PAX VILLAGE

BUREAU FOR BEGGING

2012-01-24T08:19:00.000-08:00

Pax Village Voice

It is time to end the 'Bureau for Begging' . We don't need to force a person to appear before his CASEWORKER to prove both poverty and humility. It would save the taxpayer money if we just gave every citizen [Prince or Pauper] an EBT (food stamp) card with the same benefit. It would give the poor man a Right to Life and the Rich Man a night out with friends and no government hassle for anyone.

http://www.alternet.org/story/153859/while_republicans_play_politics_over_food_stamps%2C_new_film_focuses_on_hunger_in_america_?page=entire

While Republicans Play Politics Over Food Stamps, New Film Focuses on Hunger in America

Amy Goodman and Raj Patel discuss the 49 million people who are struggling to get enough to eat in America, and why GOP candidates' posturing isn't helping.

The Greatest Value : Success or Survival?

2011-12-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

The Greatest Value : Success or Survival?

by Pax Village Voice on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 9:45am

The constant refrain of those who oppose Social safety net programs is " Everyone could be rich if he just worked hard enough".

What we need is

1. Freedom from despair[guaranteed food shelter, medical care]

2. Skill training [education]

3. Opportunity to achieve

I posted the above on my FaceBook page. A friend made the following comment:

I don't know William...I'm 67 now and I've worked since I was 12 (actually did odd jobs before I was 12, mowed lawns, picked berries and sold them door to door, trapped with my grandfather and sold captures door to door, raised chickens sold those door to door before I was 12). Now I'm retired and guess what I did it all without any of the above GUARANTEES. I was a 9th grade drop out, eventually served 3 years in the U.S. Army...Honorably discharged...went to work (I was not able to start out as a CEO, though...actually never made CEO anywhere), got my GED in the Army, did some studies thru the Army Education Center and attended Community College while holding a full-time job, and two part time jobs...at the time my wife ask if I couldn't get a paper route or something to take up my spare time ;-0 I guess I have a hard time understanding the "GUARANTEE" mentality...I could be setting on my Ass now, but I'm still actively making money. With no GUARANTEES of anything and the best part is it actually gives me a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction in knowing "I CAN"...The best way to achieve is to get off that ass and do something!

My reply was:

Congratulations - I am sure you are as Rich as King Midas.

I too have worked hard all my life. I picked cotton on my Grandfathers farm at eight years of age and continued to work for the rest of my life. I was not a drop-out but served my Nation in the Air Force and used one of those Government programs to go to College. I think it was called the GI Bill. I worked in a factory , Worked as a Fraternal Field Representative and was finally Manager of a Department store. I started two business [both failed and left me broke] and finally retired on Social Security with Medicare[another Government program] . And I am still working[without pay] at the age of 70. I spent my whole life "getting off my ass and doing something".

But none of that is has anything to do with my post. They are just anecdotal stores about two lives. The point is that there are millions of people who work hard all of there lives with out ever experiencing the "good life". Then there is the Trust Fund Baby who never did any work and had unlimited wealth. That too is just an anecdotal story that speaks to a possible path of life.

The point of the post is that neither you nor I nor the Trust Fund Baby have been granted the moral authority to judge the worth of the life of another WE do not have the right to deny the essentials needs to preserve the life of each of us.

The message I get from you is that you survived and prospered because of hard work. The FACT that I know is that many work hard and die from hunger, homelessness, and illness through no fault of their own. What history has taught me is that Government has the power to destroy the lives of any citizen it chooses and often has done so.

It also has the power to preserve the lives of its people if it chooses to do so.

With the advance in innovation, technology, automation, and robotics, that power to preserve life is becoming easier every year without limiting anyone from accumulating wealth with hard work. My purpose is not to prevent reward, but to preserve the right to life at the most basic level. No man should be denied food, shelter or health care, be he Pauper or Prince.

I first published this on my Facebook Community page Pax Village Voice

William Hodge

Money - The Pregnant Promise

2011-12-17T06:21:00.000-08:00

Reposed from my Facebook Community Page

Pax Village Voice

Money is like points in a Ball Game. There is never too few points. The score keeper always has enough points to score the game. As long as a Nation protects its Sovereign power to create its own currency there can never be a shortage unless a shortage is deliberately created to cause Deflation and Depression to benefit the hoarders of monetary capital. That is exactly what happened in the Bank collapse and that is exactly what the Radical Republicans are doing in their drive to impose austerity on Working People. They sure as hell are not asking for Sacrifice from the Wealthy. Their is less money in circulation now than at the beginning of the Great Recession.

There can be a shortage of labor that forces up wages in good times. The GDP bean counters would call that inflation. There can be stressed productive capacity in Good times that will inflate the price of goods and be call inflation. That too happens in Good times. There can be a shortages in resources that will push up prices in good times.

But notice that the key is that general high inflation occurs in good times when the shortages is in the ability to produce goods & services. Inflation is the result of shortage of everything except money. Austerity in times of high unemployment [excess labor] and excess productive capacity [idle factories& productive capital] is sheer insanity and no School of Economic Theory will change the facts that things will get worse - not better when you start laying people off.

When people are not working and roads are falling apart and bridges are falling down it is time that the Nation's Money Creating Score Keeper makes more money to put people to work. When we have a failing educational system and teachers are being laid off, it is time to create money and put them to work. When the nation is falling into third world dilapidation, it is time to make the money and restore our march into the Future. Money creation in time of need is not the problem. Money destruction to feed the Greed is the problem. Forget your Philosophy and do your math.

GOVERNMENT CAN NEVER HAVE A MONEY SHORTAGE

2011-12-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

Pax Village Voice

GOVERNMENT CAN NEVER HAVE A MONEY SHORTAGE

Marriner S. Eccles and the Federal Reserve Policy, 1934-1951

Eccles believed that the only institution that would be capable
of turning the [economic] cycle around was the government. In particular, he argued that only the federal government had the capacity to increase debt without going bankrupt. In his own words:

“If a man owed to himself he could not be bankrupt, and neither can a
nation. We have got all the wealth and resources we ever had, and we
do not have the sense, the financial and political leadership to know
how to use them.

We are trying to apply a theory of economy as
obsolete as the Ark. (…) If the Government in order to finance the
War [World War I] could spend billions of dollars in order to give
protection to life and property, and not have a single thing to show for
it when it is over but the destruction of the flower of the youth of the
nation, then certainly the Government is justified in supplying
sufficient credit or money to take care of the unemployed through
public works, or an unemployment wage or a combination of both”
(Marriner S. Eccles Papers, Box 74, Folder 2).

I first wrote this essay for my Facebook Community page - Pax Village Voice.

2011-12-11T18:25:00.001-08:00

Money is not real.

by Pax Village Voice on Sunday, December 11, 2011 at 10:30am

A farmer offered a laborer a measure of wheat in return for a day of labor. That was called Barter. But the Labor already had enough measures of wheat for the year ahead. He wanted a smoked ham. The wheat Famer had no ham he wanted to part with. But he knew that the pig farmer did and the pig farmer wanted to trade ham for wheat.

But the laborer did not want to carry a measure of wheat all the way out to the Pig farmer and the Wheat farmer did not want to either. So he gave the laborer a Note that said "IOU one measure of wheat" written on a piece of of paper and signed by the wheat farmer. The IOU was a debt that the bearer could use to buy wheat.

The pig farmer who traded his ham did not actually have to go get the wheat himself. He might decide to give it to someone else to get something he need more than wheat and that person could use the Debt Note to get wheat. The Debt Note could just keep being passed from hand to hand until someone need it to pay for wheat. When the Wheat Farmer got it back for the measure of wheat the debt was settled.

In the mean time the passing of the Debt Note from hand to hand caused a lot of things to happen. That was how money was born. Debt has equaled Money ever since and Debt Money has made the world commerce go round and round ever since. Today's money has the value of a "Measure of Money". because it is the only Debt Note that can be used to pay the Taxes that Government charge to citizens in order to pay for Government Service.

The point I am interested in making is that money has no physical limit. If a debt is created [with or without interest], money is created. When the debt is retired by taxes, the money no longer exist. Money is a function of a transaction and does not exist independent of that transaction. Its existence is not and cannot have an absolute value. The value is relevant to the supply and demand on the Good or Service the possessor of the Debt Note wishes to acquire. and the total amount of the Demand units in use.

Money is like points in a ball game. The points are exactly enough to to score a game. If more are needed at any time in the game, they will be brought into existence by creating the appropriate debt. In the world of commerce money that already exist from previous debt can be transferred from one participant to another or new debt will be created to make new money. The failure to create new money as needed or retire old money when not needed will result in deflation or inflation [Boom & Bust cycle}.

If a Community Institution [ preferable Government ] is not creating new debt money as need or destroying old Debt money when it is not needed. The result will be an unstable economy. If the power to do that is in the hands of International Bankers and not Government the power will be used to serve Greed and NOT the General Good of the People. That is Democracy's greatest Enemy.

Let Money come forth when needed and it will be Good.

I first wrote this essay for my Facebook community page Pax Village Voice.

William Hodge

12/11/2011

How to Understand Money

2011-12-04T08:03:00.001-08:00

How to Understand Money

First published by me on Facebook and on Google plus.

1. All legal tender money [ coins, paper currency, accounts] is debt [IOUs].

2. All legal tender debt is borrowed originally from Banks.

3. The ultimate value of money rest upon the fact that it is the only form of payment accepted by Government to pay taxes. The higher the taxes or smaller the debt [money supply], the greater the value of the money.

4. Banks depend on the power of Government to tax and borrower in order to extract profit in the form of INTEREST payments on all debt [ government debt, business debt, consumer and private debt] in order to accumulate monetary wealth.

5. The Banking and Financial industry spend hundreds of millions on election campaigns to keep elected officials dependent on them for Personal Success.

Any Nation that puts money creation in the hands of Corporate Money Changers surrenders its Sovereignty to the Oligarchy of Wealth. I conclude that Bankers Rule the World.

I believe that we should stop letting a select group of Corporate Bankers buy all Bonds & Notes that Treasury auctions off to raise money to cover the spending that Congress authorized but fails to pay for with taxes. I believe that the Fed Banks should buy all Auctioned Debt. This would make Government interest free.

I believe that no Corporate Money should be spent in elections or contributed directly to candidates for office.

I believe that all elected official not be allowed to work in or for the Financial Industry in any capacity after leaving office for at least 10 years.

This considered opinion of William Hodge - Sunday, December 4, 2011

2011-11-14T05:16:00.001-08:00

The Social Order

by Pax Village Voice on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 8:00am

It is my opinion that one cannot live productively in a society without abiding by the rules and customs of the Society. Our Society is a Democratic Representative Republic in which the people have the ultimate right to decide what those rules and customs will be.

It is my intention to use the democratic process to guarantee every person the means to survive as long as they have the capacity to survive. Those who disagree with my Standards & Ethics and Cultural Customs have the same opportunity to use Democratic methods to choose another way.

America is not and cannot be the Agrarian Republic rule by white property(including slaves) owners that we started as. Our democratic Nation is now ruled by the majority votes of all citizens of adult age We have established Government guaranteed benefits of Social Security and Medicare for retirees, Medicaid and Food stamps and other benefits for the poor. The only change I seek is to make Social Entitlements exist for all people with out means testing and Bureaucratic intervention.

I want Taxes to be more a function of process income than personal income and I want the control of the Banks over the power to create Money to be returned to the Government as the Constitution requires. Lincoln had the process right when he created Greenbacks That is the way it should be now. If we fail to acquire control of International Banking, they will surely gain complete control of us. Our democracy could hang in the balance. It is past time to create a Political Voter Union dedicated to the proposition that all individuals should have guaranteed access to the essentials that that make life for the individual possible.

Privilege of ProfitI

I first wrote this essay for my Facebook community page Pax Village Voice.

William Hodge

11/14/11

Now Is the Time for an Economic Bill of Rights | Truthout

2011-11-13T05:25:00.000-08:00

Now Is the Time for an Economic Bill of Rights | Truthout

Now Is the Time for an Economic Bill of Rights
Friday 11 November 2011
by: Ellen Brown, Truthout | News Analysis

We are beginning to understand that our money is not created by the federal government, but by banks. (Photo: photobunny / flickr)

Henry Ford said, "It is well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."

We are beginning to understand, and Occupy Wall Street looks like the beginning of the revolution.

We are beginning to understand that our money is created, not by the government, but by banks. Many authorities have confirmed this, including the Federal Reserve itself. The only money the government creates today are coins, which compose less than one ten-thousandth of the money supply. Federal Reserve Notes, or dollar bills, are issued by Federal Reserve banks, all 12 of which are owned by the private banks in their district. Most of our money comes into circulation as bank loans, and it comes with an interest charge attached.

According to Margrit Kennedy, a German researcher who has studied this issue extensively, interest now composes 40 percent of the cost of everything we buy. We don't see it on the sales slips, but interest is exacted at every stage of production. Suppliers need to take out loans to pay for labor and materials before they have a product to sell.

For government projects, Kennedy found that the average cost of interest is 50 percent. If the government owned the banks, it could keep the interest and get these projects at half price. That means governments - state and federal - could double the number of projects they could afford, without costing the taxpayers a single penny more than we are paying now.

This opens up exciting possibilities. Federal and state governments could fund all sorts of things we think we can't afford now, simply by owning their own banks. They could fund something Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King dreamt of - an Economic Bill of Rights.

A Vision for Tomorrow

In his first inaugural address in 1933, Roosevelt criticized the sort of near-sighted Wall Street greed that precipitated the Great Depression. He said, "They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and where there is no vision the people perish."

Roosevelt's own vision reached its sharpest focus in 1944, when he called for a Second Bill of Rights. He said:

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights.... They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however - as our industrial economy expanded - these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

He then enumerated the economic rights he thought needed to be added to the Bill of Rights. They included:

The right to a job;

The right to earn enough to pay for food and clothing;

The right of businessmen to be free of unfair competition and domination by monopolies;

The right to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

Times have changed since the first Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution in 1791. When the country was founded, people could stake out some land, build a house on it, farm it and be self-sufficient. The Great Depression saw people turned out of their homes and living in the streets - a phenomenon we are seeing again today. Few people now own their own homes. Even if you have signed a mortgage, you will be in debt peonage to the bank for 30 years or so before you can claim the home as your own.

Health needs have changed, too. In 1791, foods were natural and nutrient rich, and outdoor exercise was built into the lifestyle. Degenerative diseases such as cancer and heart disease were rare. Today, health insurance for some people can cost as much as rent.

Then there are college loans, which collectively now exceed a trillion dollars, more even than credit card debt. Students are coming out of universities not just without jobs, but carrying a debt of $20,000 or so on their backs. For medical students and other post-graduate students, it can be $100,000 or more. Again, that's as much as a mortgage, with no house to show for it. The justification for incurring these debts was supposed to be that the students would get better jobs when they graduated, but now jobs are scarce.

After World War II, the GI Bill provided returning servicemen with free college tuition, as well as cheap home loans and business loans. It was called "the GI Bill of Rights." Studies have shown that the GI Bill paid for itself seven times over and is one of the most lucrative investments the government ever made.

The government could do that again - without increasing taxes or the federal debt. It could do it by recovering the power to create money from Wall Street and the financial services industry, which now claim a whopping 40 percent of everything we buy.

An Updated Constitution for a New Millennium

Banks acquired the power to create money by default when Congress declined to claim it at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The Constitution says only that "Congress shall have the power to coin money [and] regulate the power thereof." The founders left out not just paper money, but checkbook money, credit card money, money market funds, and other forms of exchange that make up the money supply today. All of them are created by private financial institutions, and they all come into the economy as loans with interest attached.

Governments - state and federal - could bypass the interest tab by setting up their own publicly owned banks. Banking would become a public utility, a tool for promoting productivity and trade rather than for extracting wealth from the debtor class.

Congress could go further: it could reclaim the power to issue money from the banks and fund its budget directly. It could do this, in fact, without changing any laws. Congress is empowered to "coin money," and the Constitution sets no limit on the face amount of the coins. Congress could issue a few one-trillion dollar coins, deposit them in an account and start writing checks.

The Fed's own figures show that the money supply has shrunk by $3 trillion since 2008. That sum could be spent into the economy without inflating prices. Three trillion dollars could go a long way toward providing the jobs and social services necessary to fulfill an Economic Bill of Rights. Guaranteeing employment to anyone willing and able to work would increase gross domestic product, allowing the money supply to expand even further without inflating prices, since supply and demand would increase together.

Modernizing the Bill of Rights

As Bob Dylan said, "The times they are a-changin'." Revolutionary times call for revolutionary solutions and an updated social contract. Apple and Microsoft update their programs every year. We are trying to fit a highly complex, modern monetary scheme into a constitutional framework that is 200 years old.

After President Roosevelt died in 1945, his vision for an Economic Bill of Rights was kept alive by Martin Luther King. "True compassion," King declared, "is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."

King, too, has now passed away, but his vision has been carried on by a variety of money reform groups. The government as "employer of last resort," guaranteeing a living wage to anyone who wants to work, is a basic platform of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). An MMT web site declares that by "[e]nding the enormous unearned profits acquired by the means of the privatization of our sovereign currency ... [i]t is possible to have truly full employment without causing inflation."

What was sufficient for a simple agrarian economy does not provide an adequate framework for freedom and democracy today. We need an Economic Bill of Rights, and we need to end the privatization of the national currency. Only when the privilege of creating the national money supply is returned to the people can we have a government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people.

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Bureaucracy for Begging

2011-11-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.alternet.org/story/152988/the_moral_force_of_ows_is_tackling_the_devastating_war_on_the_poor?page=entire

Perhaps it is time to stop helping the poor. Perhaps it is time to help everyone. We need Social Security safety net to pay for food, shelter, and healthcare for both Homeless Joe and
Big-rich Joe. We don't need a Bureaucracy for Begging .

This isn't about deciding who is poor and who is rich. This is about deciding how to protect the essentials of life[food,shelter, and health care] for ever citizen of our Nation. This is about how to do it with efficiency and without excessive bureaucracy. This is about maximum Freedom of choice in every persons life choices without Government Big Brother Agency interference.

With my total Social Security Network, we would save all the money we spend on food assistance, rent assistance and medicaid. We would save the money we spend on the Bureaucracy for Begging. The System would not require weeding.

As for Money, there is no shortage. A simple extension of FICA from the current $107,000 maximum to all income would more than double the tax income. Adding an additional 3% to the contribution of employers would generate a huge amount. A 3% tax [tariffs] on imports of goods & service] is another possibility. Transaction tax on Banks or added value tax or a dozen other possibilities exist.

If you give the benefit automatically, almost 90% of the population will receive a benefit greater than the tax they pay for it. No one would be able to say I don't want to be taxed for a bunch of free-loaders. Even the very Rich who would pay more than they receive will still get the exact same benefit.

The whole system would just be a function of society . No one is means tested to ride on the Highway. The only difference is the size of your car. No one is means tested to have service from Police or Firemen. Only the value of what needs protecting is a variable. No one is means test to go to public School. Being rich just gives you more choice. And last but not least, by 2050 production of goods & service will be done by less than 40% of the available labor because of automation, technology, and robotics. The permanently unemployed will have to be sustained or Society will be unstable. Now is the time to begin creating a distribution system of life essentials .

Endless Innovation

2011-09-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

When Robots Run Our Nation's Farms | Endless Innovation | Big Think

I do not post this as an alarm but to inform. The world will change.

And yet I will continue to grow my garden by hand.

The danger lies in allowing Government to regulate what we do for pleasure.

Run Our Nation's Farms | Endless Innovation | Big Think

When Robots

A new generation of robot drones is revolutionizing

the way we farm in America, with Kinze Manufacturing and

Jaybridge Robotics recently announcing the first-ever

robot drone tractor capable of farming without the need

for a human operator. Video clips are already circulating online

of the Kinze tractor, gracefully coordinating its harvest

dance with other autonomous machines. Once this robot

drone tractor becomes part of the agricultural mainstream,

robots will decide where to plant, when to harvest and

how to choose the best route for crisscrossing the farmland.

Humans, except perhaps as neutral trouble-shooters, will be

all but unneeded. So what does it mean when robots

run our nation’s farms?

As Ian Berry of the Wall Street Journal points out, farmers

in America's heartland are embracing these robot drones

for their ability to dramatically increase the efficiency and

productivity of any farming venture. The robotic tractors

and robotic harvesters are just the latest "autonomous"

innovations that are changing the face of farming.

Farmers already rely heavily on smartphones,

RFID-embedded pallets, and precise, satellite-guided

systems -- and that’s even more true for giant agricultural

ventures, where knowing when and where to plant can lead

to significant improvements in total crop yield.

As the USA Today suggests, it's best to think of these

new robotic farming machines the same way we think

of Roomba for vacuums -- but with more at stake for

everyday Americans.

The flip side of increasingly efficient robotic farming is

that we risk becoming further disassociated from our food.

The whole point of the locavore movement, right, was to

bring us closer in touch with local food and its provenance?

The whole point of the organic movement was to make our

food somehow more "natural." In an era where each of us

wants to know exactly where our "line-caught" fish and

"pasture-raised" beef came from, are we really going to

settle for the answer: “Robot Drone #42?”

If no pesticides were used, no growth hormones used,

is it still OK to refer to the food as “organic," even if it’s

been harvested by a robot?

The good news is that the relentless automation of farming

does not need to come at the exclusion of the organic farming

movement. There are numerous examples of small farming

collectives embracing the new technologies.

The growBot Garden project, coordinated with the support

of Georgia Tech and Atlanta's independent food community,

for example, has helped to push the boundaries of how we

think about robotic farming and sensors for organic farming.

The leaders of the growBot Garden project, in fact, have

emphasized that organic farming does not need to be

anti-technology. Robots do not necessarily mean less

nutritious food.

At a time when there is a relentless trend toward the automation

of agriculture, it’s clear that robotic innovations can help farmers

to yield more food from the land. They will change the way we eat,

and how we think about food. It’s always been a truism that a

nation that can feed itself has less of a food security risk than a

nation that can not. (Even if the farm robots are foreign-built

robots – like those from the Dutch company Case IH)

The idea of the American breadbasket being controlled by

robots may once have seemed like science fiction:

giant hover crafts, predator bots to devour pest organisms

and metallic robo-workers. That vision assumed that

corporate agribusiness interests would run the whole show.

However, is it possible that these robots instead can equally

serve the interests of local, small-scale agriculture?

Automation can work to the advantage of the local project.

http://www.growbotgarden.com/about

growbot Garden

www.growbotgarden.com

growbot Garden -

TEDxSantaCruz: Kyle Thiermann - Surfing For Change

2011-08-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

Sometime even the least of us can make a difference in the way things are done in the World. We may not be able to can't stop Big money projects that destroy the ecology of the World but we can certainly add our small voice to the voice of the many until it become a roar of sound heard around the world. Just by placing your few dollars to help where you live will make a better World.

The Government Can and Should Help Create Jobs Now - OtherWords

2011-08-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

It is time we realized that Money is not a commodity. Money is a contract to accomplish a task. We should create enough to do the things that must be done. When this crisis is passed there will be plenty of time to tax back what was created and put it to rest.

The Government Can and Should Help Create Jobs Now - OtherWords

Evolution threatens Christianity - On Faith - The Washington Post

2011-08-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

Evolution threatens Christianity - On Faith - The Washington Post

Evolution a a subject of Science - not religion. Conservative Fundamentalist Christians fight it by saying that it is an unproven theory. They like to point out that the majority of people are opposed to the Theory of Evolution. They fail to understand that Science is not proven or discredited by popular vote. Science is proven or discredit by the observation and testing validity of facts. Observation of facts have overwhelmingly supported the validity of the Theory of Evolution. No Observation of Facts have discredited the Theory. But as long as Politicians are elected by popular opinion they often have a vested interest in supporting what is false. One of the dangers of Democracy is that the people often decide that what the believe has greater importance that what Science knows. But on balance, I would rather let the people make the mistakes than give power to the few that make mistakes. It is best for freedom that our ideas fostered by science can change, After all - the earth is no longer flat. In time Eden will no longer be Paradise Lost.

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms - YouTube

2011-08-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms - YouTube

We need to stop education of the Group and start education of the Person. I know that my whole agenda rest on the concept that Society is an interdependent functioning group that depend on each other. I stress that the individual is not self sufficient but must depend upon the cooperative work of the whole group.

But the primary value of the group is to enhance and preserve the intrinsic value of the individual lives. All to often Society has promoted the Value of the group. They benefits of that emphasis is to reward a few at the cost of the many. All to often the lives of the individuals at the bottom of the power and economic spectrum are consider to be expendable. My philosophy is that every life has an intrinsic value that should be the first priority of the Group. Extraordinary performance and achievement should be rewarded with extraordinary reward, but not at the expense of the intrinsic value of each and every life .

I recommend this :

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

as a useful presentation of changing the way we approach education of the individual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=uploademail

David Korten: A Presidential Declaration of Independence from Wall Street

2011-08-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

David Korten: A Presidential Declaration of Independence from Wall Street

Governments Borrow Money

2010-09-10T17:54:00.000-07:00

Public verses Private Debt
-
When a person borrows money to consume, he is borrowing against his future. That encumbers both the person and his future. When the Nation creates money to build the future, it enriches the Nation and the Future.
-
If money is used to build roads and bridges, we have roads and bridges. If money is used to created a modern energy transmission system, we have modern energy energy transmission . If money is used to give health care we have saved lives and improved the National Health care system. If we use money to educate, doctors, nurses, scientist, engineers and technologist for all areas of the application of science we have a modern and successful nation moving its citizens into the future.
-
As to paying for it, we still have debt on the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, The Cold War, two Bush Wars, and tax cuts for the rich by both Reagan and Bush. We have just rolled over the debt for 150 years Not one dime has been paid.
Can you point out to me how much your future has suffered for the debt we created 150 years ago. National Debt is always created and then rolled over. Even when it is borrowed outside of the Federal Reserve System for the purpose of helping private and Sovereign interest hold their reserve currency in US dollars, It eventually ends up as debt held by the Federal Reserve system at whatever interest they need to keep the system viable. Right now that rate is almost zero.
-
The Republicans have created a great Lie about the dangers of debt to your grandchildren that has become conventional wisdom. They have at least two reasons reason to do this. The want to be sure that inflation does not harm the value fixed capital interest of the very Rich The other reason is that they fear the creation of Social Safety network programs.. The Corporate Capitalist want a work force that is compelled to work at minimum wages without benefits or starve. It is a labor solution based on the existence of wage slaves This is the reason for the Debt Mantra ”You will destroy your Grandchildren” that we now repeat as if it were a prayer to the God of Capitalism
-
Our Republic was founded on debt, the Revolution was not subsidized by the tooth fairy. The Revolutionary War was fought with notes issued by the Continentel Congress. The were assumed to be valid debt when the Constitution created the new Nation Our Railroads were built with Government Land Grands and subsidies before and after the Civil war. Only then they didn’t have to put up “Your Tax Dollars at Work” signs in those days.
-
After the creation of the Federal Reserve System it became possible for the Government to finance all of its Debt with created money. It wasn’t usually done because that was not the reason the Private Bankers created the System. They simply need a method to create money for themselves and have it recognized as legal tender nation wide. They really preferred that the Treasure borrow money directly from them because it earned them a secure return on their surplus funds.
-
Today Money is borrowed by Governments only to provide a place for people to safely hold and profit from their savings (mostly the very rich. In addition it gives foreign nations a place to hold the surplus dollars they accumulate from selling us stuff.
Otherwise we create money in the Federal Reserve System and the US treasury creates Bonds & Notes to act as collateral for the Debt. It is useful during times of war and times of high unemployment. It can be harmful during times of low unemployment because it causes inflation. It requires only the will to create the right tax policy to make surplus during good times and debt during hard times and stopping wars that just blow up money and only help the War Industries.
-
The next logical move is to force all Private Banks to remove their Reserves from Federal Reserve Banks and surrender their control of the Governing Body of the Fed. It needs to be a Government Operation only. We should serve as a lender to them at interest to earn money for the Government and provide them the money to finance the Capitalist Corporations as they conduct the normal business of the economy. It is time for Bankers to stop creating fortunes by moving money around and confine themselves financing the production of Goods & Services. Our Grandchildren will be all the better for it.
Copyright © William Hodge 2010

Rich & Poor

2010-09-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

How to Cook a Goose in Three Decades.

The Capitalist economic system is based on the private

production of goods & services for the consumption of

the private citizen and public institutions of government

and social functions. The Components of the system are

1. Employer (consumer)

2. Employee (consumer)

3. Government (consumer)

4. Social Institutions (consumer)

5. Consumer (employer – employee – government – social institutions.

The Two major parts for most of our American history

was the interaction between employee and employer.

In the earlier years of this nation the employers were

entrepreneurs with very few employees. The only large

employers were governments who only represented a

small part of the of the work force except in time of war.

Because of a shortage of labor outside of the plantation

slavery system of the South, the earlier years were marked

by a balance of economic strength between components in

the free market system. In someways the Plantation system

was a precursor to Corporate America. It was the ultimate

imbalance between Employer and employee.

_

Corporation began to become more important early in the

1800′s when some states began to grant them more flexible

powers of operations. In 1819, the U.S. Supreme Court granted

corporations a wider range of rights. The Corporation as a

whole was labeled an “artificial person,” possessing both

individuality and immortality. Because of the limited liabilities

of corporation they have become the primary method of doing

business of both the big and small employers.

_

One of the growing needs of larger employer units was a

constant and universal currency to conduct efficient

transactions in the market place of the growing consumer.

The tension between Banking power and government

power had made a National Entity impossible. The Greenbacks of Abraham Lincoln’s Treasury Department was the closest

creation until the birth of the Federal Reserve Banking System

in 1913. In the interim there were some major bank Panics

that wrecked havoc between the production and consuming

components of the capitalist economy. Unfortunately the

Federal Reserve did not prevent the Greed of Banking interest

from causing two large Economic disasters including the

Great Depression triggered by the levered Stock market

Bubbled of 1929.

_

The Banking reforms and Labor reforms of Roosevelt

during the 1930′s set up a stabilized condition between

the rise of Corporate Capitalism and Union Labor.

The Wealth spread between the Middle Class and the

wealthy elite narrowed and 50 Years of prosperity ensued.

_

Then came Reaganomics. The Banking reforms were gutted.

The Rich were give the larger slice of the Economic pie and

were trusted to trickle down on the Middle Class. He broke

the back of of the Union movement and made the wage

earner a slave without power to the Corporate Capitalist.

The Middle Class languished and is now dieing. The Corporate

Capitalist shifted the wealth to themselves at the same

percentage that existed under the imperial rule of Hoover and

the Bankers. Once again Bankers had the power to leverage

money to make money with out adding anything to the

consumption equation.

_

The Corporate Capitalist that were engaged in the

Production, Employment, Consumption cycle were

in the meantime killing the Goose in the search of the

Gold they wanted so badly. Technology and offshore

job transfers were expanding the profit with great

rapidity while the purchase power of the working class

was rapidly declining while the Middle Class was sliding

into limbo. The economy was being carried on the backs

of the Credit cards that Banking was getting rich on and

the inflation of the Housing Boom was creating a spending

boom among the privilege class of home owners.

The Boom Busted, the Bankers begged, Bushed Bailed.

Every one carried home a Bonus and and all was happy

among the Financial Barons.

There was one small flaw in the plan. With credit dead

in the water due to the the Housing mess and the tight

credit market and the rash of Bankruptcies there is no

consumption the labor market cannot recover.

Business is recovering because Technology and layoff

have made them profitable. But consumption and hiring

will be slow returning. And the Republicans are standing

outside the House and Senate Screaming “Burn baby Burn”

It is their hope to pick up the pieces of power and they could

care less about who pays the price. They have and will block

every piece of legislation that is designed to uplift the

American worker and try to force the Congress to save the

unseemly rewards that have been reaped by the most wealthy

among us. I have news for the Corporate Capitalist who want

someone to buy their stuff. The Bankers have cleaned you clock.

And they are busy resetting time to make another rape of the

old system and you will be among the victims.

One Response to “Rich & Poor”

Jennifer Lancey Says:
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Great Blog post. I am going to bookmark and read more often. I love the Blog template

Invention and Farming

2010-09-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

Technology will create Social Change

I know that Technology and the Information age is dramatically changing the world we live in. I often hear the complaint that we are shipping our jobs off shore. Yet my own observation has been that a lot more jobs have disappeared from the advent of automation. With the rapid development of computer power and the role I have seen it play in my lifetime, I know that it is going to dramatically change the way we live and what we are going to have to know to survive in the Future World. I also know that the future is closer than we think.

…

In order to get a clear picture how invention of new ways to do things can change the way of life in a society, I researched the effect of Inventions on agriculture. I already knew the effect of the Cotton Gin on Southern Plantation lifestyle and the spread of slavery. I also knew that invention of the Harvester had dramatically change the productivity of Grain in this country and in the world. This link provides a good summary of those changes over time

…

A History of American Agriculture 1776-1990

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blfarm1.htm

…

How invention increased wheat production

1830 – About 250-300 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat with walking plow, brush harrow, hand broadcast of seed, sickle, and flail

1890 – 40-50 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat with gang plow, seeder, harrow, binder, thresher, wagons, and horses

1930 – 15-20 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat with 3-bottom gang plow, tractor, 10-foot tandem disk, harrow, 12-foot combine, and trucks

1965 – 5 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (3 1/3 acres) of wheat with tractor, 12-foot plow, 14-foot drill, 14-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks

1975 – 3-3/4 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (3 acres) of wheat with tractor, 30-foot sweep disk, 27-foot drill, 22-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks

1987 – 3 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (3 acres) of wheat with tractor, 35-foot sweep disk, 30-foot drill, 25-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks

In one hundred and fifty seven(157) years it went from 300 hours to 3 hours to produce a bushel of wheat.

…

How invention increased corn production

1850 – About 75-90 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels of corn (2-1/2 acres) with walking plow, harrow, and hand planting
1890 – 35-40 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2-1/2 acres) of corn with 2-bottom gang plow, disk and peg-tooth harrow, and 2-row planter
1930 – 15-20 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2-1/2 acres) of corn with 2-bottom gang plow, 7-foot tandem disk, 4-section harrow, and 2-row planters, cultivators, and pickers
1945 – 10-14 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2 acres) of corn with tractor, 3-bottom plow, 10-foot tandem disk, 4-section harrow, 4-row planters and cultivators, and 2-row picker
1975 – 3-1/3 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (1-1/8 acres) of corn with tractor, 5-bottom plow, 20-foot tandem disk, planter, 20-foot herbicide applicator, 12-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks
In one hundred and twenty five(125) years it went from 90 hours to 3-1/2 hours to produce a bushel of corn.
…
…
How invention reduced labor.
1930 – One farmer supplied 9.8 persons in the United States and abroad
1940 – One farmer supplied 10.7 persons in the United States and abroad
1950 – One farmer supplied 15.5 persons in the United States and abroad
1960 – One farmer supplied 25.8 persons in the United States and abroad
1970 – One farmer supplied 75.8 persons in the United States and abroad
In 40 years a farmer went from supplying 9.8 persons to supplying 75.8 persons in the United States and abroad.
.
Invention has contributed to the rise of civilization from Sumer to Egypt to Babylon to Persia to Greece to Rome and beyond. They contributed to the rise and disappeared with the fall of Power passed from generation to generation and was corrupted from within or destroyed by circumstance without.
Some knowledge survived to help those who followed but not enough to preserve a continuum of growth. With the rise of both world commerce and the birth of rudimentary democracy we have entered a period a rapidly expanding mechanization, energy generation and now automation. We are now making advances in science & technology and culture changing advances in twenty years that once took a hundred. The question is if we can advance the cooperative nature of humans fast enough to prevent the competitive nature from shaking society apart at its very foundations.
In a short period of time the means to produce the basic necessities of goods and service for us all will be produced by a small part of the population. I have tried to illustrate this process by showing the shrinking role of agriculture in society over the last 100 years. All parts of essential need will be supplied by an equally small part of the community. The problem is how do we value the lives of those who are not really needed to make the the essentials of survival and how do we distribute the basic needs of life to all that we value. Does each living human have intrinsic value or will we discard those that we don’t value. If interdependent cooperative values are ascendant, then we will preserve all life that we can. If independent competitive values prevail then democracy will crumple and selfishness will determine the value of life. The world you choose to create stands in the balance.
- - -

Copyright © William Hodge 2010
Thursday, July 08, 2010

Great Depressions

2010-09-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

America’s Biggest Banking Bubbles

—–

The Panic of 1873

The Panic of 1873 was not America’s first depression,

but it was among the most severe and it involved the

failure of the Banking system as did all of the Depressions

in American history.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h213.html

A major economic reversal began in Europe and

reached the United States in the fall of 1873.

The signal event on this side of the Atlantic was

the failure of Jay Cooke and Company,

the country’s preeminent investment banking

concern. The firm was the principal backer of the

Northern Pacific Railroad and had handled most of

the government’s wartime loans.

Cooke’s fall touched off a series of events that

encompassed the entire nation. The New York

Stock Exchange was closed for 10 days. Credit

dried up, foreclosures were common and banks

failed. Factories closed their doors, costing thousands

of workers’ jobs. The volume of destitute people soon

overwhelmed the abilities of charities to function.

Most of the major railroads failed.

The public tended to blame President Grant and

Congress for mishandling the economy. The causes

were much broader, however. The postwar period

was one of frenetic, unregulated growth with the

government playing no role in curbing abuses.

More than any other single event, the extreme

overbuilding of the nation’s railroad system laid

the groundwork of the Panic and the depression

that followed. Recovery was not realized until 1878.

In addition to the ruined fortunes of many Americans,

there developed from the Panic of 1873 bitter

antagonism between workers and the leaders of

banking and manufacturing. This tension would

erupt into the labor unrest that marked the following decades.

—

The Crash of 1929

The Stock Market bubble of 1929 was created by

Banks making risky loans to stock market Brokers

to finance the purchasing of stocks on a 10% margin.

When prices began to fall margin accounts were

called forcing selling. Selling caused more drops

forcing more selling.

On “Black Tuesday,” October 29, 1929, the market

lost $14 billion, making the loss for that week an

astounding $30 billion. that would be

$377,587,032,770.41 today.

The banks most heavily involved in financing

stock purchasing started to fail. Of the more

than 25,000 banks in business in 1929, fewer

than 15,000 survived to 1933.

http://www.todaysteacher.com/TheGreatDepressionWebQuest/BriefOverview.htm

—

Crisis of 2007

The financial crisis of 2007 to the present

led to the “Great Recession”. It was triggered

by a liquidity shortfall in the American banking

system. Unlike the Great Depression of the 1930s

when 10,000 banks failed only about 100 failed

this time. That was a lot different from the

normal failure rate. None of the big boys failed

because the Government wouldn’t let them.

It was felt that a world collapse would result

-

On the other hand, a collapse did occur on Main Street.

When the Technology Bubble burst in 1999/2000 and

the Stock market bottomed in Oct. 2002, the Bush

administration went with low interest rates and

promotion of the Housing market as the way out of

that recession. The result was a loss of Standards

beginning with Mortgage Brokers , up through the

bankers all the way to the Bond securities market.

The Housing Bubble grew until it started to burst in 2006

and the financial collapse followed. The Bankers were

saved and made big bucks. Main Street ended in a

depression and 10% official unemployment.

The biggest danger for the future is that the

Financial Industry is taking an ever increasing

share of the Gross Domestic Product in our economy.

It is partly because it takes an ever increasing

amount of capital to finance production of

goods & services and the money necessary to

support our credit economy. It is also true that

big money people find it is the easy way to shift

money from the working class to the accumulators

of wealth. That makes us more vulnerable to

financial bubbles and disaster to the middle class.

Our next big Governmental challenge is to take

money control away from Private Finance Institutions

and place it in the hands of the people. It is time

the Government owned the Federal Reserve System

and not the Big Banks. Greed should not be the our

path to a better future.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007–2010

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

Copyright © William Hodge 2010

Climate Change and the Effect

2010-09-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

Global Warming is happening.

1. You can argue until you are blue in the face about why

and it is still going to happen.
2. Sea level will rise and cause huge problems for

coastal population, which is where most population is.
3. Farmland, Forest, and Deserts will will be altered

in ways that will change the economies and the power

structure of the world.
4. We can blind ourselves to the consequences of

the coming changes by arguing the cause or we can

plan for the change.
5. Political stalemate over the cause and severity

will cause the decline of American power in the world.

-
6. Taking a proactive stance in anticipation and planning for change

will keep America in the vanguard of Technology and progress.

Effects of Climate \\Change

http://www.5min.com/Video/The-Effects-Of-Climate-Change-93889793

…..

Copyright © William Hodge 2010

Error of Libertarianism

2010-09-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

For a Libertarian the greatest value is his own life. The value

of self is instinctive, even before the born knows he has been

born. Even before there is awareness that there is self

awareness among others, he who is born is demanding

service from his community. The newly born commits

his first act of selfishness before he is self aware.

When he reaches the age of perception, he must

learn to evaluate his role among others. If he owns

his life will he rule or serve or share. The choices

he makes will depend on how he values those with

whom he competes and cooperates for achievement.

When the Libertarian has come to the perception
that he is one among many, he must decide if he
wishes to live by separating his life value from
others. Is he independent, working to achieve
personal liberty measured by acquisition of
property and levels of achievement in comparison
to fellow human beings. In other words is he
better than others. Or is he interdependent
where his success is measured by his contribution
to the success of all members of the community.
Or is he a combination of both ideals.
-
The First Principle of Libertarianism is self ownership.
That is self evident. The property of self is based on
the subjective concept of “I am” The only existence
of self is internal. In the objective world another
“self” is perceived by empathy and not by perception
0f the senses.
….
The second Principle is Liberty. That too is a internal
concept. It is the notion that you have the right to
take objective action and not be interfered with by
others. It is a desirable ideal as it relates to the
freedom of action by the subjective self. But in fact
it does not exist in the real (perceived) world. Others
can by their own choice interfere with your desires
or actions. Your liberty(freedom of action) depends
on the successful use of superior force or cooperative
agreement. Their is no independence of action in
objective reality. All things are interrelated and
interdependent.
. . . .
The third principle is the concept that property is
the the fruit of your labor. It is the product of time,
energy and talent. That also is a mental concept
and has no objective reality. Property is most
commonly considered real estate but it can be
produced goods or currency. Real estate is an
artificial construct that has noequivalence in
the natural(objective) reality. It is created and
granted and protected as a privilege by the state.
Even other Goods are not usually the product of
the time , energy, and talent of an individual.
They are instead produced by the combined and
interdependent skill and effort of the whole community.
No single individual ever gathers the fiber,
spins the thread, weaves the cloth, and cuts the
pattern to sew his own clothes. Nor does he build
the tools that are used to accomplish these task.
Ownership of Real property is a privilege created
and granted by the state. All other products are
created by the interdependent cooperative efforts
of a functioning community.
….
Libertarianism is not possible in the real world.
It rejects the notion of power to compel individual
behavior by a state. It is predicated on the notion
that all things can be done by contractual agreement
between the members of a group that has assembled
to accomplish a particular task or function. It is
dependent on the agreement between the contracting
members on how to share the fruits of their labor
according to the degree or complexity of each
participants contribution. It then must decided how
to adjudicate disagreements between the participants.
This model has to be repeated a thousand over to
accomplish the huge variety of tasks necessary in a
modern complex society. Then each task group must
enter contractual agreements with other groups for
trading their respective goods and services.
There must also be groups set up and funded to
prevent strife between competing groups. All of this
must be accomplish with out any kind of state that
would have power to force compliance of acceptable
behavior between all of these contractual groups
spread all over the world.
….
Libertarianism is a very nice philosophical ideal using
words that we value because they they have been
used to describe the creation of our current Democratic
Republic. They are high sounding principals of historic
idealism. The problem is that they are just words that
lack substance and meaning. They would melt away
like snow in in a heat wave if there was the slightest
chance of creating them in the first place.
We must deal with the world as we perceive its reality
and not as we dream it should be. It is built one stone
at a time and torn down and built again as condition
change. One thing that both history and science has
taught us is that the only thing does not change is the
fact that everything does change. We must put aside
the notion that each of us are independent and deal
with the truth that every life is dependent on both the
competitive nature and the cooperative nature of the
human community.
. . . .
Copyright © William Hodge 2010
-
One Response to “Error of Libertarianism”
Neil B Says:
July 4th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
William, check out the non-libertarian FAQ if you haven’t:
http://world.std.com/~mhuben/faq.html

Social Progress Plus Wealth

2010-09-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

Capitalism Can Coexist

If A society cannot produce enough to

sustain itself as a society it will perish.

In the modern world the individuals of the

community need to work and produce

enough food, clothing, shelter, education,

and medical care for all of its citizens or

except the fact that some will die.

If enough is produced to ensure the survival

of all and yet it is distributed in a way that

leaves some with huge surplus, and others

with not enough to live, the society is feeding

the greed of some by denying life to others.

It makes no difference if the society is

Dictatorial, Democratic, Libertarian, or Anarchist,

It is still not functioning in a viable way if it fails to

serve the intrinsic value of the life of each of its

citizens. It instead serves the greed of the few

at the expense of life itself.

The economic system of the society is not of the

highest priority to me, as long as it serves the

basic needs of each individual. After those needs

of food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical

care are met , if the economic system produces

a surplus of Good & Services it can be divided in

any way that contributes to the efficient operation

of the system.I have no problem with their being a

mix of Uber-rich, medium rich, Upper middle class,

lower middle class,and just plain poor. I only want

every person to have work, food, clothing, shelter,

education and health care and every person should

have the opportunity to move up the ladder of success.

Don’t tell me that Charity will do the job.

We both know it will not. It must be the function of

Government in order to be effective. It is up to us all

to choose the type of government and the economic

system and the method of distribution of the basics

necessary for all of us to survive. As long as Democracy

is our Government System it can Coexist with regulated

Capitalism as our Economic System.

.

Wednesday – June 30, 2010

Computers and Social Parity

2010-09-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

This link is to an interesting article from IBM about a

challenging new advancement in Computer Technology.

It led me to thinking about the changes coming to society

that will challenge our assumptions about the governance

of the Human Community.

http://www.research.ibm.com/deepqa/

Computers and the competition for life.

There is no such thing as a self sufficient person.

The Human Community is a cooperative effort.

The child may do chores at home but he is dependent

on his parents for survival. His primary contribution

at his age is learning skills that are taught in school

and at home.. Adults are not self sufficient. Each

indivdual is sustained by wages from employment or

community assistance with which he purchase goods

and service from others.

No one in the human community is self sufficient .

None gather fiber, spin thread, weave cloth, cut and sew

their own clothes. None make the tools themselves

that are necessary for these task. Even your occupation

was made possible by others. You learned your knowledge

and skills in an education facility provide by a private or

public funding..

It is true that in a capitalist society, there is the competitive

component that gives the illusion of striving for self

sufficiency. If life were a race, when it is done there

would appear to be one winner. But in truth the contestants

would be spread out in order of finish that corresponds to

skill of running, amount of effort, degree of conditioning,

and other factors. The participants are rewarded according

to where they finished the race.

In life everyone is in the race with out choice. Even if you

have no ability to run, the only way out of the race is death.

If you have no feet then the community of racers will have

to give you wheel a chair or let die you at the starting line.

The question becomes – is their an obligation of the

community to sustain the efforts of the inadequate or

to eliminate them because they cannot compete.

This is an over-simplification of life’s run, but it illustrates

both the interdependency of life and how we value the

intrinsic value of each participant and the competitive

function that affect the size of your reward for participating.

My posting about Computor Intelligence is to illustrate

that the nature of the race is changing. Fewer and fewer

people will have the skills necessary to compete.

The race is about producing goods and service for all

members in the race. Even if only a few are actually

capable of gaining the big Prize. The race actually

produces more than enough to sustain all life.

How do you feel about the “underclass ” who lack the

ability to fairly compete. Does their life have intrinsic

value that should be sustain while you compete for the

Big Prize, or will you view them as “the others” and

eliminate them from the competition for life.

I have a FaceBook Page with almost 5000 Friends in my

Circle. Among my Friends are some Consrvative

Republicans and a few Libertarians who debate with me

constantly about the unfairness of being taxed on their

possessions for the benefit of the “unwashed & incompetents”

of the human Comunity. When I was absorbing the implications

of the effect that advancing technology was going to have on

society, I could not help but think: ” Damn – they are not going

to like this. They will go into a panic about the chance that

accumalting great wealth will fade away in a mass of

incompetent human beings feeding on the State in a

Progressive Democracy obsessed with ideas of Social Parity”

DEMOCRACY AND CAPITALISM

2010-09-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

The post below came from my Website

http://paxvillage.com/2010/06/25/democracy-and-capitalism/

I am thinking about building a new website

and wanted to put my blogs here where I

started blogging so I would not lose

them in a process of changing over

and they would still be available for reading.

Libertarianism has got it all wrong.

I understand the theories of Kropotkin and anarcho-syndicalist

and Anarchist and Libertarians and most of the combinations

that involve Communism and Socialism and cooperative

communities and all the anti-statism combinations. I also know

that they ignore some basic facts of life.

It is true that Man can live in cooperative communities.

It is part of his nature. But it is also true that his nature is

also competitive. Competition is the driving force of change

in the human community and is what creates efficient

productions values that make ultimate progress possible.

Surplus is not created by idealism. It comes from the desire

to out perform and appear exceptional to others members

of the community. It is not a quality that is possible to

suppress in the individual. It must instead be utilized to

enhance the production values of the Community.

That is the reason that the Capitalist economic system

works so well in creating surplus.

It also true that the present political and economic

situation is unjust and serves only to enrich the few

at the expense of the many. It is exacerbated by the

excessive power and influence of multi-national

Corporations that often do not let ethics interfere

with the bottom line. But when the Corporate excess

crosses to far over the line in a Democratic society

the stress that is caused to the community will result

in change in the social programs that lead to more parity.

The problem with the transition from an existing

government order to a new social form is that it

requires a violent Revolution. The Communist

experiment and the French Revolution both testify

to the fact that internal Revolution leading to drastic

changes in forms of Governance often lead to

unintended consequences.

The American Revolution was more of a change of

the source of Authority than a change of government

style. That has actually been an evolutionary process

over two hundred years. We must make Democracy

our mode of change and do it with time for adjustment

of popular concepts. We must also be aware that you

will not turn competition into cooperation.

Both human motivations must be used in a mutually

supportive system. Social Economic philosophy can

influence practical change but it cannot replace it.

Kropotkin was right in his assertion that

“it is bread that the Revolution needs”.

The ensured supply of basic commodities is essential

to any successful Social change.

I believe in a human community that makes sure

that every member of the community has enough

food to eat. They each must have shelter and clothes

and skill training or education. Ever human must

have access to a baseline of medical care that

assures the best chance of long time survival and an

acceptable quality of life. The also should have the

availability of work. Every citizen has both responsibility

and the right to make meaningful contribution to the

society in which they live.

There is both time and method to transform our

Big Village into a society that both recognizes and

rewards effort and creativity, and provides Freedom

from Want of the basic necessities that make life possible

Investment Cycle

2010-09-04T05:27:00.000-07:00

The post below came from my Website

http://paxvillage.com/

I am thinking about building a new website

and wanted to put my blogs here where I

started blogging so I would not lose

them in a process of changing over

and they would still be available for reading.

Boom to Bust and Back

My experience in 50 years of stock market
watching is that there is usually an index leader
that usually precedes the fall of the whole market
If you listen and watch carefully for signs that a
particular part of the economy is doing
extraordinarily well and then start following an
index or a basket of stocks in that area of the
economy you will probably notice a decline that
will preceed the whole market by several months
-
Early in 1999 the Technology Stocks reached their
High and started to fall.Within a year S & P 500
and the rest of the Market started to crash.
It reached the bottom in 2002 (It was not caused by 9/11)
The Technology Bubble Greed had caused a Recession
on the Bush watch. He wanted it over fast.
He cut Taxes of the Rich and lowered interest
rates on mortgages to pump up construction.
It work so well that they kept them low and
invented new types of 100% mortgages including
the ARMs and other sub prime contracts.
Bookers sold them any way they could to earn
the big commissions. They sold the bad
mortgages to banks. They could get rid of
them to private investors as securities and raise
more money.
The bubble grew ever bigger until the Builders
finally built too many houses. Supply out
stripped demand and prices started to fall.
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/sep2006/pi20060919_269370.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_top+story
The bad mortgages began to default and prices
fell farther.The mortgage securities started to
fail and in the fall of 2008 the cards came
tumbling down. Greed had again hurt the
working man and made the Bankers richer.
The Taxpayer bailed out the big banks and
unregulated Capitalism had come full cycle again.
Greenspan said we just missed the signs. Now we
know what to look for. We don’t need to over
regulate the banking system.
As they say in Battleship Galactica “This has all
happened before and it will all happen again”
As Cassius observed in Julius Caesar.
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

PAX VILLAGE

BUREAU FOR BEGGING

Pax Village Voice

http://www.alternet.org/story/153859/while_republicans_play_politics_over_food_stamps%2C_new_film_focuses_on_hunger_in_america_?page=entire

While Republicans Play Politics Over Food Stamps, New Film Focuses on Hunger in America Amy Goodman and Raj Patel discuss the 49 million people who are struggling to get enough to eat in America, and why GOP candidates' posturing isn't helping.

While Republicans Play Politics Over Food Stamps, New Film Focuses on Hunger in America

The Greatest Value : Success or Survival?

The Greatest Value : Success or Survival?

Money - The Pregnant Promise

Pax Village Voice

GOVERNMENT CAN NEVER HAVE A MONEY SHORTAGE

Pax Village Voice

I first wrote this essay for my Facebook Community page - Pax Village Voice.

Money is not real.

How to Understand Money

The Social Order

Now Is the Time for an Economic Bill of Rights | Truthout

Bureaucracy for Begging

Endless Innovation

When Robots Run Our Nation's Farms | Endless Innovation | Big Think

TEDxSantaCruz: Kyle Thiermann - Surfing For Change

The Government Can and Should Help Create Jobs Now - OtherWords

Evolution threatens Christianity - On Faith - The Washington Post

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms - YouTube

David Korten: A Presidential Declaration of Independence from Wall Street

Governments Borrow Money

Copyright © William Hodge 2010

Rich & Poor

How to Cook a Goose in Three Decades.

The Capitalist economic system is based on the private

production of goods & services for the consumption of

the private citizen and public institutions of government

and social functions. The Components of the system are

1. Employer (consumer)

2. Employee (consumer)

3. Government (consumer)

4. Social Institutions (consumer)

5. Consumer (employer – employee – government – social institutions.

The Two major parts for most of our American history

was the interaction between employee and employer.

In the earlier years of this nation the employers were

entrepreneurs with very few employees. The only large

employers were governments who only represented a

small part of the of the work force except in time of war.

Because of a shortage of labor outside of the plantation

slavery system of the South, the earlier years were marked

by a balance of economic strength between components in

the free market system. In someways the Plantation system

was a precursor to Corporate America. It was the ultimate

imbalance between Employer and employee.

_

Corporation began to become more important early in the

1800′s when some states began to grant them more flexible

powers of operations. In 1819, the U.S. Supreme Court granted

corporations a wider range of rights. The Corporation as a

whole was labeled an “artificial person,” possessing both

individuality and immortality. Because of the limited liabilities

of corporation they have become the primary method of doing

business of both the big and small employers.

_

One of the growing needs of larger employer units was a

constant and universal currency to conduct efficient

transactions in the market place of the growing consumer.

The tension between Banking power and government

power had made a National Entity impossible. The Greenbacks of Abraham Lincoln’s Treasury Department was the closest

creation until the birth of the Federal Reserve Banking System

in 1913. In the interim there were some major bank Panics

that wrecked havoc between the production and consuming

components of the capitalist economy. Unfortunately the

Federal Reserve did not prevent the Greed of Banking interest

from causing two large Economic disasters including the

Great Depression triggered by the levered Stock market

Bubbled of 1929.

_

The Banking reforms and Labor reforms of Roosevelt

during the 1930′s set up a stabilized condition between

the rise of Corporate Capitalism and Union Labor.

The Wealth spread between the Middle Class and the

wealthy elite narrowed and 50 Years of prosperity ensued.

_

While Republicans Play Politics Over Food Stamps, New Film Focuses on Hunger in America

Amy Goodman and Raj Patel discuss the 49 million people who are struggling to get enough to eat in America, and why GOP candidates' posturing isn't helping.