By Nico Rahim

Are things really going that well?  Americans will spend over $700 million dollars on self-help books this year.  It seems that good ol’ American virtue of self-reliance has morphed in a horrific way.  Instead of being self-reliant in the sense that one should change the oppressive circumstance to better fit one’s personal worth, self-reliance now seems to mean that one should change their outlook and perception of self to better fit the circumstance they find themselves in.  The Purpose-Driven Life, which has sold 25 million copies, more than any other non-fiction other than the Bible, gives people a purpose that is docile and tame, subservient to the interests of the ruling elite.

But things aren’t so bad in the United States, are they?  The unemployment rate in the US is at a stable 5 percent, nearly half of what one would find in Germany, France, and Italy. Home ownership is 70 percent higher than ever before, yet so is consumer debt.

Why be angry?  The rich may be getting richer but they are also working harder.  In the 1970s the top 10 percent worked less than the bottom 10 percent, but today the reverse is true.  Furthermore, in the 1970s the majority of the top 10 percent’s income was unearned coming from dividends, rent, and interest, but today 80 percent of their income is earned, coming from wages and stock options.  So it seems the capitalist of yesteryear is a dying breed, as today’s elite actually work for their income.

America’s poor are also a dying breed, today only 12 percent of the population lives in poverty while in the Golden Age (the 1950s and 1960s) the poverty rate in the US was 22 percent.  Or are America’s poor a dying breed because they lack healthcare and access to advancements in modern medicine?

American optimism is still high.  According to one poll 80 percent of American believe that one can start out poor, work hard, and become rich.  American still believe that the standard of living is improving with each generation.  Two of three Americans believe that the chances of moving up the social ladder have increased over the last thirty years. 

For the most part Americans are very comfortable, Iraq is on the other side of the world, so is the famine and disease that plague Africa.  Americans have enough credit to satisfy their needs.  The shelves in supermarkets are full of products from around the world, and most are affordable.  Malls are full of clothing shops where beautiful people are displayed wearing the latest fashion, with no sign of the women in Bangladesh who make the clothes in near slave conditions.

Nearly all communities in the US are segregated by income, the upper and middle classes don’t have to associate with the poor; those struggling in America society can easily be overlooked.  Mass media only focuses on lower class crime not lower class struggle. White trash rednecks living in trailers and drug-slinging thugs living in inner-city projects have become caricatures, objects of parody.  Their plight is middle America’s comedy.

But its a democracy, the majority seem to be comfortable and relatively happy, what’s the problem?  If you get too worked up about where you’ll get the money for your kid’s tuition, there’s Valium, if that doesn’t work there’s Xanax—only a $10 co-payment.  Then when you’re nice and sedated, you’ll think your anxiety was funny, there’s nothing to worry about, your kid can take out loans.  Citibank will gladly dish out 100 grand to keep your kid working hard for the next 30 years, 40 years if your kid decides to use the graduated payment plan.

You enthusiastically call yourself a capitalist, going into business for yourself, refinancing your home to raise the funds for the down payment on a little spot to set up shop.  You do well enough to meet your many monthly payments, American Express has given you a business card with no limit so you can furnish your office with the finest decor Ikea has to offer.  You’re a capitalist right?  Where’s your capital?  That’s right it’s locked up in debt.  You may own everything you have but just wait until you miss a few too many payments, your property will no longer seem so private, will it?