Not enough qualified candidates to fulfill jobs

We read in media accounts of all sorts that in certain professions and industries that certain employers are finding it extremely difficult or even impossible to find qualified candidates to fulfill open jobs.  In many situations, these employers are utilizing experienced workers that have previously retired in order to stem somewhat their shortfall.  It would be one thing if that shortfall was because there weren't enough PhD candidates, or other highly educated post secondary graduates, available for these jobs, but in actuality, the United States has the strongest university system in the world, and churns out graduate after graduate each and every year.  Instead, the problem seems to basically be that there is way too much of disconnect between post secondary education or even trade schools and the whole educational process and purpose.

While there are a lot of absolutely valid reasons to attend a university, one of the most salient ones, is to actually find employment in the profession that the graduate has gotten their degree in, or a close approximation to it.  Clearly, based on the situation in which there are an incredible amount of people working at low-end or dead end jobs that have graduate degrees, while on the other hand, there are a fair amount of jobs, that simply can't be filled, because the qualifications and the experience as necessary are not in existence, indicates that the haphazard way that too many people go about their education and their trade school admission, is clearly dysfunctional.

In point of fact, there are a lot of problems with the way that people are educated and trained for professions in this country, of which, fundamentally the very biggest problem is that education should as often as possible, be combined with hands on training in a real world environment that is germane to the subject or major so being taught.  That is to say, an Art major should have an internship or apprenticeship with a business or industry that has something to do with Art.  So too, someone that desires to be an electrician should be training under an experience electrician in the real world, while receiving their trade education, and so on and so forth.

That is to say, while it's understandable that a student might take a job serving tables at a restaurant, or driving a car for Uber; but if that type of work has little or nothing to do with what they are applying themselves to achieve in life, it would be far better if their time was spent in the real world, performing duties that are going to be in harmony with their actual degree or trade.   This signifies that governments, government contractors, and private enterprise employers need to work in conjunction with students at an age of no later than sixteen years of age, of which, through objective testing of aptitude, students and their talents will be discerned, and thereby decisions are made at that age, as to what is a good fit for those students, in order to achieve gainful employment, and consequently a course of action created for students that concentrates on those talents, with an apprenticeship or internship with employers to build up their experience and knowhow, and hence upon graduation to be able to hit the ground, running.

This should not be taken that students should not be allowed to choose their own path; it merely reflects that in an age in which false starts and false paths can lead to monstrous student debt, despair, and dreams crushed, that this government, its educational system, its trade schools, and employers of all stripes, need to seriously work together with students as a cohesive whole, because often those that are good enough to graduate with one degree, are going to be good enough to graduate with another degree that may well serve them and society a whole lot better.

Tooth decay and sugar

Never has the dentistry profession had more state-of-the-art tools of the trade, in order to properly and professionally clean teeth, perform root canals, as well as tooth extractions, and all other types of procedures that are necessary in providing and aiding clients in having good healthy teeth and gums.  You might think that with the modern fluoridation of water, as well as toothbrushes and toothpaste that most everyone utilizes on a consistent basis, mouthwashes of all sorts, and just the general knowledge that flossing, brushing, and cleaning of one's teeth leads to good results, would in the scheme of things, mean that there would be quite naturally, never so many with good healthy teeth and gums, but unfortunately, this isn't actually true.

To take a step back and to start at the beginning, primitive society did not have and could not avail themselves of the dentistry profession, nor toothbrushes, nor tooth paste, nor mouthwash, yet, though there was tooth decay in primitive societies; there was also, surprisingly, as demonstrated anthropologically in isolated societies; societies in which pretty much all the members of it, had healthy teeth.   The only possible reason why this would be so, would have to come down to the very foods that people ate, of which, certain extensively studied primitive societies ate foods that did not contain sugars, or processed white flour, or processed foods of any sort.  Instead, these people ate food indigenous to their culture such as fish, pork, chicken, and red meat, with only minute amounts of sugar ingested, primarily through natural fruits, and they did not have any notable tooth decay.

The primary reason why tooth decay is still existent and prevalent in today's society, has a lot to do, and probably can be successfully argued, everything to do, with sugar, in any of its myriad forms that is ingested into the body through the foods that people eat, day by day.  Even though, many people are good about brushing their teeth, after a meal, or at appointed times of the day, the thing about foods such as carbohydrates that are highly processed and high in sugar, or sugary pop soda, is that as soon as that food is ingested, the acidic byproducts created by that food begins to inexorably erode the tooth enamel, in which, this action, repeated often enough, will in a significant amount of cases, produce some form of tooth decay.

Further to the point, those that do not brush their teeth, or have rather poor dental hygiene, and are also consuming a fair amount or more of sugary snacks and processed foods, as well as soda pop, are going to find that the acid created by those sugars will surely eat away at their tooth enamel.  The real reason why dentists and the dentistry industry is still so busy and occupied today, despite all of the toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, and mouthwash bought, is because the diet of modern mankind, too often, is one of consuming foods that are not only physically not beneficial for the body, but are definitely damaging to the teeth and its enamel.  It is quite unfortunate, that while sugary sweets may taste quite good to most people, the effects of sugar, which are first seen in the damage to our tooth enamel, clearly is not good, and further that the effects of sugar on the interior of our body, must too, not be good at all.

For all those that want to be, Kings and Queens

There aren't that many princes or princesses, or Kings or Queens, in today's modern society, yet, as provided to us by novels, plays, movies, and real life, there is plenty of romance and belief in Kings and Queens.  While there aren't that many nations ruled by absolute monarchies, there are plenty of countries that are in fit, form, and function, run essentially by just one person, although they may not have the designation of a King or Queen, they behave and conduct the actions of the state as if they are one.

For whatever reason, perhaps, wish fulfillment, or fantasy, there are plenty of people that wish to see themselves as a King or Queen or as a King or Queen in waiting, and while this sort of fantasizing is relatively harmless, it can also provide us with a true object lesson.  That is to say, if a given individual truly believes that they are deserving of being a King or Queen, then in fairness, the question should obviously be asked as to whether what they are doing right now, in addition to what knowledge that they have right now, as well as the overall trajectory of their life, truly represents the demeanor, accomplishments, and accouterments of someone that would become a good King or Queen.

In point of fact, the world already has an overabundance of people that are selfish, self-centered, cruel, and spiteful, of which, quite obviously more of those types of people in real power are not needed.  Rather, there is a lack of those that have the attributes of what would make for a good King or Queen, of which, characteristics such as justice, consistency, fairness, courage, decisiveness, impartiality, generosity, forgiveness, faithfulness, empathy, and discernment would obviously make for a  very sound basis of what defines a good King or Queen.

The bottom line is that for those that desire great leadership roles in life, they should make it their point and principle to create the good habits, persevere and do the hard work, obtain knowledge and knowhow, and understand the value of great mentorship in order to develop themselves into a better person, that truly can be of real benefit to others.  It isn't good enough to just fantasize about something of merit, without putting forth the true effort to be that something; because though a given King or Queen may be born into their throne, a good King or Queen becomes good by developing their skill sets and wisdom in a way that will truly be of service to their country, first and foremost.

Those that desire to be at the top in any business, or in their personal life, or for their country, must recognize, that the more responsibility that is placed upon their shoulders, of which, those decisions made have life and death consequences, as well as rich or poor outcomes, as well as victory or defeat situations, and are integral to whether there will be good times or bad times for that society, should be up for the task and extremely well qualified, for if they are not, woe to those people; and if they are, then such respect as given by the people, is well earned.

The Public Defender and those fees

The Constitution in its 6th Amendment makes it very clear that in all criminal prosecutions, that the accused shall "… have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."  Further to the point, States and counties are quite aware that they cannot legally prosecute defendants that are unable to afford an attorney, due to their being indigent or similar, so that the State or the county must therefore provide them with an attorney, or such prosecution of a particular case will almost for a certainty be overturned as a violation of Constitutional law.

While in most jurisdictions public defenders are overworked, underpaid, and understaffed, the system as it is, sort of works in the sense that most indigent defendants in one way or another, receive a court appointed attorney that at least takes on the semblance of representing them in court proceedings.  Still, with the United States arresting and consequently prosecuting millions upon millions of its own citizens each year, not too surprisingly, funds for the defense of those so accused and without monetary means, cost those States and those counties and therefore the taxpayers of such, quite a lot of money, and thereby, there is often going to be, someone in some place of authority, who knows the law, even knows the spirit of the law, but has a plan to workaround it for the benefit of the status quo.

In other words, States and counties are well aware that charging an hourly wage or even a contract price to an indigent defendant for the services of a public defender is probably something that will not be upheld in a court of law or a court of appeal.  On the other hand, charging a "booking fee" or a "processing fee" or a "registration fee" of which, this charge is administered to every single defendant, in which they are legally held responsible to pay, is somehow in some way is able to pass muster.  In reality, this fee because it is mandatory, and thereby compelled against all defendants, is in itself, discriminatory, for though each impoverished defendant has a right to an attorney, some of these defendants, because of the amount and burden of this fee, will subsequently elect to not have an attorney, and will in most cases, have to negotiate with the prosecutor and the court, themselves, in which they have neither the experience, savvy, connections, or even the understanding of the ramifications of whatever deal is so made.

For all the States and counties that complain about budget shortfalls, because of the expense of having to utilize public defenders for indigent defendants, the most obvious workaround for this type of problem is for the police and thereby the prosecutorial office to arrest far fewer indigent and oppressed people on what typically are minor criminal offenses of one sort of another; and concentrate their considerable resources instead on arresting only those that actually have money, and lots of it; and thereby spend their time prosecuting  things like: corporate criminals, while collar crimes and cons, medical fraud, insurance fraud, and basically all those types of things that people with intelligence but lacking a good ethical compass like to do. 

As for those indigent defendants, to keep things really simple, most of the crime, that they are accused of, such as loitering, public drunkenness, petty theft, marijuana possession, vagrancy and so forth, are typically the types of criminal offenses that should be re-categorized into ticket offenses, or infractions, that are not legally felonies or misdemeanors, and the fine structure should be indexed against that persons' personal income.

God is only going to ask you just one question

Sooner or later, whether desired or not, anticipated or not, we all have to meet our Maker.  Most anyone with any real sensibility is not going to face our Most High God, without some sort of trepidation, for unlike human interactions, it is impossible to get one over on God.  God knows you better than you know yourself, for God is omniscience, personified.  Not only that, when you face God, there is nowhere to hide, no space to run to, and nowhere to go, for it is truly the final reckoning.

When you are in school and in class in this world, those that perform best on tests are usually the very ones that have listened well, applied themselves to the subject matter, studied well, and thereby have subsequently tested well on the exams.  So too, in the only class that really matters, each of us will be examined by the Master Teacher of them all.  The school class that we are all part of is called life, and how we live our lives is the essay of whom and what we really are.  Obviously, those that understand the subject matter to be tested, and in addition to that, prepared themselves to do well on the examination, that none can escape from, are going to score higher, especially over all those others that are ignorant, nonchalant, ill prepared, or even actively opposing God.

In the scheme of things it would be nice to know ahead of time what questions and what subjects are going to be covered on our "Exit" exam.  In point of fact, it is the exact same question for everybody.  That question is in so many words: "What have you done to be of benefit and of aid to others?"  For some people, that may well be the question that they want to hear, whereas for others it most definitely will not be.  Further, there will be plenty of people that will consider that question to be unfair, or even stupid, but that is the question.

The reason that God asks that specific question is because each of us, without a single exception, have been created by the exact, same God, equally held and equally loved by God.  This means that all those that spend an inordinate amount of time demonizing others, claiming that this creed or this color or this inhabitant is unclean or an infidel, don’t seem to comprehend the most basic thing: that we are all the very same substance.  So too, all those that think solely of themselves or just of their family, to the exclusion of others, are missing this very point, which is that to do right to those that have a vested interest in us doing right to them, is hardly to anyone's everlasting credit.  Rather, those that do right, specifically do right to those others that do not have the capability at that time, and may not ever have the capability at any time, to reciprocate in kind, but often are appreciative of that kindness freely given.

Everything that is wrong in this world can be attributed to mankind's selfishness.  To successfully overcome such selfishness requires that each of us makes it their point and their principle to think less of their own self, and more of the other, recognizing that in the voluntary helping of the other is the true eternal fulfillment that we so covet and long for, in that our service to others, completes us.

Software developers, engineers, coders, programmers and outsourcing

There are an awful lot of Americans employed in various fields involving software development, and of which the educational requirements range from being essentially self taught, to doctorate degrees.  While, it's somewhat audacious to say that the very best software developers in the world are located in the United States, it is fair to say, that the compensation for those employed in America in the software field are as competitive and as lucrative as any other country so does provide.

The thing about software development, is though it does require tools and training, is that the output so generated from the software developer, is primarily done on some sort of computer, and that output often does not necessarily have to be done within the same building as other employees that are also working on the same sort of endeavor and work plan.   Not only that, people in the software field, are notorious for working odd hours, and performing their work in just about any environment in which they are able to access the software needed to utilize their tools to perform their job, whether that be in their basement, in an airport, overseas, a cubicle, or a conference room.

America pays very well for those that are in the software field, in which the tools necessary to become a software developer are not exclusive to America, alone.  Because America is the world's largest economy, known for its innovation and corporate strength; there are therefore obvious advantages for anyone deciding to work on behalf of American international corporations, as opposed to alternatives that might have merit, but simply don't have the resources, depth, and throughput that the American corporate world is known for.

Not too surprisingly, the most English speaking people in the world are located in America.  What is surprising, is that the country with the second most English speaking people isn't a country such as Great Britain, which ranks a mere sixth in the world, but actually, in order, are India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and the Philippines.  The Philippines are an especially interesting case as they are a country that is ostensibly an independent nation, but in actuality are beholden and dependent upon the United States economically and politically.  In addition, as reported by bbc.com it is believe that the estimated amount of English speaking people in India is: "125 million people, second only to the US and expected to quadruple in the next decade."

The cost of living in India as well as in the Philippines in conjunction with the salaries paid for comparable software development personnel are a fraction of the salaries so paid in America.  This would signify, that in an era in which corporations are all about making their earnings and reducing their costs, that more and more corporations, to the best of their ability, for competitive reasons alone, will look not so much to import foreign talent into America, but rather to outsource software development of all sorts to countries such as India and the Philippines, especially if they are able to successfully administer such work by putting together competent teams that coordinate well with the home office and its goals.

This is a world that is becoming more and more digital in its technology, and America is a high cost state, with a high cost of education, in addition to having a work force that too often believes that they are entitled; never seeming to recognize that in a thoroughly connected world, someone else, located somewhere else, at a cheaper price point, that is motivated, dedicated, and engaged, is now a very viable option.

Injustice and Prosecutorial discretion

For whatever reason or reasons, the United States has made it their policy over the last two generations to incarcerate more and more Americans, and is distinctly an outlier to all other western nations in regards to the per capita amount of Americans so incarcerated.  It would be one thing if because of all the people that are currently incarcerated, or on probation, or on parole, this somehow made America the safest nation in the world, but that isn't true. 

Further to the point, the incarceration rate in America is extraordinarily high, though it has come down off of its peak so that in 2016 as reported by pewresarch.org the United States had, "a nationwide incarceration rate of 860 prison or jail inmates for every 100,000 adults," which is an incarceration decline of about 14% from the cumulative years of 2006-2008.  However, the amount of people being arrested in the year 2016, as compared to the years 2006-2008, has an even high rate of decline, in which as reported by statista.com, there were 10,662,552 arrests in 2016, as opposed to an average of 14,198,450 arrests in 2006-2008, or a decline of about 25% in arrests; signifying that while arrests are down, the relationship between arrests and incarceration has actually increased significantly in the interim.

While there are a few possible reasons as to why even with arrests being down, that incarceration rates have not come down in lockstep with that, the most obvious reason why this is so, is that the prosecutorial office, is basically the sole determinate as to whether a person so being arrested is actually prosecuted.  This signifies, that even though, there have been less arrests in aggregate to prosecute from, prosecutors have simply dropped less cases, and thereby prosecuted through trial or plea bargain, a higher percentage of those so arrested.

The main reason why prosecutors are so eager to prosecute and convict arrestees of crimes, has little or nothing to do, with making the streets safer for good citizens, and a lot more to do with padding their statistics, so that they look like that they are tough on crime, for being tough on crime, is a very typical touchstone that plays well with the electorate, for these prosecutors for state and county are almost always subject to a democratic vote of the electorate, and the perceptions of those voters do matter.

What this means in effect, is that the lowest lying fruit, of which, these are typically people of color and/or impoverished, are in a very poor position to negotiate or to plead their way out of whatever offense or offenses that they are so accused of.  Basically, all those that are reduced to having to utilize an overburden public defender,   are effectively going to be convicted of something, in more cases than not, because prosecutors will take the police officer's arrest record information and then construct their charges in a manner that will trump up those charges into multiple and more serious charges, so as to bargain from a position of incredible strength, and thereby get the defendant to plea guilty to a lesser charge and subsequently rack up another win in their prosecutorial record.

All of this is basically a miscarriage of justice, for prosecutors are supposed to follow Constitutional law, which specifically entails equal justice which is equally applied, in addition to taking into account exculpatory evidence, and the legality of all evidence so obtained.  In point of fact, prosecutors pretty much do whatever that they wish to do, recognizing that there is typically no independent authority that oversees how they conduct their business and what decisions that they so make.    It is that prosecutorial discretion that is the predominate reason why incarceration rates are so high, for most arrestees are essentially considered to be chattel property for the prosecutors to do with as they so will.

Stock buybacks and stock manipulation

In 1982, the Reagan administration basically legalized stock buybacks by corporations which previously were held to be illegal and considered to be a form of stock market manipulation.  The wording of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 10b-18 was obviously constructed specifically so that companies wishing to repurchase their common shares would have an obvious and clear roadmap to do so, and by following those conditions, have an implicit safe harbor to do so.  As in many instances, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and marketwatch.com, states its estimate that: "S&P 500 companies will buy back a record $800 billion of their own shares in 2018."  So too, forbes.com, states that: "Over the years 2006-2015, Lazonick’s research shows that the 459 companies in the S&P 500 Index that were publicly listed over the ten-year period expended $3.9 trillion on share buybacks."  This indicates, for better or for worse, that many companies have fundamentally made it their policy to buy back their common shares hand over fist. 

There are rather obvious reasons as to why companies are so eager to buy back their shares, during this bull market run up in stock prices.  The first reason is that one of metrics that measures the value of a given stock is that stocks' Price-to-earnings (PE) ratio, of which the amount of common stock outstanding is one of the components that is necessary to correctly calculate the PE ratio of a given stock, and when there is a reduction in the amount of common shares, but, for instance, the same amount of earnings, than the PE ratio will go down, indicating that the perceived value of the company will typically go up, because that company is "growing" its earnings per share, and hence can expect to get a premium for having done so.  Another reason, is that the executive office, in particular, as well as all those other valued employees that have common share stock options, have a vested interest in seeing that the stock price of a given company, goes up, so as to make their bonus and/or to exercise their options, of which, buybacks of common stock, are an easy avenue for doing just that, because buying back common shares, doesn't necessitate increasing the company's sales, or increasing the company's gross margin, or increasing the company's R&D expenses, but simply is a way to manipulate the price to earnings ratio, as well as the return on equity ratio, to make the company appear to be more dynamic and successful than what it really is.

There is another reason, why over the past ten years, an unprecedented amount of stock buybacks has occurred, and it isn't because companies are somehow correctly perceiving that their shares are undervalued, nor is it because these companies have nowhere to utilize their cash, but to a very large extent, it is because since the financial crisis of 2007-2008, interest rates to borrow money for corporations has never been cheaper, and those interest rates have been super cheap.  This has meant, that certain geniuses in the corporate office has seen the last decade as their opportunity to borrow money cheaply, and thereby to use that money to buy back common shares, to thereby boost earnings per share, and juice the price of the stock, while believing that in the future, that they will still be able to generate enough cash flow, in good times or bad, to successfully pay back that debt.

If this country believes that corporations should be allowed to spend their money on stock buybacks, then it need not do anything, for that is being done, every single day; primarily for the financial betterment of the superrich.  On the other hand, stock buybacks are not beneficial for the common man and they are not beneficial for the economy, because the billions upon billions of dollars that has been spent on purchasing common stock by that management, could have been money spent on innovation, R&D, and long term investment, as opposed to adding more easy riches to the already privileged superrich.

Trade, trade, trade

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) regular hours are Monday-Friday, 9:30AM ET to 4:00PM ET, with various off days designated as holidays or half days.  As reported by Wikipedia.org, the NYSE has a market capitalization of its listed companies of US$21.3 trillion as of June, 2017, and the "average daily trading value was approximately US$169 billion in 2013."  This signifies that for every 126 trading days, the entire market capitalization of the NYSE has been traded, so that the overall turnover of trading volume is nearly 2x times yearly the market capitalization of the NYSE.

It is important to keep in mind that the stocks so listed on the NYSE, typically represent the largest, the most stable, and the most secure blue-chip stocks that are headquartered in America, and quite obviously are not "fly-by-night" operations.  The fact that investors of all stripes are interested in buying into these companies shouldn't come as any real surprise, but what is surprising is that quite obviously for every buyer of a given stock, there must be a seller, so that, inexplicable or not, each day there seems to be an inordinate amount of actionable news, that necessitates the trading into and out of certain stocks, for, almost by definition, trades are supposed to be generated only because each side believes that they are on the right side of the equation.

While on the one hand there may be some rather obvious advantages to a higher liquidity in the market, in the sense, that because of that liquidity, trading and pricing are state-of-the-art efficient; this though must be amended by the fact, that long standing businesses do not have news that is germane to their company to report, each and every day.  Nor, despite all that is talked about on the news, or on the internet, involving tax laws, exports and imports, economies, and businesses have dramatic or even subtle changes that are occurring on a daily or near daily basis, that are changing much of anything.

In point of fact, most companies are forward looking in presenting information to recognized financial news organizations that indicate their projections for revenues as well as earnings on a quarterly as well as on an updated yearly basis.  Those estimates don't change very often, in addition to the fact, that the GDP in America is fairly stable at about 2.5%, give or take a little bit, yearly.  All of these numbers reflect the basic fact, that most stocks do not have all that much to report on that would necessitate a trading pattern of getting in and getting out, as if something sudden and dramatic is going to happen.

What has happened in regards to the reason why trading is at such a high volume in a country that pretty much has set the standard for the modern day stock market, is that the buy and hold strategy, just doesn't generate enough action, it also doesn't generate enough revenue for those that are in the trading business, as well as it doesn't generate enough monetary bonuses; whereas trading in and out, and trying to get a minute edge here and there, does all of the above.  This means rather than seeing the stock market as investing into companies of real merit and worth, this has instead been bastardized into treating the rapid trading of stocks as a legitimate vehicle to make money, which isn't the same thing, and that conflict won't end well.

The never ending story: the Klan

In the antebellum south, the Klan did not exist, because there was no need for it to exist, as long as blacks were held in abject servitude, enslavement, and legally classified as property.  However, the south chose to rebel against the National Government and thereby setup their own confederate government in rebellion against the national union of the States.  The south lost that war, the slaves became emancipated, and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments provided those that previously were held in servitude, with equal justice, voting rights, and the due process of the law; in short, all the rights that all citizens of this country are equally entitled to.  Of course, there is the law as written, and then there is the law as applied, and those southerners that were still alive but defeated in the south, took it upon themselves, to create what became to be known as the Klan, of which its expressed primary purpose was to terrorize those that previously were enslaved, so as to maintain the supremacy of those that called themselves "white", as well as to pervert equality and justice, by taking the law into their own hands by their guns, and doing so, by any means, necessary.

The National Government through its legislative branch, did reply to the uprising of the Klan, by passing, not one but three different Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871, specifically to address the intimidation and disregard of Constitutional rights that blacks as well as other citizens were subjected to, while living in the south.  Further to the point, this government looked upon the Klan, as an active terrorist rebellion that needed to be crushed, and thereupon through its legislation made it clear that the utilization of the armed forces of this National Government was not only appropriate against the Klan when they were found to be violating the rights of inhabitants, but that the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus as well as martial law was permitted, if necessary, to fully combat the Klan terrorism.

Later, the effectiveness of these Enforcement Acts was mitigated by Supreme Court decisions as well as northern indifference, which is one of the significant reasons why the Klan, and those that represent the ideology of the Klan, are still relevant and still terrorizing people today.  The fact is it is a disappointing regression that today the Klan is still able to propagate its hate, and intimidation, under the protection of their First Amendment Constitutional rights, when in action and actuality, the Klan clearly crosses into domestic acts of terrorism, again and again.  

The Klan, its adherents, and organizations that are similar to the Klan, must be seen as for what they are: domestic terrorist organizations.  All the laws that are necessary to effectively deal with the Klan already exist, and thereby the only thing that needs to be done is to execute those laws against the Klan and its members, without giving any quarter, again and again.  The Klan was born from the frustration of first losing at the Presidential ballot box, then by resorting to the gun of war and losing there, and finally by losing the southern way of life through the passage of new Constitutional Amendments after the Civil war.   However, their smoldering ignorant ideological hatred still exists, today, and still terrorizes innocent civilians. 

Thus, for the sake of the innocent, as well as for the sake of the country that is the last best hope on earth, the Klan must never ride again.

Those who know and those who don't know

It has been said that "knowledge is power," and this is indisputably true.  So that, for instance, Stonehenge is no accident, but clearly indicates the knowledge of those so creating it, well understood that the configuration that was created would be done so that as reported by math.nus.edu.sg: "The midsummer sun always rises exactly opposite the setting of the midwinter sun."  So too, in past civilizations, again and again, those at the top and those that were adjutants to them, were typically educated, literate, and well knowledgeable, as opposed to the serfs, peons, and everyday citizens, that were ill educated, illiterate, and easily led, for they had not the infrastructure or knowledge to effectively make and create lasting change or effective protest.

In this age of hi-technology, consolidated information, and relentless algorithms, human knowledge is being challenged by those that control the access to actionable information and deep databases that basically create a certain type of privileged knowledge on individuals and populations that allows those that control those machines, or the access to that information of those processing machines, to have an inherent unfair advantage over all those, that don't, despite their own individual knowledge or intelligence, or lack therefore.

That is to say, when everything that you do, when everything that you write, when everywhere that you go, and with every social media post, with every email, with every text, and with every tweet, such is monitored, correlated, classified, and processed, then your life is really not your own.  When a government knows everything about you, it can afford to be relatively liberal, for it knows every move that is going to be made, before it is even made; and if at some time, things get a little bit heated, that government will be several moves ahead, and that government will effectively be in the catbird seat of total tyranny for it knows everything about you, and you do not have the knowledge or knowhow to counteract that.

While there isn't anything necessarily wrong with leading your life as an open book, there isn't necessarily anything prudent about doing so, for not everybody has good intents in mind when they have access to exactly who and what you are; and thereby if you are unable or unwilling to protect the door that gives complete access to who and what you really are about, then the entity that enters probably is not going to be friendly, but rather will have a very strong tendency to have their way with you.

On the other hand, for all those that do not wish to lead their life as an open book, the game is almost basically over; for governments don't like to give up information, and they sure don't like to give up all their tools of the trade, and especially don't desire to do so, by giving that up to the huddled masses.  The fight therefore to be left alone, or to be forgotten, is a fight of unfair resources, but it's a fight that must be made, for those who know have the power of gods compared to those that do not know, and they that know will do as they please, and those that don't know, have nary the tools to stop them.

Common stock shares and their holding time

As reported by hbr.org, "In the 1950s the average holding period for an equity traded on the New York Stock Exchange was about seven years. Now it’s six months."  Additionally, "… high-frequency traders whose holding periods can sometimes be measured in milliseconds now account for as much as 70% of daily volume on the NYSE."  The fact that the individual shareholder has been pretty much reduced to irrelevancy and the fact that much of the trading of the stock exchange is done through the usage of sophisticated algorithms, quantitative analysts, and robotic trading, has fundamentally changed the complexion of the stock market, and may, in this change, changed its stability or lack therefore.

From a consumer perspective of common stocks, it is important to note that commissions for brokerage trades on stocks was deregulated back in 1975, ultimately leading to an incredible amount of monetary saving as well as convenience for consumers so as to make their own trades at a cost that nowadays is often less than $10 for a transaction amount of up to thousands of shares as well as thousands of dollars.  This obviously means that the cost of trading stocks, for most individuals as well as institutions, is low enough, that it is fundamentally lost in the noise.  Which, in its own way, is a meaningful contribution to why the holding period has dropped so precipitously, for if the cost to get in and out, is very, very cheap and as easy as a click on a computer mouse, which it is, people and institutions are apt to make snap decisions, good or bad, right or wrong, easily.

So too, the taxation of capital gains for stocks makes a meaningful difference as to how long of holding period a stock buyer will consider, and when long term capital gain rates are not only taxed at a very reasonable tax rate, in fact for most big stockholders, less than the tax rate of their wage income, then having to hold onto a particular equity for only a period of twelve months is not a very high hurdle to overcome.  So then, if long term capital gains were re-defined to actually more approximate, the words "long term", so that to qualify would necessitate a period of two years or three years or five years, than those so investing would have a stronger tendency to select stocks that they believe in for the long term, rather than being overwhelmed or overly concerned about quarterly or projected quarterly earnings.

Unfortunately, the common stockholder and their influence upon the stock market, has been reduced considerably, so that when mutual funds, hedge funds, and brokerage company investment funds makes it their point to trade in and out of stocks, without consideration of tax consequences, and without consideration of a long term view of any particular equity, such trading back and forth, provides the impression that "investing" in equities, really isn't about fundamentally placing one's dollars into a company that has solid earnings, or solid growth, or a solid story, but more of a game, of trying to squeeze a nickel of trading profit here and there in volume trades in order to make money; essentially changing stock investment, into the biggest casino in the world.

The fact that stocks are being held for lesser and lesser periods of time, contradicts what corporations represent, which is perpetual existence; so that, all things being equal, investments in equities, should actually reflect that the institution or individual so investing, is doing so for the long haul, in order to receive in return, stock appreciation and, if applicable, stock dividends.  Instead, in today's lightning fast paced trading world, it seems to be all about getting a little edge over someone else that isn't quite as millisecond quick or algorithm smart.  That mindset, in which, none are in it for the long term, is the very vehicle that will inevitably lead to the markets' scary instability and its frightening crash.

Our present day, very partisan Supreme Court

The law of the land in the United States is the Constitution, which is a written document, and further to the point, permits a specific process to amend the Constitution, for the Constitution as created, is in its construction, a vehicle created by the people and for the people.   The Supreme Court is the highest law of the land, of which, if law and justice are to legitimately mean anything to the people of this country that law must be equally applied to all people in a fair manner, rightly applied, and that is consistent with the Constitution.

In point of fact, when it comes to Supreme Court decisions, too many of those decision, do not take into consideration the Constitution as it is, but rather, begin from an individual partisan standpoint of the judge, of which, their objective is to decide the case, on no other merit, than their own wishes of what they so wish the Constitution should have said, or kind of says, or might just say.  This kind of judicial activism is not appropriate for the judicial branch to begin with, for rather to change law, is the domain of the legislature branch and not to be breached by the judicial branch.  Further to the point, when Supreme Court decisions are based on the individual preferences of the judges and their ideological or political viewpoints, the Supreme Court, as an institution, has no real legitimacy, no moral authority, and is inimical to the Constitution.

Today's Supreme Court, clearly makes partisan decisions, so that, as reported by slate.com, "For almost 200 years, from the Founding through the Burger Court, the Supreme Court struck down federal statutes by a one-vote majority only 24 times. Since then, the court has lost the instinct for restraint in this domain: The Rehnquist Court used 5-4 votes to strike down 20 federal laws in 19 years from 1986 to 2005."  This, quite clearly states the obvious, which most pundits and informed citizens are quite aware of, that this Supreme Court is partisan, and the decisions that this Supreme Court renders are far too often done upon partisan lines.

If, Supreme Court decisions did not have a real material impact on the people of America, than it would not be the controversy that it is so today.  But, rather, each of the following recent decisions were all 5-4 votes with meaningful material impact upon American citizens, for instance:  Bush v. Gore, 2000--the Presidential election; Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 2010--unlimited campaign spending; National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 2012--Affordable Care Act; Shelby County v. Holder, 2013--voting laws; and Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015--same sex marriage.   Each of these cases was decided by one vote on the Supreme Court and thereby became the law, or the interpretation of law for the Federal government as applicable to all its citizens.

The degree of partisanship on the Supreme Court is not going to go away anytime soon, so then, the question should be asked as to whether a mere majority of the Supreme Court should be allowed to effectively make or interpret law, of which, all citizens and their representatives must so accept it.  One way to effectively reduce the impact of partisanship on the Supreme Court is to invalidate 5-4 majorities as being sufficient in and of itself in order to thereby make new law or to overturn law, but instead to mandate that decisions must be instead a supermajority of 6-3 or even possibly 7-2.  That is to say, when four Supreme Court justices have their voice effectively silenced, are we to take it, that their dissent should be seen as effectively being of no intrinsic worth or merit?

Whatever happened to Armistice Day?

World War I, the supposed war to end all wars, ended with the Armistice signature of the Ally powers and Germany on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.  Thereafter, Congress called for a resolution for an annual observance of this historic day, and this particular day thereby became a national holiday known as Armistice Day in 1938.  However, in 1954, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day, and so this is as it is known today.

The first thing to recognize about this name change is that Veterans and Armistice are obviously not synonymous terms.  In regards to Veterans, this would typically be defined as all those that have served their country in a war and/or are members of the military service during peacetime; whereas in regards to Armistice, this would typically be defined as a truce and a formal agreement between countries that have been warring, to stop their warfare forthwith, and to begin the process of committing to a resolution that will bring peace between those formerly warring countries.

While there is something to be said about honoring our Veterans, a good case could be made, that Veterans are already honored via a holiday known as Memorial Day; of which, while it is true, that Memorial Day, especially addresses those honored dead that gave their last full measure of devotion to their country, it also is an expression of appreciation for all those that have faithfully served their country in their capacity of military service, now living or dead.

Because we no longer have a national holiday known as Armistice Day, we have subsequently done a great disservice to all those that fought, sacrificed, and honorably served their country, by not formally recognizing the most important attribute of the wars that America so fights; which is that America at its best, fights to make men and women free, to oppose injustice, to oppose tyranny, and to uphold the human rights that all are inalienably gifted with by our Creator.

Wars should be seen for what they are, which it is a living hell on earth.  This means, that anytime the warring factions are able to get together to lay down their arms, and thereby to bring peace, with honor, to the combatants of that war, that this Armistice, should be rightly celebrated as something noteworthy and of significant merit. 

In point of fact, the objective of any good and ethical government, is to do what can be done, so that there will be no more war; and if there is no more war, there will be no more memorials.  So too, this will mean that the only Veterans still left, will be the ones that are part and parcel of being on the watchtower that assures peace and security for the people.  All this surely signifies that a true Armistice, should be rightly celebrated for what it fundamentally represents, which is in a truly civilized world, there is no war, for there is no need or justification of war.

Do no harm and dog poop

America loves its pets, and about 90 million dogs live in America, and just as humans must defecate their waste matter, so do dogs.  Unfortunately, dogs in most instances are going to defecate somewhere outdoors, as opposed to being able to use a toilet indoors; so that due to the sheer number of dogs, a concerted effort in recent years has made it incumbent upon dog owners that a good dog owner, picks up after their dog.  To the point of why this is considered to be necessary besides the rather obvious reasons, is the fact that dog excrement can be a source of hookworms, tapeworms, threadworms and roundworms, along with the possibility of contaminating streams and waterways.  These potentials ills can be and have been transferred to humans via dog excrement, and the humans that are most vulnerable to such, are those with compromised immune system, and babies.

For the most part, in many communities, there isn't any mandated away or approach as to how to collect dog poop, though most people within their community typically utilize a dark plastic bag to collect the feces.  That, in of itself, is perhaps misguided, as plastic is vilified for its inability to properly decompose.  Additionally, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to collect dog poop, only to dispose of it inside a plastic bag, then, into a regular trashcan, and thereby these no-decomposing poop bags are subject to producing methane gas in a landfill, which isn't beneficial to anyone.  Instead, some people have turned to utilizing bags that are designed for compost, but compost, itself, in order to function correctly, needs more than just dog poop.

The main problem with dog poop isn't so much that not enough people are picking up after their dogs, though, some do not, but rather that, most people, not too surprisingly, after scooping up the poop, are eager to get rid of it; so that, it becomes something akin to out of sight, therefore out of mind.  The next step in regards to the appropriate disposal of dog poop, is to enhance the mindset to such an extent, that more people will dispose of their dog poop into separate containers, specifically set aside for dog excrement, which are then separately collected by an enterprise so as to ultimately create some sort of self-sustaining biogas energy from that excrement, rather than simply trying to get such to disappear.  Done correctly, everyone comes out ahead.

Then, there is also the issue of some people that get completely bent out of shape, when an irresponsible dog owner doesn't collect their dogs' excrement.  While this is unfortunate, there is never going to be 100% compliance in the first place, and most communities have laws that already are applicable for this very thing.  Further to the point, what somehow is missing from the equation, is that, there are millions upon millions of animals, of the air, of the sea, and of the ground that poop all of the time, of which, somehow, the ebb and flow of nature, are able to handle this effluence in a competent manner.  This would signify that the main thing is to jointly do our best, as well as to do no harm.

Police, lies, and Lie Detector tests

While there are some people and some organizations that believe in the validity of lie detector tests, in point of fact, lie detector tests (aka polygraph tests) as currently structured, don't really measure whether someone is or is not lying, but functionally measure their anxiety levels which is not the same thing.  Additionally, the Supreme Court has ruled that courts under federal jurisdiction, that lie detector tests are not admissible, and in the States that do permit lie detector tests, these are usually constructed in a manner in which both the prosecution and the defense have come to terms in regards to how, who, and what will or will not be performed in order to properly administered the lie detector test, and the results so concluded.

Unfortunately, the average citizen really doesn't know what is or isn't admissible in regards to a lie detector test and further often don't seem to know their Constitutional rights, in regards to such a test, of which no suspect so arrested is required to take such a test, and should especially be wary of taking such a test, if the test is administered and monitored by police officials, as opposed to being conducted through an independent and audited company.  Not only that, most citizens are unaware that police are permitted to deliberately lie to suspects, about, just about everything in regards to a case.  Police can lie about DNA results, they can lie about lie detector results, they can lie about physical evidence, and they can pretty much lie about any and everything, as long as such deceit does not cross the line where it is reasonably likely to produce a false confession.  No doubt, that line is seldom breached.

So then, suspects that are arrested, especially those that are arrested having not committed the crime in question, should seldom, if ever, be eager to take a lie detector test, unless advised to do so by counsel, and only under the conditions as instructed by that counsel; for police officers far too often, have every advantage of trickery, deceit, and deception on their side, which they are not reluctant to utilize and to employ so as to procure convictions, and don't seem to readily care whether such a confession leading to the conviction is actually legitimate or not, though, of course, there are some fine officers that actually do respect and uphold Constitutional law.

The point of it all, is once that a person is arrested, those that have been arrested and are now being questioned or interrogated, are in virtually every case, in a situation, in which the officer(s) so doing the interrogation isn't interested in the truth, per se, because they aren't actually listening for the truth, but instead, would prefer to trip the suspect up; and regrettably will often resort to lying, dishonesty, and duplicity to get whatever actionable information that they can from the suspect.  What is somewhat ironic is that the police officer often claims that they are after the truth, and therefore that the suspect should tell the officer nothing but the truth and the whole truth, whereas on the other hand, the police officer is typically doing none of the truth telling on their part.

Any legal system that countenances lying and deceit from the officials that are part and parcel of that justice system, of which, those officials have an inherent duty to uphold the law, and to thereby conduct themselves faithfully to that duty, is in actuality a justice system in name only, but not in function or actuality.

Grade Inflation

Most people are rather poor at realistically evaluating their own skill levels and intelligence, so that, most of those that self evaluate themselves have a strong tendency to see themselves as better than average; and therefore in a construct in which everyone sees themselves as better than average, this essentially signifies nothing of substance.  Therefore, this is one of the reasons why students are graded in classes, in order, to acknowledge as well as to separate out the knowledge received and applied by the better students, from those below average and average students.

If, we were to believe, that grades and grades alone signified real knowledge and intelligence, than today's students have never been smarter in the entire history of the United States, and that would be something to hold in exceedingly high regard.  For instance, as reported by qz.com, in 2016, "Nearly half of American high school students—47%," are graduating high school with at least a grade of A- or better.  This compares to a much less impressive 38.9% that did so in 1998, which is a very meaningful increase of over 20% in A- or better students.  However, when we take a look at SAT scores, starting with 2006, when the writing portion was then added to the SAT, the average score in 2006 on the SAT was 1518, whereas in 2016, it was 1484.  This means that while never have so many graduated from high school with an A- or better that somehow the standardized SAT scores in the meanwhile have regressed.

The only fair conclusion to the above is that students aren't actually getting smarter, but rather, the inflation of good grades to even better grades has created the illusion that these students are smarter than what is being actualized via standardized tests.  Further to the point, as reported by pewresearch.org, in regards to 15-year olds taking the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment which separately measures Science, Mathematics, and Reading, the United States did not finish in the Top Ten in any of those categories, in which, their best finish was 24th place in both Reading and Science, whereas in Mathematics the United States finished below the OECD average.

All of the above, serves to point out the rather obvious which is that the students today, are not smarter than they were in previous years, despite all of their A grades, and in all probability based on SAT scores, are actually a bit dumber. In addition, USA high school students are unable to hold a scholastic candle to numerous countries around the world, indicating that the educational system in America really isn't about educating students, of which standardized tests that measure knowledge indicates such, as, in fact, United States students are barely holding their own; so that it is fair to conclude that the educational system in America is much more about entitlement, deceit, and illusion.

It would seem that grades as structured and given out today, are definitely not a true reflection of the student's ability to demonstrate their knowledge in any real objective sense.  This would indicate, that grades and grading perhaps have run their course, and should be phased out into pass/non-pass, in conjunction with nationalized and standardized testing that will more fairly represent the student's "grade" via a numeric number for a particular subject and class, of which, this number will better reflect knowledge learned and thereby applied.

The fool's gold: fiat money

The United States has the biggest economy in the world, of which, in simple terms, the dollar thereupon has become the currency most commodities and other country's currencies are measured by.  That would be fine, to the extent that the dollar is back by specie, such as gold, which was the case until 1933-34 when because of the Great Depression the gold standard was effectively negated; of which private ownership of gold was thereby outlawed, though this did not completely eradicate the gold standard, it clearly changed the dynamic, and in 1971, the United States officially dropped the gold standard in its entirety.

This means that the dollars and the monetary system that currently is the backbone of how commerce, savings, and wealth is typically measured worldwide, is done by a currency which is backed by nothing, other than the belief that the U.S. government debt, so created, by the dollars borrowed and utilized; has stable value, which is debatable, at best.  In point of fact, while the convenience of dollars as a medium of exchange most definitely has its place, once those dollars became forever severed from specie or any other medium of intrinsic worth, than the dollars so circulating today, of which people depend upon these for their income, their wealth, and the payment of their debts, is for all practical purposes, fiat money.

This doesn't mean that the economic system as built upon dollars is in danger of imminent collapse, though, it might just be, but it does mean that it inevitably will collapse, because of the absence of some sort of specie, whether that be oil, gold, silver, land, stock certificates, or some other medium or combination of things so linked to each dollar that is created.  Those that believe that fiat money will, forever, have value, fundamentally are unable to comprehend that fiat money will collapse, once the confidence behind such currency has been fatally breached.

There are significant problems with fiat money, of which, there are many pundits that believe, incorrectly, that because our fiat money has historically been fairly stable since 1971, that therefore, all things that are priced utilizing this money, are a fair and true reflection of the true value of those assets and things.  The first thing to consider, is that fiat money is not all that stable, which is why as reported by dollartimes.com, the buying power of $1.00 in 1970, now necessitates $6.54 in 2018, so that, those that literally buried their fiat money in the ground or under their mattress, have seen the value of their money become decimated in the ensuing years.  So too, classifications such a being a millionaire, which actually meant something  back in 1971, don't mean as much today, for as calculated at savings.org, $161,445 in 1971, has the same value as $1 million today.    Another issue, is that people implicitly provide value to fiat money based on its historic purchasing power, of which, should that dynamic be severely breached, this would essentially mean that virtually everything as currently priced in dollars, would be subject to dramatic revisions on a worldwide scale, so that the effects of such, would initially be catastrophic.

In short, fiat money, maintains its relatively stable value based upon its apparent normalcy in the course of everyday business, but such normalcy is always subject to correction, at any time, of which, such a correction, when it comes, will fully demonstrate the fundamental difference between gold and fool's gold.

The semantics of being labeled as a "Law Enforcement Officer"

Many of those that work for the Department of Homeland Security, or the Department of Justice, or the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Agriculture are considered to be "Law Enforcement Officers", of which, this title as utilized in the present day, appears to be in most instances, a misnomer.  That is to say, that anyone that takes it upon themselves to label or be labeled as a "Law Enforcement Officer" should actually be required to know the law, to the same level or close to the same approximation as someone that practices the law, such as, an Attorney of the Law.  This means, that all those that currently are considered to be Law Enforcement Officers should forego such a designation, unless they have a law degree, or until such time that an accredited independent agency creates an exam that actually tests the applicants' knowledge and understanding of the law.

In point of fact, those that are given the duty, so to speak, to uphold and to enforce the law, but have not demonstrated in fact that they actually know the law, should not be called or considered to be Law Enforcement Officers.  That is not to say, that some of these public servants aren't very cognizant and savvy of the laws, of which, no doubt, some of them would indeed pass a thorough law exam; nor is that to say, that the people currently designed as Law Enforcement Officers have not completed and subsequently passed the prerequisites in order to perform their job; but it is to say, that those that are labeled as Law Enforcement Officers should and must actually know the law, of which the current educational and exam requirements mandated do not thoroughly test this knowledge or lack thereof.

Anytime that those that are given the authority by this government to arrest, interrogate, and to forcefully stop citizens and inhabitants of this country; the authorized person or the agency so doing so, should actually know what the law is, how that law should be applied, and where and when it is to be applied.  The day in which the primary attribute to hire officers of the law, was their physical size and strength, should no longer be applicable, for its importance has diminished, considerably.  Rather, since so many of these officers are armed to the teeth to begin with, the most relevant attribute that is needed, is good discernment, and good discernment comes from the actual knowledge of the law.

America is a country that provides its citizens with many rights, of which, in summary of those rights, they are basically the freedom of its citizens to be about their business and to express themselves freely in their actions and in their words, without unjustified interference from enforcement officers.  It is critical to recognize that in this country, you are always presumed to be innocent, yet, the law as so often applied by enforcement officers actually appears to typically presume guilt.  So too, the mindset of too many enforcement officers is to forget that their fiduciary duty is to serve the people, of which these officers lack of understanding of Constitutional law, serves to undermine their legitimacy; for surely those that wish to enforce the law, must first know it.

The return of exploitation and expropriation

While there are many attributes, achievements, and accomplishments that have directly or indirectly contributed to making America the greatest and most powerful nation that the world has ever known; one of those very important contributing factors was the creation of America's middle class.  That is to say, before the middle class came into fruition, most of history in any civilization was a history that clearly divided the relatively small ruling class from those that were ruled, of which the military and justice units of that civilization clearly were under the thumb of that ruling class.

This meant that the power structure of nations were built around the ruling class, consisting of nobility, the largest land holders, the largest business owners, the favored religion, and the elite of the military/policing arm of the nation.  All others, for the most part, no matter what the law did or did not say, effectively did not own the land that they trod upon, and therefore the production that they created as farmers, small business owners, or artisans, was subject to onerous taxation from the ruling class, or outright theft of it, or was subject to confiscation for any reason and at any time.  Further, those that owned absolutely nothing, had little option but to become part of the military force, necessary to protect and to augment the nation, of which, at best, doing so, providing a living, honor, and some opportunity; and at worst, resulted in their tragic young death.

America, on the other hand, in its formation, to a significant extent, made it point, to forget and to discard the titles of all nobility, as well as to dismiss the fortune of those that inherited wealth, without laboring a whit for it, to construct a nation that was built upon meritocracy, and to the degree that America did this, is the degree that America rose as a nation, providing to many that came here with nothing, but the willingness to work for their living, a  fair opportunity to make something of themselves, of which this mighty nation therefore did so.

As Peter Schiff has stated, "The American middle class used to be envy of the world," and perhaps it would be so today, if the middle class of America was still vibrant and growing, but alas, it is shrinking at an exceedingly rapid rate, for as reported by npr.org, Pew Research Center indicates that in 1971, 60.8% of all Americans were middle income, whereas in 2015, that number had dropped to 49.9%.  So that, what has occurred is that there are now more high income households, as well as more low income households, and significantly less middle income households. 

Further to the point, household ownership today is no higher than it was in 1971; however, in 1971, national consumer credit card debt was virtually non-existent, whereas today national consumer credit debt is approaching $1 trillion.  So too, student loan debt in 1971 was negligible, yet today that debt is approaching $1.5 trillion, and still growing higher at a phenomenal rate.  In regards to car loans, as reported by 247wallst.com, in 2017, "The average length of car loans has reached 69.3 months", whereas in 1971, there were no car loans exceeding even 60 months.

When a significant amount of the population is in debt up to their eyeballs, when labor unions have been eviscerated, when those that have no real viable future are forced into military service, in order to secure employment, security, and health benefits, and with the world's highest incarceration rate; than clearly America of today, is reaching back to the empires of the past, that had a ruling class of which the lion's share of everything was theirs, and all others effectively served that class.