Our Second Class

“America still has no capital city but already contains very large cities. In the year 1830, Philadelphia reckoned 161,000 inhabitants and New York 202,000. The ordinary people who dwell in these huge towns form a populace even more dangerous than that of European towns. In the first instance they are made up of freed Blacks condemned by the law and public opinion to an hereditary state of misery and degradation. In its midst you also meet a crowd of Europeans forced by misfortune or misconduct to sail for the shores of the New World; these men bring to the United States our most serious vices and they possess none of those interests which might counteract that influence. Since they inhabit the country without being citizens of it, they are ready to turn all the passions which agitate the community to their own advantage. Thus, for some time we have seen serious riots breaking out in Philadelphia and in New York. Such disturbances are unknown in the rest of the country which is not alarmed by them because population in the cities has not exercised up until now any power or any influence over the inhabitants of the countryside.

Nevertheless, I look upon the size of certain American cities and above all the nature of their inhabitants as a genuine danger threatening the future of the democratic republics of the New World and I do not hesitate to predict that that will be the source of their downfall unless their government succeeds in creating an armed force which will remain under the control of the majority of the nation, but which will be independent of the town population and thus able to repress its excesses”.

                                                                                             Alexis De Tocqueville, author,

                                                                                  Democracy in America,

                                                                                                    Published 1830, 184 years ago

         

The history of black slavery in America goes way back. Where we got them, how we brought them here, bought and sold them, broke up their families, treated and abused them, barred them from education, and treated them like animals—all this is documented in the annals of American History. Abraham Lincoln freed them by Executive Order, The Emancipation Proclamation in 1865, and they were given the right to vote by the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, February 3, 1870. And yet, still, through such measures as new state constitutions, poll taxes, literacy tests, etc., blacks were effectively disenfranchised throughout the land until the beginning of the twentieth century when the courts begun to interpret the Fifteenth Amendment more broadly. Then with the Twenty-fourth Amendment, which forbade poll taxes and later in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act, black participation in the American political system finally begun to increase. But, even now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, still, there are powers at work scheming to degrade these people, take away their voting rights, and subjugate them to a life of misery, treating them worse than we treat our household pets.

Sit and close your eyes for a moment. Imagine living your life, everyday with people all around you hating and loathing your very existence. I submit to you that the biggest insult that anyone can levy on someone else is to ignore them. Of all the wants and desires of every one of us, the greatest is to be accepted, to be wanted, to be loved by others—even more than sex, food, clothing, and shelter. How do you feel when it is you being rejected and ignored? I’m sure there are none of you who are unaware of the vital importance of instilling a positive self image in our children from birth and on. Our first view of ourselves in life comes from seeing how others view us. Jesus tells us we are how we think. Doesn’t that say it all?

In an article written by Josh Voorhees, www.slate.com, he wrote of  a video clip of events in Ferguson, Missouri wherein a police officer is recorded as shouting, “Bring it, all you fucking animals! Bring it!” I’ll be the last to agree with the actions of these people at Ferguson. In fact, I never will. I despise the way they have acted. Vandalism and looting are not protests. Vandalism and looting are an abomination to society, lawless and unacceptable. But, how did these people get this way? Who molded them this way over these past more than 184 years? Who made them the animals of which this ignorant and obnoxious police officer is accusing them? Let’s ask an even more urgent and important question. What are we going to do to solve this social problem in our society? Our prisons are overflowing (more than any country in the world) and euthanasia is certainly out of the question (aren’t we the ones who have been preaching human rights all over the world?). And last, but not least, when? When are we going to do it? It should be obvious that this can’t wait. We have been waiting since the existence of this country. It must be done.

Let me tell you this. When it is done, we will be downright fools if our solution doesn’t include equal opportunity mandated non-discriminatory education for everybody, pre-school through college or vocation school (depending upon the student’s proclivities and personal desires). By saying mandated and non-discriminatory, I mean taxpayer paid education with equal opportunity and resources for all, black, white, green, rich, and poor—whatever color. We must do this for the good of our country and our people. We already see where “drop-outs” get us.

Can we afford this? You darn right we can, if all of us pay our fair share based upon our ability to pay. We can’t afford not to. Also, if we want to be successful in our effort, we must increase standards and emphasize the teaching of values, the arts, history, economics, and government, right along with reading writing, and arithmetic. We should begin ASAP (As soon as possible), beginning with a special emphasis on pre-school and kindergarten and proceed from there with a target completion date in fifteen years. Surely, I don’t have to discuss the relevance of, and need for, jobs in this matter.

This is another one for our do-nothing political parties. There can be no doubt. This is much more important than politics. Republican? Democrat? It doesn’t matter. This is about the ultimate survival of our nation. This is a cancer, eating and drinking the life blood of our country. Let’s gitter done and gitter done now. Let us really become United—a United People.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net

Our Nation, Economically, Where Are We?

Let call a spade a spade. Let’s tell it like it is, beginning with where we are now.

            Currently, our nation is coming out of one of the deepest recessions in which we have ever been since the Great Depression in the 1930’s. In fact, it would have been a depression deeper than the depression then if it were not for our having certain safety nets in place this time, i.e. unemployment insurance, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and public welfare, all programs inaugurated by the administrations of Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression, and Lyndon Baines Johnson with his Great Society program(s) in the 1960’s—all fought vigorously against by those on the “right”, the Republicans. I don’t want to even think about what our nation would be like right now if these programs hadn't been in place. Also, not unlike the Great Depression, we aren’t coming out of this quickly. It will take time.

Even these safety nets may not have been enough if it were not for the trillion dollar plus bailouts of the financial markets and certain selected corporations in order to offset the effects of the collapse sustained by the financial markets, a direct result of their gambling in certain financial securities, i.e. derivatives in the form of credit default swaps, which motivated an immense build-up (“bubble”) and consequential collapse of real estate prices in the housing and commercial real estate markets. Also, all of this financial relief was further aided by actions of the Federal Reserve with their Quantitative Easing programs (QE_1, QE₂, etc.) by which they further charged the economy with cash money, trillions of dollars, through their purchase of government bonds, i.e. they printed money “Fed Style”. Even now, it remains questionable if we've done enough—all the arguments notwithstanding.

          Our government tells us that we have come out of this recession and are on the road to recovery. Perhaps we have, officially at least. In the United States, the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) defines an economic recession as a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. So our economy, according to the above definition(s), has been increasing for “over three months in a row”. Therefore, the recession is officially over. We are on our way. But, are we really?

Let me call your attention to a few other factors buried in the detail—worms unseen in the woodwork that don’t quite fit into the pretty picture our politicians would like us to see—the picture which they see, ostensibly out of touch with us and reality. Business was laying off people for years before the financial crisis in 2008—layoffs due to union busting, globalization, increasing technology, increases in efficiency, productivity, and another factor, increasing CEO salaries partially financed by reductions in the workforce as well as on the backs of stockholders.

In conjunction with and in addition to the layoffs, our middle and lower classes (that’s you and me), on average, haven’t had, after adjusting for inflation, an increase in income for over a quarter century, the immense inflation during that time notwithstanding. The rich among us are becoming vastly richer, the poor are becoming poorer, and our middleclass is disappearing. In addition, our politicians, i.e. pseudo leaders, have completely immersed themselves into arguing and bickering, playing games over politics, with real issues, the business of the nation, completely neglected and at a standstill. As you might expect, worry, unrest, crime (its decreasing rate notwithstanding), and discontent among our people is rampant. The sale of firearms and ammunition in our country has increased significantly, and the establishment of internment facilities and massive purchases of ammunition by our government’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security has also been reported (Ref: infowars.com).

When the “crash” occurred in 2008, layoffs reached levels approaching 1,000,000 workers a week, forcing real total unemployment to the critical level, at which we find it today. The current published rate of unemployment notwithstanding, which reflects only those receiving benefits and still seeking employment, it does not reflect those who have become discouraged from looking and just given up or the underemployed. Also, it does not reflect those in the original lay-offs who, to this day, many still haven’t found jobs, their old jobs (if filled at all) having been filled by younger workers coming new into the market. We have over twenty million people presently out of work or underemployed; and, in spite of the fact that the economy has begun to turn around, many of these people are in danger of melding into the woodwork, to be forgotten and never again to find a real job as long as they live. Why? And the answer is, and I think I am right when I say this, as a whole, most of those within this group were among the first to be laid off. Being first, they were the most vulnerable, i.e., least desirable, lower skilled, least productive, older, perhaps overweight, i.e. too fat, lacking people skills, unattractive, i.e. not pretty, whatever. Making matters worse, as technology replaces jobs, the new jobs created in the process require higher skill levels, personal as well as technical, most of this group cannot fill. There are so many more currently unemployed than there are available jobs, that the slightest discrepancy in an applicant’s credentials can be cause for rejection. In addition, there is a continuing influx of new job applicants (mentioned above) into the market with whom they must compete. The story goes on, but you get the picture; and, the longer they are unemployed, the more unemployable they become. I digress, but people who fall into this category constitute a major reason why we should not raise age requirements on Social Security, Healthcare, or retirement. To do so at this time is unconscionable and immoral with defacto hiring ages and policies at present levels. I submit that no matter why these people are unemployed, they are God’s creation and they live in our country. They have a right to live. They have a right to food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, and so on, and we have an obligation to help them. They don’t deserve to be forgotten. It’s just not right.

With over twenty million of our people out of work or underemployed, jobs (and money) flowing profusely from our country to nations around the globe, and our Corporatocracy taking advantage of what, in many instances is tantamount to slave labor, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of our people are going to bed at night hungry, unable to make ends meet, their homes in foreclosure, and many others sleeping in cars and, homeless. Even more are on some form of welfare or another–our welfare rolls (state of dependency) have literally exploded. Accordingly, the standard of living of our people and our economy as a whole is in decline, a trend I anticipate will continue for the foreseeable future.

Economically, as the rich among us become increasingly rich, our middle-class is disappearing and our under-class is expanding. Wages and income (in real terms) is decreasing, and the preponderance of our people is in debt up to their ears (personal as well as national debt), the effect of which is exacerbated by the false economy generated in the course of our massive excess spending over the years which created that debt in the first place. We were living “over our heads”, disillusioned, and the adjustment, our comedown, is painful and continuing.

Wait! There’s something else. There are more heavy storm clouds hanging over our heads—all that printed money out there. Our dollar is the reserve currency of the world and it is under attack from many sides. In addition to trillions of inflated dollars, it is reported that there are over $700 Trillion Dollars, nominal value, of Derivatives in circulation worldwide. You remember. Those are the financial securities, i.e. the credit default swaps that our lottery players on Wall Street used to cause our 2008 financial crisis. Think of this in terms of worldwide GWP (Gross World Product) and US GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in 2012. In 2012, the GWP totaled (in terms of U.S. dollars) approximately $84.97 Trillion. That’s for the whole planet, mind you. Compare that with $700 Trillion, nominal value, of derivatives outstanding. Compare our present $18 Trillion U.S. National Debt with our GDP of $71.83 Trillion for 2012. Just think about it. That just about makes us broke or close to it, doesn’t it?

Can you not see where our shadow government by the Corporatocracy and Power Elite has led us? Not only have they stolen our democracy, but also, they have led us to the very edge of bankruptcy. Capitalism has provided us a high standard of living over many years. We certainly need it and don’t want to lose it. It is also, however, out of control and running amuck. In its stark greed, it is consuming itself and leading us to catastrophe, just as Socialism has led others before. In and of themselves, both economic systems are flawed; but, as in most everything, there is good and bad in both. I submit to you, we the people should avail ourselves of the best and most favorable aspects of both. There is a middle ground that is best for all of us, and that’s NOT Socialism. It’s just plain common sense.  Some markets should be free and some should be collective, depending upon the market. Which approach we use should be that which is best for the people and our nation as a whole. Strictly regulated programs such as Social Security, Public Access to Universal Single Payer Healthcare, reasonable Public Welfare, and Public Utilities (including communications) are best suited collective (Do you really believe the average citizen can make objective and intelligent purchasing decisions in these areas?) When we use these programs, it’s not exactly like going to the supermarket. Always, with either choice, the final decision should be in the hands of and decided by the people through their elected representatives—not the Corporatocracy.  Our Corporatocracy should not be allowed to have an influence, in spite of what His Excellency, SCOTUS, says. It should be returned to the status where it belongs, a servant of their customers, i.e. the people. Their focus should be on service and production. Profit must be where it should be, too. Its focus should be that of the investors, the renters, i.e. the landlords. It’s a subtle difference but, nevertheless, critical if our Democratic Republic, our democracy, is to survive.

          I will close this for today, but I want to say one last thing. It may seem, or even be, out of context with this posting at this time, but I think it is very important to our thought processing, economically. That is, unless you have a way to contain it, money is like water. It always seeks its own level. Think about it when you think about globalization and outsourcing of labor. Think deeply.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net

Real Affordable Health Care

I am tired of hearing people complain about being forced to pay for health insurance.

Let us understand something—an absolute fact of life. Every last one of us, without exception, will have health problems of one kind or another and at one time or another during our life—some of us more than others. For most of us, the majority of these problems will occur more frequently toward the latter days of our lives. We are healthier in our younger years, and, therefore, can afford to gamble and forego the cost of health insurance then—the odds being, we/you won’t need it. But, let there be no doubt in your mind. In the long run, in the end, your time will come—maybe even, sooner than later; and (forgive me), your crap will hit the fan and it will be too late for you when it does come. You will be caught with your pants down without the requisite toilet paper to wipe, i.e. insurance.

Most people don’t like to hear this; but, whether we like it or not, it is an absolute fact of life—just like the law of gravity: If people wait until they need insurance to buy it, they will not be able to afford it. Insurance is affordable only if everyone who needs or will need in the future is in the game. That’s the whole theory and purpose of insurance—to spread the risk. If all of us have the right to opt out and buy only when we need it, the whole system falls apart. I could go on and on. I have said many times before and say again, public access to single payer, cradle to the grave, Universal Healthcare modeled after our present system of Medicare (all any citizen would have to do is go to the doctor and give his [or her] Social Security number)—no muss, no fuss, no bother, financed through an income surtax using a “stand-alone” “pay as you go” fund (just like Social Security), a lot less complicated than all the mass confusion we have endured over the past four or five years and, also, a lot less expensive and more affordable with everybody in the game.

For those of you who call this Socialism, it is not so. What it really is, is a collective effort of all the people to jointly help themselves solve one very large national problem, for the good of all. Pardon me if it takes from the rich (especially the vastly overpaid CEO’s) and helps the remainder of us, the common working man to survive. This will work; and it will work a lot quicker, more efficient, cost effective, and affordable than all this junk our politicians are currently trying to stuff down our throats.

My way, everybody gets what they need, when they need it, without all the confusion; and, what they get is paid for—no deficit, no debt. You know we will do this in the end—it’s the only way, so why don’t we do it now so we can get it behind us and get on to other important things, like getting people back to work. Just look back over the past five years and see what we would have missed and the money we would have saved had we gone this way in the beginning. 

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net

The Sheep and the Goats

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then, the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25:31-40 (NIV)

As we go into the season and holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas and, especially in light of the difficult times of so many among us, I think these words from the Gospel of Matthew are very important to have before us.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net

Life

I woke up early this morning, and I’ve been thinking. ‘You know? Life is a funny thing (I don’t mean funny, Ha Ha either). We are born; we live an indefinite, but relatively brief period of time in that great prep school called life; and then we die and go to our designated spot in eternity— either Heaven or Hell, depending on how we performed in life, to live forever. As complicated as everything else is, in short, it’s that simple.

Hmmmm! Life, itself, is like that too, isn’t it. Perhaps that’s why it’s a prep school. Except, in life we have no choice as to our classrooms or our teachers. We have no choice as to when, what, or where we’re born, to whom we are born, or the content of our genes. Now that is a bummer, isn’t it? And, yet, when we get to the end, it’s too late to “pass go”, too late to “collect $200”.

So, how do we spend this thing or period called life during this indefinite but limited amount of time we are here? For one, we must do our best to stay alive for which we need food, clothing, and shelter. It’s not absolutely necessary; but, for another, it helps to have a little pleasure. Pleasure kind of provides lubricant for the senses and helps us, sometimes, to live a little longer—I think so, anyway. We, also, need God who created us. We don’t always think so because he doesn’t always think the way we do or want Him to think—we have a problem communicating, but we do need Him. Believe it.

In the beginning, after we were kicked out of the Garden of Eden for our disobedience, in order to live, we had to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow and bear our children in pain (our pain, their discomfort). Our food was provided from hunting and cultivation; our shelter was built by our own hands; we entertained ourselves; and we provided our own security. Now, everything has changed. Today, in our multifaceted society, our food, clothing, shelter, and everything else comes to us in different ways. Population growth, technical innovation, and our need has evolved to where we are now a society of specialization wherein we all need to depend on someone else to fulfill or supply, in part at least, our needs. Today, unlike the past, rather than spend our days as hunter gatherer nomads, hunting, planting, building, fighting, and moving from one place to another, we must utilize the hands, the productivity, of others in order to survive. We must trade and transact with one another. Generally, for the most part, the only way we have been able to successfully do that is through the use of a common tender, i.e. money.

Therefore, in effect, our lives today revolve around money. Our very survival and standard of living depends on our ability and success in acquiring and managing money, a web which is woven throughout our lives; and, our only way to acquire it is either to earn it, have it given to us, steal it, or all of the above. How we do this contributes significantly to whether or not we “pass go” and “collect $200”—spend eternity in Heaven or Hell. I recall Pope Francis saying money is “The Dung Of The Devil”. “Money Corrupts Us! There’s No Way Out”. I believe that. The .01% of us who really govern our country from behind the scenes, our shadow government by the Corporatocracy and Power Elite should keep this in mind. Perhaps we should, also.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net

The 2014 Midterm Election

The 2014 midterm election is over and the people have expressed their wishes—at least some of them, those who took the time to vote. I must tell you. I am deeply disappointed. Not only will this cost our nation dearly, but we will have to live with its results for a very long time. The ignorance (meaning lack of knowledge or uninformed) of the American people is exceeded only by its apathy (meaning complete lack of emotion or motivation, i.e. disinterest—let someone else do it). You won’t like me saying that. You may even be offended; but it’s true. Study on it for a while. How many people didn’t even vote, their patriotic duty notwithstanding?

It is a fact and not just an opinion. Our nation is under continual threat. Not only is our democracy at risk as we speak, so also are we as a nation. We live in a world today in which, internationally, it is survival of the fittest. Every nation must be constantly alert to protect their national interests. That we are bounded on both sides by a great ocean is no longer a protector. This is no longer 1776. There are those who are a constant challenge to our sovereignty, economically and politically. Isolationism is no longer an option. The very consideration of it is silly. Look at Russia, China, North Korea, the Middle East and on and on.

For all intents and purposes, we the people have already lost our democracy. Our vote is only good on Election Day, supported by our Constitution; and that is being threatened even now. Read the papers. They’ll tell you I’m right. Our voting laws are being challenged by those on the Right as we speak. Then, once those for whom we voted are installed into office, they turn their backs on us and serve the interests of those who paid into their campaign funds. It’s a published fact that, on average, four hours out of every day is spent by our representatives’ soliciting political contributions for their campaigns. We can argue this until Hell freezes over, but not a few of these are nothing less than downright bribes. These people aren’t serving us. They have literally reduced themselves to that of puppets. They have sold themselves to the big money that pulls their strings and really runs our country. That’s who they really represent—a Shadow Government by the Corporatocracy and Very Rich and Powerful Elite, the .01% of us. To make matters worse, I firmly believe this Oligarchy crosses international borders, facilitated by Globalization and unpatriotic Corporations fleeing our country, evading our taxes, betraying the hand that has fed them—their customers (including our government who has provided them with all those “fat” contracts over these many years), their employees, and their stockholders (they have been stealing from them too through excessive executive salaries, and bonuses). It hasn't been enough that they have outsourced to slave labor abroad; they feel they must now evade paying their fair share of support towards our nation’s government. It’s utterly disgraceful.

But we are talking about yesterday’s midterm elections aren’t we. Did you notice? Billions of dollars were spent in political advertising during this campaign. Almost all were negative mudslinging. There was almost no discussion about issues, and their truthfulness was seriously lacking. What does this imply about the comprehension of the recipients who are influenced by this trash upon which they based their vote? What were the issues? In their speeches subsequent to the campaigns, all I heard, for the most part, was “We are headed into a new direction”. What direction? Trust me. You won’t like that direction when it really comes to light. If you listened closely, McConnell told us. In short, we will be spending less on the people and more on defense. To me that means continuing poverty, war, and rule by the Corporatocracy and Power Elite—the most currently important issue for our country today. Absolutely no one in authority discussed that as an issue for our nation—except for a very few callers into C-span’s Washington Journal. On the one hand, one complains of the threat to our freedoms; and, on the other hand they proceed to vote for the very people who are selling them out from under. Ridiculous.

No, I am not a Democrat. Neither am I a Republican. Although registered as such, I gave up on them (the Republicans) a long time ago. Their mismanagement of our government over the past thirty-plus years has been tantamount to a national felony. They are responsible for our debt. They are responsible for our wars. And, they are responsible for the crash in our housing and financial markets which was so utterly deep we would have gone into a depression even deeper than 1932, if not for the social programs in place at the time, i.e. Social Security, Healthcare, Unemployment Compensation, and Welfare. They are also responsible for the vast disparity of income and wealth over these past thirty plus years. And, we the people vote for them? For those of you who attribute some of the debt to the administration of President Obama, you have to be kidding me. The debt incurred under President Obama was the direct result of the financial crisis and the carried forward deficit from Bush which decreased under President Obama’s reign. Had President Obama increased that deficit, you might have had an argument, but he didn’t and you lose that one.

As to the Democrats, they are all we have left—our only hope. They are supposed to be the party of the people. The Republican Party has represented only the top 1% of us. The really sad part of what I have just said is that most of all those who voted yesterday have lived through and, therefore, know firsthand the truth of what I am telling you—and it is true, recorded in history,  on the books, as they say. Just take the time to study the facts. And yet, they voted for these people—Shame, shame, shame. As a Christian and an American, I want a government, to quote Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg in 1865, “Of the people, by the people, and for the people”. I want a government that represents all 100 per cent of, us, the people—not just the one percent. I want corporations that are responsible, patriotic, and honest, taxpaying citizens. I don’t want to be governed behind the scenes by a Corporatocracy and Power Elite, paying off my elected representatives secretly “under the table”, stealing my productivity, my fair share of what I produce, in the mean time.

This oligarchy is acting like a house full of kids running here and there, to and fro, every six ways from Sunday with no one to stop them—with no one in charge, bloodsucking everyone of us as they go. Are the kids going to run the house or the parents? So far, the parents are losing.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net