In New York City. Robert is spending this Sunday morning asking for spare change from the ladies going into the bodega. He’s supplementing his part time job washing patients’ food trays at the hospital.
But now, at least, he won’t have to worry about getting exploited in a job at Amazon.
I have traveled this sad planet to document the cruelties of the Greedy. But in the corner of my eye, I often catch a privileged Do Gooder – Robert’s congresswoman earns $174,000 a year – committing Good Deeds unasked for and causing harms left unrepaired.
I wish the world would make itself simple. It won’t. Idealism is a form of arrogance, and arrogance is a form of blindness. I wish I were young and blind again.
The ladies rush out of the bodega with their bags of flour and plantains. Looking past Robert, they see the wildfire of gentrification approaching, and they pray.
They pray their children will be the gentry.
Greg Palast (Rolling Stone, Guardian, BBC) is the author of The New York Times bestsellers, Armed Madhouse, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits and the book and documentary, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.
His latest film is All Washed Away: The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans and Texas. Palast is currently working on a new documentary Long Knife, exposing the Koch Brothers' theft of Osage oil, to be released in 2025.
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