A New Partnership
A new partnership between corporate America and its people could be easily attained in a few simple steps.
I would like to propose that a large Foundation, perhaps The Gates Foundation, contribute $100 Million dollars to feed a population lacking food that is growing beyond any level anyone could have anticipated. No need to go into the details of the events surrounding the rise in people without food except to say it is spiraling out of control affecting many levels of peoples from the homeless to the working poor.
This program would be a self-sustaining program. A one-time tax deductible donation from a charitable foundation would be placed into a bank account, preferably a local credit union, or a series of them to further bolster communities, wherein the principle would never be touched. With such a large donation even a safe return of 2.5% would conservatively yield $2,500,000 per year. In better times even more.
This revenue would then be used to purchase food from large stores like Safeway, Whole Foods, etc. on a regular contract basis at a reduced cost as patrons will not buy them anyway preferring instead to buy the more fresh product at market price. These foods would be those that are either outdated or very close. Too close for these firms to keep on their shelves but perfect when used immediately.
These foods would be sent to those charitable organizations that cook and serve and to those for outright distribution. Many such organizations exist and would be pleased to aid in feeding people as they already do.
The large chain store gets a regular outlet for clearing their shelves for new goods and gets paid for them reducing waste. Food sources get a steady stream of quality foods to assist those in need, the contributing Foundation gets endless good will not to mention press and the people get a healthy meal allowing them to be more whole physically not to mention the feeling of concern they receive from their community.
With that initial contribution the U.S. Government would be asked to contribute on a matching dollar program which would double the size of the reach and good will across the board. At a time when bailout money is flying off the printing presses in the billions, one hundred million is not a lot to ask for. And, in this way, the economic burden created in part by wages not rising with productivity over recent years would be bridged honestly as many good working people are not able to keep up even working multiple jobs.
Asking for a dollar matching program would show truly good will on the part of the U.S. Government and create a partnership that connects the corporate world, the Government, Charitable Organizations and the people all together in a healthy network with one simple defined goal; to feed people in need.
After all, if you can’t eat you can’t get out of poverty, homelessness or rise up from the status of working poor.
This would not be faith-based, nor would it favor any group except the people.
If you like the idea, I would be pleased to champion such a program for no pay whatsoever. In fact, other than meeting with The Foundation and the Government, I would prefer total anonymity as to keep the focus on the program itself. As I am white, hold a doctoral degree from an ivy institution albeit happily without money, I might be suspect by certain elements anyway. I have the will, the education both formally and streetwise to implement and oversee such a beautiful program and would like to institute it in the SF Bay Area with your generous assistance. I am more than familiar with many industries having worked for years as a private vendor having owned my own business and my degree is in clinical psychology so its’ a little tough to get passed me with any form of self-serving motivations.
A couple of decent tractor-trailers is all that is needed to run up and down the coast to pick up perishable goods and deliver them to existing outlets. The program is fundamentally a design to reduce food waste and place it where it can do the most good.
No new creation is required, no big office is necessary, no sprawling warehouse nor a national identity except what would be required to give credit to The Foundation from which the contribution would come and the charitable organizations who make the food available.
Large grocers while jumping the chance to actually get paid albeit at discounted levels for expiring goods may or may not want attention to such a program. Whatever their preference is fine. Our goal is simply to fill those trailers with food for the program.
This would be a serious but beautiful way to unite our causes for the benefit of people in our country as they struggle to make their way through the complexities of modern life.
Wouldn’t it be great to create something positive that outlasts ourselves?
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Fanfare For A New Common Man
And so, here we are. Our beautiful country with all its hope and promise rendered bankrupt, wholly insolvent, impoverished from top to bottom.
Shame really, in that it is such a beautiful country in so many ways. The parks, the mountains, the seashores and beaches not to mention the promise America has always held out hope for so many of us. But all that is gone now and we are set against a reality so difficult to get our heads around that it seems many of us would prefer to sally forth in the hopes that we might find our way back home. Back home to the old America we could trust and cherish. The America we could be proud of and treat as a family member, a lover, a trusted uncle. In that empty space that once was our country remains only the physical beauty of nature for us to witness and enjoy.
Watching reality unfold behind the news lines is a phenomena that seems to have so much impetus it is sad to see mountains of bullshit thrown at us daily in the hopes that we-the- people don’t notice what has happened. And, indeed, continues to be allowed to happen. The corruption we are witnessing in America is not only a stable form but actually is being protected by law. So, no real change should ever be expected.
But notice we do. We can see that the Bernie Madoff scandal was really just a simple plan to fleece people and that the SEC was complicit in the process. Undoubtedly the SEC profited along with Bernie for many years. All that happened there was that there were so many calls on the fund that the SEC could no longer run interference for the man. So, they pulled their support, moved their personal fortune elsewhere and allowed Bernie to finally go down. Articles and complaints surrounding this man go back as far as the ‘80s. Of course, the SEC probed him then and declared him fit. So, we can’t trust the market because we now know for certain that the SEC is a criminal enterprise in and of itself not beyond the reach of serious bribe monies. And Bernie had some real dough to spread around. So, forget investing in the market-at all.
We notice the banking industry which has rearranged the legalities in such a way as to allow themselves to participate in nearly any and all investment vehicles while dumbing down the requirements for solvency to the extent that there are many firms so insolvent that you should not be banking with them - at all. No value understanding derivatives, hedge funds or the bogus insurance sold by AIG. We notice it is criminal and so, we should simply avoid them. All of them. Let them fall by way of avoidance. Bad companies don’t deserve investors. They, as capitalists themselves, need to be allowed to fall, as capitalists. Go to a credit union, a very local one where the people who work there, save there, live nearby. No investing, just checking and Christmas club type stuff.
We notice home foreclosures and bankruptcies so steep in their rise as to absolutely confirm that we need not buy a home. Owning a home is a dream whose time has passed. Rent. Don’t like it, then move. Let that be someone else’s problem. Find somewhere you do like and do not buy there either. Live simpler either by choice or by force. Living simpler is the best revenge, truly. And do not spend a dime that you don’t absolutely have to spend. Let the economy fall in a natural and capitalistic way as they are depending upon you to spend, spur the economy and, in that way, bail them out-again. Capitalism calls for failure of firms that cannot survive on their own. Let them. After all, the mortgage you pay has been wrapped up in legalese-style bogus investment bullshit and gambled away even if you are making payments. Can’t trust homeownership anymore, so forget it. There is no recourse, so simply do not buy a home-ever.
We notice law enforcement struggling with nearly every aspect of enforcement. Except big white collar stuff. That area only requires an occasional fall guy to perpetuate the illusion of justice. A feeble attempt to stave off the inevitable. Nothing against law enforcement, but it should be obvious to anyone one that that is where the rubber-meets-1the-road. The biggest problem for law enforcement is about the same as the first two items spoken of here with one big exception. Law enforcement is simply doing its job. Trying to catch bad guys, make neighborhoods safer and all that. The problem here is that the laws they are enforcing are criminal in and of themselves. People are people. Law enforcement is made up of people as well. Getting around the law, even in small ways, as people must do to survive these days, is a profession in which law enforcement itself excels. Of course they do. Thy know exactly how people get caught. They know how to go about the right-way-to-do-the-wrong-thing. The exception for law enforcement though, is that, they are the line between our happiness and the enforcement of bad laws.
And the responsibility lies directly with law enforcement to see themselves not as a gang, not a being against the people but as a beacon for the truth they espouse. We desperately need for law enforcement to turn away from the people thereby facing the same direction, and face the law itself and say, ‘no, this is too much and we think it will just create more trouble, for all of us‘. Would you guys please have the balls-as you claim to have-and stand up for this country instead of allowing yourselves to be hijacked by the goons we call judges, politicians, leaders. If you are not for us; you are against us. Save us or you will fall along with us, as you are us and we you. This might be the single most important need we have today and the greatest challenge of all, The need to unite people, law and law enforcement cannot be overstated. It is imperative and requires new leadership from law enforcement as it is definitely not coming from political leadership. Speak up about the futility of the ‘war on drugs’. Speak up about the number of firearms on the street. Speak up about the lawyers, judges and the rest who pervert the system and then leave it to you-the cop-to deal with after they walk away usually headed to a lunch buffet or some equally inane event. Keep it simple. Keep it clean and mean it. They will listen to you if you take the time to organize and speak up. You would also find the people would admire you in a way you never thought possible. You, men in blue, would become the force you have always wanted to be, a force for good, for justice and with the backing of 300+ million grateful people. A single cop could then walk any street, in any town, knowing in full confidence that if there were to be an incident he or she would have the instant support of the people in the neighborhood who have a sincere interest in having law and justice as a cornerstone of their lives. Their neighborhoods. Protecting their kids, their homes, their businesses.
We notice our educational system, bereft of the ability to teach, burdened by requirements so menial, so tedious as to displace the time needed for actual instruction. And, so we see it in our children. The good news there is these kids today believe in nothing. Good because all we see is a continuous stream of manipulative bullshit, insulting bogus news and politicians who wreak of insincerity. So, to them, I say good on you. Don’t believe a damn thing anyone tells you. History books are fake. Society is not as it appears. And, yes, you are correct in feeling that you live in an alien world where you do not feel at home. A world that frightens you at times and drives you deeper into your friendships, sexual alliances, music and the culture of your youth that-at least-is honest. Study what you can. Do not give yourself wholly to the educational system without thought, and references. But do take away what you can. The internet will provide the rest. Be wary of where you get your news. Avoid corporate media completely. None of it is real. None of it is impartial. And, all of it is designed to influence the way you think rather than deliver information for you to digest on your own time, in your own fashion. Respectfully disregard your parents point of view. Respectfully offer yours. They may be decent but have been conditioned for year by the very news outlets you should seek to avoid.
We notice that you could join the military. The military is so permanent a part of our culture that it is now considered ‘a job’ and you can see in the commercials for computers, cars and the like, there is always a man or woman in uniform carrying the new laptop through the airport of considering a new car at some dealership. It appears corporate America is certain that a military job is here to stay and they are trying to tap into the soldier-market. The problem, of course, is that if you do sign up for service you don’t know where you are going. Nor do you know when you will be coming back. No matter what the paperwork says they can re-up you without notice, send you to battle or just have you scrub floors and toilets for years on end. And the pay is not that swift either.
If you do survive, not get killed in action or electrocuted by a ungrounded Halliburton shower stall, you will get to return to a family you do not know, a home in foreclosure, a wife who cannot understand you and a shadow of your former self. Divorce and alienation from family are frequently not far behind the returning vet. Here too, the law jumps in, pleased to take your home, represent your wife in divorce and then in your final appearance-bankruptcy court. If you do resist, law enforcement -who so eagerly touted their support of you when in uniform-will see you thrown out, made to be foolish and homeless. Then, they might say you just can’t hack it. Very few individuals survive modern military service. The ones who are killed might be the lucky ones. Their suffering is over quickly. The rest, many maimed, permanently concussed brains or suffering deep and unshakeable emotional trauma will find they can no longer function as both their country and their very selves have permanently changed in such a way that nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing. Should you mention any of this to the military; you will be called a ‘pussy’ and told to forget it.
So, now you are haunted by so many strange inexplicable memories. Many of which are violent ones juxtaposed to the incongruent and painful laughter of your fellow man in uniform. Men to whom you had to trust your life to and them to you. You cannot sleep so you cannot wake up for work, can’t keep normal hours as you are no longer in the ’norm’. The things you experienced have placed you so far outside the norm that you can’t even recognize mainstream America as a reasonable and wholesome place to be. Although you would desperately love to have actually returned home-even believed you could. Not just physically but in every way. But you have not returned. Only your body came back. The receding dream that was ballgames and barbecues has grown so small and so distant that you can hardly even see it even when it is right in front of you, children playing, meat cooking on the grill and yet-nothing. Flat. No feeling. You, after giving so very much of yourself to your country, are now unfit as a citizen. You look ok, but you are not. Strange how a terrorist is defined as someone who looks normal, fits in to blend in, and yet is not what he appears to be. Strange how, now after service; neither are you.
For you, the serviceman, take a little ecstasy. They are doing it in the high end research hospitals in that it is the only thing that works. Sorry to advocate a drug here but it is a b-line to getting back your feelings. You will love your kids again. You will love your wife and make love to her without that weird dominant feeling of wanting to abuse her in order to get off. The military won’t talk about this but they are doing it. So, get to it and do not wait. Any hip kid in your family or neighborhood can get it for you or you can have a pharmacist give you the pure form and go from there. Do it with your wife as it makes you sweet and loving and will reconnect you with your former self. Here again, you have to break the law only to survive.
We notice the small businessman, auto dealerships, store owners and the like wondering what they are going to do now. Business is so severely hit that even if you lay off nearly all of your employees you might still not make your nut. Overhead rising and incoming business and new prospects nearly non-existent. For you, you should do what leadership has embraced. Namely, take whatever is left of your business, move it somewhere else and file bankruptcy. Emerge under a new name and see if then you can ride out this storm albeit in a much smaller way. Just enough to stay in-the-game until such time, if ever, the economy recovers to a point where you can function again. Do not wait. Do it as soon as possible, like this week. And put aside any notions of decency in that you are stealing from yourself in making your bankruptcy. It is clearly sanctioned by the government as they allow it to happen all the time. We see it happening from Wall Street to Main Street. So, get to it. ‘Cheat’ yourself by stealing from yourself It’s the new American business model. And put the money in some form of cash or cash equivalents. Preferably offshore where you can access it by way of a routine ATM card. This way you can exclude the government and still care for your family. That’s important no matter what they tell you. They do it. So, you should too. And don’t feel too badly towards suppliers and workers. You have been asked to shoulder so heavy a burden that it is simply not possible. On a level field you are a success. The rules have changed; so too should you.
You cannot fight the government, massive insurance companies and then have law enforcement demand you acquiesce to their demands. Just no longer possible. So, get out now. Hit the beach. Go to the kids ball games. Read more. Get to know your wife better-again. Work on that perfect 5-iron with a slight draw. Get a smaller home. Be happy. Try gardening. It’s fun and you get to eat what you grow. Imagine that. Read Jefferson. He advocated precisely that lifestyle for Americans.
For those of you who place an inordinate amount of faith in the White House and its new inhabitants-forget it. New President a nice man? Yes, but the prior guys didn’t exactly set the bar very high so anyone looks good right now. Knows what he is doing? Doubtful. Same recycled old players doing the same old routines albeit with a lot more money floating around. But, remember, this President wants to get a second-term just as badly as did any other prior President. This is his day, his time, his moment in his history. It really has very little to do with any of us. If it did, this writer would not be able to write any of what has been written here-now would it? But, it is. We notice no help for home owners, small business, education or nearly any other critical area, i.e., critical to us. We do notice a lot of dollars going to the big guys and not even spit coming to the little guys. Continues to feel suspiciously like the trickle-down theory is alive and well.
For those of you who think you have ‘made it’, think again. This legal system has a huge appetite. And when it is finished feeding off the less fortunate, it will find you. You will find there are simply too many lawyers and not enough cases that are able to pay and that alone will bring you into court and relieve you of your assets. In the meantime, you will notice there are less and less places for you to go to ‘enjoy yourself’ as they are being shutdown. Restaurants are becoming common armed-robbery sites, golf courses are closing and even private yachting is suffering. Seems pirates are everywhere, on shore and off. No one is safe when large forces like government, corporate business and starving law firms are all combing their markets looking for cash. Your cash. They don’t care who or what you are, only that you do have cash or assets they can commandeer. And they will. They always do. That is what they do. That is all they do.
So, it is up to you to carve out your own space, your corner of the world in such a way as to be safe and not beholding to any institution or religion that would have you bereft of your life, your money and your work. Tank it now, cash in, walk away. And, if you find it is too late already, realize that these things you did were noble, that you were fleeced by a force much larger than yourself and-most important-your work was something you did; it is not who you are. Never was. Make new identifications with other things in your life. Again, your family, the good things that are here. The things that have always been here-right now.
Shame really, in that it is such a beautiful country in so many ways. The parks, the mountains, the seashores and beaches not to mention the promise America has always held out hope for so many of us. But all that is gone now and we are set against a reality so difficult to get our heads around that it seems many of us would prefer to sally forth in the hopes that we might find our way back home. Back home to the old America we could trust and cherish. The America we could be proud of and treat as a family member, a lover, a trusted uncle. In that empty space that once was our country remains only the physical beauty of nature for us to witness and enjoy.
Watching reality unfold behind the news lines is a phenomena that seems to have so much impetus it is sad to see mountains of bullshit thrown at us daily in the hopes that we-the- people don’t notice what has happened. And, indeed, continues to be allowed to happen. The corruption we are witnessing in America is not only a stable form but actually is being protected by law. So, no real change should ever be expected.
But notice we do. We can see that the Bernie Madoff scandal was really just a simple plan to fleece people and that the SEC was complicit in the process. Undoubtedly the SEC profited along with Bernie for many years. All that happened there was that there were so many calls on the fund that the SEC could no longer run interference for the man. So, they pulled their support, moved their personal fortune elsewhere and allowed Bernie to finally go down. Articles and complaints surrounding this man go back as far as the ‘80s. Of course, the SEC probed him then and declared him fit. So, we can’t trust the market because we now know for certain that the SEC is a criminal enterprise in and of itself not beyond the reach of serious bribe monies. And Bernie had some real dough to spread around. So, forget investing in the market-at all.
We notice the banking industry which has rearranged the legalities in such a way as to allow themselves to participate in nearly any and all investment vehicles while dumbing down the requirements for solvency to the extent that there are many firms so insolvent that you should not be banking with them - at all. No value understanding derivatives, hedge funds or the bogus insurance sold by AIG. We notice it is criminal and so, we should simply avoid them. All of them. Let them fall by way of avoidance. Bad companies don’t deserve investors. They, as capitalists themselves, need to be allowed to fall, as capitalists. Go to a credit union, a very local one where the people who work there, save there, live nearby. No investing, just checking and Christmas club type stuff.
We notice home foreclosures and bankruptcies so steep in their rise as to absolutely confirm that we need not buy a home. Owning a home is a dream whose time has passed. Rent. Don’t like it, then move. Let that be someone else’s problem. Find somewhere you do like and do not buy there either. Live simpler either by choice or by force. Living simpler is the best revenge, truly. And do not spend a dime that you don’t absolutely have to spend. Let the economy fall in a natural and capitalistic way as they are depending upon you to spend, spur the economy and, in that way, bail them out-again. Capitalism calls for failure of firms that cannot survive on their own. Let them. After all, the mortgage you pay has been wrapped up in legalese-style bogus investment bullshit and gambled away even if you are making payments. Can’t trust homeownership anymore, so forget it. There is no recourse, so simply do not buy a home-ever.
We notice law enforcement struggling with nearly every aspect of enforcement. Except big white collar stuff. That area only requires an occasional fall guy to perpetuate the illusion of justice. A feeble attempt to stave off the inevitable. Nothing against law enforcement, but it should be obvious to anyone one that that is where the rubber-meets-1the-road. The biggest problem for law enforcement is about the same as the first two items spoken of here with one big exception. Law enforcement is simply doing its job. Trying to catch bad guys, make neighborhoods safer and all that. The problem here is that the laws they are enforcing are criminal in and of themselves. People are people. Law enforcement is made up of people as well. Getting around the law, even in small ways, as people must do to survive these days, is a profession in which law enforcement itself excels. Of course they do. Thy know exactly how people get caught. They know how to go about the right-way-to-do-the-wrong-thing. The exception for law enforcement though, is that, they are the line between our happiness and the enforcement of bad laws.
And the responsibility lies directly with law enforcement to see themselves not as a gang, not a being against the people but as a beacon for the truth they espouse. We desperately need for law enforcement to turn away from the people thereby facing the same direction, and face the law itself and say, ‘no, this is too much and we think it will just create more trouble, for all of us‘. Would you guys please have the balls-as you claim to have-and stand up for this country instead of allowing yourselves to be hijacked by the goons we call judges, politicians, leaders. If you are not for us; you are against us. Save us or you will fall along with us, as you are us and we you. This might be the single most important need we have today and the greatest challenge of all, The need to unite people, law and law enforcement cannot be overstated. It is imperative and requires new leadership from law enforcement as it is definitely not coming from political leadership. Speak up about the futility of the ‘war on drugs’. Speak up about the number of firearms on the street. Speak up about the lawyers, judges and the rest who pervert the system and then leave it to you-the cop-to deal with after they walk away usually headed to a lunch buffet or some equally inane event. Keep it simple. Keep it clean and mean it. They will listen to you if you take the time to organize and speak up. You would also find the people would admire you in a way you never thought possible. You, men in blue, would become the force you have always wanted to be, a force for good, for justice and with the backing of 300+ million grateful people. A single cop could then walk any street, in any town, knowing in full confidence that if there were to be an incident he or she would have the instant support of the people in the neighborhood who have a sincere interest in having law and justice as a cornerstone of their lives. Their neighborhoods. Protecting their kids, their homes, their businesses.
We notice our educational system, bereft of the ability to teach, burdened by requirements so menial, so tedious as to displace the time needed for actual instruction. And, so we see it in our children. The good news there is these kids today believe in nothing. Good because all we see is a continuous stream of manipulative bullshit, insulting bogus news and politicians who wreak of insincerity. So, to them, I say good on you. Don’t believe a damn thing anyone tells you. History books are fake. Society is not as it appears. And, yes, you are correct in feeling that you live in an alien world where you do not feel at home. A world that frightens you at times and drives you deeper into your friendships, sexual alliances, music and the culture of your youth that-at least-is honest. Study what you can. Do not give yourself wholly to the educational system without thought, and references. But do take away what you can. The internet will provide the rest. Be wary of where you get your news. Avoid corporate media completely. None of it is real. None of it is impartial. And, all of it is designed to influence the way you think rather than deliver information for you to digest on your own time, in your own fashion. Respectfully disregard your parents point of view. Respectfully offer yours. They may be decent but have been conditioned for year by the very news outlets you should seek to avoid.
We notice that you could join the military. The military is so permanent a part of our culture that it is now considered ‘a job’ and you can see in the commercials for computers, cars and the like, there is always a man or woman in uniform carrying the new laptop through the airport of considering a new car at some dealership. It appears corporate America is certain that a military job is here to stay and they are trying to tap into the soldier-market. The problem, of course, is that if you do sign up for service you don’t know where you are going. Nor do you know when you will be coming back. No matter what the paperwork says they can re-up you without notice, send you to battle or just have you scrub floors and toilets for years on end. And the pay is not that swift either.
If you do survive, not get killed in action or electrocuted by a ungrounded Halliburton shower stall, you will get to return to a family you do not know, a home in foreclosure, a wife who cannot understand you and a shadow of your former self. Divorce and alienation from family are frequently not far behind the returning vet. Here too, the law jumps in, pleased to take your home, represent your wife in divorce and then in your final appearance-bankruptcy court. If you do resist, law enforcement -who so eagerly touted their support of you when in uniform-will see you thrown out, made to be foolish and homeless. Then, they might say you just can’t hack it. Very few individuals survive modern military service. The ones who are killed might be the lucky ones. Their suffering is over quickly. The rest, many maimed, permanently concussed brains or suffering deep and unshakeable emotional trauma will find they can no longer function as both their country and their very selves have permanently changed in such a way that nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing. Should you mention any of this to the military; you will be called a ‘pussy’ and told to forget it.
So, now you are haunted by so many strange inexplicable memories. Many of which are violent ones juxtaposed to the incongruent and painful laughter of your fellow man in uniform. Men to whom you had to trust your life to and them to you. You cannot sleep so you cannot wake up for work, can’t keep normal hours as you are no longer in the ’norm’. The things you experienced have placed you so far outside the norm that you can’t even recognize mainstream America as a reasonable and wholesome place to be. Although you would desperately love to have actually returned home-even believed you could. Not just physically but in every way. But you have not returned. Only your body came back. The receding dream that was ballgames and barbecues has grown so small and so distant that you can hardly even see it even when it is right in front of you, children playing, meat cooking on the grill and yet-nothing. Flat. No feeling. You, after giving so very much of yourself to your country, are now unfit as a citizen. You look ok, but you are not. Strange how a terrorist is defined as someone who looks normal, fits in to blend in, and yet is not what he appears to be. Strange how, now after service; neither are you.
For you, the serviceman, take a little ecstasy. They are doing it in the high end research hospitals in that it is the only thing that works. Sorry to advocate a drug here but it is a b-line to getting back your feelings. You will love your kids again. You will love your wife and make love to her without that weird dominant feeling of wanting to abuse her in order to get off. The military won’t talk about this but they are doing it. So, get to it and do not wait. Any hip kid in your family or neighborhood can get it for you or you can have a pharmacist give you the pure form and go from there. Do it with your wife as it makes you sweet and loving and will reconnect you with your former self. Here again, you have to break the law only to survive.
We notice the small businessman, auto dealerships, store owners and the like wondering what they are going to do now. Business is so severely hit that even if you lay off nearly all of your employees you might still not make your nut. Overhead rising and incoming business and new prospects nearly non-existent. For you, you should do what leadership has embraced. Namely, take whatever is left of your business, move it somewhere else and file bankruptcy. Emerge under a new name and see if then you can ride out this storm albeit in a much smaller way. Just enough to stay in-the-game until such time, if ever, the economy recovers to a point where you can function again. Do not wait. Do it as soon as possible, like this week. And put aside any notions of decency in that you are stealing from yourself in making your bankruptcy. It is clearly sanctioned by the government as they allow it to happen all the time. We see it happening from Wall Street to Main Street. So, get to it. ‘Cheat’ yourself by stealing from yourself It’s the new American business model. And put the money in some form of cash or cash equivalents. Preferably offshore where you can access it by way of a routine ATM card. This way you can exclude the government and still care for your family. That’s important no matter what they tell you. They do it. So, you should too. And don’t feel too badly towards suppliers and workers. You have been asked to shoulder so heavy a burden that it is simply not possible. On a level field you are a success. The rules have changed; so too should you.
You cannot fight the government, massive insurance companies and then have law enforcement demand you acquiesce to their demands. Just no longer possible. So, get out now. Hit the beach. Go to the kids ball games. Read more. Get to know your wife better-again. Work on that perfect 5-iron with a slight draw. Get a smaller home. Be happy. Try gardening. It’s fun and you get to eat what you grow. Imagine that. Read Jefferson. He advocated precisely that lifestyle for Americans.
For those of you who place an inordinate amount of faith in the White House and its new inhabitants-forget it. New President a nice man? Yes, but the prior guys didn’t exactly set the bar very high so anyone looks good right now. Knows what he is doing? Doubtful. Same recycled old players doing the same old routines albeit with a lot more money floating around. But, remember, this President wants to get a second-term just as badly as did any other prior President. This is his day, his time, his moment in his history. It really has very little to do with any of us. If it did, this writer would not be able to write any of what has been written here-now would it? But, it is. We notice no help for home owners, small business, education or nearly any other critical area, i.e., critical to us. We do notice a lot of dollars going to the big guys and not even spit coming to the little guys. Continues to feel suspiciously like the trickle-down theory is alive and well.
For those of you who think you have ‘made it’, think again. This legal system has a huge appetite. And when it is finished feeding off the less fortunate, it will find you. You will find there are simply too many lawyers and not enough cases that are able to pay and that alone will bring you into court and relieve you of your assets. In the meantime, you will notice there are less and less places for you to go to ‘enjoy yourself’ as they are being shutdown. Restaurants are becoming common armed-robbery sites, golf courses are closing and even private yachting is suffering. Seems pirates are everywhere, on shore and off. No one is safe when large forces like government, corporate business and starving law firms are all combing their markets looking for cash. Your cash. They don’t care who or what you are, only that you do have cash or assets they can commandeer. And they will. They always do. That is what they do. That is all they do.
So, it is up to you to carve out your own space, your corner of the world in such a way as to be safe and not beholding to any institution or religion that would have you bereft of your life, your money and your work. Tank it now, cash in, walk away. And, if you find it is too late already, realize that these things you did were noble, that you were fleeced by a force much larger than yourself and-most important-your work was something you did; it is not who you are. Never was. Make new identifications with other things in your life. Again, your family, the good things that are here. The things that have always been here-right now.
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