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David Watson's avatar

I love Breakfast of Champions and I teach part of the opening every year when I talk about narrative to my freshmen English classes. I think there's a lot of emphasis on disparity but not enough discussion about actual wealth inequality. Walter Benn Michaels has often pointed this out along with Adolf Reed and others, so I'm not saying anything original. It feels like under capitalism, so many people work all the time and just barely get by and while you think that would create sympathy with people who have fallen through the cracks, often those people who work all the time are buying into narratives about those "people who don't work that get more benefits than I do." I'm not sure if anyone has ever read the immaculately titled Deer Hunting with Jesus by the late (great) Joe Bageant but that goes into these issues in a way that's both fun to read and really eye opening.

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Richard Magee's avatar

The city I live in has made it illegal to give money to "panhandlers", and if they catch the "panhandlers" they haul them off to a huge tent city close to Palm Springs near the Morongo tribal lands. I guess we're using the "out of sight" approach to solve it.

I honestly don't know what to do. I'm retired, so I'm living off a fixed income and barely getting by myself. I just don't understand this nation's hatred towards Russia and this dumping of funds and materials to another nation that honestly shouldn't even be our concern. Simply irritated with our politicians that are in love with the MIC and don't take care of our own.

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