I will use a very simple example to makes sense of the philosophy behind the concept of spending and saving money at the same time.

 I will use a family as an example:

If the nation is a family with two parents and three children and the parents do not have any job, they will not have any money to spend, and they use as little as possible, they only buy what is necessary. However to continue and save from nothing will not improve the family’s life, it will make it worse and when the unemployment funds stop, they have nothing to support themselves. They have to rethink their options, maybe they will have to move to another state to find a job and maybe invest in a new education since there aren’t any jobs in their field. When this is the case, they will need to borrow money to spend for the education and they need money to move to another state. The family is cutting down on spending, but they are using money for education and moving.  Their situation requires using as little money as possible but at the same time they are making huge investment and are spending money they don’t have, maybe it’s the most expensive investment they have ever taken on. This is their only option at this point.

When the nation is in the same situation, the same hold true, except that they have to be more active to create jobs and invest. A main difference between a family and a nation is the huge influence the government and its politics have on the individual.

Why didn’t the federal investment work in USA?

In the past, western countries have tried to infuse money into poor countries in Africa and South- America as an attempt to improve the life of people living in poverty. When this hasn’t worked, the cause of the problem has been linked to corruption. When money is not going where it’s supposed to go, the reason is always linked to corruption (impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle). Corrupt people and corrupt organizations write the laws making it legal for them to steal other people’s properties, money and values.

It’s unusual to have corruption at this level in western society.  The tactics and problems are mostly connected to developing countries. It just doesn’t make sense to have corruption in an open, developed, educated and wealthy nation. Maybe that’s why the problem hasn’t been addressed or recognized? How can anyone expect to find this type of behavior in a seemingly functional society?

It’s time for greatness — not for greed. It’s a time for idealism — not ideology. It is a time not just for compassionate words, but compassionate action

.Marian Wright Edelman

A balanced society:

There are two very important factors in a human’s life and by looking at those factors we can identify what create a balanced society.

Family and friends:

This part has to do with relationships, care taking and friendships. We do not treat family as work or businesses since other values are involved.

Work:

This has to do with income and doing something productive; when we work we are focused on different tasks then when we are home with family.

A society:

The same goes for the society or the nation. If the nation is considered only to be a business, we will have a cold and materialistic society. The human do not have other values then to produce and create profit. The human value is to be considered as an asset and not as a living human being.

If the nation look at the society only as a family, and don’t pay attention toward the business side, the country will have difficulties being organized and pay attention to employment and budgets.

I don’t believe people are happy when there isn’t a balance between work and family. Who wants to spend their life being poor because the nation can’t create jobs and organize a plan for financial prosperity? And who wants to spend their life as a work force for a corporation with no time to live and no time with their families? People do not want to be slaves and they don’t want to be poor without any hope or a plan for the future.

 How can we do this?

1.       Nation as a family.

A family is someone who is there when you need support, it’s also someone you are supporting depending on your age and role and where you are in life. They help you when you are sick, support you through education, celebrate milestones and help you through difficult times. When someone in your family is going through a difficult time, you are there for them and do what you can to be helpful.

When the nation is a family the same is true, the difference is that you help people you don’t know personally and someone helps you without knowing you.  It’s a security net build for everyone and its build because you know that life has difficult times and good times. Besides people who feel safe are more happy, balanced and productive- ultimately it’s good for the nation’s business side as well.

2.       Nation as a company.

A company is focused on production, sales and budgets and a nation needs to do the same since it has a budget to balance. It needs to look after production and the financial situation. When a nation does this well ,create jobs and build wealth-  it’s good for the family side as well, since it creates more money to take care of children’s education, physical health and to care for elderly. A wealthy society can give the population more time for parent to be with their children, time for sport activities and hobbies since humans need physical activities to stay healthy,time for reflection and creative activities to keep growing.

1. Don’t listen to any media. This is impossible for most people since you belong to a family and a society- and you can’t dictate other people. However it’s important to find some quite space as often as possible to listen to your own truth. Stillness makes it easier for you to see the truth.
2. Read the news from other countries.
3. Train yourself. Use the opportunity by listening to commercial and political propaganda to learn the tactics they are using and intellectually learn when something is propaganda and when it’s the truth.

• Is the statement based on a study? Is the study made by a neutral source?
• Use Google to check the facts.
• Learn to read the body language. The propaganda is often delivered by actors and actresses – or someone who is trained for the job and act like a robot. However this is not always the case and when someone is lying ; they look plain funny or display extreme emotions. Note that if someone is twisting the truth, it’s normal for the neutral source to be upset about it.When someone is delivering a message and they know it’s the truth, generally they display energy and a happy tone. They seem more genuine alive and in touch with the message compare to the paid robot /actor.
• Look at the messenger. Is this a person who has a track record of being honest? Whose agenda does he or she represent? Don’t waste your time listen to someone who already have distorted the truth. 

Commercials: If everyone in the nation decides that they never will buy a product from TV-ads, the ads will disappear. It is as simple as that. The commercials are there because you respond to them. Since I don’t like commercial, I respond negative to the products in TV ads.

Some advice to recognize propaganda from http://www.sourcewatch.org/

Doesn’t the government have any responsibility for the propaganda?

Propaganda is delivered by the media and the media is owned by particular interests, making it difficult to interfere with what is delivered to the people. In reality its wealthy people who own the media and wealthy people have their own interest to protect. It would be nice to have a neutral TV- channel that’s not connected to any ownership. Most nations have this option and during elections they invite candidates to ask them serious questions; doing this makes it clear to people who the candidates are without any form for propaganda.

 I do not look at a President or a Governor as a sales product for particular interests in a nation, I look at them as a person supposed to represent the majority of the population and they should be presented as such. Every wealthy person in this country can hire someone to write a few speeches packed with propaganda to feed the population .When they arrive at congress they might do nothing for the people or they harm the population with their ignorance, passive aggression and self-interest. I believe the people deserve to actually learn to know the candidates on a more thoroughly level. A neutral channel not paid by incorporations- and with a panel of people who have deep knowledge about the different political issues.

When I have applied for leadership positions, not only have I had at least two different interviews with a set of different panels of professionals, but also I had to take a personality test and a test describing me as a leader. Shouldn’t the people have the same right when they hire someone to take care of their interest  in Congress?

A healthy functional democracy doesn’t need to use propaganda to manipulate the population – basically because the purpose and intent of a democracy is to create a society the majority of the population wants.  Can you call a nation that is manipulating the populations with distorted truths and lies for a democracy? They do have the right to vote and they do have freedom of speech, however they do not have the freedom to think for themselves. The purpose of use of propaganda is self- interest, power, control and greed.

The serious effect of propaganda should be obvious when a candidate for a vice president didn’t know why USA is in war with Iraq, but responded with the propaganda that was circulating around the issue.

How do you know you are listening to propaganda?

Propaganda has similarities with marketing, their view is not democratic but to make people believe their product is better than the other producers.  By looking at the commercials and their attempt to fool you, you should be able to pick up some of the components in propaganda:

1. They create emotional scenery. In political propaganda it’s often tied to nationalism, enemies, freedom and that something dangrerous is out there to get you. And of course the source of the propaganda is who will save you. In other words they are trying to create a victim- rescue scenario and with components of helpless victims and hero’s.
2. Based on manipulative fictions instead of facts. A fact is based on a serious study by a serious institution with the purpose to improve the health of a society, a fiction is a statement made up to create drama and fear.
3. I also noticed that when propaganda is written for a radio show, the rest of the radio shows have the same manuscript. Obviously someone with a very unhealthy mind is sitting writing propaganda material to feed the population. Political propaganda is like marketing, it repeats itself over and over again.

Should propaganda be legal?

The people behind the propaganda hide their ugly agenda behind the human rights of free speech. It’s difficult to ban propaganda because it’s difficult to create a law or find a place to draw the line. Many democracies draw the line when it’s clearly a hateful speech, however I have witnessed hateful slurs and propaganda being conducted in neighborhoods in USA and the Nazi group behind this, couldn’t be stopped based on free speech? There are differences from society to society where to draw the line.

If you live in a western democratic society, free speech is part of the structure of a democracy and its one of the components defining a democracy, in other words a society that do not have freedom of speech is not a democracy

 You will find lack of free speech in societies defined as fascism, dictatorship and communist state societies.

Definition from Wikipedia:

What about propaganda, should it fall under the freedom of Speech?  Does manipulation and indoctrination considered to be a Human Right? Most people associate propaganda with Nazism and its one of the components defining a Fascist society.

Definition from Wikipedia:

Why is the subject of freedom of speech a constant issue in USA and not in other western countries- why is it always mentioned in the media? Isn’t freedom of speech part of being a democracy?

What I have recognized as a main difference between USA and other democratic societies is the heavy use of propaganda; it’s ongoing machinery always work to control the population.

And the irony in this is, for the propaganda machinery to be allowed to continue, it hides behind the freedom of speech.  In other words a fascist technique hides under the human rights and a democracy.

I look at propaganda as a form of mental violence toward a population with the purpose to control people for self -interest.

Since capitalism is about making profit and in its worst form it’s about greed where people actually kill for profit, this is a scary place to have corporations operate. Being witness to the financial corruption among banks and insurance companies doesn’t make this concept better. People who live from this type of profit will have to choose between killing people (by denying people medical care) or to discontinue their lifestyle. Another problem with the system is when the numbers of unemployment increases, people will lose their health insurance, making this a very unhealthy system to live under for everyone during uncertain times.

It doesn’t have to be like this, healthcare can be for everyone and not a matter of negotiating with insurance companies about the bills.  When people are sick, they need care and rest not to deal with a difficult system that is trying to minimize the expenses.  Besides when you take away the profits given to owners and CEOs of the insurance companies, this amount will be saved for later use, when you are old or for your neighbor’s baby. The money you are not using by being healthy is not going toward a big party or someone’s castle but to save someone’s life.

To be able to provide healthcare for everyone, it needs to be administrated by a non-profit unit (state, federal, non-profit private company) and instead of paying to an insurance company; it will be deducted from your paycheck in form of a tax. In many nations the amount deducted is in proportion to your income and not the number of people in the household.

The retirement funds paid to the government needs to be secured from governmental spending and should not be allowed to be used by any President, it’s an saving account for future retirement and for taking care of our elders today.

Abortion is a complicated issue and needs to be understood on different levels. I will look at the following categories:

1.  Abortion and Politics:  When a nation has been looking at being “for or against” abortion as a governmental issue, it has been connected to dictatorships. Examples are the forced abortions in China and the denial of abortions in Romania. The purpose has been to regulate the population rates. In Fascism like in Hitler’s regime; people was asked to sacrifice by producing many children, they wanted to increase the number of white people. The Chinese regime wanted to decrease the population and abortion became a tool.  Basically the government is dictating how many children you should have. And by doing so, are dictating women’s life and dictating what quality you should find in life. In a society opposing abortion, children will be born unwanted with all the consequences that comes with it; poverty and unhappiness. Why does a government want people to give birth to children that they can’t afford?   Maybe they want to control the work force by controlling their life by owning their time, or maybe they don’t think- or is it religion?
2. Abortion and Religion:   A standpoint with regards to abortion is often related to religion or culture, and therefore will be considered to be a personal matter for most people rather than a social matter. Particular for people and countries that don’t believe in mixing religion with politics and want to keep those issues separated.
3. Abortion and Spirituality:  In the matter of spirituality instead of religion, we are looking at the matter as an experience instead of a belief system. Questions will be asked by a spiritual person, questions as; At what point does a soul enter the fetus?  Does the soul have the knowledge that the fetus will be aborted beforehand?  Answers toward those questions matters for spiritual people and humanitarians. Spirituality is about awareness and when the awareness of a matter grows into the population, so does it in the politics and into the society.
4. Politics and Religion: To ask whether the issue about abortion belongs in politics is also to ask if religion and politics belong together. The problem with religion is that religions create dogmas of laws where spirituality and humanitarians is something that expands and grows into people’s awareness. To mix the dogmas of religious laws with the laws created by a society, might create many problems, particular for a country having several religions or a rigid belief system.

1. The papers that shows that you have finished a degree and have the knowledge needed to fill a position.
2. A service given to a nation’s population to increase their knowledge and to raise a country to a higher level and improve everyone’s life; like an investment and a resource.
3. It might be used as a tool for control.

The Papers:   This is a valuable ticket to get a job, however it doesn’t mean you are good at it, even if you are the best in your class, your knowledge might be limited because the education system is limited. And there might be many people who have more knowledge than those with the papers, but they couldn’t afford or didn’t have time for the education. Among wealthy families in USA, education institutions are paid to educate their children who otherwise might not be accepted into a program.

 In a mature and healthy society, people who have an interest for a particular education will get it. Some people might need more time to learn than others, however if a person need more time it doesn’t mean that he will not be good at his job, actually it might turn out to be the opposite, it just takes more time.

To improve a nation:   An educated and informed population with the ability of critical thinking is probably the best investment a nation can have. How healthy minded, mature and free a population is, can therefore be measured in their level of education and how informed they are about the world at large. However this is not in the interest for a nation wanting to control the people for their own corrupt interest; they might lose their power and privileges since an educated and intelligent population will not tolerate abusive and corrupt behavior.

What good does the notion of” freedom of speech” has for the people in a nation who doesn’t have anything to say and haven’t learned to express their thoughts?

As a power issue:   Education can also be manipulative and selective toward a population, by teaching only about one side of the coin the people will be brainwashed and easy to manipulate.  A common belief people have, is that their nation is the best country in the world, some nations are so indoctrinated in this belief that they go to war against other countries. This form for nationalism can be harmless if the leaders are otherwise honest and have integrity. However it’s dangerous when it’s used for the purpose to take the power from the people, control them and go to war.

An administration that strictly creates jobs to keep people working without visions for the future or without any thoughts about the market creates a stagnant society.  Societies who don’t care about people, only about profit are abusing and disrespect the people and their work. Something is definitely sick when money is more important than people.  A balance is needed and the balance is created by having a free marked with regulations. Change gives opportunities for new ways and possibilities in the labor marked; therefore unemployment can give room for new and exiting creations, like out with the old and in with the new. But there will be a meantime and during transitions people need to be protected and to pay their bills. There are several options to be considered during this transition:

1. Pay unemployment benefits.
2. Work for the government. Since the government pay unemployment benefits anyway, why not use those payments toward something meaningful, maybe it’s not necessary work, but it will improve the standard and the health of a nation and the unemployed will feel valued and have work experience.   Examples: Improve roads and buildings; work on youth and crimes, sociological research to improve the social condition in societies, care taking of seniors.
3. Opportunity to start own company. For small businesses to be able to start and to survive they will need resources and today the banks and insurance companies are taking the profit. I will suggest to start a peoples bank; a bank with low interest rate funded by the government to make this possible.

Moving to USA I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere without a car and even if I tried, it would be dangerous since the roads lack sidewalks and are made primary for cars. You never see anyone walking on the streets. In the cities in Europe a car is a luxury item because you can live without it. In the suburban of US without a car you will not be able to go to work or take your child to school. In USA they want people to use cars; it’s good for the car industry and it keep people employed; besides it gives profit to the oil companies. Car industry is not a major industry in Europe and the areas where people are living are smaller, most people live in the city. To bring cars into the city will clog the streets and pollute the air, besides there aren’t enough parking places for everyone.

In some places you might have options and be able to move around in whatever transportation you want, however for many people that’s not the case.  As with housing this is connected to where you live and it has to do with politics or the lack of it.  Remember that politics is about the people in a nation; what is best for them and the planet and not for wealthy corporations.