Showing posts with label bills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bills. Show all posts

Day 229: The Math is Simple, We Need a Living Income Guaranteed

So I am going through my college classes, math in particular, so going over things like fractions and rations and linear equations. Being that I am now over 30 and have been living life for a while and not just fresh out of high school, and not still living at home with parents, I have actually practically applied a lot of this math within my day to day living, within things like budgeting mainly. And as I go through the course, this is actually the practical application that is shown for this math – is that it is useful for doing your own personal budgeting and such.

So we have here in this math a really cool and useful tool to be utilized in the distribution of resources and goods to everyone, the things that we need and use on a daily basis in our lives. It has helped me to figure out whether or not I can afford certain things, and just how much I can afford to pay in rent for a place to live for example. The problem comes in however when your numbers just don’t add up to being enough to provide you what you need.

It seems strange that we would allow such problems to exist where individuals can be faced with not having enough to cover all our basic needs, where no matter how you do the math, there is just no solution. You would think that we humans don’t even grasp the simplest of math to see that for so many it doesn’t add up. It’s even stranger still that there are those who would seem to even deny that such a situation exists and would imply that it is simply due to individuals not managing their money properly or living ‘within their means. But there is a bottom line that if your income is below that, you just don’t have enough and no amount of money management is going to solve that.

Interesting that we are taught this math in school to help us with finances but not really taught that hey- you might end up not actually having enough to pay all your bills though. I mean, maybe I would have geared up and gone to college right after high school instead of taking my chances with the ‘real world’ and trying to go straight into getting a job, if I’d had any idea that pretty much the only jobs I would have access to would be those that don’t pay enough. At the time, I was afraid to incur a huge college tuition loan, when I didn’t really even yet know what I wanted to do with my life. But if I had known that in the end I would be no better off than I was 10+ years ago, maybe I would have had a different perspective.

However, even then, it is still a numbers game. Even if you have a degree, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you won’t still end up in one of those jobs that doesn’t pay enough. Because over time, those types of jobs have been increasing, and the better paying jobs decreasing. The ones that provide better pay, decent benefits, paid leave, or any leave at all, and maybe some kind of retirement, or even pay raises. When we have heard politicians say they are making more jobs, we should have asked what kind of jobs? Ones that actually will support us? Or treat us as cheap labor?

Our economy is screaming for a Basic Income program like the Living Income Guaranteed. Just look at the numbers. I see more and more homeless on the streets literally every day. I am approached more and more frequently by individuals asking for some money. I see more and more shops closing and vacant buildings. The signs are all around and I don’t want to wait to see how bad it gets. If we are not going to make sure that we have enough jobs that pay enough, then we need a proper support system to make sure everyone has enough for a decent life. It only costs us more to try and help individuals once they aren’t being effectively supported by the system. We have so many costly programs that only exist to try and help the problem after it’s already been created, that often still aren’t enough to keep people on their feet. It is much more cost effective to prevent causing problems that need to be cleaned up. The numbers don’t lie so it’s really time we listened to them and make sure that everyone really is in a position to effectively work out a proper budget.

Day 197: Minimum Wage Falls Short - What Can We Do?


The minimum wage in Washington, the state in which I reside, is $9.19, yet studies have found that almost double that is what would be required for individuals to actually make ends meet.

 

 

Washington’s minimum wage falls short, report says

A single, unmarried worker in Washington state needs a wage of $16.13 an hour to make ends meet, according to an organization that studies the so-called living wage level around the country.

In fact, several states for which the actual living wage was calculated, would need more than double their current minimum wage standards.
 
How is it that we have a minimum wage, which is supposed to cover the minimum wage that is required to live, and yet – it doesn't. Are we really that bad at basic math? It is quite obvious that it's not enough, because if it really was enough, then we wouldn't have employed people who can't make ends meet. We wouldn't have people deciding to go with state assistance and not being employed because why bother to work when you're still not going to have enough money and you're going to have to work all the time. This is why we have such a problem with welfare abuse, because employment isn't really much of a better deal.

Anyone who works a minimum wage job knows – it's not enough. Even if you have a wage that is a few dollars above the minimum wage, it's still not enough. This is quite a serious problem. I mean, who decided to make the minimum wage not be enough to live? And why did we let them hold a government position to make such a decision? Why do we go on day after day struggling and getting deeper in debt. It's like we forgot that the law system is supposed to Serve us, not Enslave us.

More from the article above, which I definitely suggest you read the whole thing:
Gail Hammer, an assistant professor at Gonzaga University School of Law who specializes in poverty and family law, said the minimum wage would be close to $16 if it had been allowed to rise with inflation over the years.
People working for less often struggle with housing, health care, food, transportation and even legal problems, she said. Low-income workers may develop an attitude that the system isn’t fair, which undermines social structure.
“I don’t think keeping people in poverty makes any sense at all,” Hammer said.

Many of us have experienced this reality, where you have to choose between which bills to pay, or have to forgo necessary health care due to lack of money, which eventually leads to even more extensive problems when things are left untreated. As the situation worsens, more and more will face this reality as well. How bad does it have to get, how many have to be suffering, before we'll realize there's a problem and correct it.

We have a tendency to not fix something until it really breaks. You hear a strange noise coming from your car (if you can afford one) and you tell yourself 'ah it's probably nothing' and make excuses and you let it go, and it's not until some part actually falls off your car or it stops working completely, that you realize 'ok, now I really have to take it to the shop and get it fixed'. And now it is really a mess and it's probably going to cost a lot more to fix it, and maybe even it is just too damaged that it cannot even be fixed. And we could have saved ourself a lot of consequence if we'd just tended to it when we first noticed the signs of a potential problem.

Well I would say we are well beyond the first signs of a problem as the signs are all around us and are in almost every single one of our daily lives, affecting each one of our lives, our children's lives, and will affect their children's lives, should they decide to even have any in a world that isn't going to effectively support them but may just throw them into poverty and a life of enslavement. And we really don't want to get to the point where things really collapse, as then it will likely be too late to do much about it as we'll be really taken to an extreme level of struggling to survive that you don't even want to imagine.

So, we're all aware of the problem, so – what do we Do about it?

Clearly we need to correct the law which is supposed to Serve and Support us to Actually Do So. We need to set the minimum wage to that which would afford a dignified life where one would have all your needs met, and have enough to do what one would like to do in life as well, because we are not working just to survive. There is no point to that. What are we just lifeless batteries to power the profit machine until we're used up and replaced? Or are we working and creating value through our labor which means we should be living lives of value.


One proposal that stipulates an effective minimum wage, is the Basic Income Guaranteed. This is not the same as the Basic Income Grant which has the same anacronym (BIG), but has different principles. In the Basic Income Guaranteed there are two forms of incomes, one which is a Basic Income which one receive when not working, which is like welfare, but it would actually be an amount that is sufficient to cover all one's basic needs, which includes things like proper housing and healthcare. 

The second type of income is a Minimum Wage which is suggested to be double the Basic Income, so that it provides enough for the luxuries of life. This way, no matter what your situation, every individual would be supported to live effectively, and those who would like to work to have more will actually get more from working. Work would be worthwhile, and not something done out of force out of the desperate need to survive, which ends up with people doing jobs they'd really rather not in conditions that are not preferable to abusive, where the worker has no choice because it's really a matter of life or death. 

The Basic Income Guaranteed would remove the survival threat from the situation so that we can make decisions freely for once as to what we'd like to do. Therefore, I definitely suggest to investigate this movement and support it's implementation on a local and national level, because we deserve a proper life and it's time we stand up for our worth and value ourselves, and not accept any less.

Day 195: Why Don't You Get Paid Enough?



How is it that the vast majority of us go to jobs where the profit of our labor goes to someone else? Does that even make sense in any conceivable way? How could we have possibly accepted such a system? I mean, it is really bad mathematics. You should get out what you put in, therefore if you put in your labor, you should get out the benefit or the compensation for that, so how is it that the average worker at the ‘bottom’ of the job hierarchy, the ones that do the actual day to day labor which is the ‘backbone’ of the business itself, gets the least pay of all?

This shows that we’ve got a real malfunction with our value system. We’ve got individuals doing the labor, but the value goes to someone else, and really it goes to a minority, so that they can live lives of luxury, while those doing the actual labor aren’t paid enough to be able to cover all their basic needs. 

I mean, it is a really twisted and warped situation and when you take a step back and really look at the big picture, it is really quite psychotic to have most of us working so hard, just trying to survive, having to forgo many of our basic needs like proper healthcare, when the value of our labor which we created through our labor, goes…somewhere…else… It goes to someone else who did not do the labor, instead of to those who created the value in the first place.

What’s fascinating is that in working for a large corporation, at staff meetings, the equal importance of every employee position is professed – but then, why aren’t all positions equally valued – by being equally compensated for their equal importance? It’s the manager’s job to tell you that you are appreciated and the work you do for the company is appreciated, and it sure is, all the way to the bank by those who are profiting off of the labor of others. 

Talk is cheap, literally. We all know that we have collectively decided that the only thing in this reality that has value is – MONEY. You need it to buy your right to life – without it you die, and your life has no value. Thus to express appreciation and importance of employees is just empty words, because those words do not put food on the table, or provide you with an effective education, or proper healthcare. 

Now, within the Capitalist system, as we’ve accepted it, you need to have a job to get money to be able to live. So how is it, we allow jobs to exist which don’t provide adequate MONEY to ensure you are able to LIVE properly, and not just ‘getting by’ paycheck to paycheck or like many, going into credit card debt. Why would we allow this, it just doesn’t make sense. Because we know the job you have is how you make your living, so why would we deliberately allow some to have ‘less of a living’ than others? Certainly, no one needs LESS LIVING. No one needs a POOR quality of life. No one needs to suffer through ailments that could have been prevented because they can’t get the proper healthcare.  

Obviously, the only reason that so many are doing such jobs is that there isn’t a better option. I mean, it’s really simply math, to see how there simply isn’t enough jobs out there that pay properly for one to have a dignified living, and so the majority is going to get stuck with the inferior compensating jobs. I mean, take Costco for example, who pays their employees and average of $17 per hour. That is above and beyond what the majority of jobs out there pay. And you know what, the waiting list for applications to Costco, I was told when I applied, is three years long…

That’s no surprise is it? Because who wants the lesser paying job? Less pay means less quality of life. Nobody wants that. So why do we allow that? Is it necessary? No. Why is it not already so, that employees gets the value they create? Because the value the employees create, it is created, and it exists, and it goes somewhere. It goes into the hands of those at the top.

This is literally modern day slavery. Just because you get the tiniest possible portion of the value you create is enough to make you think you’re not a slave after all, because you’re being compensated, apparently. But this very basic simple math principle was not understood. If you’re creating X amount of value, how come you’re only getting a spec of that?

This problem is one that will be corrected within Equal Money Capitalism – compensation will be actual compensation to those who have actually done the labor. All aspects of a job will be equally compensated, because all are equally important, and everyone has the equal need to live and have their physical needs met and the highest possible quality of living, which is leaps and bounds above what is available to most but is available to the select few who have all the money. Profit that goes to the hands of a few to live lives of luxury while the rest suffer in survival will no longer exist, as it is a crime against life and humanity. 

The Result of this will be a great Reward where Stress from lack of Money will cease to exist – no more having to forgo proper healthcare because your low-minimum wage job doesn’t provide benefits while certainly not providing enough to buy benefits as an individual, leading to more and more health problems with lasting effects, which could have all been prevented with the proper care. I mean, how much do companies really value their employees if they don’t care if they remain in proper health? It doesn’t matter to the companies, because the low-wage jobs are also low-skilled jobs, and there is always plenty of individuals needing jobs that they can just hire another one when one employee gives out, and in this way, you’re literally used just like a battery, sucked dry until there’s nothing left, and then discarded and replaced with a ‘fresh’ one.

This is what our lives have become, just like in the Matrix – batteries for the system, and as anyone with a low paying job knows and is going through, that is not really living. This isn’t what life should be like, or has to be like. All can have a dignified life, once we no longer allow the scam of profits being diverted into the hands of a few, and make sure the money is going where it is needed. Just like the human body – ensures that the blood travels to all parts, and distributes the resources the physical body requires to all its parts. Imagine – if the body did not do this, but functioned like our system does now, how long would that human body last? Not long, before it would start to fall apart. So in the human body we have a real example of how to effectively operate as a functioning whole that functions at optimum capacity, which is obviously when every part is provided what one needs and is supported to the utmost, to function and be the best that it can be.

Imagine – what kind of a humanity would we have then? Where what we do we do because of the value we create, not because it’s what we have to do because it’s the best we could get. I mean, that is slavery. Most of us are actually slaves, because we didn’t choose what we’re doing, we’re doing it because it’s our means to survival. Imagine when your survival is not at stake – when we have a system in place that ensure you are effectively supported, and even has a buffer system in place for those that would find themselves in between jobs for a moment, because, when that happens now it is like a great fear and uncertainty and most of us will do what we can to stay with the job we’ve got, and not take the risk of trying to find something else, because what if it doesn’t work out, could we get our old job back, who knows and then how will I pay my bills, because most of us can’t even miss a paycheck. I mean, is that any way for the companies that exist today to be treating their valued employees that do the labor for them? To allow them to be in such risk and uncertainty for their very survival? Obviously not, obviously the companies and corporations today that do not provide equal compensation for their employees are a disgrace. 

Imagine a life where what you do is actually what you like to do, you were able to choose, without fear of being broke and not being able to put food on the table. I mean, it’s really like we are living in the Dark Ages. We have never come out of that, and it’s in fact only gotten worse. We as humanity have every capability to exist where everyone is supported to have the best possible life, so it’s really quite evil that we have that capability and yet – haven’t put that into application. We’ve become so caught up into the ‘daily grind’ it’s like we’re on ‘auto-pilot’ just going through the motions, day in, day out, to Paranoid to consider change, because our situation is so unstable as it is, we don’t want it to get any worse. But – realize – it IS going to get worse UNLESS you stand up for a change, to make it BETTER, and sort out this system to ensure that it is functioning properly as an Economic system is Supposed to do – provide the best life possible for everyone – not just one or two here and there while the majority is enslaved to jobs that only exist for the sake of making profit and which are actually causing harm to our earth and ecosystem with no regard for life whatsoever. 

This can change, all it takes if for us to walk that change into reality. Get involved and start your process of self education of how reality could be when lived in common sense support of life:

Visit the Group Capitalism vs. Equal Money group on Facebook.
Visit the Equal Life Foundation Page

To assist in breaking through the brainwashing that is behind why humanity has accepted such an abusive system:

Read the 7 Year Journey to Life blogs


Day 179: Turns Out You CAN Buy Happiness - IF You Have MONEY

Featured Artwork by Matti Freeman


Turns out you can buy happiness! New research shows the richer are the happier you'll be
New research not only confirms what most would call common sense - that it's more fun to have a lot of money than to scrape by with little - but can tell you exactly how much happiness each dollar will buy you.
A new discussion paper from researchers Daniel. W. Sacks, Betsey Stevenson, and Justin Woflers title 'The New Stylized Facts about Income and Subjective Well-Being' tracks happiness in comparison with income and what we buy with our money.
Their findings graph exactly how much you need to increase your income to affect your happiness and where you can find the happiest people in the world.
Among 122 countries interviewed on well-being in a gallup world poll against a nation's real GDP per capita (and adjusted for purchasing power) found that well-being rises with income at all income levels in every country.
Therefor, rich countries are happier than poorer countries.
It also found that you need to increase your income by consistent percentages to feel happier about a raise.
For instance, if you doubled your income from $30,000 to $60,000 you'd need to double it again to $120,000 to get the same feeling of elation rather than simply add another $30,000.
And while you need increasingly higher and higher jumps in income to get the same satisfaction, there isn't a plateau where the feeling will level out. You can always be happier if you can get the money. 
The research also showed that satisfaction could rise steadily if income levels rose steadily.
Interestingly, while the U.S. economy has doubled in size since the early 1970s, its self-reported happiness has been declining.
That could be attributed to the growing economic disparity between the wealthy and the poor.
The author's noted that in European countries, 'the inequality has increased by half' the amount it has in the U.S.


Yes, Money is required to buy Happiness. We all already know this, but many will deny it, the simple fact that money is required to have any kind of a life that one can enjoy here, and that money and how much you have directly determines your quality of life. I mean, this is obvious, it’s how we’ve designed this system to operate – you need money to buy things. In fact, you need money to buy almost anything. Yet we only ‘know’ this as knowledge and information, as we haven’t done anything about it in actual reality, like changing our money system so that it does in fact support everyone to have the best life.

There’s the quote “Money can’t buy happiness” which is often used as justification to accept the economic system the way it is, as a reason why apparently you don’t need money to buy happiness. But this in terms of happiness as a mental state, wherein what is being implied is that – even with money you can still be unhappy. Basically because you can still drive yourself nuts in your mind, regardless of your financial position. And this is used to justify allowing poverty to continue by implying that money is thus not the key ingredient in being happy, when we know full well that without money you are going to go through real actual physical suffering, and that while you can change how you experience yourself internally, if you have no money, it is a physical problem, which cannot be stopped by changing your mindset.

Yet, the human does not currently have effective directive ability of their own minds and are subject to all sorts of thoughts, feelings and emotions, and from that perspective, there is a lot of mental suffering as a result of being in extreme financial situations, where you don’t know how you are going to survive or pay the next bill, or how you will afford to pay the fee if the electric company shuts you off, or how to give your children the best life possible. How will you afford to send them to college? Or even to just put enough nutrition on the table for them every day, get the proper healthcare they need when they get sick, etc. There does not yet exist any kind of worldwide support system to assist people with directing their inner experiences yet, except for the Desteni I Process so far, which has been developing this for years already, which now offers a free course with buddy support which covers the fundamentals of how to direct one’s thoughts and reactions.

So, because most humans do not have a directive ability of one’s mind, one is susceptible to one’s environment, and thus by not ensuring everyone has enough money, we are in fact responsible for allowing both physical and mental suffering to take place, and when it is totally unnecessary. Why allow a very tiny amount of people to have way more money than is necessary so that all the rest, the vast majority which is billions of beings, can live lives of inferior quality and support? Why allow children to not get the most effective education? The best healthcare? The children become the adults that is us that walk this earth and ought to be the custodians of the earth, but they turn out to be the abusers of the earth just like those that have gone before as we teach each following generation the same principles, the same ignorance and disregard of life.

The U.S. Constitution states everyone is entitled to the pursuit of happiness as an unalienable right. Therefore we are directly violating the Constitution to not ensure that everyone has enough money to be happy, as we know that without money, they will not be able to pursue happiness.

Thus why this current Capitalist system requires revamping, so that it is actually in-line with the very principles it is supposed to uphold, and the promises it has made to make life better for the individual, when everywhere you look more and more individuals are doing worse and worse. Within Equal Money Capitalism, you will have the money to send your child to college, you will have the money to get the most effective healthcare when you need for you or your family, you will have the best quality car, the best quality house, the best quality food that are not made to contain poisons like we have today, you will have the best environment, as nature will have the best care, you will have the Best Rights as an Individual that will have ever existed.

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