Economic insanity and the piper must be paid

Countries, companies, and people take out debt all of the time, of which, such is typically sensible, if the entity so borrowing the money has the ready capacity to pay that money back through their own future labor and sustained productivity.  On the other hand, loans taken out in which those that are borrowing that money, be it countries, companies, or people, do not appear that they will ever fully pay back such a loan, and further do not appear that they can even make a sizable dent upon the principal of such a loan, let alone the interest rate so being charged; that thereof is the type of pending catastrophe, that economic systems, fiat currency, civilizations, and the like, collapse from.

Basically, that which is considered to be money, as issued and sanctioned by governments, operates as a good form of currency to the degree that such is accepted with confidence by those entities so utilizing it; and once that confidence is broken in regards to such money, then all sorts of cascading negative events are sure to occur.  At the present time, the debt loads of countries, companies, and people have never been higher, and ever higher, these debt loads continue to grow, of which, from a practical standpoint, those that are lending money to those borrowing such, would typically thereby not only would charge a higher interest rate for loans that they are no longer so confident about, but further would reduce their loans so being made to those that they do not see as being reasonably safe to make loans to, in the first place.  What has occurred, actually, is that in recent times for the most part, the interest rate so being charge by financial institutions has consistently been lower than what common sense would dictate would be an appropriate interest rate to be charged, taking into account the careful consideration of the risks so involved.

The real reason why those that borrow money can not only continue to borrow money but are able to, more times than not, to borrow at historical low rates, has everything to do, with basically kicking the can down the road, because if those financial institutions were to actually charge what they needed to charge for monies so being loaned out, they then would soon find themselves inundated with non-performing loans of such magnitude, that they would be subsequently overwhelmed with bad debt that could not readily be sold to somebody else, at anything other than a fire sale price.  In other words, despite all of the debt that currently exists, that interest charge to that debt, cannot successfully be raised, because those that are indebted can't pay what they owe, currently; and thereby the increase of the rate of such, would take what is now unstable, but sort of basically functioning, and collapse it.

Yet, for every loan so made, the objective of that loan being made is for the lender of it, to be paid.  That simply is not going to occur; and though financial institutions, price in a default rate for said loans, they also know for a certainty, the price for such is way, way too low.  Lots and lots of money has been printed by governments because that seems to work as a way to keep their economies growing, and lots and lots of money has also been borrowed by companies and people, but the thing is, the piper has to one day be paid, and if not, the game so ends, very, very badly.

The Big States need to be split up so as to have more Senators

We read at econdevresults.com that "California’s population is greater than the combined total population of the 22 smallest states."  This thus signifies that California's two national Senators literally have to competently represent in aggregate more people than those forty-four Senators have to represent in those other smaller States combined; thereby signifying that a bigger State such as California must bow to those smaller States, for it is essentially powerless to do none else.  Further, we read that the Constitution grants specific State-creation powers to Congress in Article IV, Section 3, of said Constitution, of which, basically if a given State wants to create additional States within its current borders and such is passed by its respective State legislature, and subsequently this meets with the consent of Congress, then such a new State will become into existence.  Further to the point, the hurdle to overcome such is not particularly daunting as in the midst of a bloody Civil War, the western part of Virginia, which was loyal to the Union, was admitted into the Union of those States, in 1863.

While it certainly makes sense that each State should have two Senators as granted within that Constitution, of which, thereby the population of said State is not relevant to thus having those two Senators; it does not on the other hand, make a lot of sense that States such as California, Texas, Florida, and New York, have not voluntarily to date made the necessary effort to create additional States within their current State boundaries, as quite obviously certain peoples within those States as currently constructed, effectively have no Senatorial representation because those States through its current Senatorial structure, cater almost exclusively to the prevailing opinions and desires of those that are the power within those States, and need not thereby address in any sort of comprehensive manner, those that are not part of that power.

While perhaps the prevailing reason why these big States have not made a concerted effort to break themselves into smaller States lies at the feet of those that control the levers of those States, and thereby do not wish to share such with others within that State; this is somewhat contradicted by the fact that more Senators within a given area of what use to be one State, is going to be in aggregate, almost surely beneficial for all those that live within the boundaries of what use to be that one State, because the more voices contained within a given former State area, the more power will aggregate to those voices, so now represented.

So too, it perhaps is unfortunate, that America is a Union of exactly fifty States, which is a nice, round number and has been such for over sixty years; yet, for a country that professes to be of, for, and by the people, when nearly forty million people find that in the legislative hall of its national Senate, that their voice is counted no more than a State which exceeds barely half a million, it would seem to indicate that fair representation of, for, and by the people is clearly out of skew.  Sure, there is a Congress which in its allocation of how many representatives so provided to a State, is population based; but there also has to be something concretely done to address the insanely large population differences such as the big States consist of over the smaller States, in which within the halls of the Senate, each of their voices are seen as somehow being equal, though the people so represented behind those votes, represent a vast and wide chasm between such. That doesn't seem right, because clearly it isn't.

Massive tech profits should increase competition, not kill it

As it has been said, the rich get richer; of which, while this is true of well placed people, it is absolutely also true of some of the biggest and most gargantuan of corporations.  Most people, have an immense difficulty in truly comprehending how large, and how much business is conducted by companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, Alphabet (Google), and Apple which is demonstrated by the revenue so generated by each of them, each year; of which, in 2018, Apple did as reported by visualcapitalist.com, $265.5 billion in revenues, whereas the company of these four, that had the lowest amount of yearly revenue, was the free social media site, Facebook, which still did an outstanding $55.8 billion.  Keep in mind, that these revenues are just for one year, of which, each of this mighty technology companies are still growing and therefore increasing their revenues, year by year, which are already currently, enormous.

To put things in perspective, about profits and profit margin, we read as reported by aei.org, "the average profit margin is 7.9% for all companies," which was surveyed for more than 7,000 US companies.  As reported by, visualcapitalist.com, for 2018, Microsoft's profit margin was 15.0%, while Facebook's profit margin was an astonishingly high 39.6%, and Apple as well as Alphabet's profit margin was each 22.4%.  These profit margins for these mega-technology companies absolutely crushes the average profit margin as reported by US companies, in aggregate.  So then, if we lived in a true free enterprise world, of which, the barriers of entry for upstarts were non-existence, and favoritism for those that are well connected did not occur, and of which, there was an abundance of both capital and an abiding desire of budding entrepreneurs to go after the market share of these, super-big tech companies, than invariably those tech companies would see their profit margins inexorably come under attack from these well financed upstarts and thereby these mega tech companies would invariably see their profit margins become more in line with other US companies.  In fact, what is actually occurring is the exact opposite of this, which is that those that are in charge of the regulation of these hi-tech companies and in particular are in charge of the enforcement of robust anti-trust legislation are apparently asleep at the wheel, or effectively have been compromised by these tech companies.  We know that this is true, by virtue of the fact that each of these tech companies has been permitted, time and time again, to buy out competitors and to thereby to add those merged-in companies to their skill-set, so as to thereby strengthen their formidable businesses in order to maintain and to increase each of their dominant positions.

The capitalistic system is driven by the desire to make profits, and thereby to increase one's market share as well as one's dominance vis-à-vis those that compete against them.  While we can give credit to those that absolutely command their business niche, for being successful at such, it isn't good that there are in essence, a few that essentially monopolize market share, and thereby are able to reap additional unmerited profits, above and beyond, what would be occurring if that market was more evenly divided between and with other competitors of real strength and merit.  The fact that this is not the case for these colossal hi-tech companies is proof positive, that our capitalistic system is broken.

There is only one Truth

The confusion that consists of modern society along with the credulity of some people, have allowed those that have bad intentions in mind, to obfuscate something that should never be tarnished; which is that there ultimately is just one truth, and there never was and there never will be a time in which there is in reality a multitude of equally valid truths, inconsistent one with another.  Because we are flawed human beings, with limitations to our mind and prejudices within our character, it is common that certain egotistical people believe that they, alone, have the truth; or alternatively to that, that each person in their own way has their own personal truth, of which each of these truths, are equally valid, along with that truth being subservient to the whims of a given person's personality or one's perceived knowledge at a given time.

The most important characteristic about truth, is that truth is never subjective, and further to the point, that therefore truth never changes, for that which is true now, was true ever, and ever will be true.  So then, anything that is subject to change, or that is subject to the different proclivities of a given individual, cannot be defined as fully true, because truth never changes for anyone or any being, ever.  It is important to comprehend that the whole truth, consists of nothing but the truth, and every facet within that truth is also completely true, and if those conditions are not met, then what is being so discussed or contemplated upon, may be true for what it is, but it is not the whole truth.

The reason that truth is so important, is that the makeup of our Creator is pure and undefiled Truth, for there can never be any falsehood within our God, for our God is immutable, omniscient, and flawless; signifying that if God is not true at truth's most comprehensive level, then our God is a false God, that knows not that one Truth.  Fortunately, that is not the case, which signifies that our aspiration to that Truth is the straight and narrow path for each one of us to take journey upon.  So too, anytime that in our behavior and in our demeanor that we are not true to our fellow sojourners here on earth, then we have stepped out of the path of enlightenment and into the darkness of delusion.

 It is a dangerous dogma when truth is propagated as something subjective and ever changing upon the winds of the time, when in fact, that sort of shifty truth is more appropriately defined as an opinion or an illusion.  While one's perceptions can be false, because we are ourselves flawed, and therefore one's belief about what appears to be true, can be mistaken, this does not change the primary object of us all -- which is to live up to truth, and none else.  That there is an absolute truth, should never be dismissed as a myth, but rather should be embraced, for it is in our rising up to that truth, that we break free from the chains that preclude us from knowing that which must be known and lived to.

Hell is best defined as the conscious separation from God

None of us are automatons, for each of us has been granted by God in perpetuity, free will.  Because we have that free will we are all truly the captains of our own fate, and therefore it is our responsibility as to what we make of ourselves, and further that this burden cannot ever be successfully laid at the feet of anyone else, no matter how much we might wish that this be so.  Those that express dissatisfaction or unhappiness in their own lives, need only to take a very careful look and to make an honest in-depth review of who and what they really are, of which, a typical forthright appraisal would be that it is our willfulness in permitting our own misguided selfish desires to rule us, that has created the hurt that we so often are experiencing, and will continue to experience until we change.

So many people only want things their way, never seeming to recognize that if everybody or near everybody were to have the same sort of mindset, that only a world of chaos and misery would be the continual outcome of such.  That is to say, if everyone is in it for their own self, then it is thereby inevitable that this will be a world in which a very few will win at, and the bulk of the people will lose at; for finite resources matched up against unlimited desires, invariably necessitates a dog-eat-dog mentality, and thereby corruption in nearly every facet of life.

Further, if all there ever will be is the material aspect of our earthly existence, and none else; there isn't going to be any positive result that could conceivably be achieved, here on earth, ever.  The main reason why this is so, is because those that have erased God from their minds, recognize that every construct so created, is thereby, in essence, a manmade concept, so that therefore it logically follows that there is then no definitive good nor a definitive evil, but simply everything is in shades of gray; or for those that are complete cynics, everything is thereby permitted, without limits, only restrained somewhat by changeable manmade law.

In order for any life to have meaning, there must be, all things considered, some sort of Master of Ceremonies that thereby watches and sees everything, always.  Further, this entity has to always be just, fair, consistent, and wise; in addition to being without any possibility of error or subject to being compromised.  All those that are errant children or lovers of shortcuts and things of that sort, aren't going to be thrilled that all that they do and say, is recorded into the skeins of time, but so it is.   Because so many people believe that they are getting away with something, when in reality, they never are, this leads to countless broken hearts and poorly lived lives.  All of this wrong thinking, misdirection, and bad acts, that are conceived in the false belief, that nobody will be the wiser, are fundamental errors that must inevitably be answered to. 

Those that warn others that they will go to hell because of their actions, are only half right, for those that consciously separate themselves from God are already in a hell of their own volition, and further it is a hell that they can never extricate themselves from; until they finally wake up from the delusion that separation from God brings peace, when all it does is to bring forth every conceivable type of war.

The cost of money affects most everything

A significant amount of people are born into this world, without any material assets, of which the only notable exceptions are those born into families of money and wealth, that subsequently thereby gift to their children, monies so needed for their education, shelter, transportation and so forth, of varying monetary amounts, which may or may not require some sort of contribution or other conditions expected in return from those children.  So then, with the exception of all those fortunate souls that are born into money already, the balance of all other people are going to have to either earn their own keep, and/or see that they are able to get loans so as to help make their own keep.

This thus signifies, that the vast majority of Americans are going to, at some time or another, have to get a loan to purchase a car, as well as to purchase an education, and to purchase a house, in addition to the purchasing of other material items of interest to them.  One might think that therefore, since so many Americans must avail themselves of the same sort of things, that each of those Americans would in the course of such, pretty much pay the same price in regards to monetary interest, late fees, penalties, and so on in regards to obtaining that credit; but in fact, that is not the case, whatsoever.

In truth, there is a massive divide between what certain people pay to borrow money and what other people pay, which is dependent upon a few salient factors, of which the most important one is the perceived credit worthiness of that person so borrowing the money, in addition to the sophistication and knowledge that the borrower so has in recognition that just about any loan is negotiable, and further that loans typically come in all sorts of packages, of which some of those packages are more advantageous or more disadvantageous to the borrower than others.

In other words, the cost of money so being borrowed, has an immense material affect upon a given person's life and the quality, thereof, because those that have to pay the piper, a significantly higher interest rate, and/or that suffer periodically from the penalty of being late or delinquent, are going to have extracted from their pocket a heck of a lot more money, then someone that has excellent credit and is on top of their game.  That is to say, it literally pays to know how monetary credit actually works, well before a given person has a need for credit, because billions upon billions of dollars in profit are made by institutions, that fundamentally exist to simply lend money, and have no other real skill set other than that.

Further to the point, because of the vast discrepancy in the cost of money, that is, the interest rate so being paid by borrowers of such, of which, such an interest rate is often based upon the credit rating of the borrower, we live within a construct in which those that have stellar credit and are in addition adept at comprehending various loan deals and their structure, are fundamentally subsidized by those that do not; so that in a very real sense, the losers contribute the little that they have to those that already have more than enough, and fall ever further behind because their cost for the borrowing of needed money is significantly higher.

Worthiness and love

Living in a competitive world, can confuse some people to the degree that they thereupon believe that even valued emotional attachments and feelings, such as, for instance, our love for one another, is also a competition, of which, there are thereby those that are inherently more deserving of love, than others.  This belief thus signifies, that some people, will inevitably place themselves into the position of which they feel so badly about their own self, that they then further feel, that they are undeserving or unworthy of love from another.  To have this type of mindset is quite dangerous as well as being incorrect, for love, really is about "willing the good of the other", as compared to something that only certain people have, or deserve to have, or that has been earned.  That is to say, no matter what a given person has done, or where they are in their character development, or mistakes so made, that person is always worthy of love, no matter what, because we should always want what is best for a given person.

In point of fact, you cannot buy love; nor can you earn love, for what you buy is what you buy, and what you earn is what you earn, and so these are totally separate from the fact that love is something that has been gifted and granted to us by our Creator, and that our unalienable right to God's love for us, can never be sundered from us, no matter what happens, or what we do, for good or for bad, for right or for wrong.  Remember this well, God never abandons a single, solitary soul, and further to the point, God knows our end from our beginning, so that God worries not a whit about how we will find our way back to God, for all that God so creates, forever returns to that which was its source, in the beginning.

All of this combined means that each one of us, no matter where we are in the stage of our evolution, no matter what we have done, or how we have been judged; are always loved and are forever being loved, right here and right now, by that which is the epitome of love.  So then, because God loves us unconditionally, we as His offspring, have a sacred duty to do the same to all those that we come across, in this world, as opposed to making our "love" conditional upon right actions and the like from others.

So then, until each one of us, is able to see that everyone is in essence, a child of God, and thereby made in the image of the Spirit of that God, and therefore clearly entitled to all that God has and represents, then we will continue to have difficulty in expressing in this world our love one to another.  Those that make conditions for their love have wrongly imprisoned that which has been freely bestowed upon each one of us, and therefore, those that do that, for whatever reason, offer nothing more than a counterfeit love, of which that very dim light, holds no candle, to that which is far beyond the brightest of the brightest of lights.

Civil obedience and disobedience

One might think that our highest duty to our country is our obedience to it.  That only makes sense, when that country is acting in a manner that merits its citizen's obedience; for when it does not, then each responsible citizen needs to answer to that Higher Moral Law, in lieu of any blind and unquestioning obedience to a country that has failed in its legitimate purpose as originally actuated by its people.  For instance, it is a mistake to just accept what any government has to say, without taking the time to do one's due diligence and to thereby to hold that government accountable for any and everything that government does, on what should be on the good behalf of the people.  This thus signifies that any country that lacks a consistent transparency of its business and especially such transparency on that which is of the most vital and pertinent interest to its denizens is almost, without exception, up to no good, for that which necessitates darkness and subterfuge, is seldom of merit or of lasting value.

So too, in any society, there are going to be all sorts of winners and losers, of which, the winners need no additional help from that government; but those that are on the losing side of life, necessitate the aid, courtesy, and help that a responsible government provides to each one of their citizens, so as to provide to them, a fair opportunity to live a life of purpose and of satisfaction.  After all, when that government will not make it their purpose to provide at least the rudiments of what a legitimate and compassionate society consists of, then that government has failed its people -- for all those that have been victimized, left behind, and feel defeated, should not be discarded as so much trash, but rather should be provided with that opportunity to make something of merit in their life, for nobody's story no matter how bleak, should be prematurely terminated, for that which is seemingly lost, can be, with good and unrelenting effort, be found.

This indicates, that any legitimate government must continually prove their worth and their value to the people, for that government that fails its people, by being destructive of the dreams, hopes, and opportunities, that each of us, is well entitled to, than such a government as that, is clearly not just and has sadly lost its good direction.  So then, everyone that is obedient to that which is unjust, to that which has lost its reason for being, to that which has taken away one's safety and one's happiness are confused and are seriously on the wrong track; because that government which is lacking in both the form and the structure which would secure the people's prosperity and joy, distinctly needs to be reformed or replaced.

To salute a principle, has its purpose and its place, but to salute a government or its flag, when it has done wrong and continues to do wrong, is a grave mistake.  Those who are obedient to those forces which are destructive of the good of the people, and are unwilling to see the error of their present ways, are contributing to their own misery and pain.  Only those that are disobedient to that which deserves not their loyalty, and are instead working diligently to do what they can to make their country a better place for all of the people, are right thinking and thereby they are the ones on the right pathway. 

Your first, her last

Mothers are irreplaceable; not only that, but recognize well that it takes nine months for a mother to give birth to her child, of which the very first breath so taken by that newborn child,  is done in the loving presence of one's own mother.  In tribute to, and consideration of all that mothers do for their children, from their very first breath, and thereupon onwards and into their childhood; which thereby continues into the process of seeing that child grow into becoming their own person, as well as having their own life, living their own adulthood, and thereby earning their independence, one would think that through all that has happened and is still happening, that each child would clearly recognize that they owe a debt of loving gratitude to one's own mother.

This would imply, or more than imply, that each of us has a moral obligation to be there with our mother, when she is nearing the end of her physical presence here on earth, and whether or not we can physically be with her in those last dying breaths, we should at a minimum be there in spirit with her, for she was with us at our very first breath and so too she was the one that birthed us into this world to begin with, so we owe her the loving comfort that as her children, we can so bring to her by being there, when she is nearing her end and needs that love from us, so as to help aid and to console her.

It is always easier to celebrate the birth of something new, and so much harder to celebrate a life lived well, but that is what each of is called to do; for nothing born into this world will escape from it, for all must pass through the process of death of that which is physical. This thus signifies that in acknowledgement that each us will thereupon pretty much follow the same stages that life so represents, that we need to do our level base at each one of those stages, for inevitably that bell will so personally toll for us, and when it does, each of us would strongly prefer that we are not alone, when we invariably face that which must be faced.

Mothers are truly special, and without the nurturing and care that mothers so provide to each one of us, life itself would undoubtedly be cold, brutish, nasty and all so short.  We are absolutely dependent upon our needs being met when we are young children, because without that care, compassion, and love, we would not be able to sustain ourselves, because we have not yet developed the wherewithal to do so. That is why as we mature and become wise we must pay back what was given to us, free of charge, because that is what a good, responsible individual is obligated to do for all those that have done them right.

Each of us has a first breath, and each of us will breathe our last; but before we do that, we should make sure that we do our best to do right by our mother, so as to properly honor her, with our caring presence and with our enduring love.

Powerful interests and the change that never comes

The average citizen really believes that they live in a democracy, of which, they further believe that therefore ballot propositions, as well as their representatives, represent together with legislation so enacted, the voice of the people.  The truth of the matter is disappointedly and diametrically different; as an awful lot of meaningful ballot propositions aren't really placed there by activist groups of the people, but rather are to a significant extent, put together by what appears to be grassroots social groups, of which in reality these are typically discreetly funded by corporations, or oligarchs specifically to protect as well as to enhance their own interests.  As for representatives, their desire to get elected, as well as to thereupon to get re-elected, is often tied to donations so received, and thereby to a very large extent, are representatives that are quite susceptible to being influenced and are thereby influenced by monies that support specific agendas, that often run against good public desires and are to the degree possible, non-transparent.

All of the above represents the salient reasons, that the type of fundamental and meaningful change that so many of the people clamor for, year after year, doesn't ever occur, and quite frankly was never going to occur, because powerful vested interests are going to, more times than not, simply not permit such.  Even worse, when a particular legislative law is passed which does not meet with the approval of those powerful interests, this is often beaten back by circumventing the spirit of the law, if not outright ignoring such, through endless litigation, and other avenues of delay, so as to eventually overturn those new regulations by the passage of something that effectively neutralizes such.

The bottom line is that those that have money as well as power are not in the sharing business, and therefore they make it their point of principle to do everything possible to maintain their control and to use their considerable influence in opposition to the people; of which, they will utilize whatever subterfuge that they can use, over and above, simply directing their money and pressure upon those that will bend to their will.  Further to the point, the more opaque the political process can be via the lack of transparency in regards to political action groups, donations, and the registration thereof, the easier it is for even a single person, with money, to thereby get their way, by deceiving the public, through sophisticated and well researched social media efforts, targeted advertising, as well as respected figureheads parroting their desires.

So too, powerful interests are very good and adept at penetrating valid organizations that are opposed to them, so that they can know every move, that the opposition is going to make, and thereby counter it effectively or even possibly to influence its policy.  In all things, those in power, do not often voluntarily relinquish such, and even in those countries that are ostensibly of, for, and by the people, those elites, will work every angle within that system, so as to bend all the rules to their favor, as well as to mitigate any and everything that could conceivably hurt them.  Again and again, the people's voice is marginalized, by those powerful interests undercutting any fundamental change that is so desired by the people, signifying that the meaningful change for the better and for the people will seldom, if ever, happen.

Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution

The above article states in no uncertain terms that Congress' has the power "To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years."  Indeed, the United States, does have an army, and that army has what appears to be a continuous appropriation of massive amounts of money, far exceeding a term of a mere two years, that whether in war time or peace, seems to invariably increase, year by year, thereby signifying the rather obvious, that the United States most definitely has had for numerous years, a standing army.

The thing about standing armies is that when the government has its own army that answers exclusively to those that are the power behind the Presidential throne, then this is really not a country run by the consent of the governed, or even necessarily a democracy, but in reality, seems to be a country that has the illusion of such, but essentially is run by those that control the military forces that this country has an obvious abundance of.  While it may be true, someday, that such an army may be turned against its own people, we know for a certainty, that standing armies aren't much good to the powers that be, unless they are actively engaged in foreign military adventures or misadventures, because if there doesn't appear to be an abiding need for armed forces, then the public might well come to the rather sensible conclusion, that all the money and resources so being spent, could be more appropriately earmarked somewhere else, and thereby be of more tangible use to the people, who after all are the ones that are taxed for such.

The United States Constitution as ratified was specifically created as a document that properly was leery of as well as being quite wary of this country ever having an established military institution, separate from the people, and answerable only to those that were its elite masters.  Yet, this is exactly what has occurred, in which, this country has an extremely powerful and very entitled military-industrial-technological complex that flexes its muscles all over the world, thereby making the United States always involved in some way or manner in every foreign affair that catches its fancy or interest.  Whether this is good or bad, depends upon a given person's point of view as well as knowledge, but the more entanglements such a military involves itself in, the more the citizens of this fine land, are themselves involved in such, of which it is those citizens that are subsequently held accountable by those foreign actors.

Nothing will change in this government, of, for, and by the people, until such a time as a meaningful and significant cut to the budget is made to that military establishment, and made on an ongoing and permanent basis.  The fact that such is not occurring and does not appear to be in the cards to occur regrettably signifies the self-evident, which is that those that ostensibly are at the highest echelon of power within this nation, answer first and foremost to that military-industrial-technological complex or they do not live to see another day.

Beyond the physical, lies immortality

There are those that spend an inordinate amount of time, wanting to live forever, on this planet, as physical human beings, seemingly not recognizing that their souls as well as their mind when they are combined are the actual actuators of their physical body, and are by definition, immortal and therefore indestructible.  Yet, the search for that "fountain of youth" ever continues, and probably ever will continue, especially for all those that are enjoying their earthly incarnation, and thereby not wishing for it to end, and hence searching for that immortality, for specifically that which is physical, although such will never ever occur.  

All of this searching for physical immortality is especially disconcerting as well as being disappointing, for all those that have professed their Christianity or are believers in such, and therefore are familiar with the resurrection of the Christ.  The point of the innocent Christ being scourged, beaten, mistreated, unjustly accused and thereupon executed via a brutal crucifixion was to send an unequivocal message to those aware of these seminal events, that respect in this world, and life upon it, should never be our primary concern, for we are not the body; but rather the body merely houses that which is immortal and therefore no earthly power can ever take that inherent immortality from us, for such has risen above.

Christ thereupon rose from the dead, and reconstituted his physical body to prove to all that would open their eyes and their hearts, that those that are faithful to God, are not limited by the confines of any one physical body, but are clearly above and beyond such.  Further to the point, that which is immortal has always been, and always will be triumphant over that which is temporal.  So that, the primary objective of this life, cannot be to live forever on this planet, especially in ignorance of what and who we really are; but rather to come to the full and conscious recognition that we are the offspring of the one and only omniscient Creator, and that our destiny lies therefore in our return to that which we freely left; of which we did such so that we could experience material life in a material world, and thereupon play our role upon it.

Those that are slow learners, or that are caught up in the drama that life on this planet so represents, have an abiding desire to keep playing the roles that they have bought into, again and again.  Yet, the entanglements that keep us attached to this planet are delusionary in their form, and therefore it is necessary for great avatars to be gifted to us, so as to help us to better comprehend this world.  So that we can thereby become fully awake and eventually break free from the lure that keeps each of us separated from that which is the only Being that will provide us with lasting peace as well as an impregnable sanctuary.

Each of us is immortal, and immortal we will ever be.  This thus means, that those that see physical life and physical death as the ultimate reality, have failed to process correctly that Christ willingly died, then reconstituted his body, and further ascended thereafter into Heaven, to prove that the only temple that matters, can never be taken away from us by mere human agents, but rather that we are, in essence, always spirit, and not the physical.

Vast income disparities lead to economic stagnation

The United States is a mature economy, but just because it is so well seasoned, does not mean that it cannot produce envious economic growth in comparison to other nations, but it does not.  The systemic problem that has only gotten worse in modern times, is not that America lacks innovation, and not because America lacks capital, and not because America lacks an entrepreneurial spirit, but rather, that despite all of these good attributes, America cannot create impressive economic growth, because it lacks fundamentally a fair distribution of the profits, income, tax burden, and wealth that this nation and its people so generates.

That is to say, in recent years, the richest of the rich, have gotten so much wealthier, that they have effectively sucked capital and income out of the hands of their own citizens, to thereby have it exclusively in their own hands, of which the national government as well as state and local governments, have been to a very large extent, aiders and abettors to those that need no hand-outs in order to conduct their affairs, yet, are provided with all sorts of favoritism by those governments, again and again.  This so done, has permitted more and more capital to be concentrated into fewer and fewer hands, of which, those that have that capital, which is typically taxed at extraordinarily low rates, have nowhere to put their money to use, other than passive investments into equities and the like, because there isn't any good point in their increasing capital investment in their factories or even of research and development, when the target audience for the products or services so being manufactured or created, don't have the ready funds to purchase such.

After all, when the superrich, have all of the money, there are only so many homes, so many cars, so much food, so much healthcare, so much education, and so many material things that they as individuals or as extended families can sanely purchase; of which, the balance of such money is thereby passively invested, so as to make even more of it.  On the other hand, millions upon millions of Americans, if they were to receive a living wage, or were provided with better opportunities so as to make a decent and sustainable income, have a real need for the essentials of life, such as a good home, a reliable vehicle, good food, sensible healthcare, and a proper education, so that they can live a good life.

The bottom line is that despite all of the printing of money by the Federal Reserve, that the mere printing of such money and then thereby the distribution of that money first and foremost into the hands of those that are at the top of food chain, will not and does not ever trickle down to those that really need it.  Instead, what happens, is that as the wealth disparity between those that have and those that have not creates an ever bigger chasm, this effectively slows down the economy to a crawl, because sellers can't sell more goods and thereby won't invest even more money into their businesses, when the targeted buyers for such, are essentially broke.

The penalties for what is currently defined as crime need to be re-examined

The older that any modern government gets, the more laws that are added to their books, of which, those laws seemingly consist of coming up with more and more actions by its citizens, that are considered to be criminal in nature, and therefore subject to sanctions and penalties by state apparatus.  While a given country's criminal code, could in theory, cover every possible activity and every possible contingency that would appear to be of the nature of a crime, so committed by its citizens, wittingly or not, there actually isn't a need for that to be, for in many instances, what has been defined as a crime, is an activity that actually has no victim, unless of one's own person, such as the possession or usage of illicit contraband, gambling, suicide, or consensual prostitution, and all those other activities that adults engage in that essentially involve consent between the parties of that activity, or are individual proclivities of a given individual that is of their own volition.

Further to the point, crimes against the state and crimes against other persons should be dealt with according to the severity of those crimes against other people or the state.  So that, the robbing of money from another through the act of violence, is wholly different and the penalties thereof should be higher than such an activity such as being done through sleight of hand, or through the usage of sophisticated methods of skimming money from unsuspecting parties, for in the first instance, somebody is in particular danger of being individually harmed, financially, as well as physically, in addition to psychologically; whereas, in the second instance, that physical harm is non-existent, though the harm of property being stolen is still applicable.

So then, criminal acts that involve the loss of life and limb, and/or the loss of damage to real property, should be seen as crimes, that deserve to be properly punished, for those that are physically hurt, are entitled to be made whole, to the degree that such is still possible; and those that have property stolen from them, are entitled to see that property returned to them, to the degree that such is still possible.  On the other hand, transactions in which one party sells illicit drugs to another, or one person rents their body for illicit sex to another, should not be classified as criminal acts, but rather should be seen as activities that because they are consensual in nature, should therefore not be subjected to criminal penalties, for there is no personal victim.

That is to say, the crime that governments should involve themselves directly in, should be almost exclusively that crime that is harmful to the physicality of the body, or to the psychology of the mind, or that which takes property from another through deception or force.  Those are crimes, worthy of state resources to prosecute; whereas, many other activities currently defined as crime, should be reclassified as something other than crime, especially all those activities that are consensual in nature, of which they are typically lacking a true victim, and often are not relevant state business. The government, as a prosecuting agent, should remove itself from the prosecution of that which may seem morally suspect, and concentrate instead of just that which harms a non-consenting innocent party, or unjustly takes from the innocent what is rightfully theirs.

The imperial Presidency

The United States is in theory, a Constitutional republic, of which, the highest law of this land, is its written Constitution.  Further, this republic is divided into three separate branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial.  However, when for all intents and purposes, the person that is in the executive office, is entitled to interpret law or to stretch law or to essentially make law in whatsoever manner that President desires to do so, and thereby to effectively circumvent judicial oversight, and to make irrelevant the making of Constitutional laws by the legislature of such, then this Constitutional republic has devolved into becoming an empire, controlled by the executive office, and none else.

For instance, only Congress has the Constitutional right to "…declare war," yet, as reported by Wikipedia.org, "On at least 125 occasions a US president has employed military forces without authorization from Congress."  In fact, the United States Congress has not declared war on any other nation-state since 1942, so all of the wars that the United States has been actively engaged in since that time, as well as some of those before that time, have come about solely through the President using or usurping powers and thereby aggrandizing such into his hands, and thereby using American men and women, along with all of the military accouterments so demanded to make war against subject nation-states, that the President so desires to make war against; and in furtherance of such, superseding the need of  a formal declaration of war to be made by Congress, of which the upshot of all this has even not precluded the President from implementing at his discretion, a wartime draft of its own civilians, without the need of a Congressional declaration of war.

Additionally, the President, without authorization of any legislative body or proper judicial oversight, or in conformance with international law and international treaties agreed upon, has in modern times, assassinated those agents of foreign countries that the President so desires to assassinate through the deliberate targeted killing of such; thereby indicating that treaties, international laws, and the sovereignty of individual nations, have no material effect upon the President, when it comes to the perceived right as interpreted by that President, to kill whomever the President so desires to kill, without an apparent limit to such.

It was not so long ago, that the United States, was a land of integrity of which the President of such, though believing that slavery was a grave moral wrong, did not believe that He, as President, had the Constitutional power to eradicate such; and it was not until the Southern States seceded from this Union of States, and therefore were in rebellion against its Federal government and its Constitution, that Lincoln was able to emancipate those held in slavery within those States that were in active rebellion against that national government, through his seminal Emancipation Proclamation, place into effect on January 1, 1863.  Yet, in order to legally abolish slavery and erase such from this land, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution had to be written and thereupon ratified, so that slavery would no longer be constitutionally sanctioned.

The executive office of this country, though sworn to preserve, protect, and to defend the Constitution of this republic, has instead often deliberately violated that oath, and eviscerated this Constitutional republic, and therefore has wrested from the people their rights to the just powers as consented by those people, so that the President has become effectively above Constitutional law.

The unity of mankind, necessitates the unity of truth

This appears to be a very complicated world, consisting of all sorts of backgrounds, political considerations, and fundamental philosophical differences, from not only one people to another, but also such varies considerably from country to country, as well as this also being the case within countries, in addition to their communities, of which all of this combined makes for a worldly cacophony. Yet, as messy as that might seen, the fundamental error that mankind makes, and has been making, is to make it their point to concentrate almost exclusively on what they personally desire, or what they believe that they should desire, above all else; and often to the exclusion to the legitimacy of other people and their desires or needs.  This thus signifies, that the only possible conceivable way that mankind, in whole, can become united is that each of those that make up the greater family of mankind, must make it their conscious point to desire instead, to collectively to do the will and thereby to be obedient to that which created all of us.  That therefore, would serve to slowly but inexorably unite mankind, under one common cause, of which, by doing so, mankind would find itself being more harmonious one to another, and hence on the course to uniting mankind, into that common good.

The bottom line is that it is not possible for mankind to successfully avert wars, disputes, and conflict, unless they are all truly on the same page, of which, therefore, rather than imposing one's will or one's force upon another, they must find themselves bent on accomplishing, instead, to work wholeheartedly for the collective good of the whole.  So too, it must be acknowledged that one people can only truly be one, if, in fact, they recognize that there is only one universal truth.  After all, if truth is considered to be in the eye of the beholder, then it isn't possible for there to be any solid ground for those that believe such to stand upon, for people's opinions of such are subject to change, as well as being subject to error, and therefore, their concept of truth is by definition, subject to being forever in flux; yet real fundamental truth, by definition, is immutable.

This means that in order for mankind to be one people, they must seek exclusively that one truth.  Additionally, that one truth is not going to be some specific dogma, propagated by one specific religion, and thereby dismissive of all else as being wrong or irrelevant, but instead that truth, must be lovingly distilled into its clear and unequivocal prime principle, and none else.  So then, this signifies, that the ascent of mankind is based upon not only uniting via common cause in this world, but through the seeking of that one truth; of which, though there are many paths having been so created by mankind's footsteps, each of those paths, will for a certainty, sooner or later lead inexorably to just that one destination, which is that truth.

How long can mankind insist upon having its own way, without understanding that conflict will exist, perpetually through that mindset, because everyone has a different self-will as well as different desires. Instead to be one people, mankind must make it their point to find that union of that one truth, of which, through that common cause and common goal, mankind will thereby truly find peace on earth, and justice for all.

Tariffs, tonnage, land, and revenue

The United States national government, has in modern times consistently been running massive budget deficits, of which, those deficits could at least be partially addressed if current policies were replaced or augmented with those policies specifically created to help reduce those deficits.  In addition, even as a young nation, this country understood that to permit foreign goods to simply be shipped to America, without asserting some sort of duty or applying some sort of tonnage levy or some sort of limitation in regards to those goods, that this would be wholly unfair to domestic industries, as well as to domestic employment, and thereby to the continuing strength of this emerging nation, in whole.

In today's world, tariffs are negotiable in a myriad of ways, of which, it makes far more sense for those tariffs as being negotiated to take into full account, that this country has an abiding interest first and foremost in protecting and defending its own industries and employment, first and always, over everything else.  Sure, it does make economic sense to permit the importing of those goods that are of a lower cost or that are not readily available, so as to be of benefit for those consumers of such, but this has to be tempered with taking into account domestic industries and the employment of domestic labor, of which, it is unfair to expect those that are employed domestically to be able to compete successfully against those countries that lack robust rules and regulations that fairly deal with labor, the environment, and safety of those so employed. Further to the point, the sheer amount of goods being imported into America, does not lend itself to a thorough inspection of all those goods, so that, in interests of efficiency, the inspection of goods, could be augmented by the application of a tonnage levy of all goods coming into America, of which, different points of origin as well as different categories of goods, would be subjected to a different tonnage levy.   

Also, when it comes to potential sources of revenue, as reported by Wikipedia.org, we read that "The federal government owns about 640 million acres of land in the United States, about 28% of the total land area."  This is a substantial amount of land ownership, of which no other private party, or multinational or any other single institution, comes close to owning the amount of land that this national government so owns.  So too, it is in the development of that land, that revenues by those that own or lease such, help to ensure that this country remains vibrant, growing, and powerful, as opposed to such nationally owned land, simply laying dormant, or being underutilized for the good purposes it could be developed into.

This country has an absolute duty first and foremost to its citizens, to protect and to defend them, and of which one of those protections, is to do whatever is possible and sensible to maintain the strength of its own people, by first supporting and augmenting its own domestic industries, at the expense, if it so be, of foreign industries and foreign employment.  After all, it is not fair, to expect that domestic employers can successfully compete over the long term against cheap and exploited foreign labor, so that, tariffs, tonnage levies and anti-dumping laws should be applied where it is sensible by that national government to do so.  Additionally, federal lands which are of interest to private parties and domestic corporations, should more often be sold or lease to such, so as to strengthen American interests further.

The town crier and the night watchman

The days of the town crier and the night watchman have long gone, except in the sense of today's ceremonial purposes, but back in their day, they were important functions of behalf of the state.  For instance, the town crier would first ring his bell, so as to get the full attention of the townspeople and from there, would announce news of importance to them, before posting such on the door post of a designated inn, so that literate townspeople would be able to read the announcements thereof at their convenience.  The night watchman's main tasks involved trying to keep order in the darkness of the night, by patrolling the streets and accosting any suspicious characters, in addition to providing a visible and moving presence that was meant to serve as a constant deterrent to miscreants.  In addition, the night watchman kept a careful eye out for fires, and was responsible for giving the time of night, along with proclaiming any pertinent information in regards to the weather. 

All of the above, was indicative that without the modern conveniences of weather reports, clocks, an abundance of outside lighting, and the internet so as to report news in real time, that communities depended upon their town crier as well as their night watchman so as to be kept fully informed of important news as well as to be protected from those that were up to no good, and thereby using the cover of night to perform their misdeeds.

While it is true that there isn't a present need for a town crier or a night watchman, anymore, and even if there was, that because communities are so spread out that it wouldn’t be effective; the reality of it is, that the structure of communities have taken these jobs as originally conceived, and subsequently formalized them into our weathermen, police forces, firemen, emergency alerts, and media outlets of all types.  Still, there is something to be said about living in a day and age, in which a community, by definition, was far more engaged one to another, simply because one's very livelihood and safety depended upon being informed of seminal events, occurring on and around a given community.

What we have lost in today's world, is often that sense of close connectivity that existed in bygone eras, and replaced such with a much higher degree of anonymity as well as of apparent individual self-sufficiency that sees many neighborhoods exist in which those that make up that neighborhood, really don't know one another, and further often don't have the desire to do so.  The problem with that sort of non-involvement one with another, is that when a given society feels no sense of urgency to watch out for their neighbor, then that community places itself in the unenviable position of being exploited by those that have bad intentions, of which those bad actors have the knowledge that without a designated town crier or a night watchman, that any and everything is pretty much available to them, because nobody is really minding the store and apparently nobody actually cares to.

Africa: land of opportunity

As reported by afd.fr/en, Africa is on track to increase its population substantially, of which it is expected that its population by 2050 will increase from today's "… 1 billion to nearly 2.4 billion inhabitants. Most importantly, half of that population will be less than 25 years old."  As most everyone knows that is in the business of selling goods, those that are younger, are of far more value to sellers, because of the sheer length of prime time that these potential buyers have to thereby develop long-term brand loyalty; while also taking into consideration the salient fact that as these young consumers mature and their income rises, they will develop their own family, so sales of those goods and services, are subsequently set to go up even further.

The fact of the matter is, that younger people, have not only greater material needs to be met than those that are older or significantly older, but they also have the longevity of life still within them, that makes them therefore of extreme value to marketers of all stripes and colors.  Further to the point, as the continent of Africa accumulates more wealth, through the growing of their economies at rates that western nations, in particular, would salivate to ever obtain again; makes those that are born in Africa, especially well sought after by multinationals as the prime market to export goods and services of all sorts.

So then, the battle for the market of Africa is already engaged, and has been engaged since the beginning of the 21st century, of which, those countries and businesses that are investing in Africa today, are doing so, with the foreknowledge that aiding in the development of this continent, will provide them with an incredible market to export their goods and services to, not only now, but significantly even better in the near future.    The fact of the matter is, that while mature markets have their place, those that are in the business of profit and growth are forever looking for opportunity to sell their wares in which the pie of that country or continent is growing and thereby is not stagnant or contracting, and no other continent has a better upside than Africa, so Africa is definitely the place to be.

Unfortunately, for western nations, when it comes to Africa, they have for whatever reasons, been asleep at the wheel, and have made perhaps a fatal error, by ceding what could have been theirs, to China.  Further compounding the dilemma for those western nations, is that China is the perfect country to match up with Africa, because unlike western nations, that have foregone the manufacturing of domestic goods, China has not; which is absolutely vital to China for they are dependent upon the continuing rise of exporting goods throughout the world, in order to keep their own country's economy humming, of which, they have been exceedingly successful in doing exactly that.

Africa is a developing continent, with great natural resources, and with a young population, which is eager to emulate and to have the material success of western nations, of which multinationals and even nations will rise or fall, depending upon their success within Africa, forthwith.

The police state and the relentless rise of injustice

No country that takes on the aura or claims the valued attributes of equality, opportunity, fairness, and meritocracy could possibly be true to all or even any of these very noble traits, when the evidence thereof of incarceration rates, income and wealth disparities, public educational shortfalls, as well as the lack of safety, healthcare, and civility in so many communities clearly indicates the very opposite.  In fact, while America does an absolutely wonderful job of selling the story that it is the promised fabled land of opportunity, of liberty, and of justice for all; it is, regrettably, rather poor and feeble at fulfilling those very things for the whole of its people, mainly because those that are the most powerful within the United States, do not desire to and will not share that opportunity or fairness, because they will not willingly give up what they have forcefully taken from those that they exploit mercilessly with absolute abandon.

The most appropriate way to look upon America, is to recognize that despite the fact that it is clearly the richest nation in material wealth in aggregate in the world, is to thereby look carefully and resolutely within the engine compartment of America, so as to better understand, how is it conceivable that millions of hard working Americans, aren't even compensated at a living wage; and how is it possible for a nation that initially well understood the value and importance of a free public school system, that it now has at best, a bifurcated public school system, of which, millions of its own citizens are cheated of the fair opportunity to be well educated but are instead left abandoned so as to be essentially functionally illiterate.  So too, while America was late to have the courage to emancipate its slaves, it did so, through the aegis of a great President and through the great sacrifice of its people, that fought for that perpetual union of the states and of liberation, only to eventually replace that previous system of slavery, with slavery by another name, through the outright exploitation of those that are immigrants to this nation but without proper "papers", as well as though its police and justice system, that systematically "shakes down" impoverished neighborhoods, so as to keep the black man and others of color, in their place, by either incarcerating them, or emasculating them.

A truly free nation, devoid of any semblance of a police state, is one in which the citizens are free to move about in public without being subjected to an unjustified stop and frisk, and also where they are free to make decisions of import, without the long arm of the police state, boxing them into communities that lack hope, lack opportunity, lack money, and lack choice.  What we have instead is a deliberately designed economic policy that necessitates that a huge underclass be exploited in a way, in which the lion's share of their anemic compensated labor, is monetized into the hands of the elite that thereby effectively controls their wages, and their freedom of movement, so that these underprivileged people can thereby be sheared like a sheep, again and again and again.  The police state is required for those elites, to not only put the fear of God into the hearts of all those that have nothing, but also to assure that the rich and powerful can continue to dominate the underclass of America, till each of those that make of that underclass, has nothing further to give, and thereby are discarded as nothing more than refuse and trash.