The
media often presents the United
States as a case study in the benefits that
capitalism and the free market can bring to humanity. Yet even in times of
economic boom and growth, this glowing picture was always a distortion of the
reality. At present it is a grotesque untruth.
For example, in 2005 a National Alliance to End Homelessness
report identified 744,000 homeless people in the United States. This alone
would be shocking enough, except that the figure is a gross underestimation, as
it is largely based on estimates from large city urban areas, with no figures
or calculations taken for the rural homeless. It is also a static figure, not
taking into account the number of people moving in and out of homelessness at
different times because of job losses and poverty. The real 2005 figure was
estimated to be around 3.5 million.
During the so-called ‘good
times’, and prior to the current crisis of capitalism, poverty has been a
continual endemic problem in the United States, destroying and
blighting the lives of millions. In 2007, the US Congress of Mayors, hardly a
radical body, highlighted increasing poverty and hunger, identifying
unemployment and high housing costs as the main cause. Although the reports the
Mayors considered for their study were compiled before the current crisis,
these already identified increasing hunger, poverty and homelessness. One major
factor for increasing hunger was that food stamp benefits (a US alternative
to income support) were not keeping up with the increasing price of food. This
resulted in dramatic increases in emergency requests for food assistance. In
2005 it was estimated that 12.6 million households across the United States had
been ‘food insecure’ at some time during the year. This jargon simply means
that people did not have enough food for all members of the family, leading to
undernourishment and hunger for millions of children and adults. And this in a
supposedly developed and wealthy country!
Since that time increases
in the price of heating oil, petrol and rents have resulted in a huge increase
in the numbers of individuals and families seeking food assistance during 2006 and
2007. The dramatic spiralling of the crisis during 2008 will only add to this
already appalling picture of hunger and despair.
The
continued existence of poverty and homelessness in the United States
is the outcome of an economic system based on profit, and not need. It is not
only a system that sustains poverty and insecurity, but also a system of
crisis. Our lives, those of our children, our health and living are subjected
to the whims of the gambling table, otherwise known as the ‘world financial
system’. In what way can betting on the prices of stock and shares benefit
humankind? Rather, it inevitably leads, at some stage, to crisis, as the blind
bets get called in.
Now,
with the crisis of the capitalist system unfolding, the poverty, hunger and
homelessness experienced by some sections of working class people is spreading
to wider and wider layers. This is initially being expressed in foreclosures on
home loans and an increase in homelessness.
During
2007, real estate foreclosures in the U.S. were up 75 percent in 2007.
The overall rate in the U.S.
was 10.3 per 1,000 households. By the first quarter of 2008, the foreclosure
rate was a 29-year record, rising by more than 70%. This reflects the fact that
almost 1% of all mortgages in America
have been foreclosed during January, February and April of this year.. Not only
has this rate of foreclosures continued to increase through the rest of 2008,
but also even more dire consequences are forecast for 2009. Moreover, each
dramatic percentage increase hides the fact that the number of homeless are
quantitatively increasing. Those made homeless in 2008 and 2009 must be added
to the figures for 2007, which in turn must be added to the millions already
experiencing poverty and homelessness before the crisis.
Yet,
ironically, the US
government’s spokespersons suggest that it’s an oversupply of housing that has
caused the crisis. What they mean is that demand for housing is only real if
you can pay the market price; human need does not come into it. The US census
for early 2008 actually indicated that there were some 18.6 million empty
houses in the United States. Of these, 7.5 million were completely vacant, with
a further 4.7 million for "seasonal use" only. There are clearly more
than enough houses to house the homeless. But the market and capitalism let
these remain unused while it confines millions of people to live on the
streets, in their cars or in tents.
As
well as the less reliable subprime mortgages being foreclosed, significantly,
prime-rate mortgages are also being foreclosed in record numbers. And, although
we are used to seeing refugee camps in Africa on the television, there are now
increasing reports of the growth of ‘tent cities’ on the outskirts of cities in
the US.
One recent CBS headline stated: ‘Tent Cities Spread in U.S. as Economy Sags’,
citing that: “Nearly 61 percent of local and state homeless coalitions say
they’ve experienced a rise in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began
in 2007.” Other reports are of thousands of people living and sleeping in their
cars, with some local areas officially allowing car parks to be used as nightly
spots, where the car-living homeless can pull up for the night.
In
the meantime, Bush and Congress are working out the best way of subsidising the
bankers and investors. It is imperative that these vulnerable individuals are
not allowed to lose their millions – certainly we would not want them to be
forced to sell up their luxury homes or other playthings. And so, with justice
prevailing, the working classes of America (who contribute most to the income
tax bill) will need to fund an $700 billion dollar handout in order to keep the
rich in the more than comfortable lifestyle they are used to. In the meantime,
poverty, homelessness and hunger continue under capitalism.
