The Underbelly of a Capitalist Economy: Commodified Human Beings Sunday, October 29, 2006
Posted by Lars Almquist in Global Interest, Poverty Sucks.add a comment
The New York Times is currently running a great article on the commodification of children in West Africa.
Here are a few snippets:
Mr. Takyi’s boys — conscripts in a miniature labor camp, deprived of schooling, basic necessities and freedom — are part of a vast traffic in children that supports West and Central African fisheries, quarries, cocoa and rice plantations and street markets. The girls are domestic servants, bread bakers, prostitutes. The boys are field workers, cart pushers, scavengers in abandoned gem and gold mines.
A 2002 study supervised by the labor organization estimated that nearly 12,000 trafficked children toiled in the cocoa fields of Ivory Coast alone. The children, who had no relatives in the area, cleared fields with machetes, applied pesticides and sliced open cocoa pods for beans.
“A child does not consent,” he said. “The loss of choice, the deception, the use of frauds, the keeping of someone at work with little or no pay, the threats if they leave — it is slavery.”
Now, I don’t mean to get all Kanye West on you, but it begs the question:
**Do you know where your diamonds come from? Are they still your best friend?
**How about your chocolate? Still an aphrodisiac? Comfort food? Dessert of choice?
Perhaps it’s time we started asking better questions and seeking more effective answers.
See Free the Slaves as to how you can get more involved.
This Guy Did, Mr. Cheney. Saturday, October 28, 2006
Posted by Lars Almquist in Fighting Tyranny, International Politics, Saving Democracy, The Administration.add a comment
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed……
I did not consent to your Powers, Mr. Bush…..and apparently nor does 68% of the American public at this hour.
May this nation forgive you.
If Waterboarding Isn’t Torture, Then Can You Demonstrate It For Us, Mr. Cheney??? Friday, October 27, 2006
Posted by Lars Almquist in Fighting Tyranny, Saving Democracy, The Administration, W.add a comment
The McClatchy Washington Bureau reported this article on American-sanctioned torture this week…
Somehow this Administration thinks we’re too stupid to recognize torture when we see it. Well, Mr. Cheney, Mr. President, if waterboarding, or “dunking” as you so compassionately refer to it, isn’t torture, then I propose a demonstration – how about you or one of your cronies come before us, the tax-paying, democracy-supporting, freedom-loving American public on live TV before this election season and undergo your precious “non-torture” methods to illustrate to the American public, and the increasing swaths of thinking people worldwide who are vociferously against your fake-Christian-based “compassionate conservatism” that ‘waterboarding’ is neither torture, nor cruel and unusual punishment?
For now, I loathe your slander, your lies, and your rhetoric…..so perhaps I need some visual evidence….if you show me, then perhaps I’ll believe you.
For now, The Day King George Was Crowned…
Vote ALL Your Values, November 7th Thursday, October 26, 2006
Posted by Lars Almquist in Global Interest, International Politics, Poverty Sucks.3 comments
The ONE Campaign is currently running this great ad….reminding us all that there are more moral values on which our voting decision should be made than simply those in regard to the particular sexual practices of individuals.
Here’s to voting ALL your values on November 7th….
And one of the first ONE Campaign ads, still a classic…
And by the way, wait for my November 8th endorsement of Barack Obama in ‘08….I called it two years ago…looks like the media just found out about this guy…..
Caring for the Uninsured Thursday, October 26, 2006
Posted by Lars Almquist in Local Interest, Poverty Sucks, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Once again, compassion trumps cold-hearted capitalism. The New York Times ran a great article (again) about how the short-term (and yes, it still costs money) treatment of those without insurance actually saves economic resources in the long run, as the poor and uninsured wind up being healthier and consuming less resources in the long run when their bodies can actually function as they were created (or at least to the best of their ability).
Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics 1998, beautifully contends in his book Development as Freedom, that poverty isn’t inherently quantifiable in terms of sheer cash & capital, but instead is a poverty of assets, entitlements, and what he terms “capability deprivation.”
In short, ‘Poverty as Capability Deprivation’ is a look at the causes and sustaining factors of poverty with a wider aperture than the sheer $1-$2/day lens that is often used (both positively and negatively) to categorize poverty. Capability Deprivation – essentially, the lack of the ability to perform as one could/should/or was created to function, manifests itself in many forms: A person having physical or mental disabilities; Being a woman in a patriarchal society (guess who gets to eat first, go to school first, get medical care first in these societies…hint, they have Y chromosomes); and especially overlooked, being poor in a rich country. Now, there are many others, but this is the one justifying the focus of this particular article.
Being poor in a rich country is deceptive reality. On the surface, you have more than most entire families in the rest of the world. Homeless men and women in the US live like the middle class in Ethiopia, at least in terms of their raw possessions and general geographical mobility. However, the cost of living in affluent nations and areas is a strangling tournequet on the lives, pocketbooks, and health of the poor. The poor spend a disproportionate amount of their income on housing and food. They spend a disproportionate amount of their income on (not-so-)simple transportation to and from their jobs. They spend a disproportionate amount of their time and income simply trying to sustain their families in general.
Now, I say ‘disproportionate’ because, well, their spending is just that. Food doesn’t necessarily cost more for the rich – that is, unless you’re a fat, pretentious bastard who can only shop at Whole Foods in La Jolla, but then you have other issues. In general, housing doesn’t cost more for the middle class (though, again, if you’re the pretentious dude in La Jolla, we’ll talk about other things first). In fact, as much as they would love it, the freeways are not less congested and transportation is not more efficient for the upwardly mobile, either. One can only eat so much. One can only live in so many neighborhoods. There are only so many routes by which one can commute to work. And so, if you’re filthy rich, you suck it up and pay your dues (then complain about how high they are and subsequently vote Republican to lower your dues, because hey, you “earned” the right to have lesser dues, right?) and move on with your life.
Not so easy for the poor – caught between paying for shelter, food, transportation to work (often multiple workplaces), school supplies, gasoline, sales taxes (that ever so subversive tax that conservatives forget to look at when they say the poor and ‘illegals’ don’t contribute to society, but instead suck it’s economic blood. Myopic argument, but again, that’s for another post) – they try to make a living – amidst the poverty of their deprived capabilities…the Poverty of Capability Deprivation.
So, can we take one more (or one first) step towards ridding the poor of their poverty, benefiting all of tax-paying (and non-tax-paying) society, and set an example for the rest of the world to follow (except for all those beautiful Scandinavian and Latin American countries who have actually already led the way in this regard….but hey, we’re America, if we can’t be first we might as well not play, right – so at least we can pretend to lead the way and benefit some folks) – and start universalizing health care. It benefits the poor now. It benefits the nation now. It benefits our economy in the long run. So, how about it, Church? America? Red States? Blue States? Can we stop fighting about things that don’t matter (like what Nancy Pelosi will spew forth when she becomes the first woman Speaker of the House), and focus on issues that do? Namely, ensuring that again, we live out the words of Yahweh, Jesus, and Paul (in Exodus 16, Luke 4, and 2 Corinthians 9) and fight for a society in which everybody has enough and nobody lives in excess…..
Let’s start with the economics of basic healthcare.
World On Fire Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Posted by Lars Almquist in Global Interest, Poverty Sucks.2 comments
I’m not a huge Sarah McLachlan fan, but I just re-discovered this video for her song ‘World on Fire’, and think all two of you who read this should watch it and pay it forward. Watch it twice even, so you catch it all…
Dhalit Mass Conversions Saturday, October 14, 2006
Posted by Lars Almquist in Global Interest, Jesus, Poverty Sucks.add a comment
Reason number 4,326 why a preferential option for the poor sets faith in Jesus leagues ahead of the rest of the world in terms of the benefits such faith provides to both its adherents and non-adherents. Unfortunately, we in the West rarely live like this is actually true. But notice in the rest of the world, poverty and faith are still matters of life and death – literally. Check out the article the BBC ran today about Dhalits converting from Hinduism to Christianity and Buddhism in order to escape the horrible repression they face on a daily basis in their homeland.
Good News….Pun intended…..for now. But wake up, Church, and realize that if you continue to fail to offer a preferential option for those whom Jesus favored, blessed, and came to liberate, then they will go elsewhere. The encouraging note is that there is still hope, as not many others are offering an earthy promise to the poor in addition to that regarded as the ‘opiate of the people’ one hundred and fifty years ago.
Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.
Great Nobel Peace Prize Selection Friday, October 13, 2006
Posted by Lars Almquist in Global Interest, International Politics, Poverty Sucks.2 comments
Though I’ve never taken an econ class in my life (just personal study and political economy-esque readings), microloans have been something on my heart for the past three years – ever since I walked past entire families perishing on the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for lack of access to resources. These days, even food in developing countries has become an entitlement, not a right (see Amartya Sen, Development As Freedom).
In the midst of seeking to fight the collection of usury (interest) charged to the poor, while still giving them the resources and entrepreneurial incentives necessary for allowing those on the margins to release both themselves and their progeny from a generational cycle of poverty, microloans and microenterprise work seem to be phenomenal ideas with little public spotlight or international backing….perhaps we feel so entitled to our interest payments in the West that we wouldn’t dare help raise somebody else up for ‘free.’ Funny, isn’t it. We’ll fight poverty, so long as it economically benefits us; and if it doesn’t, screw it.
Not anymore. Praise the Lord for Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded to release the poor from their poverty by empowering them to do so themselves.
Please check out this New York Times Article and read for yourself – if you don’t have an online NYT subscription, GET ONE – It’s free, and you’ll actually learn something about what’s going on in the world – what a deal!
Some excerpts to whet the appetite:
The 65-year-old economist said he would use part of his share of the $1.4 million award money to create a company to make low-cost, high-nutrition food for the poor. The rest would go toward setting up an eye hospital for the poor in Bangladesh, he said.
”Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty,” the Nobel Committee said in its citation. ”Microcredit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights.”
Grameen Bank was the first lender to hand out microcredit, giving very small loans to poor Bangladeshis who did not qualify for loans from conventional banks. No collateral is needed and repayment is based on an honor system.
Anyone can qualify for a loan — the average is about $200 — but recipients are put in groups of five. Once two members of the group have borrowed money, the other three must wait for the funds to be repaid before they get a loan.
Grameen, which means rural in the Bengali language, says the method encourages social responsibility. The results are hard to argue with — the bank says it has a 99 percent repayment rate.
An astonishing 97% of the beneficiaries of these loans are women – those whom are most affected by paternalistic economic and social systems worldwide. What an unbelievable opportunity for empowerment.
How applicable are the words of Christ, found in Luke 6:34-36, in this, the most densely populated nation on the globe, with scarcely a Christian witness on the ground…this is a call for followers of Jesus to no longer be silent, to no longer let those who do not believe in our Savior and Liberator to do a better job of practicing our values than we do around the world. Here’s to Jesus breaking into Bangladesh and every other poor society on the globe….
34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ lend to ’sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Become merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Come, Holy Spirit, and conform us to Your will and to the image of Jesus…
Inner City Educator Awarded ‘Teacher of the Year’ Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Posted by Lars Almquist in Local Interest, Poverty Sucks.add a comment
As much as I can’t stand the Union Tribune, as all those hypothetical monkeys typing randomly trying to create Shakespeare actually do better reporting than the UT, they ran a worthy article (that should have been front-page-worthy were it not for the GOP sex-capades as of late) this morning about Pamela Moorehead, a teacher at City Heights Community School.
Pamela is dedicated to serving underprivileged kids in a rough area – and she is lucky even to give them an opportunity to experience a second chance. If you haven’t already, please click on either the photo or the post-text for access to the online article, then note the following:
Each student comes to Moorehead with a file detailing his or her past. Her job is to help each student outrace it. When the word “gang” is in that file, she has got to work fast.
For Moorehead, it’s a success, for example, to have persuaded one student to study nursing at Mesa College, because he didn’t think he’d live long enough to become a doctor.
“If we treat these students like they are going to go to somebody’s college, then they start acting like that,” said Moorehead, who lives in Encanto.
Working at City College has opened my eyes to the power of simply believing in students who have never had somebody believe they had potential before.
Moorehead sometimes pairs rival gang members to solve algebraic equations or interpret a story. In Room 202, she wants them to learn that their grade is more important than their gang affiliation.
Talk about the power of reconciliation – get this woman in this Administration or on the UN Security Council…granted, I’m sure Ms. Moorehead would turn down the position, however we at least need her example in getting combative parties to dialogue and work together instead of fighting things out. Perhaps we’ll follow her in realizing our lives are more important than our patriotic straightjackets.
The failures, not the successes, have kept her in the court schools for decades instead of teaching elsewhere.
“I know if we don’t do what we need to do, these kids are going to die, because I’ve seen them die,” said Moorehead, 55.
So this is a call. This is a call to follow the God of Downward Mobility (Philippians 2), the God who left His palace in heaven to move into the ghetto, into the barrio, in order to buy back people’s lives – holistically, not just spiritually. This is a call to join Jesus, Ms. Moorehead, and the presence of the Kingdom in places where our society would rather not go, where suburbs don’t exist, yet guns, knives, tattoos, and tears do. This is a call to join the work of Jesus to show the world that every life counts, not just those of the unborn or the wealthy. This is a call to self-surrender, knowing that when we give up our lives for the sake of the Kingdom and the Gospel, that’s when we truly gain them.
Anybody interested in gaining their life back?
Can We Declare a Year of Jubilee for the Environment? Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Posted by Lars Almquist in Global Interest, Jesus, Poverty Sucks.add a comment
The BBC ran this great article on ‘Ecological Debt’ today…. Some key statements:
“By living so far beyond our environmental means and running up ecological debts means we make two mistakes,” said Andrew Simms, Nef’s (New Economics Foundation) policy director.
“First, we deny millions globally who already lack access to sufficient land, food and clean water the chance to meet their needs. Secondly, we put the planet’s life support mechanisms in peril,” he added.
Of course the poor suffer more within a structure that benefits an economic and global system heavily favoring those with power and resources, two keys the marginalized certainly do not possess.
I find it intriguing that we are more concerned with ‘economic growth’ than eradicating situations that keep the poor in their poverty and subdominant state – does the unstated implication mean that ‘economic growth’ is only for the rich? Or does it mean that the poor are expendable if it we see the fruits of ‘economic growth’? Or does it mean that we’re so blinded by a desire for more that the plight of those who are, as Jesus would say, the least, as a result simply has little to no bearing on our economics, our morality, and our stewardship of the resources God has let us tend and borrow?
And further, I disagree with the comments of Fredrik Erixon (despite his awesomely-spelled name), cited below:
[Erixon] also questioned the use of the term “debt”: “A debt is where you have over-savings in one area of the economy, and under-savings in another.
“Then you have a transfer of savings from one actor to another in the form of a loan. But who are we indebted to?” Mr Erixon asked.
“Perhaps ‘ecological exuberance’ is better than ecological debt.”
Debt doesn’t necessitate a loan, or a transfer of savings. Hence the realities of interest and bankruptcy. If you consume more than you can put back, you accrue interest, which in the short term doesn’t kill you, though it is ugly to look in the face (so we typically don’t, or we blame it on something/somebody else). However, should the accumulation of interest pile up to a tipping point, whereby an individual, corporation, or planet can no longer feasibly pay off either it’s original consumption cost, in addition to the interest, fallout, and extenuating penalties from that original cost (or series of costs), then that entity must declare bankruptcy. They forfeit and give up, essentially, closing doors, lines of credit, and sustainable means to subsist and provide for others (anecdotal, rather than hypothetical experience noted here).
Now, in the US, after 7 years, bankruptcies can be wiped away, though they are horrendously damaging for those years, and their effects are felt for many more years to come after the stain is bleached away by the shame of poverty, despair, and one of the few graces allowed to those who can’t ‘put out’ economically in this society.
However, our planet’s resources do not come with a bankruptcy contingency plan. Our Creator longed, and continues to long, that ‘everyone would have enough, and no one would have too much’ – see Exodus 16, especially verses 16-18:
16 “This is what the LORD has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.’”
17 The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little.
18 When they measured it with an omer, he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat.
along with 2 Corinthians 8, particularly verses 13-15:
13 For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality–
14 at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality;
15 as it is written, “HE WHO gathered MUCH DID NOT HAVE TOO MUCH, AND HE WHO gathered LITTLE HAD NO LACK.”
Have we as followers of Jesus succumb to worshiping economic growth over the worship of a self-giving Christ who gave his own life to buy back (redeem; ransom) the lives of His creation mired in unforgiveable debt (Colossians 2: 13-15; Romans 8:20, 21 and many elsewhere)???
So, perhaps ‘In God We Trust’ is inscribed on our currency, but it’s Mammon whom we serve.
