War & Wallstreet, but not our Children's Welfare?

Main Entry: 1wel·fare Pronunciation: \ˈwel-ˌfer\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from the phrase wel faren to fare well Date: 14th century

1 : the state of doing well especially in respect to good fortune, happiness, well-being, or prosperity

2 a : aid in the form of money or necessities for those in need b : an agency or program through which such aid is distributed

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No, I’m not okay!

I needed few days to think about the War Speech by Barack Obama.  In fact I got very little sleep that night.

I felt shocked and slightly betrayed, even though he never said he WOULDN”T I was still surprised because he ran as the anti-war candidate.  A part of it was that there was no public process with this decision.

And it seems as if our nation has collectively fallen asleep, just like the West Point students listening to him.  I want to open up my front door and shout “Hello, people!  Did you hear what Obama said?”  Are the two wars we are in so far removed from our national consciousness  or is it that we sincerely don’t care?

Then yesterday I listened to Obama’s acceptance of the Nobel Peace prize.  In short, it was more a justification for war than anything else.  I just think it is so misguided.  Is the only option how many troops we send?  Why must we increase military resources at all?  Obama has not made a case that I can accept easily.  He did not talk to the American people: he sequestered himself away with his experts and decided.  This is still a democracy and going to war is something we should have some say in.

The Human Toll

Thousands of soldiers are injured or have been killed in the last seven years.  The human toll is significant!  More than 4,000 Americans have died. More than 60,000 wounded.  There were 140 suicides of active duty soldiers this year.  The toll on military families alone is huge.

But for some strange reason no one is questioning our national security policies, or the cost, or the human toll, despite the failures of the last seven years.

Beyond the human toll, in the end the United States may spend $2.7 trillion on this war.  After we are spending up to $700 billion on the bailout.  That would be $2295 estimated cost per American.

Taxpayers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin have “paid” $1.2 billion for total Iraq and Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For the same amount of money, the following could be done: 20,846 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR     770,473 People with Health Care for One Year. (http://costofwar.com/)

Don’t get me wrong. I am conflicted.  I really want our President to succeed.  And I want us to support our 100,000+ troops already in harm’s way.  I am.was so hopeful about the change of leadership.  I.we voted Obama in to office believing that he would do things differently.  That he was a new kind of leader — not Washington things as they are and have been.

And we’re sending 30,000 more troops.  We are sending not pulling troops.  Obama stated a several times that we should have fought in Afghanistan instead of Iraq. I just never expected that the war there would be stepped up. So this decision didn’t come out nowhere.

I remember Obama saying during the election:

“I had the judgment and courage to speak out against going to war, and to warn of “an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.”

(I had to look it up to get the exact quote.)  So maybe he’s had it in his mind as an option all along and I.we just wanted to believe that he would end the wars because he voted against the war with Iraq?  Wishful thinking?

What else could we spend the money on?

44 percent of American children in 2008 are growing up in families that face serious financial struggles.   In Wisconsin, there are 741,674 families, with 1,303,605 children.

15% (192,761) of children live in poor families (National: 19%),

defined as income below 100% of the federal poverty level.

The National Center for Children & Poverty has listed on their website the top ten questions about children & poverty. [Go here for all of them.]  I just lifted a couple of their questions and answers.  It is powerful and so important to read.  I hope you will hear me out. What are the effects of economic hardship on children in the United States?

“Economic hardship and other types of deprivation can have profound effects on children’s development and their prospects for the future — and on the nation as a whole. Low family income can impede children’s cognitive development and their ability to learn. It can contribute to behavioral, social, and emotional problems. And it can cause and exacerbate poor child health as well. The children at greatest risk are those who experience economic hardship when they are young and children who experience severe and chronic hardship. …They are also cause for concern because they are associated with difficulties later in life — dropping out of school, poor adolescent and adult health, and poor employment outcomes. Stable, nurturing, and enriching environments in the early years help create a sturdy foundation for later school achievement, economic productivity, and responsible citizenship.  Parents need financial resources as well as human and social capital (basic life skills, education, social networks) to provide the experiences, resources, and services that are essential for children to thrive and to grow into healthy, productive adults — high-quality health care, adequate housing, stimulating early learning programs, good schools, money for books, and other enriching activities. Parents who face chronic economic hardship are much more likely than their more affluent peers to experience severe stress and depression — both of which are linked to poor social and emotional outcomes for children.”

Is it Possible to Reduce Economic Hardship for American Families?  Why is there so much economic hardship in a country as wealthy as the U.S.?

Given its wealth, the U.S. had unusually high rates of child poverty and income inequality, even prior to the current economic downturn. These conditions are not inevitable — they are a function both of the economy and government policy. In the late 1990s, for example, there was a dramatic decline in low-income rates, especially among the least well off families. The economy was strong and federal policy supports for low-wage workers with children — the Earned Income Tax Credit, public health insurance for children, and child care subsidies — were greatly expanded. In the current economic downturn, it is expected that the number of poor children will increase by millions.

Other industrialized nations have lower poverty rates because they seek to prevent hardship by providing  assistance to all families.  But the U.S. takes a different policy approach. Our nation does little to assist low-income working families unless they hit rock bottom.

And this shocked me because I had never look at it like this.

At the same time, middle- and especially upper-income families receive numerous government benefits that help them maintain and improve their standard of living — benefits that are largely unavailable to lower-income families. These include tax-subsidized benefits provided by employers (such as health insurance and retirement accounts), tax breaks for home owners (such as deductions for mortgage interest and tax exclusions for profits from home sales), and other tax preferences that privilege assets over income. Although most people don’t think of these tax breaks as government “benefits,” they cost the federal treasury nearly three times as much as benefits that go to low- to moderate-income families. In addition, middle- and upper-income families reap the majority of benefits from the child tax credit and the child care and dependent tax credit because neither is fully refundable.

In short, high rates of child poverty and income inequality in the U.S. can be reduced, but effective, widespread, and long-lasting change will require shifts in both national policy and the economy.

Why should I care about another’s hardship?  I have enough troubles of my own.

In addition to the harmful consequences for children, high rates of economic hardship exact a serious toll on the U.S. economy. Economists estimate that child poverty costs the U.S. $500 billion a year in lost productivity in the labor force and spending on health care and the criminal justice system. Each year, child poverty reduces productivity and economic output by about 1.3 percent of GDP.

The experience of severe or chronic economic hardship limits children’s potential and hinders our nation’s ability to compete in the global economy. American students, on average, rank behind students in other industrialized nations, particularly in their understanding of math and science. Analysts warn that America’s ability to compete globally will be severely hindered if many of our children are not as academically prepared as their peers in other nations.

Long-term economic trends are also troubling as they reflect the gradual but steady growth of economic insecurity among middle-income and working families over the last 30 years. Incomes have increased very modestly for all but the highest earners. Stagnant incomes combined with the high cost of basic necessities have made it difficult for families to save, and many middle- and low-income families alike have taken on crippling amounts of debt just to get by.

Research also indicates that economic inequality in America has been on the rise since the 1970s. Income inequality has reached historic levels — the income share of the top 1 percent of earners is at its highest level since 1929. Between 1979 and 2006, real after-tax incomes rose by 256 percent for the top 1 percent of households, compared to 21 percent and 11 percent for households in the middle and bottom fifth (respectively).

The good news, in my opinion.

Improving the Odds for Young Children provides state-specific, regional and national profiles that integrate data about an array of policies that affect early childhood development.  These policies fall into three categories: health and nutrition, early care and learning, and parenting and economic supports.

1. Look up your state.
2. Holler at your Congress people and Senators!!

It’s not too late.  Once we start spending money on sending these troops I predict, and I’m not alone in this, we will be dragging ourselves into another Vietnam like war.

A part of me just wants to stick my head in the sand a ride out the winter taking care of my own, but we can’t look away. 1 in 50 American Children Experience Homelessness.

You know there is a problem when 1 in 50 of our children encounter homelessness. The figure sounds more like something from a developing nation, not America. But there it is. Revealed by the National Center on Family Homelessness. And these are numbers from 2005-2006 data. Imagine what the number is today, given the current economy?  Get more information here.

A report called “America’s Young Outcasts,” issued by the National Center on Family Homelessness, shines much-needed light on an age-old problem in the United States: the shame of homeless children across the country. Surveying the years 2005-2006, the report found that child homelessness is worse now that at any point since the Great Depression.

Some interesting stats from the report (Source): – 1.5 million children are homeless (or 1 in 50 children in America) – 25 percent of homeless children have witnessed violence of some sort – 22 percent of homeless children have been separated from their families – The report states: “20 percent of homeless preschoolers have emotional problems that require professional care.” This is a problem across America.The toll of war on our nation is devastating, the tragedy is being told in the live of soldiers and their families as well as the Iraqi and Afghan people.  The financial cost we cannot afford.  Children in American are hungry, scared and needing better education and yet we cannot help.

Wake up America!

Thanks for reading this and hearing me out.  What do you think?

MELODY

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And in case you can’t sleep, some reading for you: The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew Bacevich. Publisher’s weekly says:

A caustic critique of the growing American penchant for empire and sense of entitlement, Bacevich (The New American Militarism) examines the citizenry’s complicity in the current economic, political, and military crisis. A retired army colonel, the author efficiently pillories the recent performance of the armed forces, decrying it as an expression of domestic dysfunction, with leaders and misguided strategies ushering the nation into a global war of no exits and no deadlines. Arguing that the tendency to blame solely the military or the Bush administration is as illogical as blaming Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression, Bacevich demonstrates how the civilian population is ultimately culpable; in citizens’ appetite for unfettered access to resources, they have tacitly condoned the change of military service from a civic function into an economic enterprise. Crisp prose, sweeping historical analysis and searing observations on the roots of American decadence elevate this book from mere scolding to an urgent call for rational thinking and measured action, for citizens to wise up and put their house in order.

Th

[Via http://logicandimagination.wordpress.com]