2019…The Year of David
The homeless problem in San Francisco is no secret. The housing prices are over the top and only the wealthy can afford to purchase property in the Bay Area. It is a really sad situation of dividing America by income. Unsurprisingly, this is not exclusive to San Francisco. Apparently in Charleston, South Carolina, the majority of workers cannot live in the city. They move out of the Charleston area and commute in. It seems that wonderful cities now belong to the affluent. This is not good for cities and it goes against what America stands for. All people should have the opportunity to have a place to call their own.
How do we fix the inequality problem? If people are leaving San Francisco, the hub of innovation and people are unable to find affordable housing in Charleston, SC…perhaps we, the people in America, are investing in the wrong things and perhaps cities need to rethink what they consider the definition of community to be.
Americans need to invest in each other. Instead of supporting billionaires, invest in your neighbor. Instead of buying products and services from monopolies, invest in your hometown or local to where you happen to be in the moment. Giving business to your friends and neighbors helps your community, which in turns comes back to help you. We feel we have no choice but to order from Amazon or use Google, even continued support of Facebook…but we do. Americans must value human capital and promote companies that serve the common good.
Cities give corporate entities millions to locate to their area. What if that investment went into local startups promising to hire and grow in the area? What if new businesses acquired funding locally instead of by way of San Francisco. What if local partnerships were created among local companies to support one another? Would it not be exciting to see innovative ideas be funded and started all across America? Even small towns could reinvent with local funding from their own local government. What makes the investment in Amazon or Walmart more valuable than investment in local entrepreneurs? Most startups struggle to find investors and many fail not for lack of growth, but lack of money. Opportunities for communities wins big. The key to maintaining community is giving all members a chance to succeed. The American Dream is still alive in the US, but goes to the grave for lack of funding and support. We need as Joe Kennedy suggests…”moral capitalism”.
Every person in America matters to someone. We must value humans over unsustainable profits by drunk on greed corporations and a stock market that thrives on the suffering of Americans. When GM laid off 14,000 employees last week, their stock went up. Morally, their stock should have plummeted. We need new leaders ready to implement a new game. A game every American can play and win. We are watching the decline of the greatest country on earth as the few lead selfish and insatiable lives. 2019 should become the year of David. The year when Americans take on the many Goliaths intent on destroying not only our home, but our planet.
Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness. — Malcolm Gladwell
The next year should be about supporting one another, supporting our communities, and becoming truly connected with those we care about…our friends and neighbors. Cities can rise again, not just San Francisco and New York, but cities that need a new look and not just for the wealthy. We all live here. Millennials should not be so quick to walk away from home ownership. They, just like each of us, deserve our little piece of America. To price Americans out of the market and not have local bankers working with families on home ownership, along with lack of funding for local businesses, has become the sinking of the American Dream. It is a rigged game going nowhere by self serving, short sighted, people in power. It is now time to change the game…2019 the year of David. We the people, are in fact the underdogs.
He was an underdog and a misfit, and that gave him the freedom to try things no one else even dreamt of. -Malcolm Gladwell
