Friday, November 21, 2014

Wal-Mart and Getting Beyond Money in Economics

I don't wish to trade numbers on Wal-Mart. In my head, I believe Wal-Mart has too much money, and it is also in my head that it is important to redistribute that money. What we have here is an issue of money plumbing. The pipe leading from Wal-Mart executives out to the real world is clogged. It is time to get the plumber. Believing that money isn’t always in the right hands should be no more difficult than the unfortunate occurrence of a drain clogging.

The issue of unclogging the money drain is to make the economy fit reality. In reality, Wal-Mart has more than its fair share of money, and consequently Wal-Mart executives are not permitted to spend their money by Hashem. Sure they can admire their bank accounts, but Hashem forbids that they spend.

Some suggest that the reason executives don’t spend is due to confidence. They suggest that nervousness or uncertainty is the monkey wrench in the economic machine – imagine that billionaires more uncertain that folks making minimum wage - but their ability to spend has very little to do with confidence, especially in comparison to karma. If Wal-Mart had better karma, then they would be able to spend more of their money.

We need to take the money out of Wal-Mart's hands and do something constructive with it rather than waiting the rest of our lives for Wal-Mart to get some "confidence." Perhaps, the most important thing that we could do with this money is tackle the debt and deficit. We could also use the money to build infrastructure. Therefore, I do not suggest just handing it out to the poor at random though there should likely be some of that too.

Economics and money are 2 separate things. I looked it up in my Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and found that money was nowhere to be found in the definition of economics.

To believe that one will die without money is a popular lie. It is true that some people may die without money, but it is important to know that money isn’t life sustaining in the way that Gd creates this universe to be sustaining. You could live a wonderful life and have no money because money isn’t always the way of acquiring more stuff. It is only true that if money is demanded by you, then your experience will reciprocate that. If you demand money from others, especially those deserving and who do not have money, then money will be demanded of you at a time when you don’t have the benefit of money.

Belief that money is the solution, and that money is more important than hard work, is as the snake in the Garden of Eden telling us that if we only believe provision comes from money (and not Gd), then we will surly die for lack of money. The snake tries to trick us into selling our labor at a cost. However, I suggest working hard, and hoping in Hashem that everything will take care of itself and goodness will arise from this hard work.

I am not saying that all money is a bad thing. Money may certainly be a powerful and useful tool for good, especially in trade. However, I don't equate increasing money to increasing gain. For instance, I do believe wellness and hard work go together. I don't believe hard work, or even any work results in increased cash flow or that money equates to personal wellness. For me it is all about being well.



Historically, since capitalism has become prominent, the state of the world has drastically improved. This has led many to attribute capitalism to wellness. However, it is not just money that has improved. The world is radically different now from how it used to be, and that may be attributed to various forms of technology as well. However, money is as the training wheels of a bicycle. Sooner or later, the training wheels should come off. And then, once they do it is my hope that it doesn’t result in poverty or increased laziness. On the contrary my goal is that people work hard because working hard is rewarding.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Be Suspicious Muscle Building Promises That Work




I am highly suspicious of these sorts of products. I won’t deny their power to morph regular peoples’ bodies into mega-muscle machines. However, I am skeptical about the long term effects. These products aren’t creating natural looking bodies. Granted, there is an obesity epidemic in 1st world nations. However, I must question if men are really intended to look like this.
If having one of these supposed ideal bodies is healthy, how do we explain this:

That's 1 in every 3 wrestlers in only 14 years!!!

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Facebook Complaint Causes Need for Major Overhaul

Good grief! When will Facebook allow multiple channels so we don't have to miss out on what we like? I want to be able to toggle between animals, music, politics, etc.  Sometimes I might want to shuffle or randomize my channels.  This is not new technology.  Randomization has been a part of music players since the shuffle button was invented, and then they probably borrowed that idea from something earlier, like the lottery.

Facebook SHOULD STOP TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A SINGLE INTEREST FOR ME, and recognize that its customers', such as yours truly, likely have many interests, especially interests that are not being catered to!

We are frustrated with Facebook!

The solution is to make Facebook.com similar to Pandora.com, asking customers how we want our feeds grouped.  Let us switch between user tailored preferences.  For each like I have in a particular group, ask me if I favor this sort of material in my feed, not whether I "like" it or not.

I don't like horrors, yet I feel some things in the news should be reported on that I don't like.  It is a problem for honest people if we don't like horrors, because when Facebook.com sees us not liking it, not matter how horrible it is, they jump to the conclusion that we don't want it in our feeds.  Rubbish! 

This is a complaint that people have had about Facebook since the beginning, and that is Facebook is telling its users what they like according to Facebook's idealistic grouping, and not serving its customers.


Dear Facebook, please put me in control of my feed!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Did You Read The Whole Label? - GMO, Organic, All Natural, Etc.


Natural is always better!

Via The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.

All of this label is important.  Of course some things here would make this product seem healthy, but we need to look at all the labels comprehensively.  For instance, in this case need to know what Arsenic is or else we miss the big picture, and we are unable to see the forest through the trees.
Don't give up and fall into the black and white thinking fallacy.  Non-GMO Certified, Organic, and All Natural are things we need to be concerned about.  Usually they are good things.  However, when we go shopping it is important to scrutinize our purchases.  We need to put our money where we see wholesomeness.  Purchases are multifaceted.  There is a lot to consider.  Don't give up when you see something like this.  When wrong is found, blow the whistle at morally depraved products!  Only a jerk would label arsenic in this way.  Avoid those people.  They have bad karma.