New York City has had many problems over the years and it seems this in one of those really bad years. They are talking about letting go some six thousand teachers in the city system. The budget is tight and there is not enough money to cover all that is needed let alone what is wanted. It seems to me that there are two pieces of the problem that can, if acted upon, make a difference in the outcome if this money issue. Part of or all of this issue can be resolved simply by raising property taxes in the five boroughs by just a bit. Now the property owners do not want to hear this because they say they are strapped. Strapped or not they find a way of passing it down to the tenants within a short period of time. That makes the burden fall on the shoulders of the tenants who may also have children in school. If the rents go up just a little bit then these residents are doing their part in keeping the public schools open. I do not live in the city and I have to pay a large real-estate tax bill every year just for the public schools in my community.

The second place where adjustments can be made is in the salaries of the teachers. The city asked the Teachers Union to work with them and cut the already contracted salaries just enough to cover the cost of keeping the six thousand teachers that are to be let go. The union rejected the proposal for several poor reasons failing to state that the real reason they did not want to give back was that it was a give back and they refuse to move in a negative direction. The proposal was not put up for a vote by the teachers so the proposal lies dead at the door of the union. Either of these two scenarios can solve the problem and if considered properly both of the possibilities could come together to lessen and limit the burden on all but still resolve the issue. Wake up NYC.

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The time has come to start drilling for oil with a passion. Yes, there have been errors and mistakes but the biggest mistake is to allow all of our treasure to be siphoned off to pay for oil that someone else drilled when it could come from our wells. We need to pursue other arenas of energy but we all know that those projects are going to take some time before they pick up the slack. It will be a long time after that when we will be able to say we are at least fifty percent self sufficient in energy. To delay this start is putting too much at risk. If anyone out there thinks there is another country who is concerned about our welfare I have a bridge to sell you. It is time to drill for oil and to double down on alternative energy, because finding a true replacement for the energy we need, will most likely be a long time coming, and we cannot wait that long without doing something to fill our need and not give our treasure away at the same time. The oil industry and our need for oil have made every American citizen in one scense a sharecropper with an oil drug habit. We go to work every day and we get paid for our work but we take the drug called oil and we can only get it from the company stores. The stores charge us any price they want to get us in debt so we cannot stop or fight out addiction. We also know what the life of sharecroppers come to be in the long run. Let's stop this foolishness now.

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The time has been past for many years yet once again I bring up the question of streamlining the United Nations. It is a bumbling, fumbling, bureaucratic house of cards. Every representative of a nation there is present to protect itself in the overall scheme of things. None of those people are present to protect the weak or frail countries among them. They are not there to protect the citizens of certain countries from the outrages of their governments. Most of the people who sit and or work for the United Nations do so because of ego, power trips, and self interest, especilly for those seated from their individual governments, and all the rest are there for the lucrative environment of money, extreme pensions, and an easy working life. There are exceptions where the employed do relevant tasks and provide for the betterment of the globe but those are in short supply. When it comes to the really important issues most of those who have seats in the general assemble are merely mouth pieces for their government. However, the world is changing and the credibility of the United Nations is not just in shadow it is in the dark with few believing it is an organization worth saving. To be eligible for saving it must change its ways and rules for hearing all cases and the votes predicated on what is right for the whole globe not just individual countries. With out this major shift the United Nations will remain an idle stage with idle players where little is said and nothing done or accomplished.

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After an earthquake and a huge Tsunami devastating their coastline, Japan has taken the steps to stand the destroyed areas on their feet. They are building shelters not tents and the people are caring for each other. There are no near riots for food or water being distributed and servility to all those around each individual prevails. I also know that Japan is a highly industrialized nation with an educated population and a reserved social culture. These are elements of helping the nation's devastated areas come back. What I do not understand is how the people of Haiti with their willingness, on a daily basis, to just exist and not truly move forward nor try to solve their own problems think life will get better? It may be that the world is throwing money at Haiti but that is not solving the problems because on a more basic level the people need to be organized and trained to reconstruct their country. I guess it goes back to the old saying: "If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day but if you teach him to fish he can feed himself forever".

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Just a quick thought for this day. What if our generals spoke the truth to the people in charge of them instead of the side stepping and covering their backs all the time? Really, if the President asks for the status of something give a strait and accurate answer. If the President says lets go to war and the generals know it is a bad move they must say so. It is their responsibility to tell the truth to their superiors and to identify to those in power those who are unfaithful to the truth. I know it is a hard thing to do because it puts ones career in jeopardy but what is the value of a career relative to the loss of many lives. Too many people thing war is the answer but many times it is not. We have military men and women who are supposed to be able to tell us such things.

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The last two and a quarter years have provided the American public a picture of a President who seems to need to put a bit more starch in his spine. The opposition party does not like him because he does not explain his approach to problems to them but he does not explain them to the American people either. I understand that part of his tactic is to limit the negative reaction to his every word by the Republican side. With that said he does owe the American public some clear and concise explanations on what is going on at any moment. People do not like the feeling they are kept in the dark and it certainly gets the other political side into a heated frenzy so they are prepared to fight on every word the President utters. Most Americans feel he is hiding from the fight with the opposition or he is not sure and is saying the minimun he thinks he can get by with. Once people feel that their leader waffles on issues or is afraid to stand and fight, even when such issues are subsequently proven wrong, the people always go back to the original feeling. If a second term in the White House is in the Presidents plans he had better change his approach and start to stand and fight.

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Every week I receive one or two e-mail letters telling the American public not to forget the soldiers we have put in harms way. The letters, some with attachments providing unique pictures of our service men at work and play, tell the story of their hardship and that of their families left behind. These are all true, honest, and in some cases, more than sobering to the eye and mind. A recent letter gave a listing of six names and asked of each reader if they knew who these people were. Unless you were personally acquainted with them the reader would not know who they were. The answer to who they were was is they are the latest Americans killed in our two wars. Then there were several pictures of American so called celebrities who were in court, jail, or rehab and there was not a name one could not place with just a face. It seems the American people are fed up with the wars but those who die are not as important as those whose faces are streamed on our TV daily. Putting our young in harms way should only be done for a good reason.

The current actions in Libya are a good example of using our might and reducing the risk to our fighting men and women. This action, which still has risks for our people, limits those risks significantly. If we need to fight then we should fight smart and from as far away from the enemy as possible. Specific targeting and striking targets of opportunity are a fine way to limit to a small number the people we put in harms way. In the old days we hid behind trees, rocks and fence posts. Today, if we choose, we can hide behind technology. That means that we have to change our rules of encounter and there must be an acceptance of collateral damage on some occasions. If this current action is the new wave of the future I for one condone it. I do not want to put our service men and women at risk unless it is necessary. At the same time I do not think we should back away from a fight but if we pick our fights carefully and fight to win with quick and deadly force from afar then we have moved forward and matured as a nation.

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Now we have politicians who are against our supportive action in Libya and I truly do not know where all the thinking of these people come from? The citizens of the U.S. wanted the U.S. to support and help the people of Libya in their quest to oust their oppressor. The U.S., via the President, told the colonel to get out of Libya and stop attacking his people. U.S. citizens, including myself, were mad that the White House took so long to take action. However, the President was correct in his approach to gathering a collation and having the mission issued through an official UN vote. It is time some of these politicians are taken out to the wood shed and given the rod to help correct their thinking. It is obvious to me the individuals who wish to bring impeachment charges against the President for his actions are just playing for the camera and their constituents. Then they start complaining about the cost of the action in Libya which if measured against what the cost is by the day in Iraq and Afghanistan the cost of the Libya action will be minuscule. I think it is time for these politicians to get out of the way and return to doing what they are supposed to do and that is pass a budget.

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Both Russia and China voted in the UN to stop Libya with what ever measures are necessary. This is a rare occasion as the two nations almost never vote an aggressive position against any other nation. For Russia it is the same old position they have been using for the last sixty five years. They do not want to make enemies and they do not want the U.S. to win any political process or request in the UN. As for China they have always cast a vote or abstained from casting a vote for many the same reasons as their Russian counterpart. The one difference this time is that China is trying to win friends in the very places that are clamoring for the U.S. to make a move on Libya. Both Russia and China saw this as an opportunity to give them a softer public appearance which they need to make new deals around the world. There is also a possible subscript to the decisions of both these votes.

Both of these countries have had border standoffs and internal civil issues where their military was called to confront the adversaries. Though those situations were many years ago the world still remembers them as stains upon their record. The Chinese, with a huge population, are always on the look out for civil unrest. It is perhaps the biggest concern they have. As the Chinese slow their economy there will be many measures taken to keep any unrest under control. To that end their vote at the UN sends a signal to the world that they will not use force to control the civilian population in a period of unrest. They are also sending a message to the world that they are about to enter the global game of politics in the world. Up to now they have remained withdrawn form having a say in the goings on in other countries but now they have pipelines of material and energy to protect and one cannot do this from the sidelines.

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The question is why is the House of Reps fighting the suggestion of an early withdrawal from Afghanistan? I am not sure what the answer is but I can provide some of the reasons that these government officials want the U.S. to stay longer in such a pathetic place. There are many who have been sold a bill of goods by the former administration and the military. To pull out now may make those who favored the war look foolish. There are those who still believe the presence of the U.S. in Afghanistan has kept us safe for the last nine years. Some of these people are still trying to make up for the Vietnam loss thirty five years ago. There are also those who believe an early pull out would dishonor those who gave valiantly in Afghanistan. These are all understandable positions from an emotional point of view but we did not send these people to Washington to live with ghosts and vote their emotions instead of thinking things through.

The time has come for all Americans to look at reality and tell the government and the military that these were foolish wars started by despicable actions against us. The problem was the response was fine at first but the follow up by both the administration and the military was wrong. We as Americans fight every day to remain the people we are. We change slowly but more often than not we change those who would change us. That change comes about not by war but by helping those who want assistance in changing their life. That is not what we find in Afghanistan or all across the board. As long as we, as a people and a government, play these political games in other countries we will suffer the shooting of ourselves in the foot on every occasion. It is time for our politicians to stop and think what is good for the U.S. and then the world.

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It has been a while coming but there is a new breed of employee in town and they are called the smart workers. This new class of worker is smart, educated, dedicated, and highly trained in specific areas of knowledge. They are knowledge workers and they will be all the rage in a few years. These workers will be trained in the latest technology in their area of expertise and will be hired on to work on specialized projects. The assignments will be for one to several years. They will be hired on as an employee but they will have a contract for the specific period of the program. When the program is over these workers will leave the employ of the company and restart their study process. This is to bring themselves up to speed by learning the newest information, at even higher knowledge levels relative to their discipline, so they can return to the work force and take on new projects at newer and higher levels. This however, is not just like going back to school it is a method of polishing the knowledge of the individual to provide state of the art knowledge to projects and programs. The smart worker, or knowledge worker if you wish, will have a career of projects where at the end of each project retraining is a part of the work cycle. This will be the worker that is in demand in the future and that will change the hiring, firing and retention elements of the entire work force over time. Change is coming.

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It is just a matter of time until the big 9.0 earthquake hits California and perhaps
provids a disaster similar to what we have just seen in Japan. This is a grave economic time for California but with dollars tight they must start to effectively prepare their defense against such a catastrophic earthquake. An earthquake of this force, if centered off the coast, could provide the same size Tsunami Japan had to deal with. Such a one, two punch could be a disaster for the entire state and the rest of the country. It would also have a huge impact on the economics of the world as California is the fifth largest economy in the world. With an enorms coast line the devaistation could be much greater than we have seen in Japan. As a base line plan the state should start to work on defensive plans for its infrastructure and power grid. To accomplish that they will need money and the best place to go for the money is the American public in the form of municipal bonds. As for the structures within the cities specific bunds should be let through the state to capture money from the public where the state and the companies that receive the money are responsible for paying it back. If California does not pursue the upgrade of its infrastructuer based on what we have learned in Japan then the state will remain at high risk for potential life loss and massive destruction of the economic strength of the state.

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It has happened again in New York and once again there is mystery and secrecy surrounding the incident. A week has passed and the information available is more than sparse. The only information identified is who was killed and then to story fades to nothing. There have been some leaks but they are what they are generally someone who is not in the know trying to make other believe they are an insider. The real issue at hand is the police and the city government is trying to put the best spin on the story to cover their backs. There is no doubt that this was a horrible accident and it does not get better over time no matter how one tries to spin the story. As for myself I would like to know the real truth and in this case I do not really want to see someone punished to show that some one was made to take responsibility. It seems that several incidents in New York over the past few years indicate that once a group of police officers converge on a suspect if a gun shot rings out everyone starts to shoot. We all know that these are split second decisions and this happens everywhere but the question is where is the discipline the police officers need under fire? If there is a training program for this street condition then it is not working. If there is not program of such then it is time to start it. This suggestion is not intended to put our police in more of harms way than they currently are but for their own safety it may be a place to look to help this reoccurring situation.

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Unofficially but officially the United States has announced that they are going slow over Libya because of Iran and other things. Apparently Iran is behind part of the uprising and the U.S. has indicated that they have not been able to find a true leader in the rebel mix. They also said that the fly zone would have to be a joint decision with NATO. I guess that my question is where does the President get off telling the leader of a country he ha to step down and suggest a no fly zone and tell the world that no response is off the table? Three years ago when I looked up the President's credentials they seemed quite good. After the last couple of days I feel the credential he is missing is how to play poker and learn to bluff. If the Presidents rhetoric was a bluff, and we now know it was, he sure played it wrong. There are plenty of things that can go wrong in these scenarios but to use the possibility of Iran's intervention as a reason to slow things in the region is absurd. Oh yes, a bit of geography President Obama, We are not from that area but Iran lives in the neighborhood. Next time when you as President of these United States tells some one to get out of office do not bluff because you are not good at it.


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The problem that Japan is having with its damaged nuclear power facilities has spread the fear of nuclear disasters all around the globe. In particular the fear in the United States is harking back to the days of Three Mile Island when that Pennsylvania nuclear facility had a partial meltdown. The fear all across this country, which was unfounded and exaggerated, caused the stoppage of further building in the nuclear power industry to this day. It is not like accidents cannot happen and we know that mother nature and mother earth can cause great damage to these facilities but that must not become fear. These events give us knowledge that tells us how to better build and protect these facilities. With out these facilities we will be even more at the mercy of the oil producing countries who wish to take all of our treasure and in exchange for the oil. There are only two real choices that we as a nation have. The first choice is to get rid of the nuclear facilities and become the victim of those who sell energy to us which means that eventually they will force our way of life to change. Wind and solar energy will never meet our demands. Therefore, the second choice is to continue with the nuclear facilities and work diligently to find a true alternate source of power.

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Japan is the third largest economy in the world and the recent disasters will have an impact on the world GDP numbers. The blow to the Japanese economy is substantial but in the world view it is less than a calamity. Though there is fear on the street in the next several months those fears will dissipate quite quickly. The pictures published by the media show a country that seems to have been smashed by some stealthy hand in the night. But the devastation is confined to a geographic area where the mainstay of Japanese manufacturing is light and the real catastrophe is the loss of life. In a few weeks the markets will push ahead and the recovery will move ahead. Panic is never the correct thing to do and now is the worst of the worst times to do so. This disaster is providing an opportunity to the world to use this experience as a tool for learning how to better protect ourselves from such overwhelming occurances. It also presents the opportunity for the economy and its markets to take a step back and redefine the speed forward and even the direction in some areas. It is not time to panic it is time for vision and courage.

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When Chins entered the World Trade Organization it did so with the promise that it would trade fairly and in three years remove the negative trade tactics they were then currently using. We are ten years plus into the game and a number of their promise to correct trade practices remain in place. As we are starting to recover from our current economic downturn China has started to slow down its economic growth as a measure to control inflation. The cut backs in the Chinese economy will be and have already started to hurt American companies doing business there. American banks are being hurt because when American companies come to China to do business they had to agree to ownership of only forty nine percent of the company they were opening. The other fifty one percent went to a Chinese business partner who then controlled the company. All the money to start the company came from and through American Banks. The American banks were there because the start up money was to come from outside the country. That was the blind them tactic. What the banks did not realize was that as the Chinese companies needed to refinance their loans or apply for expansion loans it was the shareholder who had the largest percentage which was the Chinese partner that had the say as to what bank they would use. The rob us part comes when the refinance of expansion loan does not go to an American bank but to a Chinese bank. The interest rate is highier there and so the American company receives less monetary compensation in the long run, China's banking system now can make secure loans and American banks are out in the cold for most of the funding that is going on.

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For most people Armageddon means cataclysmic events that give notice of the end of the world. For the last sixty five years that word meant death and destruction through nuclear war. To most people this is still the frightening face of the end of times. We have been fortunate that a nuclear war has not broken out but because of our focus on nuclear death we have forgotten just how vulnerable we are just form mother earth. What has happened in Japan over the last several days defines another face of Armageddon. This is a face that devastates with Earth Quakes and Tsunami waves which bring about additional elements of disaster. Who would have considered, a mere weak ago, that these disasters could and would come about and breach nuclear facilities which still may have deadly consequences. And yes, I did fail to mention the two volcano eruptions in this same time frame. Perhaps it is time to put a face on Armageddon that has so many sides it looks like a spinning top. We must remember that we live on a violent planet and we survive only because it hits some of us some of the time but not all of us. There is always the chance that we will always get away from a disaster unscathed but that is just what the people in Japan hoped.

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Some people want to raise the taxes for the wealthy but the wealthy object to such an action claiming it will hurt them economically. Taxes tend to hurt all people economically regardless of their earning status. It seems to me that when the time comes to spread the tax burden around those who make more should pay more at least to some degree. Most of the taxes we pay are based on what we already have or what we buy. A direct correlation in taxes for what we earn as income should be treated the same way. The tax codes are designed to do that except the tax is based on what one earns after all deductions are removed. The problem here is the poor cannot take the big deductions because they do not have the money to buy the big things. In the long run they wind up paying a higher percentage of what they earn in tax than the wealthy do. Not only is this not fair it is also the reason the wealthy get wealthy faster. Pay less taxes and accumulate wealth faster seems to be the lay of the land. Perhaps a little more sharing is in line for its turn at spreading the wealth. With a shrinking middle class and a growing poor class the accumulation of too much wealth at the top will eventually cause a rupture in the political system. The rupture will be the loss of a middle class and the end of democracy as we know it or there will be a rebellion that will make all other civil conflicts pale in comparison. Remember Bastille Day.

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The current space program will be ending soon and it will be a while until the next program kicks in. The next program will be less than a space program we are used to. We will continue to orbit the earth and use the space station but the exploration of space will be left to machines. These machines will carry new tools for finding minerals on the surface and below the surface of the planets in our solar system. Several of these planets have already been identified as supporting deposits of some of the minerals we will be looking for in the near future. However, the special tools to be placed on these exploration machines will be for locating and mapping sites where these minerals are plentiful. Once the sites are mapped and the geological conditions of the sites are recorded the data will be sent back to earth for the development of plans to set up potential extraction process plans for the sites. From that point the development of full scale extraction equipment will be put into play. At the same time commercial companies will design and develop new systems to deliver the equipment to the sites and containers to make the return trip to earth filled with the minerals in demand. Let's hope it is sooner than late.

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Each day every newscast and all the stock forecasting shows as well as every financial piece of print tell us what is so important to our lives. Oil is the big thing because every individual needs the gas in their car and coal, fuel oil, natural gas, solar and wind power to keep their present existence in place. The fresh water that we all use to drink and wash ourselves, our clothes, cars, water our gardens is never given a second thought. People consider water as the resource which is a never ending supply of the liquid we all need to survive. The average individual can only go seven days with out water. So, the question is what do we do when the supply runs out? Desalinization is a very expensive process and it requires energy to make it work. Some of the oil that we are currently proposing to mine is locked in layers of shale rock or in tar sands. These processes take enormous amounts of water to support the extraction process. This is the same water that we need to drink. If everyone wishes to procede until the last drop of clean water is gone that is OK with me but then again I understand the consequences where as most people do not. Their problem is when they realize there is a big problem it most likely will be too late to fix without a life altering change.

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This Friday the people of Saudi Arabia will hold a massive rally to vent the wrongs of the government and the changes in that government they want made. This is the next of a series of mass demonstrations that have been and are in preparation all around the Middle East. The reactions by the individual governments have been negative but there has been the change of government in some places. As the Saudi demonstration nears there has been additional conflict in Tunisia and Egypt against Christians and other religious sects. There have been murders and other terrorist attacks in these countries which will put any country facing demonstrations, which may weaken the standing government, in a more defensive position than there would have been several weeks ago. The Saudi stronghold comes from the fact that it is family but that is also its weakness. That in particular is what the people want changed. With Libya still an unsolved issue there is great fear building in the Saudi government camp, as well as in the rest of the world, that the oil will stop flowing. If this were to happen there would be little doubt that the results would be disastrous for everyone involved. Governments could topple, oil could stop flowing, and the economic impact to the entire globe could spell something close to a meltdown.

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There was an interesting discussion today with a bunch of economists and reporters discussing inflation. The reporters asked the learned individuals why the price of food and oil were not part of the inflation formulas. After a good deal of fumbling by the economists the answer was that The TIPS report, which is based on the Treasury Inflation Protection Securities, does not show inflation on the rise. The report showed the inflation was under control. The problem here is that the original question was not answered because there is no answer or reason. That is the way the formula was set up a long time ago and no one wants to challenge it. So the comment is that it is what it is. As for the TIPS response, which was a non-answer to the original question posed, the issue here is the TIPS report is based on the same data and formula used to track inflation. What I cannot understand is why it is so hard for these people to realize that attacking inflation early on provides the best and quickest response to slowing it down and bringing it under control. To that end the surest signs of inflation on the horizon are the increase in the price of oil which accelerates quickly into the economy forcing price pass along to every level of consumer. The food price increases are, in general, a direct cause of an across the board increase in oil prices because every food item is moved by truck. The reasoning and requirements for understanding these elements are really not that difficult. It gives true meaning to the old adage that: "those who can see but wish to be blind are blind".

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Congress is back to its old habits by playing games with the budget. Now it is musical chairs over who will be the side to force the government into a close down. It is not like each side does not know what they want, which they do, but if the sit down to negotiate for too long the public will get restless and start to complain. The game here is to push the negotiations off until it is almost too late to prevent a shut down of the government then they will negotiate in earnest. The problem with this approach is it is still about each side wanting to win politically and really not caring about the impact the hastily negotiated budget will on the economy in the long run. I fail to understand what it is these politicians do not understand relative to the last election and with an eye on the 2012 elections. The people want the politicians to do the correct things and the politicians want to make it look like the people got what they want but in the long run it is about who will win the Congress and the white house. They feel the only way to accomplish that task is do anything to make the other guy look bad.

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Inflation is a quiet monster that lurks in the shadows and grows at great speed once it gets a good foot hold. With the price of oil presently at $113 on the spot market inflation is finding its foot hold. The inflation numbers released by the government show that inflation is under control but that information is wrong. Government does not include the cost of energy in its inflation formula. At the grocery store everyone has seen the prices rise and the package at the new price shrink. That is inflation all by its self and because most energy comes from oil the prices have to go even higher as the impact of the cost of oil is passed along to the customer. The government needs to get behind curbing inflation before it gets much worse. If the government drags its feet this country is in for another economic beating.

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Nation upon nation are talking with each other over the actions in Libya but nothing is being done to stop the violence. Europe is talking but they only want an agreement within NATO. The Arab Council is talking but they want action to come form their council and through them. Everyone is talking yet nothing has been done to get rid of the madman running the Libyan government. If the world continues to stand still and not act the oil complex of Libya will be destroyed before this revolt is over. The people will win in the long run but without the oil as an income base the country, and its new government, will have great difficulties sustaining the freedoms obtained. The oil will be the difference between a State of Libya and Libya as a nation fragmented by the tribal leaders who do not play well together. It is time for the talk to stop and the action to go into full gear by all the nations of the world community.

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Once again the American public is screaming for the reduction in taxes and in most cases agreeing that less teachers is a way to achieve that goal. Those who stand against the reduction in teachers fail to hear the call of the work place screaming at the top of its lungs that the future needs a work force educated in math and science. If we let all these teachers go we will save money but we will not reach our goal of an effectively educated public. All of these different equations have been thrown into the argument over what teachers should go and who should stay and why. The reality of this condition is all based on money. More money would solve this problem in a heart beatbut the money is not thee.

What I see as the real issue is no one truly wants to negotiate a solution because it means there will be losses on both sides in terms of give backs. The Unions do not want to give anything back in pay, time, or benefits. The governments do not want to negotiate anything but pure one sided givebacks from the other side. The government feels it has the backing of the people but in reality it does not because in a few months the people will change their minds and hold these same governments in contempt for the outcome of this issue. The answer is simple. All sides need to negotiate in good fait, and all sides must negotiate in a manner that finds a solution enabling givebacks and changes on both sides. With out this form of approach the future is more at risk then one might think.

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