Indeed. The infamous Lewis Powell memo of 1971 laid out a course for modern day corporatocracy.
We need a similar document in the reverse -- a policy document -- that dismantles systemic systemic racism, poverty, classism, oppression.
Our history? A nation built on the genocide of Indigenous peoples and made morbidly rich by the kidnapping and enslavement of Africans, leading to the current day bondage of BIPOC, the poor, and working poor people, by systems created to keep them oppressed by profiting off of their misery. Reading “Poverty by America” by Mathew Desmond right now and he so confirms all of the modern day shackles on and the bleeding of the poor and working poor. When I was a single mom in the ‘90s, working like mad to support my two children and myself, my bank would let a $1 error cost me hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees. Granted. I made mistakes. I sometimes played “checkbook roulette” when we were hungry or the kids had to have something for school or if I didn’t pay daycare or for after school we could lose our place. I just needed another day or two. Or a little grace. AND my bank made bank off of me and the millions of other folks such as I who were paycheck to paycheck, a health insurance lapse away from bankruptcy.
And I had white privilege.
Black single mother friends not only lacked that edge, they lived with the unrelenting racism and aggressions that never let up and grated at their health and well-being in ways I have since studied and written about. The injustice of Black maternal and infant mortality being almost four times what it is for whites is glaring evidence of what systems and policies promulgated by the morbidly rich are doing to our nation’s people.
The Trump indictment? May it be a turning point toward Justice. Please!
I just want our nation to forget about him, or for him to just go away, and for us to look at the facts at hand: the trauma and inequity we foment is killing us, and killing some of us earlier and earlier.
There are solutions; they are in the science of positive and adverse childhood experiences, PACEs science. For those who want to know more, here’s a great read:
Check out the website where the piece is published. The answers are on it. It’s all about preventing and healing trauma; creating community wherein people can get go from dysregulation to regulation to connected to partnerships. When hurt people heal and stop hurting and hating people, we can heal.
Thanks for the link. It is illuminating. I knew the outline of Putin's growing up, but the details are stunning.
Ironic, isn't it: Two world leaders of similar age: One grew up in wealth and privilege, isolated from the normal responsibilities of life. The other grew up in extremes of poverty and remnants of a violent war. Both suffered from the trauma of lack of supportive family life. And both now exhibit personality disorders that continue that isolation from normal human interaction. Both physically aging while clinging to illusions of grendeur. Both threats to world stability. Their aggression reminds me of people I have known who are abusive and controlling to hide their fear of their own inner chaos- and sometimes, I think, to avoid suicide. They are the ones who scare me the most.
Well said. We all need to be more aware of the stressed among us. (Don't get me started about banks!!! I will never again use a bank after the same thing happened to me, as you described. )
As I read the recounting of yours, and others, experiences as single moms, the banking error experiences really hit home. Imagine, your $1 error trying to stretch to make ends meet, left you in perilous financial hardship with no one to help you escape growing onerous fees but aggressive saving and cost cutting, and/or generous family or friends. Those same banks on the other hand, carelessly lost millions in the 80's, then billions in '08 and billions more this year, but each time they were immediately rescued by a firehose of cash from the Fed.
We definitely need to be kinder to each other and have a greater sense of community, but we also need government and corporate policies that are kinder to us. Business models that pounce on consumers like a lion from the tall grasses for the smallest errors or mishaps, with government policies that are written to enable it, sentence people to cycles of debt and despair and are likely a major reason so many are on edge and quick to cut down their fellows in the same boat. I do hope the legal cases against TFG change the tide of elite impunity, and that they open more eyes to see that there are other policies and situations with similarly dangerous effects for us all that need us all to address from the ballot box.
Exactly! I think of someone in my position who was just a wee bit more upset. Or who didn’t have faith. Banks and landlords likely prompted despairicides — deaths of despair — among hundreds, if not thousand of us, as we stretched to make ends meet and prevent our children from feeling the sense of impending doom that comes from too few dollars (low pay) chasing too many goods and services that are suddenly squeezed even more tightly by corporate greed in the form of dines.
Thank you! Yes. I am deeply grateful for myriad amazing miracles and miraculous humans in my life! Kids are now 30 and 33 and thank God are great. I love my life and job and am grateful beyond belief. I appreciate your kind words! Love this community!
I believe this also explains some of the gun violence in the inner cities. Drive by. Robbery that ends in fatal shootings. Some as young as 12.
In fatherless homes where moms are preoccupied with basic survival, boys, mostly boys, feel ignored and disconnected. Gangs lure these kids in by providing the sense of belonging they hunger for and introduce guns that alleviate their sense of powerlessness. These children received no empathy at home and have no empathy for others.
Blessedly, this describes only a small percentage of 1-parent homes. But when the malevolent stars align, it creates monsters.
I remember checkbook roulette. This was when you could write a check two days before payday that you knew you couldn't cover but would hope wouldn't make it to the bank too quickly. Also putting my bills in a hat each month and picking up to the point where the $$ was gone. You can't do that now although now we just fo it by charging to a credit card. And yes this was with white privilege. I didn't have to defend myself ad a person with every daily interaction. This is what should be taught in schools. The real life misery of communities of people who live in the shadow of the real America.
Indeed. The infamous Lewis Powell memo of 1971 laid out a course for modern day corporatocracy.
We need a similar document in the reverse -- a policy document -- that dismantles systemic systemic racism, poverty, classism, oppression.
Our history? A nation built on the genocide of Indigenous peoples and made morbidly rich by the kidnapping and enslavement of Africans, leading to the current day bondage of BIPOC, the poor, and working poor people, by systems created to keep them oppressed by profiting off of their misery. Reading “Poverty by America” by Mathew Desmond right now and he so confirms all of the modern day shackles on and the bleeding of the poor and working poor. When I was a single mom in the ‘90s, working like mad to support my two children and myself, my bank would let a $1 error cost me hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees. Granted. I made mistakes. I sometimes played “checkbook roulette” when we were hungry or the kids had to have something for school or if I didn’t pay daycare or for after school we could lose our place. I just needed another day or two. Or a little grace. AND my bank made bank off of me and the millions of other folks such as I who were paycheck to paycheck, a health insurance lapse away from bankruptcy.
And I had white privilege.
Black single mother friends not only lacked that edge, they lived with the unrelenting racism and aggressions that never let up and grated at their health and well-being in ways I have since studied and written about. The injustice of Black maternal and infant mortality being almost four times what it is for whites is glaring evidence of what systems and policies promulgated by the morbidly rich are doing to our nation’s people.
The Trump indictment? May it be a turning point toward Justice. Please!
I just want our nation to forget about him, or for him to just go away, and for us to look at the facts at hand: the trauma and inequity we foment is killing us, and killing some of us earlier and earlier.
There are solutions; they are in the science of positive and adverse childhood experiences, PACEs science. For those who want to know more, here’s a great read:
https://www.pacesconnection.com/blog/how-vladimir-putin-s-childhood-is-affecting-us-all
Check out the website where the piece is published. The answers are on it. It’s all about preventing and healing trauma; creating community wherein people can get go from dysregulation to regulation to connected to partnerships. When hurt people heal and stop hurting and hating people, we can heal.
Thanks for the link. It is illuminating. I knew the outline of Putin's growing up, but the details are stunning.
Ironic, isn't it: Two world leaders of similar age: One grew up in wealth and privilege, isolated from the normal responsibilities of life. The other grew up in extremes of poverty and remnants of a violent war. Both suffered from the trauma of lack of supportive family life. And both now exhibit personality disorders that continue that isolation from normal human interaction. Both physically aging while clinging to illusions of grendeur. Both threats to world stability. Their aggression reminds me of people I have known who are abusive and controlling to hide their fear of their own inner chaos- and sometimes, I think, to avoid suicide. They are the ones who scare me the most.
Exactly.
Well said. We all need to be more aware of the stressed among us. (Don't get me started about banks!!! I will never again use a bank after the same thing happened to me, as you described. )
As I read the recounting of yours, and others, experiences as single moms, the banking error experiences really hit home. Imagine, your $1 error trying to stretch to make ends meet, left you in perilous financial hardship with no one to help you escape growing onerous fees but aggressive saving and cost cutting, and/or generous family or friends. Those same banks on the other hand, carelessly lost millions in the 80's, then billions in '08 and billions more this year, but each time they were immediately rescued by a firehose of cash from the Fed.
We definitely need to be kinder to each other and have a greater sense of community, but we also need government and corporate policies that are kinder to us. Business models that pounce on consumers like a lion from the tall grasses for the smallest errors or mishaps, with government policies that are written to enable it, sentence people to cycles of debt and despair and are likely a major reason so many are on edge and quick to cut down their fellows in the same boat. I do hope the legal cases against TFG change the tide of elite impunity, and that they open more eyes to see that there are other policies and situations with similarly dangerous effects for us all that need us all to address from the ballot box.
Exactly! I think of someone in my position who was just a wee bit more upset. Or who didn’t have faith. Banks and landlords likely prompted despairicides — deaths of despair — among hundreds, if not thousand of us, as we stretched to make ends meet and prevent our children from feeling the sense of impending doom that comes from too few dollars (low pay) chasing too many goods and services that are suddenly squeezed even more tightly by corporate greed in the form of dines.
Thank you for this information.
I am so sorry for all you had to suffer. But you obviously survived and have hopefully prospered to the point of a good life in every way.
Thank you! Yes. I am deeply grateful for myriad amazing miracles and miraculous humans in my life! Kids are now 30 and 33 and thank God are great. I love my life and job and am grateful beyond belief. I appreciate your kind words! Love this community!
I believe this also explains some of the gun violence in the inner cities. Drive by. Robbery that ends in fatal shootings. Some as young as 12.
In fatherless homes where moms are preoccupied with basic survival, boys, mostly boys, feel ignored and disconnected. Gangs lure these kids in by providing the sense of belonging they hunger for and introduce guns that alleviate their sense of powerlessness. These children received no empathy at home and have no empathy for others.
Blessedly, this describes only a small percentage of 1-parent homes. But when the malevolent stars align, it creates monsters.
I remember checkbook roulette. This was when you could write a check two days before payday that you knew you couldn't cover but would hope wouldn't make it to the bank too quickly. Also putting my bills in a hat each month and picking up to the point where the $$ was gone. You can't do that now although now we just fo it by charging to a credit card. And yes this was with white privilege. I didn't have to defend myself ad a person with every daily interaction. This is what should be taught in schools. The real life misery of communities of people who live in the shadow of the real America.
We want the Trump era behind us, but as a reminder Never Again. As you say, there are problems to see for what they are, and solutions.