James L. Paris's Blog, page 78

Survival Of The Richest - Author Donald Jeffries

Survival of the Richest scrutinizes how the collective wealth of America has been channeled from the poor and middle class into the hands of a few elitists.

American industry has been gutted, with wages and benefits stagnant or reduced, thanks to a disastrous trade deals, outsourcing, and the crippling of unions. The Occupy Wall Street movement, and the presidential campaigns of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, reveals how more and more people who are struggling understand that the system is rigged against them.

While Americans have been trained to direct their scorn at welfare recipients and the poor in general, a tiny handful of plutocratic elites have profited on an unfathomable scale through corporate welfare and other perks. Unimaginable salaries and bonuses for the One Percent, contrasted by layoffs and reduced pay for the majority of the workforce, along with increasing calls for austerity measures and lowered standards of living, has become the ���new normal��� in America.

Donald Jeffries argues that this record economic inequality is more than an unintended consequence of globalism. In Survival of the Richest, he shows how the consolidation of wealth may well prove to be the greatest conspiracy of all.

 

Russian Collusion Narrative Collapsing

On this episode - Jim shares the news of the death of fellow GCN talk show host Joyce Riley. The Russian collusion narrative appears to have totally collapsed, and the rumors are that the Democrats were behind the so called Russian dossier. The wife of Bernie Sanders is reportedly under investigation for bank fraud, TSA agent caught stealing cash from passenger luggage in Orlando, Miami man fined $120 million for robo-call scam, and a teen is caught by a crowd after falling from a New York Six Flags ride.

 

Texas Pastors Criticize Proposed Pro-LGBT Houston Public School Curriculum

According to The Christian Post, a group of Houston, Texas-area pastors have come out swinging against a proposed addition to the local public school curriculum that centers on the study of the LGBT community, including LGBT history.

The Houston Area Pastor Council (HAPC) fired off an email to supporters last week, denouncing the prospective LGBT studies program and pointedly declaring that ���this is Houston, not San Francisco,��� a reference to the successful addition of an LGBT-focused history program into the curriculum of that area���s public schools.

���The proposal by HISD (Houston Independent School District) Superintendent Richard Carranza to introduce California-style LGBTQ ���studies��� into our children���s U.S. History curriculum is not about education, it is about indoctrination,��� the Council wrote in its email.

���Carranza is an import from San Francisco where this kind of propaganda that attempts to equate sexual lifestyles, gender confusion and hostility toward the traditional family has become the norm.���

Continuing, the Council declared that HISD leadership ���Top of Form needs to remind Dr. Carranza that this is Texas, where the people of all ethnicities still believe that our children are to be protected, nurtured and educated, not used as a social experiment of a radical political agenda.���

The ���ethnicities��� mention is likely a reference to the fact that Carranza spoke about wanting to add an LGBT history course into the Houston public schools curriculum when he was a featured speaker at a recent town hall hosted by the Houston Defender, a weekly African-American newspaper.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Carranza said, ���The LGBTQ movement in the U.S. has a history, and in many cases, many people would call it a civil rights history in terms of acceptance and in terms of who have been leaders of the movement.

���I think it���s part of the American history. To include that as part of what kids study is just a bigger picture of who we are as America.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

The Most Important Question You Should Ask Before Heading to the Doctor

Been to the doctor lately?

In this era of ���sort-of insurance,��� where so many are walking around with health coverage in theory only, even routine doctor���s visits have the potential to break the bank of regular Americans. It wasn���t always this way, but an ever-worsening financial climate for health care has made it such that even the most basic of health services can end up feeling like a sucker punch to the wallet.

Still, while there isn���t always a good answer to avoiding these expenses, there���s one simple thing people can do a lot more of to ensure their bills are as low as reasonably possible (besides avoiding the doctor altogether, of course): Namely, take steps to be certain that the doctor they plan to visit is an in-network provider.

According to an article over at CNN Money, it turns out that one of the biggest ���gotchas��� people face after a visit to the M.D. comes about when they learn - usually from the sticker shock that comes with reviewing the bill they receive in the mail - that they had visited an out-of-network provider for services.

This is something that happens very frequently. Here���s where people tend to get confused: When they call a doctor, they often ask the office manager or receptionist, ���Do you take my insurance?��� Where patients often run into trouble is that the staff member answering that question isn���t discerning between the doctor merely accepting their insurance, and the doctor specifically being an in-network provider, which is typically what the caller is really wanting to find out.

Being an in-network provider means the doctor has a contractual relationship with the insurance company preventing him or her from charging any more for a service than the amount already agreed-to by the insurer and the physician.

However, when you have care administered by an office that does no more than ���accept��� your insurance, the doctor is free to charge his full, regular rate for the service. Insurance will likely pay something, but because the doctor charged his full rate, and not the capped or discounted rate he would charge as an in-network provider, the patient is on the hook for a much higher balance.

Orly Avitzur, medical director at Consumer Reports, tells CNN Money that ���if you go to Dr. Smith and he doesn't participate in your insurance plan, then he can pretty much charge whatever he wants.���

You know what to do. As you���re going through the process of selecting a doctor, call the office first to be sure that the physician is an in-network provider, and get out of the habit of simply asking if he ���takes your insurance.���

Of course he takes your insurance. But now you know that might not be nearly enough.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

$50,000 to $70,000 Salary With An Associate's Degree

I continue to hear from so many people in this economy that there are limited opportunities to make a good income. It is true that there are jobs to be had, but many do not provide the kind of income and benefits that a person can support a family on. Those without a college degree are finding it harder and harder to make a decent living, and many have even resorted to working more than one job.

I shared the story in my book, How To Pray For A Financial Miracle, of a friend that decided to go back to college as an adult in his forties. The fact that he was well beyond the traditional college age did not stop him. In just 18 months at the local community college he became a respiratory therapist. He ended up starting his own company delivering oxygen to patients all over the area. He told me that he was earning more than $100,000 per year! Pretty darn good for a guy that went to college for just 18 months.

The Penny Hoarder published an article recently which outlines several jobs that require only an Associate's degree and every single one of them pays more than $50,000. 

How do I find opportunities like this in my area?

There are two ways to go about finding jobs like this in your own area. First, I would start with a trip to your local community college. You will spend far less money to get your education at a local community college compared to the cost of a specialized  career school (many of which may be for profit operations). Most community colleges have open houses and are extremely welcoming to prospective new students looking for a career oriented education.

The other way to approach this is to visit some of the businesses and organizations you would like to work for and find out what education is required to work there. For example, if you want to get into a medical profession, consider sitting down with someone in human resources at your local hospital. If you are interested in technology, find out what the requirements are to get hired at a local technology firm.

This approach is not just for people deciding to pursue college later in life

This would be a great article to share with a young person making their college plans. Most kids today pick a degree program based on their personal interests and don't usually consider what their job prospects will be after graduation. While I know it is certainly not in style today to be practical, consider how much bang for your buck you are getting for the nominal cost of two years at a community college. I think about how many young people today graduate with a four year degree, have $100,000 in student loan debt, and can't even find a decent job. Just consider how much better off someone is completing one of these two year degree programs that have high paying jobs waiting for them the day after graduation.

Conclusion

I realize that college is about more than just career training, but after finishing a two year degree you can always continue your education at night and online. I think a four year degree is a wonderful thing to have, but a living wage after graduation is even more wonderful.

Helping you make the most of God���s money!

James L. Paris
Editor-In-Chief ChristianMoney.com 
Follow Me on Twitter Twitter.com/jameslparis
Christian Financial Advice
Jim Paris 24 Hour Radio

U.S. Senator Demands Answers from Kellogg as Company���s Misery Continues

 As Kellogg continues to descend into the financial abyss, shutting down facilities across the country and laying off thousands of workers, one politician is demanding answers about what the cereal maker���s long-term plans are for his state.

As reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sen. Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.) fired off a letter to Paul Norman, president of Kellogg���s North American Division, asking the company to maintain its ���long-standing commitment to the Pennsylvania workforce,��� as well as seeking clarification on just what the company plans to do with the distribution centers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia it has targeted for closure in August.

Although Kellogg announced this past winter it was shutting down a large number of distribution centers as part of a new effort to more efficiently deliver product to stores, it is difficult to divorce the timing of the massive downsizing from its much-publicized decision, made last November, to yank company ads from popular conservative news and opinion website Breitbart. Clarifying the reason for Kellogg���s election to discontinue advertising at Breitbart, spokeswoman Kris Charles said at the time that the company wanted to ensure their ���ads do not appear on sites that aren���t aligned with our values.��� Breitbart, seen as a driving force behind the election of Donald Trump, and boasting a readership in the neighborhood of 45 million, organized a #Dump Kelloggs Internet-based campaign that received a ton of media coverage and is believed to have had a profound effect on the company���s recent fortunes.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

University Production of ���The Fantasticks��� Now Carries a Trigger Warning for Students

It���s always something nowadays.

A pre-college summer camp held at the University of Wyoming for the benefit of high school students turned into a source of great consternation for those same kids when they attended the university theatre department���s production of the storied Broadway musical The Fantasticks. According to the website Heat Street, the students went as far as to walk out on the presentation because they found the content to be ���deeply offensive��� and ���triggering.���

Remember���this is The Fantasticks we���re talking about here, which holds the record as the world���s longest-running musical.

Anyway, it seems the students were ���triggered��� by the fact that characters dress up like Native Americans ��� because, of course, you can���t do THAT any longer - as well as by a song in the play that repeatedly references ���rape.���

In the play, which is about two fathers going to great, contrived lengths to see their kids fall in love with one another, there is a song that employs the word ���rape��� in terms of its archaic definition: abduction. Part of the fathers��� plan to see their kids together involves staging an abduction of the daughter, Luisa, so that the boy, Matt, can heroically save her.

Well, that was enough for the kiddies, who now, courtesy of the wealth of bizarre narratives that basically are social media, can���t seem to walk a block without being offended at something, and moreover, find it thoroughly impossible to view anything in terms of the historical context in which it was intended to be portrayed.

Wyoming���s Department of Theatre and Dance was quick to be accommodating to the little darlings, of course, and has since added what can only be described as a ���trigger warning��� to the play���s program:

���With historical productions, we see ���a point in time,��� which is different from the one in which we live. We see portrayals of characters that are painful to watch as 21st century audiences. The challenge, then, in producing historical works, is to help audiences understand the context and/or story for the play without taking undue or illegal liberties with the script.���

Everybody better now?

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Report: Boeing to Begin Testing Self-Flying AIRPLANES

Many say there���s no way they���d ride in a self-driving car.

It seems likely, then, that they would have nothing to do with self-flying airplanes.

As it happens, they might have to actually make that decision one day, because it appears that self-flying planes are indeed on the radar, so to speak.

According to the Independent, Boeing is very much interested in developing aircraft that can fly without any assistance from human pilots.

Although, at first blush, such a proposed vehicle may seem like an outrageous idea to some, the truth is that airplanes currently fly without a great deal of hands-on pilot interaction. During the cruising phase of a flight, air crews do very little actual flying of the plane, and even takeoffs and landings are now largely automated.

The next frontier, though, concerns the application of artificial intelligence to the ���automation equation,��� so that the aircraft will be able to make decisions that are typically left up to pilots.

Speaking to Reuters about the possibility, Mike Sinnett, vice president of product development at Boeing, said, ���When I look at the future I see a need for, you know, 41,000 commercial jet airplanes over the course of the next 20 years. And that means we���re going to need something like six hundred and seventeen thousand more pilots. That���s a lot of pilots.��� Continuing, Sinnett said that ���one of the ways that may be solved is by having some type of autonomous behavior, and that could be anything from taking instead of five pilots on a long haul flight down to three or two, taking two pilots down to one in a freight situation, or in some cases going from one to none.���

The first significant step in testing the self-flying concept begins this summer, when Boeing will use cockpit simulators to try out the relevant technology.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Report: Half of Young Austrian Muslims Harbor Anti-Semitic Attitudes

This isn���t good at all.

In a European nation with an unfortunate history regarding anti-semitism, there is real evidence that many of its young residents are today reflecting distinctly anti-semitic attitudes.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post, the results of a study conducted by the University of Teacher Education in Vienna were released this past Saturday, and they show that nearly half of all young Austrian Muslims harbor thoughts and feelings of anti-semitism.

The Austrian daily Der Standard, in its write-up of the survey results, suggests that the anti-semitic and anti-Israel narratives that are so prominent in majority Muslim countries are now beginning to take root in European nations that have seen a steady influx of immigrants through the years from those Muslim countries.

The poll asked Austrian Muslim students, age 16 to 19, if they were of the opinion that ���Jews have too much influence in Austria.��� It turned out that 48 percent of those polled were in agreement with that statement.

Study authors Georg Lauss and Stefan Schmid-Heher, in discussing the survey results with Der Standard, told the paper that ���educational and prevention efforts against anti-semitism need to be strengthened.���

The Jerusalem Post article also references a previous study on the same subject, conducted by Vienna sociologist Kenan G��ng��r, that revealed essentially the same results. In that survey, 47 percent of those polled indicated views representative of anti-semitism.

G��ng��r said at the time that ���imported anti-semitism��� is now an issue in Austria.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

Church of England Official: We May Offer ���Re-Christenings��� of Transgenders After Sex Change

Well, here we go.

According to the Daily Mail Online, an official of the Church of England is suggesting that Christians who undergo sex reassignment surgery may be eligible to have a ���re-christening��� ceremony performed by the church under their new names.

According to Synod Secretary William Nye, identified by the Daily Mail as the ���most senior official��� of the Church of England, ���It is a fundamental belief of the Church that baptism can only be received once. There is therefore no possibility of the Synod approving a form of service for the re-baptism of transgendered persons in their new gender who have already been baptized.��� However, Nye says that the church would not have a problem with an ���Affirmation of Baptismal Faith��� that takes place in the follower���s new name.

Nye went on to say that ���there is no legal or doctrinal difficulty about a baptized transgendered person re-affirming their baptismal vows using a name different from the Christian name given at baptism. A member of the Church of England may be known by, and use, different names from those given at baptism or confirmation provided that they do not do so for fraudulent or other similar purposes.���

There is a Synod meeting next month, and Nye believes the conclusion will likely be drawn ���that existing liturgical materials provided sufficient flexibility to meet this pastoral need.���
Because it is, apparently, a pastoral need.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr.