2 posts tagged “capitalism”

I saw this when I was reading the Clarion-Ledger yesterday and wanted to blog about it. The U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommitte on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection held a hearing on stereotypes and degrading images in the African-American community and called in a variety of "witnesses" from the CEO of Viacom (owner of MTV, BET, and myriad other entertainment media outlets) to Mississippi's own David Banner, a Jackson native and Provine alum who has gone on to become one of the most consistently politically vocal rappers in the mainstream today.

Video of the hearing can be streamed from C-Span.Org and here is a link:

http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Current_Event&Code=Congress&ShowVidNum=7&Rot_Cat_CD=Congress&Rot_HT=&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=365&ShowVidDesc=&ArchiveDays=30

The issue of rap's lyrics and the content of videos is anything but novel though I have never before seen it discussed in this venue. The focus of the hearing was mainly how (if at all) degrading the lyrics and videos of mainstream rap music today are to women. I didn't see or hear about any females on the panel of witnesses, however...especially those whose bodies were displayed across video screens in the room where the hearing occurred like this:

CEO of Viacom, Inc. (Philippe Dauman)

I'm sorry that I missed the part of class today when George and Nate's debate on poverty was brought up. I'm sure it was a good one and I feel that it's one that should happen more often. The link between free market capitalism and its more diluted economic systems (such as that in which we operate) is a strong one, in my opinion, and one that shouldn't be neglected in our debates on poverty, education, and this land of Mississippi that we've all come to teach in--specifically with kids living in high poverty environments.

Free market capitalism breeds the economic and social inequities that spawn programs like the Mississippi Teacher Corps. Now mind you, our economic system is far from a pure free market one (what, with our social security programs, taxes, publicly owned institutions, etc.) but even now we see the myriad problems with this system. The links between poverty and crime, poverty and chronic health problems, poverty and poor public education, etc. lets me know that poverty needs to be eradicated. Most people wouldn't disagree with that statement, I think, especially after they have close, personal relationships with people in poverty whether as a member of the impoverished class, as a teacher in a city with a high poverty rate, or otherwise and witness people living in poverty conditions for themselves. It's not cute. The means through which this eradication of poverty occurs is what's in question. Do you attempt to have everyone formally educated, then gainfully employed, and ultimately living in homes that they own with savings and checking accounts that are contributed to frequently?

The reality in the United States is that we're a nation that thrives on poverty. We're a nation that exports poverty. We're a nation that was built on poverty (i.e. the indentured servitude of Whites and Native Americans and then the enslavement of Blacks...the labor force, at the time, was thus impoverished to a whole different degree). We're a nation that covets our Wal-Marts, McDonalds, and Nike sneakers that employ myriad people--though these companies just pay the overwhelming majority of their workers poverty wages and don't provide them with health insurance. Some would say that these people shouldn't be paid more money than their labor is worth on the free market. I say that consciously paying people less money than they need to survive with healthy levels of sleep, food, clothing, health care, etc. is criminal and immoral. I know that "healthy levels," "criminal," and "immoral" are all subjective terms but still. A poorly educated, low-wage labor force is crucial to the sustenance of our way of life just like slavery was crucial to the continuance of the Southern way of life prior to 1865. The difference is that slavemasters saw the people they were impoverishing daily. They were up close and personal with them and the conditions that they lived in. Today, we in the U.S. have exported myriad jobs to various corners of Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere so we don't see the people that Nike pays 17 cents an hour that Nike would have to pay $7.53 (at least) per hour if that factory were located in Vermont.

I think that George brings up valid points with his frequent infusions of an international perspective into Teacher Corps. I feel sad and angered knowing that some of my kids are in families bringing in only a few hundred dollars a month. Still, I recognize how they probably have more money/diverse food options, access to clean water/electricity, etc. than my cousins in Nigeria or friends George made in Mongolia. Many would give up their current lives in a heartbeat to come to the U.S. and do just about ANY job whether it's washing dishes in a Manhattan restaurant or raising catfish in the Mississippi Delta. As a Marxist myself, I feel that a socialist economic system would be far better than the economic system which we have now. I feel that having everyone in the U.S. make between $25K and $35K a year and work 35 to 45 hours a week is far is better than having some make $6,000 a year and others make $600 million a year and work a wide range of hours. I also regard security above freedom. The notion of freedom has been ingrained in people's heads as the ultimate right in a democratic system of governance (and its economy). Despite the fact that our society is NOT free to a large degree (just take a look at incarceration figures, generational poverty/generational wealth, or the voluminous laws on the books at the federal, state, county, and local levels), many in the West feel like infringing on people's freedoms is the worst thing to have done to you. I feel that freedom has many forms and faces and purposes and that in our current society one of those faces is a greedy one. People have the freedom to amass as much wealth as they can devoid of the conditions of others and concerns for their well-being (and I'm not just talking about giving money to charities or doing periodic and ingenuine community service). I feel that this is wrong.

One of my best friends from college recently visited Cuba and wrote a phenomenal blog post about its political, social, and economic reality. Take a look at that and then get back to me on capitalism, socialism, poverty and the like.