Why Is the Press So Strangely Silent Now?

It should be clear to the old media columnists (soon to be the obsolete media), that individuals can and do want to think for themselves -- instead of having these phony self-anointed "brilliant" politically correct (leftist) leaders do all their thinking for them and tell them what they need to chant while marching on the Democrat/union lines.

So they can't fathom, and strongly disapprove how the the tea-partiers can actually be the authentic desire of people to maintain their independence of thought and action, in a way totally alien to the self-proclaimed "progressives" (liberals) of a previous time and age, who have become the "reactionaries" of these present times (as has always happened before), who are mindlessly and steadfastly defending the old status quo in which they were told what to repeat by the establishment demagogues -- as though they thought of it themselves.

And now, during the worst ecological disaster of all time, for which the press would have been unmerciful to President Bush for not cleaning up overnight, they are deafeningly silent as iBama goes "on vacation." They no longer have Bush to blame for everything, and so now are powerless to do anything else.

Meanwhile, we see iconic liberal institution after institution, disappear, because they have served their "usefulness," and they awake to the realization, that that inviolable Democrat/union/media unholy alliance they thought would go on in perpetuity, they are the first to be "thrown under the bus," when the left realizes, they no longer need the media to be running interference for them, but can eliminate the middlemen, and spread their propaganda directly through their own partisan spokespersons -- limited only by their own ability to communicate their message, and fake their own credibility and authenticity -- which now seems so obviously contrived and manipulative, to a generation that has had to determine these matters for themselves in every communications.

The world has gone on and forward, without them -- and left them behind, to preach to an empty choir that no longer requires them to keep them in their places. They just are the last to know -- when once, they thought they were among the first to know anything and everything. That's what real progress is -- and not just placing oneself in "first place," always, regardless.

That's how times have changed, and are changing all the time -- and how one can be the first to know that, or the last.

A Culture of Exploitation (You Are Working for Free)

If working for "free" for three days enables one to make $75,000 a year in salary and benefits, then that's a very good return on their efforts.

These union/government workers need to look at the total return and value added to their communities, and not just be concerned about getting something for nothing, and ensuring that their members become "good for nothings" who will not do anything worthwhile for their community unless they can extort maximum payoffs upfront for doing as little as possible, or nothing if they can get away with it.

The unions exist to create value of their workers, and not to create the perceptions that their workers are "worthless" without their protection and bullying.

Actually, $75,000 a year is the average -- for all government workers -- and that's what the present crisis is all about, because that is twice the median for everybody -- while they claim to be the victims of poverty, and in some cases, victimizing the poor for their own benefit (jobs) -- rather than the original beneficiaries of those intended well-meaning programs.

The case in point is that the welfare workers demand the money be paid to them, so very little is left for actually funding welfare and human services benefits -- because the government (union) workers intercept those monies for their own benefit.

That is particularly true of the schools and education, in which the monies go to pay salaries and benefits of teachers rather than actually being expended on classroom instruction and the students. And so, while the number of students stay the same and their achievement stagnates, teachers and education administrators double -- and then claim they are working for "free."

Even the lowest government compensation (salary and benefits) BEGIN above the median for everybody -- which means that all government workers are in the upper half to begin, and so obviously, most people are actually below them, with a tiny few above -- that their unions like to compare as their private sector "peers," when in fact most people get far less, but a tiny few get many times more -- for market reasons, ie., not everybody creates a Microsoft or Apple equally, and gains the windfall.

In fact, most inventors and creative people, do work for free, or for much less, in order to compete for the big payoffs -- which is mainly, doing what they really love to do -- instead of resenting and blaming their work from holding them back from riches they think they would get in a free market for their services.

In the case of schoolteachers, there is no market for their services other than what the government forces people to subsidize. Real teachers often work for free, and enjoy doing so -- because that's what they are -- all the time, inherently.

The greatest thing the unions could do is pay everybody equally for doing the same job, but as it is, those with the greatest seniority get twice the pay for doing half as much.

And then those not teaching at all, but become "educational administrators," of which they are hundreds of them in Hawaii making hundred thousand dollar salaries, are getting more than their fair share of the money that should be used for learning.

Think about it, is teaching easier for the teacher fresh out of college or one who has done the same job for 20 years? But not only do those with seniority get the easiest jobs because they're allowed to choose them, but the new worker gets the worst job -- and lowest pay, and so the exploitation now, is not from the management, but from their own coworkers, who prefer it that way so they can point out how lousy the beginning salaries are in their field.

Who do you think is taking more than their fair share? Where do you think the rest of your money goes?

"Now Is Not A Good Time!"

If not now, when?

There couldn't be a better time -- when the tax revenues are vastly outstripped by expenditures, particularly the exploding demands for staff and payroll so that there is little money left over, to actually serve the function these jobs were originally created for.

Of course the most renowned example is the explosion of staff, salaries and benefits for the education establishment so there's no money left over to actually hold classes for the students anymore.

Do we expect them to come in on their paid holidays and career advancement days to teach? Do we expect government workers to do the jobs they are being paid to do and solve these problems therefore eliminating or reducing their jobs?

No, the problem has to get worse to create the need for more welfare, education, government

The most empowering and transformative action one can take to help a person on welfare, is to get them to use the Internet, because once they do, it opens up the entire world of possibilities to them -- and enables them to begin to break the cycle of reliance on other people -- to do their thinking for them, and telling them the information they need.

Poverty also means social isolation for many -- and the welfare office should not be their sole interface with the rest of society, but should include the networking possibilities of the Internet. The Internet is the answer to welfare and poverty; it's made everyone who utilizes it immeasurably richer -- and that today, is the great socioeconomic divide.

The welfare workers, educators, old media (journalists) fought new communications and information as the chief defenders of the status quo which they controlled -- until it became obvious that the world had indeed changed, and in the new world order, they were the "dead man walking." administrators -- who have lost sight of the reason government was created in the first place -- to solve (eliminate) problems, and not create more, high-paying jobs for themselves.