False freedom

The Emancipation Proclamation became into effect on January 1, 1863, so all those that had been in slavery in the Southern rebellious States, were now declared free.  After the successful conclusion of our Civil War, the 13th-15th Constitution Amendments were ratified, which abolished slavery, provided equal protection of the laws, and gave enfranchisement of the vote to all adult males.

What this freedom did not bring to those that had previously been slaves, was property, money, or opportunity. In addition, because slaves were deliberately precluded from being literate, they were ill prepared to comprehend written contractual obligations, and many times suffered from the lack of a good understanding of how to function successfully in a society in which they had been freed.  So those that previously were slaves, owned nothing, weren't literate, did not have their own shelter, and still lived within areas of the country that were run by those that had formerly enslaved them.

This meant that though slaves were now free, legally, they were not free, in principle, for they continued to suffer under the domination of white exploitation and white power, that though there may indeed had been laws on the books that stipulated this or that, in effect, little had changed in function, so that progress available for blacks in this country by taking advantage of their full Constitutional rights was often slow, halting, and uneven.

The great tragedy and lesson that should have been rather obvious, is that a conscientious government could not release into its own country, those that were formerly slaves, without also providing the preparation to accommodate such a massive release of newly freed people that had been precluded from knowing the things that they needed to be aware of in order to survive and to thrive on their own.  However, at least back in the post Civil war days, many people that labored did so with their hands and their tools, so that though slaves were ignorant of many things, they knew how to work and how to be productive, so that though cheated on their wages, trading, and just about everything, they could still make a living.

In today's world, however, those that are not functionally literate, those that lack property, as well as those that are more often subject to arrest, are miles behind those that have those things or have good access to them.  So that, though all in theory are afforded equal rights and equal justice in this country, in effect, those laws are unequally applied, so that though free, certain specific portions of Americans aren't really free at all.  For instance, as reported by calmatters.org, "75 percent of black California boys don’t meet state reading standards." In addition, as reported by naacp.org, "African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites. Finally, as reported by huffingtonpost.com, "The five largest white landowners in America together own more rural land than all of black America combined."

 So they say, blacks are free in America, but far too many blacks have that false freedom of a Constitutional paper that stipulates that they are free, but way too many blacks are not free in principle; for a high percentage of black children go to rundown public schools that are inferior and that do an exceedingly poor job of educating them, in addition to being subject to a much higher percentage of arrest and unduly harassed by law enforcement officials, and far too many blacks own absolutely no land property, whatsoever.

The principle of the Emancipation Proclamation was correct, and the principle of the 13th-15th Constitutional Amendments was also correct, but this government did not and still does not do what they should have done at the beginning, which is that you cannot just free people that have nothing, without providing them with the substance and the wherewithal to become something, for blacks in this country which purports to be the land of the free, deserve a fair and equal opportunity which has never been provided, and these poor results indicate that generations later, their freedom has always been that false freedom of a system that too often perpetuates and sustains those that run this nation on the poor tired backs of those that deserve so much better.

School bus drivers

Many students that go to primary and secondary schools get there by boarding their respective school bus, of which the driver of that bus picks up all the students on their route and drops them off at school in the morning, and then in the afternoon, picks them up at school, and then drops them back off.  In order to be a school bus driver, the driver has to have a commercial driver's license, as well as a good record of driving, has to carefully pick up and drop off students, as well as to carefully navigate though neighborhoods, and somehow, that bus driver has to maintain order within the bus and not lose focus while driving the streets of that community.

Unlike school teachers, bus drivers are paid by the hour, in which, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as reported by chron.com indicates that bus drivers earned a "median annual salary of $32,660 in 2016."  Another factor to take into consideration is that when school bus drivers' drop off the students in the morning, they often have a rather lengthy unpaid break, before the afternoon run to return the students back to their homes.  For some of those drivers, that break is utilized as their own personal time, whereas others may double as a bus mechanic, or work janitorial at the school, or in the cafeteria, in which each of these jobs does compensate the school bus driver for those hours worked.

One might think, that in order to augment school bus driver's salaries and opportunities, that school districts would make it their policy to see that opportunities within the school, were structured in such a manner as to specifically try to accommodate school bus drivers in their employment and ability to make additional wages, especially to try to get them to the forty hour mark, and in particular taking in consideration that when schools are closed in the summer and on school holidays, that these school bus drivers are not being paid for work, since they are hourly employees and are not salaried.

While it is quite common for teachers to be unionized, there are far fewer school bus drivers that are, in which, being unionized would allow these drivers to negotiate better pay packages for a job that is both vital and necessary.  Additionally, healthcare packages should be designed for school bus drivers that accommodate drivers that are currently considered to be part time employees, because, through no fault of their own, they have not labored the required amount of hours to be designated as full time and therefore are denied fulltime benefits, even though they did their job, by driving the students to school, and then driving them back home.

We live in a visible and an invisible world, in which too often, those that perform tasks behind the scenes, such as cooks, janitors, maintenance people, and bus drivers, aren't recognized nor really properly appreciated for their human services so provided, yet they should be, for they are part of the overall organization that helps and benefits these students so that they can learn to be good valued citizens, themselves.

The sacred quest

As the world gets more educated, it has lost some of its sense of mystery, because as people know more about the laws of nature, and how nature works, they believe that such knowledge indicates that most everything that is knowable is tangible, or, if not tangible, can be successfully theorized about.  All of this has a very strong tendency to take away from some people a desire or a need for God, especially since the God that is so often as proselytize by others, seems judgmental, old fashion, and restrictive, in which, the absence of such, equates to more freedom with no eternal consequences.

In our life with our physical body, we have our five basic senses, which are sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, of which none of these attributes would seemingly allow us to find the immaterial God.  That is not surprising for these attributes are of our body and bodily senses are necessary in order to keep the body in good, working order.  We, though, are also actuated by our mind, which is not the same thing as our brain, for the mind is both inside and outside of our brain, but even for those, that see the brain and mind as being equivalent, the body cannot properly function without its mind, to oversee it all.

This mind, often sees the world through the body's eyes, and when we look around the objects that surround us, there is no one single object that we see, that simply is God, this then would imply that the God that we seek is hidden from us, and because God is hidden, for some people, there never is a quest made for God, because they cannot see or feel God, so thereby, they conclude that God therefore must not exist.  But, there are many things that we deal with every day, that are not visible, such as gravity, yet we are aware of it and recognize that gravity is real.

One of the reasons why God is hidden to us is that, like a treasure of immeasurable value, you do not leave such a treasure as that, out in the open, for just anybody to then grab and take; instead, you leave clues that devotees will surely recognize and thereby act upon.  In addition, within most, if not all of us, is a knowledge, that there is something that exists beyond us, that therefore compels us to search for it, and that is the most sacred quest of them all, for the search for God, a God that we are unable to simply just see, takes us beyond our five senses and thereby opens up a dimension, previously unexplored, and this undiscovered country, is everything.

A life that exists of a body, and of a mind, that will simply turn into dust, upon the body's demise, is truly a world of the cruelest dimensions, and cannot possibly be true, for it basically indicates that life has no meaning and has no purpose, for in that world, when the body dies, so does its dreams.  Rather, it is far better to recognize that the innate desire that all have for justice, fairness, and love, comes from knowing that these are our actual essence, and therefore it becomes our duty, to find the true source of such a desire, and to thereby make it our quest to find God, and those that sincerely do so, will find God, for God is already here, God is all around us, above us, and below us, for we all are part of the immortal God and always have been.

Occupational licensing and the protection of the status quo

While it obviously makes sense for medical doctors, attorneys, dentists, and many other professions to be licensed and regulated by State or Federal authorities, unfortunately, extending this sort of licensing requirement to all sorts of professions isn't good at all.  There are jobs such as florists, hair dressers, plumbers, and many, many other various professions that are required to be licensed or regulated by State authorities.  It would be one thing, indeed, if such licensing was setup along the lines of basically providing a State-sanctioned certificate that could be added to that worker's credentials, but rather, these regulations are deliberately written in a restrictive manner that precludes people working in a given profession unless they are licensed, no matter their skill-set and no matter their experience, unless they take and pass State mandated tests and coursework, they can't legally work.

Many people might think that all of this licensing and regulation is a good thing, because it assures the people utilizing such services of their safety, and indicates that these license holders are competent.  That may well be true, but often these regulations and license requirements have not been initiated at a grass roots level, that is, by the people, themselves, in an effort to do exactly that, so as to protect and to assure themselves of a minimal competency from these professionals, but rather these regulations and license requirements are typically instigated and initiated from the people already in that industry, as a way to raise the entry fee for others that wish to be a beautician or similar, and therefore as a barrier erected to preclude other people from creating additional competition in their given industry.   The reason that certain cosmetologists desire to see their profession regulated, is so that they can make more money by charging higher prices, which is basically because they have less competitors, because of these license regulations, fees, and time needed to commit to such.

In any profession, in which there is a monetary cost for entry, in addition to time commitments to be trained in such a profession, as well as educational requirements, than the more that these things cost in money and in time, the less people, overall, in general, that will apply and go through the entire exercise to get that professional degree, because they do not have access to the money needed, nor the time commitment requirement, nor are able to readily achieve the educational requirements.  While this makes logical sense for medical doctors and lawyers, that need to have high competency as a proper service to the general public, this is not really necessary for hair dressers or bartenders, or many other professions.

The upshot of all these licensing requirements, that cost money and time, in addition to some of them having  unnecessary restrictions that disqualifies people that do not have a Bachelor's degree or are not United States citizens or those convicted of crimes, is that the least amongst us, the people that are trying to be part of the American dream but lack a good educational background, money, connections, and a wealth of opportunities, are precluded from working at a profession that they may well be quite good at, simply because they don't have the money or time, and not because they are incompetent or incapable.  This type of exclusion is wrong, it often isn't even well meaning, but rather is done purposefully to protect those that have from those that want to have.

Good examples and harsh words

It is a very easy thing to tell someone what they should do, rather than having to worry about actually setting the example yourself, because setting the example yourself, actually requires that your words match your actions. That is to say, when you tell someone that they need to be more polite, or more generous, or not to curse, or to control their temper better, that is all fine and good, for these qualities in a person are good qualities to have, but those words will go a heck of a lot further when they come from someone that demonstrates consistently that they personify those very same attributes that they wish the other person to follow.

It simply isn't good enough to demand or instruct someone else how they can be better, if you are unable to exhibit those same qualities in yourself, for though the advice may be good, that advice is also hollow.  Now, it could be that the advice is presented in a way, in which one person says to the other, "please, don't drink, for I do, it has ruined my life and I can't seem to quit it," for at least there is pathos and honesty there, so that, the admission that is made from the one giving the advice is doing so from their personal experience, in which they have fallen victim to a particularly bad vice, and do not wish to see their error, compounded in another.  This then, is sound advice in which the person giving it, freely admits their weakness and tries to encourage someone else not to develop that same habit for the evident results are not desirable.

Then, there are those that consider themselves to be angels in disguise, and though there are indeed some that rightly fit this description, most people that believe this, really are not, so that their self-righteous way of instructing and correcting others, grates on another person's nerves, so that, almost out of rebellious spite, the other person that may not have been thinking about doing something that they know they really shouldn't, may find this somewhat more alluring, simply because a pompous ass is trying to instruct them otherwise.

The words that we speak are a valid and necessary form of communication, but words are not the only form of communication that we have, and those that do not understand that words and actions should actually align with each other, misunderstand this importance, because way too many people, actually know what is right, but somehow or other aren't able to actually do right, in which that failure and inconsistency is actually the visible story that is being told.

The fact that so many people know right and do wrong, indicates that proper character development is something that far too many people fall short of, in which, if there were more people that actually set a good example by living a good example, the overall result for society would be a vast improvement in character, because we are what we do and accomplish, and we learn best from those that have demonstrated such in a virtuous way, of which, apparently they are in rather short supply.

In my Father's house are many mansions

We read in Holy Scripture that "In my Father's house are many mansions…" (John 14:2) of which obviously this house with many mansions is nothing like a house on planet earth, for when we discard our earthly bodies, we become sprit, and spirit has no body, therefore this house of many mansions is actually a celestial house in which each spirit finds and gravitates to the mansion that matches well with their needs and the conditions of their spirit, so that the spirit can revive and revivify itself within a domain that encompasses all that spirit has need of.

On earth, too many people are completely identified with their body so that they think and believe that their body is all that will ever be, but everything physical, most definitely has a beginning and all beginnings most definitely have defined endings, so that the body is more appropriately seen as what it really is which is a vessel for our spirit, and therefore, if we are wise, we should concentrate on feeding correctly that which is eternal, rather than that which is temporal.

The mansion that awaits us matches to what we have or have not accomplished with our free will on this planet, for the spirit is not able to abide in rooms in which it has not yet achieved the growth needed to be in harmony with others in such rooms, of which lacking such harmony, that spirit must become what it should be in order to be able to dwell successfully in any of the mansions within God's great house, for in God, there is only perfection, all others that lack such, must become such, for untruth can never be truth, hate can never be love, and wrong can never be right.

The spirit is never punished, it isn't even precluded from all forms of movement and complete free will, what is happening, though, is that having not the full capacity, to be truth, love, and right, such a spirit is unable to access various parts of God's great house, for it has not the correct demonstrated mindset to accomplish such, and will not be able to make its entry, until that spirit is completely developed and completely in accord.

This earth is our proving ground, an opportunity to mold our body and our mind to perform deeds and actions on earth that are in conformance to the heavenly attributes of selflessness, generosity, kindness, and steadfastness, of which, the more that we accomplish such, the more doors of God's mansion are welcoming to us, for what we do, for a certainty matters, and who we really are, is clearly known by all.

What we pursue in this world creates the pathway of our actions, and those that take the time to develop and to utilize their true essence will progress, whereas those that do not, will regress, and the spirits that do regress, will when they leave their earthly body know it for a certainty, but even the least of these has a place in God's house, and will always have a mansion, for God deserts no spirit, and those closest to God, only leave God's good house as volunteers to become the prophets that wayward earthly incarnations need to emulate.

The importance of Black Freedom of movement

We live in a country in which, nowadays, one person can move quite readily from one city to another, from one State to another, and pretty much be able to freely get to where they want to go, only needing to have a vehicle, or have the capacity to pay for a bus or train ticket. However, there was a time, way before our interstate system of roads that interconnects all of the States together and thereby made vehicle transportation smooth and safe, in which, people, in order to get from the South to the North, had to walk it, or use river transportation, or a train, and in the era after the Civil War, for Blacks to simply get on a train and travel north was never that easy.

When the civil war ended, the vast majority of Blacks lived in the South, suffering through a situation in which though Constitution Amendments made them equal in the law's eyes, the actual law as applied to Blacks was segregated, discriminatory, restrictive, and wrong.  A Black man living in the South was most definitely employable, but only at the jobs that the white man wanted the Black man to work at, and only at pay rates and working conditions that satisfied those white men, so that, Blacks worked, but they worked in the same industry, doing the same sort of things, that they did before their emancipation, which was essentially farming land and being a servant, and any other employment besides those basic jobs, were not readily available for Blacks, and/or subject to an annual tax for such employment, of which the purpose of that tax was to preclude such employment.  Additionally, Blacks were often not able to freely travel, without expressed permission, and were subject to severe penalties for vagrancy, so that Blacks that could not prove that they were gainfully employed were effectively forced into plantation labor.  In all of these things, Blacks suffered through a system that was a lot like slavery, though not known by that name.

The migratory changes after the Civil war, and up until 1910, demonstrated that Blacks had not moved, for as reported by priceeconomics.com, " In 1910, 89% of African Americans lived in the South," but due to a confluence of many important factors that came together in a very short time, such as an economic depression in cotton prices, along with Northern industries going through a corresponding economic boom in which because of tensions in Europe and ultimately World War I, white immigration from Europe became limited, in addition to America's eventual entry into World War I, taking nearly five million men out of the private sector and being placed into the military, and finally with the labor unrest coming from the newfound power of labor unions, recruiters came down to the South to find, recruit, and take back to the Northern industrial States, able body Blacks at unprecedented rates, which became the very first wave of the Black great migration.

Were it not for Northern States deliberately "importing" Blacks from the south, and thereby, providing the foundation for more Blacks to follow suit as the years rolled by, in which the living and working conditions and pay in the North was fundamentally better, than the stifling suffering left back in the South; though it must be stated, laws, rules, justice, and fairness, were still prejudicial and discriminatory against Blacks in the North, then we would not have seen the real start of Blacks truly becoming someone and something within America, proper, which led to  the development of what would be, for the first time ever, the Black middle class.

The value of $100 depending upon who has it

People think that money means pretty much the same thing to everyone, but that isn't exactly true, for those that have a lot of money, spending money to them, is going to feel different than it will to someone that has little or nothing.  So too, for someone that has a lot of money, earning a little bit more money for them, is going to feel a whole lot different than someone that is barely making it, if that.

Take, for instance, a situation in which someone that is worth well over $100 million dollars, and on a blustery day, loses $100 that somehow falls from their hands and proceeds to blow far, far away, that person will not in any way, form, or manner, miss that $100, except in the sense that they might wonder where it went, but the material impact upon their wealth is negligible and not worth even a momentary thought.  That same $100 for someone that makes an average salary would probably be sorely missed, because $100 is, for example, the difference between having a really nice night out and having to stay in.  On the other hand, someone that is broke, or nearly broke, or really struggling, for that man to lose that $100 would be absolutely devastating, and they would search high and low to recover it.

So too, if you take a rich man and just hand him $100, it's questionable as to whether he would even take it, figuring that there must be strings attached, or it's some sort of setup, so he probably would just pass it by.  On the other hand, an average man would smile and take it, perhaps verifying first that it truly is a gift.  Then, for the very poor man, this $100 would represent for him, an opportunity to get some food, or clothes, or something of real value, and he would very much appreciate it and would thereby utilize it in a manner that would give him the greatest satisfaction.

In all these cases, it is the same $100, either received or taken, but the viewpoint and the effect of such is significantly magnified depending upon that person's financial status.  America is a very rich country of which, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics the median wage for all workers in the four quarter of 2017, for a 40-hour workweek, was $44,564 per year.  Obviously, depending upon the cost of living in the city that a given person resides in, as well as debts, health, and other assorted issues, this $44,564 may go quite far and may not go as far, but certainly, this number represents enough on a basic level, that all those people working should have sufficient food, shelter, and their preference of the accouterments that Americans like to have.

The thing is, America has as reported by census.gov, a grave situation in which "In 2016 there were 40.6 million people in poverty."  This signifies what people pretty much already know, that there is a huge disparity in wealth between the very rich and the very poor, of which, the sheer massive numbers of over 40 million people in America living in poverty in this the greatest and richest nation the world has ever known, is truly shameful. 

There are ways to rectify and for the government to assist and to aid those that are impoverished in which the obvious ones would be to tax the very rich far more, and especially to tax estates at a rate that reflects that dead people don't actually utilize money in the afterworld. Additionally, the government needs to make it a priority to provide direct aid, direct subsidies, direct money, direct housing, all that is necessary, so that everyone that labors a 40-hour workweek, receives, in effect, a living wage, and for those that will not and cannot labor, a true safety net that demonstrates the graciousness that the rich, and this government of the people, for the people, and by the people, at a minimum owe the poor.

Good and evil

Television, movies, books, schools, friends, and even philosophers often don't seem to fundamentally understand correctly good and evil.  Anyone that really believes, that good and evil are in a perpetual battle in which these forces are nearly equal, one against the other, is absolutely clueless, for evil could not exist, and does not exist, without good, thereby evil is not a power unto itself, but comes into play only as a free will corruption of good, nothing more, and nothing less.

The thing about life is that our free choices and our free decisions do matter, and that they therefore do make a material as well a spiritual difference in not only our own lives but the lives that are lived and experienced here on earth.  This means that each one of us by our behavior and by our actions affects this world, for good or for evil, for right or for wrong, for better or for worse.  So too, mankind's ingenuity can be used to make mankind's life appreciably better and it can also be used to make it appreciably worse, so the problem that mankind has, has little to do with the earth or our personalities being fundamentally flawed or evil, but everything to do with how we use our knowledge and the thinking that actuates and develops that knowledge that we so use.

The choices that we make create the world that we know, and choices made that are at odds to what our Creator represents, which is truth, justice, and love; than such wrong choices are in effect the personification and the bastardization of good, better known as evil, and the evil that we augment or manifest, is played out in the world at large, so the more efforts that are concentrated on being deceptive, unjust, and hateful, the more evil that is developed and spread throughout this world.

The end of evil, therefore, is completely within our own hands, for we are the ones that have created it within this domain, and to stop such, each individual to the best of their ability, needs to lead and conduct their lives in such a manner that their actions are good, and if all were to do exactly that, evil, would no longer exist, for the oxygen that feeds evil is in the breath of mankind, itself. This signifies that evil can never be eradicated by attempting to imprison it, or to kill it, or any other negative or restrictive action, that mankind has a tendency to gravitate to, as if war brings peace, for it does not.  The way that evil ends is to recognize that we are not infallible and that we are not gods in the first place, that, instead, as created beings, our first responsibility is to do right by our Creator, of which, we do that by emulating the perfection that God so does represent.

Evil, is the deliberate lack of true recognition and the cognizance of God, and the willful rebellion from God, as if by doing so, will somehow make those making such decisions, equivalent to a new sort of god.   That does not occur, and will never occur, for evil is never a new creation, it is instead the corruption of what has already been created, that will never become whole again until it returns to the Source of it all.

The small States of the Northeast and their Senate Power

There are fifty States in the union, but with our bicameral legislature, each individual State, no matter, how big, or no matter how small, are entitled to exactly two Senators in the Senate, whereas in the Congressional branch of legislature, the amount of representatives is population based, though, each State no matter how small, is still entitled to at least one congressional representative. 

The core of New England consists of these six States which are: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, of which four of those States, despite their very early admittance to the United States, rank amongst the ten smallest populated States in the nation.  Then, there are another five States, that are in the Northeastern portion of America, which are: New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, of which Delaware is also a State whose population ranks in the bottom ten of all States in America, so that, out of these eleven States, all located in the Northeastern part of America, five of these States are in the bottom ten in regards to population.

Not only is a significant portion of the Northeastern states small in population, but, the seven smallest States in land area of this union, are also in the Northeast.  This means, when it comes to the Senate, of our bicameral legislature, that small States in physical as well as population size have far more legislative power than other States in the union.  Further to the point, geography most definitely matters, so that, back in the era after World War II, and well into the sixties, when this country was liberalizing itself in regards to civil rights, the southern States united in delaying and precluding the ratification of such civil rights, because these States all had a common ground to defend, despite the injustice of what they were defending.

So too, whether good or bad, the northeastern States in their quantity, eleven out of fifty, which is 22% of the Senate, have a voice that often, though not always, represents the northeastern interests which may be at odds to the betterment and the good of the United States as a whole, for representatives of each State, have a tendency, to want to placate and to help their own geographical residents first, before the consideration of this country as a whole.

Keep in mind that Rhode Island, the tiniest State in the union, could fit into Texas, about 200 times, though each of these respective States, has exactly the same amount of United States Senators, two.  Though the bicameral legislature was made part of the Connecticut Compromise at the Constitutional convention, it clearly is undemocratic in its effect, as States with small populations have an outsized impact in regards to Senate legislative matters.  Further, the fact that Senators are elected to six year terms, as compared to Congressional terms of just two years, provides Senators with even more implicit power, for lobbyists of all sorts, prefer to work with the bird in hand, rather than having to re-introduce themselves to new congressional representatives that are vulnerable to not being re-elected every two years.

While there isn't necessarily anything wrong with each State having exactly two Senators, it is not a coincidence, that America did not create any more small continental States as it expanded out west, for those small  northeastern States, understood well that their continual outsized legislative power depended upon that very principle.

The Great Pyramid and the lesson it holds

Of the seven ancient wonders of the world, only one of these wonders, the Great Pyramid of Egypt, still stands, of which this amazing pyramid, was apparently built around 2584 BC, in a time in which the sophistication, brilliance, and mastery to construct such an incredible pyramid should not have been able to happen.  All sorts of theories about the building of the Great Pyramid have been put forth, of which, none of the conventional theories make sense for two basic reasons:  of which the first, is that the people of that day and age did not have the tools or knowhow that would necessitate even the attempt to build such a grand edifice, as well as the fact that the amount of laborers or slaves that would be necessitated to  tool, move, place, and secure these gargantuan blocks would have been a simply astounding number, of 10,000 or even more, all to build just one pyramid, in which apparently these laborers or slaves did so, without revolt.

The very first thing to realize is that great edifices of unheard of skill, knowhow, and insight, cannot be created, without those people being far more sophisticated and far more advanced that they are credited to have been.  The people that planned and thereby created the Great Pyramid are, no doubt, on virtually every level, not even surpassed by mankind, even of today, which signifies that they must have been far more adept, intelligent, and brilliant that they are given historical credit for.  For instance, the Great Pyramid of Egypt was the tallest manmade structure for nearly 4,000 years, and it also despite weather, earthquakes, fires, and any other natural disaster that could be conceived up, is still standing, though, of course, it has suffered some from the ravages of time, as well as the removal of the highly polished white limestone which once covered its outer surface.

In addition, the Great Pyramid as reported by ancient-code.com is "estimated to have around 2,300,000 stone blocks that weigh from 2 to 30 tons each," it is "precisely aligned with the Constellation of Orion," its "interior temperature is constant and equals the average temperature of the earth,", the "mortar used is of an unknown origin…" which "… is stronger than the stone and still holding up today." and further, it is "Aligned True North."    The list of amazing facts of the Great Pyramid can go on and on and on, of which, the only reasonable conclusion that an intelligent person can take from all of this, is that quite obviously the Egyptian population of that day was of far more sophistication and intelligence than they are given proper credit for,  especially considering that modern mankind is yet unable to figure out how it was that the Great Pyramid was actually really constructed and why, which signifies that mankind of today has fundamentally lost knowledge, that was once known by those ancient Egyptians.

Further to the point, in virtually any conventional rendering of how the Great Pyramid was built, the foundation that such a theory rests upon, is the inordinate amount of laborers needed to build such an awe inspiring pyramid, of which, many of these theories have designated those builders as slaves, whether literally or in principle, for these mass laborers are always depicted as nothing more than beasts of burden.  This would clearly indicate that mankind, today, has learned little or nothing of real history, for institutions built upon the backs and the unrequited toil of slaves will not only never stand through the ravages of time, but will be in their construction, fundamentally flawed or in error, for what the Great Pyramid represents is not and never has been, what forced labor can do for a King or Pharaoh, but rather that nothing is impossible for mankind, when mankind clearly recognizes that the earth and everything in it, is indeed their footstool, and thereupon puts forth the effort to demonstrate that by the greatest construction project of all time, unsurpassed by any other civilization, ever.

Healthcare and Education costs are breaking the backs of Americans

AEI.org has created a chart showing the USA price changes from 1996 to 2016 for selected consumer goods, of which, during that period of time the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 55%, but this increase of 55% was not uniform for all items, so that, things such as TVs, toys, software, and wireless services were appreciably cheaper and actually declined in price over that period of time, whereas items such as new cars, clothing, food and beverage, and housing, were almost in-line with the CPI, leaving only textbooks/college tuition and childcare/medical care as the outliers that far exceeded the corresponding CPI increase during that time span.  In fact, college tuition was up an incredible 197% and medical care was up 105% during that time period.

The fact that college tuition has risen so fast in such a short period of time, basically makes no logical sense, as never has there been so many choices for students in regards to how they wish to receive their higher education, be it online, a hybrid of online and classes on campus, all on campus, and for profit or non-profit colleges. Further,   never has there ever been so many students taking college curriculum, and never have there been so many colleges in existence, so economies of scale should also favor lower pricing or should help minimize any price increases.  It would seem that with the growth of online colleges and the sophistication, bandwidth, and capability of online augmentation for classes that colleges should in absolute terms certainly not be getting appreciably more expensive, but rather they should be getting appreciably less expensive. 

This increase in education cost has to be borne by someone, and that someone is the actual students being educated, in which, if not actually earning a diploma, especially a diploma of real merit, they are stuck with incredibly high student debt that cannot be discharged by personal bankruptcy, and can easily burden them for decades.  This raw deal for students is conversely a great deal for said colleges, that somehow or another, have been able to increase their tuition tremendously, despite the fact that many of these higher educational institutions, are non-profit are State run.  So too, this is a somewhat obvious reflection that most students have neither the maturity to recognize a poor financial deal when they enroll at a given college, or are financial inept at basic mathematics, or both.  In any event, nonprofits and State run campuses have never had it so good, and the students, educated or not, are much poorer for it.

In regards to medical expenses, as well as to medical care, in general, the United States should lead the world in its efficiency of such care, because it has the best medical schools and the best medical facilities in the world, and while one could make the argument that the best of these things, should cost more, in America, it costs so much more than any other comparable country in the world, that American healthcare from a western nation perspective, is clearly an outlier, in addition to the very disappointing news, that those receiving such healthcare in America, do not fare better than patients in comparable western nations, and typically fare worse. 

It is a major disappointment, that this near doubling in cost over the CPI over the last twenty years in medical care expenditures has not resulted in healthier and happier Americans, but instead, has meant that more savings and that more earnings of Americans are devoted to the behemoth healthcare industry, which, itself, benefits greatly, while Americans are left poorer and often sicker.

Bankruptcy

Hundreds of thousands of people file for bankruptcy in America, each year, in which as reported by consumerreports.org, 1,536,799 filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and as of 2016 that numbered had dropped considerably to 770,846, which while those numbers are still staggering, the fact that so much improvement has occurred over the last six years is rather remarkable.

The two most prominent reasons why people go bankrupt are medical expenses and job loss, in which, during the recent economic expansion, job security has been improved, and the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, no doubt, was a very strong contributing factor to less bankruptcy filings, because medical expenses are typically very expensive, not budgeted for, and non-discretionary.   The fact that the ACA provides subsidies for low-income tax payers along with providing coverage for pre-existing conditions, has undoubtedly helped to substantially reduce bankruptcy filings.

Still, the sheer numbers of people that choose to file bankruptcy each year, reflects that there are an incredible amount of people that have expenses that are so large and so unmanageable, that despite the fact that bankruptcy will not only cost them real money to file for and will effectively torpedo their credit rating for seven to ten years, depending upon the bankruptcy category that the file upon, they have little or no choice but to go ahead and do it anyway.

While bankruptcy will discharge debt, it will not discharge all debt, so that, by far, the most important debt categories to be discharge for nearly everyone is credit card debt and medical debt, whereas, the debt that cannot be discharged, unless under the most extraordinary circumstances is students loan debt, child support debt, and most tax debts, of which, these debts can be and often are extraordinarily high to begin with, yet American law will not discharge them from a given individual's responsibility.

This means that bankruptcy which is pictured by most as allowing individuals a fresh start, is in actuality for many people, not a complete discharge of all debt, and hence, not such a fresh start, after all, yet, hundreds of thousands of people file for bankruptcy each year, because their debt load is so high, and their ability to pay such debt appears well-nigh impossible, that  they determine that their only prudent choice is basically to discharge as much debt as possible, in order to start over, to the degree that they can.

The fact that each year that hundreds of thousands of Americans find themselves having to declare bankruptcy is a true reflection of how many Americans are actually living on the edge of financial solvency, if even that, in which, when anything bad happens, such as a job loss, or overtime reduction, or incarceration, or unanticipated medical expenses, or the lack of a reliable vehicle, or garnishments, or credit card penalties and interest, or rent increases, or divorce, or reduced or eliminated government benefits, or tax offsets, as well as all other unforeseen expenses,  places them into a hole so deep, that they cannot reasonably expect to recover from it.

This would indicate that the governmental safety net has massive holes in it, for the sheer quantities of numbers of actual bankruptcies, reflects that a significant portion of Americans, are getting sucked under each and every year, in this, the richest nation the world has ever known.

The deception of high school graduation rates

America has over recent years made great progress in seeing that more and more young adults graduate from high school, in which, as reported by npr.org, "The high school graduation rate in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 83 percent in the 2014-2015 school year."  Of course, digging beneath those impressive numbers lies some very disappointing news, in which as reported by theatlantic.com, ” The World Economic Forum ranks us 48th in math and science education," in addition to America scoring poorly in reading, and mathematics.  Further, the ACT reports that, "76 percent of our high-school graduates “were not adequately prepared academically for first-year college courses.”"

All of the above, indicates quite clearly, that gaming the system, so as to have more "graduates" might sound good on paper, but even a cursory review of the real facts of the matter demonstrates that far too many Americans are graduating with skill sets that are leaving them woefully unprepared for college curriculum, clearing suffering from not mastering the basic subjects of English, math, science, and reading at levels that clearly demonstrate a lack of competency.

While there probably are plenty of places to lay the blame for such a woeful performance of so many high school students, from the schools themselves, to the teachers, to the materials, to the students, to the parents, and so on and so forth, the answer, most definitely is not to paper over our lack of valid high school achievement, by disseminating to the public that high school graduation rates are increasing as if this actually means, more and more graduates of high schools are now better prepared for college and have more competency than previous years, but rather the truth of the matter is that our graduates are, and especially shown via other countries, falling further and further behind.

This would indicate that whatever steps that have been taken to rectified our pathetic high school performance and to ameliorate our poor high school learning, have not been resolved and are not close to being resolved.  If, this national government, in conjunction with State governments, finds some sort of purpose in simply graduating students from high school who have demonstrated via national standardized testing standards that they are not competent, so be it, but that simply means, in effect, that those that have graduated high school, and are now looking for employment, or some sort of college entry, will instead be tested by those organizations on their own terms, to help those institutions to more easily determine the actual competency and readiness of those so applying or their lack thereof.

In point of fact, a nationalized standardized test law, for those graduating high school, must be passed, in which this law, stipulates that all high school graduates, need to pass this test, in order to receive a document, that states that they have mastered and passed the High School Qualification Completion test.  This test, will for all practical purposes, supersede any document that simply states that somebody is a High School graduate, as the successful passing of the High School Qualification Completion test will be demonstrative proof that such has indeed achieved education competency on core subjects.  Those passing ACT tests or SAT tests at a certain score level, would, as a matter of course, by default, earn the High School Qualification Completion certificate without having to take the test, by virtue of their successful scores on those nationalized tests.

There isn't any good point, in having a school structure, where everybody graduates, without actually having a meaningful standard to graduate to, at least with a High School Qualification Completion test, students, their teachers, and the school infrastructure, would now have a valid target to work towards, rather than simply passing students for essentially showing up and being able to spell their own names.

Low GDP and wage growth for Americans

The last time that yearly GDP growth in America was at least 5% was in 1998, and the last time that yearly GDP growth in America was at least 7% was in 1983, yet countries such as Ireland, Iceland, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and Ireland are all able to grow their GDP at the rate of 5% or better.  Further, taking a look at United States household income, advisorperspectives.com reports that real income growth for the top quintile from the period beginning in 1967 was 91.0%, but was just 33.0% for the middle quintile, and the fourth and fifth quintiles were both under 30.0%.  Additionally, real household income for the fourth and fifth quintiles peaked in the years 2000 and 1999, respectively, and since that time their incomes have declined in inflation-adjusted dollars.

All of this indicates, what most people are fairly familiar with, that the rich have been getting a lot richer, and the poor have been falling further and further behind, not to mention that our great middle class of America, has been weakened considerably especially in stark comparison to the first quintile growth of household income.  These trends which have been in place for fifty years will continue until such time as real tax reform is enacted that rather than under taxing capital gains as well as other investment gains, taxes them appropriately.  Our convoluted tax code is purposely structured in a way, that the privileged are afforded special advantages of tax code loop holes that are simply not available for the common class.  This means the rich are able to get richer significantly because investment income is taxed considerably less than wage income while also being tax protected for long periods of time by simply following a buy and hold strategy which isn't tax at all, whereas those subject to primarily making their money from wages, are accountable to tax codes that they cannot escape from.

So too, when money is held in fewer and fewer hands, economies begin to stagnate or have their growth slowed considerably because very rich people spend only a fraction of their money that has been "earned", preferring instead to grow their retained earnings in passive investments such as in equity and bond markets, or similar, while also making sure that such investments are as tax protected or tax savvy as possible, so that their principle will not be negatively impacted.  So that, you get the dual combination, of tax revenues on a per capita basis, being suppressed because very rich people are very good at tax minimization and tax avoidance, along also with massive amounts of money and assets growing for the people that already have more than enough, and therefore aren't going to spend it, but rather are going to invest it, or save it, though, some of it is invested in the American economy to help it grow.

On the other hand, those in the lower income quintiles, spend a much higher percentage of their money that they earn, primarily because they need things like clothes, medicine, food, and other basic necessities and desires in order to live a proper life.  So that, the growth of a nation, comes down to not only the money that is earned and made, but also the velocity of that money, and people that have less money to begin with, spend and utilize it at a much greater rate, which equates to higher velocity of such money, and thereby to higher GDP growth rates.

The low GDP growth rate and the low wage growth rate for those in the middle and lower quintiles, reflects that this country clearly favors the rich in its tax policies and opportunities, and unfairly burdens the middle and lower classes by making them pay full value for the services that they need and utilize in order to live, while providing them with reduced hope, little fairness, and less opportunity to ever get out from under.

Smart devils

Never have so many in so many countries been as highly educated as appears in our world today.  However, as in many things in life, education itself can be and is a dual-edge sword, for way too often, education is separated from ethics and morals, or if ethics and morals are addressed, they are addressed in a manner that does not shed true light upon these necessary virtues and their immeasurable value.

From a state and business perspective, there are obvious advantages in employing people that do not have a moral code that would preclude them from performing their job duties, no matter what paths those duties might take them. This is most unfortunate, because mankind has advanced itself so far, that it presently has the capability through its machines and devices so created, to literally eviscerate the entire world in the span of less than twenty-four hours, with the only caveat precluding this from happening, being the restraint that some men have in not performing such actions.

While it certainly makes sense that we want intelligent and brilliant citizens, if those of the highest intellect are incapable of good discernment, or much worse, deliberately want to use their intelligence in order to aggrandize powers onto themselves as well as others of like mind, that thereby circumvents rational and moral laws, all for the purpose that does not take into account the long term consequences or even short term consequences of their actions, this will indeed create a hell on earth.

In point of fact, when mankind's brilliance gets ahead of its moral code, nothing good can come from it.  For instance, the development of the atomic bomb is one of those things, and whether such a development by America was exclusively done in response and fear of the German state or not, has its relevancy, but the upshot of such a successful development over an incredibly short amount of time, led to the bombing of Japanese civilians and the deliberate killing of over 100,000 humans that died directly through this bombing, and approximately the same amount that were severely injured, along with the suffering of the aftereffects of exposure to high radiation levels, yet those that developed this awesome atomic power had no vote as to its usage, for that was taken from them.

This means, that when people develop sophisticated killing weapons directly or the tools that will allow such weapons to be manufactured, that their participation, no matter what happens, is relevant and that these people have a responsibility for the ultimate usage of such, for it is inexcusable to stipulate with a straight face that "they have washed their hands of it all," when it was their hands and their mind that contributed greatly to the danger so created.

There are far too many people, that don't truly look or contemplate the ramifications of what they do and accomplish, which is bad enough, but then there are also people and organizations that deliberately encourage and pay well for things to be created for the sole purpose of doing great harm, or to accomplish these very things themselves, because they are driven for power or riches and believe that "by any means necessary" is the appropriate pathway to follow.  These smart devils are a real menace, for those that have no moral code or deliberately circumvent such a code, can wreak incredible havoc, and destroy and imprison massive amounts of mankind, but cannot accomplish such, without the necessary contributions of others, that are smart, but haven't bother to personally hold themselves accountable for what their talents end up actually doing.

"There comes a time when silence is a form of betrayal"

The above quote comes from the organization entitled "Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam", of which this sentiment was utilized most strikingly by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his speech of April 4, 1967, entitled "Beyond Vietnam" delivered in New York City.  Though, Dr. King's speech specifically addressed the unjustness of the Vietnam war, such a call that silence can certainly be a form of betrayal is as true today as it was during the time of the Vietnam war, especially in a country, that insists it has the right to intervene with military force, along with economic sanctions, and additionally with political machinations inside sovereign countries, and as much as possible, does so under the cover of "national security," has fully betrayed its own nation and what this nation truly represents through its Declaration of Independence, its Constitution, and a country of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The lofty words of justice and liberty for all, mean nothing, if such does not exist for wide swaths of Americans, that live under the conditions of a police state, as well as often being segregated into impoverished sections of American cities, are ill educated, are denied job opportunities, and are unfairly persecuted by draconian drug laws, enacted to criminalize behavior that primarily is self inflicted, of which, a just country would see to it that the conditions that create this sort of environment was addressed first, before incarcerating so many essentially for the joint crime of being poor and making poor lifestyle choices.

So too, middle America, too often has been fooled into believing the rot that this is their country, right or wrong, when, in fact, they should be quite concerned about what this country does rightly or wrongly here and abroad, and should be up in arms, when this country consistently does the wrong things, because  such wrong, can only be corrected by doing right, for every wrong act, must be rectified by the right act, for this is the very nature of justice in the first place, and when such a country has a laundry list of wrong actions performed over decades and decades of systemic induced wrong, than the people of this country should tremble to their very knees, with the understanding, that justice will not slumber forever, and that such justice, when awoken, will come upon them with the fury of a mighty cleansing river.

The reason that evil prevails so often is not because evil is powerful, though it may well be, and not because evil is so prevalent, though it may well be, but mainly because too many good men do not have the courage to take a stand and to therefore confront evil at its source, to call evil for what it is, and to make their voices heard so as to lead others to the cause in order to effect real, lasting, and meaningful change.  

America through and through does not now live up to its calling to be a country of justice equally applied, nor does it provide liberty for all, and it does not permit its people the free and unencumbered pursuit of happiness, but rather instead it has morphed into a country that says one thing, and does a very different thing, of which, fundamentally, way too often, its actions are akin to those: "…that call evil good, and good evil;…" (Isaiah 5:20), of which silence is not the appropriate response to such a betrayal of those that "… gave the last full measure of devotion," to their country, in order that such a country would actually live up to living the creed that all men are created equal, and are thereby equally entitled to justice and liberty.

Opium blowback

The misuse of opium and its derivatives, medicinal drugs, illegal drugs of all sorts, and alcohol, has destroyed the lives of so many in cities and communities throughout America and other western nations.  Quite obviously, the reason that such misuse of drugs has created such havoc is the pernicious addicting nature that many of these drugs have, though under good medical supervision, some of these may be necessary for particular patients under particular circumstances, they are often over-prescribed, overused, and ultimately debilitating in their long term consequences. 

The fact that there is such a plentitude of these drugs, illegal or legal, that are readily available in abundance, indicates that the manufacturers and distributors of these drugs, whether illegal or legal in their status, are benefiting monetarily from the sales and distribution of such, while the recipients of these drugs, of whom, no doubt, some of these drugs are necessary for their pain management, or stress relief, or other legitimate uses; obscures the most salient fact, that these drugs are too often abused by people that have no or little legitimate reason to utilize them in the first place, enticed by them because they enjoy the euphoric effect they get from these drugs or for other similar reasons, yet they partially or wholly discount their addictive properties and the harm that will ultimately be done to body and mind.

Incredibly, back in the 19th century, when Great Britain was the greatest economic power in the world, they somehow made the conscious decision, in order to balance their trade with China, to essentially export opium, manufactured within their English colony of India, to China, in lieu of paying for Chinese exports such as tea, silk, and porcelain with actual valued coinage such as silver, which England very well knew the value of, replacing that instead with opium.  As might be expected, China was none to please to receive opium in return, as it was against imperial policy, but bribed imperial officials allowed opium to become imported as well as the fact that China did not have the military infrastructure to preclude England from demanding or persuading such to have their way.

Still, the importation of opium and its devastating effects upon the Chinese population, did necessitate an armed and determined response by the Chinese, to defend their homeland and to protect their people, of which, in both opium wars of the 19th century, China was defeated, which lead to their ports being opened to foreign traders as well as Hong Kong being annexed to Great Britain.  While this worked out rather well for Great Britain and other western nations, times indeed have changed, and China, today, is no longer the footstool of western powers.

Additionally, today's China is a major powerhouse of chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing, both legally and illegally, whether sanctioned or unsanctioned, and exports its production, wittingly or not, of these synthetic drugs to western nations, so that people within these nations are subject to the powerful synthetic opioid, known as fentanyl, and the even more potent substances such as carfentanil, amongst many others.  China is incredibly gifted in the creation of all sorts of synthetic chemical manufacturing, in which, these substances are rather small and even minute in size, but powerful in their ill effects upon the human body.  The importation of these substances are incredibly lucrative to those distributing them within western nations, so that bribing the appropriate officials is commonplace, creating the situation of dependent opioid users in western nations, suffering from the ill effects of such an addiction, not wholly unexpected, as a vibrant form of opium blowback.

This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private

When you take a look at your one dollar bill, it doesn't actually say "dollar bill" it actually says "one dollar" and further at the top of the bill, it literally states: "Federal Reserve Note", so the one dollar bill should really be known as the one dollar note.  Additionally, on the front or obverse of the dollar it states: "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private."  This wording is the exact same wording that is placed on all the denominations of Federal Reserve Notes, so obviously, quite clearly, all businesses and all transactions in America, must accept physical dollar notes as an acceptable form of payment for debts so incurred, but in actuality, that isn't really true.

For instance, on airplanes nowadays, most airlines do not accept cash whatsoever, and therefore the payment for a drink or other items must be made by a debit or credit card.  Then there are a small percentage of restaurants and other businesses that do not as a matter of their business policy, accept any cash, whatsoever, and this they make clear to their patrons before business is transacted.  In addition, there are establishments, such as gas stations, that accept dollar notes, but only up to the denomination of $20, and will not accept any notes, such as $50 or higher.  All of these transactions which limit or don't permit the usage of dollar notes, would appear to be against the law, especially since the dollar denominated note makes the statement that it is "legal tender for all debts, public and private."

The thing is that case law has already been established that private businesses, people, and organizations are free to set the stipulations of what they will or won't accept as a matter of their policy as an acceptable form of payment for those services, in which, consumers of such, must accept these terms or else conduct their business somewhere else.  This would appear to be discriminatory especially against those that do not have ready access to debit cards, credit cards, checks, or other instruments other than cash, but nevertheless, as long as such a policy does not violate the monetary laws within that State, there are no Federal laws that compels such a business or individual to actually accept cash as a form of payment.

This then sets up a very interesting situation in which cash may not really be king, and could, under certain circumstances, be of worth that is far less than face value, for when businesses and people already have the option to not accept cash as a form of legitimate payment, it doesn't take any real stretch of imagination to recognize that those that only have cash, or preferred to just utilize cash, are placed into the rather unfavorable situation in which they must trade or deal with their cash in such a manner that in order to conduct business their cash is subsequently discounted in value to obtain a substitute for cash that is readily accepted by businesses.  This means that the trading of cash for other forms of payment would be somewhat akin to money laundering, even though cash is actual legal tender, nevertheless, when it is no longer remains the preferred method of payment, its value must drop.

Stock manipulation and capital investment

In order for companies to continue to grow as well as to maintain and sustain profits, monies must be allocated to capital investment and improvement, or such a company risks falling behind competitors in regards to innovation, improvements, reliability and relevance.  However, upper management of publically held corporations have a very powerful vested interest in wanting to have their cake and eat it, because their pay, especially their stock options, and bonuses are frequently related to the overall stock price performance, so that, for many of these executives, the price of the stock and how to "goose" it or get it to perform better than the aggregate stock price average, becomes their primary focus.

The two most prominent means to prop up and to increase a stock price, excepting improved fundamentals, are stock repurchases and dividend hikes.  In regards to stock repurchases, the stock price to earnings ratio or P/E, reflects the earnings of the company via its current share price relative to its per-share earnings, so that when shares are repurchased by the parent company and hence retired, than the overall shares being held by the public has correspondingly fallen, signifying that with less shares in public hands, that the earnings per share, has increased, in which, the P/E ratio is one of those very important matrix points, that investors and pundits rely upon in evaluating the worth of a given company.  In regards to dividends, these are scheduled cash payments provided to the stockholders of record, of which, just for the loyalty of owning these shares, stockholders are rewarded with cash dividends for such a holding, which, all things being equal, are very important for those stockholders as receiving dividends are a real and present return of one's investment in the stock to begin with.

The foregoing might seem to be okay, in fact, studies have consistently shown that companies that participate in stock repurchases as well as increasing their dividend payments, year after year, have outperformed the market as a whole, and if the game is simply to see a given stock outperform such averages, it is rather obvious, that stock repurchase and dividend increases are clearly the things to do. However, there is one very important caveat, which is that stock repurchases are taking real capital from the corporation and utilizing that money not to invest in the company, but rather to allocate that cash to purchase and to retire some of its public shares.  So too, cash dividend payments are taking real cash from the company, and again rather than investing it in capital improvements, or R&D, distributing these monies to shareholders.

This then means, that when it comes to stock repurchases and dividend payments, a conscious decision has been made by the executive branch in conjunction with the Board of Directors, as to where and how to allocate monies made by that corporation, of which, most of those executives have a vested interest in seeing that decisions are made that will secure to them their lucrative bonuses, so that their mindset especially favors stock buybacks and to a lesser extent, dividend increases, as opposed to other viable and reasonable avenues.  So then, when capital investment is consistently short changed, and when the salaries for regular employees are unduly suppressed, favoring instead stock buybacks, executive bonuses, and cash dividends, than wealth becomes more concentrated, and labor productivity and its return eventually weakened, because of the lack of prudent and necessary capital re-investment.