The Marginalized American

I have many U.S. citizen friends on Facebook who either they, their spouse, or both are receiving a government pension and Social Security. Then there are also those who are currently working for a state, regional, or municipal government in some capacity. Another percentage of my Facebook friends may work in entertainment, arts, food services, retail, transportation, banking, or manufacturing.

Here is a chart compiled by a University Of California/Berkley professor for the year of 2011 with the statistics of the wealth distribution in the United States of America:
The bottom 90% of Americans earn less than $32, 000.00 a year. These are the very same category of workers who fought rigorously to establish union shops in the later century, men and women like my father.

I would also include American workers who earn less than $50,000.00 to the category of workers who need the protection of unions to help them maintain health insurance, fair wages, and a safe working environment. These are the American workers who have been disenfranchised of union rights over and over again by Corporate America in the past twenty years or so.

Now the state governments have jumped on the band wagon. One reason both the state and federal government are hurting is because this huge percentage of Americans have been given tax breaks through deductions, and rightly so. It is the HUGE tax breaks that Corporate America get from local, state, and the federal government that are creating the deficits.

So now these government entities who can't balance budgets, and go into default have put the burden of blame on that very same percentage of Americans who make up the 90% of the nation's lowest yearly income, and are expected to take up the slack.

WE THE PEOPLE, that is right, we are the people, the majority of Americans who have been marginalized by BIG BUSINESS/BIG BROTHER. Now we can just sit back and wait to see if that gap will widen after the August 2, 2011 deadline for the federal government politicians to once again loosen havoc on the lower 90% of WE THE PEOPLE, the marginalized Americans!

Say a prayer, say a bunch of prayers, because only GOD can help us now. We can't worry, even though it is one of the hardest things to overcome, but truly we must hand it over to HIM.

The Window From Which We Look

I received the following in an e-mail, and just had to pass it along:

 

      The Window from which we look



A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.
The next morning while they are eating breakfast,
The young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
"That laundry is not very clean", she said.
"She doesn't know how to wash correctly.
Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry,
The young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a
Nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:

"Look, she has learned how to wash correctly.
I wonder who taught her this."

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and
Cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others
Depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

Red Night Sailors Delight...

My mother coming from Pennsylvania Dutch decent, learned very early on many superstitious sayings, and omens. She passed them onto us. I find myself repeating them to my daughters and grandchildren often. I hope that they keep them going as a tradition. It is important to keep traditions going in a family.

Here are a few:


Red night sailors delight, red morning sailors warning. This meant that if the sky was red at night the next day would have beautifully clear weather, but if it were red in the morning, there would be storms.


Four in a row crepe at the door. This meant that if you slept four in a row at the top of the bed, someone would die. Crepe at the door was a tradition of putting a wreath with a black crepe bow on the door of a home when a dead person was laid out in the living room.









For every stitch you sew on Sunday, you replace on Monday.

Never put new shoes on the table or you will have bad luck.

Always go out the door you came in to avoid bad luck.

Always place a penny in a wallet or purse when you give it as a gift, so the person will have good fortune.

Never accept a plant as a gift, give them a penny or the plant will not thrive.

Burn you hair clippings after a hair cut, do not allow them to be thrown outside because if a bird gets them and builds a nest you will have a head ache the rest of your life. This one came from Great Aunt Ree.

Always serve Sauerkraut and Pork on New Year's Day, and you will have good luck all year long.

During the Dog Days Of Summer, mid to late August you do not swim in a lake or pond, because of stagnation.















Never eat shell fish during any month that does not have an r in it, like May, June, July, and August.

Never put an umbrella over your head while you are inside.

I know that there are many more PA Dutch superstitions, but I know that first hand the red night sailors delight actually is a pretty good sign to bet on for nice weather the next day.

Working From Home

I have recently been hired as a Quality Assurance Analyst Consultant, and will be working from my own home office, five days a week Mon.-Fri. four hours a day. (Obtained through my local office for Occupational Vocational Rehabilitation for Disabled)There are so many perks that come with working from home. I can work in my "jammies", and not even brush my hair. The cost of gasoline is at an all time high, and I won't need to use a drop for my morning commute. I will just be filling up with the essence of mocha java, and not paying the price of a cup from Dunkin Donuts.

When I commuted to New Jersey daily for four years, I wore out several sets of tires, paid tolls daily, and put wear and tear on three different cars. Then there are clothing. lunch, and shoe allowances. Gee I will not even have to wear shoes now. I won't have to call in sick, just drag my butt to the computer, and I won't have to worry about driving in the snow or rain. I will actually be living a much safer life, and perhaps the cost of my car insurance may go down!

During the summer of 2009 I had been offered a stipend by the Kutztown Board Of Education to act as a mentor at their summer workshop for teen writers. There are many corporations that offer very lucrative stipends for professional consultants.

There are tons of work from home opportunities for the writer.  I am sure that no one could or would challenge the fact that most published authors work from home.  

The Engineering field is wide open in the use of professional consultants. Some of the fields of engineering have seen a decline in employment in the United States, however a consultant can find work by outsourcing to other countries where manufacturing is a booming industry.

A Chemical Engineer for instance could use Internet Conferencing to India, or China with a major corporation sharing their expertise in their field, other times they fly to the country where they are needed for their expertise.

The computer, and the Internet have opened up a wide array of at home jobs, one need not ever leave their home, not even to spend the money they make. There are mystery shoppers, quality assurance consultants, travel sales reps, and many more. Here are a few links to help someone get started:

http://education-portal.com/articles/Engineer_-_Chemical_Educational_Requirements_for_Entering_the_Field_of_Chemical_Engineering.html

http://www.eec-tampabay.com/

http://www.insidejobs.com/jobs/environmental-engineer

http://www.betweenmoms.com/telecom/index.html

http://www.mystery-shoppers.com/