Google Plus has abandoned many of its 'subsidiaries,' forcing clients to jump ship, as it were. So, after seven years of blogging, I saved everything to my gmail account; as I will this. Cynicism is the order of the day and it permeates various facets of human culture. I'm not sure anything was ever "forever" but when I was growing up, *starter* spouses were not [commonly] a "thing." That's just a "by the by" statement; a non sequitur, I believe.
One of my friends had quoted my own words back to me, "How hard it is sometimes to lay arrogance aside, especially when one feels it is one's only suit of clothing and does not wish to appear before the world naked and vulnerable." She assured me it would "preach." This wasn't the first time I had heard that. Maybe fifteen years ago, I mused on the similarity of: 'Oh, man;' 'I mean;' and 'Amen!' and my pastor said, "That'll preach." Both people making this observation are ordained ministers; presumably they know what will or won't "preach." As someone who was once a certified lay speaker, I have spent a little time at pulpits. So what the heck; I'll give it a go.
The first, I maintain, is a definition of bullying. As with other personality traits, bullies are not born, but made. It is the most basic reason for ensuring that every child born, is nurtured and loved. Bringing children into stable, welcoming, environments, means giving women freedom to choose whether or not to let a pregnancy continue to term. It also means ending totally unbalanced wealth disparity. Eliminating this hideous obscenity starts with workers being paid a living wage and being able to accrue vacation time and sick leave at a reasonable rate - not something that amounts to slavery. In the interest of promoting general welfare, the populace needs to have ready access to adequate and affordable health care. This is made possible by taxing the ultra wealthy at a rate of at least seventy and in some cases, ninety percent. It has been done and it works. To do that would likely require making off-shore banking illegal, unprofitable, and very uncomfortable. Not only does nobody need more money than they even know they have, it is unhealthy: not only for an individual but the surrounding society. Studies have shown these wealthy persons to worry so much about safeguarding their wealth as to not be able to enjoy it. [My opinion is they couldn't possibly enjoy it - not ALL of it anyway, because they literally have too much of a good thing.] Now, when special-interest groups are trying to bully people into believing higher taxes for wealthy persons don't work, they use the example of a person who has ten dollars, paying nine of them in taxes. But the higher tax wouldn't even kick in until, say, the hundreds of millions dollars mark.
Let us consider the issue, on a scale of one hundred dollars per hour. Figures in parentheses show [my] ideal of what percentage of population would be in each category.
- $97.76-$100.00 Ultra Wealthy 20%
- $90.01-$97.75 Moderately Wealthy 11%
- $75.01-$90.00 Upper Middle Class 9%
- $38.01-$75.00 Middle Middle Class 55%
- $25.01-$38.00 Lower Middle Class 4.99%
- $5.01-$25.00 Poor 0.01%
- $0.00-$5.00 Destitute 0.0%
It would be these two uppermost tiers that would pay taxes of seventy to ninety percent. Mind you, this is not just income but overall wealth, which [should] help ensure that those who have the wherewithal pay their fair share in taxes. Ideally, no one should be absolutely destitute - unfortunately there will probably always be a few; because, you know, greed. The goal of our global economic system should not be focused on generating wealth but making sure everyone has "enough" to live.
Perhaps it is true that "morality" cannot be legislated but if greed is stridently punished as a wrong against the whole of society, there should be less of it. So, back to that whole 'standing naked and vulnerable before the world' thing; everybody would have a decent suit of clothes and *solid footing,* which would eliminate the most common reasons to bully. To which all people should be able to utter heartfelt affirmation, either: Amen; I mean; or Oh, man! Know what I mean?
Grace and Peace,
Jo Ann
No comments:
Post a Comment