Are American political leaders and the politicians aspiring for national leadership really aware or concerned about the economic plight that faces Americans, especially Americans in the middle and lower classes? If they are, then how can so much time be spent over the recent days talking about Barack Obama’s comment that some working class Americans are bitter about their economic circumstances and cling to guns and religion as a result? Instead of Obama’s comments sparking a well needed debate on the dreadful state of our economy, and initiating proposals to improve it, attacks have been made against Obama that his comments were elitist and divisive.

The fact is that working class Americans, including African and Caribbean Americans, are angry, fed-up and bitter at the economic downslide taking place in America. Each time they pull up at a gas pump and see that the price of a gallon of gas is higher than the last time they visited they get bitter and angry. Each time they go the grocery store and find that they cannot buy the quantity of food that they usually buy to feed their family, because the price of food keeps rising, they are bitter and angry. What’s worse they get more angry and bitter, when they realize that those they elect to represent their interests seem to be doing little to alleviate their economic burdens. Tax rebates of $600 will hardly make America’s working class less bitter.

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding in his recent visit to South Florida thanked members of the Jamaican Diaspora at a Town Hall meeting for “keeping hope alive in Jamaica.” However, the prime minister also pointed out that the “Diaspora needs to be more structured,” and that they were certain elements that have allowed the work of the Diaspora to be “stalled or derailed.”

Golding’s observation statement is very relevant, because one gets the distinct impression that the Diaspora movement, especially here in South Florida, has definitely stalled. Although there is no overt evidence of those elements (as stated by the prime minister) responsible for the work of the Diaspora to have stalled, it is apparent that Jamaicans living in Florida are either not interested in being part of a structured system, or whatever system that exists is not really reaching them.

It was on April 4, 1968 that Dr. Martin Luther King, the Black civil rights leader, was killed in Memphis, Tennessee. It was a generation ago, when overt racism raged, a time and a system largely unknown and unfamiliar to most of younger generation under 40 years, who are today showing that race is not really a major factor in selecting a national leader.

But in 1968, for the then generation, especially those that lived in the Southern United States, racism was blatant. In fact, the events leading to the assassination of King were the direct result of racist practices.

Prior to King’s assassination in 1968, sanitation workers in Memphis were restive over the conditions under which they worked. They were underpaid at about $1.27 per hour, with no overtime. Some carried garbage on their heads in metal tubs which leaked stink refuse, including maggots, on their heads. Some of these workers stunk so badly at the end of the day that they could not take the bus home for fear of offending passengers.

“You’re under arrest!” With these three words, the number of people in prisons and jails has reached an all time high. The Pew Center on the States released a report in late February 2008 that more than one in every 100 American citizens is now incarcerated.

Better said, one in every 100 American adults is currently behind bars – be that in a jail or prison – right this very moment in our nation, often referred to as the richest in the world. The Pew Center is described as a non-partisan “fact tank” that provides information to the public on issues, trends and viewpoints shaping American society.

According to this information, reported by the Pew Public Safety Performance Project, incarceration rates have continued to climb since 2007, having a direct negative impact on state budgets while failing to have a clear impact on recidivism (the tendency to relapse into previous undesirable, especially criminal behavior) or the overall crime rate.

The issue of property taxes, or rather the reduction of these taxes which have been a burden for Florida homeowners, has again become controversial. Last week, the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, comprised of members of the Florida Legislature, proposed what is referred to as a tax swap, whereby property taxes would be reduced by as much as twenty-five percent, and to offset the resulting fall in the state’s revenue there would be a one cent increase in sales tax. The commission’s proposal was approved by the Legislature to be placed on the November 4 general election ballot as an amendment. A 60 percent majority vote will be required for the passage of the amendment.

The commission must be commended for its efforts in trying to provide Florida homeowners with significant property tax reductions, since the property tax amendment passed on January 29 provides hardly any relief in the amount of these taxes homeowners pay. But, already there are signs of problems being created for the budgets of public services like schools, police and several social programs by even the slight reduction in the taxes.