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A Little Poverty Never Hurt Anybody
By Jason Miller (about the author) Page 2 of 4 page(s)
"According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they "die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death."
That is about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million children under five years of age, each year."
(Thanks to Global Issues.org for the above information)
Earth's ruling oligarchs and plutocrats have created and perpetuated a socioeconomic dynamic in which the destitute have little or no access to education, basic healthcare, decent employment, or even basic necessities. From the United States to sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia, those isolated in despairing communities with crumbling or non-existent infrastructures find themselves mired in impoverished breeding grounds for crime, high birth rates, substance abuse, and AIDS.
Perhaps an apt message for those impoverished children arriving in this world with three strikes against them would be:
"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", which is most commonly translated as "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
How humane and politically correct those monopolizing Earth's bounty have become. Monarchy has essentially been relegated to the dustbin of history. Empire building through brute force is becoming an increasingly rare event. Certainly the ruling elite maintain potent militaries to exercise their right to "defend themselves" (as they are doing in Iraq and Lebanon). But more often then not, the masters of the human race have learned to wield their economic power like a heavy cudgel, capable of battering their foes into submission with a few swift strokes.
New age dawning?
As humanity basks in the nurturing rays of a long-awaited sunrise marking the dawn of a glorious new paradigm, a determined privileged class is determined to make utopia a reality for themselves. Ushering in a veritable paradise of free trade, "robust economies", "ownership societies", "freedom and liberty", and unprecedented profits generated by massive companies unfettered by frivolous government regulation, predatory human beings now issue their edicts from corporate skyscrapers rather than moated castles.
Wage slaves and sweat shop laborers have supplanted serfs and chattel slaves. Five major corporations comprise 90% of the mass media in the United States. What are their specialties? Shaping public opinion to maintain the illusion that one of the world's most rapacious and bellicose nations is a "benevolent superpower" and enticing those who fall prey to their charms to experience a virtually insatiable desire to acquire more material possessions. A brain-washed complacent citizenry perpetually ready to go on a buying binge is a wet dream for the ruling elite.
For many, the survival of their families depends upon the meager pay they receive from corporate behemoths like Wal-Mart. More fortunate wage slaves earn enough to cover the cost of necessities and to attain the goods the corporate media push like Ecstasy. Shopping....what a rush!
Between the US Americans who have high discretionary income and the easy credit issued to those who don't, demand for consumer goods is nearly infinite. With grossly unfair laws (protecting consumers, the environment, and workers) squeezing their profits, those ingenious devils amongst the ruling elite concluded they would locate in "developing" countries where they could truly rape, pillage and plunder. Hence the worsening plight of those beholden to their corporate masters both in the United States and abroad.
Where is the wealth?
And just how heavily are the world's assets concentrated into the hands of the elite? While the United States is by no means home to the entire world's de facto aristocracy, it is the "leader of the obscenely rich world" and by default is the "leader of the (ostensibly) free world".
(1)For example, Professor G. William Domhoff of the University of California at Santa Cruz wrote in 2001:
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