I picked up the Oct. 25 issue of New Times and was moved by the juxtaposition of the cover photo, a homeless man lying face down on the grass, and the glossy Menus insert, featuring a well-dressed couple dining in an upscale restaurant toasting each other with wine surrounded by plates of expensive food on the table in front of them. The disparity of the conditions in the two photos exemplifies what many people have come to realize is a serious issue facing not only the Central Coast but the nation as a whole.
The economic conditions of this country have deteriorated due to decades of failed and flawed economic policies such as free trade, which exported our once thriving manufacturing sector to foreign countries, leaving our nation unable to manufacture the goods needed to sustain us as a First World country. The policy of privatizing health care has led to a collapse of the health care delivery system, the closure of hundreds of public hospitals, and the outrageous costs of receiving basic health care through privatized health insurance companies that have made health care a for-profit business. In the past 20 years, our nation has spent trillions of taxpayer dollars waging illegal wars of aggression against Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan (to name a few). That money could have been used to fund a universal health care system for every American, provided free college education for our citizens, built a water pipeline from Alaska to California, rebuilt our collapsing and decaying power grid and highway infrastructure, dams, and bridges and so forth. Under Barack Obama, our nation spent billions bailing out the bankrupt Wall Street banks, which are presently in the process of another collapse that will be far worse than the collapse of 2008.
As a longtime activist for the LaRouche Political Action Committee, I have lobbied my representatives and fellow citizens on the Central Coast to think about these issues and take action to reverse the policies that have created the conditions that led to the collapse of the middle class, the rise in homelessness, and hyperinflation of basic goods including housing.
The population has been like the proverbial frog in hot water, not recognizing the rise in temperature or how close we are to the boiling point. It’s almost too late to jump out of the boiling water, so we are witnessing the sights of the haves and the have-nots, an escalation of Third World conditions in our once thriving nation. I hope it’s not too late to reverse these conditions for our citizens. We need to eliminate homelessness and make sure our citizens have their basic needs met.
Emily Esslinger
Los Osos
This article appears in San Luis Obispo County’s News and Entertainment Weekly.
Most people who can afford a home here have their heads in a box of wine. If we hadn’t sent our men to die for Israel over last couple generations we would be on Mars by now.
What Emily says is all true but the boiling water is the loss of our Liberties that stifles innovation and economc growth. If our government would get out of the way, more prosperity would be shared by all. Fredom survays sown the freest countries have the most vibrant economies. Citizens of Norway, Sweden and Denmark are proud of thei free market economies. Just ask th em.
Prior to government medical programs, private medical insurance was to cover high cost procedures, not every day visits to your MD. Clinics and county hospitals cared for the poor. It is the governement programs that closed the public hospitals and clinics and volunteer MDs to oversee the staff.
It is the high cost of meeting safety regulations that sent companiers overseas to bring back cheap goods we so willingly buy.
It is our young people willing and proud to ‘protect America’, not realizing that protection comes at a high price in stability around the world. Less interference in other countries would decrease the need to interfere at all.
Yes, we could have all those government solutions.
We could also have the freedom to innovate and provide for all our needs via a free market.
I vote for Liberty!