (working class, middle class, upper class, farmers, local artisans and markets). The understanding and mantra needs to be “We as a local community will establish the model of modern day sustainability; socially, in our ecology and passionately”.
In addition to sustainability we can use our state given rights to petition to the people who have the condition to make decisions that drastically impact all people in the United States. We must also continue to use our voice as people, together in the streets, and in our everyday living. When I say voice I am referring to our ability to overcome the temptations of ignorance and to fight for what we collectively KNOW to be our human rights…
When approaching the topic of a government “bail out” it is promising to note that, in part, the influence of many people, through email, calling and letter writing, was successful in supporting our representatives of the House to initially deny the 2010 $700 Billion proposal. I urge people to continue to be organized in our effort to sustain our passion and activism.
In the end the “bailout” passed and we are left to ponder how a federal proposal could pass that blatantly contradicts the way in which the socio-economic structure of the United States works. To the contrary of the logic used by our government when approaching our largest corporations and wealthiest people…we the people have no national health care, a dwindling social security fund and a trillion $ occupation of Afghan/Iraq. As a result of greed we have people in our families and communities that are starving in our streets, we have people who can barely afford to make it to work, we have people who are sifting through garbage to collect recycling (for $7 ½ an hour or $.05 cents a can) we have people who are forced to tape up a wad of toilet paper with duct tape to secure a diaper for their child and we are tired, overworked, uncompensated and fed up of being exploited.
In these modern times we are aware that we are the people who struggle everyday to the benefit of corporations and big business:
- waking up at 5/6 am, dressing in store bought clothes, seeing our children to school in a marketed get-up, going to work (rarely to be compensated for the sacrifice of time that “responsibility” demands), going home to store bought food and setting ourselves and our belongings on store bought furnishings, etc-
We are the loyal consumers that fuel these corporations…and WE deserve a bailout. Not just a cash bail out…we want, need and deserve our nation to use what is left of the “bail out” money to destroy our exploitative labor structure and empower our people to participate in owning our lives in equity. A start is the imposition of financial accountability of corporations and their impact on governmental policy; ending lobbying. The current process is spreading the knowledge, organizing together and having our voice heard and acknowledged through change. Thank you for joining in that process today and much respect for your time; it is our only true commodity…
-Maj*K
The Human Response to the Murder of Mr. Shawn Greenwood
Supporting Adolescents in Our communities & families...
'All Matter Moves...' (Maj*K)
All Rights Reserved for Overstanding Publishing & Production ©
115 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St
Ithaca, N.Y. 14850
[email protected]