Who should be more ashamed? The poor man caught stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family? Or the rich man sitting in judgement on top of his pile of money sending the poor man to prison? Or, is it the poor man suffering for the sake of the rich man, doing nothing while our prisons fill up?

Today (according to the rich man) stealing is anything the poor man gets that is not earned as a direct result of his subservience to the rich man. Today a loaf of bread could be the exorbitant portion of the rent, or a day's pay to stay home with a sick child, or a car repair, or a doctor's visit, or, a loaf of bread. Today a prison could be homelessness, or fear of eviction, or food insecurity, or untreated illness, or, a prison. Today a poor man does not have many choices or even much opportunity to (actually) steal, so he takes what he is allowed and because often that is all that he has, it appears to the rich man that he is undeservingly taking advantage. Today a rich man has lots of choices and does not need to steal, yet he still takes what he is allowed tucking it away at the bottom of his big pile of money where no one will notice. The poor man bares his teeth in desperation. The rich man bares his teeth to keep the poor man from his pile of money. The rich man sells this idea of an American Dream and equal opportunity and bootstraps, and the poor man that buys it pays dearly; and the poor man who refuses, has it force fed---and pays dearly.

I was told three weeks back (by a relative) that I have an anger problem. He is right. My problem with anger is that there is not enough of it. I strongly believe that way more of us should work at a controlled, rational anger channeled into thoughtful, creative solutions to guide us away from the mercenary rules we currently follow and toward empathy and compassion. I strongly believe that this is absolutely necessary to save Humanity and possibly the world. I believe that in theory a very large majority of us agree with compassion and empathy but have learned to mimic the rich man, baring our teeth when change gets too close.

Today, who needs a million or even a half-million dollars per year for comfortable housing, plenty of food, adequate transportation, top-notch healthcare and childcare, opportunity to pursue a dream or two… There are plenty of resources to provide for everyone but instead of being angry about our status quo, we are okay, accepting, forgiving, blind beyond our own backyard, afraid of the rich man, and even happy that we live in America. We. Need. More. Anger.

There are solutions but they are offensive to the rich man; inimical to Capitalism. Pulitzer Prize winning writer Matthew Desmond in his latest book “Poverty, By America” says “By one estimate, simply collecting unpaid federal income taxes from the top 1 percent of households would bring in some $175 billion a year. We could just about fill the entire poverty gap in America if the richest among us simply paid all the taxes they owed.” (Page 137). Other very real and manageable possibilities (even within the confines of our flailing system) include:

• A universal basic income.
• Permanent paid family and medical leave and guaranteed paid sick days.
• No-cost early childhood and higher education.
• More and stronger safety net programs.
• Accessible childcare, healthcare, and housing.

To empower the poor, to empower the worker, to end poverty, we need to realize these solutions (and a few more) and live in their reality. To date, we have failed; not because the rich man bares his teeth, but because a majority of us continue to politely creep around the edges of the rich man's big pile of money taking only what we are allowed, only what we can, thus substantiating exploitation and entitlement, and maintaining our status quo.

Personal income in 2022 was 21.8 trillion U.S. dollars. That is more than $65,000 per every man, woman and child in the United States and more than $175,000 per U.S. household. And this does not account for all the big piles of money lorded over by all the teeth-baring rich men. You call this freedom? Poverty is not necessary! It is manufactured and maintained! And we should all be ashamed. And we should all be angry. So why are we not?

This week many of us were riveted and saddened by the drama surrounding the Titanic tourist sub. I believe the empathy was appropriate. The question I have to ask is, if the empathy for the five individuals aboard the sub is appropriate, where is the compassion and empathy for the nearly 600,000 homeless in America when according to Dr. Andrew Boozary, a primary care physician practicing social medicine in Toronto, "The life expectancy for people surviving homelessness is half that of the general public." Why are we not riveted and saddened by more than half-a-million people, citizens, neighbors, living half the life they should?

Ashamed. Angry. Saddened. Riveted.

Why are we not?