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Faith, the Economy and All Can be Rich.

Our system is unsupportable and unsustainable. Even if you believed that God meets all of your needs and you got everything you prayed for based on say, Mark 11:23-24. This is a concept that I’m intimately aware of. when I was a Christian Charismatic Minister, I used to preach on this concept every time I had an opportunity too. This concept like many spiritual concepts that are based on Faith are magical in their nature and work perhaps 50 percent of the time. The trick is to focus on the times it works vs the times it does not. If it does not work, then you spend time and energy beating yourself up, never questioning the model or concept its-self. In any case I’m digressing.

Lets say for the sake of argument, that all of this works the way you believe its does based on Mark 11:23-24. Lets say you are in a church with 300 other believers believing the same thing. You all use the formula and wham! new houses, nice cars, checks in the mail, and your bank account is full all by the power of faith. So now, you and your church family are wealthy. Lets say that this also works for the 3 mega churches in your town or city, and these churches have about 3-5 thousand believers. Wow, this thing is awesome and the formula catches on in a powerful movement of God all rooted in Kingdom Principles of Faith, blah, blah, blah, you get the idea. Bare with me, this is all church talk, its strange I know, but there are a lot of wonderful folks who believe this stuff as I once did.

Ok. Now this is nation wide and 98 Percent of the Christians “Walk by faithers” are wealthy, with nice cars, big houses, full bank accounts, and ok, none of them are sick (Can’t leave that out). Now ask your self this question, What happens to the Economy? Does it get better with all of these wealthy folks? No, the economy gets worse, because the way our system works, if every christian was wealthy and the nation was full of these folks, then inflation would go “thru” the roof with all these Baby Donald Trumps running around. Our system could not support this, in fact our social-economic system would over heat. All those wonderful things you brought will be so costly, that even if you were a millionaire, you will be back to were you started from. The economy would reset to the new mean, where it would nullify your millionaire status. Our system is built to ensure this happens, and at the same time delude you into thinking that all can be rich. Its hoping that most wont. In fact most working and middle class people struggle so the system can perpetuate itself. This is unsupportable, unsustainable and restrains human progress. There is no current political or social-economic system that really works, for all are based on a monetary system that enslaves us all, no matter how benevolent or well intentioned it is, from Communism to Capitalistic and Socialist based Democracies, they all don’t work. We settled for these systems because we have been condition too.

Its time we move to a system that is supportable, sustainable and frees all humans to reach our full potential, I’m speaking of course of a Resource Based Economy, it is the next step in our great social-economic evolution.

I know, I have heard it all, its a utopian wet dream or Marxist. I understand, how folks feel about this, for I would think its a utopian dream compared to the nightmare we live in now, anything would be considered a utopia. I also understand why folks say its Marxist, because we have been indoctrinated with anything that questions that status quo or dominate value system will be attacked, it has to be Marxist or whatever slight is popular. Defend the status quo, do what you are told, be enslaved and pay all of your bills, work hard, and then figure out how to retire and live, for this is the American Dream.

Finally, if God, Universe, Space Aliens, or whatever meets all of our needs, then they would not have created this system that we now live under. I think God is saying, “Hey, I put you there, evolved you to think and create. You have everything you need, so create something that works for all vs the few”

I leave this with you to mediate and consider… Thanks TMM For sharing this with me… Much love for you.

Peace

Is Obama Selling out?

Here is a great article by David Swanson over at Alternet. In it he talks about President O’s speech to the Chambers of Commerce, here is an excerpt:

President Obama again stressed that he wanted to freeze non-war/military spending well into the next president’s tenure:

“That’s why I’ve proposed that we freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years. Understand what this means. This would reduce the deficit by more than $400 billion over the next decade, and bring this spending — domestic discretionary spending — down to the lowest share of our economy since Eisenhower was president. That was a long time ago.”

President Obama again pretended that Social Security is breaking a budget that it is not in any way a part of, and that Social Security is in trouble. (In reality the damage he did to it a few months back could be repaired and more by simply requiring people with large incomes to pay in at the same rate as people with small ones):

This reminds me of something that Dr King said, in a 1967 speech in reference to the war in Vietnam, he said:

A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

Exactly, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death”

Thus, as much as I admire the president both as a person and what he has overcame. I do find it strange that what started out as an progressive manifesto in his book,  Audacity of Hope Has become a cruel joke on the people that have supported him and his vision.

To me, this is yet one more confirmation that our problems cannot be solved by Politics or Affirmations on how great our nation is. Our problems are system based. A system of which is unsupportable, unsustainable and in the end will only lead to more of the same.

Here is the whole article in its entirety:

Why Did the President Cross the Road? To Kneel Before the Corporate Throne of the Chamber of Commerce

Peter Joseph’s Response to Stefan Molyneux; Zeitgeist: Moving Forward

Here is a great Debate in the form of a YouTube Response Video. If only our leaders could have substantive debates like these.

The Video speaks for itself, it is both educational and enlightening, well worth viewing and studying.

Peace

Debt!

There has been a lot of talk these days about our national debt

Debt

here in the US and how to deal with it. Most of the rhetoric is for show and should not be taken seriously. The discussion speaks to our nation’s leaders inability to tell the American people the truth,rather they focus on sound bites of oversimplified arguments and solutions. We hear how one party is more serious than the other about solving this problem, neither have given many specifics of how they would go about in removing or reducing the debt. Most of the proposed cuts are symbolic at best and our money scared cows, i.e. Defense, Social Security, etc. will never be touched.  Further, Cutting Taxes for those who don’t need it in a misguided belief that putting more money in the coffers of the “The Water Carriers”, so they can create more Jobs “For the Water Drinkers”  is a Ayn Rand Wet Dream and is just more spending.   Equally, spending our way out of debt in the form of a stimulus package no matter how well intentioned is like giving a crack addict more crack to solve their addiction.  Neither of these approaches work, for it both are based on the American Myth of  “Continuous growth” . The truth is the National Debt and the Deficit will never be reduce or removed and it does not make much difference in either case. Lets look at some numbers:

  • The National Debt is currently 14 Trillion Dollars
  • The Deficit is at 1.3 Trillion Dollars.

There is no way that this will ever be reduced or retired. Even if we were to magically remove the debt, this will mean that every dollar (The M2 Money supply) would be taken out of circulation, for in order to create the money supply, we have to create debt in the form of debt obligations.  All the Money that is in circulation is debt! Plus, the US currency is the world’s reserve currency which means that the world’ s economies would have to some how fix their debt as well.  The bottom line is, the world is in debt to itself, created out of thin air.  Not to mention addressing all of the personal debt that we have in our country, all of which has an impact on the Nations Economy. Our Economy and Monetary systems are based on a Giant Ponzi scheme and is unsupportable.

More alarming numbers to ponder are:

  • Total Personal Debt in the US is 16.1 Trillion (Yep, Greater than the National Debt)
  • Total Mortgage Debt in the US is 13.7 Trillion
  • Total M2 (which includes M1) Money Supply is 8.9 Trillion.

There is not a  enough money in the money supply to even pay off our personal debts, and does not even address the interest owed on this debt. Who do you think all this debt is owed too? ” That’s right”, to the banks. Face it, most of us are enslaved, forced to go to jobs that we hate or are irrelevant and pointless. All so that we can either pay on our debts or buy what we need to live. Everything in our society is monetized, from cradle to grave. We accept this because that is what we have been condition too. We have built such strong walls around this, we call it the “American Dream”. Which in reality is correct, because  one has to be asleep to believe it. This is all while our political leaders are “Talking loud, but Ain’t saying nothing”, we can do better than this; in the words of Jacque Fresco

This shit has got to go!

We need a change, none of the political or economic systems are working and is unsupportable. But, all is not lost, this is what we can do.

  1. Educate yourself, stop listening to all the BS and do your own homework
  2. Check out the new Zeitgeist Movie: Moving Forward and make your own decisions, the fruit is always in the details
  3. Get out of Debt!!! Seriously, get out of debt as fast as you can
  4. Be Aware of your own Magical Thinking. We are Wired that way and it takes sometimes A huge event, like our Financial system melting down to wake us up. Regrettably, most Americans are still asleep, not wanting to face the dark truth, that we as a nation are insolvent.
  5. Wake up an challenge your leaders and the BS with reason in a loving but firm manner. We don’t need nor can we address our issues with “Second Amendment Remedies”

I leave this entertaining but yet very poignant clip for you to ponder and consider, from one of our greatest philosophers of our time, George Carlin

Peace

A Resource-Based Economy (via The Zeitgeist Movement Official Blog)

This is a great Article that lays clearly what a Resource Based Economy is. I believe and the evidence seems to suggest that our monetary system is a drag on human progress and is time that we shrug off this antiquated system, grow up  and graduate to a system that will benefit all vs enslaving many. I’m not talking about a Utopia like is found in the Twenty First chapter of the Book of Revelations.  Although, beautiful in its composition and poetry, like most Utopias, they are static and are built on myths and fantasies.

We believe it is now possible to achieve a society where people would be able to live longer, healthier, and more meaningful productive lives. In such a society, the measure of success would be based upon the fulfillment of one’s individual pursuits rather than the acquisition of wealth, property, and power.

Jacque Fresco

The Article and post is below, please check it out with an open mind.

A Resource-Based Economy A Resource-Based Economy – Jacque Fresco’s idea of a system where all goods and services are available without money, credits, barter or any other form of debt or servitude – is a paradigm shattering concept. The idea changes the focus of how society works on a fundamental level, causing a ripple of profound implications to permeate all of society. For many, removing the corruption of the monetary system is a logical step, which will manifest our … Read More

via The Zeitgeist Movement Official Blog

The Kingdom Within

Hope… I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an Emperor – that’s not my business – I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.

Charlie Chaplin

These great words are from the 1940 film The Great Dictator. I find it strange that even after the house and senate races with all its craziness, that we have not moved very far away from divisive words and false arguments.  Perhaps we can find some wisdom from a 70 year old movie speech made by Charlie Chaplin.

These words are very stirring and  reaches deep into who we are.  It encapsulates the idea behind what we can build as a race of people devoid of the need to control others. It moves us away from all the hate filled words that is so prevalent in our society and politics. It is a call to move to a higher ground, one that is based on reason and frees us to become a better versions of ourselves. If the kingdom of God is within men, then it is up to man to build the kingdom that is within. One that does not kill nine year old little girls or solves its problems with second amendment remedies.

Peace

MLK Day

MLK Day is on Monday the 17th of Jan.  So I wanted to write something in observance of MLK day. As I was starting to think about what to write, I ran across one of my old posts.  I Thought, wow it was pretty cool and to the point. So I decided to re-posted it. I hope you enjoy it. Peace and happy MLK Day:

Its Only fitting that on the day we observed one of the greatest voices of our Time, Dr Martin Luther King. That a summary of the other things that Dr King said  still shakes the heart and challenges our thoughts about us, our nation and who we are.

Check out this Vid from IllDoctrine I found this on Steve Simmons Washington Note.

The Economy, Bigger Troubles to come in the Future

As much as I love President O, I do think as it relates to the Economy that we are setting ourselves up for bigger and bigger financial woes in the future. The reason being? True reform does not mean infusing money into an already broken system. Nor does it mean more regulation, it means a radical change in the removal of the system. Even moving to a Gold standard (As laid out in Ron Paul’s new Book, End the Fed) and away from a Fiat Currency will in the end only prolong the complete failure of an unworkable system and the enslavement of others by a few.

Here is a great article from the folks over at The Raw Story Site entitled Top economist: Obama ‘missed opportunity’ to reform financial system. Here is an excerpt

The Obama administration “refused” to take meaningful steps to reform the banking system in the wake of last year’s financial crisis, and the opportunity to do so has now been missed, says a former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund.

Simon Johnson told PBS’s Bill Moyers that he expects an even larger financial crisis to hit the United States in the coming years because the system was not fixed through reform, but rather through a massive injection of taxpayers’ money into the failing banks.

“The short term opportunity was missed,” Johnson said on Bill Moyers Journal Friday night. “There was an opportunity the Obama administration had. President Obama campaigned on a message of change. … The time for change for the financial sector was absolutely upon us, this was abundantly apparent in January of this year.”

Johnson continued: “Rahm Emanuel, the president’s chief of staff, is known for saying ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’ The crisis for the big banks is substantially over. And it was completely wasted. The administration refused to break the power of the big banks when they had the opportunity earlier this year. And the regulatory reforms they are now pursuing … will turn out to be essentially meaningless.”

Johnson said that the bank bailout would not fix the long-term instability of the financial sector, and “when [the crisis] comes back, it will come back with a vengeance, and it will be I think even more devastating.”

Click here to read the whole article by Daniel Tencer.

Also, here are the videos that were posted in the article.

I find it interesting that the bank referenced (JP Morgan Chase) in the story felt no need to work with the congress woman Rep Marcy Kaptur (from OH) on the high rate of Foreclosures in her district. When one has total control their is no need to work out anything. Banks create money out of thin air via the “Fractional Reserve system” (To see how this works Click Here) and then charge interest on the money loaned that does not exist in the first place . So its no wonder why they even give a care what happens to people who are in foreclosure.

Is it not time for a change? how long will we as human allow the enslavement of so many other human beings? Is this the World and the Dream of Humanity that we want for ourselves and our children.

Racism is Alive and Well, Wake up! We have work to do

First of all, Congratulations Mr President,  I know there are a lot of folks who think you don’t deserve the Nobel. But I for one do, not for what you have done so much as for where you are going. Your Heart Sir, is in the right place regardless of what the “haters” say. Here is a great article from AlterNet by Jonathan L. Walton, entitled Conservatives Are Really Afraid of a Black President. This is a great article I believe, because it points out that we still has some work to do as Humans, and especially Humans who call themselves Americans.  Here is an excerpt:

Ever the statesman, and often candid to a political fault, former President Jimmy Carter said recently that much of the animosity directed toward President Barack Obama is “based on the fact that he is a black man.” A lifelong Southerner, Carter acknowledged that the inclination of racism still exists, and that “it has bubbled up to the surface because of the belief among many white people, not just in the South but around the country, that African Americans are not qualified to lead this great country.” Though courageous, the former president’s pronouncement will surely be considered controversial to many Republicans and Democrats alike.

Some will view Carter’s comments as politically inexpedient. The topic of race in general, and charges of racism in particular, is political dynamite that typically explodes in the hands of the accuser — just ask [Harvard] Professor Skip Gates, [New York] Gov. David Paterson, or Obama (whom I will return to momentarily). Unless someone is wearing a Klan hood while yelling, “Nigger, Go Back to Africa,” the charge of racism seems to offend the accused these days more than the actual victims. This is true, in part, due to the most prevalent view of the problem of race and racism in this country.

In the eyes of many, the responsibility of moving beyond racial conflict in America is placed at the feet of minority communities of color, as opposed to the dominant society. We’ve all heard it. America will move beyond race to a colorblind society only when minority groups cease dwelling on difference. Such a view permeates the melting pot ideal of American folklore, the myth of meritocracy and even the “post-racial” dimension of electoral politics. Thus, for Carter to call out this segment of the white community, he is disrupting the conspiracy of silence concerning racial injustice that demands the allegiance of politicians on the national scene. Think about it. Is this not the racial bargain that Obama accepted to become the nation’s first African American president? Matters pertaining to race have been avoided unless absolutely necessary (cough, cough, the Rev. [Jeremiah] Wright). And in terms of policy, obstacles faced by any particular group, like disproportionate unemployment among communities of color, for example, are obfuscated by anemic and ineffectual broad-based prescriptions. Rising tides lift all boats, right? Yet Obama’s enormous success in life, whether as a highly educated community organizer or as America’s commander in chief, exposes the paradox this sort of faux post-racialism presents.

It’s a one-sided deal for people of color; as “post-racial” in effect means post-black, post-brown, post-red and post-yellow, while leaving the normative racial framework of whiteness intact. Race is the challenge people of color must confront and, dare I say, “get over.” But a post-racial America does not demand the same of those who identify with, and claim the social construction of, whiteness and perceived privileges and cultural superiority therein. This is why, it would seem, Obama’s body standing behind the American presidential seal has a critical segment of America losing its hold on reality — a reality, I would argue, few have ever been forced to acknowledge up to this point. Whether it’s the birthers, tea-baggers, deathers, indoctrinators, or “You lie!”-ers, they have neither veiled their racial animus nor cloaked their white nationalism. The prevalence of racist images of Obama brandished by protesters juxtaposed with calls of “taking our country back” are reminiscent of D.W. Griffith’s fictional America as depicted in the film Birth of a Nation.

Here is the Article in its entirety We have much work to do here. As long as we see each other as separate we will continue to war, hate and divide ourselves on the razor of religion, race, wealth, etc. Before we can transform our society we must awaken to the fact: WE ARE ALL HUMANS FIRST. If I see you as a human first, that is to say

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Further

We are one, after all, you and I. Together we suffer, together exist, and forever will re-create each other.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We can begin to build a society that focuses on the care of Us vs. Me first and “Frak” you! Otherwise we will continue to create a world driven by control and fear. Think about it, if we see ourselves as humans first, would we be talking about providing health care for all vs those who can afford it.  Or leave our health care up to those who would put profit and  self interest above all, an embracing of Objectivism and unbridled Capitalism. How has the worked out for us thus far?  A society based on and driven by a Monetary System will destroy itself in order to preserve that institution under the guise of freedom.

No form of government will stop this implosion, only awareness and a willingness to move to a system (See A Resourced Based Economy) that will work for All Humans. Wake up! our problems are not the creation of others, rather the creation of  all of Us.  We can start by just becoming aware of who we are

Peace and Love

A Better Way

Hey All

I wanted to share this really great lecture that Peter Joesph did from the Zeitgeist Movement and the Venus Project in the UK back in July.  In fact I would invite you to take some time and look at it and talk about it.  What I and my discussion group did was to look at it and then talk about it, we had a pretty lively discussion from “All these guys are communist and socialists, like Obama” to “Wow, we really need to wake up and do something”

Here, Check this out. You Owe it to yourself to become aware of what is:

I think most, walked away with a sense of how corrupt (Dysfunctional and prone to failure) the monetary system is, regardless of  what school of economics one ascribes too. It truly does serve a few and enslave the many. People who say that a Resource Based Economy is a form of Socialism and Communism forget that these systems were also based on a monetary system and were just as corrupt. I know, its hard for us to accept what our monetary system really is. We have been indoctrinated from birth to serve this system, we were told to “Get a great education, get a great paying job (Or Start a Business) and find a great wife/husband to marry, have some kids and start the whole process over again. “Oh yeah” lets not forget about working all your life, so you can retire and hope there is enough to live off of. For those of us raised in the Christian Church or  religious households, we can add “Obey and Love God” to the equation.  Of course God, the Universe, or what have you did not create the monetary system, we did. God has no need to create anything that stratifies and separates, we have done this all on our own.

The point of awareness for me was

Without social economic stratification, there could be no poverty; for one to be rich someone has to be poor, for how would one know the difference

Think about this, we have created a society based on stratification (Upper Class, The Middle Class and the Working Class, etc) where we measure one’s standing based on education and purchasing power. We, as pointed out in this lecture have created the means of production via planned obsolescence and inefficiency.  Think about what would happen to the auto industry if they built a vehicle that lasted more than thirty years with upgrades and self repairing systems designed into it. A vehicle that did not require fossil fuels to power it. How long would they be in business? including the supplier chain that is fed by it, the after-market and auto repair shops. Their is no way they could survive (Unless they sold this super car for a Million Bucks perhaps, but then who would buy it, who could afford it) within our current system with this kind of built-in efficiency and the removal of planned obsolescence. Keep in mind that this kind of efficiency and product quality would require a fully automated plant which would displace many workers from the assembly line. Thus without inefficiency (In the form of automation, technologies, efficient business processes, etc.)  there wouldn’t be enough jobs/labor for people to earn money to feed the economy via consumption.

Our monetary system is a drag on human progress and is time that we shrug off this antiquated system, grow up  and graduate to a system that will benefit all vs enslaving many. I’m not talking about a Utopia like is found in the Twenty First chapter of the Book of Revelations.  Although, beautiful in its composition and poetry, like most Utopias, they are static and are built on myths and fantasies.

We believe it is now possible to achieve a society where people would be able to live longer, healthier, and more meaningful productive lives. In such a society, the measure of success would be based upon the fulfillment of one’s individual pursuits rather than the acquisition of wealth, property, and power.

Jacque Fresco

Finally, I leave this very moving Video called ”Love Only Love” written by Imaj & Ron Grimes for your viewing pleasure. It is hope that it moves you as it has moved me, Peace and Love

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