The root cause if most of the problems Humanity faces today is the artificial scarcity that is created by the inequality that has been perpetuated for decades.
I understand how most people are so unaware of the impact that an unequal distribution of wealth has, is and will cause. Most people have been, are and will remain willfully ignorant to what is happening to them economically. They simply choose to live their lives as if their leaders will see to their best interests. They refuse to do the most meager of searches to learn the truth. While I don't condone such behavior, I can at least understand why this group allows nefarious and corrupt elected and non -elected officials get away with the things these official barely try to hide or cover up these days.
The cohort (for me) that defies explanation is the group that claims to be awoke and aware of what's going on but fails to see how the future of everyone (except the very wealthy) are being stolen.
When simple searches on any (if not all) of the existential crisis of the day almost always (if not always) leads back to a small group of people who have too much money, I should not be alone in this discovery. One need only look at the most immediate of threats to the inhabitants of this planet (War) and trace its cause(s) back to its greatest beneficiaries to realize how inequality promotes the death and destruction associated with war.
I personally do not create weapons, so I am against war except for when it is in defense. This is why I have been against every war or military action in which the United States of America has been involved. Even after the attacks on 9/11, I was opposed to the war against Afghanistan. Maybe I was wrong to oppose it, but history seems to say otherwise. When 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, America might have been justified to call for war against Saudi Arabia. The problem there was that the Saudis had to much money in the form of oil for the Unites States to attack their country. Instead, we took all the weapons off they shelves where they were no longer producing profita for defense contractors and we blew up trillions of dollars. We killed millions in Afghanistan and Iraq and we bolstered the market that Smedley Butler exposed as a racket. We made war more profitable than ever. And, as our tax dollars paid for those shiny new bombs and other weapons, our wealth was diminished while other's wealth increased.
Housing is yet another market in which resources have been made artificially scarce and a luxury exclusive to the rich. As millionaires and billion-dollar corporations have caused housing prices to skyrocket, fewer and fewer people can afford to own a home. As corrupt officials have caused property taxes to skyrocket, even fewer people could afford to keep hold or maintain the homes in which they live. Family homes with generational history have been lost because the wealthy have caused property values to increase past the point at which middle class citizens could afford the annual taxes. And, let's not even talk about the insurance rates that make owning a home affordable even if you can afford the actual cost of the home itself.
We've delegated almost all skills necessary for survival to an uncaring small group of people who continually put profit over people. And those people have made all resources necessary for survival scarce commodities over which they believe they hold dominion. While this may sound hyperbolic, ask yourself when was the last time you grew your own produce instead of buying it. What was the last item of clothing that you sewed, let alone made from scratch. Question why you don't trust water treated at your nearest treatment plant, but trust million-dollar corporations to provide clean drinking water. Ask yourself whether working to make others rich is better than living a life in which 100 percent of your efforts go into sustaining your life and the lives of your loved ones. Maybe it is, but maybe it's isn't, especially when you consider the trend in which the standard of living is going these days. How much more can you pay for rent, property taxes, food, water, clothes? The rich are implicitly and explicitly telling us all that we should be taking care of ourselves. Politicians have been saying this for decades when they complain about how many people "want free stuff" or why people need to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps". This is easier said than done when you can't afford boots. Besides, who has straps on their boots anymore?
In 2018, I wrote a book highlighting the problems Humanity would face if more power, wealth, and control was funneled to a small group of elite individuals, groups, or organizations. In my book, I provided solutions (from myself and others) to the inevitable problems and also a means for the Public to analyze, compare, and contrast the words and deeds of those we choose to follow against reality. In my book Solutions: Enough complaining. Let's fix America.
In "Solutions...", I provide the means for readers to disseminate information as provided by their news sources of choice, their elected officials, and any other authority they choose to follow. The book also offers a means to hold their leaders up, not just to a higher standard than is currently accepted but to one that would improve their lives and the lives of those for whom they care.
