2021 IN AMERICA

Dear George...From your 'cloud' Mr. Washington, you and the rest of the Intelligent-Universe must be viewing 2021 policies and decisions at all leadership levels--quite mystified. [I use the term leadership loosely because we went from 2016-2020 chaos to 2021 confusion...] 

CAPITOL MOB...The events of January 6th will be cemented in our memories for decades to come and in our history for eternity. But--as distressing as events of that Wednesday was and disgraceful as the conduct of educated people were, I'm just as perplexed by why and how the storming of the U.S. Capitol unfolded at all. 

I'm puzzled because - in his capacity as Vice President, Mike Pence was to preside over a Joint Session and follow procedure as indicated in the Electoral Count Act - which seemed to me as an opportunity. In completing the Constitutional Electoral Count all facts, information and arguments - both for and against the 2020 Election results - were on the agenda for airing. 

However, as we know the time set aside for that important process was violently interrupted - but the resulting invasion of protestors was actually detrimental to Trump/Republicans and more of a benefit to Biden/Democrats... So--who and what truly lit the spark that prompted thousands of 'protestors' to race up the Capitol steps? An inquiry claims that Trump/Supports are to blame. 

*[Since Trump would have benefited 'more' from a completed and open Electoral Count debate IF the protesters were all Trump supporters they actually sabotaged that very process. Therefore, after all the dust had settled there was no time for an Electoral Count debate, only a formality vote...]

EXECUTIVE ORDERS...Joe Biden assumed office January 24th, and in his first three days proceeded to sign 30 Executive Orders undoing nearly everything Trump had done in three years. The first major impact the country felt immediately was cancelling the Key Stone Pipeline Agreement and with it - continued North American energy 'independence' from OPEC. The environmental motive against Key Stone isn't any more valid than our continued use of the 2 million miles of natural gas and liquid petroleum pipeline we already have. 

*[Pipelines are safe, efficient and since most are buried, largely unseen. Rail and trucking through rural and urban areas pose a greater environmental risk.]

IMMIGRATION...Next Biden halted all border wall construction and Covid testing of migrants. Along the U.S. Mexico border spanning 1,954 miles just 650 miles of border wall had been completed by year end 2020. But comparing northern immigration from Canada are we dealing with our southern people crush from the wrong perspective? 

Typically people tend to stay 'home', that is where we're born and raised is where we seek to remain unless living conditions become extreme like civil war, drought, governmental corruption, civil rights suppression...You get the idea. But besides 47 of the 54 countries in Africa that get foreign aide - the vast majority of people seeking safe-haven from poverty and violence in their home country of birth are from the same southern countries America sends aide to. In 2020 El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico received 22 Million dollars in aide. And since the 2010 earth quake, aide allocated to Haiti was 2.3 Billion for reconstruction and development. However, what's been reconstructed or developed? 

*[Is our  foreign aide tax-dollar paid with too few 'strings' or oversight to government officials too morally compromised to lead?]

COVID-19...After funneling between 18 and 23 Billion dollars of taxpayer funds into the development of a

vaccine what has been accomplished? Prior to any vaccines the death count from Covid19 for the last ten months of 2020 was 362,208. Since the emergency release of vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson&Johnson the death toll for the first 10 months of 2021 has been 411,571. Follow the Science is more fluid than one would expect. Follow 'what' science - when? Follow who's science - when? Then too, we have 'break-through' variants which is typical of all virus strains, but we went from Alpha to Delta then to Omikron...Why Omikron? Does that name sound scarier? Okay, so--comparing the Trump administration handling of the pandemic to the Biden administration--what do break-through issues and these numbers mean? 

*[Both administrations followed the same conflicting/contradictory 'expert' bureaucratic medical advise from overpaid, incompetent people who had no pandemic plan in place - as was their directive - either in the CDC or National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.] 

ECONOMY... The 2020 Lock-Down [called for by those same CDC and NIAD medical experts] caused an artificial halt to general productivity except in durable goods like food production and toilet paper... The Federal Reserve still keeps interest rates artificially low mainly because major corporations borrowed to expand and buy back stock so if the Fed raises rates hundreds of companies would face higher loan payments or worse. People and pensions that once could earn interest in a savings account and CDs or Treasuries and Municipal Bonds only have the Stock Market. With no interest or so little return paid for a savings account or CD we're in high risk stocks hoping that over paid CEOs avoid fraud [like Theranos] or mismanagement [like Boeing] and run their companies ethically.

Into this volatile mix Bitcoin/cyrptocurrency has wedged it's way onto a place in the stock market. Bitcoin is joined by other cryptocurrency-whannabe entities seeking mainstream investment acceptance. It's high use of electricity for mining aside - as something tangible Crypto is still illusive. It's an exciting adventure to untried investors mostly under 30 who missed the SEC definition of a Pyramid Scheme: "...participants pay to join and profit mainly from payments made by subsequent participants..." So you 'don't want to be the last one 'in'. Why the SEC isn't exposing this 'money-chasing-money' system is in question. Elizabeth Warren is one of only a few public officials objecting on record to Crypto...Why is that? 

*[Inflation which is typical after a major increase in wages, is actually pushing 11%. labelled 'transitory' [brief, fleeting, short-lived] by the Federal Reserve. Are American tax papers made of money? NO, but our elected politicians and appointed bureaucrats can certainly print IT faster than a speeding bullet--which effectively fuels inflation.]

SUPPLY CHAIN... Supply-chain issues of 2020 shifted from masks, gowns, gloves and ventilators to supplies of technology parts for vehicles, major appliances and replacement parts in general. Suddenly used cars shot up in value worth more than they were new - with a continued shortage [supposedly] of 2021 vehicle models. On any given month depending on the whim of some theatrical TV news producer there was a shortage of some kind - obviously designed to explain the inflated  prices of everything from computer chips to pumpkins. 

*[Canada, Mexico & the U.S. does not need the rest of the world it's the other way around. Our combined resources of people, climate and minerals make North America completely self-sufficient...]

ENVIRONMENT... The term Global Warming is quietly replaced by Climate Change. The U.S. returned to the Paris Climate Accord - which effectively meant the U.S. taxpayer was typically chipping in a $1.00 while every other nation chipped in less than half of that. [No wonder they missed us...] Not mentioned is the fact that several barrels of petroleum is necessary for the manufacture of wind turbines, solar panels and the electric vehicle programs - 'not' self supporting - that adds to landfills and are taxpayer subsidized. Small details, right?

*[Blaming innocent milk cows and beef cattle for CO2 emissions is a low blow to farmers and ranchers who work to keep thousands of environmentalists fed - so 'they' can possibly account for the effects on our climate of numerous natural, ongoing eruptions such as the 6,000 to 9,000 tons of SO2 [Sulphur Dioxide with ash & aerosol particles] from volcanoes like La Palma in Spain...Also Kilauea & Paviot in the U.S. Copahue in Chile and the latest, Indonsesia].

FOREIGN AFFAIRS...Biden pulled all military troops from Afghanistan in August. This long over due move should have and could have been completed with bin Laden's death ten years ago - except there were far too many lucrative commitments with private contractors. In 20 years what did America and allies accomplish? Did we improve an increased standard of living that Afghan people could build upon with infrastructure and education and an expanded industry in mining or enhanced farming technology methods - instead of poppy crops? No.

*[Because the 20 year occupation of Afghanistan was for the blatant self-interest of a few - paid for by the U.S. taxpayer at the cost of our own infrastructure - we left behind yet another country in need of ongoing foreign aide for which there is little accountability.]

EDUCATION...Public School Teachers Union objected to unsafe classroom conditions though [through out 2020] private Catholic and Jewish schools along with Charter schools provided in classroom learning -and- bank tellers, grocery clerks, transit drivers, police, fire and hospital workers faced far more Covid19 issues every day for months on behalf of those public school teachers.

*[American public school education had dropped in Global ranking to 27th by 2018 [from 6th in 1993] - so where we are now is an even wider gap between the fully educated and the marginally educated...] 

INFRASTRUCTURE... As mentioned in Foreign Affairs 20 years of war [at a cost of about 45 Billion a

year] was a serious infrastructure cost that has left America weakened and vulnerable. While a connected few became extremely influential and wealthy our roads, bridges, airports, telecommunications, utilities and National Security was compromised. There's no other way to say it. We could have taken out bin Laden in the first four months after 9/11 and with simple math 20 years times 45 is 900 Billion dollars. Half that amount would have replaced and maintained all aging infrastructure from sea to shinning sea - including all deteriorating schools, provided higher budgets for more social programs like a functioning healthcare system, eliminating homelessness and addressing environmental issues, lower taxes and less debt with a balanced federal budget. Imagine that!    

*[Government Accountability Office [GAO] is an independent nonpartisan Agency that works for Congress - responsible for auditing operations to determine if funds are being spent efficiently and effectively and reporting on how well government programs and policies are meeting objectives. Obviously they're short staffed...] 

CRIME...Well--lately school shootings are back in the news - so what happened to the money that was supposed to be allocated for school security? And also large organized gangs raid entire stores of valuable merchandise. Protests aren't peaceful and haven't been since Ferguson, with paid and armed agitators mixed in with easily angered locals who indiscriminately loot and destroy their own communities and neighborhood businesses. The blacks feel victimized, the Asians feel victimized, the Muslims and Jews feel victimized, Native Americans feel victimized. Hispanics feel victimized and the whites are made to believe they are the sole source of all fault. Who and what profits from so much unrest and division with a biased hourly - daily barrage of half truths and exaggerations?

*[The Press was provided protection in the U.S. Constitution so as to expose corruption in government - but how is corruption exposed in the Press?]

THE NEW YEAR...We don't actually need to wait until January 1, 2022 to restart - each minute, each hour each day is another opportunity to restart. We restart 1st by listening to our own sense of what's right - it's easy - just do unto others. 2nd stop listening to the television 'talking-heads' - do some of your own research then object to businesses that advertise on networks that don't provide balanced news coverage. 3rd make an effort to know who your [present] elected official is and what they say compared with what they actually 'do'. 4th since Congress refuses to set themselves term limits [or age limits] we can automatically vote for an opposing candidate if someone is running beyond a third term in public office. And finally try not to think in terms of liberal or conservative--Republican or Democrat--think independent and embrace both, because our society truly needs both for balance. We need strong public education, effective public healthcare, supportive social programs in partnership with innovative free enterprise commerce to pay for everything and stay progressive.

*[Globally, we truly do not have enemies - competitors yes, but enemies no. Germany and Japan became valued allies - so why not Russia, China and Iran too. Since thousands of years of 'war' hasn't really worked that well for human progress - perhaps we should try something else...]

 

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is an award winning mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist...

amazon.com
patchworkpublishing.com

TAXES & TAXES IN AMERICA

Dear George...I realize taxes, Mr. Washington especially between Britain and the colonies became a touchy issue. But for a country created largely because of a vigorous tax revolt protesting taxation-without-representation, America from 1776 to 2021 has developed an impressively complicated system of taxes... 

And  l-o-o-m-i-n-g on our immediate horizon is a proposed 3+Trillion borrow-to-spend mission - that if passed 'will' drain much of our future GDP just to cover the interest! So, George, even if you believe in reincarnation, now is not the time to return... 

But long before the1773  Boston Tea Party who's idea was it to levy something called 'taxes'? Curious, naturally, I wanted to know how far back this means of extracting blood-from-a-stone went. 

Amazingly, there is no documented human history prior to the Sumerians, who in their wisdom chose not to 'burden' their people with a system of taxation. This was likely due to the fact that the Sumerians were not a warring people by nature and 'war' [as we well know after 20 years in Afghanistan] is expensive - very expensive. War is also not particularly conducive to innovation or advancement or even maintenance - as in 20 years of neglected infrastructure...Anyway, the taxing of fellow citizens doesn't rear it's burdensome-authority, until the rise of Egyptian dynasties. 

Then, my Fellow-Travelers from the fall of the Sumerians [at the hands of Mesopotamian invaders] throughout the rest of human history right up to present day there is an amazing pattern of taxes levied to pay for decade after decade, century after century of wars. Lots and lots of wars caused by invasions, conquests, rivalry, feuds, greed to control more land and resources. Okay, so if our last 3,000 years of human history hadn't included WAR how much richer would nations be and how more advanced would our species be? You really gotta wonder, right!

Meanwhile back in North America...In 1764 people in the original 13 Colonies got quite irritated by a parade of  taxes on newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, legal documents, dice and playing cards. Obviously those taxes were designed to limit too much news and information, and also monitor gaming. However, since Britain was in the conquest business all those global invasions were [as I said before] very costly, hence more new taxes. But the next round came in disguise. In the British Parliament the following year there was some fairly crafty lawmakers who passed what they thought was a cleaver means of supporting thousands of what were in effect occupying troops. The Quartering Act required colonial districts to provide British soldiers with housing, food, gun powder and linens, which they did. Soon though, colonists argued their outlay was largely a tax by another name.

Busted...Labeling new requirements, standards and obligations an Act was still a tax and thousands of people who had lined up to sail to the new world - once illiterate and poor - seeking liberty and opportunity were in no mood for a continuation of authoritarian limits.

 All right, it's November 2021 and do you know how 'your' hard earned taxes are spent? We hear what the politicians claim and we read what the press reports, but where's the follow up accounting? [Like the millions and millions and millions of crates of actual cash dollars flown by the CIA to pay the leaders of various Afghan clans for their loyalty and for military information...Really?] Is any of that money that should have gone to neglected projects here, on an accounting ledger?

Monday, Congress [finally] passed a l-o-n-g overdue Infrastructure Bill [see Jan 20 Blog: Infrastructure In America] to update and upgrade roads, bridges, airport and transportation technology, sewers and water pipes, dams and utility grids with other internal systems much of which was 'new' after WWII. That 1.2 Trillion sounds like a lot of money [and it is folks] but even adding up the [old] total amounts that my research found - sadly 1.2T won't cover everything that needs repairing, replacing and updating. Regular maintenance is so much cheaper and more efficient than recovering from neglect.

And make no mistake this will cost us [the colonists] more in taxes, big, huge...But better late than never.

Now, to that 2nd bill, the proposed Social-Structure-Bill. First:, we DO NOT need to 'grow' DC government larger--creating Homeland Security was mistake enough. Larger government is not like a larger fruit tree where our harvest is greater as the tree grows, so hiring 86,852 more IRS agents [or any more federal employees] is a cost added [annual estimated expense $80Billion including benefits] that should go toward housing for homeless foster-teens and veterans and gosh maybe education and heath-care...Ya think...

Second: what this present Congress and this present Administration is proposing is Social Programs supported

by borrowed-money, but it's not just one time it becomes constant . How is it -or- has it ever been possible in any accounting context that borrowed money won't cost anything, as Biden insists? This isn't 'new' math it is new/more debt.  In context, the proposed spending is like you and I getting a new credit card with no spending limit. Then off we go on a tour of Europe, spending willy-nilly--having a gay old time--until a few months later we get back home. After our new credit card statement arrives in the mail we must then live the next several years paying off the balance with compounding interest, 'not' going anywhere for that entire time...This is what will happen with trillions spent on new Social-Structure Programs. This is not an investment, it's financial quick sand because while more Social Programs are being launched, the money needed to keep the updates and repairs maintained [from the actual infrastructure spending] doesn't get budgeted. [Social Programs typically balloon and become election footballs. Does Planned Parenthood have less need to offer abortions now than they did in 1973?]

Third: let's reorganize Social [Entitlement] Programs we already have in place, like welfare, foster care, disabilities, medicaid and prison reform. Reorganizing could save us from additional borrowing because they're already in state and federal budgets--they're just not run efficiently. Could parents on welfare partner with each other so while one parent cares for their kids and those of a second parent, the second parent works, or returns to school? Could nonviolent convicts be put to work cleaning up inner-city parks and neighborhoods or building low income housing? Offering tax incentives to businesses that offer onsite daycare for their staff is doable, perhaps staffed by trained people who were on welfare. Could daycare be an option in certain senior centers or churches or schools? America's people are its strongest resource, but every year we had more people to our dependency rolls with welfare and disability when they should be assisted to develop pride and self-reliance.

Our taxes have taxes in the form of inheritance of assets our relatives already paid taxes on - that we again must pay taxes again over a certain amount. We're still paying taxes on newspapers and literally everything else when we purchase anything anywhere, charged by city, county, state and federal governments. And since you employ those elected city, county, state and federal people--you might let them know you expect them to spend your money wisely and keep to a budget as you do...

https://contactsenators.com/senator-email-addresses 

 

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is an award winning mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist

amazon.com and amazon.ca and patchworkpublishing.com
 

"The Count Of Baldpate"  

 

 

 

 

 

 "Fine Points Malice And Payback"

 

SUPPLY-CHAIN IN AMERICA

Dear George...What did America's supply-chain look like in 1776 Mr. Washington and was secrecy so unrelenting then too? The vast amounts of information kept from the masses [voters/consumers/tax-payers] is beyond staggering...

I'm not talking about military secrets - though in the 21st Century humans walking upright should be well beyond that archaic mentality. No, what I'm amazed about is all the hidden information that surrounds and affects our everyday lives from the environment [Green & Clean In America] -to- medicine [Healthcare In America] -to- education [Education In America] -to- how we get the products and goods we rely on to our homes. 

In early 18th Century America, Colonial Trade Routes consisted primarily of ships from the countries that had staked land claims to colonize the New World. Initially England, France, Spain and Holland then later Portugal the rest of Europe and Africa. But even before the Industrial Revolution Upper and Lower Canada and the fledgling 13 Colonies discovered after only a few decades they could be largely self-sufficient if ships from the mother-country were late or lost at sea. So only a few decades in [latest fashion aside] Europe truly needed the New World more than the other way around.

But, until Industrial-America realized it could expand on its own raw materials Colonial-America shipped vast amounts of lumber, furs, tobacco, rice and dried fish - traded for textiles and manufactured goods from England and Europe.       

Leap forward to 2021 and North America [Canada, Mexico and United States] can be uniquely self-sufficient - however, that ability is kept an open-secret. Governing state and federal department heads and corporate board members seek hefty chunks of income from the general public to fulfill their goals. In order to accomplish their goals, these same entities have come to believe that IF we the general public knew too much we might object. And, we might...

Inundated hourly and daily beginning in 2020 by media statistics of Covid19 cases and deaths was soon merged with ventilator shortages and mask shortages and glove shortages and medical gown shortages due to a breakdown in the, 'Supply Chain'. Because China had locked down first and America with much of the industrialized world [had put most of its manufacturing eggs-in-one-basket] suddenly there was no chain-of-supplies, nor any back-up inventory either. Was the sudden and total lock-down in China by those in communist government leadership deliberate? My research points to it as an experimental yes, but the panic here didn't last long because free-enterprise savvy jumped in to fill those medical equipment gaps.

Now it's late 2021 and though we have no shortages of toilet paper North America supposedly has shortages of many other essential goods and products like, pumpkins? Really? Not where I live...And artificial Christmas trees? Not at the Lowe's and Home Depots in my city...Anyway, our media [and we all know how accurate they are] dutifully report, hourly and daily that the backlog of ships off the coast of California is caused by consumer pent-up demand. Apparently we have ordered unprecedented amounts of everything. Nah! What we have are container ships with ordered goods that didn't go out in 2020 arriving in the Port of Los Angeles just ahead of container ships with goods committed for shipment in 2021 that just happens to have such a restricted requirement for transport trucks the backlog is exaggerated.

However, Fellow-Travelers - the Port of Los Angeles is not the only port! In the United States of America there are 98 other ports of entry [military and domestic] 79 of which accept foreign imports for all manner of goods from all corners of this planet! SO--WHY is only the Port of Los Angeles featured daily on all major networks??? Why indeed...

I'll tell you why. So that - every - single - company that sells anything to the duped consumer/taxpayer can justify raising the prices of anything and everything they peddle...Certainly fuel prices have gone up and wages have gone up--but new higher wages only bought the recipients about two months. Those wage increases became another checkered flag to begin a race to increase prices for all goods and services long before boats appeared off the coast of California.

Who owns some of our companies here? It was shortsighted enough that companies sent most manufacturing overseas, but too many of the people elected to public office are playing poker with several internal-supply-chains.  In 2013 Chinese investors bought Smith Foods. Chinese investors bought GE Appliances. Ingram Micro distributes Apple iPhones and Cisco's network equipment. Motorola was bought by Lenovo.

Not everything should be going up 8% and 10% and 15% and 22% or higher. This is nuts, because not everything we truly need is on those container ships off the coast of California. Thousands of ships are unloaded everyday in New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Washington, Florida, all along the Great Lakes, South Carolina...and more...

Not everything we consume is transported by ship. Besides the states that provide grain crops and produce to eat or cook fresh or for canning and freezing, we import food and goods from five other countries we're connected to by land with their products reaching us via roads and rail.

Mexico exports corn, sugarcane, sorghum, wheat, tomatoes, bananas, chili peppers, lemons, limes, mangos, beans, barely, avocados, blue agave and coffee. Tiny Belize exports sugar and molasses, bananas, oranges and grapefruit, marine products and crude petroleum. El Salvador exports soybean meal, corn, wheat, cotton, prepared food, textiles, chemicals, rubber, plastics and metallic products. From Honduras there's chemical products, corn, bananas, coffee beans, tobacco, sugarcane, shrimp, lobster, olive oil and clothing. Guatemala exports coffee, cotton, sugarcane, bananas, celery, cauliflower and asparagus. From Canada there's various minerals, wheat, canola, barely, corn and soybeans, rye, oats and white beans. There's also a back and forth trade [depending on liberal or conservative governments on both sides of the 49th Parallel] of lumber, beef, pork and fish. 

The ingredients for toothpaste and shampoo, soap and most cleaning needs [like one part vinegar with three parts water] is cheap and plentiful, but the profit margin is huge. Basic shampoo from scratch...Put two or three tablespoons of baking soda into the bottom of a recycled squeeze bottle-add three cups of hot water and shake-add a few drops of a favorite scented essential oil. After it settles for a few minutes apply 1/4 to 1/2 cup to wet hair, work it in then rinse. For homemade toothpaste, take 2/3 cup baking soda add 1tsp fine sea salt and 1-2 tsp of peppermint extract or other concentrated flavor. [Avoid commercially made toothpaste containing activated charcoal or any type of sulfates].

The Federal Reserve keeps mouthing transitory as if the artificially created inflation [that began with reduced petroleum refining] can be compared to a passing sinus headache. Once prices go up-industry is not inclined to allow them to go down. They will reduce the sizes and the quantity, but cut off an arm before they reduce prices. The media reports that consumers should prepare for sticker-shock...Well--consumers have the money and if we can not eat it - do we really need to buy it? And if we can't afford something we'll find an alternative we can afford. So, maybe the shock will be with a grasping retail, food and entertainment industry that sees consumer loyalty vanish...

Once business and politicians have lost public trust and the public realizes there was a collusion of secrets that made us think there were shortages we needed to worry about, then deep-doubt makes the masses tough to convince ever again...  

https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is an award winning mystery suspense novelist and a former journalist...

Via amazon.com and/or patchworkpublishing.com

"The Count Of Baldpate" sequel "Year Of The Dog"

"Fine Point Malice And Payback"
 

 

 

 

"GREEN" & "CLEAN" IN AMERICA

    

Dear George...Is it [ever] justified to reach our destination by detouring others?  In our quest to reach our Green, Clean and Organic goals - people in developed countries are compromising the lives of people in countries struggling to develop...

I'm sure if you were President now Mr. Washington, you'd be quite perplexed by our [and the G-7 member countries] obsession with Earth's Environment. After all, very little in the original 13 Colonies was wasted: sugar sacking material made comfy nightgowns, potato sacks neatly covered cabin windows, dogs and cats ate table scraps, pigs were fed vegetable tops, weeds like dandelion made a nice local vintage wine suitable to serve with fish - and all outhouses were strategically positioned downwind and downhill. 

However, with the Industrial Revolution - life on this planet became 200 wild years of inventions and discoveries that went from steam power to the cotton gin to electricity to the telegraph, mass processing steel, oil discovery, enhanced mining with dynamite, the telephone then the light bulb, to the first maned motor powered flight--to the Model T offering travel freedom...Along with the Industrial Revolution there evolved an exploding Middle-Class from the ranks of immigrant tenant farmers, former slaves and indentured Irish servants - who became a completely new subclass--Consumers!

By 1910, intoxicated with hope and growing family businesses and regular paying jobs, as well as newfound education to at least the 6th grade - people previously held back for generations by an oppressive dual social system of either a peasant-class or a noble-class, became drunken shoppers! And shop our great grandparents did, slowed only temporarily by a 1930's depression. People bought; cars, sewing machines, furniture, art, toasters, washing machines, irons, hair dryers, can openers, radios, blenders, televisions then fax machines, computers and cell phones. 

Electricity and the internal combustion engine of the 19th Century later paired with the emergence of the personal credit card in the mid 20th Century - pried opened the entire Universe! Each generation became more nuts than the last one. If there was 'space' on the VISA the vast majority of North America was at a mall, somewhere. 

Then came the invention of the invention--that is to say created need. We didn't have to wash and reuse cloth diapers or dust rags we could throw away disposable diapers and paper towels. We weren't required to bake our own cookies or even make a simple sandwich we could buy a prepackaged peanut butter & jelly! Soon came more of the same, but in a slightly different form like bottled water!! [Somewhere along our 'path' of modern-human-evolution how did we lose the ability to hold a glass under a water tap???] 

Which brings us to the environmental disorder that is Planet Earth, 2021 with our convoluted approach to addressing all those former decades of drunken-disorderly behavior to which we gave little or no thought to the effects we were causing.

But, now 'fellow-travelers' - we're more aware or are we? 

In our rush to vilify the humble plastic straw we continued to produce 60,000 plastic water bottles a day and the same with plastic bags. Our contradictions abound. In our zeal to embrace all things Green and Organic and Clean we're in danger of swapping one misguided decision for another without truly understanding many factoring rules of science. Like the science that Earth's climate was/is/will always be changing. Geology 101 is basically "4Billion years of unsettled weather".

VOLCANOES...I'll start with CO2 - but also include SO2, because Earth has an impressive collection of constant volcanic activity. Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park is a well known active degassing caldera vent. However, the latest eruption on the Spanish island of La Palma is only one of over 500 known recent [active last 100 years] and current [active last 20 years] volcanoes - spewing not only CO2 [Carbon Dioxide], but also SO2 [Sulphur Dioxide]. The top 10 volcanoes degas both of these toxins at a rate between 13Tg and 18.5Tg [Teragram/Thero-Transistion] into Earth's atmosphere. 

Comparatively - Earth's [very] active volcano pool makes emissions from the tailpipe of a 1970s traffic jam of muscle cars as safe to breath as oxygen. 

FOREST FIRES...Fighting forest fires has become another 'industry'. We used to have a fire 'season' with major out of control fires, rare. However beginning in the 1960s in Europe and North America we stopped actively managing forests. Environmentalists protested logging, but not with an effective alternate plan they just insisted that 'all' tree harvesting stop. Since paper products and housing was still needed specific areas were leased, but clear cutting instead of targeted cutting created an imbalance with vast amounts of topsoil erosion a problem after any rain. Areas with a complete ban on all tree harvesting created an opposite imbalance with too much undergrowth.

Between 2001 and 2017 there were 70,000 wild fires a year that emitted vast amounts of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide and sulphur dioxide into Earth's atmosphere.  [Plant more tress.]   

Let's move on. 

ELECTRICITY: Electric cars and trucks is the latest technological development getting superstar attention because electricity is considered a form of clean-energy. We could make that natural assumption based on all the fuss environmentalists made protesting the building of hydro electric damns [also reservoirs for water storage as a hedge against drought] in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s - that was essentially halted, by environmentalists. So, with hydro only accounting for 6.5% of our needs what else can can generate sufficient electricity? Oh dear, 34% of our [clean] electricity is generated by natural gas! There's that darn petroleum industry again then another 30% is generated from coal. Hmmm, gee whiz, coal needs to be mined and so does uranium for nuclear plants which accounts for about 20% of our electricity. 

Wind and solar combined supports only 7% of our electricity needs.

Okay--so now let's leap into the future and visualize how 'adding' millions of electric cars, trucks, trains, planes and boats to our electrical grid might look like with electric charging stations replacing gas stations. At home if you're annoyed by your electrical bills now you're going to like your future utility bills even less. But aside from that - increased production of more solar panels and more wind mills and more electric vehicles means using even more of what our [trend-following] politicians claim is 'causing' climate changes - which is pollution.

**To produce one solar panel [depending on size] requires 1.5 to 2 barrels of crude oil. But that's part of    the environmental story. Solar panels have an 18 to 25 year productive 'life', composed of  photovoltaic [PV] cells to convert sunlight to electricity. When these panels enter landfills toxic materials like lead can leach out as they break down. With current plans, by 2050 the quantity of worn out solar panels - much of which is not recyclable - will double the tonnage of all today's global plastic waste. And presently the typical time to recoup the cost is 15 to 26 years.

**To produce one wind turbine blade [depending on size, but not including installing each foundation] requires 7 to 7.4 barrels of oil. Then maintaining each turbine requires regular oil lubrication. But as with solar panels, worn-out wind turbine blades will in ten to 12 years begin to add 3 million tons per year of unrecyclable plastics in expanded landfill sites.      

**To produce one midsize electric car requires 6 to 8 barrels of oil - then - the batteries required to power an electric vehicle requires not only more petroleum [100 barrels of oil to fabricate a single battery that can store the equivalent of one barrel of oil], but also compounds from mining. Mined earth is baked in a kiln to reveal the rare metals required for electric car batteries. However, only 0.2% is usable, the other 99.98% contains contaminated waste soil that is dumped back into the originally excavated land. Further, those batteries carry a varied manufacture's warranty of 3 to 7 years [some 8 to 10] which means millions of discarded batteries end up - where? A specially designated landfill?  Right! 

But the environmental fallout of surface mining for basic materials in EVs [electric vehicles] is another part of the misdirection. You thought sea life was threatened by plastic straws [& plastic bottles] was a problem -try- deep-sea mining! EVs require rare earth elements such as lithium, nickel, colbalt, manganese -and-dysprosium and neodymiun. And below the ocean's surface are polymetallic nodules, which are lumps of minerals that consist of manganese and iron that other metals like copper, titanium, nickel and cobalt have been absorbed. This makes polymetallic-nodules far more attractive to mining companies--however, the jet machines used to harvest nodules can create underwater dead zones and irreversible damage to aquatic life. 

*If we destroy ocean habitats to improve surface air quality what have people pushing 'The Paris Climate Accord' or 'The Green New Deal' fixed? Does 'that' seem even remotely environmentally sound; Biden, McConnel, Pelosi, Graham, Schumer--Environmental Czar John Kerry--anyone?

None of the heavily taxpayer subsidized Green programs [that should be university masters and doctorate research projects] are economically or environmentally viable... 

*Further - as I said in the beginning, people in developed nations are compromising the lives and futures of people in countries struggling to become developed. In our politicians' [short-term-thinking] self-serving quest for re-election those rare earth compounds from surface mining are extracted largely in the Democratic Republic of Congo by hand, and by children as young as seven, according to Amnesty International. Costly, environmentally inefficient programs aimed to address Climate Change are enacted at the expense of the very human rights, we 'profess' to cherish. So, how environmentally responsible is that...It's midnight and time to return to reality.

What is a possible redirection? Start by pulling back, way back...We're still "drunk" spenders and highly voracious consumers with mega amounts of 'stuff'. We have stuff stored in closets, spare rooms, garages and storage units for which we pay monthly rent. We're spoiled. Our duplicates have duplicates. 

We can redirect the vast amounts of money destined for more and wider freeways - instead - to nuclear powered buses and trains [it works well for submarines] reinstating our once impressive rail network of passenger/commuter connections for jobs between towns and cities like Europe never stopped. We can produce half as much plastic stuff and other disposable landfill stuff. [No more bottled water, no more grocery or retail plastic bags.] Retailers have so much quarterly inventory they must routinely mark down that inventory in order to move it from their shelves for the next shipment. Does that make sense? 

Transitioning [above and below Earth's surface] to less hydrocarbons needs better science, better thought, better planning with less investors pushing for faster returns on their money, because they environment isn't benefitting - investors are.

https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

 *Sherrie Todd-Beshore is an award winning mystery-suspense novelist & former journalist. 

via amazon.com and/or patchworkpublishing.com

"The Count Of Baldpate"

"Fine Points Malice And Payback"

 

 
 

  

INTELLIGENT LIFE IN AMERICA

Dear George...Budgets have changed a great deal since you were President Mr. Washington. I know you think that something as simple and basic as a budget should be straight forward and not debatable. No such luck in the 20th and 21st Century, sorry...

So, where have I been for most of September? Well...finishing another book - then venturing away from my desk and bouncing around various hotels that did have free WiFi, but not secure WiFi which is another Blog topic...

That aside...I had started three Blog topics, but this morning, the televised testimony by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell before members of [our] Congress on CNBC business channel - caused this spontaneous Blog to rise in priority.

For some reason the majority of elected members of our Congress and Senate feel the need to raise America's Debt Ceiling - again! Wait a minute - wouldn't it be a treat for all of us to simply raise the credit limit on each of our loans and credit cards because we wanted to spend more. Yes it would - and it might work too if we had six or eight kids living at home we could pull from school then send to work to support our expanded spending program. No problem...We could keep the kids happy and distracted with more cookies and toys and movie nights. In that way our kids might not notice that we were spending their future opportunity for an education and career and independence.

This morning was another artificially created urgency of [last minute] timing with the political tried and true tactic of fear [eg. seniors might not get there Social Security or the military might not get there pay or retired bureaucrats might not get their pensions] blah blah blah. Each of the answers Yellen and Powell provided reminded me of the scripted questions to which other public officials have responded. Not impressive - because in point of fact there is no Debt-Ceiling...Since 1995 there seems to be only open sky.

We-The-People understand fiscal reality [we also recognize actual inflation] so why isn't there an Amendment requiring those who spend our taxed-dollars to set a true Budget that identifies set costs and fluid costs? The budgets I've seen over that last two decades haven't looked like a budget at all, but more like the Christmas wish list I left on my parents bedroom dresser when I was twelve. However, the people who hold public office are not twelve nor are the people they appoint to cabinet positions and committees, though their level of maturity would suggest arrested-adolescent-development. 

Instead of a Debt-Ceiling America needs a regulation that requires an actual Budget with fixed-costs in one column subtracted from Income then flexible-spending in another column also tied to income. From the flexible side perhaps oh gosh - cutting back on hiring and raises and waste? Just a thought, instead of treating voters like an unlimited resource of working offspring who can be distracted by child-tax-credits, extended unemployment benefits and artificial social division between the 1% and the 99% or between those of various ancestry! 

People holding an elected public office are in fact our 'peers' - though after a couple of terms some would have many voters believe their office is now entitled with an importance that rises above ours. 

Historically from Africa to Europe in the corners of every castle [and church] to the rise of peasants seeking a voice that evolved the British parliamentary system into the House of Lords and the House of Commons - money and favors became the ruling norm to gain authority and influence. However, it's now late 2021 and the accumulated centuries of butt-covering-government has truly reached critical mass. Too many of those in elected positions - who intern appointed those [we did not elect] to whom they owed favors - treat our taxes as a bottomless pit.  

And speaking of present inflation which is inaccurate and not just a small percentage number - it's actually accumulative like compound interest. [Note: anyone under the age of 40 will need to look up compound interest because banks don't actually pay compound interest as such any more. It's a complicated variable now, if you can find an account that pays even 2%, simple interest anywhere on Planet Earth!] Okay - sorry I went off track there...Back to inflation. An 18ounce box of Corn Flakes in 1993 cost $1.29 and a dozen eggs was $1.05 when the average annual wage was $33,726. By 2019 the same box of Corn Flakes was $3.49 and one dozen eggs was $1.71, but the average yearly income was $35,977. The food numbers varied for regions so I kept it to an average. But the numbers for 2020 and 2021 searching both BING and GOOGLE were not so straight forward, which is why I stopped at 2019.

However, Fellow-Travelers one would think that since we're no longer spending an average of 51.3Billion a year on a 20 year war in Iraq and Afghanistan - we could start living within our means. One would think...Except the proposal on the table is an amazing 1.2Trillion Structural Infrastructure Bill [see Blog; Infrastructure In America] along with a 3.5Trillion Social Infrastructure Bill. 

1.For Structural Infrastructure the breakdown is: 110Billion for roads, bridges & related -and- 105Biliion for public transit, passenger and freight transportation -and- 73Billion for power/internet technology;

2.For Social Infrastructure the list includes: 10Billion for a Civilian Climate Corp -and- 20Billion to Advance Racial Equity and Environmental Justice -and- 175Billion in Subsidies for Electric Vehicles -and- 213Billion to Build/Retrofit 2million Houses and Buildings -and- 100Billion for New Schools and Green School Lunch Programs -and- 12Billion for Community Colleges -and- ???Billions [undisclosed] to Eliminate Racial and Gender Inequities -and- 100Billion to Expand Broadband Internet with Government Oversight -and- 25Billion for more Childcare Programs. 

I saw nothing allocated in the Social Infrastructure list that address the immigration crisis or targeted our homeless, particularly homeless teens who aged out of the foster care system or our homeless veterans, maybe it's part of Environmental Justice?

Perhaps DC seems too far away and too complicated. Well folks - our State Legislatures are much closer and less daunting and easier to protest or call or email. Better still our Constitution 'gave' sovereignty to each state. In our Constitution the Federal Government was never intended to override or overrule the states by intimidation or threats. However, somehow over the decades the Federal Congress and Senate has managed to enhance its authority. 

 https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist...

via amazon.com or patchworkpublishing.com

Suspense-Thriller--"THE RULE OF THREE" 

Suspense-Thriller--"24 SUSSEX DRIVE"

INFLUENCE IN AMERICA

 Dear George...When you were President Mr. Washington - who else had influence? Whose judgement did you trust besides your own? Whose wisdom and advice did you respect?

We can assume George worked everyday with the other framers of our U.S. Constitution, but maybe not. Everyone has 'off' days.

Regardless of who is at the 'helm' [on a school board, running a small business, a major corporation or a nation] no one - not even dictators - make decisions entirely alone. There is a circle of influence that can be enriching and positive - or - exclusive and self serving...

I was tempted to title this Blog-Post; 'Royalty In America' - as there has been a strong tendency for many l-o-n-g term politicians [of two or more decades] to feel entitled...But I resisted. I'll let the actions of people elected [not born] to serve in public office speak instead. You'll be able to spot them - they're in the news often blaming others and/or arguing for what they need in order to justify their latest edict and/or deflecting responsibility in another direction.

With leadership-influence: experience and confidence is an asset, but pride and ego is a handicap. 

Many, many, many citizens consider the 2020 election a letdown on several levels, but Donald J. Trump must also accept responsibility for his loss. DJT bungled his own campaign by playing into a playground style level of name calling and insult exchanges. For all three debates every major television network was required to offer him the complete attention he complained they denied him for most of his first term. Did Trump use the first debate opportunity to highlight Biden's lackluster 47 public years or to showcase his own accomplishments like the Opportunity Zones or Operation Warp Speed or peace between Israel and Arab States, etc? No. Instead Trump took open issue with the moderator and rambled down a rabbit hole about investigations and impeachments. Then his arrogance messed up his 2nd and third debate opportunities too.     

As a registered Independent I have no favorites and happily take 'prisoners' from both major parties. For this discussion let's start at the 'top'...

**Why is Joseph Robinette Biden the 46th President of the United States? I'm serious--why? More importantly 'how'? Houdini would have been challenged to pull off such an illusion with the mathematical miracle that became the 2020 Democratic Primary. Even now, I'm still puzzled. 

How did the two neck and neck [popular] front runners Bernie Saunders and Pete Buttigieg who were both a classic photo-finish in Iowa/Feb3 -and- New Hampshire/Feb11 -and- Nevada/Feb22 abruptly hit-a-South Carolina-wall Feb29? [Was it a Leap Year curse? The Iowa recount ballot issues might suggest 'something' like that...]

So, lets' recap the 'game'. Biden was so far down the backstretch after Nevada, he considered dropping out, even Elizabeth Warren was ahead. Anyway...In Iowa Bernie had 45+thousand votes to Pete's 43+thousand to Joe's 23+thousand. In New Hampshire Bernie had 76+thousand votes to Pete's 72+thousand votes to Joe's 24+thousand votes. In Nevada the gamblers liked Bernie best with 41+thousand votes to Pete's 17+thousand and Joe's 19+thousand. BUT THEN my fellow-travelers someone parted-the-waters and up from the lower half of the pack came Joe Biden [literally] sweeping the South Carolina Primary with 262,336,000+ votes! 

Glory hallelujah! 

From that date on Biden votes flooded every primary all the way to August and as the weeks ticked away one by one the former front runners halted their bid to endorse only Joe Biden. [Is it a coincidence that former challengers who were not holding Federal Senate or Congressional seats were offered plum Cabinet Appointments? Just asking...] However, just as astonishing [in this underdog-Hollywood story] is Biden's selection for running mate who became Vice President...The [party] choice went to the 'only' person in the reduced Democratic field of 18 - who never rose higher than the bottom--Kamala Harris. Ta-Da!

Out of a vast herd [of thousands] of possible people our vote selection funnels down to only two choices - so - as a voter I want to know there isn't some form of electronic-slight-of-hand at the Party Primary level either...[In 2016 do we truly understand how Hilary Clinton suddenly emerged as the sole front runner? Bernie Sanders follower's felt so betrayed that Trump benefited from some hefty anti-Clinton vote.]

At seven months into the Biden-Harris First Term - how are we doing...

**Other 2020 Election head-shaking results brings me next to Republican Senate Minority Leader Addison Mitchell McConnell III. I don't know what Kentucky was thinking when they returned McConnell to a Senate seat he has held since 1984! The math on that is 37 years in public office [10 less than Biden]. Does McConnell have influence - you bet - big time in every dusty corner of The Hill and beyond. Besides knowing - what and where everything is hidden - McConnell has managed to accumulate a personal [updated 2020] net worth tipping over 30 million dollars, that we know of...

**Another disappointing 2020 election result was the return of  Nancy Patricia Pelosi not just to her seat in Congress, but to her place as House Speaker. This erratic, highly excitable politician embarrassed the Office of Speaker during the Trump Administration when on camera she openly ripped up Trump's State of the Union Speech. That stunt would have been substandard behavior from a Middle Grade student - so to witness that level of immaturity from an elected Statesman is beyond troubling. Besides a double standard [getting her hair done during lock down] the personal conduct of this shrewd 34 year political survivor who is also second to the office of the Presidency - has managed to grow her 2013 net worth of 26.4 million - into a current net worth of 120 million...

I don't know about you, but none of 'my' stock market or real estate investments multiplied my net worth times five in the last eight years.

How does anyone in any political office have the nerve to stand at a microphone and malign the "wealthy top 1%" with a straight face - when they are so privileged - at Main-Street's expense...  

I'll tell you how - insider information and taxes that rarely - I mean rarely ever get audited. [How many contracts are awarded to companies owned in partnership with relatives, friends or spouses of people in public office??? I don't have enough space to even list just the 2021 side deals - that's how many.] 

TERM LIMITS...Serve our country, serve your state, serve your district a maximum of three terms then return to private life...

Run for public office - get in - be ethical then get out before you're too tempted to feather your own nest. Of the 100 Senate seats and 435 seats in Congress - the vast majority of those politicians have clung to office between 59 and 20 years! Influence can become addictive and too much influence can risk that a politician starts to believe they 'still' make a difference.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_United_States_Congress_by_longevity_of_service]

*What are the options of a free people who have grown accustomed to individual rights and choice? Well, while we're teaching and expecting morals and honesty from our children and grandchildren we need to demand those same qualities from people in public office. The people in whom we trust our hard earned taxes. 

None of the people in any public office should be maligning 'the whites' or 'the rich' or 'the corporations' or any group in an effort to divide the very nation they profess to serve or care about. The minute someone steps to a microphone to malign a specific group - should be a red-flag to any voter. It defines the character of the speaker as exclusive not inclusive. 

We have time get to 'know' who is running for 're'election in our district or state in 2022. If anyone is running for a fourth term, you many want to vote for someone else. WeThePeople can create our own 'term-limits' and we need to exert our influence... 

https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist...

Via amazon.com  or  patchworkpublishing.com 

Romantic Suspense-Thriller: "Dream Gate...Grabbing Air"

Sequel: "Dream Gate II...Grabbing Time"

RICH IN AMERICA

 

Dear George...Mr. Washington, the latest social and national media past time appears to be Rich-Bashing. And if anyone living in the country you fought so diligently to create happens to also be White&Rich then their chances of being metaphorically boiled in oil in the town square - is high...

Curious - naturally - as to why being wealthy has become a touchstone target for so many mouthy self righteous politicians and high profile journalists I decided to do some research...

[Note: people who live in glass houses and throw stones at others really-really-really hate it when you throw facts at them crushing 'their' virtuous narrative.] 

Anyway...In the midst of this latest campaign to tax/rob the rich in a weak [Robin Hood] styled justification to spread the wealth - CNN also [ironically] reran a series called 'The Food That Made America' and 'The Cars That Made America' etc. Much of the early 20th Century wealth was possible because personal income tax wasn't an annual stress induced event until 1913. Amazing huh... 

Before 1913 taxes were levied primarily on trade, goods and services because the U.S. Government was a much smaller blip on the eastern horizon and hadn't yet begun to divide and multiply like single cell [swamp] amoeba.

A brief [personal] income tax was levied to fund the Civil War, but was dropped after the war due to protests and a legal challenge that a personal tax on income was unconstitutional. However, in an atypical efficient move Congress corrected the constitutional legality of a levied personal federal income tax - with ratification of the 16th Amendment. [Our U.S. Congress is confirmation that not only can you "close the barn door after the horses have bolted" - you don't really need doors at all.]

Okay, income tax aside - what the historical series offered is an impressive glimpse into how the businesses that most of us grew up with [me included] got their start from the Ford motor car to McDonald's hamburgers and oodles of companies in between. Businesses like Westinghouse, Hershey's, Kraft Foods, General Motors, Chrysler Corporation, Kellogg's and Post Cereals, Macy's, Dillard's, Heinz and Campbell's soup...

Most recently the tax [and union] focus from federally elected hypocrites has been on mega corporations like Walmart and Amazon. I say hypocrites because far too many of the federally elected people who hold a publicly supported office have a double standard. People like Nancy Pelosi,[$115 million] Elizabeth Warren [$12 million] and Bernie Sanders [$3 million] absolutely must decry billionaires/the top 1% otherwise their hot-air-balloon exposes 'them' as part of the top 10%! **The vast majority of Federally elected lawmakers in the 116th Congress are millionaires - many times over...And the number of CNN journalists as well as other network high profile anchors who are also worth several million - makes their on-air condemnation of "the wealthy" beyond two-faced scorn.

But what happens if the repetitive, careless 'noise' created by our elected peers and national media journalists starts to produce serious corporate harm? That harm actually affects real people, real voters. Between them Walmart and Amazon employ 2.7 million people. If even half of those people are laid off that implodes our national unemployment numbers...

Are Amazon and Walmart and several other companies too big - or too influential? The influence part is having the 'ear' of politicians elected to 'serve' everyone who voted 'and' didn't vote for them... 

From our vantage point in 2021 it's almost a spoiler alert because we can see major companies from where they are now - not not from where they started...The 'start' was always an idea - followed by trial and error - lots of it. Also, l-o-n-g and l-o-n-g  l-o-n-g hours, borrowed money, set backs and risk! So, in no particular order let's take a look at some very very very rich people - who got where they got 'not' by working 9to5 or a four day work week. This is only a wee list and you decide if they seem like corporate villains. It's not magic it's effort...

...John Harvey Kellogg started the "Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Company" in 1909. This [a century ahead of its time] company instituted a 30hr work week in 1931 to add an additional work shift during the Depression. Competitor C.W. Post produced "Grape Nuts" in 1895. [Kellogg employs 31,000]

...Annie Malone [Madam C.J.Walker] was the first self-made female millionaire. She was born to parents who were former slaves. In 1900 she developed specialized products for African American skin and hair care...Her products are now available via Sephora.

...James Lewis Kraft perfected a longer lasting cheese processing method in 1916 used in war rations then merged that idea with Kraft dinner in 1937 that fed more troops... [Kraft and Heinz merged employing 21,000]

...Milton Hershey started in a small candy shop in 1873, perfected a caramel candy then after a business set back settled on chocolate. In 1894 he built an entire [inexpensive] town for employees in Pennsylvania that became Hershey, PA where he and his wife also educated hundreds of local orphans...[Hershey employs 16,140]

...Henry Ford was born on a farm, started out in watch repair, serviced steam engines then learned book keeping, but mechanical workings always fascinated him. Ford boldly paid 'all' his factory workers both black and white - $5 a day in 1914...[Ford in North America employs 100,000]

...Joseph A Campbell was a fruit merchant who partnered with Abraham Anderson an icebox maker in 1869. Later Anderson's son, Campbell Speelman and Joseph Campbell perfected a condensing process that only required the home maker to add water...[Campbell's employees dropped in 2020 to 14,500]

...Andrew Carnegie was born in a Scottish weaver's cottage. In 1849 at age 14 he became a telegraph messenger at $2.50 per week [$78 in 2021 dollars] then at 18 a telegraph operator for the railroad at $4 per week [$124 in 2021 dollars]. When he was promoted to Telegraph Superintendent he not only hired his younger brother as an operator he hired is cousin Maria Hogan who was the first female telegraph operator. A voracious reader Andrew was largely self taught and took calculated risks to prosper, but not for money's sake - he believed in sharing...

...John D. Rockefeller started out at 16 as an assistant book keeper. At 20 he went into partnership in 1863 with kerosene distribution [for oil lamps] then invested in crude oil. From Standard Oil's early beginnings the rest is a big part of our history. Standard oil & Trust was broken up into 34 separate companies. [The petroleum industry employs 143,000]...

...Cornelius Vanderbilt [Van/of-der/the-land/bil] came from a Dutch farming family. In 1810 at the age of 16 with a $100 loan he started his own waterways ferry service then expanded to greater shipping railroad transportation...

...George Westinghouse [Jr] was an engineer who in 1886 developed a railway air brake then went on to all things electrical... [Westinghouse employs 9,000]

...McDonald's was originally founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald later bought out then franchised by Ray Kroc in 1953. [McDonald's employs around 500,000]...

...Samuel Moore Walton was another farm boy who tried mortgages then life insurance, but leaped into retail with his first store in 1962. And unless you have been in a coma for the last 50 years I don't really need to go into a lot more detail...[Walmart employs 1.5 million people in the U.S.]

...Jeffery Preston [Jorgenson] Bezos started Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore in his parent's garage. He lost money for several years rolling all sales income back into his business to expand and diversify. [Twenty seven years ago Amazon couldn't pay Jeff a salary, Amazon now employs 1.2+million]...

...David L. Steward was born in Clinton Missouri to a homemaker and a mechanic. Overcoming poverty and segregation this determined man of African heritage went on to found World Wide Technology in 1990...[World Wide employs 7,000]

...Oprah Winfrey was born to a single mother in rural Mississippi, spent preschool years with her maternal grandmother, went back to her mother and was molested by a family member. She became pregnant at 14 then lost her baby to a premature birth. Oprah's shaky start in life is PROOF that no one needs to be a 'victim' because she 'built' a multi-layered inspirational life... [Yes I'm a fan.] [OWN Network employs 90 directly.]... 

...Robert Frederick Smith is a chemical engineer of African heritage born in Colorado to PhD. educated parents. [In 2000 he founded Vista Equity Partners that employs 30,000 globally.]

**Legal immigrants... Jorge Perez came from Argentina invests in real estate. [He founded The Related Group that employs 3,000]...

...Alberto Perez came from Columbia was/is a dancer and choreographer. [He founded Zumba that employs 7,000.]...

...Carlos Castro came from Portugal was a journalist and broadcaster who became president and CEO of Todos Supermarket that employs 113.]...

...Jordi Munoz came from Mexico. [He founded 3D Robotics that employs 70]        

Are you bored yet? I hope not cause I'm just getting my second-wind...   

...Dave Anderson belongs to both the Choctaw and Chippewa tribes. He founded Famous Dave's Barbeque in 1994 and besides a chain of restaurants the company sells bottled sauce products. [Famous Dave's employs 2,417]... 

...Evans Craig is a Navajo silversmith by trade who founded Internet Technology Services originally to bring high-speed internet to all Native Americans. It has grown to include so much more. [No staffing stats]...

...Henry Red Cloud is Lakota and founded Lakota Solar Enterprises in 2006 in Pine Ridge, South Dakota with a strong emphasis on renewable energy solutions. [No staffing stats.]...

...Notah Begay III is a Navajo Stanford graduate who founded KivaSun Foods in 1995. The focus is on Bison and many other traditional Native American foods. [No staffing stats.]...

...America's Middle East and Asian citizens and new immigrants seem to routinely outdistance the rest of us from medicine to technology with their astonishing energy and contributions enriching us all...

My 'very' long point to get here [if you're still with me] is that thoughtless actions and comments can lead to killing the proverbial goose [thriving business] that laid a golden egg [employment opportunity] for millions. You can protest to your elected representative and to sponsors that advertise on network news programs. Money talks. Your money talks... 

https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a former journalist turned mystery-suspense novelist...

Via amazon.com  or  patchworkpublishing.com 

Mystery-Suspense-Thriller: "The Count Of Baldpate"

Sequel: "Year Of The Dog"  

 

HUNGRY & HOMELESS IN AMERICA

Dear George...Does America have a hunger and homeless problem? YES - big time which is beyond shameful. But, Mr. Washington - America has a hunger and homeless problem - 'because' - AMERICA HAS A 'LEADERSHIP' PROBLEM...

More to the point we have far too many - weak - self serving people in leadership positions...Some people were elected, some appointed, some hired. But the vast majority collect [not earning] high salaries with cushy benefits and better pensions than you and I were offered.

So--my-fellow-travelers, lets quit leaving 'our-authority' in the hands of others with no supervision. 

I read somewhere years ago; "We have stupid government because we have stupid voters." More accurately folks we have sloppy, mismanaged, corrupted - local, state and federal policies because 'we' are apathetic voters. 

The really good news is 'we' can change that - we truly can - but to have change we/voters need to avoid being distracted by the "bright-shiny-beads" of empty political promises and poorly thought out state and federal programs. The vast majority of public programs [eg. "No Child Left Behind" or "The War On Poverty" or "The War on Drugs"] offered slick slogans, but mostly work for friends and relatives of those in public office. Most social programs were never intended to ever create an opportunity for the hungry or the homeless to feed themselves or support their own mailing address. If they had then 'budget funding' to already existing state and federal areas like K-12 Public School Education and Public Housing and Social Services would have been increased not reduced.

POVERTY is either a motivator or an excuse. Growing up marginalized financially or socially offers only those two options to our human condition. And, we have seen via history and current events time and time again role models who emerged from all races, religions [male and female] who thrive and prosper regardless of their childhood wealth - or lack. 

But prosperity is perception and multilayered. An immigrant couple from Brazil - who applied to become legal citizens - opened a leather repair shop [shoes, belts, boots, jackets, purses] and lived above their store. They considered themselves prosperous. They had more than enough - they had plenty.

HUNGER in this country, in this century, is the shame of every person who accepts a taxpayer publicly funded salary. The cute catch phrase from our politicians is Food-Insecurity. In 2019 an estimated 34 million people went hungry on any given day in America. By the end of 2020 that had jumped to an estimated 50 million, of that 17 million of were children - this country's future!

Over the last three decades Food Banks have become a growth industry all on their own - how did that happen? It began to happen because we felt the need to protect our oil interests in Kwait [Operation Desert Storm] and invaded Iraq in 1990.

By the 1993, DC leadership in a desperate attempt to rein in control over an ever increasingly well educated, financially independent middle-class began to systematically dismantle that momentum forward. While our social services and primary public school budgets were slashed and school course curriculum was watered down - books and tuition costs at colleges and universities began to jump - every year. The salaries and benefits of trained and well educated office and service employees stagnated for decades at the same time that corporate CEOs and board members saw triple increases in their salaries and compensation.

By 2000 people who had become accustomed to a lifestyle that was no longer supported by income that kept up with inflation - began a cycle of using credit cards for non durable purchases like restaurants and vacations and increasing more debt to 'pay' for degrees that in the 1980s had been supportable by working summers and part time.

In 2003 America again invaded Iraq. For some in a Federally Elected Office there's nothing like a good old fashioned war to keep the general public in fear while simultaneously making it look like you're doing-something [eg. Creating another department that needed more employees - ta-da - Homeland Security]  

Which brings me to America's homeless...Our homeless...

HOMELESSNESS in this country in this century is the shame of every White House administration and every Cabinet Housing Secretary in those administrations. On any given night while most of us sleep on a clean bed under a solid roof an estimated 600,000 of our fellow citizens do not. 

And our homeless is comprised of people from both genders and all races. Of that number, 34% are families that includes 200,000 children. Continuing this disgrace is our VETERANS who should not under any circumstances, ever be homeless due to our social neglect. At whose feet do I lay the responsibility of failed follow up? To - each and every person who holds public office. Nearly 50% of the entire veteran homeless population served in Vietnam. Another 41% of the homeless veteran population is between the ages of 31 and 50, which are prime productive years that good people [who risked their lives for the rest of us] are losing.

Wasteful spending in areas that were not socially productive have brought us to this point. [Like Nero fiddling while Rome burned.] We-the-people have been far too trusting and well - busy keeping our own lives going. 

But we know better and there's another part of our lives too that is totally necessary in order to maintain the democratic freedoms that is our right. That other-part is our second job in addition to our main career and it's the job of expecting ethics from the people who's salaries we pay with our ever increasing taxes.

Artificial distractions with increasing techno convenience for the vast majority of Americans has shifted our focus to a one dimension mentality from enjoying 'enough' to seeking 'more'. Houses and vehicles cost-more because they both have expensive [additional] accessories that we truly don't need in order to drive from home to work or live in a house comfortably. [Case in point: a laminate counter top is $50 to $80 per foot, but granite or marble is $440 to $590 per foot. How about linoleum floors instead of hardwood? And those are only two examples of how the price of a house could be reduced s-i-g-n-i-f-i-c-a-n-t-l-y.

We keep chasing more - but as with an addict 'more' is never enough. 'We' chase the latest fashion like torn bluejeans, the best moisturizer, the biggest truck, new stainless steel appliances and granite counters, the next big tech update...What this consumer addiction has done has blocked our view to truly look around then 'see' what has happened since the Vietnam War. Actually more to the point - what has 'not' happened in the last five decades. [During which time most of our elected dinosaurs in DC have been at the helm.]

Crime increases with hunger and homelessness because people with nothing have nothing to lose. 

If you live in a state [like California where Venice Beach has become a plague of crime and homelessness] where your hunger and homeless statistics have risen - with Covid as the political excuse - your state's capitol is likely easier to reach than DC so make your concern known. Make sure your 'elected' representatives know their jobs are MORE transitory than the homeless and the hungry they ignore. And they are ignoring them, because if they weren't - America wouldn't have hungry or homeless citizens...

 https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a mystery suspense novelist and former journalist...

Via amazon.com  or  patchworkpublishing.com 

*Suspense-Thriller: "24 Sussex Drive"

*Mystery Suspense: "Come Sit In My Kitchen"