In college, I took Economics on as a second major because I was good at it and plus, my parents were on my case that Psychology was not a practical field I should major. When I joined the workforce, I never had any use for Economics tho. The only time it is practical to me is when I turn on the news and they are talking about Alan Greenspan, the Fed, interest rates, inflation, unemployment rate, investment, tax, consumer spending, monetary policy and fiscal policy. If I exercise my brain hard enough, I think I kind of still remember the theories of how all those factors correlate with and affect each other. Recently, I have been thinking about Economics a lot because in the area of Community Development, you come to realize that the low income communities, the non-profit organizations, the funding (public and private), and policies (welfare, healthcare, social security) are strongly influenced by the Economy.
Of course, Economics is affected by our good friend, Politics, specifically the bi-partisan parties that make up the government. This is the part where I become opinionated. (In case you can’t tell after reading this entry, yes, I am a Democrat…but not because I want to label myself as one, but because many of my views are in line with the foundation that encompasses the Democratic Party.)
With every election, the Republican Party touts its “lower taxes” strategy and many people voted for Shrub because of that. But “lower taxes”, combined with War in Iraq, has many repercussions here in the U.S. that are mostly experienced by the poverty-stricken population. When lower taxes is combined with spending on war, the budget deficit gets bigger and guess what is cut from federal funding: welfare, healthcare, education. (Lowering taxes has a minimal financial effect to the middle/upper class, but the amounts that are lost has a significant effect on federal funding to the lower class.) Tuition costs, medical costs, housing costs, and just plain everyday necessities are heavily inflated each year and with decreasing federal support, a domino effect of many other events occurs. To compensate, wages paid to workers rise, further inflating costs and prices.
All of this has a grim effect on the low- to moderate- income community. Welfare and support given to this community is constantly seeing a decline. Many non-profits that help out this community is getting less and less federal support. Of course, these non-profits end up seeking the support of private funding through Private and Corporate Foundations, Banks. But even Foundations and Banks have limited resources that a very saturated non-profit sector must compete to get. Non-profits end up resorting to charging fees for services that used to be free. And the individuals in those communities are even more strapped for money. Imagine how the affordable housing crisis is already affecting the middle class, but the situation is even worse for the lower class. When I drive around the city, I will pass one street that is very affluent and a couple of streets down is the projects. Then there is the act of gentrification (the restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people, often resulting in displacement of lower-income people.) Although things are being done to clean up the deteriorating urban neighborhoods, the lower-income people are being isolated into other areas like the projects. The area around SBC Park used to be an eye sore but now when you go there, it is becoming more yuppy.
I really didn’t know where I wanted to go in this entry or what my point was, but in the last two months, I have seen quite a lot already and in the future will probably witness more atrocities just within our own backyards. I know many things I pointed out in this entry are very negative, but there are many things being done. However, efforts are very concentrated and in terms of scope, many of the problems will still remain. I wish I can help or even find a way to help, but my ambitions are not that high. Plus, my concentration is on education, helping orphans, and promoting local SF organizations that help the homeless and the starving.
Some other random tidbits to think about:
-Many countries (Canada, many European countries) have very high tax rates but all the constituents are provided with medical insurance. I know the U.S. would not join the ranks of those countries, but when you visit Canada, it is very clean and you will not see any homeless people.
-I was watching CNN and a mayor of a small town in the midwest was talking about how he used to be supportive of the war. But after being called to serve in Iraq and then coming back to his town, he was against the war. The reasons he stated were that usually when he is called out to serve during a national crisis like floods, tornadoes, etc., the soldiers bond with the towns that they are helping. However, in Iraq, there is so much fear and before the US went in, there were minimal bombings; but once the US stepped in, terroism/bombings were happening randomly in public on streets and people were scared of the soldiers. He also stated that his hometown was in need of a new sewage system but there was a lack of Federal resources while we were helping Iraq build schools, streets, and a sewage system.
-With war comes the repercussion of innocent lives being taken and of more hatred and revengeful acts from those people whose lives weren’t taken but had to witness their loved ones being killed. The cycle of war has continued through time (Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, US bombed Hiroshima, Japanese raped Nanking, China devasted Tibet, WTC gets bombed, US starts war in Iraq.) Many people have already suffered fighting the war or just being innocent bystanders who were suppressed (Jews by Germans, Japanese by Americans.) I know I live in my own idealistic view of the world, but to me, I think tolerance, education, and forgiveness should be a substitution for war.
-So, of all the third world countries the US can be helping, why are we helping Iraq again? And why are we targeting Iraq to alleviate the threats of terroism? I can only think of one reason…I once read a book called “The Prize.” It gives a very subjective view of history about how every single global decision ever made is driven by a three letter word. It was actually quite interesting.
My big sis and I have been volunteering for Project Openhand’s Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival for the past 3 years now and we are going to volunteer again this coming year so come visit us! (We always somehow talk the people into giving us the Chocolate Covered Strawberry booth even during years when they didn’t want anyone.) Although we’ve switched jobs many times and no longer see each other on a daily basis, my big sis still sends me my scope everyday and checks up on me and for that I’m eternally grateful.
