The Dharma For Rich And Poor?

Above is Caracas, Venezuela. The shacks on the left are called “ranchos” and are home to over 80% of the population of Caracas.

Pretty graphic, eh? Now you might be surprised as I was to learn that the gap between rich and poor is similar in the US, although the poor often live a bit better. For now. Which also means that the super wealthy here are even wealthier.

If you’re interested, check out this article by Nicholas Kristoff, “Our Banana Republic.”

“The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976.”

And with the developments in the dreaded Mid Terms, it’s likely to get worse. For example, take the upcoming tax cuts (while we have a deficit of $100 gadzillion).

“The richest 0.1 percent of taxpayers would get a tax cut of $61,000 from President Obama. They would get $370,000 from Republicans, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.”

How could that be justified?

I’m not whining about myself here. My income is north of the $21,000 poverty line. But I work with people on the bottom of the bottom and I see the impacts inequality has. It just ain’t right that some would have so much when others don’t have three squares.

With our calm minds and clarity, dharma people had better start speaking up.

You might grumble like some have in comments that I get from time-to-time when I warn about the post-peak oil collapse, etc., that you’d prefer I stuck to dharma comments in this old blog.

Imho, injustice is a dharma issue.

And if the dharma has nothing to offer to the current political discourse, then that is one lame dharma.

The Dharma for Rich and Poor?