OUR CHILDRENS FUTURE

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In the US the standard of living for most people has been steadily declining as our poverty rates
in have increased, year after year. Facts further confirmed by recently released statistical figures
provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. (SEE http!""#$%&allst.com"special'
report"#()$"(*")+"americas'richest'and'poorest'states'#", -he U.S. Census Bureau Statistics also
reports that the hardest hit group is actually .merica/s youth. Since )*%0, the poverty rate for
.merican1s under'0( group nearly doubled2 In order to ensure our children1s and their
children1s survival our highest goal must be to guide and inspire our children to gain a
comprehensive education to develop their uni3ue talents, gifts and passions, critical thin4ing,
compassion for others, and understanding the importance of ta4ing thoughtful timely action to
ensure their creative participation in a &orld that can be actually be sustained for their children
and their children/s children.
"Children must be taught ho to thin!" not hat to thin!"
#$argaret $ead
-he U.S. Census Bureau Statistics also tells us that medical costs have been raised by an
average of +.56 per year since )*+$, &ith millions of .merican children living in poverty and
lac4ing basic health insurance. -he fact that health care is becoming an unaffordable lu7ury in
.merica is made more evident &hen one becomes a&are that of the fact that in #()(, the U.S.
infant mortality rate &as reported as 8.) infant deaths per),((( live births &ith the U.S. ran4ing
#8th in infant mortality among developed countries and about t&ice the deaths per thousand
reported in Finland, S&eden, and 9enmar4, according to a report published by the Center for
9isease Control and :revention. (http!""&&&.cdc.gov"nchs"data"nvsr"nvsr80"nvsr80;(5.pdf,
-he infant mortality rate (I<=, is the number of deaths of infants under one year old per
),((( live births, this number is fre3uently used as an indicator of the level of health in a
country.
Scientists urgently &arn us that our global environment is being &rac4ed by immense shifts
including global &arming, progressive pollution of our rivers, la4es and oceans causing
biodiversity to disappear at ),((( times the normal rate. According to Dave Reay, a professor of
carbon management at the University of Edinburgh; If this were a bank statement it woud
say our credit is running out! "e#ve aready burned through two$thirds of our goba carbon
aowance and avoiding dangerous cimate change now re%uires some very difficut choices!
&ot east of these is how a shrinking goba carbon aowance can be shared e%uitaby
between more than 'bn peope and where the differences between rich and poor are so
immense!( <oreover according to e7perts and scientists, Biodiversity is increasingly obliterated
by a combination of habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, the spread of pollution and
disease, and global climate change, a problem 4no&n to be caused by the predatory e7ploitation
of natural resources essential to maintain the status 3uo of the ever increasing consumerism that
our modern society strongly relies on to 4eep the &ealth flo&ing into the poc4ets of the &ealthy.
.s our consumer driven first &orld economies, yearly increase their ravenous consumption of
our &orld1s limited natural resources. -he ongoing biodiversity crisis only stands to get &orse as
more people inevitably consume more and more resources.
If &e allo& ourselves to be persuaded that our unfortunate and deleterious increasing loss of
health, and economic &ell'being is merely an unfortunate but unpreventable fact then our
children and their children &ill be the ones to suffer the conse3uences2 >e must fund,
strengthen and reform our educational system if our brightest and best youths are to be
successfully prepared to evolve transformational tools needed to solve the current global
problems. >e, can start this process at home, by sharing our understanding of the political and
social challenges &ith our children and grandchildren instead of allo&ing our children to accept
a dim future for their families involving decreasing health, increasing poverty and droughts, crop
failures and famines as a result of global &arming for many generations to come.
Our traditional edu%ation s&stem as e'ol'ed (rom )ra%ti%es rooted in industrialism* ith
an em)hasis on material and e%onomi% goals needed to )rodu%e an e%onomi%all& 'iable
indi'idual##in order to strengthen and sustain the or! (or%e and the e%onom&+ -he
educational goals of consumer driven commercial development is a short sighted educational
tradition strongly contributing to a &orsening global financial crisis in turn increasing &orld
hunger through its ongoing cultural paradigm of systematic preparation of each ne& crop of
students to enter into an aggressively competitive ?ob mar4et as soldiers for consumerism.
>e must open our eyes and analy@e ho& this nation1s &ealthy successfully control our ta7
la&s and government spending, to preserve their personal &ealth and po&er. -o conduct this
analysis &e only need to e7amine the statistical fact that in #()0, for the first time in history,
more than half the members of the Aouse and Senate are millionaires, according to a ne&
analysis of financial disclosure reports filed last year. -he median net &orth for la&ma4ers in the
Aouse and Senate &as B),((+,%8% C up $.$ percent, according to the analysis, conducted by the
nonprofit Center for =esponsive :olitics, &hich e7amines the influence of money on politics in
>ashington. Dver all, at least #8+ of the 50$ current members of Congress had an average net
&orth of B) million or more in #()# the year covered by the reports that each la&ma4er had to
file in #()0. 9emocrats and =epublicans in Congress are about e3ually &ealthy, &ith 9emocrats
boasting a median net &orth of B).($ million, compared to B) million for congressional
=epublicans. (http!""&&&.nytimes.com"#()$"()")("us"politics"more'than'half'the'members'of'
congress'are'millionaires'analysis'finds.htmlE;rF(,
Forbes <aga@ine (a publication produced by and dedicated to the aims and goals of the
&ealthy., :ublishes statistics demonstrating ho& as the &or4ing class health, educational
opportunities, and standard of living has been decreasing that &ealth of our nation has been
increasingly concentrated in the hands of our nation1s ne&est crop of billionaires boasting i
capital gains. Forbes <aga@ine fre3uently publishes information and resources in order to
promulgate effective use of ta7 shelters and loopholes by the &ealthy, and additionally provides
us &ith some very enlightening and accurate statistical data. .ccording to Forbes <aga@ine
annual survey of .merica/s billionaires bac4 in )*+# there &ere only )0 billionaires in the
U.S, then in )*+0...)5 in )*+$...)# in )*+5...)0 in )*+8...#8 in )*+%...$* and so forth. -hen
due to certain ta7 la&s passed by the =eagan .dministration drastically altering the &ay
billionaires are re3uired to pay ta7es , in )*+8 the number of U.S. billionaires suddenly
9DUBGE9, and by )*+% the number of billionaires had HU.9=U:GE922 By )*++ there &ere
at least 8+ individuals or families that each had net &ealth in e7cess of B),(((,(((,(((. By
)*+*, the number had risen precipitously to +#. By )**(, the Forbes survey reported the
staggering total of **22 Ieep in mind that our la&ma4ers are comprised of millionaires &ho
fabricated and propounded the Jfinancial cliffK theory to support their ta7 e7empt status and
maintain their current stranglehold and status 3uo of &ealth and po&er. <ean&hile L the rest
of us are sub?ect to ever increasing ta7es concurrent &ith ma?or cutbac4s in every sector,
including cutbac4s to grants and subsidies vital to supporting public elementary school and
college level education, cutbac4s to funding for public libraries, and cutbac4s to food stamps,
and other aid to the disadvantaged including senior and humanitarian services.

In order to ensure a health future for our children and grandchildren &e must abandon the
notion that as communities, families and individuals &e are, Jpo&erlessK to alter our current
deteriorating situation. Instead &e must .C- decisively together by educating our children to be
activists in order to ensure their future. <ean&hile &e set a good e7ample by ta4ing all possible
social, economic and political measures to remove from office, all politicians &ho serve their
o&n economic interests instead of serving, >E -AE :ED:GE1S needs and interests.