The American Dream

Some facts:
1. 37% of American homes own televsions.
2. 14% of Americans live in poverty.
3. An additional 20% earn less than $35,000.00 per year.
4. 600,000 Americans are homeless at any given time.
5. The earned or more likely, the inherited wealth of the heirs of
 a certain American Corporation is greater than the bottom 40% of all Americans.
6. Unemployed people, or those who have given up looking for work is probably greater than 25 million people.
7. About 120 million people own a car.
8. Though the number has been decreasing, about 45% of Americans own guns.
9. 7,000,000 Americans are presently incarcerated.
10. There are about 314,000,000 Americans according to the latest census.

1.I list the televsions because those who have TV's watch them. What are they seeing on a daily basis? What is the POV that advertisers seek to message to them? Forget about the content of televsion shows, just focus on what people are trying to get you to buy.

2. What is the definition of poverty? It is the measured privation and the possession or lack thereof of material goods. The U.S. Government and many other groups are the definers of how this equates to the realities of peoples needs.

3. $35,000.00 equates to about $700.00 per week. Whether one is an individual living on this amount or a family of 2,3 or more, that number is proportionate to what goods are available to people.

4. It may be fair to say that if one is a member of this group, they are at or near the poverty level.

5. There is an ongoing discussion of inequality in this country; how it has evolved and how it is or isn't relevant to #'s  1-4- and 6-10 for that matter.

6. Economists say that "full employment" is when everybody who is able or wants to work at a job that his/her skill set has prepared them, CAN.

7. Part of # 6 is answered by mobility, the ability to physically get to and from a job; even though owning a car is so much more.

8. This is one of the most contentious issues in our national "conversation". It is a right that was set forth by the founding fathers of this country and became the 2nd amendment to the U.S. Constituion.

9. In relation to  many of the above points, this is also a very troubling statistic; one that makes the U.S. the most incarcerated populace on the planet.

10. And that's the number of people who are directly or certainly indirectly impacted by 1-10.

And the American Dream? It is the supposition that anybody who is born or emigrates to this nation is in the mix to enjoy, by the fruits of their own labor, luck or good fortune, the equality, material comfort and blessings that we say typify the ideals upon which this nation was founded.

How are we doing? How are you doing? What's the prognosis? Are we on the right or wrong track to achieve this dream?

I usually don't post on Sundays. It is a day of rest and reflection. I reflected and I hope you will too.
Every day that I do write, I try to include some reference to music that might be relevant. Today's humstle is Terrapin Station.*   " The storyteller makes no choice. Soon you will not hear his voice. His job is to shed light- but not to master."

*Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia