Problems With Wealth

The continent of Africa owns approximately 1% of the total wealth of the world.  
~Credit Suisse Global Wealth Data

Africa is huge, the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent.  For the fifty-four countries with extraordinary natural resources and a willing workforce, why does their wealth flow to the developed world?  For hundreds of years, exploitation has been the norm with today's showcase elements being indebtedness and predatory trade practices.

Business and financial practices can be troublesome as they seek sustainable wealth extraction.  Multinational corporations apply their influence against tariffs and other trade restrictions.  A favorable rule broadens their market, increases workforce competition and lowers wage rates.  It enhances their profitability with little regard for socioeconomic impact. Current initiatives impose an external capitalist/business model on large social groups.

"Why is it that corporations give millions of dollars to elected officials? Do you think it's simply public-spirited behavior?"  ~Walter E. Williams

NAFTA:  After 20 years, the 'free trade agreement' has mixed reviews. The U.S. and Canada came out well enough, but Mexico ... The agreement removed tariffs on most agricultural products. U.S. and Canadian farms sell (govt subsidized) corn to Mexico, and Mexican corn farmers are unable to compete. "Entire towns are emptying because thousands of small farms have gone out of business. As many as 2 million farm workers have lost their jobs."  CBS News  Mexico does have increased exports of other products, but the workforce upheaval continues. Real wages are down, unemployment is up, and 25% of their children are malnourished.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), both are NAFTA on steroids with risks.

• In 2013, Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz warned that TPP presented "grave risks" and "serves the interests of the wealthiest." 
• Organised labour in the U.S. argued that the trade deal would largely benefit corporations at the expense of workers in the manufacturing and service industries. 
•  The Economic Policy Institute and the Center for Economic and Policy Research argued that the TPP could result in further job losses and declining wages.
• In 2014, Noam Chomsky states that the TPP is "designed to carry forward the neoliberal project to maximise profit and domination, and to set the working people in the world in competition with one another so as to lower wages to increase insecurity." 
• Senator Bernie Sanders stated that trade agreements like the TPP "have ended up devastating working families and enriching large corporations." 
• Nobel Prize economist, Paul Krugman, reported, "... I'll be undismayed and even a bit relieved if the TPP just fades away", and said that "... there isn't a compelling case for this deal, from either a global or a national point of view."  Krugman also noted the absence of "anything like a political consensus in favor, abroad or at home."
• Economist Robert Reich contends that the TPP is a "Trojan horse in a global race to the bottom, giving big corporations and Wall Street banks a way to eliminate any and all laws and regulations that get in the way of their profits."

Such practices risk widening the GAP and creating persistent poverty in the lower income groups.  Today, about half the world lives on less than $5/day per person.  Improvements in recent decades have benefited the wealthy with comparatively little progress for lower income groups.

"More powerfully, this process of poverty creation - the forceful extraction of commonly managed assets to serve financial elites - is exactly what recent social movements have called attention to. Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, the African uprisings, even the anti-austerity stance of new political parties in Spain and Greece, all have one thing in common: The recognition that the only way for a tiny group of people to become obscenely rich is for huge masses of others to be kept chronically poor.

This cold logic of poverty creation tells us what needs to be done. Before obsessing about amounts of foreign aid, or pretending it can solve deep systemic problems, we need to all focus on changing the rules of economic systems to make them more inclusive, more participatory, more focused on creating well-being than simply extracting more aggregate wealth, and more accountable to those billions who are not being served by the current rules. This is how mass poverty truly can be brought to an end."  ~Jason Hickel, Joe Brewer, and Martin Kirk

Good-for-Nothing John

King John of England ran headlong into a brick wall.  Like his predecessors, he had ruled rather heavy-handedly on the basis of divine right, believing the king was the law and above whatever tradition there might be.  His decisions were arbitrary, often unjust, and folks finally got tired of the abuse.  They rebelled.

In 1215, King John signed the Great Charter, a precursor to the Magna Carta, as an attempt at peace.  The charter established the rights of freemen along with a host of constraints on rule.  King John reneged three months later, and war broke out with London and half of England being occupied by the rebels.  John died of dysentery the following year.

Such abuse of power has long been the root of unrest among common folk and continues so today.

• We acknowledge the rule of law.  However ...  
• The rightness of our laws must be continually proven.   

Deregulation of the financial industry has made an extraordinary mega-fortune for the top 1% at the expense of everyone else, and more than a million died as a result of the Great Recession that ensued.

The laws governing the financial industry have failed the intent of having laws in the first place.  The industry, still unrestrained, has added many to the list of the world's greediest, those who extract wealth from others, who gamble with the resources of others, and who indenture nations.

Overstated?  

One year after the recent financial collapse, the top 25 hedge fund managers earned approximately $25 billion, an average of $1 billion each.  ~Business Insider, Zero Hedge  More than enough for a thousand lifetimes each, pocketed in a single year and every year.

This is money extracted from the economy by individuals who provide no benefit to the citizenry.  Their 'work' brings no benefit to the marketplace, no opportunity for employment, no improvements in productivity, no food or water.  They serve themselves, pumping wealth out of the efforts and out of the pockets of others.  Why would government allow such activity?

Why, indeed.  In the absence of other evidence, it would appear that governments are managed by the rich.  Not all of it, of course.  Governments are necessary, and in many venues, they're helpful for all.  The rightness of laws, however, must be continually be proven.

"Why is it that corporations give millions of dollars to elected officials? Do you think it's simply public-spirited behavior?"  ~Walter E. Williams

MSM

MainStreamMedia - the business practice has evolved over the years.

When folks had access to just a couple of newspapers, a couple of radio and TV stations, news services were valued for timely informational content, for clarifying things.  When hundreds of channels and internet sites appeared, competing news services began adjusting their focus and presentation, targeting ideological segments of the market.

Revenues depend on ratings which depend on engagement which requires selective and emphasized presentations designed to appeal to and capture a particular audience.

This isn't really freedom of the press, is it.  Perhaps MSM is really MildlyStupidMusings or MoreSlantedMush, but it's not 'just the news' any more.  We all know that.


Actually, it's advertising.
If you were to use the same visual and narrative framework from MSM for, say, a new car model, it would look like today's advertising. The elements are the same, offering the appearance of information but actually designed and presented to appeal, to persuade, to reinforce a particular slant.  Whether the content is political, ideological, or cultural, it's a slanted sales pitch.  (That's the description of propaganda, by the way.)

Watching the news, the only thing we know for sure is that none of the MSM providers are 'fair and balanced'.  Knowing the direction and degree of bias for a provider helps.

The result of competitive propagandizing is the polarization we see today, a marked increase over recent decades.  Republicans and Democrats are farther apart than at any time in history, and both are extreme or nearly so.  Liberals and conservatives have little middle ground they share.


Most of us have deliberately chosen to distrust advertising.  We understand it's more persuasion than information.  We might reconsider our preference in information sources and our willingness to accept content just because it matches our preferences.   That isn't objectivity.  It isn't even honesty, is it.  Wouldn't we be better served by a more thoughtful consideration of all sides of an issue?


Def/Ref:  Media bias occurs when the media systematically emphasizes one particular point of view in a way that contravenes the standards of professional journalism. Claims of media bias include liberal bias, conservative bias, mainstream bias, and corporate bias. To combat this, a variety of watchdog groups research and report the facts behind both biased reporting and unfounded claims of bias.  Research about media bias is now a subject of systematic scholarship in a variety of academic and business disciplines.  Note: that includes how to do propaganda effectively.

The Brookings Institute, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com, Pew Research Center, ConservativeFactCheck.com, Snopes.com,  etc.

28 OCT 17 - Note: as an outsider observed today, MSM bias limits their content to fit their narrative.  The issues are much more complex than the simplistic headlines provide.

The problem, perhaps, is that there is much in government, politics, and business that needs to be transparent. Obama personally advised Trump not to appoint Michael Flynn as national security advisor, a warning Trump ignored. Flynn sat in on classified briefings with Trump while he was at the same time employed by foreign interests. Flynn's 24 day tenure is the shortest in the history of the office; he turned out to be both untruthful and deceptive, and was asked to resign. Later, we find out he was involved in political efforts in the U.S. by Russia and Turkey.

Godzilla, a hero?

You know Godzilla is the good guy in his latest movie, right?  

Stupid scientists have unleashed this other monster that's destroying everything, and Godzilla shows up to save the day for everybody. Visualize where Godzilla opens his mouth and this huge, unstoppable power stream flows out ... focused ferocity, blasting the creature that's been killing people and threatening the world.  It's a viscerally stunning portrayal.

Godzilla as the good guy, he gets to open up and fry the bad guy.  It's the right thing to do, from a monsterish point of view, and it's satisfying to watch.

So for a real-life good guy, does he ever get to do things like that? Does a good guy get to open up and define good vs. bad; does he get to speak what's right into existence and blow away the wrong?

The impediments - well, there's appropriate reserve and decorum and deference and political considerations.  And position! You can get bumped out of the pack if you pull the rug out from under the players. It happened to Peter Norman, but in the end, he was right and everybody had to admit it.  He paid a price, though.

Start to finish, we're told what to do and how to think.  For twelve years or more in school, we do what we're told, then comes employment where we do what we're told.  By the time the moment arrives, we've got years of living up to the expectations of others, doing what they want, what they think is best, not rocking the boat.

Culturally, we've put up a thousand walls against decisions of conscience. There are boundaries that constrain us to the group norm, to the authority above us, to the status quo and the flow of events.

Speaking the truth when it goes against the grain ... that's emotionally difficult, particularly for an adult who is assimilated into a structured culture.  Opening your mouth and sweeping away wickedness, replacing it with right and truth, that's a step of courage and conviction.

An example?
Well, there was slavery.  Brave folks opened up and spoke while facing tremendous opposition. One by one, they spoke until they could no longer be ignored.  They spoke truth against the established culture, the power players, and told them they were just wrong, in every possible way, wickedly wrong.  It took courage and conviction.  It was not a gentle conversation, and the battle continues.

How about examples today?   For just one, our culture today thrives on greed, economic abuse, and oppression.  It's called the GAP, the widening distance between rich and poor, or predatory economics. It's a monster with many tentacles, and it threatens the world.  It's the most grotesquely wicked element visible in today's international arena.

Feeling courageous?  Blast away, Godzilla.  :)  (Just speak the truth; no fire and melting.  You knew that.)

In case you passed by Peter Norman's story, give it a sec.

Why the difference?

Sources

Why, indeed ...

• We thought of humanity as separate races with significant differences until we discovered we're all from one origin and biologically the same.  That's new, or at least the science is.  
• Then we decided that our differences were culture, intellect, and character ... until after the Cold War when we discovered we're all virtually identical.  That's new also, and geography isn't it either.
• We've insisted that the top groups are ethically superior and more willing to work.  Then we find out the reverse is the reality; the ethically sound and hardest working aren't at the top of the income scale, they're at the bottom.  
• We've claimed that financial success was earned and a noble goal, but watching the worldwide movement of wealth (every natural resource, business and labor productivity, income, wealth creation), we find that the flow is bottom-to-top in virtually every local, regional, and world market and industry, and progressively more so through modern history.
• Generally off the mark on every premise so far, we watch the widening GAP between the top 10% or so and everyone else.  What does it mean?

Ever wonder if your perspective, your worldview, might be a bit incomplete?  Of course it is.  The difficult task is deciding what we're going to do next.  If we're conformers, we'll pass by on the other side of the street.

Want some fun suggestions?

We could pick a couple of targets we know and understand, then plan and finance them.  One local and one distant.  Help a friend, equip a family, make a difference.  Commit for the duration, know the folks involved.  It changes things at both ends.  :)

help out when you're asked, or better yet, before you're asked
help a kid through school, through college or trade school
help a family build their home and flocks and gardens
help a community build a library or a clinic
help a school with supplies for the kids
help some refugees get resettled and start over
help a community with med assistance
help a family through a rough spot
help a friend through a crisis
help the widowed and the orphaned here and elsewhere
help the hungry and sick and needy
...
or even go see for yourself.  It's more fun that way.

Ways to improve?

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, CORPORATE profits are at their highest
level in at least 85 years. Employee compensation is at the lowest level in 65 years.

What does that suggest?

How many ways might we improve this organization?

This is today's bottom-line driven, profit-motivated business model.  A good bad example - Walmart, perhaps.

The six Walmart heirs took more than $1 Billion each in profits last year.  

2014 Walmart sales associates make $8.81 per hour on average. This translates to annual pay of $15,576, based upon Walmart's full-time status of 34 hours per week.  That's below the poverty line for a family, of course.  (UPDATE: WMT upped their minimum to $9/Hr earlier this year, but it hasn't worked out that well as the change only benefits new hires.)

Costco, by comparison, pays a reasonable wage. Costco's CEO and president, Craig Jelinek, has publicly endorsed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, and he takes that to heart. The company's starting pay is $11.50 per hour, and the average employee wage is $21 per hour, not including overtime.

Prices?  Walmart offers no advantage over Costco or Target.

And how do they treat their community? Working at Walmart means you qualify for for SNAP, EITC, and housing assistance programs.  “A single Walmart Supercenter cost area taxpayers between $904,542 and $1.75 million per year," in family assistance costs due to low wages and deliberately restricted hours.

Walmart stock is as unimpressive as their business practices. Costco and Kroger have beaten WMT performance impressively.

Feel free to comment about it to management.  The business still needs to be adjusted.

Walmart Executive Compensation; typical of large corporations, upper management is in the top 0.01% for income.

	Name/Title		2011	2012	2013	2014	2015

	C. Douglas Mcmillon/President and CEO		$8,806,408	$10,961,404	$9,563,093	$25,592,938	$19,392,608

	Charles Holley/Executive Vice President and CFO		$8,186,163	$5,112,172	$6,638,670	$8,199,391	$7,431,841

	Gregory Foran/Executive Vice President		-	-	-	-	$19,535,123

	David Cheesewright/Executive Vice President		-	-	-	-	$10,665,054

	Rosalind G. Brewer/Executive Vice President		-	-	$14,457,122	$11,664,423	$9,560,235

	Neil M. Ashe/Executive Vice President		-	$11,247,988	$8,350,945	$13,178,743	$9,436,775

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, CORPORATE profits are at their highest level in at least 85 years. Employee compensation is at the lowest level in 65 years. What does that suggest?

Children and Dogs Ran Free!

Bicycle trails through the woods were the

shortest route between everywhere and

and everywhere else.

Saturday morning after chores were done, we'd get on our bicycles and go. We'd be home by sunset, usually, without many rules about where we'd go or what we'd do.  We were perhaps as close to free as is possible for a creature to be, and it was magic.

Two blocks from home was the edge of the woods, then by trail to the railroad tracks and across, then through a huge cornfield to a country road and another three miles to my best friend's house.  We'd launch our adventures from there, sometimes with fireworks we bought at the gas station.

Children no longer run free like that; it's not a safe world for them like it was fifty years ago. Why is that?  My little daughter used to disappear early Saturday mornings with a dozen or so of her friends.  She'd come home by sunset with stories of adventures and play.  But that was in Japan in the 80's, not here.

Today, children rarely go anywhere alone.  They don't even wait for the school bus alone.  What changed, and why?  It's worth noting the specific ethical and moral changes, the social changes we've experienced in recent decades.

• Has the mainstream media weakened our culture, sensationalizing bad behavior?  Absolutely. 
• Have the business and personal standards for morality and ethical behavior declined?   Of course.
• Have families become isolated, hiding at home, instead of being part of an interactive community?  Yes.
• Have character and nobility disappeared from our instructional goals?  In many contexts, yes.

Is there a good way forward from here?  
Absolutely, but probably not for all, and probably not a gentle journey.  Today, things are not as they seem.  You and your children were born into a world at war.  Everything you do matters.                                    ~ C.S. Lewis, paraphrased


Picked a side yet?

Nicer Rich People

There's this odd fellow who invented the 5-Hr Energy drink thing.  He hit a home run in the marketplace, and he's worth billions, personally.  He has pledged 99% of his wealth to helping others.

The guy is Manoj Bhargava; he says, "If you have wealth, it's a duty to help those who don't."

Why would he say that?  Is he right?

NATGEO 2011

Instead of simply giving money, Bhargava believes that personal involvement is necessary.  He's probably right on that one.

And who are the wealthy? Perhaps an important question for each of us.

If your household income tops $10/day/person, you're better off than about 70% of humanity.   

If you have a house and a car or two, a positive net worth and some money in the bank, you're perhaps in the top 10% or so.

If you haven't seen the real world in person, it's perhaps something worth pursuing; personal involvement, and all that.

Here's the whole story Billions in Change

Relevant Words

Ever cringe at religious words?    We were visiting somewhere, and this church fellow wanting perhaps to instruct us more perfectly in the way said, "let me minister to you...."  Cringe!

Today, 'ministry' and 'minister' are usually religious things.  In English language bibles, the Greek words (diakonia, diakonos, etc) are sometimes translated as 'minister' and 'ministry'.  Those Greek words appear all through the New Testament, but they are not limited to the pulpit; the words are used to describe a variety of activities.  In each occurrence, the context is one of serving others, and there's a beautiful undertone of having a good heart about it.

While the original word use does include working in the church, it more broadly describes serving the needs of others by pretty much everyone.  And everyone serves (they minister, to use the old word).  Feeding the hungry, taking up collections for the poor, the labors of leadership and of teaching, of helping and hospitality, and caring practically for others near and far.  In such use, 'minister' is not a position, it's a sacrifice.

The words 'minister' and 'ministry' may not have real clarity in young folks' minds.  Such words are perhaps more of a separator, a boundary drawn between inside and outside.  Would our words be clearer if instead we talked about 'lending a hand', 'coming alongside for the duration', 'I got your back', or 'can I help'?

(Offering religious words to an inquirer is like offering beef to a vegan.  I suspect that little could be less appealing than sounding like today's media-portrayed religionists.  When we speak, we need to understand how it will be heard.)

Today, ministry is for ministers, at least the way the word is used.  Perhaps the word has evolved in common vernacular to the near-opposite of its earlier use.  True?  Do your own study, if you like, and consider what it might mean.  :)  It looks to me like everyone is supposed to be involved.

(For the record, my Kenyan friend says they have the same problem in Swahili.)

Ephesians 4:12 to equip his people for works of (ministry) service 

The Walkout

This is Nick Cannon.  His mother got off the abortion table and walked out, sparing his life.

Cannon told his story in a music video entitled, “Can I Live?” which has been credited with saving the lives of many unborn children.

___________________________

Then there's Christina Marie Bennett.  She almost died as an unborn child. Her mother paid for an abortion but walked out of the doctor's office after a janitor told her God would give her the strength to have her baby.

       It was over a decade ago that I stood in the bathroom while my mom struggled to find the words to speak. “You’ll hate me,” she said. “I can’t tell you, because you’ll hate me.”
      “I would never hate you,” I replied. The look in her eyes revealed she wasn’t convinced. I was in my early 20’s, home for a visit from college and looking for answers. I certainly wasn’t pro-life at the time.
       Only months before, a prophetic minister gave me a word that something special happened when I was born. When I asked my mom about it, she said: “I met an angel.”

From Christina's website bio ... Outside pressures and inner anxieties lead her (Christina's mom) to schedule an abortion. She met with a hospital counselor who assured her she was making the right choice. As she sat for a moment in the hallway, an African-American janitor saw her crying and approached her. ‘Do you want to have this baby,' she asked?  When my mother said yes, the janitor replied, 'then God will give you the strength.' After the janitor's encouragement, the doctor called my mother into his office. She told him she changed her mind and wanted to leave. To her dismay, the doctor demanded she stay, insisting it was too late and telling her she had to go through with the abortion. With strength from above, my mom walked out. ... Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Our lives begin to die the day we become silent about things that matter’.  I'm alive today because a stranger refused to be silent.

          ____________________

Then there's Kimberly Henderson.  Apparently she's famous; her video (right, called 'Tiny Hearts') had millions of views in the first week.  She spent seven hours in an abortion clinic, but walked out deciding not to sign the final consent form.  It's a moderately miraculous story, and that's her baby girl there in her arms, the result of her decision.  

How should we process such information?

For some further thoughts, see Life, Abortion, and Conscience

Discovery!

It's called the Discovery Doctrine, and it has a 500 year legal history.

When Christopher Columbus first set foot on the white sands of Guanahani island he performed
 a ceremony to "take possession" of the land for the king and queen of Spain, acting under the
international laws of Western Christendom. Although the story of Columbus' "discovery" has
taken on mythological proportions in most of the Western world, few people are aware that
 his act of "possession" was based on a religious doctrine now known in history as
 the Doctrine of Discovery.

Under the doctrine, a government could claim title to lands it's subjects travelled to and
occupied and whose indigenous inhabitants were not subjects of a European Christian
monarch. The doctrine's legal use has been for invalidating aboriginal claims to their
homeland in favor of colonial governments.

Many historical periods are inaccurately portrayed; the winners write the history books. Dealing objectively and in human terms with conquest, displacement of populations, and genocide hasn't yet become the norm.

Power and hubris have shaped every country in the world. The conquering heroes may have thought well of their own actions, but there was perhaps more to the story in every case. 

The first European explorers knew nothing of the civilizations and cultures of Africa or the Americas, some of which preceded their own by more than a thousand years. Colonization and conquest decimated the populations, divided up the land and resources, and imposed subservience on the survivors.

Recent history includes similar conquest and the death of millions at the hands of those who would advance themselves at the expense of another. WWI and II were attempts at conquest and acquisition of land and resources. Today, Wall Street is headquarters for the ongoing economic war now waged in the marketplace for the same goals. Perhaps we're finally catching on, they're not heroes.

How might we honestly process and respond to such information?

You might appreciate Whose History?

The Beauty of Life

Kids cracking up while trying to pose for a picture.  It
was their idea.  In the background, my friend and his
nephew rest in the shade on a warm afternoon.

"The beauty of life depends not only on how happy u r, but how happy others have been bcoz of u!  Hope u had a flowery day.  Bye!"

The text message from a good friend in eastern Africa pretty much made my day.  He and his family made a place for me when I was there years ago, and they'd visited me when I was laid up with broken ribs; they prayed for me and wept as I struggled with the pain. They brought me a gift of special cashews for my final going away, and they never asked for anything.

The family is doing pretty well.  They've built another simple house after having been evicted by government from lands they had lived on for generations.  They all live together - mom, brother, sister, grandma, little fellow, plus nieces and nephews.  Together, they do a small charcoal business in the village.  With a little help, the kids are in school, health issues are addressed, one nephew has finished trade school and internship, ... things are going okay.  We swap texts and stories every few weeks, and sometimes pictures.

In his text message, he was again thanking me for helping out with some simple things.  Our relationship goes both ways.  He and his family have given us so much over the years.  They've taught us about things like faith and working together, loving practically.  And perseverance.  They work all week and their Sunday church service if full of praise and thanksgiving and prayer for each other and for us.  I hope they know what a help they are.

If you'd like to join in, we can provide introductions.  :)

Recentism

Our congressional representatives attempt to block Syrian
refugees (about 10,000 planned) in the queue for
the U.S. as France agrees to accept 30,000.

recentism ‎

• A focus on recent events to the exclusion of history. 

We can be overburdened by present concerns.  Lacking a longer-term perspective, both discussion and decisions may move ahead without consideration of the timeless truths and values available.

The painful turmoil over refugees entering America is perhaps an excellent example.  With political candidates in the queue for national office, the subject opened spillways of excess thought that were released downstream.  Actual facts and objectivity took a while to emerge.  Deeper understanding didn't arrive for weeks, long after the players had flooded the channels with solutions for problems that didn't exist.

Ignored in the flail are the values we claim as a nation.  We will defend the helpless, we will lend a hand to those struggling to survive, we will stand against injustice.  With only a few hiccups along the way, we have long been a haven for refugees.  

Lost in the storm of words and fear ... our backbone?   ... what else is lost?

Update: 2 MAR 16

Shall we build a wall and deport all the foreigners?  If ever there were a time for clarity and values and courage ..., well, this is another one.  


2 MAR 16:  I'm reminded of a playground incident; some bee's nest had been disturbed, and the swarm was chasing us kids.  A couple got stung as we ran to the school entrance.  They wouldn't let us in.  They didn't want us to disturb the teacher's meeting because it was really important.  

We all remember them fondly, of course.