Okay, I realized tonight that for this blog to in any way serve the purpose of which I am attempting to accomplish that I need to clarify just what a 'source' is.
Dictionary.com defines the word source as: -noun 1. any thing or place from which some thing comes, arises, or is obtained; origin: Which foods are sources of calcium. 2. the beginning or place of origin of a stream or river. 3. a book, statement, person, etc. supplying information.
Notice the first statement of definition clarifies a source as being where something comes from. This is very important to remember these days as it seems to be easily confused when one discusses a news article. News articles themselves are not the source of the data that they present. They are a source of an opinion of that data, or the source of how that data was obtained, etc.
It is lazy for one to use the work of another as a source for their own statements or works and will quite likely end up with inaccurate information to continue to be presented as hard data to others. Did you ever play the 'phone game' as a child? This is where a group of children are placed in a circle and the leader of the exercise whispers into the first child's ear and that child turns to the child next to them and whispers what they think they heard, and this process continues until you get to the end. The exercise serves to show that information is quickly misconstrued or misrepresented the more it is passed on without the actual source of that information.
This is the first thing that I throw out when I choose to write about a topic. The news articles. I may be inspired by something that I read but I do not quote them as a source without having done my own research to verify the accuracy of the data presented, and then I'll present the finding of that research. Most likely quoting the findings not the articles that I researched.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Propaganda: The current fiscal 'crisis'
Today all around the nation we are repeatedly hearing the cry "We're in fiscal jeopardy". Not in exactly those words but I think that paraphrases it enough and I do not want to add to the rhetoric by repeating a false statement more than I need to. The facts do not support this claim, no matter how many times it's repeated.
The fear of economic troubles was perpetuated during the end of the Bush Administration in collusion with those that were going to benefit from that fear. "Distressed mortgages" were blamed for an upheaval in the "world of finance". The "recovery package" presented by that administration, again by working with those that were going to benefit from it, was sold to us as an "optimistic" means to "fix" the "financial mess".
Language is a very important tool, one that is used very successfully for purposes of propaganda. Very experienced and intelligent people are employed to come up with these catch phrases and get them out into the media and into the daily thoughts of Joe Public. A famous quote by Abraham Lincoln goes like this "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." You might think that this quote is ignored by those that would want to spread misinformation, however it is quite the opposite. Those in charge of spreading this kind of misinformation watch closely for anyone that see's through it and is prepared with a new bit of misinformation as soon as the prior lie is uncovered, be that with a 'poll' or 'statistic' or 'expert opinion' or what ever.
The call today to cut social program funding to cover financial difficulties in our government is already having a disastrous effect upon our economy. Economies live off of the flow of their currency in a very similar fashion to how the global populations health is affected by the supply of food. How well the strength and quality of supply meets the demand directly impacts it's health.
Have you have ever heard the phrase 'It is better to make one dollar off of a hundred people than it is to make one hundred dollars from one person.'? I don't know who coined that phrase but the concept is really pretty simple. If your in business and you have a hundred customers at one dollar a month then the likelihood of having an income the following month is much greater than if you tried to depend on a single customer at one hundred dollars. If you lose a few customers the next month then you still have money coming in, whereas with a single customer lose any part of that and your left with zero. Stick with this while I write on.
The money that goes into a social program is dispersed widely amongst a large number of people. All the way from the person who heads the programs administration down through the ranks of everyone employed to provide the program and finally to the people who are served by it either directly or by the services that are provided or paid for. The federal food stamp program for instance, those tax dollars are not only seen by the people who get the food but by everyone involved in the program and everyone involved in the food that is bought from production to plate. A very small portion of these funds will make it into bank accounts that have very little return flow into the economy such as the upper echelon of share holders of any one the food production corporations, however as service providers by and large and service recipients are not in a position to put away money into savings this means that by far the majority of this money stays in the economy and continues the flow.
While those involved in these programs and receiving their assistance are certainly benefiting the actual money ends up in someone's hands that most likely has no idea where it originated. These people then use that money for their own needs and wants and again that money has made it's way back to join the flow of currency in our economy. It is a healthy flow that allows for the majority of the population to thrive. It's these 'small dollars' that see their way to your local grocers, to your local restaurants, to your local newspapers, and all the way down to the lemonade stand that industrious five year old set up on a hot summer day.
Taken on an individual basis we are talking such a minute penance that it's not worth even looking at. However, we are not talking individually but instead we are talking about our nation as a whole. The next time you see the billions of dollars that are being put on the chopping block from social programs look past the 'welfare recipient' into your own personal part of the economy and consider if you really want that money to no longer be a part of what is available to you and instead hiding well protected in the corporate echelon's accounting system.
Lastly I ask you to consider this: If these programs are such failures and such an incredible drain on our economy the why is it that each and every one of these programs are being considered to be privatized?
The fear of economic troubles was perpetuated during the end of the Bush Administration in collusion with those that were going to benefit from that fear. "Distressed mortgages" were blamed for an upheaval in the "world of finance". The "recovery package" presented by that administration, again by working with those that were going to benefit from it, was sold to us as an "optimistic" means to "fix" the "financial mess".
Language is a very important tool, one that is used very successfully for purposes of propaganda. Very experienced and intelligent people are employed to come up with these catch phrases and get them out into the media and into the daily thoughts of Joe Public. A famous quote by Abraham Lincoln goes like this "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." You might think that this quote is ignored by those that would want to spread misinformation, however it is quite the opposite. Those in charge of spreading this kind of misinformation watch closely for anyone that see's through it and is prepared with a new bit of misinformation as soon as the prior lie is uncovered, be that with a 'poll' or 'statistic' or 'expert opinion' or what ever.
The call today to cut social program funding to cover financial difficulties in our government is already having a disastrous effect upon our economy. Economies live off of the flow of their currency in a very similar fashion to how the global populations health is affected by the supply of food. How well the strength and quality of supply meets the demand directly impacts it's health.
Have you have ever heard the phrase 'It is better to make one dollar off of a hundred people than it is to make one hundred dollars from one person.'? I don't know who coined that phrase but the concept is really pretty simple. If your in business and you have a hundred customers at one dollar a month then the likelihood of having an income the following month is much greater than if you tried to depend on a single customer at one hundred dollars. If you lose a few customers the next month then you still have money coming in, whereas with a single customer lose any part of that and your left with zero. Stick with this while I write on.
The money that goes into a social program is dispersed widely amongst a large number of people. All the way from the person who heads the programs administration down through the ranks of everyone employed to provide the program and finally to the people who are served by it either directly or by the services that are provided or paid for. The federal food stamp program for instance, those tax dollars are not only seen by the people who get the food but by everyone involved in the program and everyone involved in the food that is bought from production to plate. A very small portion of these funds will make it into bank accounts that have very little return flow into the economy such as the upper echelon of share holders of any one the food production corporations, however as service providers by and large and service recipients are not in a position to put away money into savings this means that by far the majority of this money stays in the economy and continues the flow.
While those involved in these programs and receiving their assistance are certainly benefiting the actual money ends up in someone's hands that most likely has no idea where it originated. These people then use that money for their own needs and wants and again that money has made it's way back to join the flow of currency in our economy. It is a healthy flow that allows for the majority of the population to thrive. It's these 'small dollars' that see their way to your local grocers, to your local restaurants, to your local newspapers, and all the way down to the lemonade stand that industrious five year old set up on a hot summer day.
Taken on an individual basis we are talking such a minute penance that it's not worth even looking at. However, we are not talking individually but instead we are talking about our nation as a whole. The next time you see the billions of dollars that are being put on the chopping block from social programs look past the 'welfare recipient' into your own personal part of the economy and consider if you really want that money to no longer be a part of what is available to you and instead hiding well protected in the corporate echelon's accounting system.
Lastly I ask you to consider this: If these programs are such failures and such an incredible drain on our economy the why is it that each and every one of these programs are being considered to be privatized?
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Today's Thoughts.
I've been following the events unfolding in our nation for years now pretty closely, and I know that a good number of other people have been doing the same. I have witnessed an apparent swing in the media and seemingly a large number of the public that has me concerned. I hope that it's a swing and not some dark deep seeded agenda from ages ago of hate.
Yes I said hate. Dictionary.com defines hate as: to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility towards; detest: to hate the enemy; to hate bigotry.
Wisconsin, Michigan, and Florida state leaders seem to be expressing just this by their actions toward the public schools and workers of their states. Think about that for just a minute. That means both the children and adults, everyone, they 'dislike intensely or passionately'. The agenda's they have pursued are so obviously filled with disdain for the wants or needs of their populace that I find it disgusting that anyone voted for them. Much less that people would still support them.
The facts are right in our face. Taking away the rights of their populace to be able to discuss with an employer any changes to their employment. Taking away funding from the source of education that is available to all children. Changing laws for voting so as to make it harder for all voters to weigh in on the issues. Taking away funding for women to be able to receive medical needs.
All of this they are doing, and much more, under the guise of an economic crisis. A bold and unfortunately mainly accepted lie first perpetuated by big corporations and now being used by parts of our own government.
All of the big corporations continue to show large profits, many record gains. General Electric in the first quarter of 2010, carefully hidden amongst all the whining that they are down from 2009, showed profits of 1.4 billion. Which when you read their summary at http://biz.yahoo.com/e/100507/ge10-q.html they show that in 2009 they profited 1.3 billion. Now while it has been a few years since I was in school, I have it on good authority that's 100 million more than the year before.
So let's see, if they only paid 20% of their profits in taxes, never mind the tax due to the common person tends to be closer to 45%, then that is 280 million from that could be going to any of these social programs that are being cut, from that quarter alone and from only one corporation.
Okay I know the argument of 'well those welfare people need to get jobs'. So how many jobs could have General Electric made available with that break? They could have hired on 7000 new employee's at a decent wage of 40,000 exactly. How many jobs did General Electric add to the employment market? Well I must admit that I can't give accurate numbers at this time but I would be very pleasantly surprised if they brought on another 28,000 employee's by the end of 2010. I'm wagering that their total hires is much less if not in the negative.
Again this is just one corporation. We are not feeling the benefits of these tax breaks. Why should we? These are corporations and the only people that should feel anything from them is their share holders, and hopefully their employee's, by law.
We've been hearing this talk of 'taking from the rich and giving to the poor' or redistribution of wealth. Think about this for a minute as well. You and I are expected to pay our taxes. We originally did so for the running of our government. Not to bail out a company because they don't know how to do business and in the process failed. Yes, we've seen this in the past few years as well and today again these same people want you to forget that this happened under an administration that was and still is it self a part of the higher echelon of corporate society.
Taxes are the countries money. Your's, mine, your neighbors, and the guy down the street's. Would you take out your life saving, the money you've put aside to make sure that your loved one's are taken care of in hard times, and hand it over to someone you don't know and have never met because they bought a car they couldn't afford? Sounds crazy? That is basically what has taken place with our taxes.
The human in you, the heart, the soul of who you are, does it really prefer to not only give money that is desperately needed for social programs to a corporation? Money that they do not deserve. Do you really consider it in any way acceptable to take food off of children's tables so that share holders can inflate their portfolio's? I'm not going to go into detail just how much of a negative impact this has directly upon our economy at this time but that may soon be a topic of another posting.
Do you know what happens to a note of loan if the owner of that note no longer exists? It means that the loanee no longer has to pay on that loan. What do you think our economy would look like today if you had that monthly house payment back in your pocket because the company that loaned you the money went out of business? I'm not saying down with all the companies so everyone gets stuff for free. It is not your fault that they did not conduct their business affairs responsibly. Now those loans have effectively, or will be paid on twice. The holders of those loans by over extending themselves to the point of possibly going bankrupt and out of business have gotten our government to hand over your tax dollars to cover their mistakes with your money and your still making those payments or even looking at losing your house, or perhaps even are among the many that already have lost their home.
Yes I said hate. Dictionary.com defines hate as: to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility towards; detest: to hate the enemy; to hate bigotry.
Wisconsin, Michigan, and Florida state leaders seem to be expressing just this by their actions toward the public schools and workers of their states. Think about that for just a minute. That means both the children and adults, everyone, they 'dislike intensely or passionately'. The agenda's they have pursued are so obviously filled with disdain for the wants or needs of their populace that I find it disgusting that anyone voted for them. Much less that people would still support them.
The facts are right in our face. Taking away the rights of their populace to be able to discuss with an employer any changes to their employment. Taking away funding from the source of education that is available to all children. Changing laws for voting so as to make it harder for all voters to weigh in on the issues. Taking away funding for women to be able to receive medical needs.
All of this they are doing, and much more, under the guise of an economic crisis. A bold and unfortunately mainly accepted lie first perpetuated by big corporations and now being used by parts of our own government.
All of the big corporations continue to show large profits, many record gains. General Electric in the first quarter of 2010, carefully hidden amongst all the whining that they are down from 2009, showed profits of 1.4 billion. Which when you read their summary at http://biz.yahoo.com/e/100507/ge10-q.html they show that in 2009 they profited 1.3 billion. Now while it has been a few years since I was in school, I have it on good authority that's 100 million more than the year before.
So let's see, if they only paid 20% of their profits in taxes, never mind the tax due to the common person tends to be closer to 45%, then that is 280 million from that could be going to any of these social programs that are being cut, from that quarter alone and from only one corporation.
Okay I know the argument of 'well those welfare people need to get jobs'. So how many jobs could have General Electric made available with that break? They could have hired on 7000 new employee's at a decent wage of 40,000 exactly. How many jobs did General Electric add to the employment market? Well I must admit that I can't give accurate numbers at this time but I would be very pleasantly surprised if they brought on another 28,000 employee's by the end of 2010. I'm wagering that their total hires is much less if not in the negative.
Again this is just one corporation. We are not feeling the benefits of these tax breaks. Why should we? These are corporations and the only people that should feel anything from them is their share holders, and hopefully their employee's, by law.
We've been hearing this talk of 'taking from the rich and giving to the poor' or redistribution of wealth. Think about this for a minute as well. You and I are expected to pay our taxes. We originally did so for the running of our government. Not to bail out a company because they don't know how to do business and in the process failed. Yes, we've seen this in the past few years as well and today again these same people want you to forget that this happened under an administration that was and still is it self a part of the higher echelon of corporate society.
Taxes are the countries money. Your's, mine, your neighbors, and the guy down the street's. Would you take out your life saving, the money you've put aside to make sure that your loved one's are taken care of in hard times, and hand it over to someone you don't know and have never met because they bought a car they couldn't afford? Sounds crazy? That is basically what has taken place with our taxes.
The human in you, the heart, the soul of who you are, does it really prefer to not only give money that is desperately needed for social programs to a corporation? Money that they do not deserve. Do you really consider it in any way acceptable to take food off of children's tables so that share holders can inflate their portfolio's? I'm not going to go into detail just how much of a negative impact this has directly upon our economy at this time but that may soon be a topic of another posting.
Do you know what happens to a note of loan if the owner of that note no longer exists? It means that the loanee no longer has to pay on that loan. What do you think our economy would look like today if you had that monthly house payment back in your pocket because the company that loaned you the money went out of business? I'm not saying down with all the companies so everyone gets stuff for free. It is not your fault that they did not conduct their business affairs responsibly. Now those loans have effectively, or will be paid on twice. The holders of those loans by over extending themselves to the point of possibly going bankrupt and out of business have gotten our government to hand over your tax dollars to cover their mistakes with your money and your still making those payments or even looking at losing your house, or perhaps even are among the many that already have lost their home.
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