The Future is Here - What Are You Afraid Of? 11 Simple Steps to Release Fear and Move Forward

We are bombarded every day with information and images warning of approaching disasters. I'm not just talking about the collapse of the housing market and the world banks or fluctuating gas prices and rampant unemployment. While these are major disasters in and of themselves, they are minor compared to some of the things looming on the horizon.

Here are some of the challenges we may face in the near future:

The NIAID - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease - part of the National Institute of Health (NIH) conducts and supports research to understand, treat, and ultimately prevent the myriad infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases that threaten hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Here's the short list of the diseases being looked at: anthrax, antimicrobial resistant, botulism, dengue fever, E. Coli, group A streptococcal infections, Lyme disease, SARS, salmonella, shingles, smallpox, tularemia, West Nile, botulism, plague (Yersinia Pestis), viral hemorrhagic fevers, Lassa viruses, hanta viruses, Ebola, tick borne hemorrhagic fever viruses, yellow fever, tick born encephalitis viruses, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, multi drug resistant TB, and influenza.

An article on the NIAID website for the C.W. Bill Young Center for Biodefence and Emerging Infectious Diseases notes that there are about 275 BioSaftety Level 3 laboratories in the U.S. Designed to conduct research on infectious agents. BSL 3's are specifically constructed to prevent scientists and the environment from being exposed to these agents. In addition BSL Level 2 labs are in place to study viruses and agents that effect humans and can be cured with treatment.

We have only to look to Hollywood to know that these concerns are not limited to the scientific community. Movies such as I Am Legend, Twelve Monkeys and Outbreak speak to our fears and feelings of helplessness when it comes to this invisible threat. Based on the information above, it's safe to say that our government is a bit concerned as well.

At the writing of this article, there are 6.874 billion people in the world and growing by 1 birth every 3 seconds. The increase in global population will strain all our shared resources specifically our food and water supplies. In April of 2008, we saw rice shortages threaten the lives and economies of Pakistan, India and China which set off a shoppers panic in the U.S. Sam's club had to limit the amounts of rice and flour members could purchase as a result.

According the University of Arizona's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, "the World Bank reports that 80 countries now have water shortages that threaten health and economies while 40 percent of the world - more than 2 billion people - have no access to clean water or sanitation." At home, ground water in the U.S. is threatened by industrial, agricultural and household pollution, making it either impossible or too costly to purify for individual use. Fifty years ago household water came from wells dug on the home owner's property. Water was referred to as "well water" or "city water", the latter referring to water pumped into the city from a suburb or rural area. Today well water is no longer an option.

Megan Mansell Williams, in the January 9, 2008 issue of Discover Magazine, notes that male minnows possessing female characteristics had produced eggs as a result of the hormones from human birth control pills in their water. She also noted that the minnow populations in local waters studied at the Canadian Rivers Institute at University of New Brunswick were now extinct as a result of this pollution. We must also consider the impact on the larger fish, animal and human populations who ate these minnows before they died off. By the time the impact is discovered and measured it is already too late - the damage has been done. We have to wonder what we are eating today that will come back to haunt us tomorrow?

It appears as though our eco-systems have reached tipping points after decades of irresponsible actions and lack of protection from the fiscal bottom line. If we continue to act under the premise that it is less costly to be reactive than proactive, we will continue to see the consequences of those choices.

To this list of concerns we must also add all the catastrophic 2012 predictions circulating such as gravitational shifts, collapsing infrastructures, disturbed weather patterns, etc. These are also real concerns and have been addressed in previous articles.

So what can we do about all these fear inducing facts? We must first recognize them. Survival fears are the strongest. They will seek a place to anchor themselves in your psyche and urge you to take action. However, you may be thinking, "but what can I do?"

Taking action gives us a sense of control and empowerment; it eliminates the feeling of helplessness in the face of looming disaster. Take action by being prepared. Choose an area to begin with such as clean water, clean air, whole food, healthy body, positive mind. Make a list and focus on one thing at a time rather than trying to do everything at once. If you allow yourself to become overwhelmed, you'll give up and that won't help anyone.

Here are some guidelines to help you:

1. Begin an exercise regime that you can live with. Start small and stay with it. A healthy balanced body at any weight will have a stronger immune system. Your body will function more efficiently and you'll feel better too.

2. Invest in a personal water purification system, preferably one that works without electricity. Those living in densely populated areas or places prone to flooding will especially want to have clean water available to them in the event of sudden storms, etc.

3. Change diet and shopping habits to include foods that give more nutrition value for your dollar. Although cheap processed and sugar filled foods will fill you up but have little nutrition. I'm not saying live on sprouts and juiced vegetables alone, just make some substitutions. Experiment with your diet, try new things.

4. Start a garden in your yard or window box and grow your favorite food. Healthy unmodified seeds can be purchased on line so you won't be forced to use commercial products to produce the results you want. Get the neighbors involved and share your harvest, everyone loves home grown tomatoes and veges.

5. Create or update disaster preparedness kits for your locale. If you already have one, be sure nothing has expired and that your pets are included in your plan. Place insurance information and passports with cash in safe deposit boxes. This will speed the process up if you need to file claims and confirm your identity.

6. Invest in a healing modality that works quickly and effectively as a preventative against all those diseases. I recommend Soma Pi because I teach it and have used it for years. Find what works for you and then work it. You'll save money in the form of insurance co-payments and sick time at work as well as the costly medical treatments you won't need.

7. Use your intuition to determine whether or not you need flu shots or other vaccines. Remember that every medication has the potential for adverse side effects and will want to know if you are in the small percentage that will have them.

8. Strengthen your connection to your inner truth. Hone your intuitive skills to make correct decisions for yourself and help those you love with theirs. When you know what's right for you, fear goes away.

9. Develop a skill that will be useful to others like cooking, playing music, building, growing food, healing, singing, sewing, etc. Be of service to others. When you are helping others you become part of a greater community that in turn supports you. Share your talents and give without the expectation of reward and you'll feel better about the future.

10. Laugh fully and regularly - laughter is a wonderful way to dispel fear. It provides a vehicle to release all that pent up anxiety from the body. It is cleansing, healing and just plain fun. Besides who wants to survive the future with a dour sour mirthless person next to them?

11. Pray or connect with God daily. Without prayer and a connection to God we are floated helplessly throughout the universe with no guidance or safety net. When you are connected to God, you know that that you are safe and secure. Fear can't exist in the same space a God, so keep God in your mind and fear will be gone.

Remember that there will always be something "out there" that can get you. It is unproductive and crippling to worry about each and everything that comes along. Although the media works hard to keep us constantly informed of all the current terrible horrible life threatening possibilities just waiting to destroy us, resist the urge to buy in to that way of thinking and living. Start at the bottom on my list with prayer and work your way back into a fearless healthy life in community with others.

Susan Zummo is a highly motivated and qualified teacher of higher awareness. She is one of only three certified Perceptive Awareness Technique, Inc. (P.A.T.) facilitators and Soma Pi? healing teachers in the world today. Susan, an Integrated Awareness graduate with over 20 years of experience, has been helping clients connect with their Higher Mind through Intuitive Counseling sessions, P.A.T. seminars and healing workshops. Susan became a P.A.T. facilitator 9 years ago and has helped many students gain access to their intuition via soul contact. Her teachings have helped her workshop attendees to reinforce their belief in self and their connection to a higher source. Susan's workshop participants regard her as one of the most committed and positive spiritual teachers they have had the fortune to meet. Susan's professionalism and compassion are her trademarks. Most of her students come to her through the glowing recommendations of former students. For more information on classes and private sessions contact Susan by email: susanzummo@verizon.net; on line at: http://www.susanzummo.com

Rainmaking Secrets Made Simple

Did you ever wonder what your most effective business development tool is? Stand in front of the nearest mirror to find out. No one can sell you or your practice better than you.

Today, many law practices are reaping the benefits of developing active speaker programs and expanding their public relations objectives through speaking engagements. Whether you realize it or not, you're already "presenting" yourself and your practice on a daily basis by speaking at meetings, client presentations, community groups, bar functions and seminars. Presentations are a sophisticated form of marketing and they are particularly suited to marketing legal services. They often result in generating new clients while providing increased awareness of the firm and its specialty areas. Here are the top four reasons to use presentations as a marketing tool.

1. Giving a presentation positions you as the expert on a particular topic. Just as writing a book or article lends credibility to the author, speaking helps you build your status as an expert. There is a viral marketing effect at work--the more you speak, the more people see your name. The more people see your name, the more positioned as an expert you become. The more positioned as an expert you become, the more you are invited to speak and so on. In addition to increased visibility, your credibility is also established by the sponsoring organization that has invited you to speak to their group.

Bob Nabors is a partner with Nabors, Giblin and Nickerson, P.A., a statewide firm of 23 attorneys, with offices in Tampa, Orlando and Tallahassee, Florida. His firm represents predominantly local governments and state agencies in finance and tax matters. "We do what is called traditional bond counsel or tax exempt debt work and then we represent governments on a variety of local issues related to generating revenues and solving local problems."

Although he's been giving presentations and seminars for 35 years, he did not initially set out to use them as a marketing tool. He says, "It was really just to be involved in bar organizations and other groups. We would put on seminars. I served as special counsel to the Florida Association of Counties, and they put on seminars periodically as an educational tool for new commissioners, staff and county and city attorneys."

However, now his firm actively utilizes speaking engagements as a subtle form of marketing, with many of the attorneys making in-house presentations and teaching educational classes around the state.

Nabors' audience is generally county and city attorneys that have an interest in local government, elected officials, government staff, or a combination of all three. He has definitely obtained new clients out of these presentations. He says "By speaking at events, if people have a problem of a similar nature, it puts your name in front of them and they will maybe remember to ask for your help."

2. Presentations differentiate you from your competition. The person who can clearly express her ideas is seen as more intelligent and more self-confident than the person who stumbles through a disorganized presentation. When you're competing for business, a well-crafted presentation can give you the advantage. An attorney once told me that he was sure his firm was more successful in getting business because the people they chose to make their presentations were highly trained in presentation skills.

David W. Henry, a shareholder with Allen, Dyer, Doppelt, Milbrath & Gilchrist, P.A. of Orlando, Florida, has been doing speaking engagements for ten years. Approximately twelve times a year, he speaks to audiences that consist primarily of other lawyers and insurance industry personnel about insurance coverage, litigation topics, the role of insurance agents, and corporate culture building in the insurance industry.

He purposefully started making presentations as a marketing tool for his own practice in intellectual property and business litigation, and acquired one of the firm's largest clients through a speaking presentation he made in Texas several years ago. As a marketing strategy, Henry recommends that attorneys explore the possibilities for in-house presentations for companies that show up at association sponsored programs and events.

These days, Henry thoroughly enjoys speaking engagements because as he says "It gives me face time with people who are potential clients. I'm speaking to them for long periods of time and I connect with them in a way that I would not be able to do otherwise."

3. Presentations provide unique opportunities for interaction. Presentations provide you with an environment to capture and maintain audience attention for an extended period of time. Advertisements compete with other advertisements for mindshare, but when you can demonstrate benefits and make the material relevant to the audience in a presentation, you'll enjoy an unparalleled opportunity to make your singular message heard.

Ed Wright is a name partner with Stradley & Wright in Dallas, Texas, where he practices civil and personal injury litigation in a firm consisting of 11 attorneys. He was first encouraged to start making presentations about 20 years ago by one of his former law partners. Wright says that he has definitely brought clients to his practice through speaking engagements, either by someone who attended a presentation or referred him to another individual after the presentation.

Wright believes speaking presentations generate excellent publicity. Having your firm's name and logo on handouts that people can take back to their office will have a strong impact and is a great form of "free" advertising. He feels that an attorney who is just starting out securing speaking engagements would benefit from specialized training. He said that if he were just now starting this process, that would be the number one thing that he would do differently.

When asked what advice he would give to someone who was considering using speaking engagements as a marketing tool for his or her practice, he replied he would encourage them to contact the State Bar and local Bar Associations. For example, where he lives, the Dallas Bar Association has luncheon programs. "Try to get on the list and make a presentation. With the State Bar, or continuing legal education, just try to get on one of the committees and become a speaker."

4. Presentations are the most cost-effective marketing tool that you can use. They connect your key messages to your key audiences. Your audiences are often highly-qualified prospects. Because they already want to be there, you can focus on moving them further along the client-development process.

Joy Butler, a sole practitioner whose office is in Washington, DC, agrees. She initially began doing speaking engagements as a cost-effective marketing tool to promote a product called, "The Guide Through the Legal Jungle Audiobook Series." Presentations have played a key role in the development of her law practice as she speaks on topics related to her practice areas of entertainment, intellectual property and business law. Her audience generally consists of attorneys, musicians, artists, writers, film and television producers, small business owners, entrepreneurs and entertainment business professionals.

Joy said that when she was a junior associate practicing with a firm, she observed that many of the partners used speaking engagements as a way of generating business." She says, "Presentations make a more permanent impact than direct mail or media advertising. Someone who sits and listens to you talk for an hour will remember you more readily when seeking legal counsel than someone who saw your advertisement in a trade magazine."

The evidence is clear: Presentations are one of the most effective, economical and image-enhancing ways to market your services. To implement this strategy and begin using presentations as part of your business development process, keep the following in mind:

First, Make certain you have the requisite skills as a presenter

Experience doesn't necessarily translate into proficiency. We've been driving for most of our adult lives. Does that qualify us to race in the Indianapolis 500? We'd be taking our life in our own hands when we got behind the wheel. Yet many take their professional lives in their own hands when they get behind the lectern to speak without the appropriate skills.

The only thing worse than not speaking is speaking poorly. Don't equate knowledge of the law with proficiency in communicating it. Organization of the content, the way the speaker adapts it to a particular audience, defining a strategic goal in presenting the content and how it is delivered all play equally important roles. The principle of synergy is at work in presentations--the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Some presenters may exhibit excellent delivery. Others may have the latest in visual aids. Some may possess such expertise in their field that their knowledge of the topic is superior to all others. However, without the integration of these various parts into a coherent whole, the presentation will always fall short of optimal performance.

Henry, the Florida attorney mentioned earlier, feels that everyone should receive specialized training to make good presentations because, "It's not a naturally occurring act to get up in front of 500 people with a microphone and start talking."

Second, Don't substitute technology for strategy

Although sophisticated software presentation programs are becoming the norm in many professional presentations, remember that your visual aids should be support for the message, not a substitute. Forget the bells and whistles, and focus on your message. Don't use your slide show as a teleprompter by reading lines of text. Quotations and long text passages are meant to be read, not viewed. Too much emphasis on the visuals will steal audience attention away from you. You should be able to give your presentation effectively even if all the technology fails. Invest time in learning the principles of effective visuals and apply them to your presentations.

Third, Actively market your presentations.

Develop a strategic plan for how you'll get in front of audiences. Offer to make presentations or be a panelist for non-profit organizations, local or regional chapters of associations, professional and industry trade groups, and academic institutions. Search for groups that have an interest in your specialty and can benefit from your expertise. You can also find speaking opportunities through national or international conferences and workshops. Keep in mind that your audience will include members of other organizations and associations, who may want to refer you as a presenter to their own group.

When you've booked a presentation, be sure the event organizer or your firm sends a press release to the local newspaper or radio talk show. This is free publicity that puts your name and the firm's name in front of people, and will bring in other people who share an interest in your topic.

More and more attorneys and law firms are recognizing the importance of making presentations for business development. As the competition increases, it's important to learn how to effectively present yourself and/or your firm. You can begin by reading articles and books on effective communication. The next step would be to find groups where you can practice your message. Toastmasters provides a supportive environment that can also help you overcome any communication anxiety. Their highly structured format provides limited opportunities for speeches over ten minutes in length, but you'll gain confidence and experience. The greatest level of involvement, and the one that will produce the quickest results, is working with a presentation coach. The right coach can help to refine your key messages, suggest techniques to better connect with target audiences, and polish your presentation skills. Wherever you decide to start, you'll be on your way to implementing a powerful new marketing tool.

Dr. Joseph Sommerville (Sommerville@PeakCP.com) is the Principal of Peak Communication Performance, a Houston-based firm that shows attorneys how to use presentations as productive business development tools. Contact him at 1.800.420.5443

10 Simple Things That Will Improve the Average American's Life

"The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes. Change is the one quality we can predicate of it. The systems that fail are those that rely on the permanency of human nature, and not on its growth and development. The error of Louis XIV was that he thought human nature would always be the same. The result of his error was the French Revolution. It was an admirable result." Oscar Wilde

Some time back I wrote about the possibility of a repeat of the French Revolution in the US. The US under the Bush Administration had pushed the limits of greed and corruption while veiling their actions in secrecy. Society has always existed in a semi stable stage of class warfare. Since the Reagan Revolution government policies have favored the wealthy and large corporate interests over that of the middle class to determent of all.

The wealth of the US and the world is built on the backs of the middle class. Yes, innovation comes from the very few and creates wealth beyond belief. Yet without a broad market all the innovation in the world will not find a sales outlet. The proper feedback from the creation to the consumption of product is what builds wealth of a society. This is a fact lost on Japan and China. Repressed domestic markets create instability in the emerging manufacturing economies. It is easy to copy what others produced but difficult to bridge the social gaps necessary for sustainability.

This brings us to the new Obama budget. Maybe there is something wrong with my accounting, but the last Clinton budget was balanced with a surplus at $1.6 trillion. The last Bush deficit budget was $3.1 trillion and now Obama comes in with the $3.6 trillion budget after putting the stimulus and the bank bailout on the previous budget! Perhaps the Obama budget is a discount on the last year of the Bush Administration when you add in off the budget costs of the stimulus, the bailout and the Iraq War, which probably puts Bush's last year in the $5.6 Trillion region.

No matter how one does the math Obama is taking over a country that has not grown much since Clinton while more than doubling the last balanced budget. In a case of mone-terrorists gone no one asks what the average US citizen really needs. For without asking this question we cannot begin to address the policy changes necessary to end the spiraling down of the financial system. Let's look at ten simple things that would greatly improve the average person's life.

o A balanced budget. You do not cure alcoholism by continuing to drink into a dysfunctional state. An unbalanced budget depreciates the value of the dollar contributing to the deflation that is undermining the financial system. Such policy transfers debt to our children and grandchildren causing far more harm than all the failed socialist policies of the last 40 years. It should be a crime for any governmental agency to incur debt other than revenue bonds for infrastructure projects. All such development bonds should have a revenue resource to retire them outside of the general fund.

o Lower Energy Costs. A larger and larger portion of middle class income has been transferred to external energy costs while conservation in the name of environmentalism has prevented infrastructure development. Such policies have actually led to greater pollution. Instead of speculative Cap and Trade, impose an import tariff on all imported energy sources outside of NAFTA. Use the import tariff to develop internal energy infrastructure. Such a premium would over time reverse dependence on foreign sources while boosting the internal economies of the US and its closest neighbors.

o Raise the Minimum Wage. The minimum wage has stagnated. In the 1960s a person working for minimum wage could pay rent, own a car, buy groceries and have a few dollars left over at the end of the week. As we learned from the 1930s depression nothing stalls the economy faster than lowering wages below subsistence. Such creates a cycle of destruction of the working class, increasing crime and contributes to a lack of pricing power for producers.

o Reduce Income Taxes on Median Income to Zero. Such will substantially shift the income tax burden to upper incomes as occurred in the 1950-60s. However, eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax and allow investment deductions against ordinary income as long as those investments are made in the US. Thus those consuming, pay higher taxes, while those saving for the future do not. Tax capital gains as ordinary income only when the money is removed from the investment markets. This would in effect provide 401K protection from taxes for all investment gains until the money is consumed.

o Fight Corruption at All Levels. The history of the decline of all societies is one of ever increasing and tolerated corruption. Those in positions of power must be held doubly responsible for corrupt activity from taking bribes, ignoring laws and nepotism. Unless those at the upper level are held accountable to a very high standard then those at the lower level will never respect and cooperate with government. Put a one year moratorium on passing any new laws. Use this period to eliminate and consolidate existing laws with the goal of streamlining and expediting the legal process making it accessible to the average citizen. Eliminate all victimless crimes and replace those necessary for regulation with taxes on "sin". The 'all governments' goal must be to make every street in the US safe for anyone to walk down any time, day or night. This is the only way to fight terrorism.

o Tax Private Education. It is shameful that the government has so deteriorated the quality of public schools that the president and virtually all upper income people use private schools. Schools are a cooperative effort with the smarter and better prepared students pushing those of less academic ability. When the top tier of students are removed from a school system the average quality of education declines. By taxing private education there would be more money and higher qualified students for public schools. The more involved parents become the better the public education raising the bar for every one.

o Pass Usury Laws. Cap credit card, all consumer loans and mortgage interest rates at 10%. The current structure of the US credit system penalizes the least capable forcing them into a continued high level of debt. If loan companies cannot make money at 10% then they will not make the loans. This will require the lower level of society to rely on pay as you go debit cards. It also will prevent speculation in times of high inflation. Outlaw negative amortization on all loans.

o Eliminate the Deduction for Charitable Contributions. It is fundamentally unfair for me to be taxed higher for subsidizing your charity no matter how noble the cause. Outlaw corporate contributions to all charities. Too often they are used as bribes. The more a corporation concentrates on its primary purpose of delivering the highest quality product to the individual the more jobs it will create.

o Birth Right. It depreciates the value of citizenship when anyone one can sneak into country, give birth to a new US citizen and then applies for public assistance. Births from US citizens from 1970 have remained flat reflecting an affluent society, while all the growth in population since has been from immigration and much of that from illegal immigration. Change the definition of a natural born citizen to one born of at least one US citizen.

o Health Insurance. Provide a $300 / month universal major medical insurance policy to all families and citizens with a $2,500 deductible and requirements for periodic examines. Outlaw all governmental agencies - local, state and federal from providing more coverage with elected officials. The heart break of the uninsured or working poor is in not the day to day costs, but the costs that can bankrupt ones savings in an emergency. Eliminate pre-existing conditions. If the commercial health insurance system can provide such coverage to a family of four then it can be universal to everyone in the nation - even Wal-Mart workers. Convert Medicare and the VA to the same system and eliminate health insurance from liability for all other types of insurance such as auto and home owners.

Until the nation as a whole abandons the current monetary thinking that has created the current financial crisis and concentrates on creating and encouraging the protection of wealth, then there will continue to be spasms that effect and destabilize all hard working people.

Eric Von Baranov is the Founder & CEO of the Kondratyev Theory Letter (The Letter). Started in 1974, The Letter follows the 50+ year economic long wave theory as originally developed by the 1920s Russian economist Nicolai Kondratieff. Adherence to this cycle provides Eric with insight on a wide range of topics, including economics, politics, culture and technology. Eric has been published by Minyanville.com and the Psychic Investigator. He sponsors an online conference at http://www.kondratyev.com Please note that a new and improved web site is currently under development.

Simple Statistics Proving the Inequities of Capitalism

Usable and consumable services and goods, produced, bought, and sold by the interactive components of an operative economic system, the ordinary workers, constitute the crux of a market economy. Yet, financial control over the means of producing the goods and services remains the deciding factor in determining who ultimately profits from the system.

For instance, John, the American capitalist, has inherited the financial capital to build a factory in order to manufacture a consumable entertainment product that would be readily purchased by millions of impulsive American people. Before building the factory, John has realized that each individual manufactured product will require ten-dollars of materials purchased wholesale, for twenty-percent of their actual value, from sources outside of the United States, and has provided for its purchase through a London brokerage firm. John then hires fifty-employees to operate an assembly line, through which each product is assembled and packaged in five minutes time. John sets a retail price on the item five-hundred percent above the amount required to manufacture it, and only pays his employees, the menial unskilled men and women who assemble, package, and ship the completed products to the purchasers, the legally required federal minimum wage for their work.

Subsequently, in a week's time, John actually does no work, at all, after production commences, except hire an extremely efficient accountant/plant manager to run the factory, keep track of his accounts receivable and accounts payable, and ensure that his employees are paid on a weekly basis. John remains at home, communicating with his plant manager by Internet.

In a month's time, John, the capitalist, sells 50,000 products for a gross figure of $5,000,000, during four six-day work weeks, eight-hours per day. After receiving his gross payments from the buyers, John pays his employees a total of $56,000, the utility companies (electricity, water, telephone services, Internet, etc) - $4,000, the building lessor - $5,000, and shipping/receiving through Fedex and UPS - $10,000. He also pays his raw resource/material providers $250,000 and his trusty accountant $10,000 for his services. Advertising, over a month's time, adds up to another $200,000.

Now, let's add up the figures and see just how much profit John derives from the menial labors of his employees, on whom he relies for his revenue. The total expenditures for John is $535,000. That is subtracted from his gross income, of $5,000,000, which yields $4,446,000 profit for the aspiring capitalist. After deducting $699,750 for federal taxes on his business, John takes home $3,765,250. In some states, he might incur state income taxes, a county tax, and city taxes, but they wouldn't be more than another $500,000, which would leave John with an incredible $3,265,250 of monthly net income.

That's quite a bit of money for one month of industrial operation, but twelve-times that amount, or the yearly net income, is an even-more-staggering figure, $39,183,000. That is, if the demand for John's product remains stable for, at least, one year. This is entrepreneurial capitalism at its most productive state of operation. Nonetheless, when you consider that only a little-over two-percent of the people, in a population of a little over 300,000,000, have the financial resources, on a continual basis, to invest in start-up companies, as John did, you can clearly see the gross inequity that can systematically prevail in such an economy. The entire working philosophy of market capitalism is based primarily upon the productivity of a labor force, and deriving a consistent, increasingly greater, profit through the work provided by that labor force. This governing principle simply means that the 2 controlling percent of the population would not be wealthy and affluent without the 98%, comprising the labor-force. Hence, one, or more, wealthy capitalists remain continually reliant on the labor of other human beings for continued acquisition of wealth. This is basically why slavery was so appealing in the Southern United States for such a long period of time. Southern cotton growers couldn't have made their great wealth without the involuntary servitude of black slaves. Free slave labor was regarded by Southerners as God's gift to the proliferation of capitalism.

The evolution of present-day free market capitalism began anciently with the practice of bartering goods and services, leading, later, to exchange mercantilism. One meager farmer in ancient Gaul might have offered a poor hunter five-live egg-laying chickens for one-dead deer, or a cobbler might have offered a blacksmith a pair of boots for horseshoes and the shoeing of his horse. That was prior to the establishment of standard national mediums of exchange when most common people learned to perform a service, or produce a good, in order to trade for other needed goods and services, in order to merely survive from day-to-day. Even when precious metals were first introduced into state economies, and fashioned into to coins, to exchange for clothing, food, or shelter, there was a great number of the peasants, or serfs (the working class) who never saw any of it. Instead, they were allowed to have beds, food, and clothing in exchange for their services to the king, queen, Kaiser, or national leader. Pre-Medieval and post-Middle Age economies were structured to keep the money (gold and silver) away from the hands of the working class people, and in the hands of the nobility, landed gentry, and the priests in order to perpetuate the prevailing caste system.

Such pre-20th Century economic philosophers as Adam Smith and David Ricardo vigorously advanced the systemization of capital investments and the dynamics of individual investors reaping dividends from the re-investment of profits. From Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage, combined with Adam Smith's laissez faire doctrine of free market capitalism, the working notion, that a nation-state fares best when corporate and personal investment remains unregulated by government, has directly led to American corporate CEOs receiving multi-million dollar annual salaries and the proliferation of belief that, in business, the investor always does what is best for himself, at the expense of others. Nonetheless, economic gaming theory was later staggered, in the early 1950's, by the negation of Adam Smith's rule, that a person always does what is in his own best interest, by Princeton mathematician, John Nash. Nash theorized, and won a 1994 Nobel Prize for doing so, that a person fares better when he does what is in the best interest of the whole group, instead of himself. This principle of governing dynamics emphasized the "greater good" utilitarian principle conveyed in the philosophies of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, that the greatest good for the greatest number of people should be realized in all economic and political endeavors. It is unfortunate that Nash's theoretical postulations were only applied to groups of competing corporations, trusts, and monopolies within a capitalist economic system instead of to the majority of the population receiving the end result of capitalism.

Returning, again, to John and his tremendous profit realized from the labors of fifty-workers over a month's time, the money he generated is, though legal, hardly equitable unless he freely divides the profits justly with his employees. Why? I mentioned that John does not provide health care, or any other benefits, for his employees, but only the federal minimum wage salary required by law. The average 2 percent of the U.S. population that continually controls 98 percent of the money within the United States numbers around 3,000,000 people. That's enough people to populate three cities the size of Seattle. Yet, when you further consider that there are approximately a total of 110,000,000 male and female adults (both the 98% and the 2%) in the American workforce who are constantly required to earn enough money just to pay rent/mortgage, utility bills, food, clothing, and transportation costs for themselves and their dependents, 98 percent of that number is a staggering 107,800,000 people. These are the people who work for the wealthy 2 percent. Out of that number, you can deduct 7,848,484 people, around the country, who are federal, state, and local government employees. These people do not receive salaries from revenue produced by their government employers, but, rather, from tax money collected from the incomes of most private-sector workers. This leaves 99,951,516 private-sector people who, on the average, earn $60,000-or-less in annual wages or salaries.

These statistics are heuristically static, in effect, unless you further consider other accurate socio-economic ratios, such as the 2005 findings that one-out-of-five people in New York City does not know from where his next meal is coming, and that one-out-of-six people in Los Angeles doesn't have proper shelter, food, or clothing to sustain a person over a week's time. These same relative ratios can be applied to the U.S. cities of Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston, Pittsburg, Oakland, etc. (which have populations of over 500,000). When you consider that there are, presently, 38 major corporations in the United States who would rather outsource 60 percent of their employees from third-world nations, than employ only U.S. citizens at decent, livable, wages, you can see why unemployment within the 50 states averages 5 percent from year-to-year. This means that, at any given time, there are approximately 6,000,000 people in workforce who are unemployed. Free market capitalism chronically carries with it these inherent socio-economic problems. Federal laws are also geared to perpetuating these problems by enhancing the liberty of corporations and companies to produce exorbitant profits at the expense of the physical security of their meagerly paid menial workers. I have, in other essays, described the political process, and purpose, for deliberately introducing high inflation into a market economy. Social, political, and financial dominion over the lives of the consuming population is the end result of a capitalist system that is ultimately placed in the hands of private bankers (the Federal Reserve) to manipulate for their own, and corporate, benefit.

Equitable government regulation of a nation-state's economy can only be properly effected when the tax money collected from the citizens is utilized for the utilitarian purpose of providing for the safety and happiness of the greatest number, or majority, of the state's population. If, perchance, citizens pay standard portions of their minimum wage salaries to federal taxes, they should he provided the same benefits of health insurance, shelter, food, and clothing, by the government, as the individuals making $1,000,000 per year are receiving, especially if the work-efforts of the minimum wage citizens directly determine the salaries of the $1,000,000 per year citizens. Why is this just? If one human being's luxurious lifestyle is directly supported by the work product of other people who are forced, by their wages, to live in poverty, the opulent individual should be constrained, by law, to redistribute his income for the greater public good. Some might call this state socialism, but I see it as the only just and moral recourse to ravenous greed, a simple characteristic of human nature. When someone climbs to wealth and affluence on the backs of poor people paid inequitably, a serious moral crime is committed, as, or more, serious than the felony crimes committed by the, now deceased, former CEO of Enron, Ken Lay.

Most capitalists (the 2 percent of the nation) eschew democratic socialism as an aberration of economic theory and application. Economist John Kenneth Galbraith, however, pointed out the socio-economic inequities emanating from unregulated capitalism in his book, "The Affluent Society." Moreover, Galbraith accentuated the rise of chronic social problems in the United States in a purely capitalistic society. When Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid were introduced by the federal government as a means of providing for the health and security of elderly and infirm retirees, the inequities stemming from prevailing corporate capitalism were hardly corrected. In the year 2006, 17,000,000 Americans, 65 years-of-age, and older, ceased working in order to receive their earned Social Security payment entitlements. The average monthly Social Security payment check issued to these millions of retired Americans was $1,200, hardly enough to provide a meager subsistence.

For example, Mabel, a 65 year-old unskilled female, without a high school education, began working for federal minimum wage in 1980, for a small company in Florida that began with twelve employees and grew to fifty employees by the year 2007. Mabel's wages topped out in the year 2000 at $12 per hour, and she retired in 2002 with 22 years of work service. The company refused to offer health or pension benefits for its employees, and Mabel quit her job to collect a monthly Social Security check of $1,500 per month, which was $420 less-each-month than was her company paycheck at top wage. Two months after quitting work, Mabel, a chain smoker, was diagnosed with malignant lung cancer. She applied for Medicare and Medicaid, but discovered later that the medical services, and medicines, she anticipated were not sufficient to properly treat her life-threatening malady. Within a year, Mabel, who had no family to care for her, took a turn for the worse and was forced to accept care at a state-operated convalescent home, where she died three years later. A sad story, huh? Well, it occurs much more frequently than you would expect.

Now, let's look back a moment at that company, for which Mabel spent the best part of her life working. The entrepreneurial capitalist owner of the company was named John, who in the year 2000 made his highest record yearly profit of $250,000,000 due to his product being in constant demand by the public since 1980. In that millennial year, John and his aging plant manager realized a net profit of $180,000,000 dollars, which they divided evenly. His employees, whom he continually hired, and replaced, over a twenty-year period, were all middle-aged, unskilled, and undereducated citizens who were quite content to receive their wages without any health and retirement benefits. The only perks associated with the job were yearly increases in wage, a $100 bonus at Christmas and Thanksgiving, along baked hams for all employees. What John had failed to realize, from the outset, was that, without the dedicated service of his employees, he could not have derived his gross profit. Hence, the intrinsic worth of the employees remained, and still remains, the primary issue.

In the year 2006, only 4 percent of the Fortune Five Hundred companies in the United States offered lucrative profit-sharing plans for their employees. None of the other thousands of corporations and companies in the United States offered any type of profit-sharing plan in their benefit packages. Why not? Voluntary redistribution of corporate wealth is not concomitant, and agreeable, with free-market capitalism. It is considered a heresy and is not popularly endorsed by the pundits of capitalism. In fact, like communism was in the early 1950's, it is derided and profaned in most pro-capitalist economic journals. Most CEO's, like capitalist John, will sit back in their easy-office chairs and gloat over their profits earned on the backs of their employees, and say that their employees should be content only with their wages.

For a democratic federalist republic, such as the United States, to install, and operate, a democratic socialist economy, the organs of government, supposedly comprised of elected representatives, must reflect the will and needs of the electorate. The Constitution of the United States does not mention, at all, an economy, or the establishment of a federal bureaucracy of administrative agencies, comprised of officers appointed by the Executive Branch, which assumes the Article 1, Section 8 duties of the Legislative Branch. For example, the U.S. Congress (House of Representatives and Senate) is empowered by the Constitution to coin money and to determine its value, just as it is empowered to create rules governing the movement of the land, air, and naval military forces. The Executive Branch, or the President, is merely empowered to execute the laws and rules created by the Congress. So asserts James Madison in the "Federalist Papers." The simplicity of representative government is cogently propounded in the letter of the Constitution and explained, as simply, by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay in the essays they wrote to explain federalism, which makes the convoluted creations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, with the permission of Congress, appear, in this age, extremely ludicrous and unnecessary. When 98 percent of a nation's population is controlled socially and financially by the opulent 2 percent, the 98 percent begin to speak-out in small numbers until a majority of them assert their economic power, as the backbone of a capitalist system.

History recalls how the French Revolution was mainly about harsh economic, social, and political inequity created by a monarchy that cared nothing for the plight of its subjects. The day, in 1789, when the Bastille was stormed by French citizens shouting liberty, equality, fraternity tolled the death of that despotic control. Today, the French people live under a basically socialist system of high taxes and government services designed to provide for the health and social security of the entire population. Of course, there are still the rich and the poor in France, but, essentially, no French citizen is now deprived of the basic necessities which constitute the needs of life. Higher education is even provided by government for French citizens who aspire to the professions. That, unfortunately, isn't the way it is in the United States, the wealthiest and most capricious country in the world. Yet, history does repeat itself continually, and another revolution, in the likeness of the French Revolution, is bound to occur again.

Norton R. Nowlin took M.A. and B.A. degrees in the social and behavioral sciences from the Uiversity orf Texas at Tyler, studied law for one full year at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, in San Diego, California, and earned an ABA-approved advanced paralegal certification from Edmonds Community College, in Lynnwood, Washington. Mr. Nowlin as attended LaJolla, California's National University and Malibu's Pepperdine University to attain graduate credits in business management and economics. Mr. Nowlin also attained a Texas State Teaching Certification, in social studies and psychology, from the University of Texas at Tyler. A paralegal, published essayist, poet, and free-lance fiction writer, Mr. Nowlin resides in Northern Virginia with his wife, the renown math tutor, Diane C. Nowlin, and their two very intelligent cats.

How To Fix The US Economy With Four Simple Steps

This article proposes steps to fix our economy through changes in FICA taxes, an executive order, and infrastructure investments, selling National Debt Bonds and creating a National Debt Federal Lottery. The FICA fix, National Debt Bonds and the National Debt Federal Lottery will pump money into our economy we can use to create jobs and fix our infrastructure while expanding our tax-base. My hope is to give us some ideas to ponder and start a conversation outside of Congress, which seems unable or unwilling to find solutions that don't include class warfare or just positioning for the next election. It seems if any solutions to our problems are to arise they are going to have to come from outside of Congress. The Constitution states the power resides in the people, so it looks like we the people will have to grab the bull by the tail and face the situation; create our own solutions and stuff it down the throat of Congress through voting and the right to assemble to make our grievances known. Ponder these solutions; if you agree let Congress know. If you don't agree make changes or state your own solutions that we can all ponder, but please don't wait for Congress which created these problems by putting their Aristocracy and hunger for power before America's well-being.

1. Reduce FICA taxes from 7.65% to 5%; get rid of the $106,000.00 ceiling; lower the retirement age to 64; means test recipients; lock the Social Security box and prevent the Government from borrowing from that locked box until it's solvent for one hundred years continually. Lowering the rate to 5% will give every American worker an immediate 2.65% raise and lower employers matching by 2.65%. This immediately puts money into our economy two ways; Americans have more to spend and American employers have more money to hire or invest. I can hear the cries of socialism from our politicians and from those that have no idea what socialism means. It's a cry intended to divide and conquer us or scare us into fighting one another. Socialism is the Government controlling the means of production and the distribution of wealth, which means there is some socialism in all Governments, just look at your taxes, Government contracts and International Treaties. I guess socialism is fine and dandy for mega-corporations, Wall Street and bankers when it's our taxes footing the bill and fixing their self-made mess. But the middle class doesn't get any of that socialist help from the private sector. Let them eat freedom cake. Congress wants to fix Social Security by increasing the retirement age and lowering benefits or by getting rid of Social Security entirely. That's not a solution, that's slavery. Politicians will tell you that people live longer so increasing the retirement age makes sense. I say if people live longer, lower the retirement age to 64 and at that age workers stop paying the 5% FICA taxes. Give it to them on the back-end when they'll need more money to live and pay expenses. Can you imagine the money that will pour into our economy from just this one fix? A company with a million dollar payroll will save $26,500.00. A worker making $30,000 a year will save $795.00 a year. It doesn't sound like much and it isn't, it's only $66.25 a month or $16.50 a week. In today's economy most people will pay a bill, buy extra groceries, four gallons of gas or a pizza. But this is money that goes right back into our economy, about one and a half billion per week. Think of how much money small businesses will save; those who have to match their own FICA taxes will save 5.3%. Large employers like Walmart, McDonald's, UPS and those with hundreds of thousands of employees will save millions of dollars a year, including the Federal Government. Means testing is probably the biggest problem because it sounds so anti-American. You mean I pay in to Social Security for 40 or 45 years and get nothing back. You get it on the back-end. If you live to 75 or 85 that's 11 to 21 years of not paying the 5% and most people make more money after they turn 50 years old or later. Plus it's the patriotic thing to do to save our country and help the next generation. Remember; ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. It isn't socialism to preserve our form of Government and it isn't terrorism to criticize or try to fix what's broke. It might be justice to have the people who broke it, pay to fix it, but that's another solution for another day.

2. This fix is so simple and quick that all we need is a President with a spine. The President can do this with a stroke of his or her pen without any input from a stalemated, do-nothing, juvenile-twisted, baby-bickering Congress. As the executive of the Federal Government the President should sign an executive order telling every Federal agency that including but not limited to every pencil, pen, desk, chair, carpet, computer, roll of toilet paper, bullet, bomb, gun, tank, car, airplane or ship that they buy must be 100% manufactured in the United States. We can't do it overnight, but within 60 to 90 days the President can have a report on his or her desk stating what can be U.S. bought immediately and aim for buying only American at 25% per year per agency until all agencies reach 100% in four years. Can you imagine all the start-up businesses and job creation? Foreign companies will have to build factories on American soil and hire American workers. This has to be 100% USA made, no skipping around the executive order by shipping parts here from overseas and assembling it here and calling it 'Made in the USA'. Think of the steel factories coming back, the rail and shipyards coming back. This one fix will be long-term and last for generations, if the best Congress that foreign money can buy doesn't screw it up. I guess we will not only need a President with a spine but an American voter that isn't swayed by emotional issues used to divide us and keeping us hyphenated-Americans until we believe there's no hope. Remember, we can always rebuild our country, other generations have done it before us, but getting back the rights and power given to us by our Constitution after we take it from one another will be much harder. Vote, write, call, email, snail mail, Fax and visit your Congressperson until your neighbor is fully represented or replace the bums.

3. This step takes a kind of courage you won't find in politicians who only look toward the next election and their own lobbyist filled deep pockets. We need to invest in our infrastructure and create jobs that will expand the tax base. We can create jobs by fixing our railways so that goods can move to central hubs and then trucked to its destination. We can save fuel without destroying the trucking industry. We can produce steel for railways and shipping. Just think how much cheaper it is to move goods by rail. We'll still need truckers to move the goods from a central hub to its final destination, so truckers will not lose jobs; they'll save on fuel; and be home with their families at night. Our waterways will need ships, seamen, sea-women, and dock-workers. That's a lot of steel and jobs which can be the beginning of bringing manufacturing back to the USA, along with fix number two, all for half the cost or less of the wars we're now fighting. Historical evidence tells us we need to put this country back to work and to do that we must spend money and increase investments. The last stimulus package wasn't nearly enough to do the job. We tried to fix a 15 trillion dollar economy with less than a 6% stimulus that went to the people who fraudulently and criminally broke our economy and never came to justice. The stimulus we need now should be at least 15% of our total economy and it should go to the individual states by population, two thousand dollars for each person in every state to fix our highways, bridges, tunnels and power grid. The money won't go directly to the state or its people in a lump sum. The Federal Government will pay for the infrastructure improvements and treason laws will ensure honesty. There are three hundred and thirty million people in the United States and going by population this stimulus will cost six hundred and sixty billion dollars, less than the last stimulus cost and going to the right people to do the right thing. To help pay for this stimulus we can ask the bankers who got the last stimulus to pay us back with interest. States with a million people will get two billion dollars, states with five million people will get ten billion dollars and states with twenty million will get forty billion dollars and so on. How many bridges, highways and tunnels can Rhode Island fix with two billion dollars? There will be jobs for many years. What about Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado, what can they do with ten billion dollars? And how about our larger state populations like California, Texas and New York, what can they do for jobs and the infrastructure with forty or forty-five billion dollars? How much politicking and corruption will there be in this system if all the principal players are constrained by treason laws? I don't know, but I'd sure like to give it a shot and see. Of course with this step we will need a strong whistle-blower law which means Congress will have its say, so I guess it's all a pipe dream. This step is bold and daring so we will have to force the cowardly hearts of Congress to comply because now that money is free speech the guy with a hundred dollars has more free speech than the guy with one dollar; and these fixes will cost more than a trillion dollars. How much free speech can you buy with a trillion dollars?

4. Sell war bonds like we did in WWII and hold a yearly Federal lottery, all for the purpose of paying the National debt. We'll call the bonds National Debt Bonds and sell them in $5.00 increments and their only use by law will be to pay the National debt. You'll be able to sell them, trade them and inherit them for a ten-year period after the National debt is paid. For those ten years you can deduct them from your taxes dollar for dollar at 10% per year, and they'll still be sell-able, trade-able and inheritable. Buy more bonds and have more chances to win. On December 1st of each year we will randomly pick three groups of twelve people from each state, the first twelve people who come closest to picking a randomly generated number will win one million dollars free of all Federal taxes; the next twelve closest to the random number will receive three hundred thousand tax-free and the last twelve closest to the random number will receive one hundred thousand tax-free. This will cost 840 million to pay off the winners; let's say an even billion with the cost to run the program. If the program doesn't create one billion dollars in any given year then the Government will take 50% plus the cost of running the program and the chosen 1800 people will split the rest equally. We can easily guarantee reaching over four billion per year by deducting five dollars from the 80 million checks the Federal Government mails out every month and automatically entering the 80 million recipients for the National Debt Federal Lottery. They will be able to sell, trade or inherit the $60.00 per year compulsorily taken from their checks. And to show good faith and leadership, we will deduct $1000.00 per month from all Congressional members, the nine Supreme Court Justices and the President, which will bring in $545,000.00 per month or $6,540,000.00 per year to the National Debt Federal Lottery, more if we add cabinet and staff members at a reduced rate. And because Congress, the Supreme Court and the President love America so much they will exclude themselves and immediate family members from any winnings, including cabinet and staff members if added. With the $5.00 from every Federal check, if just 10% of the population participates in the National Debt Federal Lottery at $5.00 per month, we should be able to bring in a minimum of over six billion dollars a year. With the cost to run the program kept under 10% by law and the payment to the winners, we should be able to pay off our National debt at four billion a year with this program alone. Add in the other three steps and the increased tax base with some other steps including tax reform and spending cuts, we will be able to pay off our National debt at about two trillion dollars a year. That means we can pay off our total National debt in less than ten years without killing the poor, plus rebuilding the middle class. Of course Congress and their deep pockets and their willingness to destroy this country for the fleeting glow of power and the greed of their souls will fight these steps with every trick at their disposal. Being that Congress makes the laws and in effect are American Royalty, above all laws, it will take an educated, strong and willful American populace to spring up from grassroots to take back our Constitutional powers and stop Congress from being part of the problem and force them to be part of the solution. There are more simple steps we can take to fix the problems our politicians in cahoots with bankers and greedy power brokers have caused this great country, but that is for another time.

Tom C. Watson is the founder of The Bunny Brigade. Tom uses this site as a means of dedication to support the reinstating of the original concepts as depicted in The Constitution of the United States along with its Bill of Rights. Tom also suggests that the federal government should stop over regulating business as well as eliminating of federal deficit spending. The site features Benny The Bunny and the site tells about the founding of the bunny brigade organization. The Web site also addresses solutions to fixing the nation's ills. Lastly, the site's author also has produced free bunny videos that you may view. Please visit the bunny site as often as you desire. It is located at http://thebunnybrigade.com/.

How to Get a Name, Address and MORE From a Cell Number - A Simple Tip!

An online national survey conducted by CTIA and Harris Interactive in 2008 revealed that more than 1 billion text messages are sent each day in the US. The study also found that 42% of teens can text with their eyes closed.

White pages for cell phones?

The mobile phone has without a doubt taken over our lives - it is now a can't-do-without device that practically stores up a big part of one's private life. This is why user confidentiality is such a big deal in the US nowadays. You don't find cellular numbers listed in public directories like the white pages now do you?

Does that mean there's no way of having a cell number traced?

There is! There are these online reverse cellular number directories that you can use to get not only a name and address but also detailed information like:


The user's age
Marital status
Information on his/her family members and associates
Past and present places of residence and more!

It only takes a couple of minutes for such a database to produce this information for you - all you've got to do is feed the system the 10 digit number. What's more, you can lookup as many numbers as you like with 100% confidentiality guaranteed.

A Simple Tip - to get you Accurate Results Every Time!

Are all these online directories equally good? No but it's easy to pick a service that is very good. One of the main problems some of these have is, that their databases are outdated. Keeping these directories outdated is not an easy task. Outdated data often means name and address of the previous owner instead of the current owner.

Make sure the online directory you are using is frequently updated to ensure you get highly accurate results every time!

The following website reviews the Top 2 Databases as of September 2009 and reviews features you should pay attention to when selecting a suitable reverse phone directory. To visit this review Click Here Now!