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 The Unseen Battles of the 1990s
In the 1990s the war on the poor was in full swing. In Canada, the Canada Assistance Act was thrown out by Prime Minister Paul Martin. The Act had provided a measure of social security for all Canadians. It was unceremoniously thrown out to unbearable silence on the part of opposition parties, welfare rights groups, and the media. 'Work for your welfare' attitudes were the latest fad. In that period funding to health care and other social programs was slashed to the bone. Politicians were quick to blame bond rating agencies for the need to slash and burn. The Fraser Institute and other right wing lobby groups were shrill and panicked by national and local deficits. These bond rating agencies and think tanks never harass people about funding used to kill foreigners or to prop up the wealthy class. They spout hysterical when a dime is spent to feed somebody but say nothing about funding for war and profits to ammunition makers. They attack expenditures to the poor but never lay a glove on servicing the debt. At the same time in the USA, Slick Willy brought forward some of the most vile and mean spirited welfare legislation that country has seen. Clintons TANF (Temporary assistance for Needy Families) placed the problem of poverty squarely on the laps of the victims. Aside from the notion that in an area where x% are unemployed because that's how many jobs actually exist, the implicit assumption has always been that the unemployed are so because they choose it that way. As it is, one in seven Michigan residents are on food stamp assistance but individuals are required to show they are looking for work when there is none. As irrational as this seems, it isn't. It is about fixing blame on the victim. The Working Class The old alliance and silent deal between large scale capitalists and the middle classes has been scrapped. This is not a recession. This is a matter of large scale capitalists behaving like pigeons in a skinner box. They are simply programmed to maximize profits and if that means shipping manufacturing plants to places where they can pay for assemblage with pennies, that's what they will do. Expecting anything else is folly and it is stupid. This is not a recession if recession implies 'temporary'. This is a full scale shift in fortunes and in manufacturing. The middle classes have been asleep for the most part while the poor have been under heavy artillery fire. The life of comforts that comes with nesting under American and British hegemony tended to encourage political apathy. Why upset the apple cart when me and mine are doing okay? The middle/working classes have been living off not only capitalist exploitation of foreign resources. They have also been living off the demands for goods and services that are drying up domestically. And for people in that situation; people that have been oblivious to class consciousness and oblivious to the starvation and oppression of our brothers and sisters at home and abroad, you have been sold out by your masters. They have no loyalty to nations, religions, or to anything except to their own class. Where 'they' (the poor) have been you are. In fact, you have always been there. As much as it hurts to say this; you/we are not one of them. You/we are not in that class no matter how many status symbols you can/we afford. They (the owners of the politicians) simply don't care what happens to us. The banks and the large corporations have created the present crisis. And it is they that are reaping a financial harvest at the moment courtesy of the taxpayers. They don't need to worry. Their employees, the Federal Reserve's Bernanke and President Obama will ensure that they are unharmed. They will collude and are colluding with the operators/gamblers and ensure that the games that have brought the economy to this crisis continues. The Federal Reserve has underwritten and guaranteed about $13 trillion to keep their gambling addiction alive. And at the same time, the lower classes are in full crisis. Sinister and foggy financial credit default swaps and other mechanisms to keep the game alive are still in the cards. They fooled us once, they fooled us twice and they will fool us again. The shell games should be outlawed and the fraudsters that have reaped from the games should be jailed - but they are rewarded and the shell games continue. They are rewarded because it is they that pay and control the Bernankes and the Obamas. We are living in a world where the instruments needed to produce for everybody are available. They are shut down. We live in a world where the numbers of homeless are increasing at an alarming rate and homes sit empty, while the homeless sleep in cars, under bridges, or anywhere that seems safe. And on it goes. And on it goes because we believe we live in a classless society. And if you really believe that, ask one of them out for a beer. In reality, they don't associate with the likes of you/me. Archie Kennedy An associate editor of MWC is an activist/organizer and has organized in coal mines, with professionals, and with victims of poverty. He has worked as a coal miner, a community worker, a teacher and is now a social worker. Archie writes polemical articles on human rights, political economy, and war. You may find his articles archived on his blog, Left Lite
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