Squirrely Corporations

Did Congress Kill the Debit Card?

I've discovered a fondness for squirrels lately, so I don't like to malign them by using their species in a negative way, but here is another example of how the corporations like to grab hold of our money and not let go.

The government tried to help out consumers by putting a cap on the fees banks could get from retailers for Debit Card use. 
Leave it to the corporations to find a way to make sure they get their money; they're making up the revenue difference from retailers by charging customers directly when they use their debit card.  It starts at Bank of America.  Next?  Who knows.

The person who wrote the article linked above blames the government.  I blame the corporations.

All My Children and One Life to Live

Friday saw the end of All My Children.  I was prepared to be nostalgic.  I wanted to be saddened that the show was going off the air.  But, the way they left me?  Bah!  Screw 'em.
Not only a ripoff of Gone With The Wind when Jackson finally walked out on Erica, but a Dallas/Who Shot JR twisteroo ripoff becoming Who did JR Shoot?  And on top of it, a ripoff of the Soprano's where the screen went to black.
Ugh.
The reason that show got cancelled is because whole backstories were changed and switched to suit the plot rather than developing plot from the true characters.
I ignored that because I wanted to enjoy the show.  I held on until the last episode because I'd hoped it would go out with poignancy and give all the rest meaning.
It didn't.
Grrr...

As far as One Life To Live...well, this was my more favorite show of the two.
Yet - on Friday we discovered that Shane killed Victor Lord, Jr.
Wow - think about this:  In the last six months...
1.  Teenager Matthew killed Eddie Ford.  He got away with it because his mother is the District Attorney and his father is the Chief of Police and then he suffered traumatic brain injury leading to coma when he was sucker punched by the son of Eddie Ford, another teenager.  The son hadn't even met Eddie Ford as his father until a month or two previous, but in the soap opera world blood is everything.  Even if you've never met the man, just finding out your blood related means people will say to you "but, he's your father, you have to protect him/love him/talk to him..."  blah, blah, blah.  Ugh.
2.  Teenager Jack Manning killed Gigi Morasco (by setting up a prank that went bad) and got away with it when Victor Lord, Jr (who thought he was Todd Manning at the time) paid a lot of money to the father of another boy to admit he was the one who setup the situation that caused the accident.  Imagine a father convincing his son to admit to a crime he didn't commit so he can get some money - unbelievable!
3.  Teenager Shane Morasco killed Victor Lord, Jr.

In just a few months FOUR TEENAGERS have caused the death or coma of three adults and one teenager. 
I don't feel good about this trend.
It's ugly and lazy; lazy writing.
I will accept that maybe they've had to create some pretty wild resolutions just to bring them to a more speedy conclusion since the show will be be off the air at the end of the year.  I'd like to give them a break and wait to see what they have in store, but I've been burned by AMC, so I'm less inclined.  I'll keep my eye on it through to the end, but I'm disgusted by what they're creating.

Update 12/10/2011...I guess Shane didn't kill Victor Lord, Jr, but my disappointment with the writing and storylines and changing whole backstories and motivations from day to day has increased.  I'm not surprised the 'stories' are going off the air with this kind of writing.  Sad.

Faster Than The Speed of Light

What if this is the first mass media headline related to the beginning of our Brave New World?!
Cool.

The Anderson Institute:  Innovation and Excellence in Time Technology

I'll be back. See? I'm coming back!

What a great picture!  He looks like all you'd expect of a Russian spy in a John LeCarre novel.
Vladimir Putin will run for the Russian Presidency in 2012.

Even though he has a firm hand, controls the media, and limits political opposition, I would rather deal with a politico than an idealogue.
Although once a person has that much power, they could easily turn into an idealogue.

It's just a big pendulum that keeps on swinging.

Government getting out of the way...

The Titanic is an example of government getting out of the way of the free market.
http://www.titanicuniverse.com/

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is an example of government getting out of the way of the free market.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire

The Financial Crisis of 2008 is an example of government getting out of the way of the free market.
The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 partially repealed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999


Government alone doesn't prevent all disasters and catastrophes - but it cuts down on the instances in which individual citizens are taken advantage of by powerful, monied interests.

Looking back...

"Reflecting Absence"

The National September 11 Memorial is a tribute of remembrance and honor to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.

(2977 people killed on 9/11/01, and 6 in 1993)

The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations.

The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools, a powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history.

9/11 Memorial website

I have tried to come up with a clear, concise statement of what the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 means to me.

I can't.

I have sympathy for the personal stories of loss, and I'm filled with awe and appreciation for the courage displayed by regular folk caught in the unlikely horror.  

At the same time, in the days, months, and years that followed, the dignity of the personal stories was co-opted by the media and political idealogues to make money and hold onto power, without regard for truth or nuance.

I have some bitterness about that.

As Fareed Zakaria said in today's GPS on CNN:

Fifty years from now we might even look at 9/11 as simply the beginning of the decline of America as the world's unrivaled hegemon.  On the day before 9/11, the United States was at peace, had a large budget surplus (128 billion) and oil was trading at $28/barrel.  Today the United States is engaged in military operations across the globe, has a deficit of 1.5 trillion dollars, the largest in it's history, and oil is at $115/barrel.

In the Seattle Times, Jon Talton writes:

In attacking the United States 10 years ago, one of Osama bin Laden's major goals was to provoke a hysterical American overreaction that would begin bleeding the nation into economic ruin.
Mission accomplished?
In 2001, the federal government was enjoying its second straight fiscal-year surplus.  The Congressional Budget Office projected the surpluses would grow to almost $700 billion by 2009.  Hard as it is to believe now, the government announced in October 2001 that it would discontinue selling the 30 year bond because it wouldn't need the money.  Although Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, the American invasion was sold as part of a larger "war on terror" which now includes the war in Afghanistan.  The wars, as well as other increased military spending, costs $1.469 trillion through the 2009 fiscal year, helping turn surpluses into deficit, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  

Not to mention the attack on civil liberties, escalating negative rhetoric, and our esteem in the rest of the world.  

I don't think the United States reacted well after 9/11. Its been sad and frustrating.  

To remember the best of the United States, read the personal stories of courage displayed by victims and survivors of the attack on America September 11. 2011.

But, don't forget, the worst of the United States has become evident as well; reactionary, fearful, easily manipulated, controlled by corporations, and revenge-seeking.  

In the end, I hope it's the best of us that we carry into tomorrow.  

Stuff I was thinking about...with some generalizations, but I think the idea is right.

I don't understand why people are complaining that there are no jobs while at the same time the right wing is doing everything it can to stop the government from spending money that could create jobs.
The right wing says the problem is the government is in the way of entrepreneurs who are eager to create new companies or expand, but are stymied by corporate and employer taxes and regulations they're forced to follow.
The conservative right think the entrepreneurs and people who create jobs are people and corporations who already have a lot of money.  They want taxes for rich people and corporations decreased so the wealthy will have more money to spend to create more companies and jobs.  If only the government wouldn't hamper them.
I don't think so.
More often than not, the goal of rich people/corporations is to keep their money/market share.  They don't want to lose what they've already gained.  They have less of an incentive to take a chance and jump into new markets.
I think it's poor or middle class people who make big changes in the jobs market.  They have a big incentive to create new markets and new products and new companies because they want to move from the lower or middle economic classes to the wealthier class.  They are willing to take chances.  These are the entrepreneurs.
It makes sense to give the lower and middle classes an economic break. 

In order for people from lower or middle classes to break out and create jobs, they have to be educated.  The government has a vested interest in making sure all the young people in our society have a good eduation.  They should at least learn how to be critical thinkers.  Think how much time we would have saved in the current political climate if more people had learned how to be critical thinkers.  I wonder if its a coincidence that so many of our population can be manipulated by misinformation in the one or two generations after people started fleeing the public school system? 
We all lose when we live in an uneducated society.  That seems like a no brainer to me.  Why is it an issue?  Pay for schools.

I wonder how much of the old money in our country was originally helped by government research and funding?  How many companies that began in the last century were helped by NASA?  The Internet began from a government project. 

The rich people forget that they didn't get there alone.  Even if the government didn't directly help them, people who are helped by the government were their customers.  The reason many poor people have money to buy things is because of government aid. 

I have to wonder, as well, if maybe there aren't enough jobs because there isn't enough to do.  It's not that long ago that most women were not in the work force.  Now, we are.  And older people left the workforce more quickly.  Now we don't. 
Maybe we should look at the problem a little differently.  If families could survive on less, maybe less people would need to work and everyone who had to work could be employed. 

A big drain on a family's budget is health care costs.
Which is why Obama wanted the Health Care bill. 
And round and round we go.

I'm done for now.