Economic stress diverting Americans from world events

Economic uncertainty, bank failures, high fuel prices, bankruptcy, debt and other distractions continue to drive wedges between the rich, the middle class and the nations’ working poor. The defining moment of what many are predicting as a major military confrontation with Iran, if it comes, may be that a large part of the nation’s population may be too economically stressed to pay attention when the missiles and bullets start flying.

In another sign of the times, a friend of mine is going bats over watching computer “hits” to an article he wrote on the dangerous build up of armament in the Middle East. Something of a conspiracy buff, he’s been giving interviews on his analysis of a probable war with Iran for more than a week.

A former weapons designer and real estate broker, Indiana native Timothy Alexander has been hip deep in ‘conspiracy theories’ for more than a decade. His articles on various internet news sites have generated world wide readership, including his latest, “Massive US Naval Armada Heads for Iran” (blogspot.com/europebusines/).

The latest article is generating worldwide attention, receiving an average of one “hit” every two seconds, showing the power of the Internet as a major foundation of the so-called “Information Age.” Yet, what makes this situation so interesting is how well it defines the current Information Age.

Thanks to technology, we can access news from all over the world in the blink of an eye, bypassing an often out of touch or wilfully misdirected mainstream press. The cognoscenti, the computer mavens, internet intelligentsia and others with access to the Internet, and affluent enough to afford computers with all of the latest bells and whistles, news feeds and information sources are in hog heaven–unless they’re frightened out of their wits by the possibility of World War Three and are in “hide out mode”, fearful that Armageddon is just around the corner.

For others who have their noses to the grind stone, working two or three minimum wage jobs to make ends meet, or surviving on the “underground economy”, hustling, selling drugs or “getting by”, this is a world beyond their ken. People on this level of the economy are too busy trying to get enough money to pay the rent, put gas in the gas guzzler and track down a reputable babysitter to worry about “that kind of stuff.”

With the level of current economic uncertainty, a shaky jobs market, banks failing at an unheard of rate, and the possibility of millions of home mortgages going into foreclosure in the next 18 months or so, John Doe and LaKeisha Jones are trying to survive now, in the United States.

They don’t have time to worry about how many air craft carriers are headed to the Persian Gulf, or whether there are secret detention camps in the wilds of South Dakota, or whether the World Trade Center was brought down by thermite charges. Life for them is a never ending search for jobs, grocery money, funds to fuel the gas guzzler or ride the city bus.

Indeed, there are “Two Americas”. One has the resources to pay attention to politics and world events. The other is so occupied with survival that nothing outside work, bill paying and family rearing has a place in their world.

The differences in access to information, access to services, access to the bureaucracy which fuel this ‘democracy’ are quite real, and have a major impact on how the nation responds to war, disaster and catastrophe. For those who are in “survival mode”, and literally can’t afford to take the time to read the “news” or follow current events, local and international problems are more than they have the resources to deal with.

There are people in this country who are so functionally illiterate that they can not fill out job applications, can’t calculate room dimensions, or figure out their paychecks. Some so intimidated by bureaucracies that they don’t bother to go to school board meetings or attend city council meetings.

Many have a variety of mental problems and are so disorganized that they can not function in this highly bureaucratized, technological society. Keeping doctor’s appointments, showing up at work on time consistently, dealing with stress on the job, and keeping schedules is often more than many Americans can handle. Hence, when the talking heads on television talk about this or that “crisis”, many of these people are too busy with crises of their own to worry about something they don’t believe they can do anything about.

For the people who can’t afford the bus fare to go to the suburbs and take advantage of an oral surgeon’s service, or the single mother who is intimidated out of a job training program by a “gatekeeper” with an agenda, or the single, non-custodial father who pays child support to his child’s crack addicted mother and has to stand by as his “child support” is used to fuel is ex-girlfriend’s drug habit, but can’t afford a lawyer to challenge her custody in court, worrying about “the start of WW III” is something they don’t dwell on.

For many of America’s working poor, living in a foreign ‘war zone’ might just be safer than the neighborhood they currently live in. In Indianapolis, preachers rail at the record murder rate in the city. Funeral home directors participate in “parades” to showcase the devastation of street killings. One drug store construction project in southern Indiana was hailed as a divine gift by homeowners who are blissfully happy to sell their property in a crime riddled neighborhood in the inner city and move on.

From Alaska to Wyoming, the United States remains a nation where the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is hanging on by the skin of its teeth. The rising belligerence of our nation’s leaders and the possibility of a devastating war fueled by modern, non-conventional weapons is so far removed from the daily grind of simply trying to survive, that “current events” has now become a “foreign language” to many of the nation’s working poor, and the fragile middle class which might soon be joining them