My View of the World at the End of 2013

 

It really matters not what part of the world you speak about today. Every single country has major problems whether admitted or not and the governments are really not doing anything to help.

In the United States for instance, today there is a massive cut back in the Food Stamp program which will impact as many as 40 million people. The problem is that no one is willing to address this correctly. As in any program where there is a lot of money involved you will find some amount of fraud but rather than really cracking down on that a bunch of politicians got together and just pulled a dollar figure out of their collective ass without having any idea how much actual fraud is taking place.

In other countries around the world all of the “fixes” are beating the hell out of people that are already struggling just to survive.

I suggest that we go to the financial institutions that have been making massive profits because the governments in a lot of cases have been essentially funding them and take back some of that profit and lets feed, clothe and house people. Or rather than taking it back stop this BS about how paying people more will cripple the economy. People have had their wages cut immensely over the last decade and that has not helped prevent the problem or brought back the economy one damned bit.

In the 80s and 90s people were treated and paid far better than they are now and we had a magnificent economy. How about if we go back there?

Technorati Tags: Economy,Pay,Financial Crisis

Are the European Elections Telling the Rest of the World Something?

I believe that the elections are absolutely sending a message. I believe they are. The election results show that enough people are fed up with the way things are going and are willing to change the type of leadership they have in some cases rather dramatically.

People want some very dramatic change that will help the common folk as quickly as help was given to the financial sector.

I am not at all advocating a Socialist government. I am however, strongly advocating for a change in the type of Capitalism we practice.

What we need is a retreat back to Stakeholder Capitalism where company decisions took into account everyone involved. Vendors, neighbors, customers, employees and shareholders were all considered in the decision making process and in so doing very powerful and strong decisions were made that would keep a company growing and increasing in abilities and stature for years and years to come. This is the advantage of stakeholder capitalism.

Shareholder capitalism on the other makes decisions based almost solely on the wants of the the shareholders. The shareholders, who are risking their money and absolutely deserve to have good decisions made, are nowadays only interested in how much a return can be made in the shortest time. The problem with that is that it really allows no long term planning to occur since the vast majority of the profits go right to the stockholders. This is also the reason for astronomical CEO pay that is seen because the stockholders vote in the board of directors and the goal of the board of directors is of course to stay in that position so their duty in today’s world lies almost completely to the stockholder.

I am not sure that many people have even heard of these two types of capitalism but it would truly make for a far more equitable world while still allowing the wealthy to increase their wealth to a great extent.

It would also allow the less wealthy to move into an area of somewhat more wealth that may give those who have been working hard all their lives to actually retire. As things are going now I will likely die on the job at some point, hopefully far in the future, but unless things change I will never be able to retire. I will work until the day I die.

I am also not advocating that we give high salaries to those that are not doing a job that is good enough to warrant it but we have people that have been doing their jobs for years and have become better and better at it but are making less in real terms than they were 15 or 20 years ago and I find that to be incredibly sad.

Technorati Tags: company decisions,ceo pay,socialist government,dramatic change,sending a message,financial sector,stockholder,capitalism,stockholders,stature,shareholders,election results,shareholder,board of directors,neighbors,profits,extent,decision making process,leadership,elections

The Arrogance of Power

For those that dislike the US Congress please remember that we are not alone in the world with politicians that are really only interested in consolidating and maintaining their power base.

I agree with you 100% about the congress. They just keep on doing what they are doing despite the fact that only about 11% of the country thinks they are doing a good job.

Other places have their issues as well. In Russia Vladimir Putin has been quoted as stating that he believes that the old Soviet Union should be put back together which would fix things in that country. Oh for the good old days of the Cold War.

In Syria the government has been firing on its own citizens when they protest. They then deny it vehemently even when presented with pictures and videos showing it happening.

Never forget that it could always be worse. That being said, Congress is absolutely doing a horrible job. A number of Congressional Leaders have publicly stated that their job is to make sure that President Obama is a one term president.

Come election day 2012 please make sure you all remember that in order for us to move ahead and bring prosperity back to the ones that have lost it and to finally let those that never had it to enjoy it, we need to vote out the whole kit and caboodle of them and bring in all new.

Remember that we have that option. As arrogant and self righteous as our politicians are, I can not see them sic'ing the military on on the public as has been done elsewhere.

We badly need to move forward and fix the mess that we are in as soon as we can but keeping everyone in office will just maintain the status quo we will have the same issues after the election.

 

Technorati Tags: Politics,protests,Syria,Putin,Congressional,prosperity

The Danger of Iran

I am actually a bit frightened right now because I actually agree with Michelle Bachmann about something. She lambasted Ron Paul over his views on Iran and as much as I don’t want to, I agree with her.

Ron Paul’s isolationist stance is a very dangerous view of the world. The idea that we will be perfectly safe if we just ignore the rest of the world shows a Foreign Policy naivety of the average 3 year old playing peek-a-boo believing that hiding his or her face means they become invisible.

Martin Niemöller is credited with the following quote that shows the dangers of only looking out for yourself and I have no doubts that Congressman Paul is fully aware of this quote which makes it even worse because he knows better.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

I am frightened about agreeing with Michelle Bachmann because she is, in my opinion, completely incapable of speaking in public without screwing up big time. She does not seem to be aware that when you are stating what you mean that the words that come out of your mouth need to be defined the way you mean it.

Blurting stuff out when you are speaking with a foreign ruler or diplomat is dangerous because you can go back and tell them what you meant to say but the damage will already be done because they will have their own people with them giving real time interpretation from English to whatever language they speak. Even if they speak English care is still needed because from the perspective of work meanings and pronunciation, English is an incredibly difficult language.

Congressman Paul and Congresswoman Bachmann please for the love of everything, give it up and let someone with common sense (assuming we can find that in a politician) take over and run this ship.

 

Technorati Tags: Politics,Foreign Policy,Ron Paul,Michelle Bachmann,Isolationism