Hi-technology companies and their purposeful lack of unionization

Some of the best paying jobs are in hi-tech, and without a doubt, some of the very deepest of financial pockets are also in the hi-tech domain.  Yet, hi-tech companies that have plenty of capital to do right by those that they employ, and should therefore have the easy capacity to accommodate the unionization of their workforce, including, most importantly, their white collar workers, should they be so inclined, have not done so.  In fact, those hi-tech companies that utilize janitorial services, kitchen services, and the like have a very strong tendency not to work with unions even in these relatively modest paying jobs, but rather prefer to engage such through the subcontracting of that work, so that the pay, and thereby the unionization or not, of those janitorial and kitchen workers, is left as the responsibility of that party who has the subcontract.  Further, when it comes to the mass production of products such as phones, tablets, game stations, and the like, these are typically outsourced to a foreign country, thereby freezing out domestic employment for the construction of these products, and in addition, those that are doing the real assembly work, are not direct employees to that hi-tech company, but rather are typically considered to be employees, if that, of the subcontractor, which provides those hi-tech companies with the distancing so needed, to disavow their involvement, positive or negative, in the pay of, or the benefits of, those that are not thereby directly working for them.

While many a white collar worker, seems unconcerned about any of this, because their pay is usually quite good, and the benefits that go with that pay, usually being quite lucrative as well; they seem not to understand that in a global economy, in which the United States surely does not have a patent upon the reasoned intelligence and education so needed to be a member in good standing for hi-tech white collar desk work, have place themselves in the rather unenviable position of trusting that their management will forever have them foremost in their respective minds, when quite clearly there isn't any real good reason to expect management to do anything of that sort.  After all, if the work that is being done domestically by white collar workers, currently, can be replicated overseas, even at some degree of reduced efficiency, but at a price point which is half the cost, or even less; then these hi-tech companies are going to, if not having done already, inevitably going to avail themselves of that cost saving, at the express loss of opportunity and employment for those domestic white collar workers.

As they say, when it comes to unionization, the party to go after, should always be that specific party that has the capacity to readily pay, and the leading hi-tech companies in America, have bucket loads upon bucket loads of money, of which, the lion's share of the profits and money so being made is certainly not going to their blue collar workers or subcontractors; nor is it even going to their privileged white collar workers, who though paid well, seem not to somehow comprehend that they are, in many ways, extremely underpaid in comparison to the mountains of money so being minted by their employer, each and every day.  In truth, the real winners are the elite and financiers of those hi-tech companies, the richest of the richest of people, who have made it their point and principle not to accept unionization and to do all that they can to stop or undercut such, because in their selfish, self-serving viewpoint, they are the master class, the barons of the hi-tech world, and therefore all others are beneath them and clearly exist just to serve them.

The right evolution

For whatever reason, guided or misguided, schools insist in propagating the belief that mankind has somehow evolved from apes, over some period of millions of years.  How much truth or credence that one can put into this theory, depends upon what the true purpose of mankind really is; of which, for those that believe that mankind's highest purpose is simply to be a very smart and diligently evolved person, and that this is in essence all that we will ever be, then such an evolutionary theory as that, perhaps serves its purpose. On the other hand, for those that intuitively understand that the purpose of our life on this material plane is to expand our human consciousness so as to ultimately connect and link into God's consciousness, they have discovered the right evolution, and thereby the only evolution of lasting relevance and of abiding purpose.

The blinding of people's eyes so as to systematically ignore all that is invisible and of the spirit, to thereby put their efforts only upon that which is visible, measurable, and considered to be knowable is a tragic dead end, and thereby is not evolutionary, whatsoever.  While it is true that we are physical in our constitution on this material plane, is also true that each of us has dominion over our mind and of our spirit, and of which, through learned concentrated focus, and often through the guidance of someone or something that represents our guru or wise one, we are thereby able to experience the opening up of our third eye, which permits us to subsequently connect to that which is inerrant, all knowing, and all seeing.

The evolution that each of us is required to achieve, is that evolution that brings us ever closer to oneness with God, and not that which ignores or circumvents the Creator of it all.  We are here in this world, for the expressed purpose to prove that we have the wherewithal and thereby the gumption to follow the pathway that will provide us with living water, rather than faithfully following those false constructs that are in the end, of temporal satisfaction, if even that.  We live within an age in which never have so many, been provided with so much in material goods from achieved impressive material success; yet, that age is also an age in which a massive contingent of those materially successful people are haunted that all that they have in hand, still does not bring them lasting satisfaction in their lives.

There is in this world, and every dimension beyond such, just one truth, though there may be many pathways that will bring us to that truth, there is, definitively, just that one truth.  Those that are false or are on false paths will have to, sooner or much, much later, find that which is true, in order to thereby have that piece of mind and of spirit, which will ultimately allow them to find that satisfying rest, that their restlessness has previously precluded them from experiencing.   The real knowledge that each of us needs to seek, is that knowledge, which is ours for the taking, freely available, from that which created us in the first place, and of which those of wisdom are in the process of evolving themselves back to.

The hidden costs of fossil fuels

First, it must be said that society would in all probability, not have advanced so far and at such a rapid pace if it had not been for the industrial revolution, and thereby the usage of fossil fuels, for energy, for products, for industry, for research and development, and basically for every conceivable material thing that nowadays we typically take for granted. Further to the point, modern society as currently constructed, is absolutely beholden to fossil fuels, and to disassociate itself from such, at a reasonable cost and in a reasonable pace of time, is currently problematic, at best. Additionally, there isn't really any abiding necessity that society needs to totally forsake fossil fuels, but rather it should take the responsible position, that the true cost of fossil fuels should not be hidden or be opaque, but should to the degree, possible, be transparent, which thereby would make appropriate policies by governments and corporations much more sensible and less subject to the inevitable obeisance to favorites and to outright market distortion.

After all, the true cost of fossil fuels should fairly reflect environmental damages of all stripes and ilks, cancer causing agents, and pretty much everything of relevance that is harmful; of which, those costs should be part and parcel of representing the true cost of doing businesss with that fossil fuel. Further to the point, it is up to the government to hold the responsible corporate entities, feet to the fire, for the economic and monetary power that the largest fossil fuel companies currently have is so great, that government is the only party that has the power to hold them in line, and this must be accomplished via robust governmental policies, as opposed to that government, of, for, and by the people, being co-opted by those corporate entities so that they fail to meaningfully regulate such on behalf of the people.

The bottom line is that most corporations are about extracting as much profit as they can from the products that they are selling, of which, quite obviously, doing what needs to be done to protect the environment, and to be a good corporate citizen is typicallynot foremost in that mindset, though through good governance it should definitely be an appreciable part of the equation. In short, fossil fuels, by their very nature, necessitate a meaningful disturbance of the land in order to forcefully extract the product from that land. While it must be said that the expertise in extracting such, has never been greater, it must also be said, that for-profit companies are known for their reluctance to pay the full freight of the true impact of that extraction.

In fact, to make the argument in a different way, it could be said that what the land so holds, should be in the collective ownership of those that are citizens of that land, of which, therefore, those that desire to extract fossil fuels from that land, should be restricted to providing the tools, eqiupment, and expertise for such, subject to the conditions, rules and regulations, and royalty thereby agreed to by those that legislate on behalf of the people, for the fossil fuels subsequently generated and produced. In other words, why should today's massive corporations be permitted to extract all that they can from the land for private or stockholder profit, without equally being held fully accountable for the negative consequences of that extraction, in the here and now, and thereby subject to paying the full consequence?

The ongoing Nigerian oil spills

As reported by the nytimes.com, the Nigerian delta “... has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every year for 50 years by some estimates,” which is not only an absolutely staggering amount of pollution over an extended period of time, but it is astonishing that this has not been dealt with by the government or any other entity in a manner which fully takes into account, the great ecological and pollution cost of such ongoing destruction.

While it certainly makes sense, that governments and the corporations that make up that nation, have an abiding interest to promote and to create that which employs domestic labor as well as producing that which can be exported worldwide, so as to thereby receive monies that are beneficial for that country, corporations, and its people; it must also be acknowledged that the object of the exercise is not to just extract and to sell the oil, but that such must be balanced by accomplishing this within a framework that is sustainable and does not do imprudent harm, and even irreparable harm to the environment, and thereby the people of that nation.

No doubt, there are costs involved in structuring any business to conform to reasonable environmental standards and further it is not possible that such is going to be accomplished overnight, or that it would somehow miraculously thereby take care of all the pollution so being generated as well as that previously generated; but, it must be acknowledged that whatever principles and laws that currently are in play, are obviously not strong enough, or effective enough, signifying that the ongoing pollution situation is not actually being addressed in any sort of competent manner.

Of course, when it comes to pollution, especially that of waterways, those that would reasonably appear to be most culpable, are astute at pointing out that Nigeria suffers from a lot of sabotage and the siphoning of oil from pipelines by anti-government militants and the like. As true as this may be, much more could be done to address what should be addressed by those oil companies and if Nigeria will not make it a priority to deal with their waterway pollution, and will not hold accountable those that have some degree of culpability to such, then the problem will surely not take care of itself on its own.

When any country and its governmental policies, in regards to the implementation of such, are so anemic that in essence, money now, trumps the cost of the damage of the environment for the present generation along with generations to come, then it must be said that the need for that monetary capital has not correctly been balanced against what is right for the people, in whole. Rather, oil is the type of commodity, in third world nations which typically enriches the very few and the well placed, at the expense of the population in whole; made much worse, by those people also suffering from ill health and reduced self-sufficiency because of the corresponding oil contamination of the environment. The Nigerian oil pollution issue need not be intractable, but in order to address such, this necessitates a willful, determined and robust policy enforcement from those that have the power to do so.

Police officers are not social workers

Society has made the mistake of not better defining and thereby restricting what a police officer should or should not be doing and what they should best be attending to, in regards to their daily interactions with the general public. Because police officers, have the power to arrest, and thereby the authority to take away the freedom of a given citizen, this thereby signifies that a significant portion of the population, is almost never comfortable with their involuntary contact with police officers, and seldom would desire to initiate such contact. This actually makes sense, for freedom and liberty are absolutely precious to most people, of which, few are desirable of having such taken forecefully away from them, or to have such liberties revoked without their willful consent.

On the other hand, this country has robust social services that are expressly there to be of service to the population, and of which this foundation is augmented by the meaningful contribution of good people from various charitable organizations. It would seem that in many cases in regards to non-violent people that are homeless, or suffering from mental health issues, or drug abuse, or basically falling into any of those “victimless” crime categories, that this would be better dealt with by those that are well versed as well as competent in dealing with people in a manner in which they can be of assistance to them; rather than such being dealt with by someone that is trained to maintain civil order, often, by any means, necessary.

Again, police officers are trained and instructed to maintain civil order, of which, often they resort to expeditiously removing the problem from the public eye, for they have neither the time nor the patience nor the social services background to do much else. Yet, this does absolutely nothing about resolving the underling issues of the people, involved; nor does it do much of anything of merit, except to serve to delay until another day,what should be more appropriately dealt with in a manner in which a helping hand is extended, to the degree that such can be safely and prudently so done.

While we may not wish to acknowledge the fact that they are a multitude of people that have issues that preclude them from functioning in a manner that adheres closely to social norms as well as social preferences; it is our duty as a society to come forth with programs that foregoes punishment as the default rule, and replaces such with programs that are sensible in helping to alleviate suffering by an honest effort to deal with people in a manner in which we are of meaningful service to them.

After all, the object of the exercise is not to lock up people simply because they are a nuisance to us, but rather to make the effort to provide them with the tools and the wisdom in which they thereby have the opportunity to turn their lives around, or if not that, at least, to provide them with some degree of autonomy as well as self-respect.

Public ownership records

The general public within any nation deserves to have the tools to know who and what entity, individual, corporate, or whatever, really owns that which is part of the public domain, of which this knowledge should be robust enough to fully provide a comprehensive breakdown of that vital information.  That which is of the public domain is all that which has been created or purchased and is part of the general milieu of that community, which consists of all real estate, equity and bond transactions, all businesses, public as well as private, and virtually anything that has something of monetary value associated to it. In other words, shell companies or their ilk, should never be permitted to exist, but rather those that are the ultimate beneficiaries of any appreciable amount of a given asset, should be completely named and noted, with a public disclosure of such, readily available.

Further, citizens of a dynamic democracy, of which each citizen by rights should be, and of which, in theory, each citizen is equal to any other citizen, have a fundamental right within that democracy, to know who and what owns the property in their country of residency.  Additionally, those citizens have a legitimate right to know who the actual business owners are within their community, as a fair price for those businesses to pay for being so licensed to do business in that community, of which all of this should be part of the public domain, without exception.  In other words, transparency and openness is fundamental to whether or not a democracy is true to its principles, and thereby such must be part and parcel of that country; for it is not conceivable that an uninformed constituency would somehow know how to vote and what to favor, if they do not know who the real players are, or are not.

After all, the average citizen's ownership of what they have of value, is pretty much always out in the open, but those that have the lion's share of wealth, especially that of dubious angles, often have a very strong tendency to setup their affairs in a deliberate and purposeful manner, that serves to obfuscate the full extent of their ownership positions, for the expressed purpose so as to not make it obvious, the favoritism so shown to them by those in authority that have done so, which typically involves things such as tax avoidance, outright corruption, and money laundering.  Again, it must be stated, that those that feel the need to hire an endless amount of lawyers and accountants to deal with their personal and business affairs, are probably doing so, in order to game the system or dodge such, for their benefit.

So too, it can be said, that those that hide behind false flags of all types, are  almost, without exception, not those that are simply modest or of a humble mindset, but rather are clearly up to no good, in one form or another.  Those that cannot handle the heat of the fair exposure of what they truly own and control via the fair vetting by the general public of a full disclosure via divulged ownership records, should seldom be considered to be citizens of good standing, but should rightly be seen, as suspect, and downright unpatriotic.

The distribution of profits is grossly unfair to the typical worker

We read at epi.org, that "… the CEO-to-typical-worker compensation ratio (options realized) was 20-to-1 in 1965," and "… the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio rose to 221-to-1 in 2018."  it is a real stretch of the imagination to believe that CEOs, in whole, are eleven times smarter and eleven times more efficient, and eleven times more valuable, then they were back in 1965, of which, even back then the CEO-to-typical-worker compensation ratio was already 20-to-1, signifying that a typical worker had to work 20 hours just to match the pay of the CEO working but just one hour; of which nowadays that typical worker must now work 220 hours, or five and one-half weeks to match the pay of just one hour of work by the CEO.

The blame for all of this increased CEO pay at the expense of the common man can be laid typically at the feet of upper management, as well as upon the Board of Directors of such, and the insane pay packages thereby put together to compensate CEOs by these enablers.  Of course, such a belief is very self serving as lucrative compensation packages approved thereby, also helps to feather their own executive beds, and thereby takes away from the typical worker what rightly they should be receiving some reasonable portion of.  To a very large extent, CEOs are extremely adept at augmenting their base salary, through the receipt of vesting options, favorably valued and of immense quantity, that provides them with a crazy gargantuan amount of additional compensation, which often dwarfs their published salary, and of which the common man, typically does not receive, or receives such at the smallest of fractions of those so provided to the CEO.

While it must be said that the good profits so generated in any business, typically requires hard work, good strategic decisions, the proper use of research and development monies, competent marketing, and a slew of other attributes; it can also be said, that quite obviously one sole CEO cannot and does not do it all themselves.  In fact, by contributions of all of the workers, large and small, profits are generated; so that, at the end of the day, the decision that really needs to be made is whether or not to make a fair distribution of those profits so generated.

Quite clearly, even the greediest of all CEOs, knows intuitively that they are not 221 times more valuable than their own typical worker, for they do not work 221 times more hours, nor do their generate 221 times more productivity.  What CEOs are very, very good about is being the first in line to get their share of the profits, and to make sure that those profits are divvy up in a manner in which those that are in the pole position to do so, get as much as they can possibly get, without nary a thought about the fairness of it.

In consideration that public companies are a creature of the state, and that their purported purpose is for these artificial creations of the state to be of benefit to the people that make up that country; then it so behooves those that regulate these public companies, and thereby permits such to be traded on public stock exchanges, that the compensation thereof of that upper management, such as a CEO, must be fair to that public, at large, and in particular, those that are the typical workers of such.   After all, the evidence is quite clear, today's CEOs have no shame in extracting as much of the profit from a given corporation for their own personal purse at the expense of those others that are employed there; so that, in an era in which trade unions have been eviscerated, it is up to this government, of, for, and by the people, to make right, what clearly is wrong.

The tyranny of the oligarchy

The healthiest countries are always going to be those countries that have a more even distribution of opportunity, income, and wealth for their countrymen, which thereupon represents in action that each person within that country truly has a fair stake in it.  All those other countries that claim so proudly that they are free, bastions of liberty, and supporters of equality as well as being recognizers of the value of meritocracy, of which, despite having these fine sentiments, have massive disparities between those that are the few that have everything, as compared to those many that have not a thing, are hollow at their core, and therefore not to be respected, or trusted.

When all the dollars and all the power are essentially in the hands of an unelected oligarchy, and when the muscle of that country answers strictly to those few elites that have the power, money, and position; and in which the justice system is in lockstep with those that actuate it, then despite whatever written Constitution is so enumerated, or laws so legislated, all of that in whole really just represents a deceptive facade, for the real deal is in the revealing evidence that clearly is visible to the seeing and knowledgeable eye.

Again, it must be stated, that while substantial wealth for a country in aggregate is on paper, a very good thing; there is a fundamental and foundational divide though, when that wealth is skewed heavily to a very small subsection of the people, while leaving a massive amount of the other people with little or nothing to own themselves.  In fact, the impoverished in these countries, typically do not have a fair chance to make something of their lives, ever; because the wealth of the mighty and powerful, is often directly or indirectly based upon their continued exploitation, injustice, and oppression of the poor and defenseless, for the expressed benefit of those that make up the oligarchy.

No country can vibrantly survive long, when the lion's share of the wealth is concentrated in just a few hands, and of which in order to maintain their privileged status, those that are the oligarchy, have to rely more and more on discriminatory policing actions as well as an oppressive justice system to keep the people in their place.  Further, when those elites put forth policies that effectively negate the people's voice, so that a democracy is not really a democracy, and thereby all issues of import, are always decided in favor of those that control the purse, then such a country as that, has deliberately turned its back upon the balancing so needed, in order to make good and conscientious decisions, and thereby will inevitably reap what it has so improvidently sown.

The fundamental problem with any oligarchy is that it becomes so enamored with what is good for their selfish selves, that it fundamentally forgets and dismisses all those sensible and dissenting voices, and by ignoring that which is reason, to feather their own nest, again and again, there comes that time when nary a soul upon the watchtower so bothers to read the ominous signs, and by the time those privileged elites do recognized the dire seriousness of the problem, it's far too late, for the whole edifice in its entirety, is caught in a fiery conflagration of its own hubris' making.

Matthew 6: 34

We read in Holy Scripture: "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6: 34).  The whole point of this esteemed wisdom is to help us to remember that each of us should make it our point to stay focused upon the here and now, rather than dwell upon the past, which cannot be changed; nor upon the future, which cannot be known for a certainty. 

While it is important to own what we have done in our past actions, that recognition should be primarily utilized so as to improve our behavior and demeanor in the present, as well as to take to heart those lessons so learned.  On the other hand, many people, spend an inordinate amount of time, worrying about the future, and thereby that constant worry, affects them in a negative way in the present, of which, many of those things that we are prone to worry about, never even come to pass, or if they do, such an event is usually not nearly as catastrophic as previously feared.

This doesn't indicate that we shouldn't plan for the future, or that we shouldn't have goals that we endeavor to work towards, but rather this indicates that in order to achieve anything of substance, requires that such can only be accomplished by that which is so done in the ever present, and as long as we stay focused, driven, and on the straight and narrow, so that we thereby keep our ear always to the grindstone, then  the efforts that we put forth each day will ultimately bring us closer to that which we desire strongly for and yearn for.  After all, we do not simply become what we what to be, in a single day, but we do get there, day-by-day, as long as we keep our nerve, our concentration, and our purpose clearly in our mind and in our deeds, and endeavor that we shall never give up, daily.

So too, many people spend way too much time, second guessing themselves, and constantly will not let go of negative thoughts, and perceived negative outcomes; without seeming to understand that the way to live a successful life has a lot more to do with taking the time to measure that which needs to be measured, and if necessary doing such twice or even more, before thereby making the cut, which thereby represents the visible result of the preliminary thoughtful work so accomplished, beforehand.  In other words, to overcome worry, one needs to be more diligent about addressing daily that which should be addressed in order to achieve or to have that good chance of success, thereof.

So then, there are only twenty-four hours in a given day, of which each of us has mandatory responsibilities that must be dealt with constructively on that day; so that when provided with the opportunity to think and to contemplate, it behooves us to concentrate on that which is the most important issue of that day, so that we can best tackle and overcome that which is right in front of us, and thereby not worry about that which is not, and may not ever be.

The why of lynching

Thousands of black men, of which, probably the great majority of such, were innocent of whatever dubious offense that they were alleged to have perpetrated, were lynched after the conclusion of the civil war and the years thereafter, till such eventually fell out of favor to a more "civilized" nation, by the 1950s until the present age.  While one might think that the purpose of a given lynching, was to bring "mob justice" to a miscreant; in fact, the real purpose of lynching was not so much that, or even to allegedly protect the virtue of the white southern woman, but mainly such was done by those that were no respecters of the law, with the main objective of this primitive act being to thoroughly terrorize and to intimidate black people of that local community.

After all, in recognition that though the white man in many southern communities represented all of the money, all of the justice, and all of the guns in that community, they were still in total, often physically outnumbered by those blacks so freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, and hence these blacks, now free, were no longer enslaved to the white man.  Further to the point, the white man was never going to easily tolerate the black man having any sort of equal standing with them, no matter what the federal law so said, and thereupon southern white men were inclined to find any sort of pretense whatsoever, to keep the black man in their place, by arbitrarily abusing them and then publically hanging them.  So too, it was important to those white men effecting that extrajudicial justice, that the black man be publically humiliated so as to send a clear and unequivocal message to all those blacks that were part of that community, that the white man was, judge, jury, and the literal executioner of them.

The era of lynching was not an era in which the white man had to shy away from what and who he really was, but rather was an opportunity instead, to prove that though the white southern man, may have lost the war, he had not lost the power to keep those that were formerly his slaves, effectively, under his oppressive thumb, of which, all those blacks that played by the white man's rules, by thereby paying obeisance to that white man at all times and under all circumstances, along with subservient blacks not complaining about being cheated by that white man, were typically permitted to have their place, especially if they were able to contribute to the powers-to-be of that community by their labor; whereas, those "uppity" blacks, or those that were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, suffered the most undignified and the most unjust of deaths.

The full purpose of these public lynching's, was to send a clear message not just to the blacks of the community, that their literal life and death was in the hands of these extrajudicial domestic terrorists, but also to send a message to the whites of that community, that they too must fall in line, and thereby forsake any sort of progressive or liberal thinking, for the only law that really matter back then was that which was practiced by those that brokered no dissent from that of which they did with impunity.

The Socialist Party of America

In today's America, while there are actually a multitude of political parties, there are, in fact, only two political parties that matter, and these two parties effectively control national, state, and local election politics.  While there may yet come a time when a viable third party comes to fruition in America, again; in recent decades, the only time that any other political party has been relevant, has always been based around a specific, particular candidate, such as George Wallace, or H. Ross Perot, as compared to the political party, that those candidates are running under, proper.

Incredibly, in 1912, Eugene Debs, in a Presidential run as the Socialist Party of America's candidate, garnered nearly 1 million votes, which was good enough for 6% of the national vote, in which the winner, Woodrow Wilson, received less than 42% of that national vote.  As important as Debs run was, it should be noted, that in the 1910s there were two Socialist candidates that won office as United States Representatives.  Additionally, as reported by Wikipedia.com, during this time period, "…dozens of state legislators, more than a hundred mayors, and countless lesser officials…" were elected, that were members of the Socialist Party. 

All of the above, makes the very salient point, that certain elements within this society, have for an extended period of time, been frustrated with the capitalistic system as practiced in America, in which, quite clearly, there are a few outsized winners, that benefit themselves along with their ilk; while leaving a substantial portion of Americans with little or nothing to hold onto, and thereby a desire by those so left out to be part of a political system that would properly allow them to have some semblance of a life, in which those that work diligently would be able to thereby harvest fairly what they have duly sowed.  So too, typically unrecognized, is that those that are the richest amongst us, , far too often, have obtained that money and power, by virtue of their ruthless exploitation of others, favoritism, connections, and the gaming of the system, to favor their interests at the expense of the general public. 

The bottom line is that the people, in whole, are not stupid, and recognize implicitly as well as explicitly that the system as practiced in this country is wholly unfair.  Again and again, the change so promised to those people, never comes to bear, and therefore, in absence of any toehold of significance in this nation, they gravitate to that which supports the common man in achieving noteworthy goals of owning something of significance, as well as having enough self-sufficiency, to be able to be their own person.

Those political candidates of today that appeal to socialistic credos, will continue to have their relevancy, because the underclass of America is now, and has been, dismissed and marginalized for so long, that such is itching to have their fair day in this country of supposed liberty and opportunity.  In a nation, in which each person of age is entitled to one vote, there is only so long that a small minority can successfully rule the roost, without such a country devolving into a de facto police state.  Those that are socialist today in their sentiments are in harmony with those that were socialist back then, because each of these people desires a life worth living, and this of all countries, should be able to fairly provide that for its entire people.

John 14: 26

We read in Holy Scripture: "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you." (John 14: 26)  The reason that our Messiah spoke those words was to make known to his disciples, and thereby to the world, that our visualization of Jesus the Christ was meant for our expressed benefit, and that his absence, soon to come, of his physical form, should not be a worry to anyone, for the Holy Spirit, will ever be amongst us.

In so many people's minds, they believe that the beginning of everything is the birth of, for example, a given person, and that therefore it so follows, that the end of everything is the death of that which was born.  This is true only to the extent that it is the truth for that which is physical; but it has never been true and never will be true for that which is spirit.  Further to the point, it is a foundational error to see ourselves exclusively as physical beings, of which, even the most cursory of thinkers, must recognize that the nature of thinking is not physical, and of which the brain that each one of us has, is not the originator of thoughts, but merely the sophisticated instrument that allows our thoughts to be expressed through our physical embodiment.

So too, though many wonder why Christ was born in such a relatively primitive age, and of which that time in history did not allow for mass communications and the ease of travel so readily done in today's world; those thinking that, are fundamentally missing the point, for there never was a time when Christ did not exist, and never will there be a time when Christ will not exist, for Christ is indeed that which is indestructible, unchangeable, and immortal; or else His mission here on earth had no real abiding purpose.  To understand the crucifixion, one needs to also understand the resurrection and also later, Christ's ascension, of which, that passion story in its unity, should clearly indicate to us, that Christ was not subject to the laws of time -- as we understand it here on earth, and further that Christ was in essence, not His physical body, but was ever Holy Spirit.

This thus signifies that Christ has not only never left us, but that Christ has always been with us and always will be, and therefore it is our responsibility, to find that Holy Spirit, so that we will be taught the most important things that we need to know, and therefore by our learning, help our fellow brethren in their journey on this earthly plane; for all those that do not really know who they are, are lost, and those that are lost, are subject to suffering all the ill effects of a life without purpose or of a life consisting far too often of confusion and missteps.  After all, if we do not know who we really are, how is it that we can hope to conduct ourselves in a manner that is beneficial for ourselves as well as for others?  Fortunately, the Holy Spirit is there for all of those that sincerely wish to search inside for such, for God ever leaves us the opportunity for enlightenment, so as to fully dispel the darkness and delusion that we so often find ourselves seemingly transfixed by.

Stock returns and GDP rates do not correlate

The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate represents the goods and services so provided by the subject country, as compared to the amount so produced, the previous year.  The stock return in a given country reflects the biggest and most stable of those publically traded companies' price appreciation, in regards to the previous stock return of such, on a yearly basis.  One would logically think that the GDP of a nation should essentially mirror the stock returns of that nation, since the more goods and services produced should be indicative of better business for publically held stocks, in aggregate, but this isn't the case really at all.  For instance, as reported by wealthsimple.com, since the inception of the Dow Jones Index in 1896, until May 25, 2018, the average annual return of this index has been 5.42%.  Yet, the last time that the USA had GDP growth of at least 5.42%, was all the way back in 1984!  This then, indicates that GDP growth and stock market returns do not act harmoniously, one with another.

While pundits will claim all of the time that the stock market is forward looking, it is hard to fathom, that the market as such, is so forward looking that it can't ever seemingly recognize the obvious, which is that the United States will not ever be able to produce again, a growth rate of 5% or beyond.   So too, it would be one thing, if the yearly dividends so being provided to stockholders of record, (that is the monetary yield so provided to investors for owning the stock), was at such a substantial percentage that it made sense for people to invest in stocks, in order to receive those dividends; but in actuality the stock dividend yield, in aggregate, has been in steady decline over recent decades, so that those that simply own equities, in order to receive dividends so as to augment their income, must either invest specifically in those industries that have high yields, such as utilities, or Real Estate Investment Trusts, or find themselves having to live with yields which typically are below 1.5% or lower, or non-existent.

It would appear that no matter what the given GDP is of a nation, that the stock market seems to have a mind of its own, and in recognition that the investors that invest in stocks, are entitled to purchase whatever stock that they so fancy, and pay whatever price, per their discretionary choice; that it is fairer to state that investing in stocks, is more akin to speculation -- for the game seems to be played, more often than not, with one very simple rule and mindset, which seems to reflect that a given investment is good, not so much because of the stock's intrinsic value and worth, but rather it is good, when the price goes up.

The purchasing of stocks may perhaps be an art, or it may perhaps be something as simple as buying a given stock in the sole hope that somebody else will "value" it even higher, and will therefore buy it at a higher price, of which, money is thereby made, at least on paper, and the thought is that this will go on, forever.  The thing is, stock prices should reflect something of substance, and the less grounded stock prices are to the things that are germane to such, the less safe those investments will be.

Endless wars and the governmental misuse of public funds

America insists upon getting itself involved in every single global conflict that it can become involved in, and never seemingly ever says "no" when provided with a choice as to whether or not to continue its endless meddling in foreign affairs, that often are far, far away from its native land.  Not only do these wars exact a cost in human lives so lost, human psyches damaged, infrastructure destroyed, and the continuous making of more and more enemies, it also serves to extract from the public purse a gargantuan amount of funds just to pay for these needless wars.  For instance, as reported in 2013 by military.com, "The U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will cost taxpayers between $4 trillion and $6 trillion, a study by a Harvard researcher said."  In fact, this presupposed that the Afghanistan war would have been terminated sometime soon after 2013, but as of 2020, this war still continues, and therefore the expenses and commitment to such, still increases by the day.

The amount of money so projected to be spent by this government on just these two wars, would be one thing, if the public purse was always full, and the domestic population always completed satisfied and content with their lot, but that is clearly not the case; in addition to the salient fact that there are ethical considerations that must be taken into account, when human beings, classified as soldiers, thereby through the guise of their military adventures or misadventures, deliberately kill other human beings, who are conveniently classified as being de facto enemy combatants; though, in actuality, the sheer amount of innocent civilians killed as well as civilian infrastructure so destroyed, are sadly tragically high, though often excused away through the misuse of semantic words, such as being labeled as mere peripheral damage.

In the consideration that money matters, and that where money is so spent and utilized is always relevant to those that populate this country, it is a grave error that America has consistently misspent that money on behalf of destroying, killing, and damaging foreign lands and their people, in the misguided belief that such is done for the benefit and protection of Americans.  Rather, when there are millions upon millions of Americans that live below the poverty line and do not know where their next meal is coming from, or have safe shelter, or have good healthcare, or even have fair access to a decent education; and further where there are millions upon millions of Americans that work hard and diligently but do not earn enough to make a living wage, in which they could then thereby garner some well deserving self-respect, we have instead stolen those very important accouterments from the very people that need it the most, our native citizens, so as to pursue instead to the ends of this world, imagined enemies, of which these foreign targets are sold to Americans as being a clear and present danger, to us.

The real clear and present danger to us, is how long this country can well exist, when it has created unto itself a huge seismic fracture, between those that have, and those have not, and of which those that have -- have proceeded to turned out the light of liberty on those that have not, and replaced it instead with the falsity of a promised land, that never does come, because the very monies and infrastructure so needed for such, has been spent instead upon the killing fields of those foreign lands, far, far, away.

The Republic Party Platform and domestic jobs

In 1972, the Republican Party Platform stated: "We deplore the practice of locating plants in foreign countries solely to take advantage of low wage rates…  We will take action to discourage such unfair and disruptive practices that result in the loss of American jobs."  Yet, when we fast forward nearly fifty years since those important statements were made, clearly, we see that the Republican party has completely disowned those patriotic sentiments to be replaced instead with the corporate pursuit of profit, above all, and therefore subsequently the millions of good American jobs so lost, in order to thereby fill the coffers of multinational companies with extraordinary profits, utilizing, quite frequently, the cheap labor rates and easy environment regulations that foreign countries offer, in order to feed those foreign lands with desirable capital investment from those multinational companies.

Sure, plenty of Americans are employed, but far too often, the jobs that Americans are employed at, are skimpy in their pay, derelict in providing good and affordable healthcare, delinquent in providing a full and steady forty hours of week for employees, and abusive in dictating to their workers the hours, days, and times that their employees are mandated to work.  The bottom line is that people need money in order to survive in this country, and with labor unions essentially eviscerated by the powers-to-be, then those so seeking work, are often left to take what they can take, or simply have no work at all; of which, the bottom line is that millions of hard working and dedicated employed Americans, are considered not to be worthy of being paid a living wage.

When one's own country determines that its own people should not and do not deserve a fair opportunity to make a living wage, but instead insists that the biggest and most powerful corporations that rule the roost, are entitled to make their profit first and foremost, any way that they so desire and thereby without any constraints placed upon them; then by permitting these corporations to have their way, the end result can only be catastrophic for a wide swath of Americans, while primarily being of benefit to only those that are within the inner circle of those multinationals, along with those that finance them.

Look, it doesn't take a genius to understand that the wages so having to be paid within third world nations are going to be a fraction of what such wages would necessitate in the United States, and further that the necessary environmental laws which are required so that corporations are thereby compelled to take into proper consideration, that they have an ethical responsible to be a good steward of this earth, can more easily be circumvented in those nations that are not strong and vibrant democracies, for they are instead typically autocratic in nature and often corrupt.

All political parties make promises, but in this particular case, we can see that fundamentally the Republican party has sold out its fellow countrymen, so as to serve and pay full obeisance to those multinational companies, and in return for doing so, well placed politicians and well placed individuals are the beneficiaries of such; so that these select people, are able to thereby live high on the hog, whereas many of their domestic brethren, humbly feed at the limited trough of despair and loss.

Regulation and corporations

One might think that corporations as a general rule would despise rules and regulations, as an interference to their domain, and especially those so generated by the government in order to protect consumers with robust consumer laws, or laws written thereby so as to promote corporate fairness, to thereby help level the playing field so that businesses do not subsequently become monopolistic in structure, all in effect, to punish corporations that end up providing, inadvertently or not, products and services which are ultimately harmful or unfair to that society.  In fact, the above is a general truth; yet, what has occurred in this modern age with all sorts of rules, regulations, and laws that have come into existence through legislative acts, is that, more times than not, those corporations are the hidden hand that guides the very rules, regulations, and laws so enacted.

That is to say, some of the most powerful and biggest corporations, make it their point to see that rules, regulations, and laws are specifically written as a way to not put shackles upon their business; but rather, instead, to place barriers upon all those other would-be competitors or start-ups that somehow have the gumption to want to compete on some sort of level playing field with them; in addition, to thereby also creating legislation that highly favors the biggest industry players when it comes to any sort of product litigation.  In other words, corporations are delighted to work under rules and regulations, when those rules and regulations are either heavily influenced by that particular corporation, or in actual fact, written by them.

So then, the public is deceived in their credulous belief when the rules and regulations that have been put into place by their legislative representatives, ostensibly to serve their interests, has often instead been co-opted by specific corporations so that these corporations are effectively thereby able to strangle those other companies that are attempting to compete against them.  Further, these corporations make it their point to see that litigation, such as it comes, is heavily skewed to favor those deep pocket corporations, at the expense of all those little people that somehow have the gall to actually oppose them and thereby to seek justice in a court of law.

This thus means, that the very instruments that have been created by legislatures as a necessary means to assure the general public that there are controls in place, to protect the people, the environment, and their pocketbook, from all the various forms of corporate malfeasance and misbehavior, is often ineffective in what it has set out to do; basically because the most influential corporations have taken virtual control of the narrative, and have thereby declawed and defanged that which was meant to have the attacking power to confront and to thereby effectively regulate them.

The bottom line is that when the most powerful and biggest corporations get their way, they often become blinded to any sort of social duty that they owe to that society which has permitted their artificial and privileged creation in the first place.  Instead, in their relentless pursuit of profit, above all, they often become predators and exploiters which primarily provide an enormous benefit to those that are the corporate chieftains as well as to the most influential financiers behind them, all at the expense of fairness, justice and the people.

Public policy and the people

As reported at pnhp.org, "Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence."  This should rightly be seen as fundamentally upsetting and unsettling to all those that believe that this is a country of the people, by the people, and for the people.  Rather, it clearly seems to be a country that favors those that are the economically privileged as well as the business interests that make sure that the legislation so passed favors their interests, all to the exclusion of the general public, in whole.

Of course, nothing of this should be much of a surprise, because the majority of the very people that populate our legislatures, the executive office, and the interpreters of the law, are often those that are privileged, themselves; as well as those that have deliberately left private industry for governmental "service", often for the expressed purpose to game the system so as to favor the very industry that they so left.  Still, just because that is the way that things currently are, does not mean that it is right, and further does not mean that it should stay the same as it currently is, but rather should be properly seen as an outrage upon the people, for this government is supposed to not only faithfully serve the people, in whole; but, in order for that government to be of a legitimate service to the people, it must be just, and a government that favors the few and connected at the expense of the public, is certainly not just.

Unfortunately, it would seem that having the right connections with important governmental officials, as well as having the monetary means to influence such, appears to be the playbook that works, time and time, again.  That is why, it is so important that governmental business should be as transparent and as public as possible, for those that sway public policy prefer to take care of that sort of business, outside the public purview, for they know that the more that they are exposed for who and what they really are, the more difficult and expensive it becomes to achieve their biased goals and agendas. 

So too, a free and independent press is absolutely essential to keeping any democracy, fairly informed and engaged.  However, when that mainstream press is in cahoots with those economic elites and business interests, then they are promoters of the very agenda that favors those forces, against the people.  Regrettably, to a very large extent, the mainstream press is fundamentally controlled by specific business interests that put on the façade that they so disseminate all the news that is germane to the public, in a fair and unbiased manner, but in actuality, they don't.

Further to the point, the general public has to work for a living, and therefore typically are lacking in the time, money, as well as the resources to effectively monitor their governmental representatives; so that, they often take things on faith, as opposed to carrying out a proper due diligence.  That is why, it is so distressing that those that ostensibly are democratically elected so as to responsibly represent the people, are so often, nothing of the sort, but rather are in it for themselves, and further are often compromised, by those elites and business interests.

The physical body is not eternal, your soul is

Plenty of people get so caught up in this material world that they do not even consider, let alone recognize, that they have an eternal soul; but rather spend all of their time and energy, doing what they can do to enjoy or to get the best that they can get, from their life so lived upon this earthly dimension.  Then there are those that are ostensibly Christian, that conduct their lives in such a manner that they seemingly care much more about what they have, and their needs for their body, then they do about the destiny and the development of their spiritual being.

Of course, one's physical body has demands that do progressively become more demanding, when that body is denied the very things of sustenance that are needed to sustain itself, as well as to live with some degree of comfort.  That is to say, those who lack fair access to and thereby are lacking in food, in water, in shelter, and in healthcare, are going to feel incredibly vulnerable, and often aren't going to be appreciably susceptible to spiritual concerns, until they are secure with their bodily needs.  That shouldn't be considered to be all that surprising, because most people self-identify with their body and because our physical body has needs, and our mind understands well those needs, many people are going to rightly stress out about all those aspects of life in which they feel that they are in danger of losing, or have lost, those things which are necessary to live a physically sustainable life.

While all of these concerns have their place, even those that have what appears to be a sustainable situation in regards to income, wealth, and position, are still prone to stressing out about the ravages of time and how their body, as good as it may currently be, will, after so many years, begin to disappoint them to the degree that they know that their physical life will meet its inevitable end.  That is to say, no matter how blessed a given person has been with physical gifts, this will be subject for all people to the ravages of time, and a destiny of which was obviously known from the beginning.

So that, those that overly concern themselves about their physical presence, to the dismissal of that which is eternal, have indeed overvalued greatly that which has a limited and finite worth, for that which has an incalculable value.  Of course, we should try to do our best to treat our bodies well, and to the extent that we can reasonably do so, we should provide the nourishment and comfort for such on a sustainable basis for as long as we can accomplish such.  However, it must also be recognized that to devote an inordinate amount of time to all things, physical, and to concern our mind only about those things that are essentially for the benefit of our physical needs, is often to preclude from our mind, our true identity, which is not physical in nature, but spiritual.  If more people, would realize that our physical body is merely the vessel for our spiritual, and thereby would properly concentrate far more on developing their spiritual side, in the wisdom that the eternal is rightly of immensely more importance than the temporal, our world would be better for it, and our soul would thereby grow its way back to that which lovingly sustains it.

Christmas has not always been celebrated in America

The biggest and most anticipated holiday in America, is clearly, Christmas, of which plenty of children look forward to it eagerly and typically in anticipation of gifts; whereas parents and other family members more often look upon it as an opportunity to get together with friends and family so as to share their faith and their love one with another.  So that, it seems to be the quintessential American holiday, celebrating friends, family, generosity, hearth, good will, and the birth of Jesus the Christ.  Yet, there are mainstream religions of the Christian faith that do not observe Christmas, not because they do not believe in Christ, but rather, because they do believe in Christ; and in that belief, find it more sincere to be Christian by being of service to their fellow mankind, every day of the year, as opposed to celebrating such in a commercial way, or to participate in a holiday which has clear pagan origins.

So that, there was a time when Christmas was not celebrated in America, because it was viewed rather dimly as being a combination of the midwinter celebration for non-Christians, which subsequently co-opted the birth of Christ so as to be on the same day; despite the fact that in all likelihood, Christ was not actually born on the 25th of December, and further his birth was not noted as being annually celebrated in the Scriptures so written after his death and resurrection.  Additionally, there was a time in certain communities of America when the celebration of Christmas was forbidden by law, because those that passed that law saw Christmas as such, as an actual apostasy to the Christian religion.  Also, one of the greatest military victories of the revolutionary era was when Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware river, on the evening of December 25th, knowing the Hessian troops that they would face, would have celebrated Christmas, and would therefore be more than likely, unprepared or less prepared for a surprise military attack, which was successfully achieved by the brave American revolutionary forces.

Nowadays, few people are concerned about the origins of Christmas, and typically believe that such has always been celebrated and commemorated, though perhaps a bit more commercial in today's modern age, then in yesteryear, but fundamentally the same as it always has been.  Though this is not true, what is important for those that truly wish to celebrate Christmas, is to recognize that those that have the Christian spirit, or wish to represent such, should see the Christmas season as an opportunity to represent well the qualities that were propagated when Jesus the Christ was here on this earthly plane, which is to treat our neighbor as our own, to love our God, to be patient, kind, forbearing, considerate, truthful, courageous, generous, and just in all that we do.

So then, Christmas should best be seen, as a time for us to see Christ in the eyes of all human beings, with the implicit understanding that we are all children of the exact, same God; and that it is our duty, to go forth and thereby help to make this world a better place, for our having been here, by doing all the good that we can for as many as we can and for as long as we can, so help us God.

Trade deficits and money

The United States Commerce department reported that America's trade deficit for 2019, was $616.8 billion. This thus signifies that America imported far more goods from various countries in this world then it was able to sell to those other countries, of which, no single country had a  higher trade deficit than the United States, and the United States has consistently run a trade deficit each and every year, of this 21st century.  So that, in essence America trades its dollars for goods, which might even seem like a smart and sensible thing to do, for something of tangible value has been received for those dollars so spent; yet, recognize that another way of looking upon these constant trade deficits -- is that America helps to keep other countries and their businesses operating at a higher capacity and thus favors by the expenditure of their dollars the industries of foreign countries over their own domestic companies, which thereby means that less Americans are employed, and that there are less opportunities for good and stable employment for Americans, in whole.

The richness of a given nation could, in theory, be judged upon which nation purchases and thereby consumes the most goods; but in actuality, the richness of a given nation really comes down to who sells the most products to other countries, because that nation that has the highest trade surplus is a country that is typically on the right side of good economic growth and further is on the right side of saving that money so earned by their sales, so as to provide that country and its people with more flexibility, more opportunity, and the accumulation of wealth, going forward.  Whereas, those countries in which what they have bought exceeds what they have sold, have, in principle, drawn down their savings so as to purchase something today, as opposed to saving what they have, for something else, tomorrow, and are thereby limiting their flexibility, their opportunity, and  are compromising their wealth.

Fortunately, for the United States, the reserve currency for the entire world is the United States dollar.  This signifies that the go-to currency for business transactions for companies as well as for nation-states is typically the dollar, and because transactions throughout the world are primarily done with those dollars, this gives the United States, a tremendous and unique advantage over all the other nations, combined; for this means that the largest financial institutions of America, are able to extract their small fee for those transactions, from both buyer as well as seller, from one country to another, for providing the liquidity as well as for their reliance upon the historic stability of the dollar.  So then, trade deficits, from the perspective of the financial world, is not something that they are especially concerned about, for the more business so generated, the more profit there is to be had, and that therefore supersedes any concern that these financial institutions might have about domestic trade deficits.

Yet, when the business of America, switches from being one of what is good for those that are the domestic industries of America and thereby their exports; and is replaced by a mantra of what is good only for the financial sector, so that the apparent chief export of America becomes the dollar, in all of its many forms, then that sole dependency upon that dollar is subject to the suffering of having too many of the same goods in that one basket, and because of America's lack of diversification, as well as its inability to correct its trade balance, this will leave a lot of Americans, ill prepared for the real hard times that lay ahead, for all those that consume much more than they produce.