On the social crisis in Oregon—and the political malaise in the US

The excerpts don't really do justice to this article. Worth reading from beginning to end to see where we stand at the end of 2003 (or, to be more exact, where we sit and twiddle our thumbs while waiting for deliverance).

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/dec2003/oreg-d22.shtml

“I saw in Enron an opportunity to see Adam Smith’s capitalism play itself out in probably its purest form. As compared to the other US companies where I had worked, Enron did not even make the pretense of trying to integrate the gentler social values with the ruthless ways of capitalism.”

Barely four years after stepping onto Oregon’s economic stage, Enron’s collapse exacted the following price: $100 million from PGE employees’ 401k plans and $80 million from the state’s battered Public Employees Retirement System. Portland officials investigating the possibility of buying PGE from Enron told another city newspaper, the Portland Tribune, that the corporation never paid state income taxes.

In regard to this latter offense, it is crucial to note that as grotesque and criminal as Enron was, it was not some exceptional case of “pure” capitalism amid a host of companies embracing “gentler social values.” According to an article published May 25, 2003 in the Oregonian, 65 percent of the state’s corporations paid no income taxes in 2000. Instead, they wrote $10 checks, which is the minimum required on zero liability.

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In February, shortly after Oregon’s voters had rejected the tax increase referred by lawmakers, a 22-year-old woman named Farrah Russell suffering from schizophrenia received a letter from the state. “The program which allows you to get a cash payment and medical card each month is ending ... (the) state no longer has the funding to provide this program.”

Russell had just moved out of her parents’ home into her own apartment, which is where she committed suicide one day after receiving a 72-hour eviction notice. She killed herself by swallowing a 30-day supply of anti-psychotic pills.

more...

Such a drag to have an aging population, isn't it? And Social Security may well be a thing of the past. Can't have a bunch of old geezers cluttering up the streets. The Republicans are really good at making problems go away, or at least making them appear to go away. And the Democrats seem unwilling or unable to stand up to them. Personally, I'm beginning to wonder if all our politicians are on some kind of drug, themselves.

Extreme? Maybe so. But America puts economics first, and human rights and welfare tend to hover near the bottom of the totem pole. As long as it's "the other guy," the Repubs think it's God's grace that saves them, or they rationalize that somehow "the other guy" did something to deserve her/his fate.

I've seen those letters from the State of Oregon, they said one thing in one letter and then, boom, another letter would come in and retract the first letter. It's very alarming, to see all those helpless people, especially children, falling through the cracks.

Oh, well, the Lord helps those who help themselves, right? /sarcasm

Well, perhaps a few more of the facts are in order here...

The State of Oregon was forced by the general population to shut down most of the State-run mental hospitals, shortly after the movie "one flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" came out. (The movie was filmed in Oregon). What followed were programs to put the mentally ill back on the streets, and in private homes, all paid for under the "Oregon Health Plan". In recent years, there has been little money available to pay for the care that a lot of these people need, and they are dropped by the wayside.

The problem is much more complex than this, but I am presenting a fair, short, overview. Refusal to provide stable funding (such as through a sales tax) has also contributed to this (and other) problems. The list goes on in Oregon.

This is a classic example of being careful of what you wish for. You might just get it.

We have the shortest school year anywhere. But Oregonians will NEVER vote for a tax hike of any kind - not even a one-time emergency surcharge for schools.

We have the highest unemployment rate in the country. But the sweetheart tax breaks we give to large corporations are not attracting new businesses (& jobs).

I agree. Oregonians need to take the first step to improve our schools. That's the #1 reason big businesses don't come here, IMO - not tax breaks. And the ones that do come seem to be bleeding us dry. Maybe big business isn't the answer, tho - the State turns to small businesses time & time again to pick up the slack on funding. As a small businessperson, I can attest that this is inherently regressive & sucks ass.

Either way, the root of the problem is education. We're especially feeling the burn of the No Child Left Behind program & the state's in chaos from it.

Don't we count as Oregonians?

You know as well as I do that a state ballot would never fly here.

Measure 28-46 passed because it clearly defined where the money would go, and what would be cut if the measure didn't pass. Perhaps other, more progressive counties, will follow suit.

Paul Harvey's reliability.

Fascinating. It was all because of "Cuckoo's Nest," eh?

Strange how, at the same time you're talking about, the State of Washington deinstitutionalized a whole passel of people. But that wasn't a result of "the people"; it was because of Ronald Reagan's big plan to save lots of money.

See, nobody was going to end up without mental health care. They were just going to get it from the (cheaper) community health centers, rather than the (expensive) inpatient institutions.

The really neat part of it was: once the Reaganites had the folks out of the hospitals, they drastically reduced funding for community mental health centers.

That's how folks came to be released from the institutions, at least in the State of Washington, where I notice you live.

Your account may be short and fair, or at least fairly short. It's also just plain wrong.

The state has been poisoned by libertarian-leaning Republicans who keep insisting that everything is just fine, even when it obviously isn't, or that Oregon's unemployment rate is so high because taxes are too high.

The outstate voters also fear and despise Portland. When I left a small town in Oregon in 1993 after living there for seven years, people were aghast when they heard I was moving to Portland. It was dangerous up there, and there were all kinds of black people and gays living there, and the mayor and city council were a bunch of Socialists and Communists. (Anyone who has actually lived in Portland knows that the city government is far from Socialist.)

When I first moved to Oregon 18 years ago, I thought I would never leave, but the deteriorating political and economic situation was just one more factor that chased me out. (I still miss the Portland transit system, though.)

consistently progressive and environmentally conscious state in the USA. Then it went to shit in Phase 1-4 under tricky dickie nixon. I
hate the way referendums have been abused by professional assholes.
It was the glory of our state and look what has happened. As goes
Oregon, so goes the USA.

Welcome to DU!! :toast: