Hello Sumi,
How are you two doing? We are quite busy going around San Francisco with our daughter's family. We had been to the museum today and saw Pissaro;s paintings. Yesterday to a Gallery with outrageous arts (see Attachments).
I am following the interesting exchanges of ideas between you and Victor. I think it is a healthy mental exercise that can delay the degeneration of our neurons. I am trying to watch most of the presidential debates. So far I think my candidate, Mitt Romney has the edge and hope he can defeat Obama. He is not 100% ideal but so far he is the best choice. He is not someone who has bold or even flamboyant ideas that are unrealistic and can not be accomplished. He is someone who dose not flaunt his religion but practice his faith devotedly.
When we lived in Bethesda, Maryland Jack Anderson became a good friend of the family. He was a syndicated columnist and was one of the advisers of President Reagan. He had invited me several times to attend the Mormon Church and became acquainted with their rituals.
The Mormons go to church every Sunday for 3 hours long. They do not drink alcoholic or caffeinated beverages. (My weakness for I love coffee and wine, and the reason I can not be admitted in their church.) I do attend the church once in a while because they provide very inspirational messages. The church advocates fasting for a day once a month. You figure out the amount you save for not eating for one day and donate that amount to the church, that donation is set aside solely for charity. The reason why they are one of the biggest donors to the victims of Mt Pinatubo, New Orleans flood, and tsunamis in Thailand and Japan.
I have high regards for Romney and I think he will be a good president. He will do what is good for the majority of our citizens, and not for just few vocal groups with unrealistic and selfish demands.
I hope I can convince you to support me in supporting Romney.
Best regards.
Ado
Hi Ado,
You said, "He will do what is good for the majority of our citizens, and not for just few vocal groups with unrealistic and selfish demands."
I LIKE TO BELIEVE WHAT YOU ARE TELLING ME BUT Romney belongs to the 1% Americans who got riched while the rest got poorer. And if he did not participate in creating wealth using the money he inherited, he used borrowed money and made a killing out of it while a number of workers got laid off. Those who bought the stocks of the companies he and his people bought and sold, made a killing also in the stock market. That's what I had been posting in the e-group..."the more a company lay off workers the higher the price of the stocks went and everyone in Wall Street were cheering. Meanwhile, as the company becomes leaner, their CEO's increased their salaries more than 200% and rewarded his financial officers with big bonuses while laying off workers. Long time ago, when a company's profit increased it was reinvested for increased productions, increased marketing development and increased salaries of workers. So the price of company's stock also rose because more people could and were buying their products. The people have money to spend. They were the middle-income Americans who buy the products they produced in America. I don't know. What do you think, Is this the way we should do in order to increase profit for the country's few rich capitalists and investors, to lower the cost of labor and lay off workers? And if the labor unions fought for higher pay, the capitalists take their production to China where they can profit more because the workers in China cannot negotiate for their pay. Soon there would be no middle class in America. Most of the 99% Americans will either close their shops and stores or small businesses, many government workers will continue to be laid off, new graduates and young people coming of age will have no jobs for themselves. Nobody can afford to buy things beyond their basic needs. Eventually many will work as 'alila,' housekeepers, yaya, to make ends meet, etc. The whites will eventually compete for the jobs immigrants came here for or they will start to go abroad for jobs just like the Filipinos.
This is from my observation of the current trends. You are my friend and I wish I can find Romney the right person to lead this country. He cannot feel the pain of the 99% of Americans. Like George Bush Jr., he was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. The older retirees do not belong to a few vocal groups and their demands are fair: social welfare is not funded by the government. They earned their pension and social security pension. Health needs are not out of selfish demand, they are the basic rights of sick people to get treated even if they could not afford to pay the treatment because they could die. Young pre-schoolers need proper education at the start of their life to get them out of the poverty cycle their parents are in, the nation must invest in the education of its future generations or we may just have to get ready to return to the Philippines because there won't even be enough policemen to prevent criminals from invading peoples' home for money and food here in the USA. The firemen, teachers, and low-paid health providers demand for work and decent pay are not selfish demands. What is selfish is the demand of the rich people to live in America, and to enjoy the services of the government and maintain our military for defense our young people are willing to die for, free. They don't want to pay their taxes, instead, they want to get all the money they could through politicians who they will buy to create policies and laws to beneift them and to curtail the rights of the people. Do you know what has been happening in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan where Republican governors are creating laws that dismantle government and safety nets for the people? Do you accept that a corporation is a person? There are more but this will be too long. And will send this to you after the election. LOLOLOL! I don't want to lose your friendship. So I'll wait.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
WHO ARE THE 1% SUPER RICH?
Below is the link to a chart that shows the percent of household in the 1% top income jobs. As shown, as the numbers increases, those occupying the top income decreases in number.
PARTIALLY summarized, here is the ranking top 1% of the people in their respective jobs as:
1. Physicians in private practice.................97,958 people in household are in the top 1%; ..... 27.2% of the 360,785 in this job are in the top 1%
2. Dentists with offices and clinics............25,647 people in household are in the top 1%; .... 15.3% of the 167,140 in this job are in the top 1%
3. Lawyers in legal services....................113,280 people in household are in the top 1%; .....14.6% of the 774,794 in this job are in t he top1%
4. Lawyers in other industries (government and businesses)
23,939 people in household are in the top 1%;......12.1% of the 198,597 in this job are in the top 1%
5. Financial Services in Sales Occupation, security ... 27,702................................................15.3% of 167,140
Adding up the number of people in the top 5 listed jobs it is about 1,708,456 in contrast to 10,000,000 in just 5 of the low paying jobs such as service providers in service industries...one can see the wide gap in the increasing number of poor Americans and fewer getting rich Americans. The middleclass is disappearing. If you are still eating on time but this government stop its funding for a better education for our children, soon, your next generations are likely to miss meals on time. If safety nets for senior citizens and the sick are dismantled, soon more businesses will close for lack of customers who can afford to spend any income in their stores and restaurants. Meanwhile it will be common to see people around us dying without getting any medical help...they will get into hospital when it is too late and they will just lie there and they will die there. Without good dedicated and qualified teachers increasing numbers of children will be dropping out of schools before learning how to read and write and get into the streets without employable skills. Soon there will be a need to increase prison facilities and crime will increase for lack of police to enforce laws. With this trend unchecked....how far is America from becoming like the undeveloped 3rd world country? The "wannabees" will get fiercer in their effort to climb the ladder by increasing the cost of their services such as those in the insurance industries, in the health and drug industries, in the legal systems, those in the real estate businesses...increase the pays of those who control the payroll policies while lowering the salaries for their workers such as clerks and services providers at the bottom rank. And for the few with products that people cannot live without, there will an increase in their prices and cost.
At the bottom are:
SOCIAL SERVICES PROVIDERS.............. PASTORS, TEACHERS, FIREMEN, PYSYCHOLOGIST, SOCIAL WORKERS, NURSES, COOKS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, CLERKS, BUREAUCRATS, ETC.....DOWN TO 0.2%
Out of millions of workers in these jobs only about 0.2 to 0.3% are in the top 1% top of money earners (their managers and administrators). In stark opposite, out of 200,000 to 400,000 jobs in the top paying jobs above, 15% to 27% are in houseld in the top 1% money earners.
HOW TO WAKE UP? lISTEN AND WATCH FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES TACKLING THESE ISSUES:
ON FAITH....
Victor,
I had already responded to your sermon. I like this kind of give and take. I miss tackling topics I grew up with when I was at home in the Philippines. My father was a pastor of a locally established church, Iglesia ng Dios kay Kristo Hesus. They were strong in debating Iglesia ni Kristo who claims Christ is just a human being. Our body of believers believe Christ as the head of the body (our group of believers). We go to church every Sunday and Thursday evening. My sister, Paz, and I were members of our choir. There was this Obispo of our church who delivers sermon that went directly to me for his center of sermon was always about Christ and His love. So at the age of 12, I opted to be baptised, by immersion in a clear running brooks somewhere in Marikina. I was a child then but I knew why I wanted to be baptised, that was to be God's child in spirit. I guarded my faith just like i am guarding the freedom I am now enjoying in America. When I sit and listen to our pastor delibers sermon, my mind was always watchful that this pastor is promoting Christ, not himself and his own glory. You know, we are susceptible in behaving like God. So, unknowingly, some of the pastors sometimes were overpowered by their own vanity for thinking they were in complete knowledge of God themselves and before we knew it, he was praising himself, not God.
When I came to America I kept my faith and the practice of listening to sermons on TV and now Googling passages that reminds me how Great God is. The bible is the greatest book ever written. Really, men do not even have to write about what is written in it. God said the Bible is complete and sufficient to connect us with God's mind and spirit if we read it with humility seeking His Wisdom.
Take care,
Sumi
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