Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category

This is not a post about Osama bin Laden.  It’s a post about you and me.  He’s gone and that’s that regarding him.  However we remain… so how we act, and react, from here on out determines our future.  What also remains are the issues that created a world in which someone like him could develop and be successful, using the term “successful” in its most narrow sense.

In a world where people and nations vie to maximize their health, wealth and general well-being… not only without regard for others but, at times, at the expense of others… there will always be fertile ground in which to cultivate  disease such as bin Laden.  But such a destructive environment is under our dominion and control.  We very much have the power, individually and collectively, to choose again and create a world where every human being’s right to life (basic sustenance) and pursuit of happiness (the possibility that one can better oneself with effort) is guaranteed.

To create such a world we will have to re-prioritize what it is we value above all else.  Such choices will necessarily begin with compassion, dignity, and cooperation.  Such a world will need to be based upon logic that transcends Aristotle’s conclusion that solutions consist of only two options:  “x” or “not x”.   Such thinking leads to dilemma.  An alternative, or tetra lemma approach, considers “x”, “not x,” “x and not x,” or “neither x nor not x.”   In other words, simply put… one or the other or both or neither all become possibilities and thereby broaden the options for resolution.

Egypt wasn’t a spiritual, religious or political revolution.   It was an economic one where 50% of the population is under the age of 24 with no economic future of any consequence.   You cannot make food scarce and eliminate hope for the future without dire consequences.  Such are the elements that foster environments wherein diseased minds rule.

We are better than that.   But what it takes to turn this all around is not only personal responsibility but, first and foremost, personal courage.

Courage to think for ourselves.

Courage to reject systems that do not work.

Courage to speak out about values and policies that devalue others.

Courage to say no to a politically-based “collective” approach wherein the few seek to dominate the many under the guise of leadership.

Courage to speak out for spiritual Oneness, our inherent connection to all living beings, and all that it implies.

Courage to be patient, thoughtful and thorough with the process so sound decisions can be made along the way.

There is no harm in a centralized government.  We have one in this country.  But as it was designed, that central government had very limited power over the individual states that, along with their inhabitants, remain free to pursue individuality and personal creativity within an economic system intended to support growth rather than inhibit it.

Today is a new day and the quality of our choices will determine tomorrow.

Sometimes I wonder about us.  Americans, that is.

What are so many people thinking in seriously considering Donald Trump as a possible Presidential candidate?  It’s Donald Trump we’re talking about here and the Presidency of the United States.

Forget the sudden reversal of political stances he’s taken on such things as gay marriage or Universal healthcare. Forget the contributions he’s made to the campaign coffers of politicians that eschew the word ethics, such as Charlie Rangel, Mark Christ and Harry Reid.  Forget the reality TV host.

This is a man who drove his business into the ground then left creditors hanging as he declared bankruptcy.  This is a man who needs to see his name in 30 feet high gold lettering on everything he touches. This is a man who has made a fortune in business relations with, among others, the purveyors of gambling. This is a man who wants to blame oil producers and OPEC for rising gasoline prices when he’s smart enough to know it’s our own government’s policies and the unrestrained actions of the Federal Reserve that are the cause.  But of course, when the Fed digitizes money to the banks, it’s people like Donald Trump who benefit from his business connections with those same banks… so placing blame where it belongs would be, for him, setting the fire way too close to home.

But I digress.  This isn’t about Donald Trump.  It’s about us.

Did we learn nothing from our naive and shallow vote of 2008?  Are we willing, yet again, to buy into the superficial claims and bumper-sticker promises of politicians (and aspiring politicians) without doing our due diligence in going deeper and demanding not only more substance but also more integrity?

If the answer is “Yes, we are prepared to be so simplistically deceived again” then God help us.  We cannot go down this road even one more time… for we are out of time.  Not to mention out of money.

It’s on each one of us now to put down our egos and our greed and be our highest Selves for the sake of the future.

Call me crazy, but I see no evidence of The Donald putting down either his ego or his greed in the near future… let alone for the sake of yours.  So let’s stop wasting time on him and go in search of real candidates with real solutions who come to the table fully grown with their egos in check and their mission the common good.

I try to stay informed.  What that means to me is that I try and listen to both sides of the argument… whatever “the argument” may be.  Lately, I’ve come to the conclusion that we have become so polarized in our efforts to resolve our financial and societal crises that we’ve all but lost the ability to transcend differences and find common ground.

Potentially polarizing points of view are not unique to 21^st century America.  The six Native American tribes that combined to form the Iroquois Confederacy, the thirteen colonies that wrote the Declaration of Independence and the twelve states that sent representatives to Philadelphia in 1787 each had disparate opinions and interests. Yet, in each of the three instances, the common good transcended both the diverse interests at stake as well as the personal egos of the individuals representing those interests.

Given the dire circumstances we now find ourselves facing, why can we not see the wisdom of those lessons? I think the answers are ego, greed and fear of the unknown.

Contrast those examples with the current state of our economy, just one of the many challenges we face.  Both sides are blaming the other and both sides are dug in deep.  Each has special interests coming to bear. The common good doesn’t appear to be anyone’s priority, although if you listen carefully they each have some valid points and helpful suggestions.  The problem is that when you “dig in deep” there’s so much mud on top it’s hard to hear above ground!

Our President should be making a positive, leadership contribution towards resolving the underlying issues and elevating the discourse. Instead, he was most recently at Facebook corporate headquarters yesterday fueling the blame game and doing it directly with one of the groups he is courting politically for 2012, the young. That delivery, instead of inspiring others to seek the common good, was soliciting votes for the second term.  And while Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, added that he “wouldn’t mind paying a little more in increased taxes on the wealthy”… a comment that got him a laugh from his constituents (also known as his “employees”)… he’s not one to look to for guidance.  He appropriated the idea for his company and had to pay 65 million dollars for the mea culpa.

The solution is to drop the posturing and realize that more resources (energy, time, and money) are wasted on maintaining incompatible positions than are needed to solve the problem.  To acknowledge that we are all in this together and that it really is sink or swim time.  To accept that reprioritizing our values will make us better human beings not poorer ones.  Finally, to be grown up enough to acknowledge that no one person… or one side… has all the answers.  Both sides have kernels of good ideas to contribute toward meeting our challenges.

I like the saying, “wisdom may come from your grandmother cooking chicken soup at the stove.” The key is being confident enough… and smart enough… to know that and listen for it.

 

 

Everywhere you turn you’re hearing about insufficient funds.  At the federal, state and local levels the word is that we’re out of money.  Just this weekend “60 Minutes” did a segment titled “Day of Reckoning” spotlighting the current insolvency of many States with more to come.  No matter how rosy this Administration or any politician tries to paint it, there is little doubt in most people’s minds that something has gone terribly awry.

But it’s not the economy.

Money is a form of energy and, as such, flows unobstructed, or not, depending on its context.  Further, money is representative of an underlying condition.  That condition is the spiritual health of humanity.  Generalized prosperity is symptomatic of alignment with spiritual principles.  The absence or apparent lack of money is, likewise, indicative of misalignment with those same principles.

The Universe is eternal, infinite and therefore abundant.  There can be no lack.

However, there can be an interrupted flow of energy due to conditions that block or impede the flow of energy.  This is precisely where we find ourselves at this moment in time.

We have strayed from ethics, good moral character and our spiritual Selves for so long that we have impeded the Universal flow of abundance.  We have been greedy, wasteful and self-absorbed. We have been neither appreciative nor grateful.  We have demanded and received more… then acted as if more was never enough.  We have been insensitive and lacking in compassion.  And just to clarify any misunderstanding, the consequence for such spiritual blindness is not beheadings. Those who claim the moral high ground and choose violence to right a wrong only exacerbate the problem.

Now, the good news. Phew!

It’s not the end of the world, figuratively or literally.  It’s a course correction.  The money will flow again when we no longer tolerate in ourselves or others any form of deceit or greed. When we live the moral high ground, show compassion for one another, and value that which cannot be bought or sold.  Then, we will have regained our essence and materiality will once again flow.

Because we drifted far from the Light for so long we became adjusted to the darkness and it seemed the norm.  But in darkness nothing can grow and grow we must.

Because we’re all connected though one Consciousness, it matters what each of us values.  Give little thought to any apparent lack… for you are staring into the darkness.  Refocus your sights on love, integrity and hope.  They are located in the Light where there is permanent clarity and nothing in the way of the unobstructed flow of energy.

I am a Jew.  It’s one of two reasons why I feel compelled to weigh in on Glenn Beck’s recent three-part presentation about financier George Soros and the puzzling response to Beck’s presentation.

I am particularly intrigued today by the New York Times piece painting Beck as an anti-Semite while actually holding out the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a source for that conclusion.  The glaring inconsistency between quotes from Abe Foxman of the ADL in the Times article versus a personal letter from Foxman to Beck implies behind the scenes intrigue.  The Times quotes Foxman as calling Beck an Anti-Semite while just three weeks prior Foxman wrote Beck acknowledging his stand for Jews and Israel and calling Beck an obvious “friend”of both.

So what’s up?

As I said, my Judaism is the first reason I’m writing this.  The second is that I am a lawyer by education and so the facts matter to me.

I have watched and listened to Beck for several years now.  My impression and conclusions about him are derived first- hand.  He has been unequivocal in his support of Jews and rationally wavering on his support of Israel.  I say “rationally wavering” because even Israel makes mistakes and when Beck, in his opinion, perceived one to have occurred he has been vocal in his criticism.  Such criticisms have been the exception rather than the rule.

On the Soros airing and analysis, Beck could not have been clearer that the issue was not Soros’s choices and behavior at age 14 in working for the Nazi’s in confiscating personal property of Jews being condemned to the concentration camps, but rather Soros’ audacity, insensitivity and obvious lack of conscience in stating, after the passage of almost 7 decades,   that he had “no regret” about his behavior and that it has been “the best year of his life.”

I think Beck’s synopsis of Soros’ life experiences and financial dealings was less about an Anti-Semite than about a sociopath.

Quite frankly, any interpretation that paints Beck as an Anti-Semite for his having aired Soros in Soros’s own words has to be based in either 1) ignorance of what was actually presented or 2) a masked agenda to distort the facts in order to denigrate Beck.

Either way, as a Jew and seeker of truth who is trained to base her conclusions in fact, I can assert with certainty that Glenn Beck has consistently been an advocate for Jews, a supporter of the Jewish homeland, and a darn good investigative reporter (my characterization of him… not his own).

The New York Times could learn a thing or two.

I can think of no better example of the cause of the economic (and political) turmoil we are presently enmeshed in than the recently passed health care law.  It is a misguided plan destined to fail… and no one knew this better than the Framers of the Constitution.  They advocated decentralization, as in states’ rights, as opposed to a centralized authority, as in the federal government, because they intuitively knew a basic premise of complexity theory:

The more complex an organization(company, society, government etc.) the less able a centralized administering individual or body is able to know occurrences,and direct remedies, regarding aspects of that organization that are located literally miles, and figurative light years, from the centralized authority. 

The very nature of complexity theory is that in order to discern the changes and shifts that directly affect the whole, it is necessary to determine, as close as possible to the occurrence of change, those actions or events that are impacting overall functioning.

In plain English, and one word, decentralization.

Applied to the political reality of 50 individual entities, each with their own economies and societal preferences, it amounts to states’ rights… not central planning by a federal bureaucracy.  It’s why the Framers were careful and adamant that the powers of the federal government to be limited to preserving, protecting and defending the states.  These enlightened men (as well as the women who,I am certain, played a vital although unrecognized role) were able to anticipate the growth of the nation and the impossibility of governing it from “central command” so to speak.

But that’s exactly what this Administration is doing. In every aspect of our lives… from the auto industry to Wall Street to health care to the oil spill…the means is a centralized authority making decisions about and on behalf of the collective.At best, the policy and approach is misguided.  At worst, it’s sinister… if not in intent then, surely, in its result.

I can give those in power the benefit of the doubt and say what is in their hearts and minds is the highest good for all concerned.  

How does that saying go?  Oh, yes…“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

So, now that we’ve identified the source of the problem, what do we do about it?

Here’s a 5-step plan.

1.       Pray that the hearts and minds of those in power be turned toward what is consistent with freedom and the core principle of individual rights upon which this nation was founded.

2.       Speak up for what you know to be true in your heart and fear not the outcome of being the voice of reason.

3.       Hold fast to faith in the highest good for all concerned… which is different than thinking for and acting by and on behalf of “the collective.”  The highest good for all concerned is the individual’s right to express her or his creativity and intelligence in any way they please, absent harm, and to participate in a free market that bases success or failure on the merit of that effort.

4.       Do not compromise what you expect of yourself or others in order to maintain a status quo.  Be unwavering around ethical and moral behavior and demand a level of adherence by public officials or quickly remove them from office.

5.       Draw upon your own connection to a Source that maintains infinite possibility and boundless creativity in manifesting miracles through the unimaginable acts of goodness and courage.

I never said it was a perfect plan… but unless you’ve already got one… its a plan.

I subscribe to the belief that 1) there are no accidents and 2) we are all One. 

So, allow me to connect the dots.

Around 1400 B.C.E, the Oracle at Delphi was one of the most sacred sites in ancient Greece.  It was where Priestesses, who represented the Divine Feminine aspect of God, received divine inspiration and prophesied about a variety of matters.  Leaders from all over the Mediterranean came for guidance, including political advice.  Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom was loved and revered.  Hence, the origins of the word philosopher…”philos” meaning “love” and soph(ia) meaning wisdom. Philosophers were lovers of wisdom.  It was a time of great cultural advancement. In fact, Minoan Crete is viewed as a high point in early civilization and where the Divine Feminine was last worshiped before aggressive, warlike and patriarchal leadership conquered and destroyed much of what had been achieved. 

The region was the birthplace of Democracy.

Fast forward 2500 years.

The economy of Greece is in a free fall and near collapse.  The government, over time, has run up huge deficits that have become unsustainable.  The EU is scrambling to put together some sort of package that will forestall an economic crisis that would likely be followed by similar crises in Portugal, Italy and Spain. (As an uncomfortable side note, we in the United States are economically situated not all that far from Greece’s current position and it may be a dire early warning of its own for us as well).

We are living through remarkable and transforming times.  You can feel the shifts occurring everywhere. The system is re-balancing itself… an occurrence long overdue, I might add.  It is re-balancing the masculine with the feminine, the positive with the negative if you will. Both forces are equally necessary for the growth, evolution and harmony of our world.

As I connect the dots. it makes perfect sense that the “canary in the goldmine” turns out to be Greece.  It is where the Divine Feminine was enslaved and relegated to second class citizenship 2500 years ago.  It was where we went completely out-of-balance.  And because we are all connected, the obliteration of the Divine Feminine eventually led us to the present moment where, now, 2500 years of patriarchal leadership and dominance have failed at the intended goal…peaceful co-existence.

I am an optimist and see the larger picture.  From the ashes of Delphi and the economic collapse of present day Greece, will rise the Phoenix in the form of The Divine Feminine. She will bring us back into balance where finally, an understanding of Oneness and all it implies, will be known, appreciated and lived.

I have always loved connecting the dots.

In giving thought to both the “successes”, endurance and recruiting power of terrorist groups worldwide, its apparent to me that the one thing they have going for them is Certainty. No matter how irrational or destructive their goals, terrorists are certain, they have no doubt, about those goals or the acceptable means of achieving them. 

Certainty is the engine that drives achievement.  Its the power that moves an idea or intention to fruition.  Lacking certainty, it is easy to either 1) lose your way, or 2) be persuaded by the power of someone else’s certainty.

How this applies to our current political and economic situation is of utmost importance.

In any free society  (read as “democracy” or “republic”) there will always be an endless onslaught of ideas. This is the nature, and the intention, of such societies.  The free and unfettered exchange of ideas.   The extent to which an individual, or group, has certainty regarding their particular idea will drive, and likely determine, the dissemination and acceptance of that idea by the many. 

Particularly in times of economic hardship, when individuals seek out way to alleviate the burdens of financial uncertainty, an idea or proposed solution buttressed by the passion of certainty is most compelling.  Such was the power behind the success of Adolf Hitler and, as said earlier, global terrorism.

So how do we translate this awareness and apply it to the United States in 2010 as we face greater economic uncertainty that ever before in our nation’s history? How do we make it work for us and for the good?

Poetically, and literally, I suggest you listen within.

Each of us has an inner knowing and that inner knowing has a voice.  The key is to trust that you know then turn down the onslaught of external chatter so you can hear the voice of knowing.

Knowing tells you that you cannot get out of debt by spending more money that you have.  Knowing also tells you that the money in Monopoly is neither real or valuable nor are vast sums of money that are continuously printed with nothing to back up their worth. 

There is statistical evidence through a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll out that the movement identified as “The Tea Party” currently has a higher approval rating (41%) than both the Democrats (35%) and the Republicans 28%).

Why?

The growing popularity of the Tea Party Movement can be understood by its certainty.  Adherents and followers alike know with certainty that the federal government has lost its way. To the contrary, politicians are being manipulated, tossed and bossed about like falling leaves on a windy day.  Their collective uncertainty provides no momentum for sustained problem solving and so they have become ineffective at successfully addressing that which needs correction.

And so the Tea Party Movement’s message of certainty is compelling and contagious.  I suspect their numbers will continue to grow as will their influence.

This may be a good thing. 

Ultimately, however, as tougher and tougher decisions need to be made as part of the course correction that is coming, each of us will have to know, with certainty, what it is we want and what we are and are not willing to do to achieve it.

In the meantime, what we can do individually is go within, listen, and be certain about what we believe… for the time is coming when inner certainty may well be the only guiding force you can rely on…with certainty.

 

 

    

Let’s start with the admission that I am neither an economist nor a military expert.  But I like to say I’m a thinker.  So last week when I stumbled across two seemingly disparate pieces of information, the Thinker in me made a troubling observation.

First, I learned that the Federal Reserve Board, which regulates monetary policy for the United States, was created in 1913.  The World Bank was created in 1944 with the 44 allied nations agreeing at Bretton Woods to go on the gold standard whereby currencies were valued against a constant.  The constant was gold.  However, in 1971 the system collapsed when the United States unilaterally decided to no longer back the dollar with gold. In effect, the U.S. dollar then became the world’s reserve currency.

Secondly, while doing some web research for a power point presentation,  I stumbled upon a graph history of wars since recorded time.  I couldn’t help notice the huge disparity between the total amount of wars from 1000 B.C. through 1913 and the amount of world conflicts since 1913.  The escalation of war worldwide since 1913 was astonishing, to say the least.

As I was staring at the graph I suddenly remembered reading about the U.S. led (followed by worldwide adoption of) centralized banking at the beginning of the 20th century. Then it hit me.  You can’t fight a war very long without the money to fund it…to buy arms, to feed troops, to replenish resources etc. 

Prior to the creation of centralized banking, and particularly once off the gold standard, the ability to endlessly print money and correspondingly fund war simply didn’t exist.  You fought a war until you were out of supplies. Then you either went home or negotiated something resembling a peace.

Not so since 1913.

Now, we can fund the military and finance every urge we have to tinker in economies and political systems all over the globe.  Short on resources?  No problem.  Print more money or manipulate the economy through artificial interest rates to support the political and military aspirations of whomever at the moment holds the decision making power for the Federal Reserve and the White House.

Why do I care about all of this? 

Because 2000+ years of out-of-balance, male dominated, aggressive energies have brought us to this point. We are engaged in more conflicts than anyone should be and we are in debt up to our great grand children’s ears!

I’m not blaming men.  I’m pointing out that imbalance is the precursor to disaster.

In order to bring the world, not to mention the monetary system, back into balance, the Divine Feminine aspect of female energy must step up and co-create a new reality through a balance of power and shared cooperation in the application of power. 

True power is neither controlling nor aggressive.  True power is liberating and certain.  What I mean by certainty of power was best exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi.  It was his certainty of purpose, and means of achieving that purpose, that allowed him to successfully defeat the military force of an empire. 

Certainty is the spiritual “nuclear option.”  True power always trumps force.

It is now time for women to access our true inner power and, by defying the laws of man in obedience to the laws of Spirit, bring back into balance a world bent on self-destruction through the endless financing of conflict.

This year marks our arrival at a crossroad.  We are exactly 40 years out from Woodstock and Woodstock was exactly 40 years out from The Great Depresssion.  “So what’s the crossroad?” you ask.  If you give me a moment or two I’ll explain; but first, let’s take a look at what’s happening right now that’s causing public outcries, Republican and Democrat stone-throwing, and so much general discontent.

Most of us are aware that there’s something like a war being waged between what I’ll call, for lack of more accurate terms, Conservatives and Liberals.  While these have come to be completely meaningless terms, using them will make identifying the combatants easier.

The instant battle in this war seems to be over health care reform…although this is just the latest in a series of public objections to what appears to some as increasingly and, increasingly unacceptable, government ineptitude and intervention into the private sector.  The important words in the previous sentence are the words “to some”…because how many and who they are seems to be over what the battle is currently being waged.

Conservatives say the battle is inextricably tied to the intention of the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and even survival of the Republic. They are united in their opposition and claim their numbers are increasing daily.  Liberals say the battle is tied to compassion for those who have been marginalized by both prior Administrations and private sector greed, and, ultimately, is inextricably tied to our financial solvency and overall economic survival going forward. They, too, are united in their opposition and believe their adherents are the majority, and have been for some time, albeit a less vocal one.

So which of them is right?  Oh, sorry.  Wrong question.

So, what is the Truth?

First, to the combatants: both are right and both are wrong.  You see, its the old saying “there are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the Truth.”

What we do now, about health care reform and everything else that’s on the table or will be, is very much about what the Founding Fathers intended.  It is about the future of the Republic.  It is about compassion and action for those marginalized by institutional biases and greed.  It is about what kind of participant we, the United States…and we, as Co-Creators in the future of humankind…will be in the evolving consciousness of life during this millennium, on this planet, and beyond.

That’s where, combined, both groups have it right. 

The Truth, however, isn’t found within either argument and is bigger than both combined.  The Truth has nothing to do with right or wrong. The Truth isn’t about perception, judgment or separation.  The Truth is about harmony and Oneness.  The truth is found at the crossroad.

So, let’s return to The Great Depression, Woodstock and that crossroad.

Woodstock was emblematic of a vocal, and seemingly brief, generational rejection of the materialism and direction this nation had pursued following The Great Depression.  I say “brief” because many of we Boomers who later got caught up in that very materialism, also lost sigh of the fact that in so doing we became seduced and distracted by it.  Our distraction led to our abdicating responsibility for heading in the very direction we had earlier opposed.  From 1990-2008 life got faster, more materially comfortable, and more technologically dependent. It also got more stressful, more alienated, less meaningful and less joyful.

If The Great Depression was the beginning, and Woodstock the milestone, then we have arrived at the crossroad.

The Truth?

The Constitution was divinely inspired. But so are you.  So are we all.  We’ve just forgotten our purpose. 

Our purpose isn’t to accomplish anything more than remembering that we are not what we make, what we consume, or what we bank.  We are One Being.  All we have is all we need.  We are what we share and give away in joyful knowing that we are of One Mind and One Heart.  Sustenance and Abundance are our birthrights.  We are Co-Creators in the ongoing miracle that is the only Creation that ever occurred or ever will.

No government, no political party, no employer, no spouse is your Source of supply.  One Mind is.  Connect with that Mind; know that it is within You as it is within everyone else.  Be joyful about that knowing and share your gifts and your part in it freely… knowing that the adage “All you have is what you give away” is about trusting in the only Truth there is.

It isn’t True because I say it is, either. 

It just Is.

Or, better said, “I Am That I Am.”