The Death of Upward Mobility

Bill Moyers, Doubleday

Then I draw a line to the statistics that show real wages lagging behind prices, the compensation of corporate barons soaring to heights unequaled anywhere among industrialized democracies, the relentless cheeseparing of federal funds devoted to public schools, to retraining for workers whose jobs have been exported, and to programs of food assistance and health care for poor children, all of which snatch away the ladder by which Americans with scant means but willing hands and hearts could work and save their way upward to middle-class independence. And I connect those numbers to our triumphant reactionaries' campaigns against labor unions and higher minimum wages, and to their success in reframing the tax codes so as to strip them of their progressive character, laying the burdens of Atlas on a shrinking middle class awash in credit card debt as wage earners struggle to keep up with rising costs for health care, for college tuitions, for affordable housing -- while huge inheritances go untouched, tax shelters abroad are legalized, rates on capital gains are slashed, and the rich get richer and with each increase in their wealth are able to buy themselves more influence over those who make and those who carry out the laws.

Feed Yourself, Pilgrim

The Pennsylvania Dutch are among the premiere people of the world.

Feed Yourself, Pilgrim

The Reverend Thomas Malthus said the population expands much faster than the food supply. However grim, this appeals to common sense. This ignores the tremendous growth of production inherent in our capitalistic system.
We could feed the world if we were of a mind to.
The world distribution system is based on free trade and cheap transportation costs. The RAPID rise in transportation costs has given a more rapid rise to food prices [due to speculation].
Further, the present system involves a relatively few number of big players. They control world prices to a large extent. When they panic, we all suffer. Worse, the people with incomes less than a dollar per day face starvation.
It is a great idea for everybody to start a garden on his property.