From 85 to 80

In 2014 it was 85 individuals. In 2015 it is 80 individuals who have the same wealth as the bottom 3.5 billion people. Max Lawson, Oxfam’s Head of Global Policy and Campaigns reports on this here /peak-inequality-and-rolex-rockers/

What happened to the five of 2014?

1979-2012 1% percent's incomes grows by 181%

The headline article of the autobot web paper Inequality is "5 Charts That Show How the Middle Class Is Disappearing." Of course, this is OLD news to most of you readers. The charts of the article are well produced and the most dramatic one for me was the one captioned "From 1979-2012, the 1 Percent's Incomes Grew by 181 Percent" hence the title of this posting. The article was written by Katie Rose Quandt and published by the billmoyers.com. You might note that Ralph Nader shared this article with Inequality and I am the publisher. Am I gazing at a digital whirlpool or caught in one? With this post I feed the spiders and web crawlers. Ponder and enjoy your day.

The Expense of Being Poor

I came across this January 19, 2015 NYTimes Charles M. Blow opinion article "charles-blow-how-expensive-it-is-to-be-poor" that I now recommend to you. I was particularly struck by this restatement from the St. Louis Federal Reserve in 2010:

"Unbanked consumers spend approximately 2.5 to 3 percent of a government benefits check and between 4 percent and 5 percent of payroll check just to cash them. Additional dollars are spent to purchase money orders to pay routine monthly expenses. When you consider the cost for cashing a bi-weekly payroll check and buying about six money orders each month, a household with a net income of $20,000 may pay as much as $1,200 annually for alternative service fees — substantially more than the expense of a monthly checking account."

Disclosure: As a middle class individual having sufficient cash flow issues that require a banking need for me, I recommend First Republic Bank to you the reader. I discovered this bank when I became irate at the 4% fee on a $50 cash withdrawal from any ATM endowed banks. First Republic reimburses me the ATM fees charged by all banks world-wide. It is regrettable that I must keep a minimum balance in my checking account - - however if I go under, First Republic customer service is so responsive that they almost always waive the fee retroactively.

The Income Inequality Oath

The Income Inequality Oath: First, Do No Harm by Chuck Sheketoff was reposted to the blog of Oregon Center for Public Policy reminds the reader that governments national and local should NOT enact policies that will exacerbate inequality.

Pertinent to Oregon's situation:

The post was originally published on www.blueoregon.com on July 31, 2014 and could be found at http://www.blueoregon.com/2014/07/income-inequality-oath-first-do-no-harm/.

Helot nations

imagine this version of post civil war southern  reconstruction
an actual partition into two entities


a black belt and a white Dixie




much like the partitio9n of the holy lands in 1948


now imagine subsequent dual  evolution


ya ya ya
I get the sense we'd end up where the holy lands are  now


Zionist state centered jewish nation
an uber nation
 and an oppressed dispersed  Palestinian nation
a helot nation




is the black nation here in north America post slavery
all that different from the  post partition Palestinian nation ?


how about Chicanos


not to mention the so called "tribal"  nations


we have inter national inequalities here


us uber national "whites"


mustn't forget  these points of  "contradiction"


the helot nations within America
are a strong if diverse set of bases
necessary in forming a pro equality grand coalition

Lack of Access Promotes Inequality - Western Nebraska Report

Profitable farming in Western Nebraska, and I imagine in many other parts of the United States of America, requires access to resources (land, water, nearby roads et cetera) and significant amounts of capital (to purchase seed, fertilizers and pesticides, own and maintain expensive equipment and hire other individuals, with or without expensive equipment, to work the fields). To the outsider farming appears to be a risky speculative business. For the uninformed, inexperienced and foolish, profitable farming is a risky speculative business.

Big Ag aka Big Agriculture is a growing and ongoing success in the USA with the Big Ag methods exported abroad.

- Intensive Crop Farming

- Union of Concerned Scientists: Hidden Cost of Industrial Agriculture

- Industrial Livestock Production

Lack of Access Promotes Inequality:
As of August 2014, the price of land is at a record high. Uncertain growth of the USA economy with the peculiar on-going government accounting practices suggesting inflation is under control, tells savvy investors and farmer/ranchers that the ownership of land, large parcels of land, is a safe investment producing product that government(s) and corporations (and eventually consumers) will buy. Therefore there are three classes of farmer/ranchers here:

Large land owner operators, like my father-in-law Frank Svoboda, who have several circles of land with center pivot irrigation and/or many sections of dry land suitable for either crop production or grazing, 1 mile x 1 mile, section defined. These large land owner operators have access to the banks and vendors to secure easy terms for their large operation capital needs and often own their own land.

Middle class farmer/ranchers may own or rent a small parcel of land, such as a 1/2 section. These individuals often work several jobs: a little time spent working their own ground, much more time spent working the ground of large land owner operators or taking jobs in the cattle feed lots, newly constructed ethanol manufacturing facilities or nearby towns.

There are no low-income farmers in Western Nebraska.

However, there are low-income ranchers whose condition will never change as their agricultural practice is not respected nor supported by the profit takers. Rancher testifies to the need for Medicaid expansion : Politics
journalstar.com/.../rancher.../article_ee55130e-2879-...
Lincoln Journal Star
Dec 18, 2013 - "This is not just my personal story, it's western Nebraska's personal story," ... With a $10,100 adjusted gross income, she is too poor to qualify for ...

- Steve Bull, August 24, 2014

I am in Western Nebraska. I have two sections of dry land in agricultural production: one half section is organic and produces crops of millet, wheat, field peas and sunflowers, and the other half section is chemically supported "normal" practice and produces field peas, wheat and corn. Last year was a drought year. This year there has been rain and no hail on my crops.

Locality and Inequality by Troutt

David Dante Troutt spoke intelligently about the connection between locality and inequality on the Leonard Lopate Show. Listen to the interview at http://www.wnyc.org/radio/#/ondemand/341035. Troutt has published on this matter with The Price of Paradise: The Cost of Inequality and the Vision for a More Equitable America.