WanderingSalsero

Nobody's job is safe...even teachers.

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Providence plans to pink slip all teachers

 

I don't know...what would you call this....dark humor?

I suppose not.  Maybe you could call it some ironic?

Whetever you'd call it, this headline I linked above there kinda reminded me of the several Korean teachers I've met over here who have more or less said that they think their jobs are totally secure because they're teachers.

This is their response when I've suggested to them that improved technology is changing the nature of teaching and that it's very probably that advances in internet, long-distance teaching could mean lots of teachers might find themselves out of a job pretty soon.  Unless they learn how to teach on the itnernet themselves of course.

They're response has basically just been, "Nahhh, that couldn't ever happen!"

I wonder how many of these teachers who are probably going to get axed up in Providence might have once said or thought that same thing?

It's always kinda amazed me how it's common knowledge that 'Johnny can't read' yet every year the teaching colleges crank out more of (presumably) the same kind of teachers, school boards ask for bigger budgets and get them and teachers generally seem to be a pretty carefree lot.

As the Bible says, "It rains on the just and unjust alike."  I don't know where that is but that's what I've always heard anyway.

Most probably the average teacher isn't a very violent type person.   But I do know that as more and more Americans get laid off, can't find work, lose their homes and get generally lose any hope for their future you're very, very likely to see violence over here (i.e. in the US ) like you're seeing in the Middle East right now.  That's what Gerald Celente has been saying for years..and I agree with him.

When you remember that most people have little if any money saved, it's scary to think how getting caught in one.....just one......food riot or anti government demonstration could really wreck your life.   Not to mention the increasing possibility of being caught in the middle of a violent crime of some sort.

If I was in the US right now, I'd for sure be wondering how much money I could put together to move someplace relatively quiet and peaceful in SE Asia or Latin America.  If I had to stay in America I'd damn sure buy a gun and as much ammunition as I could afford.  And storable food items too.

The Obama Deception isn't going to be the only 'real chage' that's gonna catch a lot of otherwise good people with their pants down.  Are ready for life in the 'New America'?

Related articles

• End 'last in, first out' teacher layoffs (cnn.com)
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Gerald Celente speaks

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Here's two clips from YouTube of well known trends forcaster Gerald Celente.  He says basically the same thing on both clips but in slightly different ways.

I picked up a few interesting points from it:

1. The sequence of events we see happening globally right now are virtually the same things that happened  prior to 1939 and lead up to WW2.  Gerald thinks there could very easily be a major war just around the corner.
2. Gerald thinks the young people of the US are, for the most part, 'pussies' who won't resist when the federal government, in order to prevent situations similar to what's going on in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere right now, clamps down even more on their civil liberties.
3. Gerald thinks that Journalism 2.0, (i.e. the rise to prominence of citizen-generated news, entertainment and other forms of consumer oriented content) is going to replace older, traditional types of media (e.g. newspapers, network news, etc.).  

Gerald knows what he's talking about.  These videos are worth watching and ponderings.  Nothing is guaranteed anymore.

 

 

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• Government's Greatest Fear Is Freedom of Speech (lewrockwell.com)
• Gerald Celente 2011 Trends: "The End of the World" (grantlawrence.blogspot.com)
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Credit card companies....you still gotta watch'em!

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Credit card rates at record highs near 15%

In the above linked article from CNNMoney.com you'll be able to read the latest news about credit card companies, banks and how they've been up to their old tricks again.  Can't say that I'm too surprised.  Are you?

But here's my audio commentary on that issue and some other related and broader ones.

 

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Poverty in the Philippines.....how kids cope.

This video about kids in  the Philippines that scavenge garbage reminds me of reading also how lots of teachers who teach in Cambodia develop a real appreciation for the positive attitude that most Cambodians have toward their life of relative poverty.

In the Philippines, everybody who lives there for any length of time comes to appreciate the incredibly positive attitude toward life that Philippinos have even if they don't have much material wealth.  The strength they get from their family togetherness is really very impressive.

And I know something about that myself from involvement with some Filipino friends of mine here in S.Korea.

I still don't totally understand why a country that's so beautiful and has such industrious people, and where English is a second language.....why they have such poverty.  I've heard that corruption has something to do with it.  It just reminds me that corrupt politicians are the best justification for vigilantes.....and the best use for trees and rope.

My heart really goes out for little girls like in this video.   Look and listen to how positive she stays in spite of how economically disadvantaged she is.

 

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Another example of Fascism in US Government

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Remember what I said the definition of 'Fascism' was?

The combinationo of big government and big business, right?

Well, here's another example of how that's happening in America.  The CEO of General Electric (GE) has been tagged by our Great Deceiver (Obama) to head a commision on jobs and productivity and such.

Read the article by clicking on this linked extract of it.

There are a few companies on the Obama corporate A List – Democratic patrons Google and Goldman Sachs both turn up again and again at White House functions and for special recognition – but no company seems to get the VIP treatment that General Electric receives.

In a very real way, this kinda relates to my earlier post today when I noted how science fiction writers very often comment on current society or trends/directions of society.  If you've read much sci-fi at all you know that lots of the scenarios describe what is either outright fascist governments, huge powerful government/industrial machines, or very close to it.

Bob Dylan once sang, "You don't need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows!"

I agree with that.  All you have to do is read the news (even when it can't all be totally trusted).

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A very smart Cubano explains why we're all bastard children of the Rand Corportation

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I think it's safe to say that most of my US based readers have at least heard of of the Rand Corporation.  Most of you probably think it's just another think tank.  And some of you might even think it's an old company that used to make business machines.

That pretty much describes, i.e. the later, what I thought about it.  I think I vaguely in a far corner of my mind remembered that Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense during the Johnson presidency, was at one time associated with it.

But this video interview with Alex Abella will explain to you why we have all been effected more by the Rand Corporation than we'll probably ever realize.  That's why he says, "We're all the bastard childred of the Rand Corporation."

 

I hate to say it, but.....we made a mistake with Iraq

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This article relates how Muslim vigilantes in Baghdad are raiding Christian oriented businesses and organizations and basically telling them to 'be more Muslim or get the hell out of our country'.

I hate to say it but I think we're in over our head again.  This time in Iraq.

I'm thinking more and more that, aside from our own societal problems those people in the Middle East are even more fucked up. 

They're never going to embrace democracy.  The Muslim religion is not a religion of peace or, for that matter prosperity, for anybody except the ruling elite.  If it wasn't for the oil in the Middle East, they'd all still be nothing but camel jockeys.

Wouldn't it be nice to not need banks?

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In a manner of speaking, wouldn't it be nice to not need banks?

Or at least wouldn't it be nice to have a new bank in your neighborhood with more 'consumer friendly' policies?

Sure it would.....and that's what's happening with world finance right now.  The world is realizing that the US has fucked up thier economy and monetary system almost beyond any realistic hope of redemption.

And the world is moving away from the dollar as the currency of standard....to.......?

Well, maybe not to any one currency exclusively.  But very certainly one of the currencies global financiers and policy makers are moving to is the Chinese Yuan, AKA:"renminbi'....as evidenced in this article:

Sidestepping the U.S. Dollar, a Russian Exchange Will Swap Rubles and Renminbi By ANDREW E. KRAMER Published: December 14, 2010 * Recommend * Twitter * Sign In to E-Mail * Print * Reprints * ShareClose o Linkedin o Digg o Mixx o MySpace o Yahoo! Buzz o Permalink o MOSCOW — Russia and China are poised to take a small but symbolic step in their expanding economic relationship, a move that in the long term could make the dollar less relevant to business between the two nations.

Implications for Yankees right now?

We're not the only bank in town anymore.  Our money ain't worth nothing!  Nobody want's it!

Your T-shirts are going to be worth less in the very near future.

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China....A new global Sugar Daddy?

Image by World Economic Forum via Flickr

One of the motivation guys I used to know always used to say, "Everybody wants to be somebody!'  And I whole heartedly agree.  That also applies to countries too.

In reading this following clip from a recent Reuters News item, it's obvious that China is in yet another way taking over the role of the US in international finance:

(Reuters) - Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang has said his country is willing to buy about 6 billion euros ($7.9 billion) of Spain's public debt, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Thursday, citing government sources.

As you read through the article it's obvious that China is 'buying into' the global community.  What I'd like to call to your attention is the realization of what that's going to do for their world influence.

Just as you gain influence in a neighborhood when you start up a business in it or invest in it or become involved in neighborhood charity, likewise the same thing happens when you start investing in other countries.  And especially so when you bail their ass out of a financial crack like Spain is in right now.

Think about what that's going to do to the global balance of public opinion.

The US is really the only country that is worried about expanding Chinese influence and power right now.  That's because the only power they're threatening is us....the US.  We're the only ones who really had anything to lose (regardless of what you think of the reasons we've been the major world power up til recently).

When China starts spreading money around town, by buying up other nation's debt, they're going to have a lot of friends who are going to stick by them in any future geopolitical disputes in world political bodies.  More specifically, the US is even more likely to be outvoted in the UN....not to mention other, lessor world bodies.

I was also reading an article just today in the always interesting www.sovereignman.com site discussing the fact that China's currency market is very strong now and likely to become stronger. 

The point?

Don't be surprised if China, or at least parts of it's economy, become one of the new opportuniteis for global entrepreneurs of various sorts.

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Chile.....an emerging global Silicon Valley?

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Is Chile an emerging global version of Silicon Valley, CA., USA?

Well, it could be.  The government of Chile...yeah.  That country way, way down there at the end of the road on the Western side of the street....

They've recently started something called "Startup Chile", a nationally sponsored initiative to attract entrepreneurs to Chile.  The incentives and inducements seem to be quiet attractive as you'll read in the article linked below. 

Click through and read it.  Do you have, or know of a company, that's got some good ideas but doesn't feel confident in subjecting them to the rapacious libertal attitudes and policies of the present US government?

Instead, Fontaine found himself in California’s Silicon Valley, meeting with dozens of entrepreneurs whom he hopes to lure back to the Southern Hemisphere with the promise of up to $40,000 in government funding with very few strings attached for their business idea. This is all a part of Start-Up Chile, a new government-backed initiative to bring entrepreneurs from around the world to Chile.

 

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