I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore

The above quote is from the movie: Network, in which anchorman Howard Beale on live television in an emotional cathartic outburst pleads with his audience to stick their necks out their windows and to shout out that they are indeed "mad as hell…".  This, of course, was fictional, but forty-odd years from this seminal movie, it doesn't appear that the American public has ever really bought into that they are indeed the captains of their own ship and the change that they claim to want, is therefore in their own hands.  Instead, most people are far too involved in their own minutiae of their own life, to have the capacity to demand and to effect real and lasting change, and so through their own inactions, the chains of governmental intrusion and servitude to the State are strengthened.

There isn't a country or a business model that can successfully and fully function, if the people, if the majority, will not give in to the State or to conglomerate demands.  It is up to the people to rock the boat, to agitate for change, to press their points, to protest with their bodies and with their pocketbooks, as well as to shine light on things that the oppressors fear to have exposed that will begin the process of actual, functional, and meaningful change.  Most of the change that we desire does not happen overnight, nor does it often happen by leadership suddenly becoming more enlightened, instead it happens, because of relentless pressure, because it is an idea who time has come, and because it is right.

Those that are first to rise up against the State, are like the first soldiers to strike out against a formidable enemy, in which often the result for the first wave is injury, hurt, privation, or even death, but without these brave souls sacrificing themselves for the greater good, the greater good would not ever come.  Today's corporate State has but two primary objectives, to see that you are placated, and to exploit you in such a way that you are not overly upset about it; they need to accomplish this in order so that these privileged elite can live high on the hog on your backs, on your labor, and on your knowledge.  Life does not, need not, be this way, as there are many alternatives to this current poor state of affairs.

Fortunately, in America, each adult is entitled to one vote, so that in theory, we can vote upon the change that we actually desire.  However, in function, this often is not the case, as the choices given to us, are in effect, nothing but a Hobson's choice.  Still that does mean, that brick by brick, step by step, that change cannot be implemented as the Watchman, no matter how diligent, cannot see everything, cannot know everything, and cannot anticipate everything. 

Some great changes have already occurred in this nation, mainly because of the brave mortals that have obeyed their heart and their inspiration to help to manifest that change.  When you are mad, dig beneath the surface and mine that anger, discover what it is that upsets you, and if it is worthy, make a vow to do something about it, and not to just sit back and stew in your anger.  A man is not born to be permanently stooped over, so stiffen up your back, and reclaim what is rightfully yours.

Hotel Resort Fees

In the business world, you always have options as to how to conduct your business, to which most people respect those businesses that respect them.  The best way to show that respect is by dealing with your customer base in an even and fair-handed method and to charge people the rate as advertised or promised without having to resort to underhanded or questionable tactics.  Ideally, the more transparent business transactions are, the better the experience will be. 

Over the last decade, certain hotels in certain cities, have added "resort fees" for things such as pool access, gym access, Wi-Fi access, and so forth, to which the price for these resort fees is not trivial, whatsoever.  That is to say, you can easily book a hotel for what appears to be the low-low rate of $60/night only to find out that you have another $50/night in aggregate to pay for: resort fees, parking fees, taxes, cleaning fees, tourist taxes, and hotel occupancy fees.  What this does, in effect, is take what you thought would be $60/night and instead increases it substantially in comparison to the true and actual cost, something that may or may be within your budget, and also something that seldom that you will be pleased to accept without feeling a bit undone by.

Hotel resort fees are especially gut-wrenching, because there are most definitely hotels that charge this fee, that on the surface, you would not expect it, because there isn't anything about the hotel that would make your believe that in a fair description of its characteristics, there would be included the word: "resort".  Further to the point, even more galling, is that upon doing your initial research for the subject hotel, to which you thought that you were comparing apples to apples, you haven't been doing that at all, as hotels with resort fees do not show that resort fee as part of their advertised internet price, so while doing your comparison shopping you are invariably comparing some hotelswith resort fees that are currently obscured to you, to hotels without resort fees, and believing that when the internet pricing is about the same, that the overall price will be the same, when that definitely is not close to being true.

Those hotels that do charge resort fees, make it a point to show that on their website, after the subtotal, or upon their terms and conditions, so the resort fee is there if you are looking for it, but the advertised price per night is in bold print, which doesn't take into account those resort fees, so the consumer can easily overlook these additional fees, completely.  Also, should you in fact, book the hotel through a third-party website such as Priceline or Expedia, once again, it is very easy to overlook this charge, as that website might have something written such as "hotel fee not included" which doesn't seem to really mean anything to the uninitiated, as instead it is the advertised price in bold print that garners our attention.

There isn't any doubt that resort fees work out quite well for the hotel industry as it allows them to make their nightly rate appear more competitive by matching the competition in advertised price, and then augmenting their particular price by adding in the ignominious resort fee.  This means, that the resort fee isn't going away anytime soon, in fact, no doubt, the opposite is in effect, so that the consumer can expect that resort fees will become a more and more common experience, to which the consumer is stuck with fee, and wonders exactly where the resort is at.

Courtroom Recording

Basically, with the exception of the people that have a vested interested in the courtroom, and courtroom proceedings, such as those in the legal field, journalists that cover trials, and friends and family of specific court cases, our public court rooms are mainly cleared of any disinterested observers, so that court cases, except for those of a certain notoriety, are simply done in the public, but watched by virtually nobody.  Maybe that is a good thing, maybe it isn't, but in point of fact, in the era of the high-technology and universality of audio, video, streaming, blogs, and so forth, it seems like our court proceedings are a throwback to a bygone era and that therefore the less exposure that court cases get, the less accountability the public, in general, will hold the courts to.  This means, in effect, we take it, more or less on faith, that our courts are fair, impartial, and just, but with little public oversight, this probably is not true.

America is a nation of all sorts of laws, some clearly outdated, some clearly self-serving, and the prohibition of cameras and picture taking in all federal court rooms, for example, seems to benefit only those that are part of that court system, and impair the ability of the public to be well informed.  In fact, there are so many cases, on so many days, in so many court rooms, throughout America, clearly, even if as policy video-recording was allowed in most court cases, there simply would not be enough interest in virtually all cases, for there to be any traction in recording the overwhelming majority of cases.  This means, in effect, that these laws ban something that would, in all likelihood, hardly ever be utilized for the public interest by the media, so that as a matter of public policy, the question should be re-written in such a way, as to ask if allowing the public recording of this public trial, would be clearly prejudicial against certain elements within the trial and to thereby get an injunction on that matter to decide it.

It does not make a lot of logical sense that our court rooms are open to the public, yet, picture taking, video and audio recording are not permitted or allowed in most cases.  Yet, when we watch a court proceeding, in our mind, we take pictures, we absorb audio, and we record our own video, so that the recording has already been made.  There isn’t any real good reason, why certain rules and regulations, could not be setup in such a way, to protect the anonymity of the jury, or certain witnesses, by either the deliberate blurring of their faces or by simply directing the camera to shoot only from the shoulders down and so forth.  In addition, should a live camera be considered to be a potential danger to the integrity of the court proceeding, the recording could be tape-delayed, edited if necessary, and so forth in order to uphold the court's desire.

Furthermore, if a video recording is considered at the present time to be that "bridge too far", an audio recording should not be, as an audio, is simply the voices speaking, which could be transcribed, streamed in real time, or released in an edited form, with the removal of extraneous information.  In fact, audio recordings of court trials that are of public interest would best be in keeping with the spirit of the law, that are trials are to be public as both a protection for the people as well as keeping the people informed as to how law is applied in their domain.

As Goes Greece, so goes the World….

Greece as a country is relatively small potatoes, with its GDP ranking somewhere around 45th in the world at large, Greece hasn't been an economic force in centuries, yet Greece has been getting all sorts of publicity, because of its economic woes and civil unrest over the last few years and the fact this western nation's economic situation is dire.  On virtually every economic level, Greece is in sad shape, with high inflation, high unemployment, and retraction of its GDP, along with its massive debt overload which it cannot service successfully.  All of this, brought about not just domestic disturbances within the nation itself, but lead to the inevitable closing of the financial markets, so that those that needed to trade in the stock market, or to access a bank for cash or other financial transactions, were either completely shut out from doing so, or severely restricted in accomplishing things that previously were taken for granted.

The bottom line is that a severe financial crisis often has incredibly bad repercussions within a country, and depending upon the size of the country can possibly produce tragic ramifications throughout the entire world.  For instance, the USA has currently a massive debt load of nearly $19 trillion dollars, but even that number as large as it is, is dwarfed by the possibility that including all of our off-budget legacy obligations that our true national debt could be as high as $70 trillion.  The problem with massive deficits and the continuation of policies that keep increasing these deficits is that one day, some day, the creditors to these obligations such as financial institutions and foreign countries, may begin to doubt that ability of a nation, even one as rich and powerful as the United States, to make good on their debt.

There are hedge funds run by geniuses that have made huge amounts of money, understanding the markets, and taking advantage of obscure pricing differentials and inefficiencies between markets, that have consistently made money, until there comes that day, when the "black swan" event comes, that could not ever come, but it does and then this same hedge fund collapses within a very short period of time, because its house, far from being built on a solid foundation, has instead been built on assumptions that are good 99.99% of the time, when instead they needed to be good, 99.9999999% of the time, and with a viable contigent exit strategy, no less.

The fallout and collapse of Greece should be an object lesson to all that a country, any country, cannot successfully rely on the ever present availability of capital to paper over the deterioration of previous financial situations, ad nauseam.    When the time comes that the lenders get wise to the game, or that the lenders decide that they wish to change the terms of the game, you, as a borrower, probably don't have a lot of good choices, and the lack of those choices, will be felt throughout the entire infrastructure of your country, when word gets out, that your credit line has been terminated or severely restricted.

As Shakespeare tell us, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."  Greece as a country cannot honor its debts, and by this dishonor, they have short-changed their citizens, their economy, their liberty, their livelihood, and ultimately their lives.

411: Directory Assistance

There are things that use to be free and that are no longer free, then too there are things that use to be free but are only free for a limited amount of time or usage, and then there are things that use to be free, that now have alternatives that are also free.  In regards to 411, directory assistance calls, made by your house phone, or cell phone, or prepaid phone, or cable phone, or VOID phone, there often isn't any consistency as to whether these calls to 411 are free or are not free.  Where there is consistency is that when you are charged for a 411 call, whether you dialed it on purpose, accidently, or even actually talked to anyone on the other end to get information, is that you will be charged/billed $1.99 for each one of these calls, without any warning of this impending charge while the call is in process.

While one can understand that the entity processing the directory assistance call, wants to make money to cover its costs and whatnot, from a fairness to the consumer perspective, that charge should be brought up at the beginning of the call, so that the person making the 411 call, can opt out should they desire to do so.  In point of fact, there are many people who are ignorant that a 411 call, costs money, and with knowledge of this material fact, they would find alternatives to dialing 411, such as using the internet, or other toll free numbers to directory assistance that are advertiser sponsored.

To make matters worse, phone plans that are prepaid such as magic Jack or prepaid cell phones, should never as a policy charge their subscribers for a 411 call without a warning, mainly because as a prepaid subscriber, that payment for the specific usage of that phone and data has already been made.  However, on the prepaid cell phone that I have, not only is there an app with the 411 icon, you will, even if accidently dialing 411 or accidently touch the app, be charged $1.99 which will be added to your balance owing for the next month of usage of your prepaid cell phone. 

While it is one thing to purposely dial 411 and actually receive information in return, it is entirely another thing to accidently dial 411, talk to nobody, accomplish nothing, and to be charged as if you have received something of worth.  Further to the point, even if you talk to directory assistance, if the information that is provided to you is incorrect or wrong, you should not be charged for that "assistance", but you are charged anyway.

In most marketplaces, free things crowd out those that charge for essentially the same service, but 411 and their $1.99 charges are still going gang-busters, mainly because they take advantage of people's general ignorance and/or laziness, as well as the price being low enough so that it is a nuisance but not high enough to raise most people's ire, and further that they are permitted to charge the other person's phone without that person's full consent.

In fairness to the consumer, 411 calls should not be charged if there has not been a warning given that the call will generate a user fee, as well as the 411 call must also provide something of value to the consumer in order for a payment for such service to be considered fair.

The True Price of Roses

According to the National Retail Federation, "37.8 percent of Americans will buy flowers for Valentine’s Day 2015, spending a total of $2.1 billion."  Of course, flowers are bought all year long, for various reasons, such as birthdays, anniversaries, mother's day, wedding, graduation, promotion, or "just because".  The most popular type of flower to buy is the rose, which means that roses are the most prevalent flower available in all sorts of colors at floral stores, in grocery stores, street vendors, as well as other places that sell flowers.  From a consumer perspective, all this is to the good, as the choice and convenience for buying flowers is huge, with, flowers also being sold online through sites such as proflowers.com, 1-800-flowers.com, and FTD.  Besides the sheer convenience of all the places that you can shop at to buy flowers, there is also the fact that roses, overall, are incredibly inexpensive from a purchaser standpoint.  For instance, on any normal non-holiday, without even considering specials or coupons, you can easily find a dozen roses for prices like $15 or $12.99 or even $10, with some stores or street vendors possibly even lower.  This is a fantastic price for something that is so well received and appreciated by the recipient, it makes you really admire the competitiveness of the stores within America, our efficient transportation system, as well as the brilliance of the flower growers, themselves. However, there is one fundamental problem with all of this, and that is the assumption that the roses that are bought and sold in America, are in fact grown and produced in America, but in actuality a lot of the roses consumed in America, are from outside of America, from countries such as Columbia (the dominant player) and Ecuador.

The fact of the matter is, roses distributed and sold in the United States, use to be 99% domestic, but in recent years, this percentage has plummeted to well under 5%, which effectively means that rose production within America has been ceded to the countries that make up the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) which provides these countries "duty free" access to America.  This means that because there is a tax/duty exemption set aside for these foreign countries, that they are now competing against American companies, with the foreign countries having the advantage of significantly lower labor costs as well as significantly lower land costs, and their only really big expense coming from the shipping of their foreign flowers which is done by cargo plane on a massive scale. Once these flowers safely arrive in America they are then sold to American wholesalers that specialize in these business deals that clearly undercut and annihilate domestic manufacturers of roses, with the wholesalers, in turn, selling these roses to domestic stores and other vendors throughout America.

Obviously, because the price of roses is so reasonably priced, the consumer is a big winner, and those receiving the gifts are also truly appreciative.  Perhaps too, it's wonderful that this trade act was enacted which allows monies to be properly allocated to those that can produce and distribute the product at a lower price point.  Maybe that is the way that it should be, but understand this, that labor and land are often considerably cheaper in other countries than in America, so that today we have roses imported in massive waves to Americans, perhaps tomorrow it will be agricultural products that we take for granted such as corn and soybeans; and what will we do when we no longer can produce the same, and the distributors of such, decide how it is best to allocate these valuable food items worldwide.

The Student Loan Debt Fiasco

It has been said that: "History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes," which is certainly apt when it comes to the absolutely insane student debt crisis which has reached unprecedented scales in America.  According to consumerfinance.gov, "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that outstanding debt is approaching $1.2 trillion as of May 2013."  While there are all sorts of debt that is created in America, there is something especially insidious about student debt to which the first thing is that a significant portion of that debt is guaranteed by the federal government, which means ultimately it is the tax payers of this nation that have to make good on these bad debts; along too there is the fact that the debt is being issued to people that for the most part, have limited assets at the present time, to which for most of these student debtors, signifies in principle that they are "underwater" as soon as they take out the debt with typically only a hope that one day they will have the reasonable means to pay back the loan.

As bad as that is, it gets even worse, when you consider the fact that a significant percentage of students that take out college loans, never graduate or get a degree from their college of choice.  This often means, that the hopes of a nice salary that they once envisioned will never come to fruition, yet they still have the responsibility to pay back a loan but often with limited means to do so.  Further adding fuel to the fire, is the fact that many students taking out the loans are both young and often quite inexperienced in regards to financial matters, and in particular, in regards to making good, sound and conservative decisions when it comes to money.  To far too many students, the ability to seemingly get loans for nothing, gives them a perverse incentive to try to "max" out their student loans per school semester so that instead of simply concentrating on getting just what they need to handle their tuition, books, and reasonable living expenses; student loans are often looked upon as a cow to be milked so as to receive as much as they possibly can so that thereby they can live large and enjoy the good life.  Yet, at the end of the day, all that extra money that has been borrowed, must not only be paid back, it must be paid back with interest, and not doing so will lead to credit scores being decimated and possible future garnishments.

The fact of the matter is that when you lure students in with a dream that by going to college, that they can live the good life, without the necessary attendant responsibility and dedication, you have done a massive disservice to them as a whole.  To make matters worse, standing behind the institutions that willy-nilly loan out money to students is the federal and/or state governments, to which if they were not guaranteeing these loans, than the loans themselves to students would be far more stringent, far more limited, and far better monitored. 

You could argue that the student debt fiasco is an example of good intentions, gone horribly awry, or you could probably better argue, that the greed of these campuses for new blood and new money to feed their faculty, fill the institution, and swell up the money coffers is the real driving force, behind this misguided policy.  Huffingtonpost.com tells us that: "about 11.5% of student loan balances are 90+ days delinquent or in default and that figure is often reported low because it does not include student loans in deferment or forbearance."  The foregoing is merely a prelude to the crisis to come, to which many students caught in a cycle of debt, and not just limited to student loans, will become effectively, wards of the State, forever

The Disgrace of the Confederate Battle Flag still flying

If there is one thing that you can say with a certainty in America, is that most Americans, do not much care about history, and consequently don't really know much about their own history.  That is a shame, because history has lessons that always can be applied to the present day.  When you ask people what symbol best sums up Nazism, most people would quickly respond with the swastika, although a few might respond by suggesting the "Heil Hitler" salute which is also apt, as both are powerful symbols, that are well understood to represent State control and State power with the attendant demand of absolute obedience to such. In regards to the confederacy, the symbol, that rivets one's attention most is the Battle Flag of the Northern Army of Virginia, later incorporated into the second national flag of the Confederate States of America.  This Confederate Battle Flag features a red background, a blue X in the middle of the flag, and 13 white 5-pointed stars running at a diagonal within the blue X.  The symbol is powerful, and while some in the South may see the Confederate Battle Flag as something that represents southern pride, southern heritage, southern rebellion, southern identity, southern hospitality, or perhaps even "stick to the man" type mentality, it also represents whether it is considered blatant or coded, southern racism.

Of all the many symbols of the confederacy, it is the Battle Flag, that is by far the most powerful and most recognizable as well as the most divisive of all the Confederate symbols.  Now I do believe that the Confederate Battle Flag has a place for those that wish to display it on their own private property and on their possessions and should be allowed to be sold on goods, if there is a market for such.  The line in the sand is crossed, however, when any State or Federal government institution incorporates the Battle Flag as part of their correspondence, or their website, or contained within their flag of their State, or their media, and so forth.   The civil war ended over 150 years ago, the South was vanquished, and the Battle Flag represents for far too many people a battle cry for a return to an era that passed away long ago.

War is a horribly cruel thing, and our civil war, was one of those things, of which many good men and women paid the final price with their blood, sweat, toil and tears.  Abraham Lincoln was a very wise and gracious President, who only asked that the South upon their defeat take an oath of allegiance to the United States of America, in which upon doing so this would incorporate the legality as well as being an acknowledgment by the South that the emancipation of those human beings once enslaved was now the law of the land forevermore.  It was Lincoln's belief that by doing so this would be the means that the citizens of this country could produce a just and lasting peace as well as ultimately becoming truly united as a nation.

The Confederate Battle Flag therefore represents defiance to hallowed ground and has no place as part of this nation's fabric.

Interrogation and the art of Negotiation

The most effective way to get information from someone that is being interrogated is not going to be through sheer might, although exerting intense psychological and physical pressure against someone is very likely to get some sort of response, but not necessarily 100% actionable information.  In addition, in all fairness, whatever coercive techniques are used to extract intelligence, means, that if the shoe was on the other foot, they would have a somewhat justified case to utilize the very same techniques upon you.  In actuality, the very best way to look upon interrogation is as a process in which we avoid the temptation to use "by any means necessary" and instead take advantage of our skill-sets, knowledge, and superior ability to correlate and to analyze information obtained.

Anytime that a conversation is taking place between individuals, there is a produced a slew of information, such as the actual verbal intercourse, body language, tone, and everything in-between.  Therefore, the department that takes copious notes, video records, watches, analyzes, adjusts to information derived or obtained, and at the same time is able to build a rapport with the person being interrogated is on a pathway to developing a successful negotiation.  The one big difference between truth and lying is that truth at its very core has but one story, and that story does not change; whereas lying builds upon a false foundation, that can easily collapse upon itself, so asking questions and then correlating and connecting the answers to those questions has an immense validity.  Another important thing is that the more a person talks, the more information that they will give up, inadvertently or not, so it is important to get a conversation going, and that conversation can begin with very banal things, that shouldn't be seen as threatening at all to one that is being interrogated.

Also, too, the more civil and respectful that you are to the person that is being interrogated, the better the chances are that after a period of consideration, a conversation can be induced.  While fear and pain, can often quickly get results, the problem with those results, besides the moral and legal issues, is that you may only get the tip of the iceberg, or you may get a mixture of real information along with misinformation that appears valid, as well as you may just hear what you want to hear, because you aren't actually engaging in a conversation.  An interrogation should be a negotiation, to which, a fair trade is exchanged, as there has to be something in it for the person being interrogated, even something as basic as respect, or you will not be able to make the connection that you wish to achieve.

Then too there must be the fundamental realization that not every interrogation is going to work out effectively, that is part and parcel of the business; you're obligation is solely to conduct your business in a professional and at a proficient level.  Also, it is of immense importance not to lose sight of the fact that despite the apparent exigencies of the situation, often times that urgency is not in actuality as grave as it may appear, in point of fact, sometimes through bureaucratic inexactitude and inefficiencies, your hard work will be all for naught.  Additionally, and of utmost relevance, it is no credit to yourself or to this nation, to undercut the basic moral principles that this country aspires to for sadistic short-term satisfaction.

God Will and Must Test You

Life is full of challenges and tests, all for the purpose of measuring the man.  In school, tests are relatively straightforward and one can judge their success or lack thereof, by simply looking at their score or their grade.  In the workplace, tests are held every day, in regards to the work processed and accomplished on behalf of the company that employs you.  In life, so too there are tests, on all sorts of levels, for all sorts of things, no matter whether you think so or not, to which these tests in aggregate prove the results of a given man through the trials and tribulations that make up all of life.

Our words that we profess to God are not enough to convince God that we are sincere in what we voice, instead we read in Exodus 16:4 during the journey of the children of Israel: "…that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not."   God knows that it is in our everyday deeds, proved out over longer periods of time, with challenges, setbacks, lessons learned and lessons lost, that summarize the growth or lack thereof in our lives.  It isn't good enough to simply state to God or to a close friend, that you have conquered your temper, or your lust, or your greed, these statements have a minute amount of validity to them, until they are truly tested thoroughly by the very hand of God.

There are way too many people that wrongly believe that the best days of their lives are days in which there is no conflict, no mountains or obstacles to climb or to avoid, but simply a day spent in quiet contemplation, serene and at peace.  While there is indeed something to be said and to praise about days spent in tranquil meditation that is though and never has been the primary purpose for living.  To be in this world, is to face and to challenge this world, for better or for worse, recognizing that the fate that lies ahead for us, is primarily determined by how we react and deal with the fortunes and misfortunes of life and its vicissitudes. 

God must test you, for how else will He know the true nature of your character; as well as how will you as a person, know yourself, and what you are made of.  These tests, whether welcomed or not, will come to you, as you cannot run away from your destiny, for like Jonah of Biblical lore, you will find out that in the end, you will have to face yourself and your purpose for being, with our without the aid of a great fish. 

Each and every day, you are faced with decisions, some great and some small, but as a whole, it is these decisions that define you as a human being.  Today, and every day, at every moment in the day, you can consciously determine what is that you will or won't do and then be about it.  These decisions most definitely matter, for it is you that captains your own ship.  God will help you, good friends can assist and guide you, but the steering wheel is in your own hands, and those that set their sights on the Northern Star will find that their travails often end quite satisfactorily.

Federal Marginal Tax Rates were once above 90%

You probably won't find many people that enjoy or want to pay taxes on their income, so, not too surprisingly the federal income tax marginal rate is one of those big issues that have a high degree of pertinence to anybody that makes actual income.  Because America has a progressive income tax, when discussing today's highest income rate of 39.6%, it is important to recognize that that rate does not kick in until, if you are filing as single, your income exceeds $406,000, whereupon all income above that amount will be federally taxed at 39.6%, but all income below that amount will be taxed at tax tiers associated with the lower amount brackets.  For instance, the income from 186,000 to 405,000 will be taxed at 35%, not 39.6%.  This means, that even when the highest marginal tax rate is 90%, that only the portion above the highest income, is taxed at that rate, and all income below that is taxed at their respective tax tiers.

It is somewhat surprising, to see that there were times in America's past when the marginal tax rate was over 90%, for instance, from the years 1951-1963 it was as high as 91%, which seems unfathomable, given that Eisenhower was the President from 1953-1961, yet indeed this was so.  However, as much as people want to soak the rich, there is something about a marginal tax rate that once it crosses the 50% plateau, seems inherently unfair, even to those that typically despise the extraordinarily wealthy.  Additionally, the rich have the best and brightest as their lobbyists, attorneys, tax accountants, and so forth, so when tax rates really do get up and into the stratosphere, while it might look good on paper, that the rich are really now being put to the test, in actuality, behind the scenes, they really aren't.

When it comes to taxes and tax rates, those that make the money, are typically not interested in sacrificing more than they have to, and additionally, with a world that has gotten smaller over time, while lawyers and tax accountants have become more numerous, will find a way, to pay less than what the tax law thinks that it is applying against them.  This means that the most effective tax rate is one that does a stellar job in appropriating taxes from those that make more at a rate that makes them a bit uncomfortable, but not so high, that it makes them look or to create ways to avoid them.

Another thing, which is often not recognized, is that some people only have one or possibly two really fantastic earning years, perhaps from stock options, or from an unexpected bonus, or some extraordinary event, to which they never again come close to scaling those heights.  In these instances, especially, a super-high tax rate seems quite unfair, since these are the very people that don't have the connections or the insights into how to skirt around super-high tax rates.

While there is talk about once again, scaling up the marginal tax rates to above 50%, no matter what you think about the 1% of the 1%, a tax rate that gives more than half to the government, just seems wrong, and in an era in which the rich know ever trick in the book, it probably wouldn't achieve that distribution of income desired, but instead would vacuum in only monies from the rich suckers, that either don't know better, or are blithely oblivious.

Credit Card Debt and Liens

Credit cards are exceedingly easy to apply for, to which for most applications, it is simply on the honor system, that is to say, you fill out your income, home ownership or rental and the monthly amount of such, identification, last four digits of your Social Security #, and then through the magic of computer processing, algorithms, and credit scores, the attending bank will make a decision in regards to your credit card and your credit limit or denial, often within seconds, online.  This means for those that are issued credit cards, that legally the credit card as issued to you, in almost all cases is classified as an unsecured credit line to you.  What this signifies, is that the credit card company has given you a credit limit which is secured against none of your assets, but simply secured instead, on your good faith, and the good likelihood that you will pay upon it.

However, despite the fact that most Americanshave not only good intentions to make good on their debts, but also plans to stay continually employed for thirty or thirty-fiveor even more years, these plans don't always pan out, even with the best of intentions.  For instance, you might get laid off and find that getting another job at equal or better pay to be difficult, or you might get injured or sick, necessitating high medical expenditures that are completely unexpected, or other unforeseen events might occur that debilitate your ability to make your payments on time or even at a minimal level.  Unfortunately, when these types of events occur, it can quickly degenerate into a downward spiral and the debt thus created becomes overwhelming and without the appearance of a good ending in sight for you as a consumer.

Not too surprisingly, the bank that issued you the credit card, does not really care about your problems or issues, they mainly care about receiving in full, the monies that you have borrowed and that are owed to them, but because the debt created is still yet unsecured, there isn't much they can do to collect on it, unless they either come to a legal arrangement with you, that is voluntarily entered into, or take you to court to sue you and thereby win monetary damages against you.  Until that time, banks are pretty much limited to legally harassing you, and/or having a collection agency legally harass you, but these annoying phone calls and pestering, can usually be kept at bay, because they have no legal judgment against you.

The real problem with credit card debt that is due and unpaid is when it crosses over to become a legal judgment against you and upon doing so this means that a lien can be attached to your legal assets, such as a home, a car, or as a garnishment against your wages.  However, in order for a judgment to be rendered against you, the credit card company will have to take you to court, and receive from that court a judgment against you, in which they are hoping that you simply won't show up, which means in most cases upon your non-appearance that a summary judgment will be issued against you, allowing the bank at that time to legally place a lien on your property to which when it comes time to sell or to transfer such property, you will forfeit those funds to the bank, subject to certain exemptions and rules.

The bottom line then is that credit card debt can become a legal lien against assets that you have, in which, based on your dire financial straits, often are assets that you cannot afford to spare to the bank.  This means, should you have a home, that either has positive equity, or the reasonable hope of eventually having positive equity, and that is not in foreclosure, you must make every effort to fight off the credit card debt collectors and should it come to court, you must make your appearance, and plead your cause.  There are several typical defenses to make against the bank such as: challenging, denial, requesting proof, and so forth, recognizing too that no matter what course your take, the very fact that you are standing up for your rights is almost certain to bring a judgment that is fairer and more beneficial to you, and will ultimately typically not mean the sacrificing of something so important as the actual equity of your home or similar.

Black Employment: Public v. Private Sectors

According to blackdemographics.com, 76.8% of black workers are employed in the private sector v. 79.2% of whites, whereas in the public sector 19.7% of black workers are employed v. 14.5% of white workers.  This means that in the private sector blacks are relatively slightly less inclined to be employed in this area, whereas in the public sector of government workers the percentage difference is quite significant as blacks have a nearly 36% greater participation rate in government employment than whites do.  This would imply strongly that it is the government that is at the forefront of equal opportunity laws and that blacks know that is the government that will give them a fairer deal than private enterprise.

This does not necessarily mean that private enterprise is discriminatory deliberately against blacks, as if this was truly the case, the differential in private employment between blacks and whites would be substantially higher, but what it does imply is that in private enterprise, it does matter and it is relevant, in who that you know, as well as your background, your similarities in life experience, and connections too are all quite relevant components.

Fortunately, for blacks, the fact that they are hired at such a high percentage of government jobs is most beneficial, as the days when government jobs were looked upon mainly as a self-sacrifice and service to the community, have been replaced with the knowledge that not only do government jobs pay at a competitive rate that compares well to private enterprise, but to a large extent government jobs with their guaranteed pensions are often far superior to the private sector's 401Ks.

Another very important attribute of government jobs is that the pay is often quite similar for all races within job classifications, that is to say, if you are a school teacher with a bachelor's degree and ten years of fulltime experience, your salary in the same city as another teacher with the same degree and experience, will almost for a certainty, be indistinguishable, irrespective of race.  When it comes to the private sector, however, people with similar backgrounds and experience, can have widely divergent salaries, not necessarily because of overt discrimination, because there are numerous factors that affect salary, but within those factors, there can be conditions that favor one race over another on subtle levels which aren't obvious or even noticeable, yet they most definitely are tangible.

As much as we like to think that each man and woman are given a fair shake in this country, irrespective of their race, creed, or background, the fact is if this was actually true, than it would not have been necessary to pass the Civil War Amendments, nor later the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity laws, but indeed this national legislation was necessary for fairness to be more equally and universarlly applied within this country.  Not too surprisingly, blacks recognized that some of their greatest progress has come from these great laws, of a strong federal government, and have in recent years, gravitated therefore to the government sector that has shown that its words actually have real meaning.

Associates v. Employees

Living in America, you can't help but notice that some of the big box retailers make it their policy to refer to their employees, as their associates, so when you are in Home Depot or Wal-Mart or some other similar retailer, you will invariably hear at some point, the verbal callout for an associate to help a customer or guest with something or other.  One would like to think that an associate working within an organization would actually mean something that signifies that this person is a true colleague within the work environment, whose voice or work assignments would be looked upon as worthy of respect and consideration.  Unfortunately, that often is not the case, and fundamentally within organizations in which all of the lower level employees are designed as associates, is most definitely not the case.

In point of fact, for whatever reason, the company doing the hiring has made a policy decision that the semantics of calling their employees, by the name of associate, helps to sell the illusion that the person employed by these retailers is really an important component within the organization, when in actuality, they are nothing more than pawns to be pushed around the chessboard for the greater good of the organization itself.

The truth is, as Shakespeare tells us: "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;" and that which we call by names masking the true nature of the work at hand, smell just as rotten as they always have.  These so-called associates at Wal-Mart often make a wage of just $9 or $10/hour, pointedly signifying that any association that they have with management must be of the traditional employer/employee relationship and hardly one in which the associate has even a marginal place at the table.

The thing is that there isn't anything wrong with being an employee of a given company, in fact, there is a lot to be said about being gainfully employed and working for a living, no matter the title or job position, as there is dignity in doing a job well and being respected and being paid for just that.  While there are plenty of good paying jobs in America, there are also in this service-based economy a lot of jobs that don't pay well and don't have a lot of prestige associated with them.  However, these jobs are a way to earn money, to develop responsibility as well as to stay busy and active, with perhaps windows of opportunity for advancement and promotion.

These big multi-national corporations that employ so many people have an inherent obligation to provide a fair deal to their employees, and that deal necessitates true candor and honesty.  Therefore, to call a man, something that he is not, is wrong, it is a lie, and it is not becoming of any corporation or its leadership.   In truth, companies hire people, these people hired are correctly known as employees, most of them upon being hired are not associates, because they are not at that time merited and valued members of the organization, and until such time that they become so, it is wrong to falsely label them as such.

Applications only Accepted Online

Back in the day rather than seeing a sign posted on a window stating that "only online applications accepted" you instead use to read on that window "applicants apply within". There is a very large difference between the ways applicants are often treated today, more or less quickly compartmentalized into a "go or no-go" scenario, as compared to way it waswhen the application as well as the person was dealt with face-to-face.  While there are advantages to either way in recruitment procedures, limiting people to just online applications, without exception, is inherently prejudicial to certain people without it necessarily being seen as overt in its effect.  That is to say, first off, that some people are people persons that want to engage another human being from across the table and that is their strength, and that strength does not lend itself successfully to an online application.  There is also a more sinister side to online applications, which is that there are a large percentage of people in America that are functionally illiterate, which often means that they won't even attempt to make an online application, or if doing so, will not understand the rules of the road so that their application will be rejected forthwith, even though they may be properly skilled at the actual job at hand.

So too another complaint about the acceptance of online applications only is that those that understand well the process of how these applications are looked at and handled, will best be able to put together the key words and their work experience in such a manner so as to make their application more likely to be accepted as desirable by the algorithm which has been programmed to search for certain traits and thereby in effect to segregate the job applicants into "acceptable or rejected" bins.    This means in effect, that a high percentage of people aren't even considered for the job, and by definition and implication, means too that the applicants making it to the next round, have been pre-molded into the type of "cookie-cutter" desirable background that the company is looking for which hardly bodes well for diversity.

While one can certainly understand that companies are well aware that time is money and that it follows that they often don't have the time or the resources to deal with applicant after applicant live and in-person, this does not mean that accepting applications only online is the fairest, best, or most efficient way to accept applications.  In fact, as a matter of course, responsible companies should mix it up a bit, and at least during certain periods of time when looking for future employees, they should accept applications in person, as opposed to just doing so only online.  

Life itself has proven again and again, that the best candidate does not necessarily have the best credentials on paper, but has those unseen substances and character that are the touchstones of success and advancement in life.  An algorithm and an automated process that simply rates people on a certain pre-conceived scale probably does a commendable job of eliminating those that are clearly unqualified, those that are questionable, but also some of those that would be most excellent, because their skill-sets often range well outside of the company's preconceived little box.

The Internet, Technology, and Choice v. Higher Education Costs

According to mic.com "In 2015, the average student borrower is graduating with about $35,000 worth of debt," and also, according to bloomberg.com:  "The expense of higher education has risen more than 550 percent since 1985."  Both of these above statements should be of massive concern to all Americans and logically when taking into account all of the hi-tech advances that have been made over the last thirty years, these statements should be seen as a source of real disappointment as well as a financial disgrace to those that are just trying to educate themselves to get ahead.

The fact of the matter is that there does not seem to be in effect, a policy in place that is determined to lower school costs and to make that an overriding mission.  Instead, while colleges have changed over the years in some fundamental respects, such as by allowing more students to have more choices in regards to how they receive their education and the tools that they use to do so, the changes to date, are not nearly dramatic enough, nor have they often been of a monetary savings to those that have minimal financial assets to begin with.

Higher education has done a massive disservice to students by simply not taking the time to look at the problem from the right perspective, and that perspective for certain students, should not be to provide all the bells and whistles, all the brick mortars, all the fringe benefits, and all the massive, convoluted, and redundant bureaucracy, but instead should have as the overarching principle to provide a focused curriculum which makes its very purpose, first and foremost, to competently teach students the subjects that they need to know so as to provide them with a degree in their discipline of choice, which will enable them to get meaningful employment. 

The biggest mistake that higher education makes is not scaling up their system so as to make the overall product more affordable to the students that wish to partake of it.  For instance, a live lecture within a fixed physical building, which has limited seats, along with mandated physical books, at a fixed location and time, is the most expensive way to lecture students.  Instead, an online lecture, previously recorded and edited, with additional information which answers the most common questions, along with adjunct professors or advanced students, providing additional online help, which would be essentially available for the most part to all students at any time of the day, through the internet and displayed on their laptop, is something which could be readily scaled up to handled a student body of considerably more people than can be contained within a physical classroom, yet the costs of this online setup, which is repeatable, is of far less expense. 

Further to the point, the cost of physical books, have been and continue to be a very sore point with students, but this can easily be mitigated, by not having any physical books at all, but instead having all books available online, which eliminates the expense and the inconvenience of print runs, as well as making it far easier to revise these books and course materials in the future.

The thing is the way that college education is looked at for a significant amount of students, is fundamentally flawed, to which I suspect, most college campuses, seem to be somewhat oblivious to the actual costs associated with education.  Instead, the way it should be, is to start with the premise that there is an absolute desire to create a curriculum for a bachelor's degree, to which the cost cannot exceed a certain fixed amount of money and then to plan such a course out in such a manner so as to achieve that noble goal.

If, in fact, that it is true, as Obama said, that America desires that we "…put a higher education within reach for anyone who wants it," than the only way this objective can be met is for price, convenience, and sensibility to be working together like a well-oiled machine.  The more innovation, the more imagination, and the more determination that we make in order to provide real choice for our higher education needs, the better the outcome will be.

School Teachers are Compensated Very Well

It does help to have strong union representation on your side, and school teachers throughout America, have two strong unions that represent them, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Educational Association. For some reason, there is a myth, that school teachers are not compensated fairly, are underpaid, have exceedingly demanding jobs, and are not appreciated, but in fact, in today's world, there are fewer and fewer good middle class jobs, that require just a Bachelor's degree, and that pay as well and have the generous benefits of a typical school teacher's salary.  It can be said, unequivocally, if you believe that you have teacher like capabilities or desires, that being a school teacher, is probably one of the very best jobs that you could aspire towards.

For instance, recognize that the salary of a school teacher, depending upon the State and country of residence, can range from about $40,000 to $84,000 per annum, depending upon experience and educational achievement, to which a school teacher has typically a commitment of only 190 work days a year, and might be entitled to 15-20 days off for sick and personal reasons.  On the other hand, employees working for private enterprise, on average work about 224 days a year, a significant and meaningful difference in hours and days worked.  Additionally, whereas a large portion of those employed by private enterprise are responsible for the funding of their 401K retirement plans, perhaps with company matching, while often receiving absolutely no pension benefits, school teachers are provided with very generous pension plans, of which the formula is based upon their highest three to five salaried years, depending upon their location, and their years of service being a school teacher.  As reported by theday.com, the average school teacher pension is: "…$47,386 for Connecticut retired teachers."

In addition, teachers are able to purchase through a program called "The Teacher Next Door" a HUD house for a 50% discount off of the list price, and further are eligible to apply for a loan with the FHA to which the down payment could be for said home as low as $100.  This important benefit, in and of itself, is absolutely massive, as there is no material asset that will cost more money for the typical American, than the purchase of their home.

Yet, for the most part, most Americans are bamboozled by the mass media, to believe that the school teacher's job is a job of woe, and of unlimited thankless service, to which school teachers are the suffering servants of the State.  In fact, school teachers, are extremely well compensated, especially given their salary, their hours, their pension, and the security of their position.  Additionally, school teachers as a whole, are accorded a fair amount of respect from the public. 

While the importance of having good teachers cannot be discounted, it would appear, that given their compensation and their generous benefits, that the school teachers of today, should be some of the most qualified and competent school teachers ever, based upon the fact that smart people gravitate to where the money is at.

Population Control

In America, adults do have the freedom to procreate, although the State for the most part sends out a clear signal that pregnancy is something that is within your bodily control and therefore you should take appropriate steps to control it, and if not, the State wants to help you to do so.  For instance, the State spends an inordinate amount of time and resources making readily available to citizens' its wide array of birth control aids, of which Americans have quite a few choices and options, to which the State hopes that one of these aids you might avail yourself of.  Additionally, abortion is legal in America, subject to certain rules and regulations; and with proper ID, morning after birth control or emergency contraception pills are also available to females which can be readily obtained from any major drugstore.  The result, even without a specific State mandated population control policy, is that procreation in America has dramatically dropped over the years, so that the birthrate in America has come down considerably from previous generations, filling one desirable goal of the State.

However much that you like to think the opposite, the fact of the matter is the State hates the concept that all should have an equal right to procreate as much as they so desire and all of this occurring without exceptions or restrictions.  In fact, it's quite fair to say, that without the religious influence that believes strongly in marriage along with valuing family life and the fruits of such, that the State would have a far more baleful influence than it already has in regards to family planning and procreation within America.  Fortunately, whether you agree or identify totally with a particular religious persuasion or not, the impact of those of faith impacts strongly how population control and procreation freedom is dealt with within this country.

While every country needs its citizenry in aggregate to have a desire to at a minimum maintain its population base and/or to grow it at a rate that is sustainable within the country, most every State wants to have a say as to what people are the chosen ones to reproduce at a higher rate than others. As demonstrative proof of this, hear Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., as he rendered his argument on the winning side in regards to whether the State could enact compulsory sterilization that: "… Three generations of Imbeciles are enough” . 

For some people, the inability to conceive is unbearable and also devastating to them and for their quality of life.  Additionally, for others, their capability to conceive was wrongly taken away from them by the State, itself, by means of forced sterilization, sanctioned by State agencies.  The State most definitely wants to control and to influence which segments of our population in general are encouraged to have children and which are actively discouraged from doing so. 

The battle between the State and the freedom of the people is an ongoing battle, to which the State has access to an endless array of resources that helps enable them to press forward their desires, yet, the people in whole, through it all, have remained resolute and unbowed.

Patrick Henry - Great American Patriot

There are few school children that cannot quote Patrick Henry's most memorable call to action: “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”, but the speech itself given at St. John's Church in Richmond, VA in 1775, is much more than just those seven indelible words.  For instance, it is important to note that Patrick Henry was a God-fearing Christian, and one that believed strongly in the faith, to which this speech itself, made it clear that the highest loyalty a man should have was not to an earthly king but to the "majesty of heaven".  Further, Patrick Henry stated that the cause now presented to those contemplating rebellion against English tyranny, was quite straightforwardly whether one was ready to stand for freedom or to submit to "submission and slavery".  These words weren't meant to be taken rhetorically, but were words demanding action, to which Patrick Henry's voice cried out that "the war is actually begun."

Patrick Henry was no equivocating politician, nor some double-talking lawyer, he was a man of the highest principal and of action, which is why he is so well remembered and revered to this very day.  Patrick Henry believed in accountability and in being true to the just cause of the colonies' rebellion, but even more than that, he questioned those of little faith, who complained that now was not the time, or that the colonies were too weak, or that a compromise might be reached between us and our English masters, however, Henry knew that it was fear that often held men back, and so too it was weakness of mind, as well as there were those that would accept limitations of their liberty for a compromised life.

Yet, when we look upon America today, we must ask the question as to whether we, as Americans, have sold out the ideals and principles of Patrick Henry, and the answer to that question clearly shows the needle pointing to the affirmative.  First, America at its highest jurisprudence level has over recent history, turned this country from being one that built its very foundation upon Judeo-Christian principles into a country that believes it has no need for the inconvenience of God and old-time morals, but instead can simply right its ship with the rudder of pure secularism.  Additionally, Patrick Henry starting with the infamous British stamp tax act as well as later with the vociferous debate over our Constitution, understood well that the confiscation of a man's wealth by taxation empowered the State, often to the detriment of the people, so that rather than the State serving the people, it was the people that were subservient to the State.   

Today, if Patrick Henry was alive, he would be dismayed over the awesome and awful State power that is wielded unfairly and intrusively over most of the common citizens of this country, as well as he would be quite concerned over the rise of the secular State and thereby theincreasing marginalization of our Judeo-Christian founding principles. 

Patrick Henry's memorable words should still ring true to our ears today, and as we look upon this nation, that question should still be raised, is this liberty or is this in substance the death of liberty.

Mandated Password Rules

If you use a computer, you will soon find that you are going to have to use passwords in order to access things such as subscription sites, financial sites, work sites, and email sites.  While it makes sense that your account should be unique to you and therefore that having a password associated with your account is a good way to make it so that other people, friend of foe, or phishing sites, or children, or whomever, do not have an easy way to gain access to your account, there are some basic problems attended to with password accounts.

For instance, different sites have different restrictions, to which those restrictions have changed over time, so that if previously your passwords were once six characters, now they have to be at least eight characters.  If previously you used all lowercase, now you have to use at least one character that is uppercase, and/or have one character that is not alphanumeric.  Additionally, as bad as those are in giving you the hope of consistently remembering your password for all the sites that you visit, the absolute worse are sites that either compel you to change your password every six months, or will not ever allow you to go back and use a password that you have previously used.  This means, if you are even a halfway busy person, you probably have multiple passwords for sites, with multiple rules, and while that might be good in the sense that you don't have one master password for all of your sites, it is both cumbersome and confusing for the user.

When it comes to passwords, most websites seem to have it all wrong, the password setup shouldn't really be to conform to whatever rules that they have, but should instead be something that is convenient for the user.  That is to say, if you as a user want to have stupid passwords, easily guessed at, that should be their choice.  Apparently too, many websites already keep track of the IP address that you have historically logged in from, and therefore it makes some sense to place some additional restrictions on access when that access point is different, by for example, having challenge questions. 

Also, when it comes to passwords and security, I'm somewhat surprised and dismayed that there are many websites that allow you to select or have preselected for you a box that keeps you signed in for two weeks, without having to enter your password again, often which is valid whether you later close your browser or not .  If you think about it, this should never be an option from a safety or privacy issue, since there are very few times when your computer is 100% under your control, unless you are the only one ever to have access to it.

Ultimately, because you do not go to every website every day, and because of the lack of commonality in regards to password rules and restrictions from site to site, you as a consumer, are forced to write down your particular password for particular websites, simply because there are too many to remember, and the consequences of not knowing your password will block you out of a website that you are trying to log into.  The fact then that your password is written down, does to a certain important extent, undermine a lot of why passwords are put into place to begin with.