"Soft bigotry of low expectations"

Question for all the genetic lottery winners out there, like myself (tall, white, male, upper middle class and above)- do you ever feel cheated out of achievement, like you succeeded because others weren't allowed to try, or were just simply unlucky where you were fortunate?

I always regarded the "soft bigotry of low expectations" to be ridiculous because it ignored the actual circumstances minorities lived in, and how difficult it is to overcome one's environment through hard work alone. But I think it works if you flip it to look at how white privilege insulates millions of us from true competition, and an accurate measure of self-worth.

A Federal Reserve economist determined that 60% of one's income is based on one's parents income- it's a stronger predictor than genetically inherited traits such as height. White families have an average of 99k in wealth, black families have an average of 4k in wealth, according to Peter Edelman in So Rich, So Poor.

How are we supposed to be proud about not being born a poor minority in America?

The answer is we can't. But we can recognize our own privilege, and the history of how it became entrenched and defended in our society. And then we can change it.

Climate Change Science- Show Me The Money

Can someone tell me what the supposed nefarious end game is for climate change scientists? What shadowy interest group/pair of evil brothers is bankrolling 98% of the scientific community to declare fossil fuels a threat to humanity?

We know that climate change denials in both the media and academia are rooted in the monetary rewards doled out by interested parties, namely the oil, gas & coal industries. That these industries funded anti-academic research and sought sympathetic allies in the media establishment isn't a wild conspiracy bandied about in the online forums of people dedicated to saving the environment. It's public record.

So, I ask again, what is the equivalent of this in the climate change community? Are the CEOs of wind turbine companies hiring scientists and lobbyists to muddy the waters on the science of how fossil fuels interact with the environment and humans? Was the solar panel industry donating tens of millions of dollars to climate scientists working at East Anglia University to create data that supports a preconceived notion desperately tied to protecting private profit?

I have a difficult time finding questionable motives behind climate change scientists. In my opinion, the only thing climate scientists seem interested in is securing a healthy environment for future generations living on the only habitable planet for humans discovered in the known universe thus far.

Am I wrong? Am I missing the billion dollar payday somewhere? 

The Great Recession Reading List (expanded)

Paul Krugman's learning material for his class on the Great Recession has been released online, and you can check it out in the link below.

http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-krugmans-recession-reading-list-2013-12?utm_source=Pulse&utm_medium=App&utm_campaign=partner

This got me thinking about what I would include as a professor for this class. I've read a staggering amount of books on the GR (humblebrag alert!), including some of Krugman's own work. The following is a list of books I personally read and recommend for everyone looking to understand what happened, and how the forces of the political arena in Washington fostered an environment where systemic fraud can masquerade as legitimate, albeit risky, business:

1. Austerity by Mark Blyth

2. Bad Samaritans by Ha-Joon Chang

3. Bailout by Neil Barofsky

4. The Betrayal of the American Dream by Donald Barlett & James Steele

5. The Big Short by Michael Lewis

6. Boomerang by Michael Lewis

7. The Bubble and Beyond by Michael Hudson

8. Debtor's Prison by Robert Kuttner

9. EConned by Yves Smith

10. End This Depression Now by Paul Krugman

11. The Great Divergence by Timothy Noah

12. Griftopia by Matt Taibbi

13. The Myth of the Rational Market by Justin Fox

14. Pity the Billionaire by Thomas Frank

15. Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland

16. Predator Nation by Charles Ferguson

17. The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz

18. So Rich, So Poor by Peter Edelman

19. The Unwinding by George Packer

20. White House Burning by Simon Johnson & James Kwak

21. Winner-Taker-All Politics by Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson

There are a few other books, like Free Lunch The Fine Print by David Cay Johnson, not listed here but are essential reads for progressives looking to grasp the larger economic forces at work here.

Would you add any books to this list? Am I a douche for making a blog post about a list of books I read? Sound off in the comment section!

Will The Centrists Ever Go Away?

Addressing inequality in a society with rampant unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, low wages, record child homelessness, etc. won't resonate with voters. Not at all.

Voters don't want certainty in their lives- they want competition. Voters don't want living wages- they want corporations to feel loved. Voters don't care about the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few- they just want a chance to be one of the few.

All voters really want is the opportunity to swim after the carrot dangling from the stick attached to the back of a speeding yacht just christened with a $1,000 bottle of champagne.

Potential Democratic voters ignore buzzwords like "inequality" and campaigns that focus on the 1% vs 99%, or "us vs them" politics. What voters really crave is reconciliation for the financial industry, and bipartisan proposals that ask everyone to sacrifice equally.

Those centrists sure know their politics.

Poveritis Defined For Use In Courtroom Defense

noun: poveritis (pov-er-i-tis)

A psychological and physical terror, affecting individuals residing within impoverished communities. Symptoms include, but are not limited to:

-diminished economic opportunities
-below grade level comprehension skills
-lack of self worth
-violence
-self loathing
-dilapidated public schools

Nurture vs Nature: Affluenza Edition (Updated February 7th 2014)

Have you ever wondered why society rarely considers environmental effects when doling out sentences in our criminal justice system? Ever since the days of Horatio Alger's Ragged Dick, Americans have been enthralled with stories of enterprising individuals who rise up from their wretched beginnings, through sheer determination and hard work, to live a life of luxury. The pit isn't inescapable, you just have to work hard to climb out. Bootstraps, young fella, are there to pull yourself up. No childhood excuses are allowed for deviant and wasteful behavior in adults.

Nowhere is this philosophy on clearer display than in the courtroom. You name a crime, and I'll show you how the environment had no impact on the developmental process of the criminal who commits the act. Rape, abuse, generational poverty...they're just hurdles that are expected to cleared. In other words, no matter what base you're born on, we can all reach home plate. The factors inside the house just aren't part of the equation. If the instances of physical abuse can be represented by X, and forced sexual encounters can be represented by Y...ah, who cares. You're a fucking murderer.

Of course, anyone with a sense of decency knows the above is bullshit, and in Texas, we FINALLY have case that recognizes the lasting damage a difficult upbringing can have. Here are the facts, devoid of the horrific context in which the killer was raised:

-16 years old
-Stole cases of beer
-Drank to 3x legal limit
-Killed four people with car

Sounds like a reckless teenage asshole who deserves the maximum juvenile sentence allowable, right? His punishment must fit his crime. Otherwise, we risk losing the deterrent factor. Right? Wrong. This poor boy is the victim of what is called "affluenza."

From the Huffington Post: "A psychologist called as an expert defense witness said the boy suffered from "affluenza," growing up in a house where the parents were preoccupied with arguments that led to a divorce. The father "does not have relationships, he takes hostages," psychologist Gary Miller said, and the mother was indulgent. "Her mantra was that if it feels good, do it," he said.

It's exquisitely refreshing to hear that this young man will not be placed in the Texas juvenile system, where his emotional needs wouldn't be adequately addressed. His monstrous, litigious parents are paying $450,000 per year for a rehab center in California. It's the least they could do, after pushing the child to murder with their cruel alternate weekend vists, and separate holidays feasts.

Affluenza has claimed the lives of too many in this country. It's a pernicious disease acquired at birth, and it never relents. Here's hoping the criminal justice continues to recognize the devastation caused by wealth, privilege, and divorced parents.

UPDATE

The affluenza argument worked. Ethan Couch will spend time in a wealthy drug rehab center that his wealthy parents will pay for. At least the taxpayers save on the prison costs right?

This is an outrage, a travesty of justice, and a fistful of salt into the open wounds of every black and brown mother and father who lost their child/children to the system for non-violent crimes.

In America, a white suburban child living under the constant threat of intramarriage squabbles suffers more internal environmental damage than black or brown kids living in Camden or Detroit. Makes you wonder if that has to do with the backgrounds and experiences of our nation's judges, lawyers, and academics. What were they more likely to be afraid of at night? Daddy using the "c" word, or grandma getting a stray bullet in her gut sitting on the porch?

Shantytown, USA

In America today, there are millions of black children living in communities that have been ignored by the government, and preyed upon and abused by criminals of all collars. They are effectively shantytowns. How else to describe the communities in and around a system like the Chicago Public Schools? If government action/inaction has led us to a place where 80% of students are black, UE is over 20% for their parents, 1 in 3 of their fathers have criminal records, and the only avenue out is littered with potholes, how are we any different than the Apartheid government? Because a few of them successfully navigated a street lined with craters? Because our laws don't contain explicitly racist language? Nonsense. We condemn particular ethnic citizens to a mathematically assured fate before any of them are born. Where are the international divestment movements against us?

A day after Nelson Mandela's death, we should take note of the lessons learned by his enemies more than those of which his supporters will cherish forever. His enemies, and the enemies of racial progress in general, have convinced enough people that institutional racism doesn't exist unless someone says the n-word while writing up legislation. In other words, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it must scream "I'm a fucking duck" before anyone can possibly consider it being a duck.

As an ode to Mandela and countless others, be on the look out for 21st Century racism, and call it out wherever you find it. It won't be wearing a hood, riding a horse, but it will be in favor of cutting food stamps, and giving public buildings to charter schools rent free.