WEALTH AND MONEY PART 2: PRODUCTIVE CAPABILITY VERSUS MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE
WEALTH AND MONEY
PART 2: PRODUCTIVE CAPABILITY VERSUS MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE
One cannot eat money. It cannot be used as clothing. A house or chair cannot be built out of money. One cannot ride to work in a dollar bill or use it to mow the lawn. This is because food and clothing, a furnished house, a car, and a lawnmower are wealth. Money is the claim to wealth, a medium of exchange accepted as valid by a society. It has no value in and of itself. In fact, the overwhelming majority of “money” doesn’t exist. It is simply an entry on a computer screen or in a ledger ...
IS A PRIVATE RETIREMENT SYSTEM POSSIBLE IN WISCONSIN?
Senate Bill 45 is a bill to begin to create a private retirement system in Wisconsin. Chief sponsors are Senator Dave Hansen and Representative Eric Genrich. This bill is an important first step for employees in the private sector who do not have access to a pension.
This bill does NOT create the actual retirement system. It allows for the creation of a private Retirement Security Board which would be enabled to study the creation of such a private system. The WRS (Wisconsin Retirement System might provide a framework for a private sector system, but the two systems ...
Three Cheers for Public Services
Three Cheers for Public Services
When people woke up this morning our guess is that they paid little attention to their tax dollars hard at work. Every morning, we shower, brush our teeth and make our coffee with clean drinking water provided by our local government with public employees.
Then hard working public workers leave their families early in the morning to plow our streets and highways so that we can get to work. Our tax dollars are hard at work. Public services work for our communities at a fair and reasonable cost.
However, if our public services were ...
ACTIVISM PAYS OFF
Four years ago, I started a petition to “Save the Wisconsin Retirement System.” Your overwhelming response spurred me to join POWRS (Protect Our Wisconsin Retirement Security), a group of activists steadily gaining clout in protecting the WRS. This message is one of two. It details my personal work on the WRS issue. The second will discuss my activities with POWRS. Please share both widely.
I have two points to make in this first email. (1): we must continue to be vigilant. I am convinced there is a deeply ingrained desire in powerful political circles to slowly ...
MANY YEARS AGO (IN BETHLEHEM)
(Editor’s Note: Christmas officially begins on December 25 and ends on January 6, the day the Wise Men appeared.
We are pleased to present this wonderful song by Tom Ivey. The lyrics are relevant throughout the year and throughout the ages. Enjoy Tom’s song.)
MANY YEARS AGO (In Bethlehem)
(Children’s version)
Tom Ivey copyright 2009 (11-16-09)
Chorus: Many years ago, many years ago.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Many years ago, many years ago.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
He was born in a manger to Mary and Joe.
Many years ago in Bethlehem.
A gift ...
OUR MORAL COMPASS IN WISCONSIN
Our moral compass is “an inner sense which distinguishes what is right from what is wrong, functioning as a guide for morally appropriate behavior.”
A recent comment from state Republican Representative, Bob Gannon, should raise concerns regarding our moral compass and how it guides us as citizens of Wisconsin.
In response to an altercation involving a shooting at a mall in Madison, Gannon says citizens should arm themselves to “clean our society of these scum bags.” He says armed citizens should shoot to kill aiming for vital organs in the “center mass” ...
WEALTH AND MONEY: PART I
PART I: THE DESTRUCTIVE/CONSTRUCTIVE CONTRADICTION
Born in the late 1800’s, Frederick Soddy and R. Buckminster Fuller led extraordinary lives. Soddy won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1921 and Fuller became well known for his work in architecture and the development of the geodesic dome. Soddy was a British citizen, Fuller an American. Both were deeply rooted in science and the laws of physics, and both spent the latter half of their life trying to apply their knowledge of physical reality to making the world work for everyone. Inevitably their quest led them ...
THE “S” WORD: SOME PERSPECTIVE ON ECONOMICS
Bernie Sanders, a self proclaimed “democratic socialist,” is running for President. The “S” word will be used like a club to pillory him and his supporters. Even if he fails to be nominated, Hillary Clinton will be branded a socialist as well. The partisan attack dogs and the media pundits will spread the usual fear, falsehood, and misinformation which the public will swallow without question.
Words like “socialism,” “freedom,” “democracy,” ”welfare state,” and “free enterprise” are often thrown around rather loosely with little regard to ...
WISDOM FROM RETIRING SENATORS
Five years ago, most of us were retired teachers, enjoying our retirement with grandchildren, gardening and other pursuits. Then February 2011 changed everything. We became politically active and began to write.
At the end of 2015 we are still active and still writing. We have connected with many other progressives throughout our beloved state of Wisconsin. We will win because we must.
What keeps us going? For one thing, history does. Read the article in this issue about President John Adams and his Patriot Act. Another thing are the speeches given by Wisconsin State ...
WITH UNIONS, EVERYONE BENEFITS
WITH UNIONS, EVERYONE BENEFITS
The concept of Unions, workers banding together to improve their wages, hours and working conditions, has been the great equalizer for workers in the United States for over one hundred years.
Only since 1971 have the public sector workers in Minnesota had the right to bargain collectively with their employers. A group interested in forming a Union goes through an election in the workplace. If a simple majority of eligible voters decide that they want a union, then everyone must be represented equally. Workers can choose not to be a ...
