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Partisan Judges Should Be Removed from the Justice System (Moral Philosophy)

Americans deserve impartial and fair treatment and when they don't it creates long-term damage to trust. Partisanship has been a disease in our society and it has impacted officials and individuals ( We should expect that and in some cases that is the intent. ). Partisan judges pervert the rule of law to protect their personal-political values and beliefs with little consideration for the needs of society. When they protect corruption and encourage hate, they should be removed from the bench.  ( It's a party-neutral comment and there has been growing discussion on the damage to society from partisan judges of any kind. ) Seems simple enough, doesn't it? Yet things are not so simple, are they?  The devil is in the details and protections when judges have agendas, biases (race and religion), or extreme political leanings. Protections are few and far between. The risks can grow if we do not find mechanisms to mute partisanship and its influence on our daily lives. Consider ins

Can Overconfidence in Executives be a Good or Bad Thing?

There are times when confidence makes a positive and constructive change in an organization and there are times when overconfidence can cost companies much more than they bargained. Executives are naturally more confident with higher self-efficacy when compared to the average population. That makes sense considering they needed to beat out the competition and move up the organizational ranks.  ( Let us also plug a caveat in there that those who rise from modest backgrounds are much more grit-oriented and confident than those who have had opportunities presented to them based on their family background and wealth .  One worked for it and the other had to put in much less effort and with many more resources.  ) The Queen of Hearts Wooded Pathway Gallery Confidence means betting on oneself. Approximately 83% of decisions are based on confidence in oneself and the expected outcome.  Unpacking Overconfident Behavior When Betting on Oneself Where we run into problems is when we are overconfi

Life is Like Hiking: Climb the Hill and Let No One Hold You Back!

Nature's Way in Art Gallery Hiking is like life, It may feel uphill but each day you get out there it gets easier with time. Once you climb some distance from the head of the trail you can look back at the people still lounging at the bottom. They are still there but have not found the courage to strap on their boots and look upon those who started the journey with a level of envy and disdain.  The first challenge any person must take is to decide to take the journey. While you may have stood once at the bottom of the hill you are cut from a different cloth and took the first steps. You could ignore the decenters and naysayers and have confidence in yourself.  There is a lot of wrong and good in this world and we know that just by walking out our door every morning. Some people have experienced everything from being lied about all the way over to witnessing free passes for racial and religious-based cleansings.  As a matter of point, even when they look back and the folly of peopl

IMF Study: Independent Central Banks Help Reduce Inflation

There is a long-term discussion on the value of central banks and how that influences our economy. The International Monetary Fund conducted a study of banks between 2007 and 2021 and found that strong and independent central banks make a significant difference in bringing inflation down. The ability to control and manage the money supply and policies does impact the cost of borrowing.  In the big data era, there is going to be much more information on the economy and that will allow for greater assessment, theory, and understanding by central banks. How they handle inflation now may change as new information and research come forward to make decisions more accurate.  Strengthen Central Bank Independence to Protect the World Economy Source IMF

Could VE and RE Firefighting Training Help in Varied Environments?

Firefighters are no joke around Escanaba and are a central part of keeping the community safe. It is an occupation (whether FT, PT, or Vol.) that has an impact on our lives. For those who want to help in some way consider joining a local fire department and supporting your community. Training in rural areas with varying conditions requires diligence. Technology such as Virtual Equipment (VE) and Real Training (RE) can help.  There are two incidents recently that are worth discussing. I try and do my best to raise positive awareness of the good things people do in the area and I'm a big-time supporter of firefighters. They do nothing but help people and that is a noble cause. Few occupations can say the same thing. ( Personally, I like those occupations that are known to do good things. ) In the first incident, we see that the firefighters came out and saved animals. That is awesome! We are rural so barn fires do happen. Grass fires are another concern. You will then notice a fire d

Technology and Human Capital: The Link Between Productivity and Pay

Technology can do a lot of great things for our nation and it can lead to all levels of life enhancements. However, we do have growing concerns over growing wage disparities. That is happening at a time when technology is going to change much of what we understand about our world and that is against the backdrop of how money circulates through society to feed further growth.  Is there a link to pay and productivity? When people relied heavily on human physical capacity pay and productivity were directly tied. Automation improved productivity and in turn, extended human abilities to produce by volume. Some did well and some did not. Ensuring that manufacturing still pays well can help attract people to those fields our nation needs.  We now have advanced technologies that truly extend, not only the productivity of human abilities but also their creative outputs. These are smart technologies that connect more closely to the way people think and are partially intelligent so they extend th

Deloitte's Global Economic Research Q1 U.S. Economic Projections. At Least 1 if not 2 Thumbs Up!

Deloitte's Global Economic Research Center came up with some interesting projections between now and 2028. Short-term projections are very good and the long-term ones are sort of limp in numbers. However, I don't think that is the end of the story. There are changes abuzz, not only here but in other places, and that could lead to new opportunities that we can further capitalize on as a nation.  You can read this for yourself... A random store I went into. Cool place with unique stuff. Consignment shop. "Deloitte’s baseline forecast remains optimistic, and we expect the US economy to continue to perform well in the short term thanks to strength in the job market, consumer spending, and exports. For the first time since the pandemic, we have also included a scenario that is more optimistic than our baseline, as we see room for positive structural changes in labor markets and productivity." (Gibbard, 2024, para). What I like in the near term is that exports are rising an

Protecting Against Extremism and Corruption: Supporting Our Future!

Our nation is based on the fundamentals of human freedom that apply to every human being in the country and every person on the planet. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, civil rights, and opportunity are universal values. We codified much of that in our Constitution as a democratic experiment. Extremism and misinterpretation of our values present a risk to the future health of our nation and the resonance of that message.   We have two problems in keeping the message of freedom and opportunity at the forefront of national conscious. One is growing income disparity, which we can discuss at a later time, while the other is growing extremism mixed with racism/bigotries that limit the higher performance of our institutions. The latter becomes an important human capital topic on how mistreatment by some holds back the whole nation  ( btw. It's not their place to hold the rest of us back .)  Because we humans can be biased in our thinking, based on the many anchored socio-cultural

Long Term 45 year Study of Gifted Kids to Adults: Different Worlds and Lives

In our nation, we struggle with how to understand and manage gifted kids and adults to maximize their benefits to society. Early help and intervention are important to maximize their potential. There are substantial differences in their existence and their capacities that we ignore in ways that stifle their potential contributions to national development. Different Quantitative and Qualitative Lives The gifted have the gifted curse when they are in the wrong environment. Typically they have to stifle their natural abilities to fit in with the herd. The right environment can make a big difference in drawing out these talents. Advanced abilities that range from the physical to the intellectual lead to challenges in conformity environments designed to tear down performers. A Few Examples? Let us say that you can take in 1.5 x the amount of information from your environment, understand things faster, and can make more accurate connections when compared to others. You would see a different