The Dimslow Report

3.20.05   Joy of Poverty   The facts of inequality by design   John Doe Dimslow had a nice long satiric note he planned to scribble out explaining how poverty was such a wonderful thing, especially in the United States of America, because in this richest of all countries in the world, a good bit of poverty helps to keep America number one in the world, in inequality. And who doesn't want to be number one in just about anything?   Inequality, poverty, the inability to regularly and reliably afford health care, transportation, food, clothing, shelter, heat, let alone education--I mean, where's the zest in life without struggle? Who would enjoy a coke without thirst? Who could possibly object to spending about half of all government money on the military so that it can smash up the world or keep it under its thumb so that corporate America and its buddies can strengthen itself by lining the pockets of the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. Who could possibly object?   Yes, John Doe Dimslow was ready to go off, but then he read the following at Global Issues and it sort of sobered him down: 1.      Half the world -- nearly three billion people -- live on less than two dollars a day. source 1 2.      The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world's countries) is less than the wealth of the world's three richest people combined. source 2 3.      Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. source 3 4.      Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen. source 4 5.      51 percent of the world's 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are corporations. source 5 6.      The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation. source 6 7.      The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money. source 7 8.      20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the worlds goods. source 8 9.      The top fifth of the world's people in the richest countries enjoy 82% of the expanding export trade and 68% of foreign direct investment -- the bottom fifth, barely more than 1%. source 9 10.  In 1960, the 20% of the world's people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20% -- in 1997, 74 times as much. source 10 11.  An analysis of long-term trends shows the distance between the richest and poorest countries was about: o        3 to 1 in 1820 o        11 to 1 in 1913 o        35 to 1 in 1950 o        44 to 1 in 1973 o        72 to 1 in 1992 source 11 12.  “The lives of 1.7 million children will be needlessly lost this year [2000] because world governments have failed to reduce poverty levels”source 12 13.  The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants. source 13 14.  A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world's poorest 2.5 billion people. source 14 15.  “The 48 poorest countries account for less than 0.4 per cent of global exports.”source 15 16.  “The combined wealth of the world's 200 richest people hit $1 trillion in 1999; the combined incomes of the 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion.”source 16 17.  “Of all human rights failures today, those in economic and social areas affect by far the larger number and are the most widespread across the world's nations and large numbers of people.”source 17 18.  “Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.”source 18 19.  “7 Million children die each year as a result of the debt crisis. 8525038 children have died since the start of the year 2000 [as of March 24, 2001].”source 19 20.  For economic growth and almost all of the other indicators, the last 20 years [of the current form of globalization, from 1980 - 2000] have shown a very clear decline in progress as compared with the previous two decades [1960 - 1980]. For each indicator, countries were divided into five roughly equal groups, according to what level the countries had achieved by the start of the period (1960 or 1980). Among the findings: o        Growth: The fall in economic growth rates was most pronounced and across the board for all groups or countries. o        Life Expectancy: Progress in life expectancy was also reduced for 4 out of the 5 groups of countries, with the exception of the highest group (life expectancy 69-76 years). o        Infant and Child Mortality: Progress in reducing infant mortality was also considerably slower during the period of globalization (1980-1998) than over the previous two decades. o        Education and literacy: Progress in education also slowed during the period of globalization. source 20 21.  “Today, across the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day; 3 billion live on under two dollars a day; 1.3 billion have no access to clean water; 3 billion have no access to sanitation; 2 billion have no access to electricity.”source 21 22.  The richest 50 million people in Europe and North America have the same income as 2.7 billion poor people. “The slice of the cake taken by 1% is the same size as that handed to the poorest 57%.”source 22 23.  The world's 497 billionaires in 2001 registered a combined wealth of $1.54 trillion, well over the combined gross national products of all the nations of sub-Saharan Africa ($929.3 billion) or those of the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and North Africa ($1.34 trillion). It is also greater than the combined incomes of the poorest half of humanity. source 23 And there's more, which you can link over to see.   So John Doe Dimslow has only this to add: when the rich run the world, this is what you get. It's repulsive and the furthest thing from democratic. And it's going to continue until the John Doe Dimslows get it in their heads to unite and arise and put an end to all this despicable tom-foolery, this horrific asininity.   What will it take?   This is where John Doe Dimslow thinks of Smokey the Owl: "Only you can prevent forest fires..."   Well, my friends, if the world were a forest, and if money were flames, then we firefighters had better get a better handle on the bills, the way they lap and scorch and burn, before they char us all and everything in sight.

3.18.05   Harvest the Ill   Health care and coverage scandal Health care. Is it not supposed to mean anything to me if my neighbors get sick and can't get cured because they don't have health insurance and then cough all over my family at work or in the store and my family gets sick because my neighbors don't have health insurance because our government--ours, so called--is in total and direct violation of the law it signed off on decades ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25, which says:   Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Is it not supposed to mean anything to me that my neighbors have a much greater chance of dying early because they don't have health insurance, and that my own family has to scramble to keep ourselves covered when we need to change jobs, or that we have to pay outrageously high fees? Am I not supposed to care that the government--ruled by big business--invests next to nothing, or less, in preventative health care? Here’s an idea: call it compassionate consumption. Maybe some corporation could get a charter to run a business that identifies the weakest among us, beginning at, say, age thirty or forty--or, hell, any age--and then has permission to harvest these ill, or maimed, or mere weaklings for amputation or termination and processing into food, or a broad abundance of other commercial products. Surely this plan would help ease insurance rates since the sick would not be using up all the funds. And the profit off such an industry would be good for the economy. I mean, who needs universal health care and a decent health care system when selective harvesting, processing, and bio-retail will grease the gears of finance for the economy? After all, the U.S. has one of the most expensive health care systems in the world even though it does not come close to covering everyone. And the best treatment is only available for those rich enough to afford the best health care plans, which sure leaves out in the cold an awful lot of John and Jane Does. So harvest the ill and injured, I say. There are lots of possibilities for compassionate consumption. If the internal organs of a person to be harvested are diseased, then, say, their skin could be used to make car seats. Or if a person has skin cancer, which leads to harvesting, then the organs could be used for, say, dog food, until the advertising industry gets up to speed and successfully markets upscale cannibalism of select organs to the highest class of fine diners--those who in any case are used to living off the surplus generated by the more traditional sacrifices of those of low income. The pharmaceutical companies may scream that this will cut into their stupendous profits, but they've been ripping off the public more and more every year with the assistance of the government that they and their comrades-in-dollars largely control, so I think it's time they had a little competition in the cutthroat, so to speak, free market. We just need to make sure that the government doesn't get involved in the body harvesting and processing business, since government sector work is more likely to be unionized than private sector work, and having unions almost always means better wages, more vacation time, and other benefits, like health insurance--and it wouldn't seem right to have health-insured and at least modestly well paid workers doing such a job. I mean, we have to have standards. Let the ill and poorly compensated harvest and process the ill and maimed, who are themselves so often poorly compensated. It only seems right. Harvesting the ill for commercial consumption--is that a great Dimslow idea for correcting the health care crisis in America, or what? If I do say so myself. I mean, the alternative is to just let people suffer, and force them into agonizing decisions like trying to decide whether or not to buy medicine or food or energy or shelter, et cetera. And that's not a very nice thing to do to our families and neighbors, now is it? Better to kill them early for their own sake, and for our own peace of mind as well. And kill them also, let's not forget, for the glowing good health of the economy. And kill them too for the logic and wisdom of the big dollars that rule our political system. It only seems right.

3.16.05   Guns for Hire   Mercenary recruitment and plunder of oil They're coming after John Doe Dimslow Junior now, at school. In this month of March, two years after the start of the ground invasion of Iraq, and with the deaths of both Iraqi guerillas and civilians and U.S. soldiers and private mercenaries mounting every day, U.S. military recruiters are having trouble recruiting soldiers into the "all-volunteer" forces. So they have to make it a mercenary military of Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine troops to go along with the private mercenaries. They have to offer cash to kill: "$20,000 bonus for enlisting, $9,000 more if enlistees shipped out in the next 30 days and even better, $70,000 for college."   The big bucks tempted J Junior so much that he gave the recruiters the okay to come to our house for a home visit. Except he never cleared it with Daddy-O, one John Doe Dimslow. So when those recruiters climbed out of their shiny SUV and came striding across the lawn and up the walk I met them on the porch with a twelve gauge double barrel, sawed off and ordered them to stop, to halt, to cease and desist. And then I asked them if they recognized what I held in my hands. They did. And then I stepped off the porch and pointed up at the sky over the empty field and woods and gave it a shooting off. And I don’t know if they were impressed none but at least now I had their attention. "Come on in, boys," I told them. "Let's have us a little talk. And I'll just keep my friend here by my side."   Well them boys ain't soldiers for nothing, I suppose, so they came on in, and we sat around the kitchen table with J Junior and his mother Jane Doe Dimslow and I had them boys go over the dollars again, and then I asked, "And how much does J Junior here get for a blown off arm and a leg? I mean, does he get paid an arm and a leg for an arm and a leg that’s been blown off? And how many arms and legs is he going to have to blow off himself to get them bucks? And how much more of that oil money is he going to get?" And then I turned to J Junior and I asked, "How much of that oil money do you want, son? I figure now's the time to ask for all the world and all to hear. Name your price to these gentlemen and see just how much you can get."   And J Junior said, "Well, I don't know anything about oil money."   And I said, "Well, these boys do. They get their share. Now you've got to get yours, if that's what you want. Is that what you want? Oil money? And blood spilt to get it? You better get what you can now, I tell you what, because it's going to be like trying to pull teeth trying to get any later. Them fat cats are going to lap it all up, quicker than you can pull any trigger."   J Junior said he didn't want any oil money.   And I turned to the recruiters and I said, "You heard the young man." And smiled. And we all just sort of ignored any guns that had been brought to the table and the blood and the oil all, and the recruiters went out onto the porch and strode down the walk and crossed the yard and climbed in their SUV and drove away.   And after I locked the gun in the cabinet and J Junior and I stood on the porch gazing out over the fields and forest, J Junior said, "The money makes you think."   And I said, "Is that what it does?"   And J Junior said, "It makes you think their way."   And I said, "And what kind of way is that?"   And J Junior said, "It's the way of the killer."   "The killer thief," I said, and I turned around as Jane Doe Dimslow came out onto the porch.   And J Junior said, "And that's no way. It's no way at all."

3.13.05   Gnaw the Corpse   Thoughts on social security "reform"   First, I must say it sure is amusing to watch the D's and R's--need I call them Dumblicans and Repugnocrats?--bicker about raising the minimum wage either one cent, in the case of the R's, or two cents, in the case of the D's. Now I know really that they were arguing about raising it a dollar-plus versus two dollars-plus, but coming from these representatives of fat cats, it might as well be a penny or two. I mean it would be no less comical, despicable. In any event, they achieved a great and typical D and R success in voting every and any increase down, once again showing just how they feel about the well-being of the Dimslow clan and Dimslow clans everywhere.   Hell, all this hullabaloo about social security reform--that is, deform--why not just start shooting seniors at age sixty-five? That'll solve the problem to about the same degree of compassion, effectiveness, and sanity. No, wait, better yet, raise the retirement age first to get a few more years of work out of the elders' backs, joints, flesh. Then once they've been wrung for about all they're worth, and then some, let's just send the seniors straight to the terminal phase, maybe even practice a bit of compassionate cannibalism too. After all, if you're going to eat people alive, you might as well take a bite or two from their hides, to boot. Just get them finally down and dead. Anyway, that's what John Doe Dimslow always says--if you're going to eat a person alive, don't stop there. Gnaw the corpse. That's the logical extension of such "reform," after all. Gnaw the corpse, save social security! These are great times when our money-picked money-picking leaders do us all so proud.