10/28/12
Halloween is almost here. I imagine that there will be some cute kids with fake blood dripping fangs ringing my doorbell. Based on the current popular movies and books, Americans love being terrified by vampires. Any kid knows vampires run around sucking the lifeblood out of their victims so they can live forever. Superstitious people used to think vampires were real, but we are so much more sophisticated now. But wait! If you think of vampires as a metaphor maybe there is a reality much more terrifying than the popular Twilight movies.
A black economist from Ghana, George Ayittey, who teaches at American University, has written several books explaining Africa’s vampire states where corrupt leaders, elites and their cronies enrich themselves by sucking the life out of their countries. The UN has estimated that in 1991 alone, more than $200 billion was siphoned out of Africa and into foreign banks by the ruling elites. Ayittey explains that in 1960, African nations did a good job of feeding their people and creating enough of a surplus to export. Africa’s potential is enormous yet it is increasingly mired in poverty and chaos. Corrupt leaders and elites have figured out that images of starving children, maimed refugees, AIDs sufferers, child soldiers and raped women flashing across TV screens around the world result in a flood of humanitarian aid most of which can be sucked off by the ruling elites to fund lifestyles that would be the envy of any Pharaoh. Ayittey calls it Africa’s leaking begging bowl. The ruling elites have no incentive to end poverty, ethnic cleansing or the environmental disasters caused by multinational corporations. As long as those heartbreaking images keep flashing on worldwide TV screens and the humanitarian aid keeps flooding in, the vampire states can live forever.
Here in Vallejo, rather than heartbreaking images, our leaders use statistics. Census data on poverty, murder and violent crime rates, the number of people on the Vallejo Housing Authority’s waiting list for vouchers, school test scores, number of homeless on the streets, number of children qualifying for the school lunch programs all provide ample justification for a flood of Federal aid. Before the 1960’s, just like Africa before independence in the 1960’s, Vallejo was a thriving city, the center of the regional economy. But the ruling elites discovered the blight that justified a Redevelopment economic strategy included a whole lot of subsidized housing occupied by “disadvantaged populations” which could be manipulated to leverage more and more Federal aid. City staff, promised lucrative compensation packages for cooperating, acted as middlemen funneling most of the loot to the real estate interests including investors, realtors, management companies, attorneys, developers, contractors and consultants.
There is no payback in actually correcting the problems because that would result in the Federal aid being cut off. To keep the citizens from figuring it all out and keep the elites happy, City staff creates the illusion of action while accomplishing nothing. Rather than real Code Enforcement to clean up or demolish vacant, deteriorated and unsafe buildings filled with social deviants, drug dealers, squatters and criminals that damage the livability of our neighborhoods, we get excuses, delays and useless hearings. City staff sandbags promising legislation to make banks responsible for their vacant foreclosed properties or bill owners of problem properties for excess calls for safety services. Citizen efforts to stop the parade of prostitutes on neighborhood streets end up, after endless frustrating meetings, with no change. The concentration of poverty and social problems brought about by City of Vallejo policies, have resulted in increasing crime and decreasing tax revenues with a concurrent decrease in the number of police and public safety officers. Emboldened thugs and an overwhelmed police department are on a collision course. Of course, crime is one more way to qualify for Federal aid so there is no real incentive to eradicate it. Like in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, enforcement is lax on purpose in order to keep social problems from squishing out. It is a never ending cycle.
Activists and good citizens who are trying to help make their neighborhoods better, are actually the enemies of Vallejo’s vampire governmental system. African vampire states deal with troublemakers by executing them. Luckily Vallejo’s vampire elites have fewer options. Although ordinary citizens of Vallejo get it that something is really wrong here, it is hard to make out the real culprit lurking in the murky darkness. It is not a specific person or entity, it is a system. The popular movies show us that it is really hard to kill Vampires. But any kid knows that Vampires can’t live in the daylight.
Now are you scared of Vampires? You should be. Happy Halloween….
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