The End is Not Near, We have Passed It

 

Gary Null and Richard Gale

Progressive Radio Network, June 29, 2020

For the past five decades, I have been a consumer and social activist, an investigative reporter and a national radio host. Over the years I have organized and led dozens of demonstrations to expose the crimes of corporate and government interests. I had always believed that consistently taking the initiative to bring to public awareness the faults and failures in our nation would engender constructive change.

However, recently I have been in deep reflection and introspection to probe an essential question.  What went wrong?  For example, after promoting the benefits of adopting a plant-based diet for half century, I now question whether even five percent of the population has embraced a vegetarian philosophy and actually follows it.  The US is the most morbidly obese and overweight nation per population in the developed world. Our life expectancy has reversed and many children born today will not outlive their parents. We are a nation with widespread inequality and buried in colossal debt at every level of society. Even the professional class, who are highly educated, now find themselves in a precarious situation with the new recession and uncertainties. When the economy was growing, they embarked on a mad spending spree that they felt was necessary to maintain an unrealistic standard of living.  Now with the pandemic, millions in the professional class are unable to service their debt.  In other words, they have been spending more than they earn. But it is not just the upper middle class and moderately wealthy that are faced with this predicament to remain financially afloat.  All of our governments -- federal, state and city -- have been on a massive spending binge as well. Yet, in general, government expenditures have not benefited either the country or its citizens.  As a nation, we are both economically and morally bankrupt.