CAUSES OF POVERTY

Parenting Poverty

There are many causes of Poverty

1. Single Parent Poverty - About 60 percent of U.S. children living in mother-only families are living in Poverty   Only about 11 percent of two-parent families are below the Poverty line.

2.  Scarce Availability of jobs and  low wages paid for those jobs

3. Disabilities that make it impossible to work.

4. Lack of training for skilled labor jobs that pay middle-class wages

5. Lack of work ethic that results in an unwillingness to do what is considered a Wage-slave job.  


The result often is generation after generation of people who, due to resulting lack access to good education, health care, adequate housing, proper sanitation, and good nutrition are trapped in a recurring cycle of Poverty.  We have instituted many forms of Welfare assistance that actually trapped the Poor in behaviors that will at least allow them the means to survive.  Finding minimum level employment will actually make life harder due to loss of absolutely necessary benefits necessary to survival.

If we are going to break the cycle of Poverty, we must give everyone [Poor & Rich alike] an Unconditional Basic Income that is unaffected by a "means test" from some   Government  Bureau for Begging    To do that the Income must be Universal Unconditional and above the Poverty Level. Then and only then will every citizen have the power and Freedom to choose his own path in Life that will allow the Pursuit of personally satisfying achievement.

The establishment of Class Rule

Eugene Debs was arrested  June 18, 1918 under the "Sedition Act, which made it a crime to "willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of the Government of the United States" 

Debs did not contest the charges.  He was stripped of his citizenship and given 10-year prison term.  In his comments to the Court, he ended with these words :

"Your Honor, I ask no mercy and I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally, the right must prevail. I never so clearly comprehended as now the great struggle between the powers of greed and exploitation on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of industrial freedom and social justice. I can see the dawn of the better day for humanity. The people are awakening. In due time they will and must come to their own".

Much of what he fought for was set on the path of progress in the Great Depression under Roosevelt.  But since the rise of the Power of the extreme Right under Reagan, we are now close to returning to the Path of Oppression by the Oligarch of the Wealthy. The Presidency of Donald Trump could end our era of 

Progressive Progress.  If we can preserve and improve our gains in Health Care we may stop or at least slow the slide into Wage-Slavery and restore the pathway out of Poverty.

What kind of Animal are we?

 Published  simultaneously on  PATREON    https://www.patreon.com/posts/13014925

and on Short Thoughts too Long to Tweet 

To design a successful human society you need to know what kind of animal we are. Are we a cooperative animal or a competitive animal?"

The answer is YES. We all thrive on the prize of the competition and we all share bread with a stranger in varying degrees. Our cooperation builds personal bonds and community solidarity in shared goals.  Competition for the Prize and exceptional Reward for exceptional Performance leads to increased effort and to the drive to find a better way of doing things.  Often it also leads to Poverty & Excess.  

If we can find a stable environment between the Poorest and Richest within the drive to attain the most or all of everything, we can build a safe foundation to build Freedom from Want and establish a stronger Democracy.  If Poverty dominates our Economic System we will suffocate Democracy & Freedom in favor of rule by the Oligarch of 1%ers. 

Cash IS NOT Money

Moving Money

Originally written and Published on my  PATREON  site   June 7, 2017.



What would happen if you had a Gold coin that you could melt down and sell the Gold in that coin for two Gold coins? If you know the answer you will understand why coins ARE never worth and CAN NEVER BE worth the face value on the coin.  The face value is recorded in an Asset Account in a Federal Reserve Bank or a Corporate Bank and the coin is used to transfer that value from one Bank account to another.

That is the same purpose as a Federal Reserve Note. It is simply a printed receipt for Money recorded as numbers in a Bank Account. Coins differ from a Federal Reserve Note only by being printed on metal instead of paper. Both are used to move the printed value from one Bank Account to another. It may move through several the hands of more than one buyer/seller before ending up as a Bank Deposit as an asset for which the Bank is liable to the Depositor. Checks -  Credit/Debit Cards - Drafts all serve the same purpose 

Cash Money exists nowhere and has never existed anywhere except as a printed value that the Printer of that receipt claims he will exchange a thing of real value for. The ultimate value of the dollar is established by the fact that it is the only way you can pay your taxes or any "dollar valued debt" you owe. You must obtain dollars to pay your taxes and other debts. Debt gives them value.

No matter what you think money once was, I assure you isn't now and never will be. It is just a bookkeeping system to determine who has purchasing power for Goods or Labor. It has the advantage that trades can take place over a span of time, unlike Barter which occurs as a single transaction, It makes trading Goods & Service fungible instead of requiring concurrent agreement at the time of the trade. It is the lifeblood of World Commerce.


https://www.patreon.com/commonshare

Commonshare of the Commonwealth

Ownership has cost

The Sovereign Nation owns the land we live on, the wealth beneath it, and the air above.  Private ownership is a privilege that is granted in return for the payment of fees and/or tax on profits earned or for satisfaction gained in the private personal use. The monetary gains by the Sovereign Nation are the commonwealth that belongs to the Sovereign community.  How they are distributed depends on who holds the Power to control distribution. 

The fact that we pay our property tax or lose our property is the proof that private use is a privilege that you must pay for. The right of "Eminent Domain" is additional proof that the Government can take what it needs for the "Common Good" as long as you are compensated for your improvements.

The power to tax personal possessions & monetary wealth is the source of the "commonwealth".  In a democratic nation, all of the people are entitled to a dividend on their Common share of that wealth. I am a strong believer in the Right of every Citizen [rich or poor] to receive their dividend on what they own in common, just as a Corporate shareholder does. If the Dividend is adequately used for the General Welfare of the Citizen, poverty will not be a plague upon the population.

Income offers Choice

Choice is the key to freedom

Ownership of  Property in the Capitalist Economic System for both self-use and for retraction of profit from ownership is hallowed ground.   But property can be reclaimed by the government if taxes are not paid or by  Right of Eminent Domain if it is needed for the common good.  Is ownership therefore only partial and therefore it is a privilege and not a Right?  It is still the cornerstone of unearned income & wealth as opposed to income earned from labor and is the cause wage-slavery.
  
When residential property is owned but not used, the owner would like to have someone to pay for its use. If another person desired the use of that residence and had the resources to rent the unused residence, that renter would do so unless he wanted to be homeless. If that person lacked resources or wages,  he would be homeless. That is the power of ownership over those who have only their labor to obtain life essentials. They can be either trapped in Poverty or forced to be a Wage-Slave to undesirable jobs without the Freedom to choose.

 To ensure Freedom to escape poverty or wage-slavery is to find a way to distribute money to the person who has none. The fairest & simplest solution is to provide an unconditional Basic Income Guarantee to every person [rich or poor] large enough to buy sufficient food, adequate shelter, and effective medical care. It is the simplest solution for distributing basic Goods & Service to every person.

I recommend using the existing Supplemental Security Income [SSI] program without a Means Test of a need in order to distribute. It could be distributed to all with no need for a large Government Bureau-for-Begging that will exercise "Shaming" as a power tool

Keeping Score

Modern Money Theory

No scorekeeper has ever called off a Sports Contest because of running out of numbers. Likewise, no Sovereign Nation with a Sovereign Currency can run out of money.

A score keeper can create all the numbers need to score the game The Federal Reserve Banks have the ability to create unlimited Money. They could finance all Public Debt at zero % interest. Only Congress prevents it by preventing the Fed from direct financing of Original Debt. That is only permitted to a select Group of Representatives from Corporate Banks. The Fed is only permitted to operate in the Open Market.

Unlimited available Money is not the cause of inflation. Limited needed Labor skills, shortage of Productive capacity and/or lack of input materials cause difficulty in production of needed Goods & Service. Shortage of Goods & Service causes inflation.

The Government can authorize creation of just as much money as is needed to accomplish any task. If labor, productive capacity and raw materials are available, the money can be created to accomplish the task without dislocating the stability of its economy.

William Hodge