Bush's Ownership Society...
...with emphasis on the "Own" Part as in... You are on your OWN.
Bush and his cronies are very proud of themselves for touting the "Ownership Society", this great new idea where everyone is prosperous because they own their own property, their own healthcare, their own social security, their own schools, their own everything. However, that is not a new concept at all. It is America and how it was before the Progressives and New Dealers in the early 20th Century helped us out of the quagmire.
Owing your own home is the American Dream and Bush brags that more people than ever now own their own homes. However, it is not the pretty sight he claims. A lot of recent home ownership has occurred because lenders are loaning money to people who cannot afford the loans. It is often called predatory lending. The mortgage brokers and original lenders make money on their fees and interest, but when the homeowners can no longer afford to pay, they can lose their homes and the investors who purchased the loans on the secondary mortgage market lose out. Often the property is not worth what it appraised out as for the loan, so the property is not worth purchasing at the foreclosure sale. Neighborhoods deteriorate with boarded up houses that cost the city in safety measures and demolition. People lose, taxpayers lose, communities lose, mortgage investors lose and a few run away with the money.
Schemes to privatize social security are also part of the Bush Ownership Society.
They want people to invest their share of social security into the stock market rather than paying it in to the government program. Back in 1998, that probably sounded like a good idea, but think about Enron, Quest, Tyco and Andersen; think about other stocks that tanked. Lucent was at 76 and now it hovers around 3 - 3 1/2. Think about whether you really want your safety net in the hands of Wall Street.
Schemes to privatize the school system are another part of the ownership society and one that Obama's opponent favors. The big plan is to take money out of the already cash starved public schools and give it back to parents for private schools. Problem is that they never quite explain how much money will actually go back to the parents, if that amount will cover all the costs of private school, who is going to run these private schools, how much they will pay the teachers (private schools are known to be low paying employers), and where the supplies and resources will come from in those private schools. Here in the Chicago area, we have watched the once very successful Catholic school system disintegrate before our eyes. The schools were too expensive for it to run. How will private schools with less money and organization than the Catholic Church survive in the long run? It makes one wonder if there will be universal grade school education in the country anymore if Bush gets his Ownership Society.
Then, there is ownership of your health care. Sounds great, right? You choose your doctor, hospital...just like good old BCBS in the old days. But, wait! It is not the old days and good old BCBS doesn't cost what it did in the old days. Seems that Bush's ownership society will mean that only the very wealthy will have health care at all under the Bush plan. That is already happening because many employers are downgrading their employees to part time so they no longer have to provide health care. They don't want to because it is too expensive. If employers cannot afford to provide health care, how is the average person supposed to provide his own under the Ownership Society?
The Ownership Society is nothing new. It is America and the way it was before laws were passed to improve life for the average person. It is pre-FDA, pre-USDA, pre-OSHA, pre-Dept. of Labor, pre-Social Security, pre-free grade school and high school education. It was the era when my grandmother had to quit high school to make money for her family; lost part of her hand in a factory accident because the machine she was using was unsafe; lost her job because after her accident she could no longer operate the machine; lost her family's savings because they had to pay for the doctor and hospital on their own. It was the era when my grandmother almost lost her life because she came from a working class family. They weren't poor. They weren't huddled masses yearning to be free. They were just regular Americans, born in this country, who had to work for a living. They had very little and were forced to risk everything every day. That was the Ownership Society. That is the country Bush wants. Nothing new. America and the way it was before we had laws to protect average people from business hucksters, before we spread around risks to reduce the risk to any one family, before we invested in our children and our health and before we helped each other live better lives.
Bush and his cronies are very proud of themselves for touting the "Ownership Society", this great new idea where everyone is prosperous because they own their own property, their own healthcare, their own social security, their own schools, their own everything. However, that is not a new concept at all. It is America and how it was before the Progressives and New Dealers in the early 20th Century helped us out of the quagmire.
Owing your own home is the American Dream and Bush brags that more people than ever now own their own homes. However, it is not the pretty sight he claims. A lot of recent home ownership has occurred because lenders are loaning money to people who cannot afford the loans. It is often called predatory lending. The mortgage brokers and original lenders make money on their fees and interest, but when the homeowners can no longer afford to pay, they can lose their homes and the investors who purchased the loans on the secondary mortgage market lose out. Often the property is not worth what it appraised out as for the loan, so the property is not worth purchasing at the foreclosure sale. Neighborhoods deteriorate with boarded up houses that cost the city in safety measures and demolition. People lose, taxpayers lose, communities lose, mortgage investors lose and a few run away with the money.
Schemes to privatize social security are also part of the Bush Ownership Society.
They want people to invest their share of social security into the stock market rather than paying it in to the government program. Back in 1998, that probably sounded like a good idea, but think about Enron, Quest, Tyco and Andersen; think about other stocks that tanked. Lucent was at 76 and now it hovers around 3 - 3 1/2. Think about whether you really want your safety net in the hands of Wall Street.
Schemes to privatize the school system are another part of the ownership society and one that Obama's opponent favors. The big plan is to take money out of the already cash starved public schools and give it back to parents for private schools. Problem is that they never quite explain how much money will actually go back to the parents, if that amount will cover all the costs of private school, who is going to run these private schools, how much they will pay the teachers (private schools are known to be low paying employers), and where the supplies and resources will come from in those private schools. Here in the Chicago area, we have watched the once very successful Catholic school system disintegrate before our eyes. The schools were too expensive for it to run. How will private schools with less money and organization than the Catholic Church survive in the long run? It makes one wonder if there will be universal grade school education in the country anymore if Bush gets his Ownership Society.
Then, there is ownership of your health care. Sounds great, right? You choose your doctor, hospital...just like good old BCBS in the old days. But, wait! It is not the old days and good old BCBS doesn't cost what it did in the old days. Seems that Bush's ownership society will mean that only the very wealthy will have health care at all under the Bush plan. That is already happening because many employers are downgrading their employees to part time so they no longer have to provide health care. They don't want to because it is too expensive. If employers cannot afford to provide health care, how is the average person supposed to provide his own under the Ownership Society?
The Ownership Society is nothing new. It is America and the way it was before laws were passed to improve life for the average person. It is pre-FDA, pre-USDA, pre-OSHA, pre-Dept. of Labor, pre-Social Security, pre-free grade school and high school education. It was the era when my grandmother had to quit high school to make money for her family; lost part of her hand in a factory accident because the machine she was using was unsafe; lost her job because after her accident she could no longer operate the machine; lost her family's savings because they had to pay for the doctor and hospital on their own. It was the era when my grandmother almost lost her life because she came from a working class family. They weren't poor. They weren't huddled masses yearning to be free. They were just regular Americans, born in this country, who had to work for a living. They had very little and were forced to risk everything every day. That was the Ownership Society. That is the country Bush wants. Nothing new. America and the way it was before we had laws to protect average people from business hucksters, before we spread around risks to reduce the risk to any one family, before we invested in our children and our health and before we helped each other live better lives.
posted by Ellen Beth at
11/21/2004 09:40:00 PM
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