Demand the Impossible - Bill Ayers - Part 3 of 4

2020 Reading Challenge - Day 186

July 5, 2020

Book 53 - Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto
Bill Ayers (2016)
 Part 3 - page 88-145
Reading Time - 60 minutes

This section of the book examines three concepts: Debt, Policing and Health Care. Given current events, all three topics are quite timely. Mind you, the entire book is quite timely!

First, let's talk about debt... here are a few numbers:

• Total outstanding student debt in 2013 - $1.2 trillion
• US credit card debt (2016) - $935.3 billion
• Household net worth lost during the Great Recession - $16.4 trillion

Not surprisingly, governments are put in place to hold things in trust for the common good, but over time, have sold that trust to private corporations - water, electricity, education, health care, prisons. And, generally speaking, those private corporations are not in the business of holding things in trust for the common good. They are in the business of making as much money as possible, a rather short-sighted approach that then leaves citizens and governments holding the bag. As Ayers notes, Big Business rides on the back of the taxpayers... and when things go wrong, Big Business comes to government looking for bailouts... which are paid for with the tax dollars of citizens.

There was one quote from Ayers which stuck with me: The US is "a permanent war economy, married to a prison society, with education and health care kicked to the curb and the abused and neglected paying the ticket". One anthropologist/anarchist/activist suggested cancelling all debt, moving to a 4 hour workday with 5 months of vacation... which would give us a chance to save the planet and reimagine labour. In a weird kind of way, Covid 19 has put a lot of things on hold, including the typical work pattern... although debt is still an issue. I have for a long time thought that the debt loads carried by the average North American keep us in a semi-permanent state of debt slavery. The average American has $38,000 of personal debt while the average Canadian carries $24,000 in personal debt (both those numbers exclude mortgages). Debt keeps the hamsters madly spinning on their "get-out-debt" wheel...

The next section in the book examines policing, and, as we currently see in the news, there is a growing cry to defund the police. Some numbers first:

• Percentage of city budget dedicated to police in Baltimore (2012) - 20%
• Percentage of city budget dedicated to police in Oakland - 40%
• Chicago had 28,567 civilian complaints about police misconduct from March 2011 to September 2015
• Only 2% of complaints result in a police officer receiving discipline.

It might come as now surprise, but most shootings by police are found to be "justified". But independent investigations, by journalists or private citizens, have found cover-up, corruption and murder. We see it in the news as well... the official police version is held up to justify the police actions. Until a video emerges which demonstrates the utter fabrication of the police version. If there is a video that is... The news is also bring forth stories of militarized police - police who are trained by the military and receive military equipment. All just an extension of a militarized society. Ayers notes that racial injustice and economic exploitation are correlated with a violent military system abroad and a colonial militarised police practice at home. Even after slavery was abolished, racism and white supremacy were alive and well in the police and government systems. But... Ayers expresses hope with the youth of today who are leading the way.

Finally, this section looks at health care. Some numbers:

• Out of 11 wealthy countries, the US ranks dead last in health system performance
• Out of 224 countries, the US ranks 43rd in average life expectancy
• Number of Black/White deaths per 1000 in the first month of life (2013): 7.46/3.34. That means Black children twice the death rate as White children

I learned a bit about the US health care system here... like the old (or current) Medicare is only for the elderly and disabled and is severely limited in what it provides. In general, Americans seem to be strongly averse to anything that even has a whiff of socialism about it. And universal health care would definitely reek to high heaven of socialism. The problem in America is capitalism... dollars are the standard of care. And the system is rife with corruption as well with doctors recommending tests that aren't required because they get a cut from the referral... not surprise there. Did you know the US is the only industrialised country where it is legal to advertise prescription drugs to the public? How did that happen? Who runs the country? Big Pharma? Ayers argues that the US system is deeply unequal and stacked against the elderly, the poor, women and those with mental health issues. In the US, 50% of bankruptcies are due to medical bills.

Which made me wonder... what about Obamacare? I thought that was a good thing?? Apparently not... it is still in the pockets of the health insurers and Big Pharma. Which is no surprise when you consider that the US has a corporate health industry which is designed to make money, not care for the individual. On page 141, Ayers compares the US system to his Canadian friend who had a "national insurance card" which covered dental, medical, drugs and vision. That might be a bit of a stretch. Here in Canada, we have provincial health cards which are recognized across the country but... generally do not include vision and dental. Still... a huge step above what the US has...

I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed in these three chapters. In his Introduction, Ayers had suggested that the "What if..." question could open up new possibilities... but that question isn't really being asked to the extent that it was in the first couple of chapters. Which means these later chapters are a bit unbalanced... a recitation of the state of affairs, but no real vision of what it could look like...