A City of the Poor, Another of the Rich

Plato, the Greek philosopher who lived in the fourth century B.C., defined very accurately the situation in his times and in the current times: “For indeed any city, however small, is divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another.”

The news of this month of May that has just ended reminds us of the 1968 rebellions, and they confirm what the wise thinker believed.

The British are now poorer because of the economic crisis and should expect a period with low growth rate, warned the U.K.’s business secretary, Vince Cable, when he asked the public to be understanding of how “painful” the near future will be, given the fiscal deficit and debt that exceeds one billion pounds. He did not mention that his involvement in the war against Libya could cost the taxpayers an extra billion if the conflict lasts until September, according to The Guardian.

In Spain, the “indignant” citizens that had gathered at La Puerta del Sol in Madrid articulate the movement and preach about creating social change. There the young are mainly the citizens of the city of the poor.

In the U.S., on the other hand, a global finance consulting group, Deloitte, together with Oxford Economics, described how American wealth is concentrated and projected future wealth trends: In the 25 richest countries, the powerful will double their wealth, from 92 millions of millions in 2011 to 202 millions of millions in 2020. It is not surprising that American multi-millionaires will have 43 percent of all the capital of the richest in the world. Now they have 42 percent.

From their calculations, Deloitte said that of the 65 million individuals with at least a million dollars in bonds, shares, investments, properties and durable goods, 20 million will live in the U.S. A decade of prosperity for these parasites, two decades of gold. “It doesn’t matter how hard the road for the rest is,” said a commentator.

Because in the middle of this opulence, tycoons have risen and will continue to rise. There is a truth about the American economy: It is now in a process of stagnation. It will barely grow 1.8 percent this year, according to the academic Robert Reich. Consumers spend less (of course, because their income is lower), the prices of the homes have gone down (surely, if there are hundreds of thousands who lost their homes in the mortgage bubble) and nobody knows where the jobs and the salaries are. It appeals and cries for a restoration of the American middle class, the one that is disappearing.

In the middle of this situation, politicians and governors are sorry that the nation is in bankruptcy to justify the pay cuts to teachers, the reductions of police forces, the decrease in medical services for children of the working class. At the same time, they lash against other essential public services, so that state and federal budget deficits can be lower. Nevertheless, this is a country where for over half a century, especially since Bush’s administration, taxes for big corporation and the super-rich are being reduced. All to make them earn more and pay less.

The Institute of Political Studies has analyzed this situation and warns that they are not facing bankruptcy, only corruption. For example, since 2006, General Electric (which by the way is much more than just home appliances, since it constitutes one of the consortia that profits from war) has reported net earnings of $26 billion but has not paid one single cent of taxes. Even worse, it received four billion dollars in state subsidies. Companies such as Verizon, Boeing and Bank of America have also not paid any kind of taxes because they supposedly mourn the losses of capital in the times of crisis, but as we all know, they put their investments in banks in the Canary Islands.

It is this inequity and this unevenness that is just a glimpse of the dichotomous city that Plato described.