How Much Money Do Americans Need to be Financially Comfortable?

Below is a video on income and comfortability. There is even a discussion on some of the strategies that people use to mitigate those costs. i.e. cheaper locations. What I find surprising is the very large number that people feel they need. Wages are not always rising as fast. To improve wages means we need to improve overall output in the U.S. as well as the value of the worker through education/training and technology. 

The Community Should Help LA Sheriffs Department

The one thing that no society should succumb to is violence. When it occurs it is the community that must step up and be the eyes and ears. The county is asking for help and I think people should do their very best to give it to them, turn in videos/pictures, sightings of people in the area, suspicious cars park, online chatter, and lots of other stuff. Prayers for that officer's family. Eventually we will come to understand what happened. 😢

Why are People Feeling Unhappy About the Economy-Should we Blame the Delusion of Politics as Usual?

 

Anzu
Representing two awe inspiring
 animal spirits in one. 
Dems and Repubs.
Rino-Dino perspective.
Great Beasts of Legend

If you read this article by the Guardian 'Does Wile E Coyote explain US voters’ gloom amid buoyant economy?' you will come to realize the difference between the parties and independents. Republicans view things one way and Democrats view it another way and as usual Independents are more critical thinkers and play it in the middle. 

Why? I have two quick to thought, not vetted, reasons why.....

1. Different types of conversations going on leading to different perceptions. Depending on the nature of politics some are going to feel bad or good depending on who is in charge and who is taking credit for the economy (When you really get down to it there are many factors of which each president contributes but doesn't own fully. However, some have had more influence then others depending on policy and its success in alignment of the economy to the market.). 

2. Inflation is still high. Because inflation is high I'm sure lots of people are feeling the pinch. Money is money and lots of Americans are living from pay check to pay check with high debt. For those of us in that situation I bet there will be some gloom with higher costs. Increasing wages and better spending habits can change things.

Consider the first reasons of different types of conversations and how that leads to a type of political delusion for both parties. Same economy but two different perspectives. This is the danger of hyper politics. The environment might be the same but the discussion derails the thought processes in a way that leads to skewed perceptions of the economy. That impacts behaviors and that can be dangerous if left too divergent for two long (i.e. two societies of thought which struggle with understanding they have only part of the solution. They would be much better if they saw things closer to eye to eye.). 

Democrats and Republicans do live in different worlds

Come on peeps, we know better then this!

What's my opinion? A few options. 1. Economy continues to grow with digital, manufacturing and geopolitical issues, 2. Economy tanks because its running too high. 3. It finds a homeostasis and gets stable 4.) Nothing happens and its all pretty normal. In other words, my opinion is based on what the market data provides. Its mixed but I have hopes for the rest of the year. It is not defined by the voice of others who have not fully examined the market either. Let us wait and see what happens.....animal spirits at work.....

Crash Course Ideas on the Philosophy of Justice (Reaching High With Empathy)

Allegory or The Triumph of Justice
Hans von Aachen
1598
The picture represents
what each person in a nation owes to 
the other in terms of
justice.

Here is a crash course on justice. Philosophical discussions are philosophical and they keep things on a very high level. When it comes to the details of justice things get a lot more murky. This is also likely why it seems to be a hot topic of discussion as of late. When we learn and understand about ethics and justice we become to gain a better understanding of how that works in our lives, relationships, human resources, and society.

As always we should seek the higher moral order. We want to ensure we are not neglecting our bigger laws and contracts for lower order values. I guess in many ways we could say the same thing about ensuring our laws strive toward the highest sense of justice. Its a mater of lofty over the hill thinking but also a necessary one for the next generation.

(Bigger laws and contracts might include, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, so on and so forth. Most of these were written by gifted individuals that had both high critical thinking and moral sensitivities. They had a deep sense of justice and thought about these things regularly.)

Empathy allows us to reach to the higher values more easily than is possible by those who lack empathy (Empathy has been in scientific studies and it has been used historically thematic in our artifacts such as ethics, religious texts, movies, music, poetry, sagas, etc.). Empathy can better see how injustice impacts other people and how it fundamentally creates feelings of mistreatment. To avoid that we must always seek the higher order. Justice higher then injustice, empathy higher than intentional harm, truth higher then lies, so on and so forth. 

Encouraging justice means being truthful and objective in a way that leads to higher levels of integrity that further builds trust. When integrity is consistently high it means accuracy and objectivity lead to increased fairness (i.e. must have empathy first to truly understand fairness). Do that long enough and you have trust. Have enough instances of trustworthy acts and you have credibility and what others perceive as integrity.

Inability to act with integrity consistently would indicated that one must adjust the processes and procedures to better ensure the higher order concepts are much more likely to be repeated/encouraged. It makes no difference what kind of entity you are discussing. Empathy allows us to seek higher forms of justice and it also allows us to change to meet those expectations of trust. It is through the process of self reflection and change that we create consistency of justice so as to support long term trust.

• 'The measure of intelligence is the ability to change' -Albert Einstein.
• 
  

Why we Love the "Artsy Fartsy"?: Escanaba to Host Veteran Art (Its a Special Place!)

The Legend of Escanaba

Ok Artsy Fartsy people we got lots of art coming to the area! Go ponder the art, get a glass of wine a few blocks away, walk around downtown and buy something. Perhaps you want to eat supper or you would like to stroll through the park to soak in some fresh Great Lakes air and sunshine (The ocean has a smell and the Great Lakes have a smell.). Most important review the deep soulful art that comes from veterans and their adventurous lifestyles (Art from vets is likely going to be different when compared to art from college students based on vets unique experience alone.). While vet art is hosted in other places, this show is a unique blend of a high concentration of somewhat isolated, UP and our cousins Northern Wisconsin vets, who went and traveled the world. Their impressions are going to be different than other places and one can delve into the emotions and the outward artistic display of such emotions as they relate to symbolism of a background (Foundations of Creativity). In other words, these are not stick figures! They have deep meaning from the souls of our vets. So much so they are probably not aware either!

Here is the art show info,

 Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center in Iron Mountain is hosting an exhibit at the Bonifas Art Center Escanaba. MORE THAN A UNIFORM: Veterans Art Exhibit Planned In Escanaba

"The grand opening for the event is Thursday, Sept. 21, from 6:00 until 8:00 ET at the Bonifas Art Center, which is located at 700 1st Avenue South in Escanaba. The exhibit will be on display through November 2nd."

Art is one of those things we think society can discard in lieu of more profit making ventures (Money isn't the only thing in life.). However, art is woven into the nature of our species much like poetry or music. One might say that art is older then poetry and music but follow the same strain. When people delve into art they are actually tapping their subconscious to create something new and that is why it has regenerative purposes for wounded warriors (Learning to balance strength of physical abilities, and others, with the depth of connection to self is one of the higher forms of human development).

-Art can be used to help veterans through physical, social and emotional development for healing and life quality initiatives. The National Endowment for the Arts provides something called Creative Forces: Research that you may want to peruse and see some of the supportive research. It is unrelated from what I can tell from this initiative but still some great information that will give you a broad view of the art.

-Escanaba supports veterans. Not all cities are supporting their veterans as much as they should. Even locally we have recently took a big step in the direction of our vets. We enhance our funding and resources, we were working on Navy ships (underdeveloped ship building industry per market data) and we have gained a newer perspective on our warriors. 

-62% of veteran care are serviced outside Federal Health System leaving some of that rests on the support of our communities. Supporting Military Service Member and Veteran Well-Being Through the Arts

-Art is also good for Escanaba tourism.  2022 art industry was $43 billion. It would be nice to draw some of that here to our hotels, restaurants and other local businesses. 2022 Art Market Report

If you want to learn more about what is going on Visit Escanaba

Some other random stuff about vets. They have my support. 

Honor Our Warriors

Changing Military Honor

Marking a Point in History

Honor Codes and Honor Eras

Bigger Than Self

Past and Future

Answered the Call

Mount Solidad

We the People

Shout Out Louisville Firefighters! 100 Firefighters Battled the Blaze: What Makes a Firefighter Resilient?

Just giving a shout out to the Louisville Fire Department! As a person who has done some firefighting I appreciated the work they do. Coordinating all those people to battle the blaze is an amazing thing. It makes me wonder how it was all organized. Good job! 

(p.s. feel free to send someone to teach us up here in the U.P. MI.) 

More than 100 firefighters battle a fire in downtown Louisville

This is one field that could use brights and smart minds. If your not sure consider training at a volunteer firefighting department and/or at some point making the jump to full time. Your doing a great service to your community. 

Do you know what makes firefighters resilient? Consider this study, "Exploring the criteria and factors affecting firefighters’ resilience: A qualitative study"

CPI Rises .6% in August 2023: CPI, Federal Reserve, Prices, and Credit Cards

New CPI numbers came out so you can read those and sort of gauge where we are in terms of our economic position. Different analyst's will view things in different ways but in general there is an expectation that the Federal Reserve will hold off on interest rate hikes (In this market that may change tomorrow so we should be aware of the general trends.). The Federal Reserve often considers how they are going to approach the market to manage the economy. i.e raise, lower, or hold interest rates to adjust the availability/cost of money. 

Source: History of MI. Paper Money
Read: A Time When Anyone Can Issue

The expectation is that there will not be a rate increase so as to give time to see where the market is heading. That means the Fed Reserve has other things going on and/or are not exactly sure how some fundamental shifts are working (i.e. one possible explanation is new economic assumptions based on an increase in digital influences on the fundamentals of the economy. Things just take time to understand. Even more so if there isn't research to support decisions with large scale ramifications.) 

According to Reuters, "95% of economists, 94 of 97, in the Sept. 7-12 Reuters poll predicted the U.S. central bank would hold the federal funds rate in the current 5.25%-5.50% range next week, in line with market expectations." Fed to leave rates unchanged on Sept. 20; cut unlikely before Q2 2024: Reuters poll. 

Keep in mind The Federal Reserve believes that 2% interest is ideal for stability and growth. So we are significantly higher then that but some of that depends on what we do with other aspects of our economy like technology, wages, etc. In other words, a sense of direction in post Covid emerging economic phenomenon is difficult. You can gain a little more knowledge of why that is the case in. The History and Future of the Federal Reserve’s 2 Percent Target Rate of Inflation (Maybe in the future they will say some other numbers is our new normal.)

Likewise, you can read this article by USA Today. I like it because, with lots of colorful ads, it provides a good overview of CPI and how it impacts our lives and the other things government is doing about inflation. Anway, take a look at it and sort of peak at their ads because they need to pay for the authors and that comes through advertisement. If you really want to help them just click a few because AI is putting pressure on the industry and authors (Thats actually a little scary because we need original and creative content. So one is borrowing to make money without citing and we humans are creating with lower pay. Innovation and human capital is the name of the game going forward so we must make sure creative content is rewarded throughout the system if we want to encourage it. Otherwise, we run into a situation where it isn't lucrative to create because someone else is getting the proceeds. Creativity and capital innovation decline. Come on Humans lets help our own! If it is written by a human and is carbon based lets support it! Ok sorry I thought it was funny. AI Innovations 😂) 

Sorry, I digress....

CPI Live: Inflation rises for second straight month in August on higher gas costs

Source BLS
CPI Inflation Calculator

Up: Food, Shelter, Energy, Medical

Down: Cars, Commodities

12 Month: Fuel down, Gas down, Transportation Service up, Food up, Services Up, Shelter Up

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX - AUGUST 2023 You can read the rest at Bureau of Labor Stats.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.6 percent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, after increasing 0.2 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.7 percent before seasonal adjustment.

The index for gasoline was the largest contributor to the monthly all items increase, accounting for over half of the increase. Also contributing to the August monthly increase was continued advancement in the shelter index, which rose for the 40th consecutive month. The energy index rose 5.6 percent in August as all the major energy component indexes increased. The food index increased 0.2 percent in August, as it did in July. The index for food at home increased 0.2 percent over the month while the index for food away from home rose 0.3 percent in August.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.3 percent in August, following a 0.2-percent increase in July. Indexes which increased in August include rent, owners' equivalent rent, motor vehicle insurance, medical care, and personal care. The indexes for lodging away from home, used cars and trucks, and recreation were among those that decreased over the month.

The all items index increased 3.7 percent for the 12 months ending August, a larger increase than the 3.2-percent increase for the 12 months ending in July. The all items less food and energy index rose 4.3 percent over the last 12 months. The energy index decreased 3.6 percent for the 12 months ending August, and the food index increased 4.3 percent over the last year.

A Little Tid Bit on Credit Cards

We spend entirely too much on credit cards, save too little, and invest almost nothing. At least that is the way it is for some people. To get a handle on your credit card debt means finding new patterns of spending.

-Stop spending except on things you need.
-Opt for a debit cards or cash.
-Cut out a few expensive activities and apply to your balance monthly.
-Put together a budget and designate a percentage you can use toward paying your balance.
-Use savings to pay off your balance and save the interest rate.
-Use your credit card for emergencies.
-Sell items you don't need or are cluttering your garage and you don't use to apply to the balance.
-Get a second job.