Religion & Society:

In America Today

- Parents spend 40% less time with their children than 50's parents.

- Twice as many kids live in single-parent homes as in the 70's.

- The average couple spends 20 minutes a day together.

- By the time kids are in junior high school, they have seen 8000 TV murders.

The article asserts, "'Junk values' reign in American culture and weaken our families." Three main reasons have been given for the problems:

1. Abusive, intrusive media (think vulgar, rap and trashy talk shows)

2. Pop psychology unhinged from common-sense moorings (labeling any imperfect family "dysfunctional"; putting your "inner child" ahead of your real relationships)

3. Isolating, addictive technology (family members in separate rooms, hooked on TV and computer games)

Some observations made in the article are:

Adults are no longer teaching children how to be human, and children are no longer learning how to be human from real people who care about them.

Even if your family is a very good family, when you walk out the door you walk into a world that is not constructive.

Parents do not realize Snoop Doggy Dogg is sharing his values with their children. They need to at least know what those values are, and they need to share their values with children as a counterbalance.

Many economists see the middle class under pressure because they are working longer hours and relying on two paychecks just to stay even.

Paychecks are getting fatter, home ownership and stock ownership are at record levels, and consumer spending is near an all-time high.

And yet many middle-class families are feeling left out of the longest economic boom in American history and insecure about their financial future.

"If you look at growth in the economy," says Marc Miringoff of the Fordham Institute of Social Policy, "it is the best of times. . . . But if you look at the stress on the American family, in terms of things like wages and health insurance and these types of factors, I think it is not the best of times."

The more the middle class has, the more it wants, some explain. Stories about stock market millionaires have distorted expectation.

The numbers say that the United States is throwing the best economic party it has ever had, but an awful lot of middle-class Americans are wondering where their invitations are.

The record-breaking economic boom of the 1990s has left Americans more divided at the turn of the millennium. The following tables present the facts:

Bottom 20%	Second 20%	Middle 20%	Fourth 20%	Top 20%	Top 5%
116%	100%	111%	114%	99%	86%

Bottom 20%	Second 20%	Middle 20%	Fourth 20%	Top 20%	Top 5%
- 5%	3%	8%	15%	38%	64%

Footnote:

1) The readers are urged to take these ideas with a grain of salt. Our religion and culture extols the virtues of non-possessiveness and contentment. We Jains may want to realize that true happiness lies in limiting out desires and possessions. - D. C. J. Back up

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