A Disturbing American Statistic: I Repent!

The United States is among the leading nations in one disturbing global statistic. Per the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), "Only two of 30 nations {Mexico and Turkey}, are ahead of the United States for income inequality and poverty rates, or the gap between rich and poor, according to a report released Tuesday.
According to the report the average income of the richest 10% of people in the U.S. is $93,000. The average for the other OECD nations was $54,000. You can read that and reason that by improving the upper income figures you increase the figures for those on the lowest part of the scale. It sure sounds good, but it's just NOT TRUE!

Continue reading the report and you'll learn: "The poorest 10 percent of Americans have an income of $5,800 per year, compared to the OECD average of $7,000. In addition, the richest 10 percent hold 71 percent of American's net worth and 28 percent of total income, leaving 90 percent of the population to split the remaining 72 percent of the nation's income. While income inequality grew worse in the U.S., it decreased in France over the past 20 years...." By the way, the U.S. wasn't piled in with a bunch of underdeveloped countries which would automatically make us look bad because of the difference in the quality of life here and the Third World.

And now the bottomline: "The OECD report found that economic growth of recent decades benefited the rich more than the poor and in Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway and the United States, the gap also increased between the rich and the middle-class."

Newsflash: If you are not a Christ-follower don't read anymore. Human decency aside, the biblical and heavenly mandate to care and help the less fortunate does not apply to you. You actually have bigger issues to settle, like the claims of Jesus Christ. However, those of us who claim all the benefits of a relationship with Jesus Christ and His church need to pony up.

Did you know both presidential candidates earned way, way more than the $93,000 average last year? If you factor in their spouses (one of them filed separately) both still earned over $4,000,000 last year. Don't get partisan here and rationalize on behalf of your candidate. Be honest with me. It's difficult for someone in the $93,000+ club to relate to the middle class, let alone those in the $5,800 per year club. Please don't tell me that by earning more you are able to give more thereby expanding the lower tier. The facts of the OECD report state otherwise. And one of the presidential running mates reported a joint income with their spouse in 2007 over $300,000 but only averaged $360.00+ in annual charitable giving! Yeah that's $360 dollars, not thousand. And they want us to sacrifice? Keep in mind as of June, over $200 million had been spent on presidential TV ads! Who knows what the total amount spent on this year's presidential election will be? The amount spent on the 2000 presidential election was $607 million. Divide the ridiculous $607 million election budget of 2000 by the lowly $5,800 poverty wage cited above and you can give 104,655 of the people in the lower tier a 100% raise. Amazing what financial stewardship and responsibility could do if we actually practiced it! Let's not even get into the area of pork barrel earmarks for ridiculous things like subsidies for wooden toy arrow manufacturers.

Sadly, many Democrats and Republicans reading this are more concerned about making strikes against the other side than they are in taking the disturbing facts of this report to heart. Let's call a truce on trying to one up each other on who has helped more, or cares more for the less fortunate. No one ever wins the compassion battle. If they did we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Can we be honest? The majority of us who have been blessed with a job to provide a steady income, a home, retirement, health care (regardless of how small those two may be at this point), transportation, clothes, food and various possessions need to repent. I need to repent. Not only do we need to repent, but we need to do something about it. Many of us have taken advantage of God's grace and live in arrogance of our called responsibility to help the hurting, broken and wounded (See James 1:27; Matthew 25:35; Luke 10:25-37;12:13-21; 16:19-31; 18:29 for starters).

We rationalize by saying we give to the church, support local school fundraisers, the volunteer fire department, Lions Club, and donate food to local pantries, or items to Good Will. But, how many of us have adopted a family, single parent, or a child in terms of helping to provide the basics of life for an extended period? How many of us have actually served meals (or prepared) to the homeless beyond the obligatory, feel-good minimum, one a month, or occasional fast food provision? How many of us have actually given a strong percentage of our income to (a church, food bank, relief agency, etc.) something greater than ourselves in hopes of improving the quality of life both in the U.S. and the world? How many of us have volunteered to help people learn to speak, write and read English so they can get jobs? How many of us purchase locally grown produce and really seek to support local farmers and make purchases from local businesses that might even be a little higher than the big box stores, but contribute directly to the local economy? You get the idea.

We are going to see more hold up's, armed robberies, home invasions, break-ins, stealing from stores, and acts of desperation to provide the basics of life as the gap increases between the have's and the have not's. And no, I'm not excusing any crimes or activity that breaks the law, only the economic policies and self-absorbed lifestyles that encourage them. Those of us who have been blessed must live grateful lives. If you feel you are already living that way then kudos and applause! But for those of who are praying through all of this and considering our biblical responsibility the words of Jesus in Luke 12:48 are still piercing: From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. I repent of anything I've done by my lifestyle, words, financial decisions, purchases, work, and attitude that have pushed anyone to that lower 10% tier. May God help me, and all of us to help raise that level significantly. And may our individual pursuits of life, liberty and happiness not be at the expense of the less fortunate (Amos 2 and 5).