“Across the nation, the most affluent Americans have been seceding from the rest of the nation into their own separate geographical communities with tax bases (or fees) that can underwrite much higher levels of services . . . Being rich now means having enough money that you don’t have to encounter anyone who isn’t.”
— Robert Reich in “AFTERSHOCK: The Next Economy & America’s Future.”
Question: What should we call these people who secede from America? Are they patriots? — John Hayden
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- Robert Reich: Why Republicans Want to Tax Students and Not Polluters (huffingtonpost.com)
- Robert Reich: An Impertinent Question (huffingtonpost.com)
- Detroit, and the Bankruptcy of America’s Social Contract (readersupportednews.org)
Living Simply And Still On The Grid 
Detroit is just the first of many… And I just left another comment which I will leave here John in regard to how we have become..
” This is just the tip of the iceberg UK, and maybe the first Domino to tumble .. We have to understand that we as people/cities.. can not keep living as we have done.. People are living on credit these days. The house of Cards can only stand to be built so high before it comes crashing down around our heads…
Europe is on the brink in many places Spain, Greece, etc.. Ireland is another all nearly broke, but just hanging on with the skin of their teeth… Paying back Loans to the EU.. ..
Until we realise we have to learn whole new systems of monetary finance .. More will follow..
We rotate around the $ and the £ and we have forgotten the most basic values.. We have forgotten about Caring what happens to people..
We need to learn how to embrace each other again as PEOPLE.. Helping another Human soul.. and not do it for monetary gain or the publicity.. But do it as one soul helping another soul..
This is why deep down VK.. I know that the Earth will throw us such a lesson we will have no option but learn to survive and pull together to help one another… I hope not.. But it seems Mankind has lost touch with his human part.. as it seems that many are now so intensive to another’s plight.. as they adopt the attitude of ” I am al-right Jack “…”
I do not profess to understand the US political arena John But one thing I know.. We have to change our ways of being…
Sending you a thought
Sue
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You know, Sue, I often think that much of this high-finance “debt” is not real . . . You can’t see this debt, you can’t hear it, you can’t reach out and touch it . . . It takes up no space. It’s like . . . imaginary . . . or a superstition. I wonder what would happen if we simply cancelled all debt, wiped the slate clean for everyone?
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It has almost always been that way – think of the Robber Barons and other 19th century industrialists and their “summer cottages” in RI. There have always been enclaves of the rich. For a while we had business people who were interested in building a company that supplied a good product and paid workers fairly, and still produced some income for stockholders (I’m thinking of companies like BGE.) At some point the actual product became irrelevant. Creating dividends for the almighty stockholder became their entire reason for existence. Acquisition of other companies became synonymous with growth. Profits were taken by layoffs and reorganization rather than actual improvements in product or quality. Executive compensation is out of control and executives seem to think only of the bottom line. We’ve all lived through this and know that it is true. Smaller companies were bought and plundered, then closed. I once worked for a small company that was acquired by UnitedHealthcare. They let us be for 2-3 years and then started messing with the way that we did things. Eventually they closed the company, getting rid of all of the call center workers and turning all the nurses into telecommuters from a location in NY state. We had thought of ourselves as a sort of family and we worked well together that way, but UHC made a point of stating “we are not a family, we are a business.”
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You are so right Theresa.
Remembering BGE and Ma Bell in the old days makes me think . . . maybe they had it right . . . they were big, profitable monopolies, closely regulated by the government . . . they treated their workers well and provided dependable service to customers . . . somehow we lost that formula.
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