Food For Thoughts
By
Secret Agent X-9
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY
B. Kinton on Smashwords
Food For Thoughts
Copyright 2010 by B. Kinton
All Rights Reserved
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(MOVE AHEAD TO TABLE OF CONTENTS)
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Need something to think about? Looking for something to discuss around the water cooler at work? In need of a few slightly different "angles" from which to view some of life's problems?
How about a few solutions for some of life's problems... Could you use some of those?
There's a little something in this book for just about everyone. Here-in you will find a collection of assorted topics that relate to the complicated world that we live in today. The Author has zeroed in on a number of issues, some of them controversial, all of them interesting, and has presented views of them that are sure to generate yet more views from readers.
The subject matter is broad and far ranging, to make the book interesting to the largest number of readers. Each chapter deals with a particular subject. The economy. Health care. The food industry. Space exploration. The problem in the middle east. Religion. The possibilities and implications of life elsewhere in the universe. And more...
There's even a chapter devoted to the comic book industry!
So turn of that stupid TV, or video game, and find a comfortable place to sit down, and read a good book for a change. This book.
And who knows? You might just end up as the new center of attraction at work, or maybe even become a person who figured out how to solve some major outstanding problem in the world today.
FOOD FOR THOUGHTS
By
Secret Agent X-9
7 / 2010
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This E-book is licensed for your personal use only. This E-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this Author.
ABOUT THE COVER IMAGE
Rocky and Bullwinkle at lunch - It's easy to tell which is which... Rocky is the flying squirrel, and Bullwinkle is the moose...
For the full story behind the image, see the write-up at the end of the book... (Click here, or on "write-up").
ABOUT THOSE ... OTHER... IMAGES...
Presenting!... Zorian Strange, the World's Greatest Magician!... And Sylanna Thelxepia, the World's Greatest Escape Artist!
You never know just what it's going to be that sells a book...
It might be the way it is written. Or perhaps what it is about. Or... you never can tell... it just might be the pictures.
With that in mind, I've thrown in some pictures.
It is my hope that people will buy the book for what is written there-in. If that happens, then the pictures merely come along for the ride, so to speak.
But there will undoubtedly be some out there who will be trying to decide whether or not to buy. If the pictures turn out to be the key factor that makes them decide to buy, then the book will gain a few more readers than it might have had otherwise.
Do the pictures have anything to do with the rest of the book?
No.
They have nothing to do with the book. But the reader may just find them interesting to look at, and they may provide a sort of "intermission" between the chapters. And for those readers who may be interested in photography and the fine art of digital image manipulation... Well... God only knows what sort of conversation's the images might end up generating.
The images are of an act in THE MAGIC SHOW called "The Mystery Of The Woman In The Brass Ring", where-in Master Magician Zorian Strange levitates co-performer Miss Thelxepia up into the air in front of a live audience, and then makes her disappear into thin air, right before their eyes.
Two or three images will appear at the end of each chapter...
3.THE GULF OIL SPILL - A FEW QUICK THOUGHTS
6.A TALE OF SKULLDUGERY AND INTRIGUE
7.THE NEWS YOU NEED... FROM THE PEOPLE YOU CAN TRUST
8.BREAKING NEWS!... THIS JUST IN!...
9.WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ALL THOSE UFO's?
10.AND THIS LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR SUPERMAN
11.THE PROBLEM IN THE MIDDLE EAST
12.MARS, US, AND THE DINOSAURS
13.IT'S LIFE, CAPTAIN... BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT..
14.THE GOD GENE
FOOD FOR THOUGHTS
(MOVE AHEAD TO START OF NEXT CHAPTER)
SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHTS
I would recommend raw tuna fish.
That recommendation is based on advice from that legendary Russian Chess Master of some years back, who stated that he sometimes ate raw tuna fish prior to a match, because it seemed to go straight to his head and clear his mind, and enable him to think clearly and be at the top of his game.
I mention that here simply to stay in tune with the title of this book... And now that I have fulfilled that obligation, I can proceed with no guilty feelings into assorted other subjects...
Let's begin with the economy...
As this is being written, the world economy is in a rather bad state, though things do seem to be looking a bit better at the moment. I'm going to stick mostly to looking at the problem from the U.S. side of things, but many other countries around the globe are also having problems.
The problem started to show itself most apparent when many of the big banks and insurance companies down on Wall Street began declaring that they were plum out of money and about to go under. That would in turn cause many businesses and industries to go under, which would put many people out of work, which would cause them to not be able to buy things, pay bills, pay mortgages, and so on. Which would cause those banks and insurance companies to go even further under.
Endless spiral, going continuously in the downward direction.
And mixed into that mess, all along the way, was the Government, of course. The economy collapses, people can't pay taxes, all of which destroys the Government. You can't get tax dollars out of people who have no money... Just like you can't get blood out of a rock.
So the Government stepped in and took action, to A., stop the problem from getting any worse, and B., hopefully enable the problem to get better.
The Government "bailed out" Wall Street.
And how did it do that, you ask?
Are you ready for this?
By printing money.
Well, it's not exactly that. "Printing money" kind of implies that they just did just that. They just cranked up the printing press and printed money, and then gave it to all those big companies down on Wall Street.
These days, big money matters are usually handled with computers. A dollar is just a few data bits on a memory chip or hard drive. But those data bits represent paper money. It's for the sake of convenience and speed. Sending data bits around the world via computer networks sure beats having to carry a bunch of suitcases full of paper money all over the place.
But I digress...
So the Government bailed out wall street, by "printing money". But more accurately, the Government didn't make that money up out of thin air. Money is supposed to represent real-world assets. Farm goods, mined minerals, manufactured products, goods and services, and so on. In other words, the money we use in the U.S. represents all those real things that are all around us. Everything has a "value" associated with it. You add up the total value of all the things in this country, and issue "money" that "represents" that value. And that, in rather over-simplified terms, is the meaning of money in this country.
There's nothing worse than a dollar bill that does NOT represent any real thing of value. That's a worthless dollar bill.
So if the Government just hauls off and prints a dollar, it has to represent some real world value. Otherwise, its worthless. (Not worth the paper it's printed on, as they say!).
So how does the government make those bail-out dollars worth something?
Well... There are various ways to do that...
In this particular case... Those bail-out dollars represent money that the Government does not have, YET, but it will have, eventually, sometime in the future.
It's called "borrowing money".
And the Government borrowed it from you, the tax payer.
They also borrowed it from other places... like China, for instance... But let's not get into that just yet...
Anyway... Right now, you don't have any money to loan. You're broke. You can barely make ends meet. Or maybe you can't even make ends meet.
So the Government has arranged to get the money from you sometime later... Say in ten years or so. They're assuming that by then the economy will be back on track, you'll have plenty of extra money, and will be able to pay more in taxes.
Sounds good to me.
Ah – Wait a minute! Hold it! What am I saying?!?
No, it DOESN'T sound good to me. In fact, it sounds down-right crooked and scary.
Let's back up a bit, and take a closer look at this whole mess...
To begin with, lets identify the REAL cause of the problem...
It's been said, over and over ad-infinitum, on TV, the radio, and in books and newspapers, that the cause of the present economic problem was the "housing crisis"... especially all those "sub-prime loans"... loans that those big companies allowed, even encouraged, people to take out, that they wouldn't be able to repay. Then, as people ran out of money and defaulted on the loans, that resulted in the big wall street companies now holding houses... and other stuff... that was worth a lot less than they had planned on. They couldn't re-sell any of it at the inflated high prices that they had paid for it, because nobody out there now had enough money to pay those prices. And they just plain refused to lower those prices and absorb the loss themselves. They refused to downsize. Instead, Wall Street just simply declared that THEY were now out of money, and needed a bail-out, or they would go under, and drag the rest of the world down with them.
In case you didn't catch it, there's a recurring little theme running through that last paragraph...
Running out of money.
And THAT is what caused the housing crisis, and the sub-prime loan problem, and wall street's problems.
And it may have eventually reached wall street... But it didn't start there.
What makes an economy run? What allows a country, and a Government, to exist and operate? What allows business and industry to function?
Two things. Money. And a MIDDLE CLASS.
AND... The two HAVE TO GO TOGETHER... Otherwise, you'll get just what we're getting a taste of now. And what they got an even better taste of back in 1929.
The MIDDLE CLASS makes things work. But only if it has the money it needs to buy all the toasters, refrigerators, TV's, cars, shoes, apples and oranges, cd-players and computers, lawn mowers, hats, bats... and so on...
There aren't enough rich people in the whole world to buy enough of all the above, and more, to keep an economy running and healthy.
The middle class needs money to pay taxes, and to make mortgage payments. If it has the money, it will even pay higher taxes, and it will actually be able to keep paying those sub-prime loans, even at those greed-driven rates.
And if the middle class DOESN'T have the money?...
Well... It's as plain as the nose on a game-playing politician's face. All those things mentioned up above... They never get sold. All the little and medium-sized U.S. companies, that make those things, go out of business. Their workers end up out of work, adding to the problem.
Sub-prime loans don't get paid. Houses don't sell. Wall Street ends up in trouble.
Taxes don't get paid. The Government ends up in trouble.
Simplified example...
Here's the whole world. In it, there are ten people, and ten dollars.
One person has 1 dollar and 90 cents. He's rich.
One person has 10 cents. He's poor.
That leaves 8 people, and 8 dollars. So each has a dollar. Those 8 people are the middle class. And that's a healthy economy.
But in the U.S. and many other countries today, that's not how it is. It's more like this...
The rich guy has $7.90.
The poor guy still has 10 cents.
And the middle class? They've now got about 2 dollars total. That's 8 people, with 25 cents each. And that's why we're now in the middle of an economic mess.
So there's the REAL CAUSE of the problem. It's not the "housing crisis", or the "sub-prime loan" mess, or the "Companies that are too big to fail" down on wall street, who took risks that they never should have taken, and partook of shoddy and irresponsible business practices, and were greedy beyond belief, and are even now still giving tax-payer bail-out money to executives and workers in the form of extravagant bonuses...
The REAL CAUSE of the problem is, THE MIDDLE CLASS HAS RUN OUT OF MONEY.
And where has that money gone? Where is it? If the middle class no longer has it... Who does?
Let me make a list...
The problem has been growing for quite a few years now. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. That's the old saying. And it's been happening in the U.S., slowly, over a period of time. Companies pay their executives more and more, while they move more and more jobs over seas, to other countries, where labor is cheaper. So is the standard of living.
Tax laws favor the rich, and loopholes in the tax laws allow big business to make higher profits at tax-payer expense. Those profits don't make it back to the middle class.
A major dent in the middle class was caused a few years back when the price of oil went through the roof. For a while, a major chunk of middle class money went to the oil companies, to pay for gas, and heating oil. Many people were half freezing to death because they cut their thermostats way down, because they had only so much money to spend on food and gas and oil. Forget about toasters and TV's and washing machines and cars...
So back then, even when the middle class still had a little extra money, they were forced to give it all to the oil companies, rather than re-invest it into the rest of the economy.
The oil companies, of course, made the highest profits in the history of the world... All while people were struggling to keep warm and buy food. Once again, middle class money just floated off across the sea, never to return.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
Been in a department store lately? Try to find something that's NOT made in China. Go ahead, try. The same goes for hardware stores. Even supermarkets are now on board. Much of the food on their shelves is coming from China.
And every time you buy something from China, a chunk of your money goes off to China. You kiss it goodbye. Their standard of living goes up, while yours goes down.
It's what usually happens when economies meet. Hardly never does either survive unscathed. Usually, they both "re-adjust". The higher level one will go down somewhat, while the lower level one will rise somewhat. The two will meet somewhere in between the two original starting levels.
Bad news... This just in... Your standard of living here in the U.S. is now on the way down... Eventually, it will meet with China and India (and others!), who are now all on the way up... At your expense!
Don't blame me... That's just the way the world is...
How do you fix this problem?
Here's the Governments solution. Assume that the middle class will be "back to normal" in ten years or so, and will once again have extra money at their disposal. That will thus get the economy back running properly again. In the meantime, borrow from those future tax payers, and give it to the rich people in the present, and those big wall street firms that are "too big to fail". Give the money from future tax payers to the wall street executives, as bonuses (for work well done?).
Bail out General Motors and Chrysler. In fact, don't stop there. Offer cash for clunkers. Use future taxpayers money to help sell cars from the auto companies.
In about ten years, you'll be paying in part, in taxes, for that brand new car that your neighbor bought today! You're now doing your neighbor a good deed! Whether you want to or not! In ten years or so, you're going to start paying for the car he bought today.
Well... Maybe not...
For you see... The problem... the REAL problem... is still not being addressed. The middle class is still out of money. It's all gone to China, and into the middle east oil bank vaults, and to the rich people, here and abroad. The middle class is still out of money, their income is falling, they're out of work and losing their homes, and about all they can afford is food, and gas for the car, and oil for heat.
And money for medical bills and "health insurance"... Hey... Don't even get me started on THAT.
(For that, wait until Chapter-2... THEN you can get me started on THAT!...).
Many towns, cities, and states are now facing budget problems. Many are now "borrowing" their way along. That assumes once again that tax dollars will become available sometime in the future.
What if they're not? Tax dollars come from the middle class. At the rate things are still going, the middle class isn't going to have tax dollars to give any time soon. You can't get blood out of a rock.
Again I ask... How do you fix this problem?
I'll give you the answer... Though you're not gonna like it...
Re-distribute the wealth.
Now, some dimwits are going to jump up and shout Communism and Socialism! And Government Regulation! And all that stuff.
And to them I say... What do you dimwits plan on doing after America is gone?
Because that's what will happen, without a healthy middle class. And don't bother saying "that can't happen here".
Go tell it to the Roman Empire. The Egyptian Empire. The British Empire. The Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Point is, and history validates, countries come and go. They're like living things. They have life cycles. They come into existence, they run their course, and eventually they die out, or change into something else.
Like, for instance... Washidagon. And Texahoma. And Indillihio. Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont will become the country of Northern New England. Mass., R.I., and Conn. will become the country of Southern New England.
And so on. You get the picture. Without a healthy middle class, to buy things and pay taxes, the country will go broke, and be in debt, to places like China, India, and Japan. It will eventually have to break up... Just as the U.S.S.R. did. What will be left will be a handful of smaller "countries" that no longer have to pay in to a massive oversized central government.
Or maybe we'll then have "The United Countries Of Central North America... Whatever.
So to all the dimwits who want to continue down the path you're presently on, go ahead, scream all you want... As the U.S. Government takes the necessary steps to re-distribute the wealth, and thus save itself from extinction.
And why does the Government have to do it?
Because it's the only thing still big enough to take on big business and industry, and the rich.
Businesses are also like living things. Most are out to make all the profit they can, no matter what it takes. Even if it means squirreling profits away out of reach of taxes in overseas bank accounts, and moving jobs out of the U.S., because it's cheaper to pay workers in other countries. Big businesses gobble up little businesses, to kill off competition, then throw workers away to save money. They constantly use deception and trickery to fool the public. Just go looking at the labeling on products in any grocery store. Big colorful outstanding letters tell you what they want you to know. Tiny little washed out lettering in fine print is used to downplay what you should know, but they don't want you to consider it or even think about it.
No, business and industry and the rich will never concede to a redistribution of wealth voluntarily, even if it means survival of the U.S. as we presently know it. They'll just continue to squeeze all they can out of this country, and then move to some other country after this one collapses.
The Government has to be the one to do it. It can be done through taxes, and regulations.
Get the message to the rich and famous. It's A.-O.K. to make all the money in the world. But you should also feel honored, and rightly so, to pay plenty in taxes. Those tax dollars will be used to create a better country. Better public schools, better libraries, better roads and bridges, and so on. Make all the money you want... So long as a proper amount of it gets taken back, via taxes, and put back into circulation in the economy, via the middle class.
This just in... As this is being written, it has been reported that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, two of the richest people on earth, have arranged to give over half of their wealth back to society, in the form of contributions to charities and such... A few other very rich people have also announced similar plans.
They have done the right thing. The proper thing. They have my respect, and best wishes to them both. Other rich people around the globe would do very well to follow in their footsteps.
But a few aren't going to be enough. It has to be all rich people, to work, and to be fair.
You also adequately tax business and industry. If they are making ungodly high profits, then tax those profits accordingly. Make it plainly clear to them... They can take all the money they're raking in and properly share it with their workers, in salaries... Or they will have it taken from them in taxes. But they won't be able to keep it and squirrel it away in their private corporate coffers.
Once you raise the taxes on business and industry and the rich, you can lower taxes on the poor and middle class.
In other words, you re-balance the tax system. The Government ends up taking in the same amount of tax money as before. But now, the poor and middle class get to keep more of what they make. They now have more to spend on all the things that keep the country and the economy running well.
You re-balance the tax system to favor the economy, not business and industry and the rich.
The saying now is, "What's good for business is good for the country". Well, that's not true, because big business and industry is not good for the country, as it now operates. It's just good for itself, and to heck with the country. As big business goes global, it no longer needs any particular country. It just grows, no matter what, and works to eliminate anything in the way of that growth.
"What's good for the economy is good for the country". THAT is the truth. And that's what the "saying" should be.
Those companies down on wall street that are "too big to fail"?... Let them fail. Let the free market forces take them apart and dispose of them, if it comes to that. If you're going to conduct a "bail out" operation, do it from the bottom up, not from the top.
That 8 hundred billion to a trillion or so dollars that was set aside by the government to bail out wall street... You sent it to the wrong place. People there will spend a hundred dollars to buy a "gourmet" muffin and a "gourmet" cup of coffee. You should have sent that money straight to the tax-paying public. Most of them would use a hundred dollars to buy a whole bunch of things, and thus strengthen the country's economy down at the ground level.
In fact, I suspect that that much money sent straight to taxpayers might have solved the wall street problems from the ground up. Many people who have now lost their homes because they had no money to pay the mortgage might have been able to pay that mortgage if you had sent the money to them. For a trillion dollars, many people might still be in their homes and paying the banks their fee's. For a trillion dollars, many people could probably have bought a lot of things that would have kept businesses in business and workers working.
What's the working population in the U.S.? Answer... No-where near a trillion. The number varies, depending on who reports it, and where they get their information, and what particular point in time they do the counting. A rough average would be somewhere around perhaps 140 million.
The Government has decided that, by borrowing from future tax-payers, it can afford to spend 800 billion to a trillion dollars to bail out wall street, failing banks and insurance companies, auto companies and airlines, etc., etc., etc. ...
How much is 80 billion to a trillion dollars?
You don't wanna know. Because, even if you did, you can't comprehend that much, anyway. It's just plain too much money for anyone to comprehend.
Say, here's an idea... Lets cut that 800 billion down to a measly 140 billion, and then divide it up evenly and send it out to every working person in the U.S. ... All 140 million of them. How much would each person get?
For the benefit of those of you who are mathematically challenged, the answer is 1 thousand dollars.
And that's if you divide it up equally. If you do it on a "sliding scale", and don't include the rich people and the upper middle class, who are still quite well off, thank you, and don't need it, you could probably manage to get three to five thousand dollars direct to each and every poor and lower and middle class worker.
And that's if you start with 140 billion. What if you give out more? Remember, the Government has earmarked 800 billion to a trillion of your future tax dollars to give away.
Can you imagine what giving 3 to 5 thousand dollars... or more... to every worker in this country, from the middle class on down, would do to our economy? I'll bet they won't give away large chunks of it to executives, in the form of million dollar bonuses. I'll bet they will use it to pay off mortgages, taxes, and bills, and with any left over, they'll buy toasters, washing machines and refrigerators, school supplies, laptop computers... And all the other things that will get our economy and our country back in proper running condition. You'd have over a billion dollars suddenly being spread evenly throughout the entire economy, instead of being funneled to just those greed-driven morons at the top of the heap.
The economy would probably be all better by tomorrow.
And lest we forget... This bailout money is being borrowed from "future taxpayers"... So what more justice in the world than to actually give it, now, to the people who you expect to take it back from in ten years or so?
In other words... Stop bailing out those idiots at the top, who have all caused the problem, by hoarding the money supply, and bail out all the people that they've all but destroyed... The people that this country really needs to keep operating.
And while you're resuscitating the low and middle class, start taking steps to insure that the money you send direct to them stays mostly in this country. Close all those tax loopholes that presently allow big companies to set up shop in other countries and thus avoid taxes over here. Make it cost effective for them to have their products made by workers in this country. Use taxes, and regulations, if necessary, to equalize the difference in cost of labor between this country and the others.
And if you don't?
Well, then, here's what will happen. In fact, it now is happening.
Whenever you go into a store to buy something, you will... at first... have a choice. Do you buy the one that was made here, in America, or the one that was made over there? The answer is obvious. You will buy the one made over there. Why? Because it cost's less. The one made over here cost's more, because the company that made it has to pay the American worker much higher wages.
So you buy the one made over there... And that results in the following.
A goodly chunk of the money you spent ends up leaving the country. It ends up over there. It's no longer working over here, helping other people over here to buy other things.
Also... The next time you walk into the store to buy another one of those things, you no longer have a choice between made here and made over there. Why? Because, when you... and everyone else... initially bought the lower-cost foreign-made ones, the ones made here didn't sell. So the company over here that made them went out of business, and all its workers are now out of work, and their company, and the jobs it provided, is gone. All those workers would have taken the dollars that you, and others like you, would have provided them with by buying their product, and they would have in turn used those dollars to buy other products, from other companies. But now, your dollars have left the country, and all the other companies and workers down the line no longer have access to them. American companies have folded, American jobs have disappeared, and American workers are now out of work.
It's called a "free market economy".
For those of you who might be taking notes... Let me say a few words about "free market economies"...
Back in the "good old days", when America was "the richest country on earth", there were arrangements in place to make it that way. Things like protective tariff's, and import quota's. The thinking was, if some poor overseas worker made something that you were making, but he made it for a dollar, and he only got paid 10 dollars a week, but you made it for 10 bucks, and you earned 100 dollars a week, well, then, what was to stop the foreign company from selling their product over here for, say, 9 dollars, when you were selling yours for 20 dollars? If you dropped your price to anything under the 10 dollars it cost you to make it, you'd lose money, and soon be out of business. So you couldn't possibly compete against the foreign product.
Enter the Government. They realized they were up against foreign economy's that they could not go up against head to head... So they "leveled the playing field", with tariff's and quota's. They passed laws to the effect that the foreign companies had to price their products reasonably close to the locally made ones, and they could only sell so many of them in this country. Once all of those were sold, Americans then had only locally-made ones available, at their American price levels.
That was back in the good old days.
But as time went by, and companies grew bigger and bigger, and especially as local companies found that they could have their products made in other countries, for less labor cost, and then sell them over here, and make a bigger profit, things eventually began to change. Big business eventually succeeded in convincing the Government that "what's good for business is good for America".
Well. At one time in the past, that was true.
There was a time in this country when a company paid a man a decent living wage. That man could make enough at his job to support his wife and kids, often send them off to college, perhaps buy a house, go to a ballgame on the weekend, travel during a vacation, etc., etc., etc. ...
That was back in the good old days... When what was good for business was good for America. And it was.
This is today... That guy is having trouble making ends meet, on his overly-generous salary from his company. So he puts in a lot of overtime. Even then, he's not pulling in enough. So his wife is also out working, part time, or maybe even full time. Together, they're finally making ends meet... But now there's no-one home to mind the kids. So... Who's watching the kids, while both parents are out working?
God only knows...
Health insurance alone is costing them around a thousand dollars a month. And the Government is now telling them that they MUST buy that. (And they MUST buy it from those same companies that are presently sucking all the money they possibly can out of sick people. What kind of deal is that??? Go read Chapter –2 for some comments on THAT craziness!).
So even with both mom and dad working, and a lot of overtime thrown in, they're up to their ears in bills, with not all that much left over for their kids college fund, and not all that much free time for weekend ballgames, or even decent vacations.
That's the salary-level offered to the American worker today, by many American businesses.
Is that kind of business-model good for America?
I don't think so.
And even then, Business isn't satisfied. They've learned that they don't even need the American worker. They can get a cheaper worker in many other countries. They don't even have to think about paying enough to put their employee's kid through college.
As if they were ever thinking about that anyway...
Of course, if the Government were still slapping tariff's and import quota's on foreign made goods, that would be a problem. So big business has done whatever they had to do to get rid of such restrictions. They now have their lobbyist army firmly entrenched around all branches of government, to insure that they get laws that favor them, rather than the public.
A "free market" is a good thing. Get rid of regulations. Let the markets regulate themselves.
Right.
Make no mistake. "Free Markets" are now killing America, and many other parts of the world. Big business has been turned loose on the world. It want's a bigger profit each year. It wants to make products for less cost. If it can replace a worker with a cheaper foreign one, it will. If it can replace workers with automated machines, it will. If it can avoid paying taxes, it will. And if it can run your local company out of business by selling it's foreign-made product at a much lower price, it will.
That's what big business is, and it's what they do. Just like a shark is a shark, and a bloodsucker is a bloodsucker. It's how they live, and it's what they do.
Why hire you, for 40 hours a week, when they can hire a foreign worker for 50 or 60 hours a week, at less than half the wage-level?
I said it elsewhere... I'll say it again...
In a global free market economy, prices and wages will all equalize. It's a free market law.
Wages in some parts of the world... China, India, South American countries, and so on, will come up. Wages in other parts of the world, America, Europe, and so on, will go down. They will all eventually meet, somewhere in between the original high and low starting points.
Again, I put the question to the American Government. What are your financial operating plans when the wage of the American tax payer, your source of revenue, falls down to a level close to that of China, or India, or Mexico? How many tax dollars do you expect to get from wages at those levels?
"Free market"? "What's good for business is good for America"?
None of the above.
Keeping big business in line... That's what's good for America, and the American worker. And since they, the American Workers, are the tax-payers, who fund the Government... Well, you better keep big business in line. If you don't, big business is going to destroy the American worker. And the American Government will then collapse.
So along with throwing some stimulus money straight into the low and middle class, and re-balancing the tax system, you better put a few regulations in place, to protect the American workers and their products from big global business operations.
If you don't... You're eventually gonna be sorry that you didn't.
And there it is. Problem solved. It's not rocket science, you know...
Before leaving this subject, I would like to touch on two additional matters...
First, and I'll make this fairly brief, is public education.
As of December of 2010, England has just passed laws that will raise the cost to students for university education there to double, and even triple, what it is now.
Well... Good for them. They have just succeeded in effectively slitting the throat of their future brain trust in their country.
By tripling the cost of university education, they will prevent many of their finest young minds from getting the education needed to keep their country competitive in the world in the coming years.
They did it out of desperation, as the government over there has run out of money. So they're now cutting costs on everything they can, and raising fees on everything they can, to bring in more money.
They're now running out of money. It will be interesting to see what develops in the next few years, when they start running short on brain power, because of what they've just done.
Meanwhile, over here in America...
The cost of education in this country is also rising beyond belief. It's that good old American Business Model at work again. Squeeze all the profit you can out of students who want to go to college. Up the price of tuition until students have to borrow their future away to afford it. More and more students are now ending up with an education that the country has no market for, and they can't find employment at a salary that will allow them to pay their loans back.
Education in this country is running on the wrong business model, and if the government and the country don't figure that out and take steps to correct the problem, America is going to go even lower than it now is on the world educational ladder. And it's already now pretty far down that ladder.
Is America the greatest country on earth? Not in the education of it's public, it isn't. It's now pretty far down the list...
And that brings up the second additional point that I'd like to touch on, before leaving Chapter-1...
Do you really believe the United States is going to fall into economic collapse, followed by governmental collapse?
Over the rest of the world's dead body, it will...
We're talking about the U.S. Government, here... The deadliest thing ever to exist on this planet. And it has a survival instinct to match. Make no mistake... It will do whatever it has to, to maintain it's existence.
It is now so far in debt... upwards of 14 trillion dollars or more... and getting deeper in debt every minute, that it may very well not be possible to get itself out of debt, ever, at the rate things are presently going. In that case, it will collapse.
So... If it comes to that... And it now looks like it very well could... What will the U.S. Government have to do, to continue to survive in this crazy world?
Two words...
Creative Accounting.
Basically, we're talking here, juggling the books. But that's downright illegal. But all you have to do to get around that minor problem is "re-define what is legal".
And the government can do that. How? Simple. It's the Government! It just hauls off and does it!
Here's what I suspect is going to have to happen, eventually...
The U.S. economy will continue to stagnate, and will probably even fall further down. So long as the middle class remains without money, it can not fuel the economy. And so long as the government and the rich companies continue to suck every last penny out of the middle class, via high (and soon to be mandatory?!) health insurance costs, auto insurance, property taxes, bank and credit card fee's, high priced gas and heating oil, high priced electricity, and on and on, the middle class won't be buying much else. U.S. made products will not sell, U.S. businesses that still make things in America will fold, more people will be unemployed or under employed
U.S. wages will decline... By a very large amount. The U.S. standard of living will head towards that of China and of India and such.
The U.S. Government can not exist as it is now, if it has to run off of an economy that has fallen that low. The tax base just will not be there.
To solve this problem, and continue to operate at it's desired level, the U.S. Government will re-define the meaning and value of the dollar, and what it represents. It will re-define the dollar in such a way that it will stand for things that can still be created and produced in this country. Then the Government will take steps to cause such things to be created and produced. And then it will print money, and thus increase the U.S. money supply, to reflect those new things, and channel all that new money to the public at large, favoring the middle class.
For example...
Need that bridge or highway repaired? Or even a whole new bridge? No problem. The Government will fund the bridge and/or the highway, and pay the workers , with money that it prints up to represent the bridge and highway. There will be no borrowing from future tax payers, or from foreign countries.
Need a modern high speed nationwide train system, like they have in China, Japan, and Europe? No problem. The Government will fund the project and pay for it all, and print the money, and add the "value" of the project to the national product base.
Need new modern schools, with the latest labs and equipment? No problem. The Government will pay for the buildings and equipment, pay the salaries of the teachers and professors, and when it comes to college's and universities, there will be no tuition. "Higher education" will be free, and a right for every American, just like K-through-12. None of this will show up in taxes. It will all just be added to the national product base, and the money supply increased accordingly.
History has shown that a well funded space program produces huge spin-off benefits to society as a whole. The Government will fund a sensible program to move humanity out into the solar system. A new shuttle program can be developed, that surpasses the one that is about to be retired, and manned missions to Mars can be planned and implemented that will insure that we get there before China does.
Note that the Government will be paying for all these things, but not borrowing to do so. The end-results themselves become the backing for the increased money supply that ends up in circulation. And that new money goes right into the hands of the working public... The scientists, engineers, teachers and professors, builders, managers... all those who do the work to make it all happen. And when all those people get that new money, they will go out and buy toasters, computers, BIC Pens, groceries, refrigerators, books, and all those other things that make society run. Companies will form to manufacture those things, thus putting more people to work. Companies will form to build and create all the things needed to send manned missions to Mars, and beyond. Curriculum's will be implemented at universities, and teachers and professors hired, to give America's students the skills and knowledge needed to move America into space.
Now, to be sure... There is a name for this sort of economic system, and it's NOT capitalism. But note... Capitalism will still be operating, just as it is now, though there will probably be some regulations in place to keep it in line, and in fact this very system may serve to provide some healthy competition to the capitalism that continues to operate. And certainly, steps will be taken to insure that the newly increased money supply stays in circulation to power the economy, and doesn't end up in the hands of just a few ridiculously rich companies and people at the top.
And that's what the U.S. Government will do, if push comes to shove, to insure it's survival.
That, or something similar. But the end result will be the same.
So don't worry. No matter what, the U.S. Government is going to remain open for business... Even if it has to totally ignore the financial situation of every other country on the planet.
Next problem...
INTERMISSION
When Zorian Strange, the World's Greatest Magician, asks for a volunteer from the audience... You never know who's going to come up on stage...
* * * * *
FOOD FOR THOUGHTS
(RETURN TO START OF PREVIOUS CHAPTER)
(MOVE AHEAD TO START OF NEXT CHAPTER)
THE HEALTH CARE CRISIS
Health care In the United States Of America.
It's the best in the world.
People (many of them Republicans!) keep saying that. Over, and over, and over.
Even on a recent TV talk show, where the moderator quoted facts from independent surveys that placed the U.S. a rather long way down the list of countries with quality health care systems, and thus nowhere near the top, and then asked, repeatedly, "Isn't that a myth, that this country has the best health care?" The guest politician totally ignored the statement, like it had gone in one ear and out the other, without even stopping for lunch inside his brain. He continued to state, again and again, "We have the best health care in the world in this country".
He, like all others who keep saying that, did of course leave out a few very important words. Namely, "for those who can afford to pay for it."
And there's the catch. Or actually, one of many catches. But it's certainly about the biggest.
I'll keep this chapter fairly short, basically because it just does not take a rocket scientist to see the solution to the health care crisis in this country.
Indeed, I'll give the solution to the problem right here at the very start...
Take the profit out of good, quality, basic health care.
I'll go a step further... Take the Insurance Companies out of good, quality, basic health care.
Is there anyone out there with more than half a brain who can't understand that?
For God sakes, I did NOT say to take ALL the profit out of health care. I just said take it out of good, quality, basic health care.
It shouldn't be all that hard to figure out a few definitions for good, and quality, and basic. And once you do, make that available to every living person in this country, with no up-front charges. Modify the Bill Of Rights, and put it in there in black and white, that people in this country have the right to care and medical coverage, as U.S. citizens. With any and all profit eliminated, at the basic level, the cost will be affordable.
And how will that be paid for?
Here's how...
First of all... You DON'T pass a law requiring everyone to go out and buy health insurance, from the very insurance companies that are in the process of bankrupting the country, and have been doing so, from day one. That will not solve the problem. In fact, it will make it worse.
What you do, is, you factor the cost into the taxes that people and businesses pay.
That's the cheapest, fairest, most cost-effective, most efficient way to bring in the needed money. The tax system is already in place. The IRS is already there, to collect the money. You won't have to create another whole government agency, and pay the accompanying ridiculous and wasteful cost to run it.
Figure out how much it will cost to pay for non-profit basic quality care and medical coverage, and add it to the tax bills.
Is this going to increase people's tax bills?
Well, of course it is, you idiot!
But when you do it this way, you virtually guarantee that everyone is paying into the system. And not just individuals, but also business and industry. That will help to reduce costs to the individual taxpayer.
And now, consider this...
As an individual, yes, you will see your yearly tax bill go up. But... By how much?
With virtually everyone now paying into the system, that means the cost gets spread out across more payers, so the cost to each individual will be less.
With the system now running as non-profit, that will also reduce the overall cost.
With the "middle-man" insurance companies now completely gone from the loop, at the basic care level, that's all that money, that you used to pay them for their "operating costs", now staying in your pocket, because you no longer have to pay for their operating costs, because you just plain don't need "health insurance" anymore, because you now have direct access to basic quality medical service. You're not insured... You're just plain and simple covered!
In other words... To describe the new situation, in plain English...
How much do you presently pay, every month, for "health insurance"? 500 dollars? 800 dollars? A thousand dollars? Or more?
And that's per month. How much is that per year? (Probably enough to make you ill, just thinking about it.)
Well, now you will no longer have to pay that, because you won't be needing "health insurance", from those greedy health insurance companies.
So, by how much is your yearly tax bill going to go up?
Are you now paying 5 thousand dollars, or more, per year, for insurance? And you're making payments every month?
With everyone now contributing, and business and industry, too, I really doubt that you would ever end up paying more in additional yearly taxes than it is now costing you yearly for your high-priced, for-profit present insurance.
Let's say you make a thousand dollars a week. That's 4 thousand a month. But your present insurance is costing you 500 a month. So at the end of the month, you end up with 3500 dollars.
Now, let's say the government raises your tax bill by 2,400 dollars a year, to pay for any and all medical coverage and medications. That's 2400 over 12 months, or 200 dollars a month in additional taxes. You still make 4K per month. But now you have 200 dollars deducted, instead of 500, so you're down to 3800 in cash in your pocket each month. But that's still 300 more than you would have had, when you were paying your insurance company. 300 over 12 months is 3600 dollars in extra cash in your pocket at the end of the year.
And that's based on the government raising your yearly taxes by 2,400 dollars, to pay for "free" medical coverage for every American.
Do you really think your taxes would have to go up by 2,400 dollars a year for such a program?
I suspect not. More likely, an increase of a thousand or so per year would do it. So your monthly deduction would be even less than the previously proposed 200 dollars, and you'd have even more of your own money left in your pocket, and not in some insurance company's pocket.
So yes, your taxes will go up. But you'll still end up with a lot more of your money in your own pocket at the end of the year, because you didn't have to go out and buy "health insurance", from all those companies that make their living and profits by sucking all the money they can get away with out of sick people.
You didn't have to, and you're not required to. Because you can now walk in the door of any medical facility and have whatever ails you treated and taken care of. And you don't have to pay a cent, and you won't be sent any medical bill. Because it has all been pre-paid for, by taxes, from you and everybody else who pays taxes. When you can do that, you don't need insurance. or insurance companies.
Do Doctors and hospitals presently have to pay taxes?
In America?... Now there's a dumb question...
But I digress...
Well, perhaps Doctors and hospitals should be exempt from taxes. Or at least exempt from the new "medical coverage tax". That might help in an overall arrangement to provide Americans with good, quality, basic health care at no up-front charge. Think of it as a "reward" to the hospitals and Doctors, for the service to the public that they provide. That, and it will really make no sense for the government to pull tax dollars out of people and institutions, only to turn around and give it back to them in the form of reimbursement payments for the services that they're now required to provide to anyone who walks in the door with a problem.
Ideally, and where at all possible, things should be arranged so that there would be little or no paperwork involved. Paperwork costs time and money. There are plenty of instances where people come in to a hospital or Doctor's office for some minor ailment, and get taken care of on the spot, and leave, and that's the end of it. There are probably plenty of additional times when people might have gone in to have something taken care of, and in fact should have, but didn't, because they just plain didn't want to put up with the probable paperwork that would have been required. In all of these types of cases, why require burdening paperwork and/or record-keeping, if and when it's not really necessary.
Unnecessary paperwork is one of the things that's killing the present system (and the government in general!). Here's the chance and the time to get rid of it.
So, if you have a problem that requires attention, simply walk in the door of any medical facility, anywhere in the country, and get taken care of. No insurance company to deal with, no red tape, no hidden costs, no "sorry, you're not making us enough profit, so we're canceling your policy." None of that. Just walk in, and get taken care of.
(Oh, one thing... You might have to "prove" that you're an American Citizen... An off-shoot of the current emigration problem... Whatever... But that's a whole 'nuther problem...).
Now... In the meantime...
If one of those for-profit insurance companies or healthcare providers wants to offer services and benefits above and beyond the freely-provided quality basic care, they can do so, and they can charge whatever they want to for it, and you can pay for anything they have to offer, if you feel the price is right. But in the meantime, you'll always know, and they will too, that you're covered for any and all the basic stuff by the government and the U.S. tax base.
And as for the government... It will mandate that any doctor, hospital, or medical facility that wants to remain licensed to operate, must provide the basic services at non-profit cost. Again, anything they want to offer beyond the basics, they can do so, at whatever rates the customer is willing to pay.
Now, is this "socialized health care", like they have in, say, Cuba?
Well, who knows, but really, who should care? If it works, and takes care of you and all Americans, and is not going to bankrupt the country, then what's wrong with it?
Who cares what it's called... If it works.
Now... Is this going to hurt the presently operating insurance companies, and all the people who work in them?
Well, probably, yes.
Well... They should have thought about that while they were charging un-godly prices for coverage. They should have thought about that while they went to great lengths to insure only healthy people, while dropping people out of their coverage who were ill. They should have thought about that while they made themselves so big and charged the public and the country so much that they will end up bankrupting the whole country sooner than later. They should have thought about that while they made big profits off of people who are old, and ill, and in some cases, dying.