Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The American Dream Going Bust

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The American Dream Going Bust – in One Chart

Click here to access article by Wolf Richter from Wolf Street.

Richter posts a graph that depicts what most of us already know or suspect: capitalists have been buying up all the foreclosed homes and driving prices up while destroying the great American dream of home ownership. Homes in capitalist economies are regarded as a commodity like everything else. They are not regarded as secure, almost sacred places in which to raise children into healthy adults.