Change the Nation’s Currency System First – Health Care Reform will Take Care of Itself

Go to Google Maps and follow Highway Interstate 10 from Santa Monica, California eastward to Jacksonville, Florida. It’s a long stretch that literally spans the nation from coast to coast. Okay, maybe you don’t want to stop the tour there. So, take Interstate 95 north and you will eventually end up in Boston where you can continue on taking Interstate 90 west towards Seattle. And, continue the trip by using Interstate 5 south towards Los Angeles where you would have come full circle in your journey through America. Have we learned a lesson?

If we look at our trip, by taking a road one way, all roads eventually come to an end. Some roads are longer than others. If we take a tour, we eventually return to the same place, back to where we had started. The same illustration can apply to the nation’s currency system.

The United States once had a great monetary system – envied by the entire world! The dollar was strong and valued in a lot of countries. But, like with every materialistic matter in this universe, there’s only so much to go around – especially if it’s man-made. And money is, regardless of whether the people “trust in God” or not, is made by man. When money was printed earlier in the United States, there was enough to support the population of the nation and maintain a healthy economy. However, with a population increase in the country, a decrease of available jobs, and people living longer in age, the nation simply cannot support its people. The prices of material items have increased through inflation, the cost of health care has skyrocketed and impacted the government.

Money is in such short supply that state and local governments are on the verge of declaring bankruptcy while major corporations lay off employees and file for bankruptcy and financial bailouts from federal governments as well. What used to be a land of the plentiful is now ridden with drought, both literally and figuratively. In California, not only is there a financial crisis in the state, but the state also cannot find a suitable supply of water to support its agriculture. State and local governments are curtailing important services and, cities are asking their residents to reduce their consumption of water.

While the nation faces a shortage of money, Washington continues to live in a state of denial by promoting the need for health care reform and other issues. The federal government has failed to recognize that it has “come to the end of the road,” or has travelled “full circle” and it is trying to fix things that are old and antiquated – such as, the current monetary system. In travelling this “circle.” it has gained such an attitude and nationalistic ego/pride that its money is too important and it cannot be replaced by any other currency system. It (the nation) has isolated itself from the rest of the world. At a time when the nation’s currency was failing on the international market years ago, it continued to borrow huge amounts of money from China.

Reforming the health care system in America will only cost more money – money that neither the people nor the government has. Sure, the government can get the money by continuing to borrow money from other countries. That’s the simplest way out. But it will continue to devalue the already weakened dollar, and future generations will be responsible for paying that money back.

The world is already in a financial crisis triggered by America’s failings. The most prudent thing to do is forgive all debts – including consumer debts – and start all over – from scratch. Nations must come together as one world. Individual nations can no longer afford to keep themselves separate by maintaining separate currencies and maintaining their own interest rates. This has historically been very costly for the whole world and very unfair to many countries. Differences in interest rates allowed some countries more supremacy over others. Along with that came inherent societal problems of distrust, selfishness, national pride, and envy. Currencies were not equal, they did not provide for an equal playing field. Some nations were treated more inferior than others while other nations were given special preferences.

Printing money also has its limitations. With the decline of trees and forests, there will become an ever decreasing supply of resources for paper. Therefore, money, in its current form will be even more limited in supply. The electronic world can provide an unlimited supply of credit and can ensure equality to every person on this planet. With a universal credit system, there will be no need for monetary exchanges at the border or when entering foreign countries. A model of this is working well with the Euro in the European Union. There is really no reason why the rest of the world cannot be unified in joining into one common global currency. The only barriers that prohibit such a benefit becoming reality is selfish nationalistic pride, ego and patriotism, and a false feeling of superiority, and greed. When nations create their currency, there is only a limited supply. There was always the trickle down thought that there would be just enough for the man on the bottom. The fallacy of this theory is, there’s never enough for the common man.

The world, however, can guarantee an unlimited supply of credit (money) – especially if the currency is electronic. The resources are not dependent on one singular nation’s. Man has placed limits on himself. He can easily remove these limits on himself as well as others just by changing national and international policies and practices. It all depends on whether a nation desires to remain isolated, or join the world community and become united as one world.

If man can be innovative and create a universal monetary system that can benefit all of mankind equally, then there wouldn’t be the urgent need to reform the health care system in America. With a universal monetary system, people will be able to afford health care – not only in the United States – but globally. There would be no need for health insurance as we know it today. A well planned universal monetary system should guarantee a living, life-time credit to each human being on this planet. This ensures that no matter where the individual is at in his or her stage of life (employed, unemployed, retired, etc.), the person will be able to afford everything including buying basic living necessities such as groceries, paying utility bills, purchasing automobiles, purchasing homes and making monthly mortgage payments, paying for health costs and medical care, domestic and international travel, and still have life credits for pleasure and recreation. All of this, without having to depend on government assistance programs or subsidies. The balance of each individual account will automatically replenish annually at the beginning of each year.

The urgency is not to reform the health care system. The urgency is to put money in the pockets of people – the common people. The average person needs the “big bailout” – not the corporate executives or the companies. States and municipalities also need money in their coffers as well for they provide invaluable services to the people (e.g., education and health services). To focus totally on health care reform without reforming the currency system first is wrong. It is here that we need innovation. We have come to the end of the road, “full circle” in the life of our current monetary system. It’s time that we seek a solution that will best fit the current population, its people and a modern solution using 21^st Century solutions – not old solutions based on 19^th and 20^th Century models.

Beware of the Trap – Falling Behind on Bills Can Make it Tougher to Find Work

So says Tiffany Hsu in her article that appeared in the Business Section the Sunday, June 7, 2009 Los Angeles Times. Ms. Hsu reported that an increasing number of employers perform personal credit checks as part of the employment background check to evaluate the worthiness of a candidate’s qualifications. If the candidate’s credit history is bad, this typically implies that the candidate cannot be “trusted, is unreliable, or is undisciplined.”

While this case may be true in some rare instances, it cannot be applied to millions of Americans who are now being displaced by companies laying off their employees. Unfortunately, society does not blame companies for the individual’s inability to pay his or her bills. They still place the burden of paying bills upon the displaced individual regardless of the reason. In today’s economic environment, once a person loses their job, he or she often falls into a serious trap. Months, even years, may pass without out any success in finding suitable employment, yet the bills continue to pile up. Credit scores plumet, and one’s history is forever marked as bad the credit companies databases. As one fails to pay their bills on time, their score continues to fall even. Not only is credit harder to come by, but a job is also harder to get – yet, it is all your fault because you couldn’t pay your bills in a timely manner. Never mind the fact that you once had a pristine history of paying your bills on time, or that you may even have paid more than the minimum balance when times were good.

Welcome to the pit! Government is not listening to your concerns. Politicians could care less about your problem although there are millions of others just like you in a similar situation. I pity your unfortunate circumstances for I too have been there. Society makes it practically impossible for someone to return to a normal lifestyle – or what we used to consider as “normal.” Corporations could care less about your circumstance either. They are the ones who influenced government to write the laws to maintain databases and records against you that will reflect the fact that you can’t make payments on your bills. If government was for you, there would be a sunset clause in these laws making it easier for you to recover from your misfortunes. Not the case here! Once you’re down, society likes to keep you down, forever! This truly is not a benevolent society.

But by not changing these practices, the government has quite possibly shot itself in the foot. We hear that the Obama Administration wants to put people back to work by creating more high tech and green jobs. However, if they continue to permit employers to use credit histories as part of employment screenings, millions of jobs will go unfilled as more and more potential job seekers have bad credit. And, if the government expects to create more jobs for millions of displaced workers, then it is going to have to abandon old practices that will only hinder the return of qualified talented employees just because they were not able to pay their bills on time and therefore have a bad credit history.

The word and will of the people speak louder than corporations. If the people demand work, then we must speak up and let our will be known in the halls of Congress and to the White House. We must demand that unfair business practices be outlawed so that millions of people can return to work, be productive once again, and live prosperously in America. That an individual’s right to earn a respectable living should be guaranteed by the Constitution on the United States and any record kept against any individual infringing on that right be declared unconstitutional and be immediately sealed.

Same-sex Marriage Is a Civil Rights Issue

In a commentary appearing in the Lodi News-Sentinel on October 16, 2008, writer Frank Nolton concluded that same-sex marriage was not a civil rights issue, stating his views that “societal moral convictions on what is natural and normal.  And these moral convictions have been held for centuries.  No, gay marriage is not about civil rights, it is about approval.  It is about a small percentage of the population working to have their behavior, which the majority of Americans find morally wrong, accepted as normal by society.  In deciding about Prop. 8, keep this in mind.”

Obviously, the majority of Californians have had this same impression and felt that they should legislate the behavior of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and trangendered people by rewriting the constitution and using their religious beliefs in “changing behavior” of a minority group.

The fact is, for centuries, “moral convictions” have been based on false assumptions without any supporting evidence that LGBT behavior is a “choice.”  Recent medical findings have proven that these behaviors are genetically linked.  Therefore, we do not have a choice whether we are born heterosexual or homosexual.  Therefore, there should be even more supporting reasons to believe that same-sex marriage should be considered as a civil rights issue – especially when the California State Supreme Court granted the validity of 18,000 same-sex marriage, but denies the same rights to future same-sex couples.  This is purely human injustice just because some people, based on their religious and societal beliefs felt this was wrong, and that these people have a “choice” that they can easily live alternative life-styles.

The majority of us may think that it is natural for a man and woman to live together.  I am not the one to deny the freedom of speech and expression.  On the other hand, I also grant the right to those who feel that it is also natural for a man and man, and woman and woman, to live together.  They too, have the same equal right to speech and expression as granted heterosexual couples.  However, with the passage of Prop. 8, we have denied these people their fundamental rights of expression.  There are many reasons why Prop. 8 should be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Prop. 8 clearly violates civil rights of a minority group let alone having taken away fundamental rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution as well.

Who are we to dictate their behavior?  Religion should be a personal belief – not something forced upon others.  This is why we are guaranteed the freedom of religion.  And, not all Christian denominations follow the same doctrines.  In fact, many Christian denominations do not have a doctrine.  So who are you to force your doctrine on others?  Just because you just so happen to be in the simple majority at the voting booth, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is right, or should be accepted by others.  In fact, the re-writing of the California State Constitution should have required a two-thirds majority rather than a simple majority.  Clearly, Prop. 8 did not pass with a two-thirds majority.

Marriage licenses are issued by the county government – not the church.  Therefore, same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue and therefore, the church should not dictate to government who may or may not receive marriage licenses.  The Constitution guarantees equality for all, not based on preferences by the majority of a particular set of religious or societal beliefs.  It’s time that we quit living in the past, and press forward into the new millennium.  As long as we continue to hold onto beliefs that are centuries old, we will never progress as a society, but we will continue to reject men and make life difficult by creating barriers and road-blocks for living.  Each person should be guaranteed the freedom of living – free from societal or religious impositions and laws based on false or theoretical assumptions or that, “this is the way it’s always has been done.”

Bring in the International Criminal Court

The matter of torture committed by the members of the former administration and other agencies of the United States would clearly lead to a conflict of interest if America were to be allowed to investigate itself on these horrific crimes. After all, a local law enforcement agency cannot investigate itself if a member of its agency were involved in a crime. It requires the investigation of another outside agency. The same principal should apply to a country. If the U.S. is actually responsible for knowingly carrying out and implementing such horrific practices, then it should be held accountable to an international court of law (i.e. the Hague). And “internal” investigation by a private investigator ordered by Congress or the current Obama Administration simply will not due -- the world expects much more.

I therefore call upon the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to launch its own investigation into these atrocities, and issue necessary criminal arrest warrants and bring to justice in the International Criminal Court, all those who have illegally authorized and carried out torture, a practice against the Geneva Convention, and committed against detainees illegally imprisoned. The issue of warrants and investigation should also include the former president and vice-president of the United States, if they too, also were supporting participants in these crimes.

Undoubtedly, the “crime” committed by former President Bill Clinton, does not compare even remotely to what has been committed by the former Bush administration. Even the crimes of Nixon’s Watergate debacle fail in comparison to these crimes. Without a question, war crimes have been committed. It’s time that justice be carried out.

American Arrogance – Why Should The World Worship America?

I have personal pride living in the United States of America. I have even greater pride being a citizen of the World.  But more importantly, I consider myself a citizen and a servant of the universe who just so happened to be born in Los Angeles, California.  Unlike what some Americans believe, we are really no better than other people of the world. If we are actually children in “God’s eyes” what makes us so different or superior than people in other countries? In His eyes, we should all be equals. Apparently, some people here in this country don’t believe so. And, their beliefs often influence their behavior. According to many Americans, “we” are the strongest and the best. Such thinking has certainly affected their pride and egos.  

On the flip side of the coin, we have just as many weaknesses as other countries. Not to mention a weakened economy that has affected the entire world, but people in this country have the poor habit of pointing out human rights violations in other countries and totally ignoring atrocities committed in this country. Take for example our complaints against China for child labor. Yet, nobody blames the rich corporate executives who laid off millions of people in America causing them to lose their jobs and livelihoods, be displaced from their homes, destroying families all for the sake of exporting jobs in favor of getting “cheap labor” and maximizing their profits. The blame cannot be pinned on the Chinese government; it has to be saddled squarely on Corporate America!

There have been complaints regarding Spain’s recent investigation and the possibility of filing war crimes against officials in the former Bush administration who carried out and implemented torture and supported polices that were totally contradictory to international laws and the Geneva Convention. The Obama administration is being reluctant to press for extradition of these people to face trial in an international court.

Why do Americans continue to put themselves on pedestals and think that they are so superior to the rest of the world that they can commit such atrocities and get away with it? The Spanish complaint, in my view, does not go far enough. I think its courts should ultimately file charges against both the former President and Vice-President of the United States. If they are not guilty, then let them prove it before an international court. The law is the law, regardless if it was written in and for a country or written and for the world. This was the purpose of the Nuremburg Trials. International law must be applied equally to war criminals no matter what their country of origin is without exception. If Americans committed war crimes and are guilty of it, then they too should suffer the consequences as did the war criminals of World War II. What is good for one country, is good for the other. Being the United States of America is not an excuse.

Therefore, getting to the question, “Why Should the World Worship America?” The answer is, it really shouldn’t nor should it be expected to. Nations need to bring themselves down from their pedestals of superiority and unite with the world. We need to come together as a world community – not as one country more superior than others. We certainly have a lot to learn from each other. American has a lot to offer to the world. Yet, it also has a lot that it can learn from the world as well. In adult education we encourage adults to continue their education – never stop learning. This principle holds true for a nation as well. If a nation comes to a point where it has quit learning -- especially learning new ways of doing things – then, the whole world needs to be concerned. Once a nation has stopped learning, self-centeredness settles in, there is a feeling of invincibility, and a sense of superiority. But as the Buddha teaches, everything is impermanent. Eventually, everything starts to implode. The empire starts to crumble. If this be the case of the US, there will be black hole effect, and the devastation will affect the entire world community.

So like in the good old days of Don Quixote, let the “Spanish Inquisition” begin.

Recommended Reading: “The Arrogance of America” by Joe Goodson (http://www.strike-the-root.com/4/goodson/goodson1.html)

A Gobal Currency? – Yes, Bring it On!

Appearing on the home page of the Single Global Currency Association’s website (http://www.singleglobalcurrency.org) is a quote by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volker. It states: “A global economy requires a global currency.” 

While I totally agree -- despite the Obama Administration’s opposing stance on the issue -- there should be one singular global currency. But I think it should come about with strings attached. While this will be a good opportunity for eliminating global currency exchanges, this will also be a good opportunity for eliminating a myriad of other world issues as well. Mainly, it can be an opportunity to finally eliminate and eradicate the world of poverty, starvation, homelessness and inequality.

Let me begin with the latter. Recently, greed has reared its ugly head through capitalism. While during these times of recession and poor economy around the world, some people became even richer while more people were displaced from their jobs, lost more homes, paid more for healthcare (or, forced to do without), barely fed their children (in some countries, people could not even feed their children), more people were forced into the ranks of the poor.

In considering a new global currency, we must give equal weight to equality and justice to mankind also. This currency cannot benefit just a relative minority of the world’s population as some currencies do. It must serve all of mankind equally and fairly. To do this, each and every individual should be guaranteed the right to live in abundance wherever in the world they reside. We cannot again afford to have a few hoard the wealth of the world while 98% of the world’s population struggles to survive. There is no reason, nor justification for this. We have, at our finger tips the ability, and the way we live for the betterment of the world -- and not just for a relatively few rich and arrogant nations. It’s an opportunity to bring 190 nations together for one unifying pupose.

Why not put in each individual’s saving’s (or checking) account an annual balance of $3-million? Make it a worthwhile living account that one can survive on. This will eliminate the need for credit cards, certain kinds of loans, credit reporting agencies, and anything else that maintains derogatory information on an individual. This society should be a forgiving society where humans are lifted up – not forever torn apart, trashed, or discarded like rubbish or refuse. Some nations do not even give people the opportunity for rehabilitation – but are forever punishing humans for their inequities and failures – many of the causes of which are not even a fault of their own but are caused by other individuals. In short, these societies do not even let an individual have the opportunity for him or her to get back on his or her feet.

The world’s wealth has to be distributed equally. So must the supply of this currency be made abundantly so that each and every human can live in abundance without the struggles of life and unwarranted financial burdens of forever being short of money. So, bring on a global currency. But, do so for the right reasons.

Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord

“Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” said Isaiah. I am not a preacher, but I think this phrase is appropriate, timely, and I think it is time worth heralding his message.

We have come a long way in electing an African-American to the Presidency of the United States. But, the road is long and we still have a long way to go.

People are still losing their livelihoods, homes, and jobs and an alarming rate and it’s almost as if we do not have a solution to this dilemma.

As long as there continues to be the existence of social class structures and ruling classes in the world and divisions between nations, the notion that “all men are created equal” will remain a myth. Man will continue to live in inequality until these hierarchical social classes are eliminated around the world and nations come together as one.

As long as we continue to live independently as separate nations, there will always be differences of behavior, perception, and thinking. We may agree on some things, but differ on many issues. These differences cause disputes often leading to tension, conflict and war.

When the Lord comes to establish his Kingdom on Earth, He will abolish social classes and bring nations together as one. We will unite as citizens not of one nation, but as citizens united of the world -- one united planet. Men will live in equality and harmony. So, let’s get started now by, “Preparing the Way of the Lord.”