America's Financial Well Being: Education and Age Factors in Having Extra Money

It appears from this chart provided by Visual Capitalist that age and education are big determinants of who has money left over and by extension possible wealth (Visual Capitalist has some good graphics). Thus, I encourage people to obtain an education and/or trade certificate. I have two kids of which one is college bound and one is not. I say you can do either but you don't want to be in general labor constantly competing against new technologies. The pay and opportunities will typically stay low unless you do something remarkable.

The question we still have to work on as a nation is how do we raise income for the middle class? That comes from raising our nation to the center of the global supply chain so that companies and workers can both earn. Part of that solution is encouraging small business and side/moonlighting mico businesses to keep innovation and wealth flowing. Remember we have a rich getting richer and the average person getting poorer problem. 

That also means we need to make decisions that encourage broad based capitalism so new leaders often bring with them new ideas and that gets the juices flowing with leaders and lawmakers. There is a natural cycle in societal development. New business, focus on national development, circulation of wealth, and a young generation bringing forward new ideas can help improving general wealth accumulation.

My advice...stay in college, use you skills to advance yourself and society, be innovative, engage in entrepreneurial activities, and build a better world with your ideas.

Source: Visual Capitalist 

Escanaba City Council Meeting (04/18/2024) City Budgets, Classic Cars, and Motor Speedway

Few can say we don't like cars in this area! A couple of great events to consider and of course there is the process of setting up city budgets. Not sure its the most exciting job but it is necessary. Anyway, I'm just keeping up with the local news so I can understand how well the city is doing in terms of growth. Things have really looked up for the area in the past few years. New investment and great activities. 

Classic Cars of Escanaba in 
The Wooded Pathway Gallery

City Budget Four Keys to Successful Municipal Budgets

Kruisin Klassic Car Club May 31st, 2024 Ludington Park and Street

Escanaba Motor Speedway Races

Music a Bigger Part of Escanaba This Year (Marquette Mining Journal is a great news outlet for locals. That and the Daily Press would be good ones to put advertisements in.)

Most of the information is in the Agenda 04/18/2024

Update on Hate: (04/22/2024) Corruption and Manipulation Further Defined

There are times when behaviors and rewards for such behaviors prick the moral conscious and you become aware of how destructive, dishonest and dysfunctional some beliefs have become and whether or not there are solutions. I'm a believer that there are always answers and solutions if we take the time to reflect on our inner values and live them; or at least try. We must first understand the situation and environment to find solutions.

Let us first discuss a hypothetical example for illustrative purposes only. Its just for learning so take with a grain of salt. Someone wants something and spreads hate filled rumors throughout a network of blind followers and a few corrupted officials to target a minority family. The laws became subjective and acts of intimidation potential violence surfaced. 

Others in this example came forward with similar complaints of corruption and misuse of power and were quickly retaliated against. The wrongs of the past started bubbling upward and those supporting such Good Old Boy networks continued forward with caddy, rude, and dismissive behaviors that on the surface seem to support and be comingled with hate (Behavior is often patterned so we should have expected others to come forward). Makes you wonder.... Alternative Milligrams Study Perspective

Why would seemingly good people and members of organizations engaged in relatively un-American and somewhat despicable behaviors more akin to third world clans than civilized people? I came across this study that might help shed some light on the issue. Not sure I fully grasp the concepts but I have a limited perspective on the depths of depravity that can corrupt the soul and what it touches. A Paradox of Ethics: Why People in Good Organizations do Bad Things.

The world is not always an ethical place and yet we should strive to be the most ethical we can for the benefit of all of society-a universal society. Loyalty to ones oaths includes being loyal to one's own values. When they are variants in healthy values and homogeneous cultural constraints these situations rise from time to time. If it happens more than once to form a pattern we might need to reform a few things. Maybe not?  🤷

*This is for learning purposes only.

Moving Beyond Brains and Bronze as Enhancements to Military Human Capital Development

There is the brain and there is the bronze but what many people don't know is there is also something in addition to those that connects them together-Wisdom. It is a symbiotic connection between the two when one can use and master both but knows the difference of when and where to apply either. Education and training are processes that encourages knowledge generation and skill development in a way that when matched with a concept called wisdom (whole person development) it can lead to fully actualized personnel. 

Technical skill practical tools for given situations (Training on XYZ/tactics), advanced education provides the connectivity of those skills among a wider angle lens for adaptability (i.e. strategy, systems thinking, innovation, etc.), and wisdom provides the when and how of use such skills (people knowledge, self-awareness, environmental context, global knowledge, ethics, etc.).

A few random thoughts:

1.)Technical Skills one can train on in class and in the practical fields. The exceptionally trained soldier.

2.) Advanced knowledge can be learned through theory that draws from learned practical knowledge and then can find ways to apply that knowledge. A practitioner-scholar.

3.) Wisdom can be found through developing the whole person through personal and career development. A fully developed leader aware of the bigger purpose and soft and hard skills needed to get there.

Higher education is becoming increasingly more big data rich and that can be helpful for measuring performance and areas of improvement. What higher education and training doesn't often do well is develop the whole person so they create the third leg of wisdom. However, there are ways to infuse wisdom based self-learning into curriculum to create greater self and environmental awareness. There is a type of self-reflective and symbolic process that pushes deep learning beyond the big data. Things that once you learn you simply can't unlearn because they change a person and their views. Theoretically anyway.

I found this publication very interesting...

Doing and Thinking: Integrating Training and Education for the Best Outcomes

A motivating video you might want to watch. Hats off to our military!

Delta County Commissioner Meeting (04/09/2024) A Sense of Community

There is an awful lot going on in this video from some good things to some some eyebrow raisers. I'm a centralist/rationalist in politics so to me the best path forward is to work on creating a sense of community (This is also why I think the dysfunction of outside politics or ulterior interests should not be brought here. Party neutral statement! Smelly socks are smelly socks.<<<<Just in case you wondered why they smell.). 

You can read a study on creating a Sense of Community and Community Building.

Encouraging people to anchor to central ideas and goals that resonate with different members of the local peoples is beneficial. Likewise, focusing on shared futures is another goal that has long lasting appeal. A type of over the horizon thinking. Everything should be seen as temporary so in a year from now things might look different (I think positive as I'm a rational optimist!). 

Growing New Plants This Year and Thinking about National Garden Stats

Developed a green property this year with a bunch of different plants and foods. The experimental half shade no irrigation raised garden box produced most of what was planted last year so I am doing it again this year. There were a few crops such as pumpkins that didn't grow fully and a few smaller carrots in one row. Small growth on some plants is likely related to how I organized the box. I built another raised grow box out of some lumber I had sitting around and planted that one as well. 

A few things I'm thinking about are, 

1.) Only native hardy plants to MI. 

2.) Planting pattern. Avoid overcrowding or incorrect shading.

3.) Allowing roots to tap beyond the box for more water if needed. I changed the barrier on one to light mulch to see if that will help. I did nothing to the first box because its underground barrier likely doesn't exist this year and is degrading back into the soil. 

A few things I put in the yard are a mini honey crisp apple orchard, raspberries, corn, beats, carrots, lettuce, spinach, onions, and forgot squash (I might put some if I remember). Along my fence I'm putting in grape vines. A few new rose plants where I can't get anything else to grow. 

Ruby Home provides some interesting Garden Stats just in case you want to understand gardening in the U.S.

-55% of U.S. Households have a garden. 

-100-200 square feet can feed a person year round. 

-Average garden is 600 square feet and earns $600.

-US is one of three top gardening places. 

And I got a visitor. Looks like a fox snake. (BTW I was told you could use moth balls and that isn't true. I was going to use them and read somewhere you can't do that so they are being disposed of. Beware of wives tails! I went on the hunt for information and I didn't find much other then they can't be used that way. Not everything people say is true! They also say they don't keep snakes away.)  

Grabbed him by the tail and moved over 
to the woods.

IMF World Economic Outlook-Steady and Slow-A Turtle over a Hurdle!

The U.S. is still doing pretty well and it said to have doubled the growth rate of other G7 peers. The IMF released their World Outlook showing some positives and negatives at the same time but the general lay of the land is the U.S. and emerging economies will grow at a faster pace when compared to mature systems. For now it looks like the U.S. is doing well and for the near future should continue to do so. The rest of the world is growing a little slower. G7 states are growing at about half the U.S. The global economy might be described as a turtle over a hurdle. 

World Economic Outlook, April 2024: Steady but Slow: Resilience amid Divergence

Turtle over a Hurdle Economy As a hobby I'm playing
 around with sayings. 
You can find the
unedited version in
The Wooded Path Gallery
Not particularly my best
photo but I do sort of put them
in a gallery in case someone wants
one. Everyone once in a while
someone buys one for a few bucks.
I try and give much to charity. 
50% is goal.

-World economy to grow 3.2% in 2024 and 2025. 

-Acceleration for advanced economies moving from 1.6% in 2023, 1.7% in 2024 and 1.8% in 2025.

-Global growth is projected at 3.1% for next 5 years. 

-Global inflation to decline 6.8% 2023, 5.9% 2024 and 4.5% in 2025.

-Advance economies returning to inflation targets sooner than emerging markets.

-A few comments on demographic drag. This is why I encourage technology advancement and universal human capital development.

January 2024 IMF Global Outlook Full Report

The Financial Times has some interesting articles sometimes, US to grow at double the rate of G7 peers this year, says IMF. We are like half of Emerging Markets and that is frustrating. It is also why I'm thinking of how to simulate rapid butterfly innovation with a transactional cluster theory. In my perspective, if you can use your much more advanced infrastructure to pinpoint innovation for needed industries in the right mix you can theoretically create totally new innovative products that are adapted by multiple industries based on a Schumpeterian innovation approach. That adaptation leads to greater overall wealth and national competitiveness. 

CNN highlights that there are some risks for overheating in the U.S. economy. Its of course possible but I think there are some other things going on as well that are not measured well by traditional economic models. IMF raises growth forecast for ‘overheated’ US economy and urges caution on rate cuts

An interesting idea that the economy is booming because of interest rates. While I may or may not agree, I haven't looked into it that far, I can say that its interesting to think about a reverse cause. What If Fed Rate Hikes Are Actually Sparking US Economic Boom?