I would add a caveat, though - ‘remain open to new possibilities’. Without that, you risk isolating yourself from new knowledge and experiences, and becoming dogmatic or just plain pig-headed in your dealings with the rest of the world - and we all know there are enough of those types of people around, don’t we!?

Thanks for adding further to the conversation.
Steve

I agree with this !

I find your writings sensible…thanks.

I’m afraid I haven’t seen those movies. Over Christmas, I did see Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ which explores America’s health service and compares it to those of Britain, France, Canada, etc. That was quite funny, informative, and sad. The British system isn’t perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the one the US has to put up with.

Thanks for commenting,
Steve

Yes, a return to the days of living within your means would work wonders for the world. Pity it’s never going to happen.

I love your ‘living on minimum wage for a year’, Heidi. Oh, if only! But, yeah, that’s the worst of it. Some many of these morons who got us into this mess are just going to walk away scot free. And with a hefty sum of money in their pockets! It kills me. It really does. And, you’re right - very, very few of them know what a decent day’s work involves.

Thanks stopping by and sharing your thoughts, both of you.
Steve

AIG, one of the companies bailed out, is now being taken to court by the state of New York because they did with the money exactly what the bailout bill told them not to do. The company failed, but executives were still given bonuses and top level employees were treated to very expensive vacations. My congressman also said that he really didn’t want to sign the bill, but not doing so would have sent the country into a Depression. I still wonder if that would have made any difference to me.

As for me, I think it would be interesting to see these high level bankers do some work for a change. Real work. Now, everyone who actually does the real work knows that the people who do the work and make it possible for the company to earn money are the ones who earn the least. I think the bailout should have also stated that banking and finance executives would have to live on minimum wage for a minimum of one year as a penalty for being stupid and running their companies into financial ruin. Make them do the day to day work. Have them wonder if they can keep a roof over their heads, feed their kids, take care of their health and work at a thankless company who doesn’t care if they don’t have enough. All the while wondering if the idiots on Wall St. and in Washington DC are screwing up their pensions. Now, that would be justice.

Hey, I couldn’t agree with you more! (Don’t worry, when I talked of leaders and said ‘honest, intelligent, humanitarian leaders’, that was exactly what I meant, not merely someone who spoke a little greener than the other guy or who looked ‘really sad’ at news reports of starving Ethiopians.) Sorry, it’s my fault - I always assume people have read more of my posts than they usually have so don’t explain myself fully for fear of repeating myself and boring readers.

Greed, corruption, incompetence - yep, the world is full of it. As are most politicians and corporations (’full of it’ in more ways than one, too!) It’s a total shift in mindset we’re talking about. And that’s the problem - how to wean those with all the power off money and greed.

If you haven’t already, you might like to check out these posts:

http://www.lionsledbysheep.com/2008/09/11/oil/
http://www.lionsledbysheep.com/2008/09/04/rich/
http://www.lionsledbysheep.com/2008/08/28/snow/

I’m sure you’ll find them entertaining and thought-provoking.

Thanks for sharing more of your thoughts, which I’m sure most of my readers will appreciate.

Used? Yep, that’s one thing we feel. Not to mention, conned, embarassed, ashamed, appalled, disgusted…

Yes, Sandy, it’s hard to believe that these people have our best interests at heart, isn’t it? That they ‘represent’ us? They obviously use a very different dictionary!

Yet they’ve got away with it!

Again.

When are enough people going to wake up to what’s going on and demand that something is done about it? It’s a pity November isn’t going to give Americans much of an option to register their dissatisfaction. (This is a nice idea, but impractical because it relies on people having the courage to see it through.)

http://www.lionsledbysheep.com/2008/05/08/lazy/

Thanks, Sandy.

Steve

Did it matter? No, not one bit.

So I guess we should have taken notice of the roar coming from main street fell on deaf ears in Washington.

I would really like to know what was said to Congress to make them rush through this unpopular bill.

They were probably told that they would no longer get paid vacations, tickets to the super bowl, etc. if they did not cooperate.

I think we (all the world) need to take help each other and forget Washington. Those morons could not find their way home without the limo driver.

Such a shame… and we feel so used!

Governments and their leaders (elected or not) capitulate to the jobs and taxes and paybacks that come from the Economic entities. And the politicians must play the game of power to remain as politicians. And playing with power ultimately leads to compromise and corruption.

To prevent situations like this global economic wealth grab, we need to bring our governments to re-prioritize their agendas. We need to make clean water, clean air, food, shelter, clothing and communication infrastructure as our most important action items. It is the elevation of Economics to the Prime Factor and the unrestrained conditions of a Free Marketplace that has ceased to be ‘Free’ that continues to waste our beautiful world and our amazing potential for human creativity and awareness.

I do think there are plenty of good leaders hidden in the flock. The problem is in the immense capabilities of the entities and systems of power to maintain and increase their power… often accomplished by keeping us in our place as dedicated workers and consumers. I do think we will truly need those leaders to create communication and infrastructure that work ‘around’ the existing infrastructure (which is controlled by the entities whose power we wish to limit). And I do think this will and must occur on a global basis. We are all One. Our problems and their solutions are global. We are all first and foremost World Citizens. http://www.changing-history.com