99% VS. 1%

With this occupy movement going on, you hear people talking about the 1% VS. the 99%. What really is the 1% or 99% anyway ? So many people relate these terms just to money wealth alone. I would add another angle to the terms. To me the term 1% has at least two elements involved, money and the right connections.

If you have X amount of money and can influence a government (local or federal) to pass any kind of law to fit your needs or your companies needs, then you’re in the 1%. If you have X amount of money yet you do not have any connections to have laws passed, then you are not in the 1%. Look at the entertainment and athletic industries for instance. You take the actors/actresses and musicians and athletes. Do they make a good amount of money ? Yes they do. Can they have laws passed to help their own gains ? I think not.

Now let’s take the movie executives and the owners of sports teams. They have great wealth and have connections to have laws passed to help their own gain. They have local governments give them tax breaks to build new facilities when they can pay for it themselves. They have all kinds of tax exempt laws in their favor, or they also get revenue sharing and so on. This also goes for big corporations. They get tax breaks to build in towns or cities, yet they make enough money to pay for it themselves.

Do you get tax breaks to build your home in cities ? No you end up paying more or covering their (1%) tax cuts. Personal wealth does not alone make you the 1%. It’s almost like the ones who do fall into the 1% act like the mafia. They are little chickens who have others do their dirty work. The 1% hitmen are the government officials who pass laws to help them out.

When someone who is in the 1% says , ” don’t blame wall street , blame Washington”. They are right to say that to a point. It was Wall street who puts the pressure on their buddies to pass the laws. It is the spineless people in Washington who cave and have the laws passed. These laws only help Wall street, that is why we are ion the mess we are in. The laws are to discourage competition , because the top brass are punks and are afraid of the mom and pop stores.

All of this in this blog post is my opinion, these are not facts. I promote personal wealth, we all need to live and have chances . The 1% have made both almost impossible any more with the laws .

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. ( Benjamin Disraeli ).

Have To Say My Piece About The Global Revolution & Occupy .

I have been watching the Global Revolution and Occupy Wall Street for the last few weeks. What I have noticed on LIVE stream and what the T.V. stations are reporting are two polar opposites. What I have learned first hand is the stations on T.V. will out-and-out lie and not even blink twice about it. That to me says they do that so much they think they tell the truth the whole time.

Now on to what I have been thinking about. I hear all of these stories how C.E.O.’s are so smart and know how to run things, yet they seem to have a problem with living off of 1 million a year, so they lay off 20% of the workers to make 3 million a year. If the C.E.O.’s of America are so smart, how come they can not live off of $10.00 an hour like 40% of the work force?

Why is it when America needs to “sacrifice” the C.E.O.’s make cuts on the $10.oo an hour workers and give themselves bonuses ? Yet when we the working poor ( I’m currently a jobless parent ) make a suggestion that they take a pay cut or pay a little more in taxes, we are starting a class warfare ? Or we are engaging in wealth distribution ? Are these ” smart” C.E.O.’s who lay people off so they get bonuses practicing wealth distribution by taking the money that would go to the $10.00 an hour worker and giving it to themselves?

I say this the smartest people and the hardest workers are the ones who make $10.00 an hour, not the top few percent ( you have to know how to survive off of next to nothing). They “claim” to work hard, but most got to the top by who they knew not how hard they worked. They are part of the good ol boys network.

If $10.00 an hour is good enough for the people below the top percent, then it should be good enough for everyone. If a person can not live off of $60,000 a year, then they are not that smart. And like Herman Cain said ” now I don’t have the facts to back this up” but I think 40% of Americans make less than $60,000 a year ( I am mocking Herman Cain).

QOUTE OF THE DAY ; Progress comes from caring more about what needs to be done then about who gets the credit. (Dorothy Height).

 

Some Roller Coaster Rides Are Not Worth Riding.

How many of you have been on a roller coaster ride? You have all sorts of emotions in your stomach because of the up and down movement and the speed of the ride. How many of you have been in a part of your life that you have never been in before and had the same feeling ? Yet all you are doing is sitting on the couch.

Sometimes life is very much like a roller coaster ride. Try being laid off and not knowing if you will be able to pay your bills or even eat for that day. Some roller coaster rides you will have friends ride with you. Other rides the same friend will not ride with you. Then there are people who will ride with you and you would not even know they will be next to you until the ride comes up.

I have had talks with people who are in my shoes ( jobless and worried), and they are going on the same ride. They have noticed that “friends” that were around when we had a job are now gone and not found. Then there are family and friends who are even closer to you now than ever before. They now know we need that co-pilot now more than when we had a job and money.

Some people only want to be with you all for status reasons. If you ever fall into my roller coaster ride you will find out the hard way. It is a ride you will not like at all. You never will know who will ride with you until you stand in line for that one roller coaster ride. I know I am not the only one , but I am the only one who will post such thoughts.

Everyone needs to sit back and rethink about how they act during certain rides in life. This is a very scary ride to be on. All I hear from people is well I wish I could help. You will find out real fast, it’s not what you know but who you know in life. And sometimes the ones you do know are not worth knowing after all. Then there are those who are the best one to have around for the ride.

QOUTE OF THE DAY ; Decide to love and do what you like. (St. Augustine).

Use Your Tools The Right Way.

I have worked in many bodyshops. One thing I noticed is that tools do not make you a good painter or bodyman I have seen people with $30,000 worth of tools and yet they can not fix a dent right. I have seen bodymen with $1,000 worth of tools , yet they can replace a roof of a car with no problem.

Money is nothing but a tool to pay bills. Just because you may have a butt load of money, does not mean you are good with your tools. Look at the governments of this world. Look at all the rich people going broke or needing more just to ” survive”. Yet there are unemployed and poor people out there making it work everyday. People need to learn to work with the tools they have. If you do not have the knowledge to use the tools, then you will never be able to fix your problems.

Remember money is just a tool, not a toy. Learn how to use your tools so you do not need more tools (GREED ) to fix an easy problem.

There are those out there who do not have the right amount of knowledge yet they have the tools, and there are those who have the knowledge and not enough tools.

http://www.zazzle.com/stop_the_greed_bumper_sticker-128201787960584872

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; There is only one success-to be able to spend your life in your own way. (Christopher Morley ).

Cheap plug today

I have not done a blog in a few days. I will how ever be doing one soon. I just need some time to think and get one in my head. Until then here are some EBOOKS you can get and/or share with others. Until next time enjoy. I hope you help advertise these by word of mouth or posting the links where ever you can Thank you for all the help.

FREE http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/86645

YOU NAME THE PRICE http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/87021

$.99 http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/86155

$1.01 http://www.amazon.com/Wet-Behind-The-Ears-ebook/dp/B005KXLC8G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315600107&sr=8-2

$1.01 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1105335741

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving dinner with the crazy family members.

How many times have you been to a family gathering and you got the family members who drive you crazy ? You know the two uncles who argue that one is smarter or stronger than the other ? Yet they have the same GPA or can lift the same amount of weight , just on different days. Or that uncle who walks in with a twelve pack of beer ? By the fourth beer he is funny ,yet not loud and obnoxious yet. By the eighth beer you want him to shut up because the stuff he says makes no sense . He is very loud and the only one laughing at his jokes , or the only one who answers his own questions .

Everytime I hear a Republican or Democrat talk, they are the exact way like those two uncles who argue as to who is better. Both parties while on T.V. or on the radio sound just the same. They have the same ideas , same complaints of the other party. They both sound like a bunch of babies who can not get their way at the dinner table.

Then you have the Tea Party. They say such crazy wacky things ,they remind me of that drunk uncle who is funny at first then turns into a pain in the neck. When they talk at first you kinda giggle to yourself , but 3 minutes into their talking you hope they get a bug in their throat so they shut up.

We are the people who sits at the kids table ( voters with no voice in the matter ) , and gets to hear all of the loud noise as we try to watch the football game. How come this country has turned into a crazy Thanksgiving Dinner and not a peaceful family get together ?

Next time they are talking , close your eyes and forget the (R), (D) , or (I) behind the name. You will not be able to tell the clowns apart. Maybe that is why the Beltway around Washington D.C. is a circle, they keep chasing each other around the dinner table. They get nothing done but make us kids at the kiddie table ( voters ) mad and not want to finish dinner ( listen to the fools talk).

For you who are the ones who believe what your uncles are saying is true at the dinner , then you are the cousin who goes out back and smokes your weed you have in your back pocket .

Let’s hope we start having a normal Thanksgiving Dinner some time soon. Or most of this country will not be able to eat dinner at all.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; Most people don’t aim to high and miss , they aim to low and hit . ( Bob Moawad ).

It’s not where you live , but how you live.

So many times I see these cars go zipping past me like they are being chased by someone. But then I see what direction they are headed and the type of car they are driving. Most of th cars are of the B.M.W. type and they are headed to the area of town that have $500,000 homes or higher.

The drivers have this look on their face like they are frightened because they are in an area that does not meet their standard of income ( poor folk ). I bet they got this idea that because they are in my part of town, that we are crooks or we give a crap about them. Let me clarify one thing, we got our own problems and don’t give a hoot about your tight wad butt. Just because people live in rich areas does not mean they are saints or in a crimeless area.

Yes my neck of the woods is rough , but in the rich part of town there are many crooks. They do steal in a subtle way, they will not pay taxes, they will lay you off and send your job overseas ( and say they are patriotic ). Or they have work done to their yard or house and then refuse to pay in full because they are dissatisfied ( so they say ). All of this is done out of greed. How much more money does a person need to live ?

In my neck of the woods people will steal, rob right out in the open and not be subtle about it. Most of the time it’s done out of survival because of the unemployment rate due to the folk farther west ( who drive real fast in my neighborhood out of fear ).

Both ways of doing the stealing are way wrong . It’s not where you live but how you live. There are a lot of law-abiding people in my town who just want to be left alone and be happy .  Just like how there are happy law-abiding people to the west of my town. But us poor folk don’t drive fast to leave your town. We drive the speed limit, if we don’t the cops in the rich town will jack with yah. I know because I have been pulled over and questioned because of the car I drive. I don’t ” fit in” is what the cops tell me. So you tell me , who should be more afraid when not in their neighborhood ? The rich who drive like a bat out of hell , or the poor who just wanna get home?

It’s not where you live , but how you live.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; Most of us are so busy doing what we think we have to do , that we do not think about what we really want to do .  ( Robert Percival ).

Land of the Lost.

If you are ever lost in an area you are not familiar with, act like you know where you are going. From all of my years on this crazy planet , I have seen some evil things happen to lost souls . How many of you out there have been lost and asked for directions ? If you are reading this or got to where you are going , then you are one of the lucky ones.

I have always said ” if you are lost , you are not “. That means act like you are part of the community and like you know what you are doing or going. I say this because too many times people can sense when a person is lost or scared and will jack with you. Like how dogs smell fear and attack. If you are in a city and your actions show you are not from there , you will get hooked ( robbed or attacked). How many times does you hear stories on news about out of towners getting slid on ? Or people disappearing and never seen again ? Don’t ever act lost and think you will be okay . Yes there are good people out there in this world , but times are tough and people are desperate and will act nuttier  now then ever before .  Never show fear or the dog ( crook ) will jump on you .

If you ask for help, the person helping may be leading you into a bear trap you can not get out of. So find your own way out of the woods .  Back track if you have to or keep stepping in the same line you was going into . This is good advice for any time in your life . Go with your gut feelings and stay the course . Just because your neighborhood or little town is cool, does not mean the other areas will be kind to you. I may not have a college degree , but I do know how to act like I am from your neck of the woods. You got to act like a chameleon and blend in .  Have a back up plan for lost times .

This is just my advice and not all advice works for everyone. Be safe and enjoy life . Stop the hate .

QOUTE OF THE DAY ; At least once a day , allow yourself the freedom to think and dream for yourself . ( Albert Einstein ).

Little kid in big man shoes.

As a young child, did you ever have those days when people would come up to you and have a problem with you ? You would be in a class and someone would say ” you are hard to deal with”. Then you go to the next class and you hear the same thing . By the end of the day 10 different people who have nothing to do with each other have said the same thing. Well the problem is not them, it’s you. But if it is just one person saying negative stuff to you, then it’s not you but them that has the issue.

THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE LIKE NOW !!

Well there are days after me being laid off, I feel like that little kid in school . I have applied to over 60 jobs . Yesterday was my first interview. It did not go well. After they had me fill out the application, they had me go into the office. First thing they said was ” this is not going to work out, you are wasting my time”. I was told I should be a salesman and not work in a plant and that they did the interview out of “kindness”. As I left I was only thinking ” what is wrong with me”?

I got to thinking, the problem is not me this time with so many companies saying the same thing. Because a lot of others ( people looking for work ) are in my same shoes. I have heard the same stories from different people saying the same thing. So this time, it’s  the people saying you/we are not good enough that has the problem. So we ( the unemployed or under employed) need to stick together and stand strong.

The problem is the corporations , they use the same excuse for different people they know nothing about. Now if all the corporations knew the people then maybe the problem is us, the ones looking for work. Or if they had different excuses for not hiring different people , then it may be us , but different people from all over the country hear the same song and dance. We are not the little kid with the bad attitude in school this time. The people looking for workers are the ones with the “hard to deal with ” persona .

This time the problem is not you ,  so hold your head up and keep digging away people . The power will be in our hands in the future .

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual , you have an obligation to be one . ( Eleanor Roosevelt ).

Play ball and watch T.V. shows after the game.

How many of you watch sporting events ? How many have watched an interview for a pregame ? The coach that says we are going to stick with what got us here wins 95% of the time . Right ? How many times do you see a sports team that keeps changing their game plan or strategy and they keep losing? I would say over 80% of the teams that keep losing do a lot of last-minute game changes .

That is how I am seeing this job market, and so are a bunch of my friends ( we all have the losing coach who has no idea what he is doing ). The stories I hear no matter where the person lives sounds so much like what any person is going through. Just like yesterday, I had to take a 4 hour test. The test was a hurdle I was told I had to jump just to maybe have a chance at my first interview. I took the test, and after I was done I was told , ” you did not need to take the test , it is not a requirement anymore. ” I was also told to redo my Resume for the fourth time in the last month.

There was others in this test room saying they have been told 5 different stories as what they need to do to get into a class. They acted like they were mad and to good for the run around . They lived in the Mission Hills District ( old money , hand me down homes ) of Kansas City, homes in that area cost one million or better. They are not used to having to claw and struggle like this, I could tell by their attitude towards the ” system”. People in my economic system or jobless situation are used to the ” game changers”. We are always told to adjust and adapt.

I have friends who live on the west coast who are going through the same thing. They will do whats asked of them , and then when they do it, they are told they wasted their time because it was not required anymore.

This is why the working poor, jobless, and people trying to transition are losing . The American economy is hurting from these game changing rules as well. The powers that be ( whether head hunters or employers ) , keep changing the game plan and no one wins. If these decision makers were to be coaches of a sports team, they would be 1-30 , and in the soup line with me or you.  It is time the job market gets winning coaches so we all win in the end. Because there are more then enough ball players who want to play ball.

It is evident that the  coaches of the job market will be changing the game plan every hour on the hour. So the only way we can deal with this is act like a leaf blowing in the wind. We just need to be free and go where the wind blows and hope we land in a nice shaded area so we don’t get burned by the sun ( end up homeless because we did not land that job ).

The only people unwilling to change with us are the ones making up the rules as the game goes on, and they act like we are the difficult ones. But we grin and go along, hoping we get the career or job we want.

Lets all of us hope we are in a game with a winning coach who sticks with the game plan that got him to the championship game ( stop changing the system for job seekers ). That way America wins and the team we are with wins and carries the trophy home ( land that job ).

Shows I recommend to watch to forget about this crazy world : Family Guy , American Dad, South Park, The Office , Parks and Recreation , The Daily Show with John Stewart , The Colbert Report.. All of these shows make me laugh.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ;If you won’t be better tomorrow then you were today , then what do you need tomorrow for ? ( Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav ).