[Marxism] Fed up

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

(From my home-town newspaper in upstate NY, a fairly typical rural area.)

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081012/NEWS/810120325
People in region fed up with prices, politicians
By Steve Israel
October 12, 2008

Of all the big issues that concern voters ? from abortion and the 
economy to terrorism and taxes ? for Harry Moran, it all comes down 
to an incredibly shrinking jar of peanut butter.

Skippy ? that All-American brand ? recently cut the amount of peanut 
butter from 18 ounces to 16.3 ounces. But it hid the reduction by 
making the new jar look the same as the old one.

And guess what? The price stayed the same.

This sneaky move ? on top of soaring gas and food prices and 
unanswered letters to politicians ? symbolizes Moran's frustration 
with America.

"I feel like I'm getting ripped off, taken advantage of, like nobody 
listens to my concerns, like nobody cares," says the 86-year-old IBM 
retiree in the Sullivan County hamlet of Summitville.

 From the Shawangunk mountains behind Moran's home to the streets of 
Newburgh in the shadow of the Hudson River, residents feel powerless 
? pummeled by spiraling prices, soaring medical costs and politicians 
who just don't care.

This is the overwhelming consensus of an informal survey of more than 
50 people that gets at the emotional pulse of the people in the region.

"They're strokin' us," says Bud LeConey, cook and co-owner of 
Blanche's Diner in the Sullivan County Town of Bethel, as the counter 
crowd nods in agreement. "If I could vote for Harry Truman, I would. 
He was the last honest politician."

A few steps away, small-business owner Mike Cassaro echoes that sense 
of lost faith.

"This is not the America I grew up in," says Cassaro, raised among 
the working class row houses of Staten Island. "Everything's moving 
too fast. It's not a secure feeling. You're so busy working. You're 
wife's working, your children are working. And you're just trying to 
keep your head above water."

Down Route 17B, in another diner, Tilly's in Monticello, a food 
service salesman and former small-business owner, Dan Kagan, almost 
seems to finish Cassaro's thoughts. What's worse, Kagan says, is that 
politicians "don't have a clue how to change things."

"Tell me, how am I going to heat my house this winter?" he asks. "And 
they've been talking health-care reform for 40 years. It's like 
casinos in Sullivan County "¦"

Forty miles away, behind the counter of a Broadway florist shop in 
Newburgh, on a street with an American diner named Jimmy's and the 
Durango Palace Mexican restaurant, clerk Thomasino Bello says, "Amen."

If only she had health insurance, she says. She's had an infection in 
her right ear for quite a while now. But it costs about $100 to go to 
the nearest clinic, and after that, she might have to pay for 
medicine or more tests.

"So you just pray that it's not going to be too expensive," she says.

Scratch the surface of those big issues like the economy or terrorism 
and you can hear the nagging insecurity, bewilderment, fear and 
frustration of people who don't know what to do or who is going to help them.

Take Priscilla Franklin of Monticello, who's standing on a Broadway 
with so many empty storefronts, you have to walk up and down both 
sides of the wide street to count them.

"You go to the grocery store with $100 and you used to get 10 bags of 
groceries, but now you only get five," says the child-care worker and 
mother of an infant. "And look at the seniors. They work all their 
lives and now what? Why?"

Why indeed, says Deepak Kumar of the Orange County hamlet of 
Bullville, who runs a gas station/convenience store in the Sullivan 
County Town of Thompson. He remembers when he first came to America 
in 1986. He got a job flipping burgers at Burger King on 82nd Street 
and Broadway in New York City. The minimum wage was $4.25. Today, a 
wife, three children and a move of some 50 miles later, he wonders 
how anyone could come to America to pursue the 12 hours-per-day, 
six-days-a-week dream he's living.

"Now the minimum is $7.75, but everything else has tripled," he says, 
pointing to the gas pumps outside, where a gallon of gas is $3.61.

Back at Blanche's, one of the counter crew is told of the pulse of 
working people. As Richard Zangrillo of Bethel speaks, his counter 
mates nod their heads in agreement.

"People are overwhelmed," he says. "They feel thoroughly powerless to 
effect any change."


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