"The evil that men do lives after them"

The above quotation comes from Shakespeare's great tragedy: "Julius Caesar", of which, most scholars interpret this as meaning that the evil that men have done are more often remembered, than their good deeds, which, often seems to be true.  The reason that this is true, though, has a lot to do with mankind, in general, of which, mankind often has difficulty in controlling their own weak passions of jealously and envy, so that, they take a certain perverse pleasure in seeing people that are held in high esteem, knocked down a few notches, so that therefore this makes them feel a little bit better about themselves, in comparison to them, and this is exactly why gossip is so prevalent in society, for the same basic reasons.

There is, however, another perspective that is important to take account of, in regards to the departed having left this world and their evil living on, and that is the fact that there are certain deeds and actions done, which can have consequences that go far beyond the present, so as to thereby reach into the future.  That is to say, if you cheat, lie, and steal from people, yet, you seemingly have not suffered any punishment for having done so, the perception by others, may be to overlook these flaws as even being flaws, because of the other good qualities that you have. So that, having seen that you have cheated and stolen from others, they will have a tendency to copy those things, for self-serving reasons, in their belief, that since it apparently worked for you, then it will apparently work for them.

Every time that a public or a private figure that is of importance to you, does something that clearly is wrong, the perception of how you look upon that wrong, will make a material difference, as to whether or not it will be potentially perpetuated by yourself.  In other words, all of us make mistakes, but those that are in influential positions, have an incumbent responsibility to own up to their mistakes and when they are dismissive of them, or excuse them, or ignore them, it is not any wonder, that other people will emulate those same sorts of mistakes, because they figure that if it's okay for them to do this, therefore it must follow, it's okay for us, to do the same sort of thing.

In point of fact, the lives we lead are complicated, and if we are unable to fully see the whole of another, though our prism of who and what they really are, and of what they aspire to be, than our interpretation of them may easily be flawed.  This type of distorted vision, when combined with the lack of proper discernment, allows far too many people, to dismiss the good and righteousness qualities that a given person has, and instead, to pick up or to emphasize their evil habits and bad dispositions, under the guise, that all of this must be okay, because it apparently worked for them, so that the evil lives on in us, for our failure to comprehend that evil can only live on, if we allow it to live and to fester inside of us.

Countries get rich by exporting, not importing

The world has gotten appreciably smaller over the last few generations, and not only that, the trade barriers that separate countries from doing business with one another, has been relaxed or replaced with more or less the free interchange of goods from one country to another.  This does help explain why inflation has been so low over the last decade in advanced economies such as the United States, Japan, and Germany, so that despite the fact that many consumers have had stagnated wages, their purchasing power for the goods so purchased has remained strong.

As you might expect, however, whether you are a net exporter or a net importer of goods does make a material difference to that country, along with the salient fact as to what actual goods are being imported or exported.  For instance, the exportation of vital raw materials in pretty much their natural state is not going to be nearly as lucrative, as taking those raw materials and actually developing products from the usage of those materials; so that raw materials such as rubber or sugar, which while producing income from the exporting of these products, are in total, going to be far less valuable, than producing things that use rubber such as tires, or food items that use sugar such as processed foods of all sorts.

Further to the point, real money is not generated out of thin air, despite the financial shenanigans of national banks or national sponsored banks the world over, for the more goods that any given country imports, signifies the outflow of monies or its equivalency from that country to the exporter, whereas the exporter of those goods will be receiving the inflow of monies or its equivalency from that country to their people.  Those countries that are net exporters, especially of manufactured goods which take those initial raw materials that make up such a good, and by combining these with other necessary materials, processing, intellectual ingenuity, as well as their manufacturing efficiencies are able to add value to their products which thereby profits those companies so that, real wealth and value is created for those exporters, in comparison to those that import these things, of which these importers are paying the price for their lack of efficiencies as well as their inability to manufacture such at the same cost point.

This so indicates that those that are able to export manufactured products that are difficult or impossible to replicate by other countries on their own shores, are not only far more profitable and rich for having done so, but have a huge leg up on those countries that have developed a market for those products but do not have the capacity to manufacture them. 

Quite logically, countries get rich by exporting products, because the exportation of products, allows those countries to deliberately produce the products that are most profitable and unique for them, and to thereby sell them to countries throughout the world that need to utilize them, whereas those that import these products, have to spend money to receive such, and if they run a deficit in so doing, are compelled to borrow money to do so, in addition to paying the cost of such borrowing, which leaves them poorer, and far more exploitable.

The rich and their taxes

The rich like to portray themselves as paying far too much in federal taxes, of which they demonstrate this by surveys, based on IRS data, such as presented by the taxfoundation.org, in which the Top 5% of taxpayers in 2015, based on their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) as reported by the IRS, had a 36.07% share of the Total Adjusted Gross Income, but actually paid 59.58% share of that Total Adjusted Gross Income, clearly indicating that they pay their taxes at a far higher percentage rate than those with a lower AGI.  However, keep in mind, that the federal personal tax system is a progressive tax system, in which, the more that you make, the higher the percentage that you will owe in taxes per the various income tiers, so in actuality, the above statistics are only proving what they are meant to prove, that the rich pay a higher percentage of federal taxes because of the progressive income tax.

What we don't hear nearly often enough, at least by certain media outlets, is more about all those taxes or tax codes that favor the rich at the expense of the poor, along with how the tax code is setup to favor certain asset classes at the expense of other asset classes.  For instance, the most egregious example of the favoritism that the rich get over those that make a decent wage salary and above, is the Social Security tax, of which this tax, as of 2018, necessitates that each employee making a wage, has 6.2% of their earnings taken from their paycheck and diverted to their Social Security account, with the exception of all those that have income exceeding $128,700, at which time when passing that wage threshold, that percentage of 6.2% actually drops to zero.  This so indicates, that those earning more than $128,700 do not have any additional Social Security tax taken out, of which regaining 6.2% of one's paycheck, is a very large number.

Further, there are lots of flat taxes, or regressive taxes, that are equally applied to rich and poor, such as taxes for groceries in some States, fuel taxes for oil, property taxes, cigarette and alcohol taxes, cable and cell phone taxes, water and sewer taxes, toll taxes, and so on, of which each of these taxes are set at certain percentage that are fixed for each individual, of which, the poor pay the same percentage as the rich, effectively making those taxes of far more impact upon those people that earn less money.

Additionally, and of massive importance, not all income or asset appreciation is captured by a given taxpayer's AGI, of which, the most glaring example of something that is not captured, unless sold, is capital gains, of which the prime examples of a capital gain, would be the appreciation in value in one's home or in one's stock and bond portfolio.  In both of these cases, the individual taxpayer does not need to pay capital gains on assets that appreciate in value, if they do not sell those assets.  In other words, if you bought shares of Apple, and it appreciated 1000% since your original purchase, but you have not sold any of those shares, you do not owe anything in taxes, though your assets have appreciated considerably by owning that stock.  Also, for those that do sell and have long term capital gains, unless your AGI is above $425,801, your long term capital gain federal tax rate is just 15%, whereas for those that earn their money through their paychecks, anything above $38,700 in that fiscal year for individuals is taxed at the 22% rate.

In summary, while the rich will complain about paying their fair taxes or more than fair taxes to the IRS, the truth of the matter is, growth of assets that are not classified as being part of a given individual's AGI, are not taxed at all, and the very, very rich are very, very good at doing just that.

Parents, children, punishment, danger, and social media activity

Parents deal with insubordination and wrong behavior with their children in a lot of different ways, of which, the one that clearly has fallen out of favor in modern times is to send the child to their room as a form of isolation and therefore punishment.  The problem with that strategy and why that hasn't worked in quite a while is that is exactly where way too many children spend all of their time, anyway.  The thing is when children are in their room, they aren't actually isolated, because of the internet, social media, and their cell phone, of which, many of them actually prefer to be in their room, to begin with.

This means that today's method of punishing a child, is taking away the privileges of having internet access, cell phone usage, and social media posting, of which, so many children when they do not have these things readily available to them, feel that they are Luddites, in some way, form, or manner.  Whether that resolves the problem behavior as a form of punishment, is debatable, but it just seems really strange that children, when being punished, aren't sent to their rooms anymore, but are compelled, instead, to come out of them and to maybe go outside and play.

It would seem that parents as a matter of course, should not only have set aside time to have a family meal at dinnertime, in which each person talks a little bit about their day, but they also need to have some time set aside, in which everybody puts up their phones and other distracting devices so that a conversation can ensue between everybody, because if a family really isn't interacting between one another, then that family isn't growing closer together, in fact, they are separating from one another, and not behaving as a cohesive whole.

In addition, though the outside world is still a potentially very dangerous place, that danger is typically no longer initiated outside the home, but rather that danger is often started first within the house because of the internet which enables youngsters to be in touch with just about any character throughout the entire world as well as within their own community, of which, those that want to exploit or to take advantage of children have never had it so good, because they can easily impersonate or be whomever that they want to be in order to lure a child out into the public for their bad intent.

It never has been easy being a parent or a child, and today's hi-technology world has made it even more challenging, of which, part of that challenge is for everyone to spend less time with their devices of all sorts and to spend more time with each other, actually engaged in real conversations about real and meaningful things, because, it is way too easy for children to step into their own world, of which they are no longer forthcoming with their parents about what is really going on, but instead, having tuned out their parents and replaced such with their internet friends, of which, some of these are very bad people with very bad intent, indeed.

The right segregation

The word, segregation, has very strong negative connotations associated with it, with some justification, because segregation as practiced within America, has typically been the enforced separation of certain elements of society from mainstream or the power brokers of such a society, and in furtherance of supporting that established mainstream to the detriment of those so segregated.  So that, in short, segregation has meant injustice, unfairness, and discrimination, all of which are inimical to what America is supposed to stand for.

However, segregation on a voluntary basis and when done right has its place.  So that, those of the Jewish faith, have historically been persecuted in virtually every country of this world for centuries, but by grouping together, and helping one another, they have been able to not only survive, but also to thrive, under circumstances that have often been very trying.  So too, other religious groups, such as the Amish, in which their peculiar lifestyle, which is part and parcel of their belief system, simply could not exist unless they owned their own land, were grouped together, and separated from secular society.  This is also true, for those that create places such as Korea-town, or Chinatown, and so on and so forth.

All of these are people have voluntarily segregated themselves and/or have created businesses that specifically are structured as being beneficial to their own beliefs, or to their own people, and while certainly they live within society at large, their highest priorities are actually taking care of their own within their own insular-like society. 

The reality is, that when the government makes it a point to integrate people, that historically have not been integrated, with new laws set aside to do so, that the principle and purpose behind the laws, though, well meaning, may not translate to actually benefiting those so integrated.  That is to say, the advantage of conducting business and having societal infrastructures that are specifically set forth for your own people, is that there is more trust and more cohesion within that group, because the people that are part of it, know each other.  Further to the point, the dollars being spent, rather than going to large corporate entities that has no real footprint within the community, are spent and circulated within that community, which is also a material benefit for that community.

In America, there are all sorts of types of power, of which, one of the biggest is economic power, in which, minorities of all stripes, typically, though, not always, earn less for the most obvious reason, of them, being on the short end of the stick, historically.  However, the numbers of any given minority, in aggregate is a very large number, a number large enough to have economic impact in its own right, so that, those that make it their point, to take their money earned, and to thereby, as much as possible, spend and then to circulate that money within their own community and with their own people, foremost, will make a positive material impact upon that community and their people, and will negatively impact those businesses that are use to seeing that money first spent with them, perhaps therefore, helping to initiate change within those conglomerate structures. 

This so signifies, that segregation of purpose, can and does help strengthen communities, of which, in America, money talks, and how and where you spend your money, matters.

Anger and your lack of power

People get angry for all sorts of reasons, of which, sometimes that anger is absolutely justified and other times it really is not.  Additionally, just because your anger is justified, does not mean that you can simply fly off the handle, for that would often be considered an overreaction, but instead, it is important to keep your anger in perspective, and if possible, to try to understand what triggered that anger and why.

For instance, anger can often be activated by having your self-will denied by someone else that has authority over you, or various other reasons in which you know that retaliation is either not an option, or isn't going to work in that situation.  You also can get angry, when people don't behave in a manner that you desire for them to behave, especially when you feel that they should listen to you or that they owe you the right behavior but are not behaving correctly towards you.  Additionally, you get angry, for being denied, fairness and justness that, clearly, even when you have subsequently calmed down, really was unfair and unjust.

In many instances, in many different ways, anger is a reaction to being placed within a situation in which you do not have the power to overcome or to change what is angering you, so that if you are driving, on a one-lane road and the person in front of you, is driving like Miss Daisy, you may easily feel the anger well up inside of you, especially when you can see nothing but open blacktop in front of her vehicle.  So too, when you drop something of value such as your cell phone onto the cement and the screen cracks, you will get angry, at yourself for dropping it, at the expense of fixing it, and the frustration of something bad happening, that you can't undo.

In many ways, to get angry, isn't really the problem, for those people that never get angry, are either saints in some sense or another, or so absolutely passive or withdrawn in their demeanor, that they aren't really here in the now.  The problem with anger, is then, more times than not, the inability to temper that anger with the knowledge that you really don't have the power at that time and space, to do anything about the situation that has upset you, so that, the best thing to do is to somehow, place these things into their appropriate perspective, so that understanding that the power to change what is frustrating you is actually not yours, to then make a determination to try to deal with the situation in a way that recognizes that, which should help to keep you calmer.

Nobody likes it when their will is denied, but it's important to recognize, that in any civilization, that your will is just one will amongst all the others that are part of that civilization, so that, everybody in one form of another, is having their will denied, from time-to-time, just as you are, which signifies, that the best way to deal with this, is to acknowledge that you cannot always get your way.  Then, in recognition of this, understand well, also, that you are not all powerful, which means that frustration and anger will occur within your life, in which, your desire should be not necessarily to never get angry, but to demonstrate that you are the master of your anger, by placing such anger into its proper perspective, for to become exceedingly angry about something that you cannot change, does nothing to resolve it, so then, you are better off, just recognizing, that this too, will pass.

Knowledge and your own undoing

Knowledge is most definitely a form of power, so that the more knowledge that you do have, the more potential power is actually in your hands.  This means that as in anything that you do, those that are responsible, and utilize their power responsibility are doing right by having that power, and those that do not, are either doing wrong by having that power or are not as cognizant as they should be about the impact of the power that they do have.  While, it can be said, that the knowledge is yours to do with whatever that you so desire to do with it, especially in consideration that you applied yourself hard to acquire and to develop that knowledge, it also has to be said, that the consequences of the misuse of such knowledge is also your responsibility. 

That is to say, that to take the position, that all is fair in the way that you apply your knowledge, as long as you don't violate or seem to violate any manmade laws, this is almost for a certainty, going to be decision, that will be regretted, for having not properly understood the responsibility that comes with such knowledge, and such power.

For instance, there are people that are quite gifted at math or physics or any of the scientific arts in a manner in which when these people align with institutions that see the value of the knowledge that these individuals possess as well as these institutions having access to money, research, and the very latest equipment, in addition to having other very knowledgeable staff within those departments, great discoveries and breakthroughs can and will occur. 

The thing is, not every discovery or breakthrough is even on a cursory level, for the benefit of mankind, but rather some of these discoveries and breakthroughs are most definitely not for the betterment of mankind, though the narrative of such may be spun in a manner to try to give the illusion that they are.  Then again, some corporations do make it rather obvious, that they are simply about the money, and whatever increases profit and/or growth, means more money for those in control, or more prestige, or more power, or more stockholder value, and so on, so that the lust for money and its equivalencies seldom lines up well with good ethical principles.

So, those with great knowledge, have the capability of helping to invent great medical equipment that will save and extend the quality of human life, as well as having the same sort of capability, that builds instruments that are extremely effective and lethal in the taking of human life.  Those two things, are obviously not the same, and while people, in general, can make all sorts of justifications about just about anything, the thing is, when you are the brain behind weapons that are more effective at killing people, at best, you are serving your country in a time of need, and at worse, you are contributing to the indiscriminate killing of human life.

The fact that you have really good knowledge, and especially that specialized knowledge, makes you exceeding well versed in a particular area that most people are wholly or mainly ignorant about. This knowledge, though, should not be looked upon as yours to do with any way that you so desire, without taking into account the consequences for others. Those that are irresponsible with their knowledge are quite adept at making excuses and justifications, but all this does not preclude that knowledge misused creates its own destruction and your ultimate undoing.

Extreme Poverty in America

America is the world's richest country as demonstrated by its having the world's largest monetary assets in aggregate, as well as the highest GDP in aggregate.  You might think this would mean, that in such a country such as America, which has actually created a social welfare net of long standing, that nobody lives in extreme poverty, of which extreme poverty is defined as living under $2.00 a day, yet as reported by the washingtonpost.com, "One and a half million American households live in extreme poverty today, nearly twice as many as 20 years ago."

The thing about poverty in America, is that this country has historically ignored the most poor and vulnerable in this country, by simply pretending that they don't exist, so that, it was a Danish immigrant, named Jacob Riis, who took the photographs in 1888 of the conditions as they were in the slum tenements of New York City, which would subsequently be published in his seminal book "How the Other Half Lives," that shocked the conscience of ordinary Americans.  Yet, the more things change, the more that they stay the same, for when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Americans professed to being shocked at the extreme poverty of those living in the Lower Ninth Ward, flooded out from their homes, and thereby exposed to America at large, demonstrating through those visuals the extent of how many were impoverished at stunningly high levels.

None of this, should even be possible in America, for if America cannot take care of its most vulnerable and exposed people in the present age, when it is at the peak of its powers, then it will be so much worst for those on the losing side of income and opportunity, when those powers begin to wane, as they inevitably will. 

The most disappointing aspect of extreme poverty is that it really should not be a shock or even surprising to anyone with even a scintilla of common sense, that it exists, for if you make it public policy, that it is just fine to have failing schools which do not teach anything of substance to its students, with blatant discrimination and social inequality being part and parcel of the way certain segments of the population are and have been historically dealt with, in addition to placing the poorest of the poor into unsafe, vulnerable and decaying residential areas, much more prone to natural disasters and crime, with an inherent lack of resources within the neighborhood that will provide fair and good employment opportunities, then the ultimate result will only be poverty and hopelessness.

If, America and its citizens, really cared about poverty in America, and especially extreme poverty in America, than they would make it public policy, once and for all, to really utilize the wealth of resources that it has at its disposal, effectively and with dedicated purpose, so as to actually go about correcting the foundation and the structure of this cycle of poverty that is systemic and will not go away by itself.  That is the challenge that a country as great as America should really want to rise up and confront, so it could prove to itself as well as the world, that this is truly a great nation, of which, to date, in so many ways, it isn't, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable masses of Americans that have been left behind, abandoned, forgotten, ignored, and forsaken.

Life isn't fair or is it?

It almost goes without saying that life is not fair, for even the most cursory look in just our own neighborhood, let alone the world, will demonstrate to us that some people are better looking, are more intelligent, have a more secure family life, have more material goods, are connected to the right people, and so on and so forth.  Life in this world most definitely is not fair, with massive disparities of opportunities and circumstances, with some countries and communities being cesspools of human lives wasted and abused, with luck or fate also seeming to play a meaningful part in a lot of lives, so that, things, in general, just seem to be sort of seriously messed up.

This would seem to signify that if life is unfair, and it most definitely is, that life, then, to a certain extent, is just one sick joke, especially for those that are on the receiving end of the shorter end of the stick. Then again, perhaps we should define what it is that we mean by life, for if we mean, this life, one time, on earth, and there is nothing beyond this earth, than for a certainty, life is unfair.  However, how if this conception is incorrect?  How if we live more than one life, and how if life really represents how we are able to adapt to our situations so that those that are more caring and giving as compared to those that are more selfish and greedy, end up with a result that is more beneficial to their true essence, which is their soul.

The only possible way that life on earth makes any sort of sense, is that, if earth represents a proving ground, of who and what we really are in action, so that, each of us is given our own role to play, and those that are positive contributors to their fellow sojourners with their incarnation, are those that are proving their merit and their worth in action, whereas those that stumble by being mean and hateful, demonstrate their worthlessness and their meritless in action.

This then demonstrates that this world and our lives upon it, not only has real meaning, but also that it is fair, as it should be, for all else, would prove that life has no meaning and no real purpose.  This so indicates that for those that are at least somewhat conscious that there is a life beyond this dimension and beyond this world, must take it upon themselves to conduct their thoughts, actions, and deeds in such a manner that they do right by their fellow mankind, in addition, to sharing such wisdom with others, so that they do not remain in the darkness of ignorance and despair.

The choice as to what each of us does with our time on earth, is our own, for we truly are free agents of free will, but it is vital to recognize that, unlike in human interactions, in which we can get over on another, or fool another, or be fooled, that there is no fooling the ultimate Judge of our lives, so that, for every wrong that we do, this must be met by the right that we should have done, for all is fair, equally applied, and rightly judged, for it could not be any other way.

The real purpose of all religion

The real purpose of all religion, and of our religious faith, is to search for God and in that search to discover the real truth of our existence.  This means to the extent that any religion helps to provide a true pathway for that search, the more valid that religion is, for it is staying focused on its most authentic mission, which is its very purpose for existence, and the more that it veers from this path, the more that it meanders away from truth.

This doesn't mean that religion, religious services, and our religious thoughts should always necessarily be exclusively about finding God and truth, and that this therefore should supersede everything else in our life, including our own actions and deeds. Rather, in actuality, what we do and how we interrelate with others, most definitely is a reflection of who and what we really are, so that, those that are truly searching for God and truth, will not do so with a sword in their hand, but will have instead those requisite qualities of love, patience, hope, courage, and steadfastness.

While religion represents many things to many people, a significant part of religion and religious instruction must be to focus on its actual purpose, which is finding God and through that understanding of God, truth.  This means that most of the bells and whistles, along with forms and formulas that structured religion consists of, probably is not the most important aspect of religion, and when done to the extreme, can be damaging, especially when such is distilled into an us vs. others mentality, which seeds divisions between different groups of people that ostensibly believe in the exact, same God.

The fact is that there is only one God, and that God, by definition, must be immutable, eternal, omniscience, and omnipotent, and any religion that does not have those characteristics for God, are not worshipping the God, but some sort of substitute or lesser god, which is a significant flaw within that religion's philosophy.   Additionally, all those that are absolutely dogmatic that there is only one way to worship God and it has to be this way and no other, seem to be missing and discounting the reality of human diversity and human cultures, and focusing too much on mankind's arbitrary rules and regulations, which are always superseded by the spiritual truth of what God truly represents.

The main purpose of religion and religious instruction is to find the one true God, and from this God, you will know the truth.  This means that anything that brings us closer to God, is also bringing us closer to truth, and anything, no matter how well intentioned that takes us away from God, is also taking us away from the truth.

So too, the God that we search for, is not exclusively within the domain of religious edifices, though these may help, or religious authorities, though these may be of assistance, or religious doctrine, though these have their place, but it is contained within each of our own beings, for every one of us, was created by the very same essence, which is God, so that, in order to find God and truth, that search is within ourselves, and to the extent that others can help us with that search, we should welcome that, for our devoted purpose for being religious is to find God and to know the Truth.

Social media is Big Brother

People are social to begin with, and those that gravitate to all sorts of social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, do so as a matter of course of staying in touch with family and friends, amongst other things, such as news, and whatever else piques their interest.  In addition, younger people, in general are far less circumspect in how public they are in discussing their lives, in regards to what they post and comment upon, for younger people are typically far more fearless than those that are older, of which, to advertisers and collectors of data, younger people are exceptionally valuable, especially if they can be marketed to, directly or indirectly.

It would be one thing, if social media platforms, were really about what they claim to be about, which is a way to disseminate information in real time to actual friends and family, and the posting of pictures and events that are of meaning to those so posting as well as the recipients of that information.  But, that isn't really what they are about, for companies such as Facebook have a market capitalization of $500 billion, this, for a company, that only went public on May 18, 2012.  Facebook makes the majority of its revenue from the advertising that is done through their website, in particular, by advertisers that are specifically directing their ads to users that fit not only within their target demographics, based on their likes and other assorted pertinent information gleaned from millions of Facebook users, but also they are able to utilize the Facebook platform to sale and to target specifically to those users, and that is of immense value to them.

In point of fact, many of these social media platforms make it their policy to keep track of every click on every ad done on that platform, along with their location you are at when doing so, they track you every post, your every picture, your every friend, everything that you "liked", everything that you "tagged", and all of your personal information about your age, sex, and name, and really just about everything, forever.  All of this information gathered about you, tells pretty much everything that an advertiser could ever want from a possible consumer, for when they know your age, when they have your background, when they know what you do and don't like, and so on, knowing all of that information, allows them to mold their ads to appeal to you, and specifically to people like you, because advertisers are in the business of getting business.

It would be one thing, if all your social media information that is being gathered, was really done so under your control and under your expressed and fully comprehended permission, and it is another thing when it is under the control of the social media website and therefore it is their material to do with whatever it is they so desire to do with it.  Further, social media websites speak in doublespeak, so that they try to give the impression that they don't sell your individual data, and they don't do this, and they don't do that, but really, the structure of these platforms, with their third party apps, and the ease of usage and the collection of all this data, is the perfect storm, so that, when everything is collected about you, and then they say that they aren't really watching you, or that they are guarding and protecting your identity, it begs the question, as to why is all this information for years upon years, on every single click, is being stored about you, forever.

Truth and untruth

We hear all sorts of talk about "fake news", as if somehow this is some new phenomena, but news has always been faked or manipulated or propagandized by those that want to control the narrative, whether they are the ones in power, or the ones trying to obtain that power, or those that have their own agenda that they are promoting.  The fact of the matter is that in matters, large and small, we are surrounded by people and organizations that deliberately lie, try to manipulate us, and try to deceive us.  In fact, the bottom line is that truth is a commodity that is almost always in short supply, whereas trying to fool and cheat someone under the false pretenses of being honest and objective seems to always be in high supply.

The only real good thing about all the recent press about fake news, is that perhaps it has awoken some people or some organizations, of which they need to be far less credulous and far more investigative about things that are spoken and written about, for the lies and untruths keeping on coming, and with all the technology that is available to people and organizations, today, it has never been easier to take on the aura of truth, and the appearance of truth, whereas in actuality, fundamentally in essence, so many are not about truth.

The reason why people and organizations want to try to make it appear that they are telling the truth is that those that believe in the narrative being so spun, are far easier to lead into the places of which those propagating the stories want them to go, and the more bodies or market share that you have of those that have bought what you have been selling, the more power that you have; so that, for those that believe that what they have been told is the truth, they are always going to be far more willing to go further in whatever direction that truth so directs them, mainly because truth and righteousness pretty much go together.

On the other hand, somewhat ironically, those that are peddling untruths, are quite aware of those that know the truth, and these people present a clear and present danger to them, because the more transparent real truth is and the more it is freely available to all, and especially to those that are of influence, the bigger the problem for those that do not disseminate truth.   That is to say, when the narrative is no longer controlled or has fallen out of the control of those telling lies, which has now been thoroughly exposed as such to the public, than the blowback to them can be catastrophic.

This so indicates that corrupt organizations, whether they be the government, corporations, media companies, and all those that work closely with them do not want those that are listening to them, or obeying them, to ever really dig beneath the surface, but that is exactly what needs to be done in order to set things right, for untruth cannot handle the disinfectant of pure sunlight, for that removes the dross of falsehood, and what is left, if there is anything left, is the truth.

Honor, respect, courtesy, and dignity

There are plenty of things that cost money in America, and then there are plenty of things that don't cost us a thing in monetary terms, but do cost us a bit of our time and consideration, in actually being conscious that the world does not revolve just around ourselves and just around our priorities, but that there is a necessary interplay between each one of us to others, which provides us with a real opportunity for harmony and fairness to be part of our living experience.

That is to say, for instance, there are going to be times in our lives, when we will see someone that will beg for money, of which, a lot of times, we just wish we weren't in that situation, because it make us feel rather uncomfortable, but it really shouldn't, especially since the apparent embarrassment and the shame isn't coming from us, but from the other person.  In those types of situations if you determine that you will donate some change, a few words, or a few dollars, the most important part of the transaction isn't about the money, though that seems to be what is being asked for, but actually the eye contact and the courtesy that the giver is expressing to the receiver, so that if you give money to someone, in a dismissive manner, as if they are an annoyance or unclean to you, that is not the same, as giving money in a respectful fashion, engaging the other person in a way, in which you express that you care for them as a fellow human being, recognizing that though you do not know their personal situation, that in the big picture of possibilities that could be you, so if the circumstances were different, and that was you, you would still want to have your self-respect, and the acknowledgement from others that you are an individual of worth.

Each one of us has value, yet, some of us, suffer from mental instability, dysfunctional family situations, impaired mental capacities, abusive personal situations, habitual illicit drug usage or drinking problems, of which, the consequences of these things, have a strong tendency to  make people that have decent qualities into something far less than what they could be.  So too, bad breaks, can break a person's spirit, and in order to get any of those good human qualities back,  or to the forefront, the most secure way to do so, is not necessarily to throw money at the problem, because that, more often than not, is just a band-aid, but to recognize that these unfortunate individuals, are deserving of receiving respect, and of being treated with the common courtesy that each of us should display to the other, that they indeed are valid human beings, of which their hurt, is being displayed to us in the most obvious way.

The more that we raise our eyes from our concerns and from our own little world, and recognize that this world encompasses a whole variety of people, of which some of these people, are in a rather bad and vulnerable place, it is our obligation to do our part, to let them know that we care for them, which we demonstrate in our actions and our demeanor to those that really are essentially seeking for some honor, for some respect, for some courtesy, of which these things together will do their part in restoring their innate dignity.

Persistence and concentration

There are plenty of people that have good ideas, as well as plenty of people that seem to comprehend those ideas, but, in fact, they often don't have both of those things working in synergy.  It simply isn't good enough to have an idea, if you are not willing to take that idea and fully envision it, by actually doing the constructive things that are necessitated by that idea, rather than moving on to the next idea, and then the next idea, and so on.

When you have a really good idea, you should actually right then and there, begin to sketch it out into a broad outline and then, have the persistence to subsequently take that outline and to thereby properly study and to define it.  If you don't do those things, you will not really know how good that idea really is, for without having investigated it further, your idea simply doesn't have enough background or traction behind it, and if you fail to stay on top of that idea, it will soon, like many a good idea, just sort of fade away.

The thing is, for an idea to actually be worked into something of substance, not only will it probably require the valued input of other people, it is also going to have to be viewed from every conceivable angle, both positive and negative, of which that learning process, will probably in and of itself, determine whether that idea has enough merit to really consider it further. In order for that to occur though, you have to concentrate fully on just that one idea, and can't allow your idea to get crowded out by all the other things that can and will divert you from the proper attention that you need to provide for that one idea.

It isn't so much that our minds are so simple, that we can only take in one idea at a time, for that isn't it, instead it has everything to do with recognizing that ideas in this present day and age, necessitate a very vigorous examination, and further that this idea is provided the opportunity and the space to clearly meld into the mind, so as to be as completely comprehended, before testing it in action.

Those that have good ideas that come into their mind, must understand, that without actual specifics, and without a diligent and dedicated study of that idea, that the idea, no matter how beautiful it may have appeared to them at first sight, simply has not been studied long enough, with persistence, and with focused concentration, for it to be really known that this idea, actually has true value.

If that idea is not able to capture the mind, fully, then perhaps it wasn't such a great idea to begin with, or perhaps the fault lies in the inability to get that mind fully around that idea and to study it in a way that does that idea, justice.  The idea needs to be known in a manner in which, it has been studied from multiple angles, investigated, researched, and been vetted, then, active steps must be taken to make that idea happen, for if that is not done, then the idea will probably just vanish.

Honor and dishonor

There are plenty of people that are honored and respected just for the uniform that they wear, and there are plenty of people that are dishonored because of their slovenly appearance or because they take positions that are unpopular at that time.  The thing is though, honor and dishonor, can be viewed entirely differently depending upon the prism of your viewpoint.

For instance, in today's America, those that are uniformed soldiers, are for the most part, both well respected and honored by their fellow Americans, whereas, if we turn back the clock to the very late 1960s and through the early 1970s, soldiers returning from Vietnam, were subject to being spat upon, and even were considered to be baby killers, in which, the dishonor that some of these veterans received was intense enough, that they did not wish to be seen in uniform, and of which, those that dishonored these returning men in uniform, did so, for the most part, without really knowing that individual soldier, but out of their disgust for the Vietnam war.

So then, to a very large extent, the uniforms that those that serve their country wear, whether that be the police or military personnel, can be at particular times and circumstances, subject to honor as well as dishonor, primarily not because of those individuals and what they may or may not have done, but as a judgment upon those wearing such uniforms at a certain point of history, depending upon how the wind is blowing, which is subject to the narrative so being told by public media, social media, and the protest machines, so generated.

All of the above would imply that rather than honor and dishonor, being something that is fixed for all time, it, does, in fact, change, depending upon the times, so that, great political leaders, can at one time have streets, cities, towns, and statues built with their name prominently displayed, as a very visual display of honor for them, and then at a later time, be subjected to their names being removed from such, as well as their statue being taken down in the darkness of night, or to suffer varying degrees of continuous disrespect.

This means that the accolades and hosannas that we have heard to honor our heroes, should not necessarily be considered to be true and faithful, but merely outward signs, that are subject to being replaced within even a very short period of time, perhaps by the very same people or similar, turning those cheers into jeers, boos, graffiti, and the throwing of debris.   

The upshot is that real honor or dishonor cannot truly come from the mass of society, for they often do not know enough to appropriately judge a given situation, fully and completely, so too, sincere honor or dishonor will not come from those that are in the know, for they have their own agenda to deal with, and are prone to use symbols for that agenda in a manner that solely benefits them, so then, the only lasting true honor or dishonor for any given individual can only come from a place that is not corrupted by this world, and it is from this that honor so designated has been rightfully earned. 

The highest use of capital

Most corporate executives, when asked the question as to what the highest use of their company's capital should be, would probably answer that their biggest responsibility is in increasing shareholder return, and therefore they need to concentrate on increasing quarterly profits for those shareholders, which will thereby increase the value and market capitalization of the company through a higher stock price.  That sort of answer actually makes a certain sort of sense, but consider this answer instead, "The highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money do more for the betterment of life."

The above quote, surprisingly, comes from a man considered to be as good as industrialist as any in the annals of American history, whose name is still well known and celebrated, even a century later, who didn't just talk the part, but lived the part, by the way he innovated his product line and became the man known to us as, Henry Ford.  What, Henry Ford did, was revolutionary, he took the car, which previously had primarily been manufactured for the rich and well positioned, and decided to make it his mission to build a car for the great multitude, knowing that the only way to reach the price point that would enable such a car to be affordable to them was to simplify the design using modern engineering, so therefore he had hire the best personnel that he could find, so as to make the car more reliable, which lead to moving assembly line, and by combining all of these things as reported by entrepreneur.com, "In 1920, Ford sold 1.25 million Model T’s. Compared to 1909, a price reduction of 63 percent," thereby indeed making his cars affordable for the great multitude.

While there are some entrepreneurs that do follow the Henry Ford model, they are vastly outnumbered by those that follow exactly the opposite sentiment, which is not that the highest use of capital is ultimately to be used for the service and the betterment of life for all Americans, but rather that the highest use of capital is ultimately to be used for the service and betterment of life for the very, very few Americans, most notably the upper executive management of these modern mega-corporations, as well as doing whatever can be done to keep the stock price up, by increasing profits by any means so necessary.

The objective of too many of today's executives is simply put, making as much money as they can and for that money to serve them, as well as to keep the shareholders happy by boosting the stock price, in which to achieve such is driven simply by the bottom line, so then, they find it relatively easy to lay off employees, cut costs, reduce R&D, off source jobs and materials to foreign countries so as to reduce costs further, create shell companies to avoid paying corporate taxes in full, negotiate tax subsidies from cities, lobby for  special privileges and immunities from governmental and regulatory agencies, and so on and so forth.

If, the highest usage of capital is to simply make money for those in the catbird seat, and not to serve mankind as a whole, or to better life as a whole, than the ultimate result is that a very few will have a lot more, and most will have in aggregate a lot less, so that the disparity between those that have and those that have not will widen so much, that this becomes a country of a small elite of the very, very rich, a middle class that is being squeezed in every which way, and a massive and permanent underclass that will not and cannot ever get ahead.

The fear of college educated parents and the draft

The United States, despite its vast military numbers, has not had to avail itself of an actual draft, or conscription since 1973, and if it was to bring back the draft, especially a draft with little or few deferment categories, because it was no longer able to find enough volunteers for its service, the protests by those subjected to being called up, in addition to their parents would be at absolutely vociferous levels, previously unprecedented, which is probably why this would be the very last resort of the United States government.

There is a tendency to believe that those subjected to a draft, such as the young men, that were drafted into the Vietnam war would be the biggest protestors of such an unwelcomed re-introduction of a draft, and quite obviously, they pretty much would be, however, unlike the parents of those that are being drafted, young men, are far more tolerant of risk than older adults, and hence, far more susceptible to actually fulfilling their obligation to serve. 

On the other hand, there is a group of Americans, that are very well educated,  sometimes designated as the intelligentsia, of which these people, having children,  to a very high degree, are totally against their children being drafted in any way, form, or manner, and would not under any circumstances, subject their children to even the possibility of being drafted, which is a significant reason, why drafts, have almost always had exemptions for certain people, such as those that are college students, graduate students, along with certain civilian occupations that excludes such as, for example, doctors, dentists, proprietors of businesses essential to the community,  scientists, engineers, and so forth. 

The most obvious reason as to why the intelligentsia, as well as a very high percentage of all those that are college educated do not want their children to be subjected to a draft, is the fact that these people, even when involved in professions that may directly or indirectly benefit from war activities, know comprehensively, that their children are not born, then nurtured, developed, and educated, so as to become subsequently human fodder for the state by their sacrifice, but that rather their children are meant to be the beneficiaries of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for these special young adults cannot and should not have to risk their own lives, for they were are meant for higher things.

These well educated parents would not and could not allow their children to be drafted, because, quite clearly their construct of the world, see their children as being better, especially in comparison to all those other common children, and that therefore in regards to things such as war, it is for those others to be brave and to possibly die, as well as for those others to make sacrifices as necessary, rather than their children, for their children are special, and should not be subjected to something as primitive and as dangerous as war.

So that, when thinking about equality in America as well as social stratification, you need not look any further, than analyzing who is and who is not conscripted in a time of war, to understand, that those that are drafted have no power, and those that are not drafted, have it all.

$20 Billion for Space exploration yet millions of people live in deep poverty

America is the richest nation the world has ever known but it consistently has its priorities all messed up, for instance, it devotes $20 billion annually for space exploration, which includes spending inordinate sums of that money for a plan to send astronauts to Mars, sometime around the 2030s. The United States doesn't need to go to Mars, it doesn't need to and shouldn't fund any missions to Mars, and it has already spent billions upon billions of dollars on space exploration that simply isn't necessary.

If Mars or the Moon, or space exploration is so important to certain people in America, let those people with non-governmental money, make such an exploration, as opposed to taking billions upon billions of dollars, year after year, that could be spent as an aid and as a service to real human beings that have a need right here in America, on planet earth.  The problem with space exploration is the same basic problem that you have in the misallocation of resources when they aren't required, necessary, mandatory, or even really desirable.

There isn't any good point in sending astronauts to Mars, if millions of citizens of this great nation, cannot get themselves a good paying job, a square meal, affordable healthcare, adequate education, or decent housing, for the reality of the situation is that there isn't anything on Mars worth getting, just as there wasn't a thing on Moon worth getting, seeing, or investigating.

The thing about space exploration in general, is that it is primarily a sideshow, for basically it is an avenue for scientists and engineers that are very intelligent and skilled to prove how mankind can actually accomplish something that takes extraordinary effort, deep thinking and persistence in order to successfully achieve such, but the mission itself, typically doesn't have any real value in the present time and doesn't have any real value in the future.

What would be valuable, for all these government bureaucrats and all these esteemed scientists and engineers with PhDs to do is to actually come up with a sustainable plan that will take care of their fellow citizens in a manner in which, each and everyone in this country, can actually have the basic necessities that a country with the highest amount of millionaires, with the highest amount of billionaires, with the highest amount of net assets, and with the highest amount of GDP on a yearly basis, should be able to easily afford and accomplish.  Because if the United States of America with its trillions upon trillions of dollars in assets can't get it done now, and they haven't gotten it done since the Great Society was promulgated by President Johnson in 1964, when will it ever get done?

There isn't any good reason why space exploration should be supported by the taxpayer's dollars, nor is there any good point in a lot of other stupid, unnecessary programs that this government gets involved with.  What is especially galling about the space program is its basic premise is that somehow our future lies in outer space, whereas the reality of it is, if America cannot get its own house in order on planet earth, and it has not, every dollar spent on space exploration, is really just another stiff boot being applied against the prone necks of the common people of America, all in support of the military-industrial complex and the scientific-technological elite.

What the Cross really means

The reality of Jesus the Christ being crucified on a Roman cross is embedded into virtually all Christian minds.  Yet, somehow too, the cross is the most prominent symbol that other faiths recognize about those that are Christians.  It does seem strange that the cross, of which Jesus was cruelly crucified upon, would be the symbol, that is voluntarily represented and even venerated by those that are Christian, for not only is that highly unusual, for someone to represent their faith with the instrument of their chosen one's ignoble death, it doesn't seem to make any logical sense, especially since early Christians were first identified by the symbol of a fish,  in addition to their being other symbols that would seem much more appropriate such as, for instance, a dove.

The thing about the cross is that this symbol, rather than being seen as a symbol of a shameful death and defeat, has been manifested into the transformation and the resurrection of the overcoming of physical death with His glorious rebirth beyond all such limitations.  This means that the cross is now represented as our call to take those things that hold us back from being all that we could be, such as our anger, hate, impatience,  intolerance, and selfishness and crucifying these wrongful attributes that inhibit us from being what we should be such as loving, peacemakers, patient, tolerant, and considerate.

The cross then is the symbol to kill off and to defeat the very things that impede us and thereby to transform ourselves and to become what we should become and what we need to become in order to clearly be a new person in Christ.  For it isn't good enough to claim that one is a Christian, if fundamentally we have changed nothing within our own persona, for to truly take up the cross of Christ, necessitates replacing and defeating all the sins of our life and thereby resurrecting ourselves as a new person, in which our deeds and our actions, represent well the principles of the Christian religion.

This doesn't mean that we are not Christian, for failing to correct all of our faults, for it is in the trying and our determination that we make progress into becoming what a real Christian is all about, for the cross is exceedingly heavy, and the burden of past mistakes and wrong mindsets are not easily replaced, but having made up our minds to put our hand to the plow, it is thereby incumbent upon us to plow then a straight line, rebuking our former errors and deceits, and overcoming these things with right actions and steadfastness.

The cross is the crucible, and all those that take up this symbol, must then fulfill their mission for being, by overcoming the bad character traits that have held them back from being all that they should be, so that, the point of the cross is to recognize that none have a right to the crown, without having done their part to defeat all those vices that are inimical to the Christian belief, both personally as well as in providing our aid and assistance to our fellow brothers and sisters, for we are all One in Christ.

Fools and facing God, alone

While there are some people that don't believe in God, their non-belief does not and cannot change the fact that God is our Creator.  Then there are plenty of others that believe in God, but their conception of God is flawed and thereby isn't correct, for the attribute the wrong characteristics to God, and then the corresponding wrong beliefs.   So too, there are others that have the basic conception right about God, though somewhat flawed and flayed at the edges, but their conception and belief are basically in accordance with God and His laws.  Finally, there are those that implicitly know God, though not many, these are the true prophets, gurus, and mentors of our present day.

There are many people that pray to God, on a given day, some by rote, some half-heartedly, some at meals, and some with real vim and vigor.  Some believe that God only exists within certain edifices, or by adhering to certain words, incantations, procedures, and behaviors. So too, there are a special few that pray continuously to God in the sense that God is foremost in their heart, in which their thinking and actions reflects this ever present connection. 

In any event, unlike human interaction, the presence of God in any one individual's life, in which God appears so real as to be a living and breathing entity, of which, we are able to thereby absorb into ourselves his Being so completely that we are enveloped by God, and are thereby able to comprehend what is being spoken to us in non-verbalized words that touch our heart and soul are infrequent to say the least, of which most people never experience on earth this closeness by God.

However, keep in mind, that when we pray, we are implicitly asking for God's presence in our life, so then it shouldn't be completely unexpected if God did actually appear to us.  You might think, though, that all that pray for God, would be overjoyed when God came within their presence, but in actuality when you recognize that you will be facing the Creator of the universe, alone, and that God knows absolutely everything about you, good and bad, your self-confidence will undoubtedly wane to a highly alarming degree, for it is one thing to theorize about God, and it is another thing entirely to actually face God, knowing that in so many ways, big and small, that you have in your words and in your actions, failed completely in your life to be loving, truthful, and just.

On the other hand, people that are incapable of self-reflection, or fools, don't fear God and are thereby eager to face God, and will therefore welcome God with open arms, only to find out to their utter dismay that they will feel  strongly compelled to suddenly drop to their knees and to place their head, face down, and will shut their mouths as well as silence their tongue, for when faced with the overwhelming power and truth that is God,  they are fully exposed for who and what they really are, of being an abject failure, a pretender, and a fraud.

God is truth, love, and justice, and if you are not all three of those things in everything that you do, all of the time, your shame will be immense and your tears will seemingly never end.