Losing Yourself in Christ

Scripture is full of seemingly puzzling and paradoxical passages such as Matthew 16:25: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it," which on the surface seems to turn on its head, the typical meaning of life itself.  Yet, with any passage from Jesus the Christ, one must try to understand it, recognizing too, that with many passages, there are layers of interpretation or insight into its true understanding.  First, it seems natural, to want to save one's own life, as our whole being seems to be caught up in our work, our duties, our family and our friends, so that the desire to sustain our own life, would appear to be quite normal, and anything less than that would appear to be wrong.  Yet, when comprehending this passage, recognize too, that no matter how long, how hard, and how much you fight to sustain your life, ultimately, you will lose your physical life itself.  So the question now becomes not so much as to whether you can save your life, which you can, for a time, but instead the question becomes what exactly are you saving?

For, in fact, to save your life, any life, that also compromises the very value of life, in order to save it at that time, proves the point, that although you may have heard the Word, the Word never fully took root within you, and thereby you may have saved your life, while also sacrificing your eternal soul.  Christ makes it clear that he who loses his life, for His sake, will find the ultimate peace and redemption with Christ.  So that, those that do everything within their power, to maintain their temporal existence, as their reason for being, are, in fact, working at odds against Christ. 

This means that for way too many people, there is a fundamental mistake that is made twice over; the first mistake being that the greatest gift that you can apply is your own gift of individuality, that is to say, that your apparent mission in life, is to express yourself, in your own way, at all times, because in that way you are just being true to yourself, and thereby "to thine own self be true".  This, unfortunately, is a somewhat common mistake in a land that professes so loudly the merits of individual freedom, for being true in this instance, should mean being true to all that is right.  Then, there is the second mistake, which is not fully understanding the mission of Christ, to which, when given the opportunity to rule the world, Christ rebuked Satan; and later when Christ was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, He asked His Father for the cup of the cross to be taken away from Him, but at the same time renewed his commitment to acquiesce to His Father's will, which He did.

This then is what is meant by losing your life for His sake; it is an understanding that in His hands, you can never be lost, you can never lose, you can never die but to the physical death, a death that none can escape from, and to recognize that all who come to Christ, all, without exception, have chosen the better way, "and that has made all the difference".

Justice before Power

The most powerful country in the world is America.  Indeed, America is so powerful, both militarily and economically, to which that power extends far beyond all national boundaries. America is literally a world empire, in fact, it can be said, that it is also the greatest and most powerful global empire the world has ever known.  If it was once said, that the sun did not set on the British Empire, today it can truly be said that there is no part of this planet, to which, America is not the ring master of the greatest show on earth.  No country, no matter how big, or populous, no matter its religion, or its people, can be enemies with America, because to be truly at odds with America, will surely mean economic ruin and regime transformation of that country, should America demand that it must be so.

Of course, power is not justice, as power is at its most basic form, is simply force; whereas justice is the pursuit of doing the right thing, applied equally to all, at all times, and for all the right reasons.  To live in a world, to which obeisance must be given to power, and to power alone, is to live in a world without justice and that is the world that we live in.  Not too surprisingly, that has been the nature of the world since the time of man's falling, however, America was suppose to be different, as it was founded on the principle that man has inalienable rights given to us by our Creator and that thereby the primary purpose of our Declaration of Independence, was to declare that the only legitimate government was a government that aided and secured those same inalienable rights.

Instead, America has pursued relentlessly the siren lure of power, always power, because power need not bend to any man, power need not bend to any law, and power need not bend to any establishment, because all of the above must bend or bow to the throne and empire of power itself.  Today's America likes to wrap itself in the cloak of justice, but this cloak is indeed a false one; instead every man and every establishment is potentially subject to all sorts of tragic laws, meaning all sorts of awful things, of which, those in power determine the interpretation of such.

A country that puts power first, above all else, without question will ultimately decline and fall to ruin, because there is neither a moral compass to keep those in authority in check, nor is there respect given from one party to another.  The only thing that can temper power properly is justice, which means properly utilizing and applying the courage to do the right thing over the expedient or the wrong thing.  How many times throughout the history of this world can we ignore the blessed words of Matthew 16:26: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"  For America to recapture its collective soul, it must now and forevermore renounce its obscene grabs of power and monetary might, and instead gravitate towards its foundational roots, of liberty, justice and equality for all.

Insanely High Limits on Credit Cards

When it comes to credit cards and their limits, there are two basic extremes out there, there are those that barely qualify for a credit card and thereby they are stuck with limits of a mere $300-$500, or enough to put an airline ticket on a credit card, or get a hotel room for a few days, or have available credit as an emergency spending backup and not much more; then there are those that have credit limits of $25,000 or $40,000 or even $100,000 or possibly even more for certain special credit cards that are issued without a preset credit limit.  Clearly, there is a wealth of difference between the two credit extremes, yet we know this truism, that banks are noted for extending bank loans typically to people that really don't need loans, so too this is true for those that are issued insanely high credit card limits, because the banks would not issue such high amounts, unless they had clear documented evidence that the person receiving such high credit card limits had the capacity for paying such.

One important thing to remember about credit cards is that the credit being loaned to the consumer is unsecured against any of that consumer's assets, which means, should things go terribly wrong for the consumer, and ultimately for the bank issuing such card, that in order to recoup their money, that bank will have to take to take active measures to recover those funds, through such possible means as phone calls, collections, and/or court.  All of those actions will cost the banks money, resources, and time, with little hope of collecting even close to 100% of the debt, making one wonder whether it's worth the risk of issuing such high credit limits without some sort of asset protection in the first place. 

The banks do have some protection for the amount of the credit default that they are subject to in the sense that even though they may issue a credit card to you for $40,000, there is often an implied understanding that you as a consumer, will never actually be allowed to "max out" the card to $40,000.  Whereas in most credit card transactions the purchase automatically goes through, in situations when your credit card is being used perhaps more than three times in one day, and/or for amounts that you typically don't charge, and/or in a location of a city that past history shows you are seldom or never at, the credit card spigot will completely y dry out, pending a phone call to that lender, and a conversation ascertaining exactly what you are up to.  So, for example, today  you are buying that super-expensive piece of jewelry and the bill is $25,000, in all likelihood, no matter how pristine your credit, there will probably be a conversation with your lender before the charge is authorizedand goes through.

This leads to the point that a significant part of the reason why high credit card limits are issued, is that the lender wants you to use their card, hoping that you will purchase things that you might not normally purchase precisely because of that credit card, and by doing so your credit card bank can make their merchant's fee on sales that would have never transpired without the higher credit limit.  The bottom line is that higher credit card limits are essentially given to people that have the capacity to pay off those limits, to encourage them to spend more than they might.

Freedom of the Press

Big government and big business make it their business to work together to control and mold the population to as much of a degree as possible, which is why so many of our individual rights of liberty are under assault, and will continue to be under attack for the foreseeable future.  The government-corporate State wants the public to believe that each issue only has two sides, to which they conveniently break it down for us into a liberal/conservative bias or into a right wing/left wing bias, and wish to present to the public the basic premise that one of these two sides must be the right side, so that whichever the selection might be, the State as a whole is satisfied. 

Although the government-corporate State has massive control in regards to the dissemination of news to the general public through cable, radio, TV, print, and the most commonly used online social media websites, they do not have complete control.  The fact of the matter is that no citizen lacks access to alternative viewpoints of all the news that is fit to print, or not fit to print, through all the common distribution systems within America.  As much as the government-corporate State wants to control and to spin news to the credulous public, it ultimately ends up being something akin to whack-a-mole, and it simply can't be done. 

While the consolidation along with the incredible power and influence of media outlets and distribution of such is most definitely cause for concern for lovers of liberty within America, viewpoints of virtually any and all possible flavors, are readily accessible to those that perform even a rudimentary search for it.  The government-corporate State wants to win the minds of all Americans and to marginalize as much as possible those that fall outside their clearly defined lines, but it can't be done, mainly because each American has a right, even a duty, to think, and thinking is the basis of free will which is anathema to State control.

A free press is not something to be taken for granted, as there are many totalitarian countries that make it their policy to control the information that is provided to their populace as much as possible, and in conjunction with that control, to penalize those that have the audacity to challenge those in authority.  A country that has control of the press, is a dangerous place, because it censors the press, which therefore means it censors the mind, and thereby creates two worlds, one that the State believes exists and it owns, and a shadow world of an alternate reality, to which denizens of such, recognize that just one wrong step, can cost them everything.

American citizens desperately want to believe that the government-corporate State treats them fairly, but time and time again, they see that this is not possibly true.  Further to this point, the government-corporate State wants to keep as H.L. Mencken states: "…the populace alarmed…" to which every little thing is a crisis that can only be resolved if the government-corporate State gets a little more power, a little more control, just for a little while, till this one little thing, gets resolved, because they, the government-corporate State really cares about you and they will protect you. 

The thing is though that mass hypnosis of an entire nation can only work, if everyone drinks of the same Kool-Aid, even 90% of the populace is not enough, even 95% is still not enough, for try as they might the government-corporate State can't get to 100%, fundamentally because freedom of the press still breathes strongly within our shores, let it ever be so.

Doomsday Clock

I suspect that most people have never heard of the "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board" who are the people that move the hands of the symbolic doomsday clock, which currently reads at 11:57PM, or just three minutes to midnight and apocalypse.  The Board includes seventeen Nobel Laureates, so their scholarly attributes are certainly something to be admired but the doomsday clock which has been in existence since 1947, has never read anything earlier than11:43PM, so for nearly seventy years, we have been minutes away from the final apocalypse, but in fact, we are still here, and so is this planet.

While one can admire the board for perhaps keeping in the mind's eye that we live in a nuclear age to which atomic destruction is literally just a few logistical buttons away at any time, the fact of the matter is, if all you ever do is to put the public at their wit's ends, that the end of the world is just seconds away, but none of that ever happens, you have done a massive disservice to the world at large.  In point of fact, if it's almost always midnight, if we are always on the edge of utter annihilation, but year after year, nothing happens, than by definition, the doomsday clock is a false flag and utterly useless other than a pure propaganda tool.

We live in a world that has gotten much smaller over time, to which virtually any point on the planet can be visited by air or by sea, at any time.  While there are around 195 sovereign nations in the world, of which some of those nations are warring, there is no World War III, nor is World War III, even likely at this point.  What these eminent scholars get so very wrong, is a basic misunderstanding of the power of the world at this time, to which the most vested interest that any world-class leader of any world-class nation has, is to get along with others, because a world that destructs itself, is exceedingly bad for business. 

The doomsday clock makes too much of words, but not of actions, too much of speeches and propaganda, but not of deeds.  Every country as a matter of course, wants a devil to blame for its troubles, so is it no wonder, that east blames west, or north blames south, and vice versa?  What is missing from the doomsday clock scenario is an understanding, a fundamental knowledge, that the most powerful players in the world today are all talking to each other, because at the end of the day, while they may not see things or have philosophies that match the world eye to eye, they do see that there is just one world, and as long as they have some piece of it, they're okay with it.

Had the nuclear age arrived back in the middle ages, or in ancient times, when man often deluded himself into believing that he was a god, or that his country or his people should be the sole master of the world, and that all others therefore were non-believers and should be annihilated for the sake of the chosen people, or as a matter of ideology, than indeed, the doomsday clock would be correct in foreseeing imminent destruction.  In those times, certainly, someone may well have pushed that button of no-return, but fortunately we live in times when mankind is actually more civilized and communicates with those it disagrees with.

In reality, the doomsday clock should be set to something like 2:00AM, because that is the actual reality of the situation, and for that we should be thankful.

Witness Protection: Is it good or even right?

The Federal government Witness Protection program began in 1971, to which the purpose of the creation of this program was basically to protect certain criminals from being harmed or being threatened, in order for these protected criminals to feel safe in testifying against other criminals that they were previously intimately involved with so that by so doing this in a court of law their testimony would often convict these other lawbreakers.  The basic premise of the program is it often takes a criminal on the inside to take down other criminals because that is the only certain way that the prosecutorial arm of the government can obtain both the necessary evidence to convict but also have a prosecutorial witness that is considered to be both reliable and of pertinence to the crimes at hand.  Of course, another way of looking at it is that the government as a matter of course, rewards snitches and turncoats by providing them new identification papers and often a free pass to enjoy life, without suffering the consequences or penalty for what their former criminal actions would necessitate.  This means that the law most definitely treats criminals unequally with some criminals being able to get away with murder, in return for their valued assistance in taking down other criminals that have done the very same thing.

It is one thing to provide witness protection to the innocent bystander and/or the whistle blower, a person that has not done anything wrong, but wishes to see criminal actions punished for what they are, and it is entirely a different thing to take people that have knowingly committed heinous crimes and let them go not just scot-free but with new identification papers that allows them to become part of a community to which none of the other residents have an inkling or a clue that the person that lives next door to them is, in fact, a bona-fide dangerous criminal, himself.

As bad as that is, it gets even worse, when you consider that there are many thousands of Americans, good people all, that wish for a reset button in their life, a chance to start their credit history over, a chance to live in a new community with a fresh start, and a chance to let go of the past which has been a hindrance to them and to begin life anew.  Unfortunately, this opportunity is simply not available, because unlike the criminals that get fresh starts for turning against their former cohorts, these Americans are not part and parcel of criminal enterprises.

There is too yet another problem with the entire Witness Protection program and that is if the government has the power to give certain designated people all the identification as well as other necessary documents and further the wherewithal to make a living in a new community, who is to say, that this same power can't be used over and over again, for any individual that the government wishes to favor in such a manner.   The government, as always, often starts a program with good intentions, but too often programs morph into something completely different.   The Witness Protection program gives off the very distinct scent of corruption and gives away way too much for those that have sacrificed way too little.

The United States Makes the Best Military Equipment/Why Not the Best Cars

The United States spends far more on military expenditures than any other country in the world; they too are also by far the largest exporter of military equipment than any other country in the world.  Yet, when it comes to the manufacturer of consumer cars and trucks, the United States is not the industry leader in sales, or reliability, or on any other metric that could possibly be thought of.  How is it possible that America is so proficient and skilled in providing military equipment which countries all over the world readily use to protect and defend their country, but on the other hand are so easily surpassed in quality in regards to passenger vehicles?

One way to answer that question is to say that quite obviously the sophistication and knowhow behind military equipment does not necessarily translate the same for consumer cars, which is true, but what is also true is fundamentally military equipment must be reliable, accurate, and effective for its given task or its utility is suspect.  This means that the same care, testing, and redundancy so often put to good use for military articles should be part and parcel in regards to the manufacture of consumer vehicles.  This means that in reality, the cars manufactured in the United States, should often be industry leaders in regards to performance, sustainability, and reliability, but not in cost.  That is to say, in short, the very best cars in the world and the most state-of-the-art vehicles should be being built right here in America, to which our knowledge gained from stringent military testing and knowhow should in one sense or another be translatable into the cars that we sell and drive.

The United States spends an incredible amount of money on research and development for the military industrial complex year after year, to which no country in the world is even in the ballpark of our dedication to such.  While, no doubt, the bulk of such expenditures mainly have relevance for the military sector, there are also many items or new usage of materials that have immense crossover appeal to the consumer vehicle market in the sense of not only the sophistication of the instrumentation created but also the blending of materials and chemicals in such a way that strength is added while at the same time losing bulk or weight, so that these new amalgamations are a very good fit for vehicles.

The military industrial complex should have an obligation to more often spend time and share resources with our domestic vehicle manufacturers so that each may benefit the other, and ultimately so that the United States can consistently built some of the very best vehicles in the world, that encompass sophistication and knowhow that only can come from the combined efforts of our military equipment manufacturers and domestic vehicle manufacturers actually working together for that very purpose.

There is no reason why our tax dollars should not as a matter of course, help to benefit our domestic as well as our defense manufacturers, since strength comes not only from military might, but also from creating the best products that can be bought throughout the world.

The Two Great Commandments

In the Jewish religion there are 613 commandments as compiled by Rambam and recognized as such by many of the Jewish faith.  In the Muslim world, there are also a multitude of commandments, to which there is most definitely an echo of the Mosaic Ten Commandments in the Koran.  In the Christian religion, there is a confirmation of the Mosaic Ten Commandments as witnessed by Christ stating in Matthew 19: 16-19: " And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This saying by Jesus directly addressed six of the Ten Commandments, and by implication invoked the other Four Commandments. 

The above signifies that those of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faith all have in common the pertinence of the Mosaic Ten Commandments to their faith, and further implies strongly that there is a hierarchy of Commandments for those of faith. That is to say if another saying or commandment or attribute of Holy Scripture or of the Koran is not consistent with the foundation of the Ten Commandments than the Ten Commandments must supersede them, as when two laws are in conflict, one law must rule over the other, and that law must be the higher law. 

Mankind has a great love for rules and regulations, because without them, man is often lost or confused, and thereby laws were enacted for man's benefit.  Yet, when those laws no longer make sense, are outdated, wrongly reasoned, or unjust, than the moral law of God must trump all.  However, unfortunately, there often will be those that argue that some certain law must be obeyed because it is God's law, or the law comes by a great prophet, or the law is written in this Holy book, and so forth, but recognize that in all this, that sure judgment is left in God's hands, alone, and woe unto those that would assume that power unto themselves, for the Christ warned us of such a hypocrisy: "Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Matthew 23:28)

The laws given to mankind are like a pyramid:  with man's laws at the base, than the interpretation of God's laws, than the general Commandments by God and His prophets, than the Ten Commandments, and finally at the top of the pinnacle, the two Great Commandments, which are: " Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)

And how exactly does one demonstrate his love for God; this is done by aiding the poor and the afflicted, bringing the lost sheep to God's word, demonstrating one's power and control by meekness and long- suffering, feeding the hungry, thirsting for God's righteousness, being merciful, cleanliness of one's heart, promoting peace, suffering persecution with grace if it should come, and by surrendering oneself to God completely.  Those are indeed the attributes of one who truly loves his God, "Ye shall know them by their fruits," (Matthew 7:16).

In regards for the love of thy neighbor, recognized that the race is never over, till all complete it, therefore it behooves us to see the neighbor in all, because each of us is a true child of God, and thereby brothers-in-arms eternally.

The Strange Disappearance of Labor Strikes

Labor strikes within America were somewhat common events in our history with some being successful, some not, some being violent, some not, but through it all labor strikes were part of the American fabric from the late nineteenth century to the infamous steel labor strike of 1959.  While there have been strikes since 1959, the decline of labor power has been consistent since that time, as reported by prospect.org that: "In the early 1950s, one out of three American workers belonged to them, four out of ten in the private sector. Today, only 11.8 percent of American workers are union members; in the private sector, just 6.9 percent."  The decline of labor power within American has been precipitous, unprecedented, and ultimately incredibly damaging to labor, wages, benefits, job, and to all the common people that aspire to achieve the American dream.

The fact of the matter is, many people complain about their wages, and complain about their work hours, and complain about their benefits, and complain about the way that they are treated, yet they continue to work as a suffering servant, mainly because one way or another, they need some sort of wage in order to try to make their way in the world, and something is certainly better than nothing.  The most significant issue with those that are unhappy with their wages, especially in jobs which are considered to be readily interchangeable from one person to another, is that they as an individual, have in essence, absolutely no bargaining power, in that no matter what that they say to their Manager or to management, they that control their wages, know that that particular person is probably very easy to replace.  This means that on an individual level it is almost futile to believe that you can negotiate for yourself a better wage package, and furthermore, even though there may be other jobs available for you, the job conditions at those places of employment, will be eerily the same.

As the old saying goes, there is strength in numbers, and there is strength too in having a union represent you as well as your fellow workers in negotiations with corporations.  Quite frankly, even the very best employees are often unskilled in negotiating for themselves a better pay package, simply because they do not possess that sort of initiative or confrontational mindset.  In today's world, there are millions of jobs that simply do not pay well, and will not in the future pay well, and that are currently occupied by non-union employees.  It is these jobs that cry out for union representation, because of the sheer size of the labor force and also the fact that in aggregate the labor numbers involved are truly humongous.

The fact that jobs with McDonald's, Yum! Brands, Wal-Mart, and Target have very little union representation is no strange coincidence but is part and parcel of the corporate mentality of each of these behemoths.  Look, it makes all the sense in the world, for these massive corporations to not desire nor want union representation at their respective companies because their overriding objective is to make money for the executives and the stockholders of each company, and labor is an important cost component that they wish to suppress in cost.  That does not mean, however, that this viewpoint is either fair, or right, because it isn't.  These big organizations have their labor force over a barrel, with the only real hope for such a large labor force is in uniting into one strong organization and then truly having a seat at the table to negotiate fairly with management.

As it stands today, because these workers are non-union, there isn't a real option to go on strike, because there is no collective agreement amongst all of these laborers, nor is there one central laboring body designated to negotiate for them.   Today, we will occasionally see an organized one-day strike which while having symbolic importance, doesn't really change a thing.  Additionally, there is the cry for "Fight for 15", but that fight often lacks the power and teeth that only a real united labor force can provide.

There aren't any labor strikes today, mainly because labor has been divided and conquered, so that what you often have is the lowest paid workers fighting amongst themselves for the right to simply have a job, no matter the pay.

The Perpetual Free Pass that Apple Gets

Plenty of people complain that life isn’t fair, but you will never hear that complaint coming from Apple, Inc., because they believe for a certainty that life is very, very fair for them, for apparently as the old saying goes, paraphrased and updated for the 21st century, "What's good for Apple, Inc. is good for the country."  There is no company in the world that consistently gets and receives the most favorable press in the world that Apple does, to which Apple's product announcements, news, shows, and updates are treated as if rock-star like events.  There was a time, long ago, when Apple was the upstart, as witnessed by the Super Bowl ad of 1984, where Apple was perceived to be the force of freedom and empowerment against Big Brother and groupthink, but today Apple is the State, itself, with its many sheep-like followers and sycophants, bleating how wonderful and great Apple art. 

The reality of the situation is that Apple is just like most other multinational corporations, an entity of incredible power and influence that has zero interest in full disclosure or playing fair with the public or of truly being democratic with its employees as witnessed by their compensation packages which are hugely favorable to those of the high executive ranks, so much so, that as reported by Bloomberg Businessweek in 2012, four out of the top five executives with the highest fiscal compensation were all from Apple.     Neither too does Apple play fair with paying its fair share of taxes, whereas this is fairly common with any multinational company, it is disappointing that Apple hides behind the smokescreen of stating that "Apple pays all its required taxes, both in this country and abroad," which is at best a truth, but is certainly not the whole truth, because Apple along with its phalanx of tax attorneys, lobbyists, and accountants, make sure to take wholesale advantage of the tax code, while throwing out self-serving bones such as: "…Apple does not move its intellectual property into offshore tax havens…" which makes it sound as if Apple is as almost as American as the proverbial apple pie. The fact of the matter is when massive multinational corporations use tax dodges to skirt around paying their fair share of taxes, they pass that burden onto the American people themselves, and/or future generations. 

Because too, that Apple and its products are perceived so favorably by the public at large, Apple knows that it can consistently charge a higher price for its products than its competitors can because Apple's goods are almost universally recognized as being of more valued and as status symbols, whether they truly are or not.  This means that a massive influx of money passes from the general public for products that from a strictly utilitarian perspective are overpriced in comparison to their real underlying worth and intrinsic value, because these Apple goods have achieved cult-like special social significance.

Then too there is the issue of Apple employment, where is often overlooked, but shouldn't be in an era of perpetual American low employment numbers.  Apple outsources the bulk of its assembly work overseas, specifically to China, for the basic reason of taking advantage of low labor costs as well as their perceived docile labor conditions.  These assemblers are not directly employed by Apple, but rather a contract is issued to a manufacturer such as Foxconn or Pegatron to assemble the devices, and subsequently these contractors take care of the direct employment and pay of the assemblers doing the work, not Apple, and these jobs are not even considered for Americans in America.

The bottom line is that Apple makes a ton of money, each and every year, and further that it has little interest in doing right by America and its citizens, what Apple wants to do--it is already doing to superb effect, which is enriching the select and privileged few, while taking lots of money from the mesmerized and credulous rest.

The 30 Year Mortgage is Just Way Too Long

Let's face it, most Americans when they take out a mortgage on their home take out the traditional 30-year fix mortgage, no matter their age, yet there is absolutely nothing else that you will buy in your life that you will ever come close to committing to thirty years to.  While it goes without saying, that a home purchase will almost always be substantially higher than any other material asset that you will ever purchase, it is difficult to separate this away from the fact that thirty years is thirty years, which is an incredibly long time, to be able to say, at the end of it, that this home is now finally all mine!

While there are other mortgage plans for shorter duration times, such as 15-year mortgages, along with hybrid mortgages, there are also incredibly mortgages that are even longer in term such as 35 or even a 40-year mortgage, which is truly mind boggling.  Also, there still exists many plans, such as FHA, VA, USDA, amongst others, that allow home buyers to quality to purchase a home with little or no down payment for something that is being sold at $250,000 or even more.  Additionally, while most lenders only give out their best mortgage rates for those with high credit scores, adequate income, and with a 20% down payment, homes are sold all the time to people without that 20% down payment as long as they qualify and purchase private mortgage insurance or are qualified under a special program.

In America, there was a time, a few generations ago, when in order to purchase a home, the down payment had to be at a minimum 50% of the home price in order to qualify to get a mortgage for your home and that mortgage was "interest only" and usually for a very short duration of time, such as three to five years, to which at the end of that period of time, either the borrower would then make that payment in full via a "balloon payment" or the loan would be refinanced.  This way of purchasing homes actually worked fairly well, until the time of the depression, with its attendant massive unemployment, and most importantly, the deflation of home prices, whereupon the lenders of mortgages, had little interest in extending loans on property to which the principal had declined and their lien value had been significantly eroded.  Not too surprisingly, the aftermath of this crisis, was for more government involvement in the housing market, which lead to eventually the 30-year mortgage becoming the standard.

The main problem with stretching out any loan for long periods of time, is that while on the one hand you are able to lower the payment of such a loan to a reasonable level, you are, on the other hand, extending the loan period of time for such a great length, that it ends up costing the consumer an incredible amount of money; for instance a $250,000 home, may after interest payments for 30 years come to a total of $450,000.  Additionally, the fact that these mortgages are even available in the first place is a significant contributing factor to the overall higher pricing of houses to begin with; in other words, the more people that "qualify" to buy a home, than the more available dollars that are chasing after homes, which typically means a higher price; whereas, the less people that "qualify" to buy homes in general, would in aggregate, lower home prices.

Not only is today's 30-year mortgage loan way too long, it is also set up in such a way that in conjunction with low down payments, lends itself to a much higher incident of foreclosures and financial troubles for consumers than is really necessary.    While it is often part of the American dream to own one's home, transparent affordability documents, along with having an appropriate income and a proper down payment is a surer way for home happiness.

Some Revolutions Succeed and some Revolutions Fail

The American Revolution succeeded, but in order for it to succeed, it needed men, personnel, vision, weapons, strategy, money, time, an overarching purpose, foreign help, and significantly underappreciated, the eventual letting go of the British Empire grip upon America.  Our Declaration of Independence made it clear that the signatories of it and major participants in this revolution recognized that they were indeed pledging: "… to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."  Fortunately, for those that had both the initiative as well as the wherewithal to rise up against England, the revolution was a success, and not only that, ultimately our revolution established a wonderful republic, with strong individual rights, including both freedom of religion as well as the press, along ultimately with material prosperity heretofore never before seen in the annals of history.

However, while the American Revolution succeeded, not every revolution does, and the consequences for both failure and/or for revolutions that go on for years and years, with revolutionary forces sometimes inching forward, and sometimes falling back, are consequential for the people as well as the country as a whole.  While it is true that many people within their own country may be dissatisfied with the political as well as the economic and overall freedom contained within their country, it is one thing to complain about it internally with friends or family, and entirely another thing to actually contemplate and more importantly to actively take steps to effect change within their country.

The main problem with being part and parcel of the change that you wish to make within your country is that things for your country as a whole, as well as things for you personally, could get a lot worse than they are presently.  Revolutions are complicated, to which once started, the end is often not clear, to which in virtually all cases, the standing government has enormous advantages over any revolutionary force, simply because logistics, military, surveillance, and whatnot strongly support the status quo.  This means in almost all likelihood in many revolutions, some part of the current regime must be compromised or accommodated to the revolutionary forces, in order for the revolution to have a decent possibility of success.

The foregoing also implies quite strongly, that often in revolutions, the change that is so much desired, does not come into effect, because the former apparatus of the government must join forces or becomes subsumed as part of the "new" regime, now compromised in values in such a way that as the Who says: "Meet the new boss -- Same as the old boss."  So not only do revolutions fail with all the attendant penalties for those that are on the wrong side of the battle, so too do revolutions fail because they fail to adhere to the very principles that brought upon the revolution in the first place.

Our world today is filled with much conflict as well as revolution, to which many times men are quick to take up arms, but not so quick to think through the consequences and the ideals of what it is that they truly want and whether such a want is universal, fair, and just.  Any revolution that believes that might is right, is wrong, as a true people's revolution must start instead with the knowledge that only from universal justice applied equally to all, is the very light enflamed that brings freedom to its people and their land.

Inflation

Dictionary.com defines inflation as: "a persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money and resulting in the loss of value of currency."  Most countries prefer a little bit of inflation in their currency, especially because they wish to avoid falling into a deflationary environment, which America suffered through during the great Depression, to which deflation produces the twin evils of downward wage pressure on job holders or in absence of being able to achieve that, their employment is more susceptible to termination, as well as if prices are getting cheaper, consumers will delay purchases, which will slow down economic activity, creating a vicious downward spiral.

In modern times, America as demonstrated by its Consumer Price Index (CPI) which acts as a proxy for inflation, has shown consistently a small percentage growth in inflation, year by year, exactly what American policy makers' desire for the country as a whole.  However, the accuracy of the measure of inflation is an issue of some controversy as different economists have different ways of measuring the real inflation rate for America as a whole.  For instance, the federal government has a vested interest in posting inflation figures which are moderate because it is they that have to come up with any additional monies for cost-of-living adjustments as needed for various legacy programs, which in aggregate can be quite significant.  Additionally, while the most direct way of measuring inflation is to simply take a basket of consumer goods and services and then compare those goods to the previous year to thereby come up with the annual inflation rate, the criticism of doing this is that some goods and services will not exactly be the same in regards to one year to the next for either quality, performance, or the substitutionary habits that Americans would employ if one item becomes prohibitory expensive.

This means that even though when Americans can see that the price of a dozen eggs has gone up, or meat, or gasoline, or insurance, or a wealth of other items, so too must they consider that the electronic goods that are available for purchase, often have either maintained their price or come down, and frequently with better and more sophisticated features than seen in previous years.  Additionally, wherever that you do your shopping at, prices are elastic and dynamic, with seldom there being a time (with the exception of a Dollar Tree store), that the price for any particular product, no matter how common, maintains its same price year round, or instead has a small, barely incremental budge in its price that you pay a little bit more for.

While inflation is absolutely real it is also far easier to see over extended periods of time, that is to say, when you watch an old movie, and see someone paying for a drink with a nickel, or purchasing a fine dinner for less than a dollar, part of you watches that in disbelief, that there ever could have been a time when the price of these things were that cheap, but it was.  Inflation today, is very difficult to measure accurately, with probably no system being foolproof, that is why transparency in how the official government inflation rate is calculated along with giving time and just due to other calculated rates by other formulas and economists will give an overall clearer picture to the whole inflation thing. 

The inflation rate of currency does matter, because money is a common storage of wealth, and without taking proper measures to protect or to increase that wealth due to inflation, than that wealth will surely be eroded over time.

Corporate Corruption

We read in 1 Timothy 6:10 that: "For the love of money is the root of all evil…"  This Scripture reading is quite familiar to virtually all people and certainly very familiar to those that work in important and meaningful positions at corporations.  Of course, corporations are concerned about all sorts of things, but at the end of the day, most public for-profit corporations are most concerned about either making money or developing a sure path to getting more money or for getting more market share or for simply getting more.  This corporate desire for ever improving gross margins, for ever increasing sales, and for meeting and exceeding quarterly expectations, places significant pressure on all those that work there to do what is necessary to achieve those goals.  While there may be very specific rules and regulations within a given corporate entity of what is and isn't allowed, when it comes to the money aspect of it all, just the basic allure of money, seems to trump all good judgment.

The first step in any contemplated corruption is simply taking a given rule which is clearly quite black and white, and deciding that instead, that there is room to negotiate around the edges of it.  In virtually all cases, corruption begins first with the thought, once the thought has begun, the pathways for achieving the desired result become quite clear, and soon the execution of the thought is finalized and the deal is done.  It doesn't matter much if the actual originality of the idea comes from you, or whether, in fact you have piggy-backed upon the ideas of another person, or been told to do it, or simply become a copycat of what you know or perceive that others have done themselves.

The beauty of corporate corruption, unlike your own personal corruption, is that your fallback excuse is that you have done this for the good of the company, and not for your individual glory or benefit.   Often times, there is truth in this statement, in fact, sometimes corruption actually costs you some money in order to pull it off, but you are willing to make this sacrifice because the payoff or the gift that you have provided, is the tool that will nail down the order for the corporation and thereby benefit the greater whole. 

Also too, fueling the fires of corruption is being in a situation to which you know that your bid is the fairest and best but instead of rightfully winning the bid, instead you lose that bid to another bidder because they made an arrangement or similar with the awarder of such.  In these types of situations, there are only so many times that you can return to corporate headquarters with the message that you have failed, before you vow or are placed in the necessity of achieving success.  It is in these types of situations, that the true character of a man is met, and so often, in a corporate world of justifications, equivocations, exceptions, and the bliss of seeing just about everything in "shades of gray" as opposed to black or white, the corruption is enacted.

While there are many laws that deal with corruption and its many facets both internal to corporations as well as universal within America, as long as the major metric that measures a company's worth is the amount of money that profits its executives and its stockholders, the temptation to make a way will be the way, over and over again.

At-Will Employment

The concept of at-will employment always favor the employer and never favors the employee, because in short, at-will employment, means that either party, that is the employer or employee can sever their work relationship at any time, without notice, and for basically any reason that is not in conflict with a higher law.  This means that the employer can at any time fire or dismiss you from the job that provides all of your income and/or health benefits without your consent, whereas you, as the employee, have the basic right to quit at any time, hardly a right that is equal in concept or in effect.

There can be exceptions to the full effect of at-will employment, for instance at-will employment can be superseded by State or Federal law, and in addition at-will employment is subject to certain exemptions, depending upon the State or the city of your employment, to wit exemptions such as Public Policy, Implied Contract, and Good Faith may apply.  Also, there are certain job segments to which typically employees are not treated at-will which are government employees of either State or of the Federal government, and union employees that have enacted a collective bargaining agreement with the employer, which has specific rules attached to it in regards to the termination of employment.  In the absence, of working for the government, or of being part of a recognized Union with a contract with the employer, most other American employees are employed at-will, whether or not they have signed a document to that effect.

While it is fair to say that most Americans would not disagree that an employer has the right to fire you for just cause, very few Americans would agree that your employer should be able to terminate you, without a good and valid reason, yet, at-will employment essentially means that your employment is in danger of being terminated at any time, for virtually any reason, or in jurisdictions to which there aren't further lawful protections, for no reason at all.  That type of mindset is inherently unfair, and while non-government employment companies should have the flexibility to promote or to layoff employees at their discretion, that right should be tempered by laws that fairly protect the employee.

Additionally, in an era of merger and acquisitions, it is of enormous benefit to companies that are either looking to acquire or looking to be acquired to have their labor force setup in such a way that their employees are all classified as at-will, because that gives the acquirer of such a company the powerful flexibility to terminate, layoff, or let go, any and all employees not deemed redundant or necessary for their continuing operations of the merged organization, which often times means a massive savings in terms of labor cost.

In today's world, many employees survive literally paycheck to paycheck, to which if they were to lose their employment; this would have an immediate and detrimental effect upon their lifestyle and ability to take care of obligations.  Most employees only want from their employer, a fair deal, nothing more and nothing less, so that if they as an employee have done their part, they should then expect in return that their employer should honor theirs as well.  A handshake between a new employee and employer should mean something, and what that should mean should supersede the bogus conception of "at-will".

Yellow Cards in Soccer

Different sports have different penalties for infractions and egregious fouls, to which soccer has its own special and unique rules dealing with these incidents.  In soccer, there are two basic offenses, there is the straight red card which is issued to players for the most serious fouls and for obvious infractions such as illegally denying the opposing team a goal-scoring opportunity, and then there is the yellow card, for bad fouls that aren't quite worthy of the red card, persistent fouling, professional fouls, and other assorted things that are an infringement to basic good sportsmanship.  The difference between a red card and a yellow card, is a red card is an immediate dismissal from the game itself, whereupon, that team will have to play the remainder of the match shorthanded, which is a significant disadvantage, whereas for the first yellow card on a player, there is no dismissal, however, for a second yellow card on the same player in the same game, those two yellow cards equate to a red card, and the player is dismissed from the field of action.  So in summary, a red card means immediate dismissal from the game, whereas one yellow card is a caution to a particular player, but should that player get a second yellow card they too will be dismissed from the game.  In soccer, it is neither infrequent for a red card to be issued to an offending player, nor is it infrequent for one player to be dismissed through two yellow cards.  However, in regards to a yellow card, the field manager of the team does have an option, of removing said player from the field through a substitution if he has not already used up all his substitutes.   Anytime, any player receives a yellow card on the field, a good manager should immediately consider his options so as to better protect his team from suffering the ill effects of a second yellow card, and consequent dismissal of that player.

As discussed in the newyorker.com, it is estimated that the removal of a player from the soccer field, "… cost the offending teams about .015 goals per minute left in a game," which basically means that playing short-handed is not something that you ever want to have occur to your team.  This should signify, that when any player receives a yellow card, the manager should determine that player's value as compared to the disadvantage of being short-handed, should that occur, and consequently that is why a manager should make it a liberal policy to substitute players that are on a yellow card.  Of course, not all players are created equal in either their abilities or in their propensity to get a second yellow card.  For instance, neither goal keepers nor strikers should typically need to be replaced, because strikers typically have limited defensive duties, whereas goalkeepers are typically given the benefit of the doubt in controlling their area of the pitch.  However, for defenders, to which it is their main purpose to prevent the opposing side from getting good chances on goal, as well as midfielders that are there to control the pace and content of the game, serious consideration for their removal must be taken into account.  The fact of the matter is there are only possibly a few elite players in the game that are worth .015 goals per minute, so the better part of valor is to err on caution and subsequently to take the issue of a yellow card to your player as something that does necessitate a valid counter-move.

Why is Hawaii so much Richer than Puerto Rico?

Both Hawaii and Puerto Rico became United States territories in 1898, with Hawaii becoming the 50th and last State of our union in 1959, while Puerto Rico still remains a US territory.  Hawaii is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, far away from the mainland.  The closest US city to Honolulu is San Francisco, and yet that flight distance is 2082 miles.  The closest major non-USA city from a different continent to Honolulu is Tokyo, Japan, and that flight distance is 3854 miles.  In contrast, San Juan, Puerto Rico is 1031 miles away from Miami, Florida, and some 3,661 miles away from Lisbon, Portugal.  Additionally, while Hawaii is literally in an ocean far away from any mainland, Puerto Rico is surrounded by many other islands in the Caribbean, as well as being close to Central America and South America.  One would think, giving the location of Puerto Rico, that it would have little problem of being equal to or greater than Hawaii in regards to its income, but in fact, Hawaii according to the Census Bureau Median Family Income as reported by justice.gov tells us that for a "1 Earner Family Size", Hawaii has a median income of $53,751, whereas Puerto Rico comes in at a mere $23,168.  This means that Puerto Rico's median family income is lower than any of the US fifty states, as well as being lower in median income than Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands (all US territories).

On the surface, this doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense, Puerto Rico, in the sense of beauty, weather, and location, would appear to be the equal to or comparable to Hawaii, although this is obviously something that is relatively subjective.  While, Hawaii and Puerto Rico are both tourist dependent, as well as being recipients of US military investment, Hawaii does have the all-important naval military base at Pearl Harbor, whereas Puerto Rico lacks this; but they are similar in their capabilities in regards to agriculture, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and although Hawaii does have more graduates with Bachelor Degrees than Puerto Ricans, the disparity of 26.6% to 21.2%, while significant, is not substantial. 

It is also possible too that Puerto Rico, suffers from a brain drain, to which ambitious Puerto Ricans leave the island, and move onto the mainland to search for their wealth and employment opportunities there, since native-born Puerto Ricans are considered to be United States citizens and hence have no barrier to entry.  While that definitely makes sense, that doesn't answer the question as to why native Hawaiians' aren't too doing the very same thing.

Perhaps, finally, Hawaii is so much richer than Puerto Rico because Hawaii has attracted a large influx of foreign capital from places such as Japan, China, and Korea, to which each of these countries have people of enormous wealth that have a vested interest in seeing that some of their money is invested in American land and/or industry, and Hawaii is the closest United States state, with a population that is already heavily Asian and also easily accommodates such money.  Puerto Rico, on the other hand, is probably considered to be just another Latin American country, having therefore more in common with Central and South American countries that were formerly colonized by Spain, and despite its status as a US territory of over one hundred years, making little progress in assimilating itself to America.

We are Co-Creators with God

There is a general misconception that God is the Father and that we are something far less than sons and daughters to Him, but this is not actually true.  We are much more than what we often think that we are, for we are, in truth, co-creators with God himself.  This means, that just as God has no beginning and thereby no ending, so we too have always existed in the Word of God and will always exist as co-creators to the Master Creator himself.  The confusion as to our immortality rests in the wrongful assumption that the physical body is our essence, it is not, as it is merely the recipient of our mind, our spirit, and our soul.  Further to this confusion, is our own unworthiness in sin as well as in our actions, which convicts us within our very essence that we are unworthy to completely re-unite with God, until we have shaken off or worked out our own imperfections so as to be perfect in He who is perfection Himself.

Another question might too be raised as to why would any soul wish to ever leave our Lord in the first place, but here though is the lesson of the prodigal son which applies to all who reside here on earth, that those that wish to have what is rightfully theirs as an inheritance will have this given to them, as God will not stand in the way of any soul exercising its own free will, and when that soul finds out, as all must, thattheir way is not the way, he will return, humbler, but at the same time, welcomed in open arms by the Lord who turns none away, no matter how far the journey, and no matter how distant the country. 

Jeremiah 1:5 reads:  "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee," which signifies that before our birth onto this earth plane, that we were already in existence, so subsequently no new souls are created, they have always been, and they will always be, as you cannot create immortality out of mortality.  God is omnipresent, He is everywhere, and we are created in His image, not as pathetic imitations or little puppets, but as one in the Father--no less and no greater than He.  Any perceived separation from our Father which art in Heaven is our own misreading of what is available for each and every one of us.   

It too might be helpful to picture yourself as a little child with a new toy, a fascinating toy that can do just about everything that you could possibly imagine or that you could possibly put your mind to, while no doubt, there would be great things of beauty you might well conceive of, so too, there might be great things of horror, such as the unleashing of your very own Pandora's box.  Yet, through it all, good or bad, in the end, all will return to how it was in the beginning, as nothing mortal can ever overcome anything of immortality, no matter how dire or pleasant it may be.  Remember from John 1: 5 that; "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."  We that are one with God, are that light.

Sports Franchise Values Will Soon Peak

First consider this, Jerry Jones purchased the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL in 1989 for $140 million, to which Forbes magazine estimates its current worth at $3.2 billion.  Donald Sterling purchased the NBA LA Clippers (formerly the San Diego Clippers) for $12.5 million in 1981, and sold the franchise to Steve Ballmer in 2014 for $2 billion.  Businessinsider.com states: "In 1973, George Steinbrenner led a group that purchased the New York Yankees from CBS for $8.7 million. Forty-two years later, the franchise is now worth $3.2 billion."  While it is understood that the value of a dollar today is considerably less than when these particular businessmen purchased these sports franchises, clearly, based on today's valuations, these already superrich owners have made an incredible amount of money for being in the sports entertainment business, indicating that the owning of big-time franchises isn't really something that owners do as a matter of mindless entertainment for the privileged, but in fact, is a way to demonstrably increase their net worth considerably, on the backs of the taxpayers, the unsuspecting public, and the skills of the ballplayers themselves.

The business of sports franchises in America is really about the business of maximizing their product for the express benefit of the elite ownership.  For instance, the NFL, the NBA, and MLB either specifically have salary caps on player salary expenses or a luxury cap which serves essentially the same purpose in capping salary payroll.  There are very few businesses that can control their labor expenses, labor contracts, and so forth at the degree that these major sport franchises do without being possibly subject to expensive lawsuits for what would typically be seen as both an antitrust violation as well as collusion.  Additionally, these owners have to a considerable extent received "sweetheart" deals for stadium or arenas being built to franchise their teams to which they have often received at least one of the following: tax reductions or privileges, land cost reductions or privileges, rent reductions or privileges, concession reductions or privileges, and often are not even responsible for the cost of the actual edifice itself.

Throughout recent years, just about everything that franchise owners have wanted to get, they have received, but the easy money is approaching its end and franchise values will never appreciate from their current high levels at anything approaching what these shrewd aforementioned businessmen paid for their respective franchises in the previous century.  While sports franchises generate important revenue from licensing, merchandizing, and ticket sales, the bulk of its most essential revenue comes from television, and television is able to pay billions of dollars for these sports because they get their revenue from national advertisers, and the advertisers advertise because of the viewership of these sports.  However, therein lies the rub, as you might suspect, the viewership of sports is not necessarily the demographic that is most desirable, because sports appeal more to males, and typically more to adults ages 35 and up.  Additionally, this is the age of the internet as well as the variety and versatility of multi-media outlets that people can interrelate to, which signifies that the norm in watching television sporting events on TV is in the process of mutating into something else.

While the major sport franchises have grown accustomed to ever better deals and thereby ever higher amounts of money negotiated from the major TV networks; should that formula change, and it will, sports franchise values will change with it, and because the value of these franchises are based on future projections, those that read the tea leaves better will be the sellers of such and not the buyers.

Mr. [First Name]

In the process of growing up I was familiar with a few different salutations, such as Mr. [Last Name], my last name without the mister, a nickname, by my first name, perhaps once in a blue moon by my entire name [first, middle, and last] and my personal favorite which was when I received mail from certain relatives, as Master [First, Last Name} which when you are a young kid, just makes you blush with happiness.  When it comes to how I was addressed, I never cared for my last name being used without a Mister or some other sign of respect, so just using my last name, I always found to be extremely annoying and my response to that usage would typically burn inside.  As for nicknames, it would of course depend upon the nickname, as some nicknames are hurtful, while others are pleasurable, and then there are generic call-outs like "buddy" or "dude" which are fine if the person really doesn't know your name, but somewhat disrespectful if they do know your name. In general, though, most people addressed me by my first name, which was my preference, except for my secret desire, to be addressed verbally as Master [First, Last Name} which I thought would be the ultimately best.  In regards to how I treated my contemporaries and their names, I would basically match whatever way that they were treating me.  As for my addressing of adults, the typical way would be Mr. [Last Name], unless they were relatives in which case it would always be Aunt [First Name].   In all of this, I don't remember hearing salutations of Mr. [First Name] being used by anyone to anybody, although I suppose that it might have occurred, occasionally.  However, when I moved to the South, I began to be addressed from time-to-time as Mr. [First Name], which I found to be somewhat intriguing, unusual, and totally unnecessary, since just addressing me by my first name is fine by me, no matter the age of the party addressing me.

While there are probably many reasons, why the South, seems to be the only part of the nation, to which Mr. [First Name] seems to be used somewhat commonly as a typical way to address someone, often of perceived authority, or older, I'm okay with it, as long as it isn't racially based.  That is to say, if only black people used Mr. [First Name] but never white people to me, or if white people only used it as a form of salutation from one white person to another, but never to a black person, I would not be okay with it.  While there probably isn't much doubt, that this form of salutation in the South probably has roots in our previous days of slavery, the fact that it still exists today, is probably fine, because the salutation of Mr. [First Name} seems to be a way of showing respect to another person, without being stuck within the absolute formality of class, social, and racial distinctions that formerly were part and parcel of the South.  In addition, it isn't difficult to respond to the person addressing you as Mr. [First Name] that they need not use the Mister part at all, without unduly upsetting the social mores of that interaction.  Also, I never have an issue with anyone attempting to show either respect or politeness to me, especially if that politeness or respect is genuine as opposed to being something that is formerly impressed against them.