As I begin this thought the population of the United States is 327,136,798.  And though the number of U.S. workers is less than the total population, within this paragraph I have made the leap to estimate the impact of individuals into households and communities, calculated from the total population. As reported in a recent survey, nearly 80% of American workers (impacting 255,166,702 Americans) state they are struggling financially, 71% (impacting 232,267,126 Americans) report being in debt, 56%  of those in debt (impacting 130,069,590 Americans) believe they will always be in debt, and home values and rent are rising at twice the rate of U.S. wages.

According to other recent surveys there are 43.1 million Americans living in poverty, which does not include the 2.3 million incarcerated Americans or the 554,000 homeless Americans. This is shameful. These numbers, ALL OF THESE NUMBERS, are too large to simply write off as irresponsible individuals. We are responsible as a Nation. We must work to better understand contributing and perpetuating factors. Uncertain of the wildly circuitous route I may be embarking upon, I would like to begin this exploration here.

I am one of the (reported) 199,553,447 Americans who would find it difficult-to-impossible to come up with $1,000 cash for an emergency; that is 61% of Americans - another big number. As an individual working to stabilize my financial structure, my paychecks represent floors and ceilings, and my bills represent walls. My structure's ground floor is a dirt floor; (a $1,000 emergency fund would represent cheap linoleum). So as it (precariously) stands I have no windows, (they would represent hope to one day be debt free), and there are no stairs because (unable to move beyond the ground floor) they are unnecessary. As my paychecks disappear some walls disappear and new walls are exposed above that neatly slide into place on my lower floor. Some days I have a surplus of walls and little room to maneuver. A crawlspace or a basement would represent savings, and a vacation home with large, spacious rooms would represent wealth; I can only dream. I have had frequent, more-often-than-not periods in my life in which in the last few days before a paycheck I was completely exposed to the elements; though I have been lucky in that I have always had a paycheck-in-waiting. And, I have been lucky because I have had a wealth of experience.

Looking back I realize I made choices that some would consider foolish. I believed in Justice and Fairness and the American dream to the point that I chased it, often sacrificing comfort and security where and when I realized it (the comfort and security) was unprincipled. I believed that Truth and Beauty and Wisdom and Happiness were worthwhile and attainable, but after decades of making the effort I have found these and many other Ideals to be impossible. However, by seeking Ideals, I have found a circularity from which I am consistently, incrementally able to push and stretch ever closer allowing the occasional fleeting glimpse of the wavery indecipherable edges of Perfection. Painful as it has been at times, I would not go back and change my decisions.

This is my story. I believe it explains an overarching force that drives many, (who in hindsight would prefer comfort and security), to make poor decisions believing instead that Ideals are attainable and that they should not have to settle. And perhaps it depends upon one's Ideals. As I was pursuing Justice and Truth and Beauty and Wisdom, there were others pursuing comfort and security, and still others pursuing a way out, but I believe that to a degree every one of us pursues Ideals. So first and foremost I believe we must present Ideals as reality as opposed to (unlikely) possibility by incorporating reality into all forms and levels of education; perhaps beginning with our leaders, many of whom have no concept of reality, and to include an in-depth analysis of differing realities by circumstance. There are those though who would argue that by doing so we may be discouraging the next Einstein but I do not believe Einstein would be discouraged and if it aids us in reducing some ugly big numbers, reality is necessary for our future.

This leads to another story.

There is a segment of our population, (based on the big numbers above, approximately 50,000,000), that lives in a reality that differs from mine. Imagine a financial structure with a dirt floor, no ceilings, and an even greater number of walls representing additional bureaucratic challenges such as late fees, excessive service fees, higher prices for staples such as groceries, exorbitant rates of interest, collection threats, eviction notices, court summonses, and neighborhood crime. These (and other) barriers create a maze-like existence nearly impossible to escape, especially when the system begins adding walls (representing credit reports and court orders and judgements and other legal entanglements) onto your upper levels. Toss in the income segregation by housing and neighborhoods and you have created an out-of-sight, out-of-mind world that perpetuates the intimidation and fear and further widens the gaps (broadly speaking) between the 50,000,000 exposed to the elements, the 200,000,000 with ceilings to shelter their dirt floors, and the 75,000,000 with tiled floors, basements and/or vacation homes.

To this point in this week's thought, my intent has been to support my earlier claim that the shameful numbers I began with are too large to attribute exclusively, (or even mostly), to individual irresponsibility. I have done so from a dirt floor knowing I have been lucky, and (only thanks to exorbitant interest rates), knowing that I have a cushion of three or four paychecks before punishing exposure. Additional support for my claim comes from comparing our numbers with those of other developed countries. Whether you look at wealth inequality or income inequality or the GINI coefficient or the "Inclusive Development Index" or the "World Happiness Report" or any of a number of other measures to be found with a few clicks, you will find that we could do much, much better.

According to Jeffrey Sachs, a renowned economist and one of the editors of this year's World Happiness Report:

"I think there really is a deep and very unsettling signal coming through that U.S. society is in many ways under profound stress, even though the economy by traditional measures is doing fine. The trends are not good, and the comparative position of the U.S. relative to other high income countries is nothing short of alarming."

Below is another compounding factor (as reported by the National Low Income Housing Coalition) that exposes our delusional complicity.

"To afford a one-bedroom apartment [anywhere in the United States] at the fair market rate without paying more than 30% of one's income, a person must earn at least $16.35 an hour."

The Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and (especially for those with some form of government aid for housing) there is little difference in rent between substandard housing in poorer neighborhoods and housing found in (so-called) middle-class neighborhoods. A single Mom with children is likely to pay upwards of sixty to ninety percent of her income on housing, and if she has any legal strikes against her such as bad credit,  an eviction or even an eviction notice, she will be stuck in poorer neighborhoods where background checks are not as thorough. There are approximately 2.3 million eviction filings (that is 4 per minute) and approximately 1 million official, court-ordered evictions in the U.S. each year. These traps contribute to household and community instability and frequently lead to short-term and longer-term homelessness, often perpetuating a downward spiral.

This brings me to the 2.3 million incarcerated Americans. Though one may be more inclined to assign maximum responsibility to an individual confined in a cell, instinctively doing so bypasses necessary skepticism and ignores some facts. It is a fact that a significant number, (upwards of 450,000 by some estimates), of incarcerated individuals in this country are in jail awaiting a trial, (in which they may be found not guilty), most because they are too poor to be out of jail. It is a fact that because landlords in poorer neighborhoods often perform minimal or no background screenings, and because neighbors in poorer neighborhoods are more likely to ignore criminal activity so as not to bring attention upon themselves---(research nuisance ordinance), criminals are more likely to reside in poorer neighborhoods. And because criminals reside in poorer neighborhoods, it is a much smaller step from excessive bureaucratic challenges and legal entanglements to illegalities; and in some instances proximity alone may beget blame, arrest and conviction. ...more traps that contribute to 2.3 million incarcerated Americans. And if one remains unmoved, I would challenge that delusional individual to explain why the United States rate of incarceration is #1 in the world. Per capita we are 20% greater than second place Russia, 111% greater than third place Ukraine, 121% greater than fourth place South Africa, 214% greater than fifth place Poland, and more than 400% greater than the midpoint. Does this lend credence to the claim that the United States is the greatest nation in the world? Go Team!

(I will be vilified for saying so, but) American pride should go the way of the American dream. Unfortunately, populism and divisive politics have redefined American pride by redefining what it means to be an American. As an American today I must choose sides or choose ignorance. If I choose sides I must choose to bully or choose to be bullied. If I choose to bully, I am contributing to divisive dormancy. If I choose to be bullied, I am contributing to... well... nothing. As an American today it appears that I can choose to know-it-all or I can choose to be bullied. Unfortunately I do not know-it-all and I acknowledge that I never will. But as an American today it apears that I cannot choose to live and learn and grow, together.

Silver Lining:

Perhaps to be an American has always been to be a pretentious, delusional bully, but because I believed...

So perhaps today we are merely more obviously American than we have ever been, and perhaps tomorrow, today's transparency will shame Americans into reality.

Look at the numbers!

Addendum: Okay. I have to talk for a minute about nuisance ordinance. You don't have to research it. A typical example of a nuisance ordinance is an ordinance that allows a community to fine a landlord if multiple 911 calls are made from a specific address in a given month. The nature of the call typically does not matter. One of the most common 911 calls considered a nuisance is domestic violence. When a landlord is put on notice, it is not uncommon for them to discourage calls by threatening eviction. A nuisance ordinance often requires a plan of action from the landlord and if the plan of action includes a copy of an eviction filing, the administrator-in-blue will stamp it approved. The victims of crimes are thusly threatened and punished and kept in their place. And then in the aftermath of an attention-grabbing, media-gathering, horrific, violent crime, the talking heads in the police department and community government will stupidly wonder aloud why the victim or victims or their neighbors did not call the police for previous incidents leading up to this crime, that neighbors are just now reporting.

...another compounding factor.