In this section of my website, you’ll find articles that have been published in print and online on a subject I am passionate about—based on this question asked by Eli Siegel: “What does a person deserve by being a person?” I heard him ask it, I heard him speak about the history of the economics of the world, what happened to people because the making of money, the pursuit of prestige and power came before considering what people deserve. The meaning of this question goes very far, it is essential for the well-being of every person.

While the economy is unjust, and that takes in a lot, the fullest self-expression of people is interfered with. I am for a just economy and say so, in articles included here.

♦ I am proud to have worked on the staff of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, Local 23-25 (UNITE HERE!, WORKERS UNITED) for many years. My study of Aesthetic Realism has shown me how vital unions are to the well-being of Americans and people everywhere in the world. Unions have been central in getting people decent wages, health care, job security, safer working conditions. I have seen that when unions are strong, working people are much better off.

♦ “No Child Should Go Hungry in America” We all know that hunger in America is a big, shameful fact! We all read about children not having enough to eat in urban and rural areas of this rich country. I learned from Eli Siegel that an economy that does not take care of the needs of growing girls and boys is a failure. I quoted what I heard Eli Siegel say in my article:

“I saw first hand Mr. Siegel’s passion about justice. He stated in 1970, ‘While any child needs something he hasn’t got, the profit system is a failure.’ That failure is more apparent now [in 2015].”

♦ “Women’s Health Care: A Fundamental Right” The statistics in this article about wage gaps, poverty & women’s health may be different in 2015 from 2001, when this editorial was published in Milwaukee, but the cause and solution to the basic problem is the same. There needs to be Universal Health Care, not the compromise that is the Affordable Health Care Act, which still puts profit in the pockets of corporations and does not address the REAL needs of health care for American men, women, & children. As I say at the end of this article: …”this will come to be when this urgent question stated by Mr. Siegel is asked and answered honestly: ‘What does a person deserve by being alive?’”

♦ “Every Baby Deserves Health Care!” by Meryl Simon, Miriam Mondlin & Ruth Oron This article written with my colleagues, Aesthetic Realism consultant Meryl Simon & associate Ruth Oron was published in The Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, IN. It is about inequality in health care. While it’s true since then, we have legislation mandating health care–it is still unequal because it is profit-driven and the American public–including babies–are still at the mercy of insurance companies and how much profit they can make.

“The agony which profit-driven medical care is causing in America can be seen in the fact that life-saving technology is not getting to all the people who need it. We deplore this. For example, blood screening tests for newborns developed recently can prevent thousands of babies and children from getting crippling diseases. But hardly any infants are getting these tests.”