Category Archives: Politics

Where Forth Labor Unions?

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Nevada is one state where unions still play a significant role in political negotiations. A number of news outlets have published articles in lieu of the Nevada primary. The point was made that Mike Bloomberg has never publicly backed unions. It is true that as corporations gained political power during the end of the twentieth century, state governments in particular pushed hard to defund union membership, impose right-to-work legislation and otherwise paint bad images of unions.

Unions are no less saintly than politicians and corporate conservatives. All of them are aggressive in defending their perceptions of economic purpose. However, in this age where citizens no longer participate in the profits of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), where salaries linger at a small fraction of what they should be, where corporations are trying to drop benefits of any kind, having a union fight for a fair share for the workers may not be a bad idea. But unions represent only 1 in 10 hourly workers – down from 1 in 3 in 1955. State legislation in most states would have to go through a philosophical, highly opinionated and greatly resisted battle to reverse the disadvantages imposed over four decades.

Mariner wrote a post “About Labor Unions” (August 28 2019) that suggested the familiar union organization that has prevailed since the 1930s may not work in this new age of automation, rapid data learning and the ability for corporations to move operations anywhere in the world.

As corporations have become an economic force across governmental boundaries, it is difficult for unions to sustain equally flexible membership given location and nationality. Even more problematic, governments have difficulty managing corporations. In this campaign season where ‘socialistic’ ideas are being touted, union leaders may consider joining the national noise of the campaign to back a new national strategy for unionism.

Trying to maintain the traditional ‘local’ organization will not be influential enough to tackle market issues that cross national boundaries. In the recent post mariner suggested the ACLU organizational model. Further, mariner feels that a governmental agency (a new version of the Labor Department) could set regulatory policy similar to the Environmental Protection Agency today – Donald’s interference notwithstanding. The new labor department could negotiate treaties similar to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) except with a fair set of rules for workers.

In any case, righting the economic ship is more than just fixing taxes. It is setting new protective rules for workers in an age where moving from job to job may be the new norm and sustaining economic viability in unemployed neighborhoods may have to be part of the agreement language.

Ancient Mariner

 

On the Tech Front

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֎ It was China who hacked into Equifax’s credit history data recently. China now has the credit history of most Americans. May as well ask China for one’s latest credit score.

֎ The first ‘no-cash’ all electronic bank was approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The bank’s name is Varo. No tellers required. It isn’t exactly the Kenya model but it’s an app on the smartphone. The ‘buyer beware’ element is that a person never holds income in their own hands; the asset value of income is disappearing. Oh well, most people can’t afford to buy houses, build savings or pay for health and retirement anyway.

֎ Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo) said:    “Google and Facebook have acquired hundreds of companies in the last two decades, yet the FTC never once intervened to try to block any of these acquisitions.”

֎ Amazon Prime Day has become a top-notch shopping holiday, up there with Black Friday.

It occurs to mariner that the world is fragmenting. On the one hand, wealth is accumulating at increasing speed to those of the oligarchical class; on the other hand, lower and middle class people are having a bankruptcy experience; on the other hand, artificial intelligence is taking over the role of shaping society; on the other hand, corporate influence is replacing government influence as the source of economic oversight; on the other hand, dozens of nations will cease to exist as global warming takes its toll on land, water and economy.

Okay, millennials and Zs, it’s your turn.

Ancient Mariner

Changing Times

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Mariner made the mistake of watching Empire Games on Netflix. It is an excellent documentary series about how power abused the citizenry and how power exchanged hands from one king to another (assassination).

It was a mistake because mariner also is investigating the current transition from the industrial age to the computer age (Reagan Administration in 1981 to a time toward the end of the twenty-first century. The elimination of labor jobs in the United States caused by the NAFTA agreement in 1993 is comparable to the introduction of textile machinery that caused the Luddite revolt in 1811, considered the beginning of the industrial age).

Disturbingly, there are similarities between power transitions in the age of empires and power transitions today. Don’t rule out assassination:

Anybody here seen my old friend Abraham . . .

Anybody here seen my old friend John . . .

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin . . .

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby . . .[1]

Anybody here seen my old friend John Lennon . . .

And almost, anybody here seen my old friend Ronald.

Every one of these assassinations is related directly to shifts in political power or shifts in economic direction. It turns out there is a pattern common between emperors and today’s leaders: accumulate political power – force change to culture – accumulate wealth – citizen rebellion – accumulate political power, etc. For emperors, accumulate wealth meant waging war to increase territory and economy. Today war has many manifestations.

Improved weaponry, communications and transportation in the twentieth century have allowed ‘accumulate wealth’ to be a global event. Wars in the computer age have newer methods; everybody wants to join in – even if, in the last decade, old-time explosives aren’t as important.

For example, in the old days of emperors, wealth was acquired through military action. Today, wealth is acquired through corporations. Even so, the procession to rebellion is similar. The proletariat is abused (just two examples: disappearance of steel manufacturing and Google); in a corporate sense, nations are colonized in pursuit of wealth; eventually the disadvantaged people revolt (note Brexit, Donald’s base, and Venezuela). As far as battle between ideologies and cultures, the computer and Internet are the weapons of choice. During WWII, planes dropped leaflets or nations broadcast radio programs. Today, advocates insert propaganda into social media. Today, in the computer age, the procession to rebellion can be provoked by inciting rebellion without firing a bullet or even having to travel to the target nation.

While the procession to rebellion has not changed for the moment, three significant events have curtailed military violence: the invention of nuclear weapons, acquiring wealth through corporations and the ease of invasion using just a smartphone. In effect, militaristic war is being pushed back to the days of parochial conflict.

– – – –

The other significant similarity between the age of emperors and the age of computers is economics. Setting aside for the moment the egomaniacal dictators and those who dream of being king, quality of life is a major provocation for rebellion.

The relationship between accumulating wealth and general quality of life is not absolute. For example, global weather cycles, plagues, and significant planet activity have nothing to do with the procession to rebellion but greatly affect quality of life. Still, lack of citizen quality can be interpreted as economic dissatisfaction.

The computer age brought with it a new economic engine: computers allowed corporations to become international. Manufacturing no longer was constrained by slow information or relatively high labor costs. Corporations found it more profitable to loosen the fiduciary laws of investment and become less accountable in their role as supporters of society. The transition to investment and away from manufacturing began in the Reagan administration during the 1980s. Since then labor has suffered as better paying jobs moved to more lucrative foreign labor markets; ignoring the role of supporting society has led to wage suppression in order to improve corporate profits; corporations aren’t sharing their profits. So much for trickle-down.

It is now forty years later. The proletariat suffers on every economic front from sustainable income to job security to housing to less than adequate health care. As the stock market rises to new heights, the economic challenge to the man on the street grows more intense. The time is ripe for the procession to rebellion to rise. Indeed it has started in the name of Donald’s base.

Just as in every stressed rebellion, those who can manipulate political advantage rise to power. Too often, these economic saviors have little empathy; they are eager to move to changing the culture and accumulating wealth for the powerful rather than the citizens.

There is a happy ending, sort of. The United States has been a democracy from its inception. That democracy, especially now, is far from perfect but it has allowed the nation – so far – to avoid the ravages of nations like Greece, Turkey, Brazil, Poland, Columbia, Venezuela and the entire Middle East to succumb to collapse and allow despotic leaders to shut down free society. Mind you, with the likes of Donald, these are scary times. Another term and the nation will join Turkey and the others.

As to how the procession to rebellion will occur in the future –

Ancient Mariner

[1] Dion DiMucci album released 2001

Whoever wins Wisconsin wins the Presidency

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Well, so much for a racing start out of Iowa. Democratic candidates look more like campers looking for blueberries than running robust campaigns.

In previous posts, mariner proposed Biden based on his popularity in polls in the key swing states, one of which is Wisconsin. The whole presidential campaign boils down to four or five states and which democratic candidate can have the most influence in those states for the general election.

The next two paragraphs are from the Madison Magazine:

“If you line up the states where Trump is more popular than he is in Wisconsin, it does not add up to an Electoral College majority. And if you line up all the states where he’s less popular than he is in Wisconsin, it’s also not an Electoral College majority,” says Ben Wikler, chair of the state Democratic Party. “Wisconsin is the tipping-point state in the Electoral College.”

Mark Graul, a GOP strategist who was George Bush’s state director in Wisconsin for the 2004 campaign, sums it up: “If Trump can’t win Wisconsin, he can’t be president. That’s what’s different this time.”

So keep an eye on polls in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida – especially Wisconsin. An excellent website for anything poll is Nate Silvers’ website at fivethirtyeight.com.

As to Donald’s popular vote, virtually all pundits believe he again will lose the popular vote. This assumption is based on polls indicating that Donald hasn’t expanded his base, remaining close to 42 percent his entire presidency. Nevertheless, Donald is an aggressive snake oil salesman; polls in the last two weeks show him creeping close to 50 percent. Iowa didn’t help and the Senate vote frees Donald like a dog without a leash.

The big TV news outlets will milk viewer’s anxiety for all its worth. On the following chart are the viewer comparisons in millions of readers for 2019. To track Donald’s success, an indirect statistic will be Fox’s popularity in 2020.

Mariner does not view political news on TV except for a morning briefing from NEWSY, available on cable, ROKU, etc. Mariner explores more civil and accurate websites for the ‘real’ news without suffering angst. He recommends the same for the reader. Track the four swing states including Wisconsin. Track Donald’s popularity at fivethirtyeight.com. This approach should keep the reader sane as well as knowledgeable.

Ancient Mariner

 

Iowa Caucus

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Mariner attended his democrat caucus tonight. After each voter selected their favorite candidate, the votes were counted for each candidate. Of 76 voters in attendance, 29 voters had their choice rejected. Either switch their vote to a ‘viable’ candidate or go home. (Viability meant a candidate had at least 12 votes) Votes for Klobuchar, Steyer, Warren, and Sanders were disallowed. Only Buttigieg and Biden had enough votes to be considered viable. If a voter were disallowed of their first vote, they could switch, if they chose, to another candidate’s group. Given this chance, Steyer voters chose to change their votes to Klobuchar – which made Klobuchar’s group a third viable candidate.
Mariner is reminded of voter suppression in Dixie. The only difference is there are not many blacks in Iowa; however, the suppression is the same.
Mariner watched MSNBC to learn the outcome of the Iowa Caucus. At ten past midnight, results still were not available. Interestingly, the pundits had two opinions about the caucus procedures: Coverage had shown caucus voters being friendly and collegial in renegotiating their preferred candidates. Some pundits warmed to the collegiality saying the examples are how democracy should work; two other pundits called for one person, one private vote – a typical primary.
Lawrence O’Donnell described the caucus correctly. “It isn’t democracy,” he said. “It’s politics; it’s how the Senate works to negotiate legislation. Swap and trade ideas and language until you have enough votes.” He further clarified that the Iowa caucus was designed for rural Iowa elections and was never intended as a platform for national politics.
Mariner accepts Lawrence’s wise interpretation but still does not understand how one person, one vote – the bedrock act of democracy – is served by disallowing that very act.
Ancient Mariner

One person one vote – Hah!

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The following paragraph is copied from the fivethirtyeight.com newsletter:

“As much as we try to remind you all about how uncertain elections can be — pleas that sometimes fall on deaf ears — it’s important to keep in mind in advance of the Iowa caucuses. To begin with, primaries are much harder to poll than general elections, and caucuses are even harder to poll than primaries, as they introduce a number of complications. Caucuses require a long time commitment, which can make turnout harder to predict. They aren’t a secret ballot, so voters can literally try to persuade their neighbors to change sides. And Iowa Democrats employ a viability check — we’ll talk about that more before the caucuses on Monday — that asks voters to switch candidates if their first choice doesn’t clear a certain threshold, usually 15 percent of the vote at that caucus site. That makes second choices important, and even opens up the possibility of strategic alliances between the candidates.”

In the last presidential caucus mariner and his wife were not allowed to cast their vote for a qualified candidate. Mariner was quite unhappy about this injustice and threatened to leave the Democratic Party if it ever happened again. The time is nigh.

– – – –

A few bloggers and political pundits have made the case that it isn’t democrat versus republican, its status quo versus everyone else, ergo, Biden will lose just like Al Gore. Those who believe this have not studied campaign polls in depth and have forgotten that Al was the ‘progressive’ compared to W. True, the younger voters prefer the progressives but the real weight class is the millennials – voters in their forties and fifties; voters who fear that their economic stability will disappear; fear that a burdened retirement will be made worse by shrinking federal discretionary programs (Social Security, Medicare, etc.); fear that artificial intelligence will decimate the careers of their children and may even cut their own jobs.

One polling statistic is undeniably clear: Donald has not improved his popularity beyond his base and conservative republicans during his entire tenure. He still is vulnerable to defeat by the national vote. It is the battle at the state level that threatens the democrats. Status quo or not, if six states return to the Electoral College with Donald winning the popular vote again, Donald will win a second term.

Finally, many more voters can see the elephant in the room: global warming. Even heartless corporations are modifying their investment strategies to accommodate global warming. Donald, of course, up to his hips in fossil fuel interests, frequently calls global warming a hoax.

Ancient Mariner

 

It is time to pick

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The final nomination for president is growing close. Virtually all the democratic literature flowing profusely into citizens’ mailboxes make the case for each candidate based on differences in policy or what ‘lane’ the candidates are in; race and age are tossed about. The Democratic Party has a way of defeating itself as presidential campaigns enter later stages of the process. There is a tendency toward this because the Democratic Party is a true umbrella party with many facets of the political spectrum represented.

Ever heard the phrase ‘herding cats’? Mariner thinks it may be time to shape the battleground rather than chase cats. True, with so many candidates, voters still have not decided which cat to catch but the statistics in all the polls suggest there are only four left. Mariner suggests voters ask one question by which to decide the democratic nominee: Who will win the most states – especially the states that unexpectedly voted for Donald?

In the 2016 election, the list below represents four states where the popular vote unexpectedly went to Donald. Donald won the emboldened states by 2 percent or less. The total number of votes by which Donald won the 3 can fit in a stadium – 107,330. Donald won Michigan by less than 12,000 votes.

Florida   29 electoral votes for Donald

Michigan 16 electoral votes for Donald

Pennsylvania 20 electoral votes for Donald

Wisconsin 10 electoral votes for Donald

Donald stole six electoral votes from states where Hillary won the popular vote.

How are the 4 states doing today vis-à-vis the top four democrats?

Florida   Biden by 20 points

Michigan Biden by 6.5 points

Pennsylvania Biden by 11 points

Wisconsin Biden by 4 points

Given Donald’s razor thin wins in these states, states where policy wars don’t seem to be important, perhaps the Democratic National Committee needs to focus on states that switched or almost switched to Donald. All told that includes 11 states that are called ‘battleground’ states:

Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Most agree the remaining 39 states always are true to their color – red or blue. Looking at many other states, the fact comes home that the reason to vote is to beat Donald; there is time later to talk about policy.

If, indeed, Joe is the favorite in many of the 11 battleground states, perhaps the DNC should focus on raising his profile. For example, Joe doesn’t inspire like Warren; he doesn’t cogitate like Buttigieg; he doesn’t rant like Bernie. Face it – Joe is a compromise. The DNC should roll out a national platform to help deal with the policy issues; perhaps toss around some Cabinet names; help Bloomberg spend his billions in Senate races.

It seems Joe sells comfort and lack of surprise more than anything else – something about which the whole umbrella can agree – certainly as an alternative to Donald.

Ancient Mariner

 

Before mariner starts his main topic

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Bon Voyage to Jim Lehrer. He was a newscaster when the news was real and meaningful and more of the moment than broadcasting is today; for much of mariner’s life MacNeil and Lehrer were mariner’s go to newscasters. (Those were the days when news did not have to make a profit – it was a public service. Since Sixty Minutes in 1977, not only did news have to report news, it had to entertain – the beginning of pundits, gossip and, if not fake, trumped-up news.)

– – – –

As to the main topic, evidence of plutocracy and corporatism:

֎ Top twenty corporations in lobby expenses:

U.S. Chamber of Commerce: $58.2 million (versus $64.1 million in 2018)

Open Society Policy Center: $48.5 million (versus $31.5 million in 2018)

National Association of Realtors: $41.1 million (versus $72.6 million in 2018)

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America: $28.9 million (versus $27.5 million in 2018)

American Hospital Association: $22.2 million (versus $19.9 million in 2018)

American Medical Association: $20 million (versus $19.8 million in 2018)

Business Roundtable: $20 million (versus $23.2 million in 2018)

U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform: $18 million (versus $29.8 million in 2018)

<Facebook: $16.7 million (versus $12.6 million in 2018)

<Amazon: $16.1 million (versus $14.2 million in 2018)

National Association of Manufacturers: $14.6 million (versus $9.5 million in 2018)

NCTA — The Internet & Television Association: $14.2 million (versus $13.2 million in 2018)

Boeing: $13.8 million (versus $15.1 million in 2018)

Comcast: $13.4 million (versus $15.1 million in 2018)

Northrop Grumman: $13.3 million (versus $11.9 million in 2018)

Lockheed Martin: $12.9 million (versus $13.1 million in 2018)

United Technologies: $12.7 million (versus $10.1 million in 2018)

National Association of Broadcasters: $12.7 million (versus $14.2 million in 2018)

CTIA — The Wireless Association: $12.4 million (versus $11.4 million in 2018)

Southern Company: $12.2 million (versus $12.3 million in 2018)

֎ WHO’S AFRAID OF THE IRS? NOT FACEBOOK. The social media behemoth is about to face off with the tax agency in a rare trial to capture billions that the IRS thinks Facebook owes. But onerous budget cuts have hamstrung the agency’s ability to bring the case. [ProPublica]

֎ WHAT FORMER LAWMAKERS WHO WENT TO K STREET ARE UP TO: More than a dozen lawmakers who lost their seats or chose to retire in 2018 announced they were heading to K Street (‘Lobbyist Street’) last year. The former representatives are allowed to lobby their former colleagues . . . [Politico]

֎ EFFORTS TO REFORM FINANCE CAMPAIGN LAWS in the United States invariably disappoint or enrage some people. In 1976, Sen. James Buckley (R-NY) became the latest in a long line of politicians to take his outrage all the way to the Supreme Court. He argued Federal Election Campaign Act limits on campaign spending violated free speech rights. The Supreme Court agreed, and the act was amended to allow unlimited spending by political candidates. This decision opened the floodgate of political advertising that pours through television sets from coast to coast in the run-up to a major election. [Wikipedia]

֎ LET NO GOOD DEED GO UNPUNISHED. The latest attempt to level the financial playing field among federal candidates was the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. Coming together in relative solidarity, Republicans and Democrats sought to ban non-federal contributions to campaigns, limit spending by federal candidates and also ban political issue ads from airing within 30 days of an election. This development might have been music to the ears of those Americans weary of listening to the steady stream of political advertisements that emanate from radios and televisions every four years. However, several aspects of this law were challenged less than a year after it was enacted. The U.S. Supreme Court has subsequently struck down many provisions of the act. [Wikipedia]

֎ The DISCLOSE Act (S. 3628) was proposed in July 2010. The bill would have amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit government contractors from making expenditures with respect to such elections, and establish additional disclosure requirements for election spending. It went nowhere. [Wikipedia]

For many decades mariner’s position on campaign financing has been twofold: (1) All financing for an elective position, local, state or federal, is limited to the jurisdictional boundaries of that specific election subject to local election regulations. (2) The election of the President and other inter-jurisdictional positions (including referendums) are funded by the Federal Election Commission and disallow private funding.

There is an underlying belief that explains the Supreme Court’s willingness to be complicit in unfair election practices: Money and speech is the same thing and protected by the First Amendment – an idea the Supreme Court has upheld a number of times. The flaw in this philosophy is that a zillionaire has a zillion votes and the common man has one – if they’re lucky.

Ancient Mariner

Whose Government?

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For readers that believe the nation’s laws are passed by a Congress representing the people, they are right – if corporations are people. Certainly those who defend corporations make arguments based on citizen ethics as though a corporation were a human being. The following paragraph is from Propublica:

“For years, [Microsoft] has moved billions in profits to Puerto Rico to avoid taxes. When the IRS pushed it to pay, Microsoft protested that the agency wasn’t being nice. Then it aggressively fought back in court, lobbied Congress and changed the law.”

To read the entire article link to https://www.propublica.org/article/the-irs-decided-to-get-tough-against-microsoft-microsoft-got-tougher?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter The article also was published in Fortune Magazine.

Many human citizens from every walk of life do not deny that the United States is run by corporations. Corporations have the profits to buy the federal government. Two democratic candidates are billionaires and a lot of noise is made about them ‘buying the election.’ They can’t buy it; they can only rent the presidency from the corporations – especially the big data tech corporations.

Every walk of corporate life has an open channel to buy the government through lobbyists, election buy-outs, and hidden support for the lifestyle of ‘the citizen’s representatives in Congress.’ Just mention Koch Brothers, insurance companies, banks, health services and not to be overlooked the fossil fuel industry.

Through ‘their’ elected officials, the tax code is controlled by the corporations. Add insult to injury, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been gutted of staff and budget.

Read the article.

Vote with your brain!

Ancient Mariner

 

The Biggest Great Divide

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The last post on perception is a lead-in to this post about a great divide. What are our perceptions of the future – not the far future but starting now until 2050? An emerging perception is that millennials (born 1981 – 1996) will live their lives on the fence between two very different social and economic cultures. They will bear the burden of financially supporting both offspring and elders; their own careers and roles in society will be tumultuously tossed about and fraught with uncertainty.

Millennials started their lives in an Adam Smith world (he married capitalism to reformation ethics) and will end it in an economic and social world beyond description today – though many futurists believe the concept of ‘job’ will be divorced from Adam Smith’s marriage; artificial intelligence will disrupt existing class perceptions; Planet Earth will play havoc with resources from Helium gas to the disappearance of vast stretches of dry land, to a shift in weather patterns that will collapse significant agricultural markets.

Progressive economists suggest if the economy isn’t soon redistributed from its advantages to oligarchs, the US may experience rebellion similar to that in other countries in the news today. Data tech corporations are so pervasive and so uncontrolled that a new retail culture may evolve with a US Congress of self-appointed data tech CEO’s and Jeff Bezos as President. (mariner speculates)

Presuming all these hotspots of change may happen, what is the core cultural issue? What will people experience day-to-day? What persistent event will cause foment and disorder as society rewrites itself?

Greater than identity politics, greater than economic imbalance, greater than global warming – it is the educated versus the uneducated; the elite versus the useless; those who can participate in society and those who can’t.

These perspectives are not new. Social philosophers and futurists have suggested this great divide since the 1970’s. But today it is a fresh subject in journals, magazines and online science sites. There are characteristics of the divide that exist today. For example, those who accept that the successful will be successful and others never will be are the same people who don’t believe in welfare, Medicare and Social Security. In other words, if a person hasn’t made it, they are not allowed to have any value in society – they are useless even to themselves.

The French term is ‘raison d’êtra’, which means reason to be or role in life or in personal terms, why am I here? The feeling of uselessness is a struggle often among retirees, young adults without links to society, and especially those who by their class and education are denied the right to succeed or interact with the participating members of society. Psychologists long have defined the emergence of gangs in destitute neighborhoods as a result of not being allowed to participate in society therefore they create their own role within their neighborhood.

Society is only a decade from the first waves of white collar job loss. It is a common statistic that artificial intelligence may eliminate from fifty to eighty percent of jobs across every discipline, every skill, and every function that constitutes the ‘common workforce’ today. It does not help that income for middle and lower income people already is suppressed and hasn’t kept up with inflation. Donald’s base, suffering job loss and massive reduction in salary, is a current example of a segment of workers that has fallen on hard times and claim they are forgotten in today’s economy. Indeed they are.

As the months roll by, the issue of joblessness and especially the denial of the right to pursue happiness, success, etc., otherwise known as a raison d’êtra, will reach a breaking point where violence may be the proletariat’s only option.

The federal government has no choice even given polarized parties, wealth-driven politics and the cost of global warming, but to address joblessness which may be at a level commensurate with Venezuela today. The tax code, ensconced for generations as a capitalistic friend, must be dismantled in order to accommodate a very large portion of the US population.

Already in today’s democratic campaign for president, Andrew Yang has proposed a minimum income supported by taxes. A monthly distribution to citizens, especially those shut out of social participation, may be one way of preventing violence and stabilizing feelings of personal worth.

In a recent post mariner suggested that a new concept of having a job was to create a self-managed job. This is a job that a person assumes on their own for the good of their society. A pure example of this is a member of mariner’s family who has taken it on himself to improve the bare space around the base of trees along the sidewalk; he plants flowers and attractive greenery. He is satisfactorily employed but has taken on a role to improve his neighborhood. In the future, this approach to raison d’êtra will be a major way of defining work – and – it will need to be a source of income as well.

Another example is mariner’s neighbor who has chosen to maintain the gravel alley for his block. Again, income was not involved but, given the idea of a monthly distribution from the government, many otherwise unemployed citizens will find roles to play that will, mariner suspects, greatly improve the civility that is in short supply today.

If artificial intelligence and the corporations that control it are brought under control; if the tax structure shuts down abusive wealth and redistributes economic participation to the proletariat; if new job growth can be harnessed to deal with global warming; if international cooperation can be modified to support the economics of sustainability – maybe there will be some fun moments learning a new culture and new economics.

Ancient Mariner