Money and Aging

The five richest nations in the world are by GDP: the United States, China, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.  Excepting China, each of these countries that are rich by GDP has been near or at their current position for at least two generations, but each of these countries, including China, are aging populations, in which, each of these countries, has less than 25% of their population that are currently under the age of eighteen, whereas countries such as Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, amongst many other African nations, are extremely young, with 50% or above of their population less than the age of 18, and India, soon to become the most populous nation in the world, has just over 40% of their population that are under the age of 18.  In a nutshell, the youngest countries have an abundance of labor that will be available for work as compared to the richer and more mature nations that have an abundance of capital primarily in the hands of an aging population.

This would signify that going forward, in a globalized world, that labor costs, over and above the impact of the rise of the machines, hi-technology, and robots, will continue to be quite favorable to those that control capital, and will therefore be quiescent, additionally, the material needs of those that have the money and are aging are fundamentally different from the needs of those that are young, indicating that rather than a desire for more things, their desire may be better defined as continued good health.  This would indicate that there is a coming divide between those that have the money but have a significantly reduced need for material goods as compared to those that are laboring and simply want to make enough money so as to buy material goods along with attaining good shelter.

In any country, it is the youth, that is the most dynamic, the most energetic, the hardest to satisfy and the hardest to mollify, so that, if these labor resources are underutilized with future growth and opportunity being perceived as truncated, domestic insurrection and disruptions are often the result of such, with the corresponding repression and retaliation from governmental military and paramilitary forces.  All of this is especially exacerbated when domestic labor and domestic industries of younger nations are co-opted or upset by the forces of richer nations that export in goods that have been subsidized in one form or another by their governmental fiat, so as to satisfy their interests, and to increase their profits and their desires.

If, younger nations, end up being dominated by older nations, than in substance and in action, these younger nations will not be given a fair opportunity to develop themselves into strong, independent countries, but instead will see their material assets as well as their best and brightest extracted for an unfair price to those that have the excess of capital as well as power that will allow them to do so.  The advantage that rich countries in a globalized world have is that because they control the money, it places them in the enviable position of access to a labor pool that must work or suffer the ill consequences of idle hands, and thereby unjustly are able to suppress wages and opportunities for the ultimate benefit of the few.

Social Welfare and Social Control

America has a wonderful Constitution as well as an enlightening and inspired Declaration of Independence, in which, if the legislators, the judicial branch, and the executive office, actually paid attention to the spirit and principal of these seminal documents, this country would indeed be a different and far fairer place.  However, the truth of the matter is that America has entrenched vested interests that will cede no ground, which are extremely powerful and duplicitous in their ways.  These institutions are gifted at putting together words and even policies that seem fair, reasonable, and equal on paper, but in application they are anything but.  In point of fact, incomes, employment opportunities, education, healthcare, housing, are widely divergent in America, to wit, some people are dealt such a poor starting hand, that they really have no opportunity, whereas others are given a marked deck, assuring them of both present as well as future prosperity.

Take, for instance, our social welfare programs, begun essentially with vigor during FDR's "new deal", and reinvigorated during LBJ's "great society".  You would think that with all of these programs, all of these geniuses running such programs, and all of the wealth that America has, that in America, poverty, would simply not exist, and opportunity, would be abundant for all seeking such, but this isn't close to the truth.  Further to the point, the American power brokers have determined, that because there are so few, that have so much, and so many, that have so little, that in order to control those at the bottom, without actually making it rather obvious that they are using the awesome force of the state to do so, social welfare programs are in the evolution of fundamental change that will essentially take care of controlling the masses, by providing them with basic human needs in return for their good and compliant cooperation with the state.

This government, literally hands out billions upon billions of dollars on social welfare, in which the most important cut is to the very people that coordinate and implement it, with the implicit understanding that their continued cooperation with state goals and state desires, must be their first objective, so that, their main concern is not actually service to their constituents, but in actually, obedience to the state, in order to maintain their middle-class life and status.  In contrast, the recipients of social welfare, are being pushed more and more and boxed into a quid pro quo basis, that is to say, as long as they are willing and actually do perform their duties and obligations per convoluted governmental regulations and confusing paperwork they will continue to receive their benefits but if not or if targeted, they will be subject to investigation, or sanctioning, which will result in the loss of the very benefits that they need in order to live.  This means, in actuality, visits at their place of residency are at the state's discretion, random drug testing at the state's discretion, child welfare judged at the state's discretion, questioning and the nature of the questioning at the state's discretion, visitation rights from ex-felons at the state's discretion, and if you are arrested for civil unrest or whatever, continued social welfare support at the state's discretion.

Basically, the state wants to make it clear to those dependent upon social welfare, that the only behavior that they find acceptable, is obeisance to the state, no matter how arbitrary or unfair, in the belief that the threats and reality of taking away the bread and circuses of everyday life will keep the masses: dumb, uninformed, compliant, and controlled.

What is greatness?

Most everyone fantasizes at least at some point, at being great, or at least being considered to be great by their peers and contemporaries, in which, some actively work at achieving this, whereas others do little or nothing to promote such.  The ones that try to be great, have a few avenues to do so, such as working diligently at their craft so as to be the best that they can be at accomplishing their work, so that, their skills are utilized in such a manner so as to benefit well their fellow man.  Then there are those that aren't necessarily great at anything in particular, but have a skill, desire, and concern that allow them to interact with others in a manner that brings out positive and beneficial attributes in those contacts, making those people, much better for such an interaction.

That said, seldom is a great man or woman, someone that sets themselves apart from the common man, in which, they live in a self-imposed category that places them above mankind, perhaps legitimately, perhaps not, in which their brilliance is evident to all, but with also the distinct impression that what they have and what they are about is not repeatable by anyone else.  While it is fairly easy to appreciate such magnificence on display, if it is unobtainable by anyone else, this creates a division, between that person and everyone else, which seems to imply that great people are not the same as those that are not great.

In point of fact, the truly great people, have a burning desire to see that what they have accomplished, that what they are about, is something that is readily available and can be taught to all, that it can and should be shared so as to benefit mankind, not on the other hand, for the accolades and credit to be just directed to that one person.  Greatness isn't about tribute; it's about making the world better for you having pursued your studies and applied yourself in such a manner so as to bring real benefits to those that you interact with as well as an opportunity for other people to build upon and thereby improve the same foundation that has been created.

So too, not everyone initially is cut out for greatness, for greatness is a continual process, which simply cannot be accomplished overnight, even if it appears to be an instant epiphany to some.  You will recognize greatness not so much by the objective proof that is shown or demonstrated to you, but instead by the virtue of someone that is considerate, mindful, positive, encouraging, inspirational, dedicated, and devoted, so that within that interaction, you will feel invigorated into becoming a more grateful and a more complete person, yourself.     

A truly great person makes you want to be the best that you can be, wants you to live up to your potential, wants to see you break away from the bad habits that have held you back, and thereby to create new habits and desires which will take you to greater places than you have previously not obtained.  True greatness is a touchstone that you can come back to again and again, which re-energizes you, helps to focus you, and makes you the person that you always knew deep inside that you should actually be.

Life and Death: Two sides of the very same coin

In America, the celebration of newborn life is almost always a very positive occasion, with much joy and love, yet, the inevitable death of the physical, is often accompanied by much wailing and copious tears, as if somehow, death is the end of all things, but it is surely not.  We need only take a look at the flora and fauna of everyday life, to see, that life consists of a circle or a cycle, of life, death, and rebirth, again and again and again.  We should take comfort in this, as well as taking the knowledge, that a life lived well, is a life that has embraced as well as enhanced the positives of this earthly experience and hence those that depart this world under those circumstances, often do so in peace.

Within the structure of any story, a beginning must inevitably have an end, so that to be surprised by such an end or to be distraught that such an end must come, misses the point in the very first place that the temporal is not eternal and thus cannot ever be so.  On the other hand, when we acknowledge that our true self, is not physical but spiritual, we then recognize that the birth of a newborn into this world, necessitates the capturing of the spirit into its personal physical vessel, of which, some people, blinded by physical lures or urges will never be able to even acknowledge their spiritual essence, yet, recognized or not, the death of the physical is hence the release of the spiritual back into its First cause, or, it can be stated, its rebirth into what it has always been, unconstrained by earthly chains.

The peace and serenity that so many of us desire on this good earth is difficult to achieve, especially so if we are unable to comprehend that we all have been created by our selfsame Creator, who has gifted us with the opportunity to experience in the present: evil and good, redemption and forfeiture, all brought to us vividly onto the stage of this life, with each of us as its players, having our roles and parts to play.   It is thereby our highest duty to perform such in a manner that reflects well upon who and what we really are, so that having done so, we can exit the stage, knowing that we have performed admirably and thereby leaving the stage for others to ply their craft and to learn well their trade.

The mistake that so many make in what has so often become viewedor sold to us as the secular, western world, is to believe that one's existence, begins at birth, and that it then follows, that all is lost, upon one's death, which, if it was true, would certainly be the cause of much suffering and regret.  In point of fact, the physical must follow the laws of the physical as this cannot be overcome, so that in the recognition of this, it becomes incumbent upon each individual to search for the meaning of their own existence, in which they will ultimately find that serenity comes to those knowing that in the beginning, they were the Word, and this Word is immutable God, consisting of just one God and just one collective and united, eternal soul.

Slavery and Today's Incarceration Numbers

In 1800, the United States conducted its second census, in which, out of a population of about 5.3 million peoples, there were 893,602 slaves.  As of June 30, 2009, the amount of black inmates held in custody in either State or federal prisons, or local jails, was 905,800 peoples.  In addition, according to Wikipedia.com in 2013, a total of 4,751,400 adults in 2013 were on probation or parole, to wit, if those held on probation or parole, were essentially the same racial percentage as those incarcerated, than an additional 1,873,261 blacks were under the supervision of parole or probation officers, signifying that in total, approximately 2,779,061 blacks were either in custody in jail of some sort, or on probation/parole. 

This means, that there are significantly more blacks that are under the thumb of the justice system, today, with their freedom curtailed, than there were back in 1800, when slavery was legal in America.

While it is true, that the United States, has grown significantly in population since 1800, the fact that there are more blacks incarcerated, as well as more blacks under parole or probation, which in total well exceeds the amount of blacks previously held in the bondage of slavery, implies quite strongly, that while America was able to pass the thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery, it seems to have replaced it in fit, form, and function with a criminal justice system which puts an undue and unfair burden upon, in particular blacks, to seize their freedom, under the color of the law, so as to convict them of "crimes" and to thereby control their liberty, their happiness, and their lives.

America, must be held to the highest possible standard in the world, for this country, proclaims that it has been singularly blessed by God, yet, in its practice to its people, and specifically those that previously were brought into this country in involuntary servitude, the justice scorecard paints a rather bleak figure.  The elephant in the room is that while slavery is about many things, for instance, as representing vividly man's inhumanity to man, it specifically is also about controlling a man's freedom of enjoying rightly the fruits of one's toil so as to wrest the bread of that man's labor into the hands of he who labors not; whereas jail in all of its many guises, wrests a man's freedom, into the control of abureaucracy that will not allow those caught up into the system, to ever leave it as a truly liberated man, but instead to live as three-fifths of a man, if even that.

If this, the richest nation in the world, in fact, the richest nation in the history of all mankind, cannot seem to comprehend its own Declaration of Independence, cannot seem to comprehend its own Constitution, and thereby spits in the face of our Creator, by acting as if all men are not created equal, and that some men do not have unalienable rights, than the lamp that lights our golden door, is truly extinguished, and our complete ruin, our just due.

Once you're checked in you can never check out

The American jurisprudence system is unfair, unjust, and systematically misguided, in its treatment of those that become caught up into the system.  Especially disconcerting, is how for those that are on the receiving end of the injustice of America, is that once the process starts, it is seemingly endless and invasive in their lives.  After all, the most basic instinct that people, especially in America have, is to be free; free in their thoughts, free in their movements, free in the things that they desire to do, yet the criminal justice system is all about controlling and molding such freedom as if every crime, no matter how trivial, or how ultimately useless in principle, is punished, re-punished, and perpetually punished as if doing so is the highest good, which it is not.

For instance, most people, have little or no desire to spend any time whatsoever in jail, or prison, and so forth, thereby when presented with the opportunity to escape such through probation, they will willingly do so, but little do they know, that probation really is as practiced in America, like having sword of Damocles above their head, 24/7, no matter how inconsequential their so-called offence was in the first place. To live under the conditions of what some people must live under in order to adhere to their probation terms, can and does mean that they are subject to:  random probation visits at their place of residence, verified continual employment, restrictions of where and when they can travel, uncompensated community service, limits on whom they can have contact with, drug testing, alcohol testing, internet access restrictions, restitution payments to victims, and payments to governmental agencies for the privilege of being allowed to be on probation.

It is one thing to setup conditions that work with the person on probation so as to help, aid, and to supervise such, but it is an entirely different thing to have so many conditions, that have been imposed, that within the rules, regulations, and technicalities, it is difficult for anyone with a real life, to not be perceived as violating some part of it, at some point, and thereby be subject to incarceration or additional penalties or both.   To make matters worse, the very people in charge of compliance for probation conditions are hardly angels, themselves, in fact, they are part of the system, in which their continual employment, their continual growth, the whole jurisprudence infrastructure, needs and demands clients, and those that violate their probation, those that have are subject to additional fines, tests, and need for more supervision, assures those doing such supervision and monitoring of such, job security at the probationer's expense, literally.

When governmental officials are in essence, giving a green light, which allows them unlimited access to a person's private life under their discretion, as well as access to that person's body for testing for substances which have little or nothing to do with the crime or the welfare of society in general, and willingly imposes monetary fines, penalties, and charges for those that are struggling to keep their heads above water in the first place, those that are under such, are their prisoners.

Obedience and disobedience

In a very simple way, those that are in authority, whether they be the police, parents, school administrators, your boss, and so forth, ideally like for those that they engage with, to obey their orders without backtalk or questioning of them, but the fact of the matter is, unless your job literally is one of being a order taker such as a typically utilized soldier, people are not things, they are instead, independent sentient beings that are entitled to push back as well as to question actions that they are "required" to do, when they are ordered about, especially when the person doing such ordering isn't respected, isn't perceived as being right, and isn't their parental authority that at least provides them with shelter, love, and sustenance.

Too often we let politeness or getting along with others to overrule our sensibilities about what exactly we are being told to do, whereas, in fairness, we should have the ability and utilize the ability to question authority, to question its legitimacy, to question everything about it, not to necessarily be disruptive, or argumentative, or disobedient, but to understand the why of what they are trying to achieve at our expense or at our compliance.  After all, there are plenty of people in times of war, or of civil strife, that obey authoritarian commands or orders without taking into consideration exactly what they are doing, the ramifications and effects of such, and thereby their contribution to the very thing that they in reality may not morally or ethically respect or believe in.

It isn't so much that one needs to make a stand all of the time, about everything, it is more that those that yell, push us about, and scream at us to do this or do that, should have to justify the reasoning behind such orders, and should be able to calmly do so, as the volume of one's voice, the anger in one's persona, and the implied threat of physical violence, are not typically legitimate ways to achieve things of practical worth from those they are demanding such from. 

The art of civil disobedience should be deliberately and carefully thought out, and the reasoning behind such, is to impress upon those that have authority that they too must be held accountable for their actions, and cannot and should not be permitted to hide behind arbitrary law, or arbitrary orders, but must be able to and should be held accountable for what they are ordering us to do, just as they try to hold those civil dissenters accountable for their reluctance to do so.   Those that are being ordered about, have a moral and ethical obligation to fight back, often not physically, but through their strong stand that they will not be moved until the legitimacy of what is being asked of them has been thoroughly vetted and thereby justified, and if not, to resist such civil authority.

We don't really learn much of anything through obedience, because simply assenting to what is asked of us, is basically going with the flow of the river, which, while having its place and time in life is not what a living being is meant to do always, for the flotsam of life goes with the flow, whereas, as living cognizant beings, we are meant to swim against the flow, to assert ourselves, especially when those that are in authority are wrong; it thereby becomes our highest duty to protest and to instruct them of their error as well as to vividly remind them that legitimate authority always comes from a legitimate source, to wit, this source is by definition, fair, equitable, impartial, and immutable.

Our slavish devotion to our body and willful ignorance of our soul

Not too surprisingly, since we can see and feel our body, many people are convinced, and focused upon themselves as that physical presence that they see in front of their self, each and every day.  Making things even more complicated, even for fairly religious folk, is that the fact that it is well nigh impossible to ignore the physical body and its demands to be fed, to be cleansed, its need to be exercised, its desire to present itself in a positive manner, and its need to sleep, amongst many other duties.  All of the above is okay to a certain extent, as long as there is knowledge that we are not just our body, in point of fact, our body encases our soul, and our body that demands so much of our time and effort, is, by definition, temporal, and will eventually, sooner or later, be no more in this life, no matter how diligent or lack thereof we are in taking care of it.

So many people spend inordinate amounts of time in the taking care of or concerning indulgences of their body, which is fine and necessary to a certain extent, but they do this almost to the exclusion or ignorance of their own soul.  How hard is it to remember that the time that is spent with the treasures here on earth, that rust, that decay, that return to dust, will not travel with us upon our departure from this good earth, so that, if our lives reflect our slavish devotion to our body, while ignoring our spiritual needs and forgetting that we must nourish the most important part of our being, our soul, we will not have grown in this earthly incarnation, so that, for the most part, our soul, unrecognized by our focus upon bodily needs, will essentially become atrophied from this neglect.

While there is a lot to be said, or to even to be commended, for those that take care of their things that they have earned or have been gifted with, which would, of course, include one's body, still, to lose focus on the big picture in order to take care of the little picture, is to miss the forest for the trees.  Our holy scripture reminds us over and over again, to focus our attention on the things that are eternal and not therefore on the things that are temporal.  Our adventure here on earth, is to make life here on this planet, better for our having been here, but in order to do so, our concentration must extend far further than upon bodily needs and bodily desires, it must clearly embrace something that is both universal as well as truthful, which signifies that those that live as if their body is all that there ever will be, have veered off the straight and narrow path, and are thereby the lost sheep that need the good shepherd to bring them back into the fold.

We are spiritual beings, we have a soul, if this was not true, than the crucifixion of our Savior, would have rightly be seen as a tragic defeat, for Christ's material body did indeed die on Good Friday, yet, He rose in a re-constituted body to show physically that we are not the body, that we are instead, immortal beings, each with our own immortal soul.

Playboy and Social Mores

The first Playboy magazine came out in December, 1953, to which, back then, the social mores of this nation were significantly different than they are today, and truly that is a monumental understatement.  In 1953, pictures of young ladies in magazines that were topless, were not socially acceptable, in addition to the basic fact, that the amount of attractive young females even willing to have pictures taken of them, in which they were topless, was an incredibly low percentage, so that in the time of Playboy's inception, the pool of women that were willing to be photographed was very limited.  Yet, Hugh Hefner, the founder and publisher of Playboy, was able to over a period of time, prove that there was a market for a magazine like Playboy to exist, and that rather than be known for "dirty" pictures, would be able to present itself as a sophisticated fantasyland of pretty woman, along with providing good literature, meaningful commentary of current events, and so forth to create a magazine persona that had not existed in the open before.

Nowadays, with pornography so prevalent and seemingly every possible angle of human sexuality available at the touch of a finger, Playboy looks as if it is out of style, out of touch, and irrelevant, but to get there was a process that involved a fundamental change in the viewpoint of provocative pictures, laws in regards to the publication and displaying of such being challenged and overturned often through the clever usage of 1st Amendment rights, and the liberation of women to decide what they did or did not wish to do with their own bodies, freed from the constraints of both men, but also of the laws that precluded their monetizing their images without suffering unfairly for it.

The upshot of all this change, was that magazines such as Playboy, went from a situation in which previously they had struggled just to find pretty females to pose for them, all for what would be considered today to be relatively tame topless poses, into a world transformed into the anything goes philosophy that is displayed graphically in living color, each and every minute, in just about any format that is available for viewing such in today's society.  This change was so fundamental, that young ladies wishing to pose for Playboy in the present day barely registers much of a reaction from most Americans, can almost be seen as mainstream, especially when seen against the background of everything else that is going on.

Whether all of the above is a net good for America, or is a net good for woman in general, or is a net good for those perusing such things, is definitely debatable, but the bottom line is the genie has jumped from out of the bottle and thereby isn't going to be put back inside anytime soon.  This is the brave new world that we live in, where people are no longer constrained for the most part by social mores or legal laws, which preclude them from doing or pursuing the things that they wish to accomplish.  However, with more freedom, comes more responsibility, so that, when no longer restrained from doing things that they want or think that they want to do, decisions are made, which, because of the nature of the medium, last far longer, than envisioned at the time of their consent, for better or for worse, it is what it is.

Casino Cell phone Slot Machines

In the gambling world, slot machines in major casinos typically count for as much revenue as all other casino games combined, along with being much more profitable and less labor intensive than all other casino games, signifying that slot machines truly are the money machine that runs the casino end of the business.  While there are a lot of reasons why slots are so popular, certainly amongst the reasons are the convenience of not having any sort of game theory to figure out, along with the non-embarrassment and non-intimidation factor because slots are an individual interaction, as well as the pace of the game playing is under the patron's control, amongst other reasons that vary from individual to individual.

Slot machines have become much more sophisticated over time, so that, for instance, some slot machines offer a user's choice of what game to play in the first place, as well as the fact that a replacement of a board or chip inside the machine can easily upgrade or modify the game in its play or configuration, in addition to the detail that physical coins have been replaced with scrip, or dollar bills, so that machines no longer need to be filled with coins, nor is it necessary to have personnel around that are required to make change for those playing such machines.

The thing about slot machines is that overall they take up a fair amount of space, as well as using a fair amount of energy, along with the fact that these machines, robust as they might be, are subject to both downtime as well as abuse.  On the other hand, cell phones and tablets are essentially mini-computers, so that applications can easily be created that are able to replicate what a slot machine looks like onto a cell phone, so that if the programming is done with skill and acumen, a slot machine that the patron can interact with in their hands could be constructed, though there are some logistics involved.

The first big hurdle to overcome is that a handshake must be made between the patron and the actual casino so that, the casino is able to pre-verified, the age, the identity, the loyalty card, the specific IP address, the location, the recording of each spin correlated to that individual for review and confirmation, along with being able to process a form of monetary exchange, in which, all of this is secured and specific to the person engaging the app within a controlled space at the casino.  The next hurdle to overcome is that on the surface it might appear to the player that their cell phone has turned into a slot machine, but the real inner workings of such a slot machine, would actually be held on a server or a cloud, and only the necessary graphics in order to sell the illusion that everything is being conducted in real time would be displayed on the cell phone, meaning the result of each "spin" would already be determined, moments before, via the processor which is connected to the casino's server or cloud.

Obviously, the biggest advantage to the casino is that having a lounge set aside for patrons to play slot machines on their cell phone or tablet, would not only take up less space, it would also privatize the game even more, as well as cutting down on real machine maintenance issues and real machine inventory, so too this would be another feather in the casino cap, and would allow patrons to do all the things that they love doing with their cell phones, including playing the slots.

Student Loans: this Bubble will Burst

According to newyorkfed.org, as of quarter 1 of 2016, the highest consumer debt, is held in mortgages at a total of $8.37 trillion dollars, with the next highest consumer debt which has been growing by leaps and bounds, actually being student loan debt, at $1.26 trillion dollars, making student debt a higher debt in value than either credit card debt, or incredibly, auto loan debt.  In the case of both housing and auto debt, these assets are secured by the physical asset of the actual home and vehicle, respectively, which helps in setting a reasonable floor to these real assets; as regards to credit card debt, although this debt is unsecured, the banks and bank-like instruments issuing such credit, are quite good at it, to wit, they control or have major influence on the prevailing interest rate so charged, penalty fees, how much credit is issued to a particular individual, and most importantly control of credit limits which can be adjusted drastically in exigent circumstances.  On the other hand, student loans, in reality, aren't secured by anything, though wages can be garnished, the bottom line though, is that you can't get blood from a stone, so that burdening young people with humongous loans that literally overwhelm them at such a young age seems irresponsible on both parties and ultimately unfair especially to the students receiving such massive amounts of money loaned to them with minimum due diligence mandated.

America is all about making money, so institutions are only too happy to take something that may initially be of benefit or even play a role in the greater good, and then turn it simply into both exploitation of the young, credulous, and vulnerable, as well as gaming the system, while sticking the ultimate bill onto the taxpayers of this great nation.  A significant amount of people taking on student loans, aren't even student material in the first place, but with good paying jobs for people without educational degrees being on a long-term downswing, the lure of a "free" college education that will solve all their problems and make them into successful people, is an easy lure that works time and time again.  Unfortunately, in far too many cases, school doesn't work out for them, so now their life plans are essentially the same as they were before but with the added burden of loan payments that they are obligated to make good on or try to extricate themselves from.

In addition, there are students that take out loans and do successfully complete their studies and thereby receive their undergraduate degree only to find out that this degree doesn't actually equate to a job that matches the very things that they studied and applied themselves for, yet, they are stuck with paying the bill for their "educational" attainment.  So too, for other students that complete their educational studies, the sheer size of their loan commitment is a great weight upon their budget each and every month, effectively closing the door or narrowing such a door in their pursuit of basic desires that most Americans have, which are owning their own home, and/or owning their own vehicle, free and clear.

While governmental officials lead the cheering about how wonderful it is that so many at such a time are getting educated, the end result isn't any sort of salary bump, isn't a country that is richer for it, but in actuality is a country that fleeces the most vulnerable and monetarily ignorant, to satisfy the greed of the money lenders, and ultimately sells these "loan assets" to the government, which unfortunately will have to, sooner or later, take a "haircut" on these loans that simply won't be paid back because the income isn't being generated to do so.

Don't do unto others what you don't want them to do to you

In Holy Scripture we read at Luke 6:31 the words of our Savior: "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise," which is one of Christ's two-part commandment, with the other part being to love our God with all of our heart.   Previously, Moses gave us the Ten Commandments as dictated to him by the word of God, in which, most of these commandments are in the form of a negative, such as: "Thou Shalt not…", in fact, even a commandment such as "Honor thy father and mother," implies within it, that "thou shalt not dishonor them".  While there is validity in presenting a commandment as a positive affirmation as compared to a negative prohibition, perhaps with people being as stubborn and difficult as they have a habit of being, a negative commandment, carries with it, more weight, and thereby is perceived as more definitive with far less wiggle room, for those that like to perceive laws, even God-given laws, as shades of gray. 

In point of fact, there is something to be said, in taking Christ's great commandment, and re-translating it into "don't do unto others what you don't want them to do to you," because the positive affirmation of doing unto others as you would like those to do onto you, could be conceivably interpreted in a somewhat self-serving manner, whereas the commandment with the negative connotation, leaves far less opportunity for evasiveness.  For example, if you don't like people that lie, cheat, bully, and steal, then don't be those very same things, yourself.  On the other hand, if you don't mind someone that has a little larceny in their heart, not so much because that's what you want or want to do, but because it's amusing and intriguing to see people get fooled, including yourself, as long as it is in a good-natured way, it's a little bit harder to get that to fit into do unto others, whereas, it fits okay with the it's okay to fool someone, as long as it's done in an entertaining way and has no real or dire consequences.

When the don't do unto others, becomes a mindset within a person's personality, it does great wonders, because it forces that person to actually think through the consequences of their proposed actions, and thereby encourages them to see the world not just by their own eyes, but also through the other person's eyes; so too, it eliminates the "eye for an eye" mentality, for there are few people that believe in actuality that wrong actions should be answered in kind, as opposed to at least considering that there are other more reasonable responses that can help to ameliorate a given wrong. 

It is important for people to start with the right attitude to begin with, so that a statement as straightforward and as reasonable as to not do the things to others that you would not want done to yourself, is something that virtually everyone, even at very young ages, would understand, along with the fact that it is something that should be taught and practiced by all, for if this philosophy is lived in reality, the world, in response, would be more caring, more loving, and a better place overall to be a part of, for truly we are all in this, together, desiring that all receive justice and fairness, equally.

Wall Street Trading and Sales Tax

Governments run on taxes, and if they don't receive enough revenue via taxation, they run up deficits, and while there are not a lot of people that enjoy or appreciate being taxed, the bottom line is that in order to have a functioning government taxes are imposed.  It certainly makes a whole lot of sense to tax people where the money is at, with Wikipedia.org indicating that the "… average daily trading value was approximately US$169 billion in 2013," for stock trades in America, this would strongly imply that imposing a reasonable sales tax upon stock transactions would have its place, as currently while buying and selling of stocks in America, consumers of such are only subject to a commission and a fairly innocuous regulatory transaction fee which in almost all cases is even lower than the commission to make the trade in the first place.

The thing is, when you purchase a car, you pay a sales tax, when you purchase household items, you pay a sales tax, so it isn't any real stretch to believe that when you purchase a stock, the person or entity doing so, should be subject to a small sales tax.  When it comes to establishing such a sales tax, it seems fairer to impose it only on the initial buy of the security and not on its sale, which would serve the dual purpose of reducing somewhat the rapid trading in and out of securities, as well as impressing upon people, that an investment should be more about making a decision and holding onto it, as opposed to the higher volatility of hyperactive trading.

There isn't any necessary reason why the proposed sales tax should be equally applied to all, since, in fact, the income tax is progressive in nature, and in consideration of the fact that equity and bond investments are a real source of passive income to those that have considerable assets, the sales tax should only be imposed for those buying stock investments that exceed perhaps $50,000 in any one trade, in which the sales tax begins at the $50,000 number and above, with the additional component of having a sales tax "wash rule" so that those buying the same stock or security within 30 days in which in aggregate the total buying of that security is greater than $50,000 would be subject to that sales tax.

Wall Street is an incredibly powerful force in America, and no doubt, wouldn't see any benefit to such a sales tax, but one must also keep in mind that Wall Street is currently subject to capital gains taxes, and carries on just fine, signifying that if the sales tax was low enough to generate good tax revenue but not so high as to spoil the stew, than all would continue to be well, with the additional benefit of tax revenues so generated.

 Most assuredly, there are seasoned economists that could take a look at the numbers and determine what price-point would be most effective in producing tax revenue without unnecessarily interrupting the business as usual crowd with Wall Street, especially considering that the dollar volume of trading being so high, that one would think the sales tax percentage proposed wouldn't need to be much higher than somewhere in the range of .10% to .25% to generate tax revenues of real meaning from those that obviously have the money and the means to pay their fair share.

Secret Spy Agencies, Secret Budgets, Secret Contracts, and Secret Actions

The United States has many spy agencies, some that just about everyone knows about, such as the FBI, the NSA, and the CIA, as well as other more obscure agencies such as the Army Military Intelligence (MI), in addition to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).  In all, as estimated by Wikipedia.org "… in 2001 to 2013, the government has spent more than $500 billion on intelligence," with our latest budgets for these intelligence agencies being over $70 billion dollars per annum.  While, there is a real purpose to having a great intelligence capacity for the protection of this nation, the fact, that the oversight of such is not available to the public, and basically our intelligence community has little oversight by the legislative branches of the highest level of federal government in this country is very bad policy for a whole slew of reasons.

In point of fact, when public monies are spent on public institutions, even such institutions which concentrate on intelligent activities, the budgeting of those monies, the expenditure of those public monies, the contracts so initiated, the salaries, the assets, should as far as practical, not only be disclosed, but should be carefully audited by independent agencies that do not answer to the intelligent community.  Those that squawk that the issuing of such information would somehow compromise the very intelligence that we utilize or are gathering, are basically utilizing national security as a smokescreen for their inability or non-desire to be transparent with monies spent.

The thing is, when business is done behind closed doors, subject to little or no oversight, those in that business, no matter how honest their intents may have been at one point, will over time degenerate into the type of business in which each side gets a little something extra from the other, because not only do the doors revolve between private contractors and their government overseers on a continual basis, but those that conduct such business, want their budgets and contracts to increase in amount each year, because in governmental "speak" size equates to power, profit, and influence, whereas those that are overly efficient in their usage of their dollars are seen as impediments to realpolitik.

It is quite unfortunate, when governmental agencies hide behind the door of "security this" or "security that" so as to not have to disclose important and pertinent information as to how much of the public's money is being spent and where it is being spent, in addition, the people's representatives, their legislators deserve to know what our intelligent agencies are up to, what they are trying to accomplish, and whether in whole, this is the most appropriate policy for America to take.  It is truly a sad day for America, when things are done in secret, that carry the imprint of America, but are inimical to what America should stand for, and it becomes then for present-day as well as future generations of Americans their unfortunate fate to have to deal with the blowback from intelligent operations gone horribly awry. 

When these spy agencies do not answer to the public, and do not answer to the legislators, than they are a power onto themselves, bound by no one, subject to no constraints, in which everyone knows, that the dirtiest of deeds are always done where there is no light, but only darkness.

Constitutional Rights and Public Assistance

Each year the government in all of its many forms, local, State, and Federal, becomes a bigger and bigger component of everyday life; whether that be via direct employment, or assistance, or whatever way, desired or not, big government plays a role in your life, for better or for worse.  American citizens, for whatever reason, in modern times, have ceded whether by conscious volition or not, more and more of their rights in trade for the perceived necessity of governmental protection or governmental handouts or governmental assistance in all of its many forms.  What many people fail to take into account, though, is the old saying that "there is no such thing as a free lunch", which basically means that everything costs something, that indeed, material things do not and cannot simply be produced out of thin air, therefore everything has a cost associated to it, and those that receive those free lunches, may find that the tradeoff is not nearly as beneficial or as benevolent as originally imagined.

For instance, there are many people that need public assistance for housing, for health, for food, for education, and for various other things, in which, probably, those people would ideally just want to get their benefits without having to provide much of anything else in return, however, that isn't the way that bureaucracy works in this country, for, in fact, bureaucrats want to know everything about you, ostensibly argued as a way to help you, but in actuality, as a way to control and mold you.  It's one thing, to gather pertinent information about families that are utilizing public assistance, but it is an entirely different thing when a quid pro quo is set up, so that public assistance for housing, requires that you not have contact with ex-felons, even if these ex-felons are blood relatives, or such assistance, means periodic drug testing, even though, you have committed no crime.

So too, when continuous public assistance, means that the government has the right to enter your place of residence, at a time of their choosing, to investigate, to check, to test, to interrogate, those receiving certain benefits from the government, this essentially means that those receiving such public assistance have sacrificed some of their Constitutional rights, specifically, their 4th Amendment rights, which are a vital protection for the people to be secure in their persons and houses, and replaced it with arbitrary power aggrandized onto governmental agents or proxies.  There are many taxpayers that believe that this is a fair tradeoff, for, after all, those receiving free lunches, should be subject to some reasonable checks and balances.  The fallacy, though, with this type of thinking, is that clearly, those that believe that this is correct, somehow have failed to realize, that this creates two Americas', one in which full rights are given to those that are monetarily secure, and lesser rights to those that are impoverished, which is a bastardization of what this great nation really represents, and what this great nation should want to represent, for either we are all in this together, with equality and fair justice for all, or some of us have been made to become children of a lesser Constitution.

Two Countries: One Rich, One Poor

The United States shares a border to its north with Canada and to its south with Mexico, to wit, with no other information available, one would have a tendency to believe that these two countries, Canada and Mexico, should be able to basically equally benefit from having the most powerful and the richest country in the world as its contiguous neighbor, but clearly, as demonstrated by their respective per capita GDPs, Canada is the far richer country with a GDP per capita of approximately $43,248 as estimated by data.worldback.org as compared to Mexico's rather anemic $9,005.  Both countries are gifted with great natural resources, yet, one, clearly is far richer than the other, and, in fact, its living standards are close enough to the United States, that people that visit or live in Canada, equate it to about the same level as America, with some, believing that Canada overall is superior.  On the other hand, Mexico, is a country that has had millions of people leave its native land over the last few generations to come to America, just to find gainful employment, which while paying not all the well per American standards, is able to sustain them well enough that it is estimated by npr.org that over $20 billion dollars is sent back to Mexico via remittances each year.

While there are many differences between Canada and Mexico, one of the most significant is seen in their tertiary education levels, in which the Canadian population participation rate in tertiary education exceeds 51%, whereas Mexico's population participation rate in tertiary education barely exceeds 20%.  This lack of advanced degrees for Mexico equates to less economic earning power as education is a key component in earning power and knowledge in countries and the lack thereof, has meaningful consequences.  In addition, the rule of law is clearly under assault in Mexico and has been under assault in Mexico for generations, in which, corruption as reported by wikipedia.org shows that Canada ranks in the top ten for honesty and integrity, whereas Mexico ranks #123 out of 176 countries signifying its corruptness and lack of integrity.  Also, the median wealth in Mexico ranks extremely low, indicating, that the middle class in Mexico is both low in number as well as low in wealth, representing a massive divide between those that are very, very rich, as compared to those that have little or nothing, with little or nothing to look forward to, and little or nothing that will change their circumstances; whereas the median wealth in Canada is quite high, indicating a strong and vibrant middle class.

In short, the structures of Canada are reminiscent of the structures found in America, whereas, the structures in Mexico, serve to remind people, that those that are privileged are treated differently, as well as in order to conduct business in Mexico one must often pay tribute to criminal or quasi-criminal enterprises, or face the consequences.  In addition, for generations, one political party ruled Mexico, which was great for those rulers and those that benefited from such, but bad overall for the general public, bad for fair law, and bad for fair business; for, in order for any country, to create wealth, those that make it their policy to exploit others can only make so much money, because non-incentivized workers will not put forth the effort and ingenuity that are needed for real growth and future progress, which is a significant reason why there is such a great divide between these two nations.

When is a Crime, Not a Crime?

In the cyber-wars of today, all sorts of things occur of dubious legality, or outright illegality each and every day, of which some of these things are done by hackers, clearly working on their own agenda, whether for a so-called greater good, or for exposure of corruption of all sorts, or whatever, and the other big player, being governments of all sorts and for all sorts of reasons that have certain agendas that they like to see get accomplished.  In some governments, hackers are actively recruited to serve government interests, specifically to obtain or to compromise information from dissident groups within their country, or to infiltrate targeted countries, in which, these hackers are basically deployed as state-sanctioned agents with immunity for things that would most definitely be considered crimes, if they were, in fact, acting outside of such state-sanctioned protection.  So too, in the United States, hackers of great renown, or skill-sets, are actively recruited to work on behalf of the government, in plying their trade, in which, sometimes the recruitment is basically straight-up, that is to say, a lucrative offer is made to individuals that have demonstrated both skill and initiative, and sometimes a deal is made in which because a particular hacker has violated some law, they are essentially co-opted by a government agency to work for them, in return for charges being dismissed, reduced, or dropped.

There are several basic contradictions in the world of hacking and how it is treated in which, quite basically, hacking that is done on behalf of governmental agencies, which have received overt or covert permission by the authorities so regulating them so as to spy, to interdict, to disrupt, or whatever, are all activities that unless some sort of egregious behavior which has been embarrassingly exposed occurs, pretty much anything goes.  This essentially means, that things that hackers do that would clearly be crimes if they were acting on their own or with some other agency not sponsored directly or indirectly by government forces, are not crimes.  It then follows that to hack into a foreign government's computer system in order to obtain documents or information, if done on an individual basis, is a serious crime, whereas, to do so as sanctioned by your own government, is often well compensated, and the people doing such, pretty much have immunity from the prosecutorial arm of the state, if not outright eligibility for rewards on particular jobs done expertly.

So if a particular hacker only has the best interests in mind, such as to release information that shines a light on governmental or industry practices, that are of questionable value, or clearly inimical to Constitutional law, to do so, is often considered to be a crime; whereas those special ones that are actually committing overt acts that endanger this country, or interfere with other countries or other people or other industries, are pretty much immune to any trouble, especially if position papers have been created, somehow justifying this sort of activity, or a quid pro quo has been initiated, in which,  the justice department's arm has been stayed, everything remains okay.

A world in which, on the one hand, certain actions that you as an individual take are subject to the penalty of the full weight of the law, whereas, the same actions or even worse, when state-sponsored, are not, signifies that this isn't a country of the people, by the people, but a country instead that serves faithfully those in positions of authority, and those that try to infringe upon this, suffer for their audacity or ignorance.

Liar Loans and Liar Profits

The 2007-2009 mortgage crises has many reasons for its occurrence, in which, pure greed and intentional deception would have to be amongst the foremost of those reasons.  In order for mortgage lenders or for banks to make money, they must either create loans, and/or have investments which will materially improve their bottom loan.  When it comes to initiating loans these become upon their inception both an asset as well as a liability for a bank, however, although many banks and mortgage lenders create loans to consumers and businesses, a much smaller subgroup actually keeps those loans on their individual books, with the majority of such, packaging their loans and selling them in securitized packages to investors, here and abroad.  Not too surprisingly, mortgage loans that are not sold, are typically looked at more carefully and scrutinized much more since the lender of such, must make a profit on these loans by being in a position in which their cost of money is less than the monies that will be received from the loan, while also budgeting for a certain percentage of bad loans.  On the other hand, lenders that make it their policy to sell and package their loans are in almost an entirely different business, which is essentially packaging their loans in such a manner that the selling of them will generate a nice profit.

Investors of all types, whether individuals, businesses,  or pension funds, need to or strongly desire to make money on their portfolio of investments each and every year, and in an era of historically low interest rates, this is quite problematic to do so when investing in basically bond-like investments, which mortgages typically represent.  Therefore, when a securitized mortgage portfolio is put up for sale, with a return that appears to be rather good, along with the basic understanding or premise that home prices don't ever seem to fall, along with mortgage defaults trending at low rates, the easy conclusion to make is that the investor making this decision to buy these securities is going to make some good money with a minimum of risk.  The problem with this theory, goes back to the very beginning, which is, if housing prices do fall because of a recession, or leverage that is imprudently high, or whatever, that presents a significant problem, along with the additional problem that if the people owing money on their mortgages are not credit worthy or are problematic to begin with, that securitized loan is going to be a very poor investment choice with disastrous consequences.

The basic issue that you have with mortgage loans, is if the mortgage broker, or the mortgage lender, or the loan officer in general, is making his real money via commission on the value of the loan and/or fees involved, along with the fact that their management also gets a percentage of the business so generated, it takes no real stretch of imagination to quickly realize that more loans will be issued with lower qualification points being necessary from applicants or even outright fraud, especially if the accountability is obscured.  This makes for wonderful bonuses for loan originators, and wonderful profits and bonuses for banks or their equivalencies that are creating the mortgages, but a disaster for those buying such loan packages, and a disaster for whomever is the person or entity holding the bag when it all collapses which it inevitably does. 

When money incentives are setup in such a manner that the more "work" that is approved and loaned, without any apparent direct blowback for lies or deceptions or prudency which creates the loans in the first place, the more liar loans and the more liar profits will be generated, ultimately ending rather poorly and dramatically for those not in the know.

Judicial Rights and Judicial Wrongs

People are arrested all of the time for various things, in which, at the very beginning, heck, even before an arrest is contemplated, the policing arm of the state makes a determination often on and substantially based upon profiling the subject. That is to say, police as supported by the prosecutorial arm of the justice system, are given a very wide berth in whom they are allowed or not allowed to question in regards to probable cause or reasonable suspicion, so the area of town that you are in, the car that you are driving, the clothes that you are wearing, the people that are congregating around you, and so on and so forth, are all germane to the stop, frisk, and questioning to begin with.  This means that if you are part of a group or look that appears respectable in every way, you probably won't be bothered nearly as much by policing agencies than those that appear to have the accouterments and behavioral patterns that the state has implicitly or explicitly designated as targets to harass.

One of the main problems with being stopped and frisked, or stopped and questioned, is that if police officers just don't really like you, or whatever, some very bad things can happen to you, to which, the beginning of those bad things begins with being arrested, so that even if, no formal charges are ever actually applied to you, your freedom and time has been curtailed, and things get progressively worse if formal charges are made.  On the other hand, those that are seldom stopped or never stopped, don't have to worry about such things, and not surprisingly, since they aren't harassed except under the most extraordinary of circumstances, have a tendency to follow the adage of "out of sight, out of mind".

Those that are actually arrested and charged with a crime, will next have to face the determination of their bail, and it is this setting of bail, that truly demonstrates that the Constitutional rights that we believe all citizens are entitled to, are in fact, structured under today's justice system, into a stark and bleak situation, to wit, if you have money, access to money or credit, and your crime is relatively minor, as most arrests are, you will probably be set free via bail, and although there will be many more hurdles to overcome, you are able in most circumstances to get back to your everyday life with a relatively minor dent to your everyday life.  On the other hand, if you are indigent, or unable for whatever reasons to post bail, even if the bail amount appears fair to the judge, the lack of being able to post bail, means that you will be effectively sentenced to jail time for a crime that hasn't even been adjudicated.  This often means, the lost of just about everything that you had of substance to begin with, such as your job, your apartment, your possessions, and so forth, in which, had you the money or had you not been arrested in the first place, none of this would be happening.

In America, there are many wonderful rights that are supposed to be equally applicable to all, but in practicality, there is a monstrous divide between those that have or have good access to things that will aid them, and those have not, and can't access much of anything.  This signifies that being poor and/or living in poor neighborhoods is effectively a crime, and America makes those that live under such conditions pay for their lack, by being placed in jail against their will each and every day.

What Church should be

Churches represent all sorts of things to all sorts of people, in which, some churches are absolutely beautiful edifices and/or have beautiful grounds, whereas other churches are rather humble, or even in a bit of disrepair, along with everything in-between.  The thing about churches, is that each church should be cognizant of its real mission, which while including imparting knowledge and an opportunity for people of the faith to congregate together, it should also be seen as an outreach to those that need to hear of God's love for his people, as well as a sanctuary for those that need to have that space so as to deal with the inevitable trials, tribulations, and troubles of everyday life.

Going to church is an opportunity for those that are hurting to be healed, a refuge that is necessary to have, in order to help build up the strength to handle things that are and have been too overwhelming for so many, as well as presenting an opportunity to grow and to do well to others.  While it is important for a church to have a message for its congregants, it is as important if not more so, for that church to really know its flock, so as to thereby be able to lend a helping hand to those that really are in need.

If some people that attend the church, do not appear to have any problems, so much the better for them, but life really isn't about the celebration of a particular life that has gone so well, because that is celebration enough, but rather that we have an obligation, to see ourselves as part of a greater whole, and therefore it is our duty to take those weakest links and through our efforts in conjunction with our neighbors uplift those that need that helping hand, which helps them, along with making us better for having done so, and thereby helps to actualize God's word.

A church should also be seen as something akin to a big family, a family in which the congregants practice in their actions and in their behavior being a good family member to one another, or else, we have fundamentally missed the very meaning of what life should really represent, which is that we all are in this thing, together, one family, one God, one Savior.

Those that lead us at church, must make the church inclusive, not exclusive, must lead by example, not just by words, and certainly must help us in renewing our strength, our faith, and our devotion, so that we are better for having entered our sanctuary, and the people within that church, are better for us being there with them.  A good church should challenge us to become a better person, and as iron sharpens iron, churches need to be the instruments for our growth, and our advancement, as opposed to encouraging our complacency that we're okay just the way that we currently are. 

Those that think that they are good and perhaps feel that they don't really need church perhaps shouldn't be at church, for churches aren't really there for those that have perfected themselves, or for those good people who have no faults, but for those lost sheep that want to get back to their flock, and thereby return to that narrow path led by their shepherd back to our Creator.