February 22
GUEST: Ann Larson, antipoverty
activist and contributor to the anthology, Going for Broke:
Living on the Edge in the World's Richest Country, talks
about how the poorly paid get by in a country designed for the
billionaire class.
Ann
Larson: The Cashier Philosopher
The poorly paid don't really get by. They cut corners and don't buy what their families really need. Sometimes that is healthcare and education. Sometimes it is just peace of mind.
A nation's money is a zero net gain amount. If one interest group takes more, other groups get less. If half the nation's tax proceeds go to making weaponry, why there is only half left for education, housing, medical care, daycare, etc. If large corporations get tax breaks, why the poor and middle class have to pay more. When a nation has 756 billionaires, why 50% of Americans have to live from paycheck to paycheck.
And when the nation's working class pushes back, why the plutocracy will often support a fascist, who will keep wages low and punish dissenters. Trump didn't come out of nowhere.
Nor did our two pro-war parties. We have troops abroad in about half the world, while our working class is the poorest of all in the industrialized nations. War and occupations abroad benefit the very rich, and penalize the very poor. Our system is not a democracy, but a poorly disguised kleptocracy, the rule by the corrupt few.
