For the last week, I’ve been somewhat cloistered working on a significant update to our position paper on the economy. One of the resources I draw from is an article that appeared in Yes! Magazine. Author David Kroten writes that it should not be about pumping more stimulus money into a failing economic system construct. But rather, we should be creating: The New Economy. “There is good reason why both the Bush and Obama administrations, different as they are, have responded to the Wall Street crash with bailouts for the guilty, rather than face up to the need for a radical restructuring of the financial system,” writes Kroten. He goes on to propose that we reboot the economy by doing away with Wall Street financial speculation (which he says is nothing more than legalized gambling). And that we would also do well to go back to a small scale, decentralized local production for local consumption model that favors “productive work” and solid local investment. This only makes sense. Common sense.
Arctic ice melts at an alarming rate
An Associated Press article today said that permanent Arctic sea ice is disappearing at an alarming rate. Multi-year sea ice used to cover 90% of the Arctic basin, but because of global warming it now covers only 19%. During a recent talk at Holy Cross College in South Bend, Indiana, I said to just slowly and incrementally cut back our fossil fuel use in the face of this mounting crisis is like “…rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.” The U.S., which currently leads the world in the emission of greenhouse gases, needs to move from being a “Society of Consumers to a Society of Conservers,” quick. And there needs to be political leadership with the guts to tell Americans that we need to ration energy use, like things were rationed during World War II. And when you think about it from a common sense standpoint, it is war time again now. That is, there is a war on the environment. Note: The article also included the following paragraph: “The lack of sea ice may be good news to some who want to see the North opened to industry. Without thick ice blocking the way, shpis can more easily gain access to the Arctic’s natural resources.” This begs the question: Have we become that nuts that any of us would see this as “good news.”?
Foreclosure crisis, or opportunity?
An AP story today said that the “foreclosure crisis” is worsening. The latest evidence was a report Thursday that a rising proportion of fixed-rate home loans made to people with good credit are sinking into foreclosure nationwide, according to the article. The state hardest hit is Florida where one in four mortgages were either past due or in foreclosure… Now, this can be viewed as a “crisis.” Or this can be viewed as a step toward a part of the new economy we propose when it comes to real estate. In the new economy, many more people go to house-sharing. This halves expenses. The mortgage is half. The utilities are half. You share furniture, appliances, lawn equipment… Urban sprawl starts to reverse. Global warming gases diminish significantly. And money is freed up to help the poor here and around the world more… On a campaign stop in Winnona, Minnesota, we learned that town has a House-Share Program to help match people. Every town should have a similar program.
desperate and afraid
Liz and I are currently part of the staff at the St. Peter Claver Catholic Worker Houses in South Bend, Indiana. These houses, based on the ethos of Christian “hospitality,” take in people off the streets and allow them to live here long term. With the cold weather now upon us, the houses are relatively full. There was no room at the women’s house, for instance, for a middle-age black woman who came to the door last night. In turn, a friend and I gave her a ride the South Bend’s homeless shelter for the evening. She said she was both desperate and she was afraid to be on the streets at night. And it showed. The answer, in the short term, was a bed at the shelter for the evening. The answer, in the long term, is to exponentially step up the help for those on the margins of society.
Lunar Lunacy 2
Front page stories in newspapers across the country scream that, at last: Water Has Been Found On The Moon! I mean, there’s water in India. And there’s water in Uganda. And there’s water in El Salvador… A lot of it unsafe to drink. But the poor are drinking it, and dying. And then there’s all that polluted water in the Great Lakes. And what about not enough water in southern California? And… Yet we’re spending billions of dollars on this moon thing. Billions of dollars that could be spent setting up water purification systems in the Third World, better water filtration plants for the Great Lakes, and water pipeline conduits into Southern California. All on this planet. Have we become so devoid of common sense?
Did you say 50 billion dollars?
I went to a talk about nuclear weapons at Notre Dame University’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies yesterday. Retired General William Burns, who advocates for an incrementally scaled back U.S. nuclear arsenal, offered some relatively startling numbers. The one that particularly caught my attention was: In the year 2008, the U.S. spent $50 billion (that’s right, billion as with a b) on simply maintaining — not even upgrading — our nuclear weapons. During the Q&A period, I noted that the Catholic Bishops in America had issued a statement that nuclear proliferation in the face of world poverty is a social justice travesty. In “average Joe” terms, I noted that there are 24,000 people who starve to death every day in the world. Yet we just spent $50 billion last year to keep ourselves protected. Given this, do we become spiritually culpable for many of these peoples’ deaths? It wouldn’t take a moral theologian to, well… I also asked General Burns, based on his years of worldwide nuclear diplomacy, that if the U.S. disarmed all our nuclear weapons tomorrow, would we be nuked? He said no. Note: During a small dinner gathering with General Burns after the talk, I asked him how we can tell these other countries they can’t have nuclear weapons — while not only do we have them, but some are aimed at these other countries? The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty notwithstanding, he said because we think we’re right and they’re not. I couldn’t help but think how ‘right’ it is to spend 50 billion bucks to tremendously over protect ourselves, while little starving children in Uganda are taking their last breaths while their moms and dads look on helplessly?
I know how to live without electricity…
The other day I listened to part of a talk to some Montessori students who were on a field trip to the Peter Claver Catholic Worker Houses in South Bend, Indiana. The Catholic Worker Houses here are a cluster of homes that house the homeless. One of the handouts to the students this day was titled: Could You Survive in Poverty? It noted that income levels have a societal insular effect. What’s more, the writing indicated that people not in the poverty socio-economic strata often can’t relate to some of the things it takes to live in poverty. Some of those components include: I can get by without a car. I know where the free medical clinics are. I know how to fight and defend myself physically. I know which grocery store garbage bins can be accessed for thrown-away food. I know how to live without electricity and a phone… Note: We have put a hold on the campaign traveling for a time to focus on preparation for the rest of our 2012 run. And we will be staying in South Bend, Indiana, during this time doing that and volunteering at the Catholic Worker Houses here.
‘Bridges Out Of Poverty’
This last week I met with Mike Cobbler, who is a representative for St. Joseph County’s Bridges Out of Poverty Initiative. This program examines the sources and impact of generational poverty on families and communities, reveals the hidden rules and norms of social classes, and supports addressing and solving generational poverty. Mr. Cobbler said: “God has given enough resources that all life can be sustained. But people have failed us, policies have failed us and our personal lifestyles have failed us.” Bridges has set up a series of classes throughout the community that outline some of the systemic reasons for poverty, how people function within each socio-economic strata, and how one can (through goal setting, being mentored, and so on…) break the cycle of poverty. To help, those taking the courses are twinned with “allies.” That is, volunteers who will be there for Bridge’s students at every turn to help with strategies for success. “So often the poor are simply living in ‘the tyranny of the moment,” said Mr. Cobbler. They are just treading water trying to make the rent each month, scratching to get money for a car repair, sweating over whether there’ll be enough food for the kids… Mr. Cobbler added that in the three years the program has been in existence in South Bend, Indiana, there have already been some 200 graduates of the 14 week program. Note: Bridges liaisons with the courts, with mental health agencies, drug and alcohol agencies, with social services… in the hopes of creating an extensive referral safety net for those in need.
School of the Americas
I just watched a documentary on the School of the America’s (SOA). This is a facility for training Latin American soldiers. It’s based in Georgia. The documentary stated that often the poor in Latin America who “cry out for justice” are labeled insurgents. And military, or para-military, “death squads” are sent in to terrorize villages to quell the protests. For instance, SOA trained Contras killed scores of peasants in Nicaragua. Bishop Oscar Romero (who quite vocally spoke up for the poor), was killed by two soldiers trained at the School of the America’s. The Pentagon has admitted that these Latin American soldiers are trained to torture, kidnap and assassinate, according to the documentary. There was a “Kennedy Amendment” to close the SOA. It failed by a relatively close margin. Our administration would work to close the SOA.
American urban cores and Third World plight…
I talked with Steve Flood who teaches a Logic Class at Notre Dame University. He asked me about our platform in regard to reversing the decaying inner city urban cores of America. I said the crux of the strategies revolve around mobilizing as much social justice help as possible to these areas, including inspiring many suburban and small town Americans to move back into the cities to help (as we did in Cleveland). Steve told me he’d done some outreach work on the west side of Chicago and explained the Christian Community Development Association is involved with similar initiatives… I also talked with a student from Notre Dame who is just recently back from a service trip to Tanzania. He said what Tanzania really needs is debt relief, help with sustainable agriculture projects, and a better education system. Our administration would work stridently to help Tanzania (and all Third World countries) to attain these… Note: To help with agriculture and education we propose (among a number of things) a tremendous expansion of the Peace Corps. There are currently about 12,000 people serving in the Peace Corps. We believe it should be 100 times that, and would propose more incentives for Americans to join the Peace Corps.