THE RICH AND THE POOR

Victor Bloom MD

The media keeps reporting news of an unflagging economy with what appears to be unprecedented affluence by an ever larger percentage of individuals and families. Our booming economy is fuelled by ever greater consumerism, as technology and services expand exponentially.

Recently visiting Seattle, I was able to view some of the practical application of the accumulation of wealth, stemming from the products of Silicon Valley, nearby the colossus of Microsoft. Their new concert hall puts our Orchestra Hall to shame, as it is lavish, spacious, inspiring and user-friendly. The Seattle hall displays graphic and sculptural art to an impressive degree, as introduction to an auditorium which is beautifully planned, comfortable and acoustically excellent.

This is what the accumulation of wealth and power can accomplish. The history of the human condition is replete with examples of great wealth and power fostering a flowering of the arts. The failed communist experiment showed that state support of the arts under governmental control and censorship produces art which is static and propagandistic, hardly inspirational. Of course this statement is belied by the few exceptions of talented geniuses who can be bent but not broken by rigid totalitarian controls and restrictions.

More and more the wealthy are purchasing for private use personal jet airplanes and luxury yachts. Huge mansions are being built, employing millions of workers who do everything from bricklaying to fine carpentry, from plumbing and electrical work, to the making of fine chandeliers. Artists of many media are employed, as are architects and interior designers. The rich are driving automobiles with global-positioning and elaborate high fidelity music systems. The luxury cars are equipped with telephones and will soon be Internet-ready.

There is a proliferation of sumptuous and elaborate shopping malls with department stores, speciality shops and boutiques of every description. And there is a great profusion of food, which we see in supermarkets and restaurants, from fast-food to haute cuisine, all depending upon available low-skilled, entry-level help.

It is increasingly common for families to have multiple homes, multiple automotive vehicles, multiple television sets, VCR's, phones and computers.

The luxury of increasingly powerful computers are changing our lives, expanding educational and business potentials and even the way we see the world. A greater and greater percentage of Americans are living like kings, but they work long and hard for these amenities, perhaps mindless of what human values we are giving up. We hope this expansive growth is the result of a flowering of democracy and capitalism, but there are nagging reports of outbreaks of violence and a widening gap between the very rich and the very poor.

This widening gap may be exaggerated by campaign rhetoric, but we cannot avoid seeing beggars, panhandlers and other assorted street persons, carrying their possessions in grocery carts or huddled by heating vents. It seems as if in this great affluent society we can do better than tolerate this inordinate discrepancy.

Social Darwinism coldly affirms that some people are simply more able than others to adapt and succeed in modern society. Given free enterprise and a minimum of governmental controls and redistribution of wealth, some people are bound to get very, very rich, while others fall through the cracks by dint of their natural inferiority. This view is almost Scrooge-like, being devoid of compassion, sympathy and empathy. The extreme right wing suggests that the poor are sufficiently helped by private charity, and that government intervention has made matters only worse for the poor. There is ample evidence of this. Ideological capitalists insist that the best solution for the problem of the poor is a growing and stable economy.

That is exactly what we have, and we still have Americans who are dirt poor and have nothing. My observation as a behavioral scientist is that many of the impoverished are victims of mental illness, from chronic psychoses to addictions and those with organic brain deficits. Instead of being treated in mental hospitals, they are languishing on the streets or serving time in jail.

I don't hear any of the candidates for the highest office in the land speaking to this reality, probably because the majority of citizens are looking the other way or keeping their heads in the sand. The condition of the poor will not be changed until and unless there is a popular demand for it. It shouldn't matter what it would cost. The bottom line should be the dictates of an enlightened society, not necessarily that of the accountant.

Dr Bloom is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University School of Medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and on the editorial board of the Wayne County Medical Society. He welcomes comments at his email address--- vbloom@comcast.net.