People Suffer, Anger for want of most basic of basics, Scramble
over crumbs thrown from tables of luxury and waste
For years, since saving account interests rose to and plummeted from 11
percent and homeless people languished in the shadows of the U.S. Capitol Dome
in Washington DC, America’s neglect has been evident to anyone who would see. I
was there and watched America’s self- immolation, its cannibalizing, its
selfish crash and burn—from bridges to bank scandals, to blatant breach of public
trust — as public officials raked in
their share and turned their faces.
When central or federal government officials serve only themselves and
their “partners,” “relatives,” “friends,” and “allies,” the public, the
country, suffers interminably.
The corrupt have instituted a system of selective “grant” handouts from
partisans and profit- making charities. Not principled support of the welfare
of all America.
This system leaves U.S. states and cities, local communities bereft and
barren, the masses of people fighting among themselves while up against a wall
of corrupt and/or incompetent municipal officials some perhaps earnestly trying
to serve mass need but many, in the Washington model, serving only themselves
by robbing the public treasury and pandering to selective interests. In this
system, the masses are left to fight for scraps, inadequacies, the basic of basics
in air, water, shelter, health and safety, training and education.
Forget the USA “democracy” mantra (that too is a shroud of nothingness)
Michigan and Louisiana’s masses need water. California, New York,
Appalachia’s masses need shelter. America’s masses need decent jobs with living
wages. Decent jobs and living wages don’t need handouts, charity, “grants,” “soft”
money or public office politicians’ pandering.
Water, Water Everywhere — Private, yes; Public, No
I
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n Louisiana, the New Orleans mayoralty and Sewage and Water Board are calling
names and threatening to shut off water amidst citizen complaints of no bills,
no meter readings, and spiked bills. One disabled woman, according to Aaron
Murch writing this week at WSWS, reported a “$1,400” bill, another a “$700”
bill, others reported receiving no bills in a year but they continued to pay what
they no doubt guessed to be the correct amount.
This is chaos and incompetence. And the servant of the people,
reportedly, considers the people “bad actors.”
F
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lint, Michigan 2014 – present: Federal State of Emergency because of lead
contaminated water
2018: The State of Michigan grants Nestle bottling company a permit “to
significantly increase the volume of fresh water” it currently pumps from
Michigan waterways, at 100,000 times the amount used by residents, a change
that doubles the amount Nestle can pump, and at “no additional cost.”
N
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estlé Preference
April 2, 2018, Despite public objections, “the
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality,” according to Popular Science and Science Alert, “approved a plan allowing the
snack company Nestlé to pump 250 gallons of water a minute from White Pine Springs,
which the company will then bottle, brand like Nestlé Pure Life Purified Water or Ice Mountain 100% Natural Spring Water, and sell (at least in New York) for about $2.50 a pop.
In 2014 the powers that be placed Flint, Michigan, residents under
threat by changing their water source “from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to
the cheaper Flint River.” And as they suffer, Nestle profits soar. Flint residents will have to wait at least six years for
lead laden pipes to be replaced; and Nestle will sell them bottles of water rising no doubt to more than three dollars a bottle (to drink, cook and bathe), no longer subsidized or aided (no free bottled
water) by a government whose actions caused both the water emergency and the corporate
giveaways.
A Flint resident speaking to Science Alert makes the point poignantly:
We the citizens of Flint are unable to get water, but you can give Nestle water for free and force us to buy that back at a premium.
The government has promised replacement of Flint’s lead-contaminated water
pipes “no sooner than 2020.” But don’t bank on it.
D
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Detroit declared bankruptcy in 2013 but a
decade and a half before that, “less than one-half of one percent of the city’s
water main pipelines had been replaced and breaks and water flooding city
streets had become as normal as broken streetlights.”
USA
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Way
Blame! Blame and bilk the public and the public treasury.
Undermine the public
trust.
If the citizens or the masses cannot afford or are sickened by the basic
necessity of water, well, it’s their own fault. And when sickened by
contaminated water without the means to either prevent ill health or afford health services,
well, tough luck. Who cares!
This is America at its most Exceptionally “Christian” Corrupt making fit the few
and failing to quench the thirst or give living water to the masses.
Sources
World Socialist Web Site “New Orleans mayor refers to residents as ‘bad
actors’ amid looming water cut-offs’ August 8, 2018 Aaron Murch http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/08/08/orle-a08.html
Science Alert “Flint Residents Struggle For Affordable, Clean Water,
While Nestle Pumps Gallons of It Nearby: Nestle pays only $200 a year” April
10, 2018, Carly Cassella https://www.sciencealert.com/flint-michigan-residents-clean-water-nestle-pump-gallons-cheap
Popular Science “Michigan is practically giving away clean water—but
not to Flint” April 13, 2018 Eleanor Cummins https://www.popsci.com/flint-michigan-nestle-bottled-water
Wikipedia
Flint Water Crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis
Crain’s Detroit Business “Aging infrastructure lurks beneath Detroit's
revitalization” August 5, 2018 Chad Livengood http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20180805/blog026/667741/aging-infrastructure-lurks-beneath-detroits-revitalization
Insight Beyond Today’s News, CLB - © All Rights
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