Open thread for night owls: 'Inequality and the iron law of decaying public services'
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Sam Pizzigati at Inequality.org writes—Inequality and the Iron Law of Decaying Public Services. The fires ravaging California offer still another reason to fear our grand economic divides: Fires are raging everywhere in California these days, and firefigOpen thread for night owls: 'Inequality and the iron law of decaying public services'
Sam Pizzigati at Inequality.org writes—Inequality and the Iron Law of Decaying Public Services. The fires ravaging California offer still another reason to fear our grand economic divides: Fires are raging everywhere in California these days, and firefighters are having enormous trouble keeping up. Chronically understaffed local fire departments simply don’t have the resources to handle act one of what climate change has in store for us. California’s wealthy aren’t particularly worrying about that lack of resources — because they have more than enough of their own. They can afford to shell out up to $25,000 per day for one of the private firefighting services that are popping up in California wherever the rich call home. In a deeply unequal America, none of this should surprise us. Public services almost always take it on the chin in societies where wealth starts furiously concentrating. [...] Where wealth concentrates, our commons will always downsize. At some point, in every community becoming more unequal, affluent people will come to feel they’ll be better off going life alone, on their own nickel — better off installing their own private courts, better off sending their kids to private schools, better off living in a privately guarded gated development. The greater the numbers of affluent who forsake the commons, the greater the danger the commons will be in. The affluent, in more equal communities, may grumble about paying taxes for public services they do not use. But grumbling will usually remain all they can do. In communities where wealth is concentrating, by contrast, the affluent have the clout and the numbers to go beyond grumbling. They mobilize politically to slash budgets and roll taxes back. And they succeed, because fewer people, in an unequal community, have a stake in the public services that taxes support. [...] TOP COMMENTS • HIGH IMPACT STORIES QUOTATION OF THE DAY “A significant number of people believe tribal people still live and dress as they did 300 years ago. During my tenure as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, national news agencies requesting interviews sometimes asked if they could film a tribal dance or if I would wear traditional tribal clothing for the interview. I doubt they asked the president of the United States to dress like a pilgrim for an interview.” ~~Wilma Mankiller, chief of the Cherokee (1985-1995) TWEET OF THE DAY xProtesting Trump at the NYC VeteranâÂÂs Day Parade. Trump deports vets, fires them (Vindman), and privatizes their health insurance. pic.twitter.com/fl7ShYnPlF— Rise and Resist (@riseandresistny) November 11, 2019 BLAST FROM THE PAST At Daily Kos on this date in 2003—Honoring our Veterans: Some wonder why I am so vociferous in my condemnations of our administration and its dogged pursuit of Bush's War. Unless you have been a veteran, you don't know what it's like to wear our nation's uniform. The sense of pride, the sense of responsibility it inspires. We love our country, and put our lives on the line on its behalf. We believe in what our country stands for -- notions of democracy, and freedom, and truth and justice. We are most intimately aware of the ultimate sacrifice paid by so many of our brothers in arms, because we ourselves were prepared to pay it. Yet few of the people in charge made that sacrifice. Rather, they went out of their way to avoidserving their country. Cheney had «better things to do», Bush went AWOL. Virtually all of the «pundits» cheerleeding this war found creative ways to avoid serving. Wars are for the poor and the stupid to fight. Not for exhalted members of society like themselves. Well fuck them. Today is not for them. It's for those of us who wore that uniform, and those who continue serving our country even as their leaders fail them, lie to them, and use them as pawns in their great political and economic chessboard. And for those of our brothers and sisters in uniform who gave their lives on behalf of noble causes, and those not so noble. LINK TO DAILY KOS STORE Read more