An Empire Struggles Within And Wages Wars Abroad
By Farooque Chowdhury
14 September, 2011
Countercurrents.org
The Empire is waging war in countries and struggling with poverty in home. Good news is not coming from any of the fronts. In home, median household income has declined, the poverty rate has increased, and farmers are having hard days. The percentage of the Americans living in poverty in 2010 mounted to the highest level since 1993.
The US Census Bureau’s annual report Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010 released on September 13, 2011 reveals a part of the Empire’s struggle within and the system’s failure to help its poor citizens. The report provides the following figures:
(1) The number of the poor moved up to about 1 in 6 persons. In 2010, the overall poverty rate rose to 15.1% or 46.2 million, up from 14.3% in 2009. In 2009, there were 43.6 million Americans living in poverty. Since 2007, the poverty rate has increased from 12.5% to 15.1%. The poverty line in 2010 was at $22,113 for a family of four. Measured by total numbers, the persons living in poverty is the largest on record since the census began monitoring poverty in 1959.
Between 2009 and 2010, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic Whites, from 9.4% to 9.9%; for Blacks, from 25.8% to 27.4%; and for Hispanics, from 25.3% to 26.6%. For Asians, the rate (12.1%) was not statistically different from the 2009 rate.
In 2010, the family poverty rate was 11.7% and the number of families in poverty was 9.2 million. In 2009, it was 11.1% and 8.8 million. The poverty rate and the number in poverty increased for both married-couple families (in 2010, 6.2% and 3.6 million, and in 2009, 5.8% and 3.4 million) and female-householder-with-no-husband-present families (in 2010, 31.6% and 4.7 million, and in 2009, from 29.9% and 4.4 million). The females had to bear the burden. In spring 2011, 5.9 million (14.2%) young adults age 25-34 stayed with their parents. It was 4.7 million (11.8%) before the recession. This shows the hardship the young faced.
The poverty rate increased for children younger than 18. It was 22.0% in 2010. In the previous year, it was 20.7%. The numbers were 15.5 million and 16.4 million in 2009 and 2010 respectively. For people 18 to 64, it also increased: from 12.9% in 2009 to 13.7% in 2010. The numbers were 24.7 million in 2009 and 26.3 million in 2010.
(2) In 2010, the real median household income (RMHI) was $49,445, down 2.3% from 2009. It was 7% more in 1999: $53,252. Since 2007, RMHI has declined 6.4%. The RMHI declined for white and black households between 2009 and 2010.
Since 2007, the number of men working full time, year-round with earnings decreased by 6.6 million and the number of corresponding women declined by 2.8 million. In 2010, the earnings of women working full time, year-round were 77% of that for the same category of men.
Based on the Gini Index, the change in income inequality between 2009 and 2010 was not statistically significant. The Gini index was 0.469 in 2010. This means, the inequality scenario that was prevailing has not improved. “We’re risking a new underclass,” said Timothy Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research and Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “Young, less educated adults, mainly men, can’t support their children and form stable families because they are jobless.” Is it much different from a Third or Fourth World country?
(3) In 2010, the number of uninsured Americans was 49.9 million, the biggest in over two decades. In 2009, it was 49 million. It rose from 16.1% to 16.3%. The percentage of people with health insurance was not statistically different from 2009.
In 2010, 9.8% (7.3 million) of children under 18 were without health insurance. The uninsured rate for children in poverty (15.4%) was higher than the rate for all children (9.8%).
The US harbors one of the highest poverty rates among the developed countries. Among the 34 countries monitored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, only Chile, Israel and Mexico have higher rates of poverty.
The data derived from a sample survey of approximately 100,000 household nationwide are from the Current Population Survey (CPS), 2011 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), the source of official poverty estimates. (U.S. Census Bureau | Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division: Poverty | Last Revised: Sept. 13, 2011 Income, Poverty and Health Insurance in the United States: 2010 – Highlights; AP, “Census: US poverty rate swells to nearly 1 in 6”, Sept. 13, 2011; Reuters, “Number of poor hit record 46 million in 2010”, Sept. 13, 2011; The New York Times, “U.S. Poverty Rate, 1 in 6, at Highest Level in Years”, Sept. 13, 2011)
There are other data related to food stamps, etc. that also present a grim picture, and reflect the underdeveloped societies in the world system’s periphery.
Food Stamps
A New York datelined Reuters news report said:
Now, about 46 million Americans rely on food stamps. It is about 15% of the population, and an increase of 74% since 2007. “[F]or many Americans […] there is little current alternative if they are to put food on the table while paying rent and utility bills.” (“USA becomes Food Stamp Nation but is it sustainable?”, Aug 22, 2011)
“About 40% of food stamp recipients are […] in households in which at least one member of the family earns wages. Many more could be eligible: the government estimates one in three who could be on the program are not. In some parts of the country, shoppers using food stamps have almost become the norm. In May 2011, a third of all people in Alabama were on food stamps [….] Washington D.C., Mississippi, New Mexico, Oregon and Tennessee all had about a fifth of their population on food stamps that month. Over the past 20 years, the characteristics of the program's recipients have changed. In 1989, a higher percentage was on benefits than working, but as of 2009 a higher percentage had earned income. And 6% of the 72.9 million Americans paid by the hour received wages at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour in 2010. That’s up from 4.9% in 2009, and 3% in 2002, according to government data. Millions of Americans whose unemployment benefits have expired have to exist only on food stamps and other government aid, such as Medicaid healthcare support.”(ibid.)
The news report cites a family from Oregon that “juggles bills to ensure the electricity stays on. They are also selling some belongings […] to raise funds.” The husband, “an electronics assembly worker, lost his job two months ago when [the wife] was seven months pregnant with their second child. It was the third time [the husband] has been laid off since 2008.” The wife said “she was reluctant, initially, to go on food stamps. ‘I felt the way our national debt was going I didn’t want to be part of the problem,’ said [the wife]. ‘But I didn’t know what else to do and I got to a point where I swallowed my pride and decided to do what was best for my daughter.’” (ibid.)
Is it a story of compromising sense of dignity that dominates everyday lives in poor societies? What’s the type of economy that pushes humanity to this level? This is not a happy reality for an empire that has accumulated wealth from most parts of the world unimaginable in human history.
Farmers
Citing the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Census of Agriculture an AP news report said: “More than half of America’s farmers work a job off the farm to make ends meet […Farmers] open up their land to tourists, set up roadside stands and travel the farmers market circuit, […] they also moonlight as mechanics, pool cleaners and even authors. They make jam and paint landscapes, work at banks and own businesses in order for the farm to survive.” (“More farmers work away from fields to pay bills”, Dec 10,)
Many farmers, according to the report, work an outside job in the day and spend the evenings and weekends working in their farms. Although the trend of farmers taking on other jobs is not new but the percentage has increased: from 55% in 2002 to 65% in 2007. The frequency of working off the farm has also grown substantially over the last 75 years, according to a report by the USDA’s Economic Research Service. In 1929, one in 16 farmers worked 200 days or more off the farm. By 1947, it rose to one in six farmers. By 1997, it turned to one in three farmers. The 2007 survey reported that almost 900,000 farmers worked more than 200 days a year in other jobs. “Most farms in the United States are small operations, with 60 percent of all farms reporting less than $10,000 in sales of agricultural products. Of the 2.2 million farms nationwide, less than half show profit from their farms. The remaining 1.2 million depend on non-farm income to cover farm expenses.” (ibid.)
Children
The ERS reported in mid-November, 2010 that more than 50 million Americans, including 17 million children, live in hunger. The 2009 report on Household Food Insecurity in the United States illustrates the way hunger was affecting a significant number of Americans.
Defaulting Students
The Department of Education’s figures released on September 12, 2011 provide additional facts related to a section of the society, students:
The number of defaulters on federal student loans has jumped sharply. In 2010, the national two-year cohort default rate rose to 8.8%. In 2008, it was 7%. The trend indicates: rising tuition costs, low graduation rates and poor job opportunity. The increase was sharp among students borrowing to attend for-profit colleges.
Defaulting on student loan carries implication. It can wreck students credit and keep them from being able to return to school later with federal aid.
A calculation using the latest available figures has found that in 2008 average debt for graduating seniors with student loans was $20,200 at public universities, $27,650 at private non-profits and $33,050 at private for-profits. (AP, “Student loan default rates jump”, Sept. 13, 2011)
The reality that emerges from the data mentioned above tells nothing but a class war, and a failure to adopt measures capable of securing a system. At the same time, it projects a trend in farming and education, both influencing creativity. Even, with the level of poverty and hunger mentioned above, how far can be sustained, and how much productivity, a “magic mantra” to capital, can be achieved? It also questions the logic of waging wars, and promoting allies in far away lands. What benefit are the money spent behind allies bringing for the citizens of the Empire? What does the future hold in a reality where farmers and students suffer? Shall ratio between citizens’ benefit and war expenditure and aid to allies be calculated? Where does the wealth go that the social labor crates? Shall the reality, if prevails, put pressure on the foundation of legitimacy of the governing system? And, the Empire’s image abroad is not discussed now-a-days.
Dhaka-based free lancer Farooque Chowdhury contributes on socioeconomic issues. The Age of Crisis ([email protected]) is one of his books.
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