Elder Abuse, Corruption and Justice (Update on Hate 02-01-24)

The world is full of different kinds of people who view their place as more prominent when compared to others. Some believe in justice and some do not. I've been using this long stemming hypothetical example of hate, corruption and potential elder abuse at its best to help highlight the dangers of not correcting inappropriate behaviors. Let us add some of the incentives for questioned behavior beyond placating ones friends and Good Old Boy networks. What do you think that is? You might have guessed it---money! If you said something similar you would be correct. Money is a common motivator for crime. Financial Exploitation of Older Adults. 

Now keep in mind this is a hypothetical example which would never ever happen in modern times because we know that such things would seen as horrendous in society and would stopped immediately! The good news is we know we have perfect system according to some that is 100% accurate and effective. No need to fix anything. Ok maybe not 100% but let us just say 99.9999% accurate just to leave a small amount of random doubt. Its never wise to say 100% even though that rolls off of the tongue and is easy for the mind to process and of course to sell.

First of all let us educated ourselves on how prevalent elder abuse is....

Here are two articles on the prevalence of abuse of elderly people with Dementia. 1.) The study says that abuse of elderly with dementia is between 27.9% and 62%. If true that is horrendous but often happens by people closest to the person that can hide these abuses. Elder Abuse And Dementia: A Review Of The Research And Health Policy. 2.) The second article discusses what that abuse might look like. Protection Services for Adults.

(l) Financial or Property Exploitation means illegal or improper use of an elderly or adult with a disability's money, property, or other resources for monetary or personal benefit, profit or gain. This includes, but is not limited to, theft, misappropriation, concealment, misuse or fraudulent deprivation of money or property belonging to the elderly or adult with a disability.

(Btw...I didn't see 100% in those numbers either. Looks like the scientists might be wrong. 🤔)

Let us go back to our running hypothetical example. Someone with close affiliation/employment with a rogue network of officers and a large group of what some community members have called local bullies, became aware that an elder was sick with dementia and had cancer. They hid this from some people and isolated that person. As the victim become increasing sick they also offloaded that persons wealth. (It's not hard to pull dates, documentation, bank records and interview the perpetrators. Those who would have investigated were close friends of the perpetrators. The dangers of corruption realized. The dangers of protecting corruption also realized.). 

Due to close affiliation, long stemming corruption and encourage extremisms among a few officials against multiple minorities and citizens in the area, a complaint led to immediate retaliation and cleansing type overtones (There are many facets to these behaviors we cannot cover here. i.e. officials targeting minorities on religious holidays. Violations of religious freedoms, obvious racism, and silencing freedom of speech. Please keep in mind it is a fictitious story.). Many others have complained of similar targeting/corruption in the area with no recourse because in part of social, religious, and ethnic influences (Its not that hard to trace back the group, actually likely two to three semi-associated groups, that are being destructive.). 

Until we start thinking holistically about our duties and the essential reasons why these institutions exist, we will continue to deal with these flare ups of poor behavior that lead to public dissent. Now, I'm not going to go through all of the other behaviors in this article but they are serious allegations by various community members (Remember its hypothetical).  As of today's date, there have been no reassurance that we can fix what has been broken and is inherently dangerous not only to the elderly but also the other victims (We forget about them and the risks to future victims. No moral quandary there of course. 100%!) 

I'm more practical when it comes to these issues and avoid encouraging bad behaviors just in case they become common and normalized. I would have an outside reviewer of all serious complaints by the community and examine and come to a conclusion (Seems unreasonable!). We cannot use the same people who caused the problem to review the problem because we find they sometimes protect their own through lack of objectivity (Remember the 100%). If we find an issue one would hope to hold account those who participated, correct the damage, and fix the system to protect the public. However, that is not logic used by everyone. One would have to have a commitment to the bigger purposes of these institutions to think along that line. 

From a systems and social contract stand point, allowing elder abuse and free pass for long stemming corruption based in part of bigotries is not optimal. Its not optimal for victims, the American public, or even the system itself. Yet its not always about doing the right thing. Extremism and political violence can do a lot of damage to people. We need practical problem solvers who can understand these multifaceted problems from different perspectives. (That does not seem very logical to many. 100% is an absolute!) 

*This is just for learning purposes. We are exploring how corruption, hate, and politics can damage communities. Often it is the most vulnerable that are taken advantage of. You will notice the multifaceted self-interest in this fake, made up, and unreal story. Freedom of speech doesn't come free.

Congress Passes Bi-Partisan Tax Relief for Children, Innovation and Business

Bi-Partisan Tax Bill passes Congress and moves onto Senate. I have to admit that I am impressed they were able to work in a bi-partisan manner and think that this is precisely what is needed to make our nation strong and robust (...not again but what we can become. Over the horizon thinking.). Talk doesn't mean much unless it clarifies a strategic direction. In this case, they worked on the direction and there was positive talk that got it done! Politics is the art of problem resolution based compromise and not on combativeness.

What I like is the focus on children (our future), research (our creativity/innovation), and business (our opportunities for different demographics/classes of society). These are things that can truly help create net positives and generate more long term strength, wealth and engagement. If we do them often we may find that our revenues could begin to outstrip our debts (That is with long term bipartisan approaches that solves important problems. Allocating a small percentage of resources to pay debt and in turn revamping some programs for efficiency can also help balance the ship.)

The paper doesn't stop flowing there of course. The next step is Senate. My belief is based on this bi-partisan momentum and the general positive attributes of the bill, that they will tweak it so as to put some ownership on it and then pass it. They may not, but I'm not at the moment seeing big hang ups. Certainly room for some debate. The two houses balance each other out with slightly different types of discussions. Let us watch! This is how we are designed. (The Legislative Branch). 

(As a funny side note: I'm playing around with a Hypothetical Feather Party to see how that could influence votes and national decision making. I think the party would have questions, tweaks, but ultimately they would tip in its favor much like the Senate is likely to do. The Hypothetical Feather Party is a fake political party for learning purposes on tipping votes to improve outcomes so please do not be mean to it! Thank you.🙇). 

The Bills explanation, "This bill increases and modifies child tax credit provisions, increases depreciation allowances to promote economic innovation and growth, provides special rules for the taxation of residents of Taiwan with income from U.S. sources, increases tax relief provisions for losses due to natural disasters and wildfires, and increases the low-income housing tax credit." -H.R.7024 - Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024

It this case, I say hats off to Congress! They did some good work here and I hope that they will continue to reach across the isle and support the needs of the nation over that of their parties. This bill was a step in the right direction on many levels.  Baby steps, baby steps.....👶

Picture of San Diego At Night Under the Moonlight: A poem less bright!

Here is my artistic side on display. That does not mean I'm necessarily any good but I still like to engage in it for personal reasons. I even sold a few things here and there. Maybe I will sell some more for fun. Here is my very quick poem that I came up within 2 minutes. While I'm sure someone could come up with something better, it was at least an attempt and poetic prose.

Vacation in San Diego (Poem)

Silent is the night,

The stars are tall and bright,

Ships anchored tight,

No urban blight,

Hop off flight, 

This place is all right! 🤓 (I didn't say it was a good poem. )

San Diego Under the Moonlight 24
The Wooded Pathway Gallery

US GDP Up 2.5% in 2024 (Infrastructure, Human Capital, and Technology)

The Global economy is expected to increase 3.2% and the US should experience 2.5% growth in 2024. You will notice from the video the U.S. GDP pace of growth will slow over the next few years. That could be caused in part by not implement technology fast enough to enhance productive capacity at a price point sellable to the global market. The other issue could also be that human capital development is not keeping pace as we debate the purpose of Higher Education in society.

(Note: There are people debating whether higher education should be reserved for the elite or more open to the average person. To me, a strong and practically educated workforce that can apply those skills learned directly into the business/industry world is important for innovation and production. There are others who feel that is not the best approach so we have a continued bottle neck in the human capital development line. We may also have a lower Higher Ed to Industry knowledge transference rate for scientific discoveries as well as applied skills.). 

My general suggestion beyond improving investment, international influence, supply chains, etc. is that we should maximize our recent investments in infrastructure, with innovation, technology, and human capital to increase the foundations of robust economic growth. i.e. over the horizon thinking. We also could explore rapid innovation clusters to solve root development problems i.e. space flight or military development, in a way that could also improve various product lines in multiple industries to foster broader based market adaptations. ( I wonder if from a cluster perspective, A govt.-industry-community type co-creation system might function? not sure. 🤔)

So far these are seen as sort silly ideas so feel free to discard. 👎👎👎

Escanaba Fire Losses: Art Community Spaghetti Dinner Feb 2nd, 2024

These firefighters are out there protecting their community and putting themselves at risk for the safety of the rest of us. From fire to auto accidents they jump out of bed and rush to their cars no matter if its raining, blizzard, or any other weather variable. Local firefighters train all the time and they do it with little to no pay (I think we should pay our pubic servants more and help them recruit young talent.). 

License Free

Unfortunately with heavy heart and sadness there was one life lost, found in the rubble (prayers). I don't believe the name of the victim has been released. 😢🙏. The population is small so someone always knows someone who knows someone so we are interconnected. A loss of one is felt in many ways by all the community members. Research on Interconnected and Civic Duty We care about each other and help out where we can. We hope others feel the same about their communities as well. 

In addition, there was substantial damage to the local community art scene with a significant number of pieces being destroyed by smoke. Reflection on this event can help us think about ways in which we can reinvent the art community and improve local enrichment in a revenue generating way. Perhaps there are some grants out there we can look at to enhance local creative activities and find ways to sustain that funding (classes, auctions, education, marketing oriented paintings, store signs, local historic pieces, etc.)

One might even consider art tourism and themed art activities to widen the exposure of local artists (This is also why we need strong local marketing plan that reaches a broader market. Social media makes that more possible and at a much cheaper price point when compared to the past.) Perhaps someone can put on a charity firefighter art themed auction to help victims of fires and other natural disaster events such as a local benevolent fund. You may also consider other fundraising that supports local firefighters and/or safety training for the community. 

One might even take artwork donations from outside the area to auction online to broaden awareness of the event. I'm sure there are other venues but you can create an auction on eBay. Hosting live and allowing people to email/call in their bid might work as well. It would likely raise awareness of art, the victim and firefighting. If your going to do something, do those things really blend the benefits of engaging in art as well as helping important causes. 

For now they are busy building back the art gallery. Feel free to support them as I'm sure they would be appreciative.💗 Feb 2nd East Ludington Spaghetti Dinner

Spaghetti Dinner for East Ludington G…

When	Fri Feb 2, 2024 1pm – 4pm (PST)
Where	Bonifas Arts Center
Who	Bonifas Arts Center*

Elitism vs. Middle Class: Higher Education and National Human Capital Development

Life is not always easy and people start at different places with inequitable resources. The rich and the average live in fundamentally different worlds. The next generation won't be as rich as their parents and they are unlikely to afford as many luxuries or opportunities. They are a generation without trust funds who must rely on their own wits and grit to create opportunities for themselves. A debate rages in higher education between elitism and improving access to education for the average person so as to further the nation's interests. Criticisms of elitist oriented policies that fall short in improving the lives of the average citizen have arisen in recent times. Some feel the status short changes the middle class ability to innovate their environment for the health of the whole country. Decisions of the past impact the present in a way that may have forced Millennials and Gen Z to lower their expectations of the American Dream. Millennials American Dream and Gen Z American Dream.

Elitism Lowers Trust in Schools: The general population has begun to embrace a level of distrust of higher education as an institution. Elitism has made it difficult for students to get in school because of miscued entrance restrictions that disparately impact students who come from middle class and blue collar backgrounds who are unlikely to obtain due to the nature of middle class existence. Such students and their achievements are often dismissed by elitist advocating professors (Elitism Definition). Average students did not go to private high schools, afford all the extracurricular activities, are not indoctrinated into academic language, are unaccustomed to test taking strategies, and don't have as many resources as the wealthy. Middle class, blue collar and minority students more often then not have to work full time while attending college and raising families to continue along their educational journey. When they are restricted unnecessarily it costs trust in the entire institution and its alignment to the purpose of bettering lives and opportunities for a broader sector of society. American Crisis of Faith in Higher Ed Leaders.

Two Schools as a Hypothetical:

We will call the University of Wealthy Elite (restricted) and the other the University of Middle Class Average (open). 

The School of Wealthy Elite serves a smaller group of stakeholders and struggles financially to maintain the preeminence of the past. They selectively focus on students with elite academic credentials and financial resources that are most likely to thrive in an elite academic environment. Higher cost to students and higher prestige that comes with that cost. Declining enrollment and rising expenses on an unsustainable path (A problem faced by many universities but not corrected). May have used Affirmative Action to encourage diversity because entrance requirements seemed to block out underserved populations (Some argue by design). Faculty are relatively homogeneous and teach to a relatively homogeneous student body. Faculty are hired primarily from prestigious schools and are generally considered academic scholars. An academic scholar is a person trained as an academic and works in academia as an expert in a field of study but less likely to have worked in industry (Some have and some haven't but less likely.). More theoretical and less applied (Pure theory is beneficial as well but can be slow sometimes in sharing that knowledge with industry. Something that concerns economists.) Student learning within the University of Wealthy Elite is not compared or assessed as a benchmark in relation to students at other universities (Objective measurements are often absent where subjective values abound.).

The School of Middle Class Average are more open and seek to minimize entrance restrictions in order to maximize access to higher education from a broader set of society. Growing enrollment and financially stable in a way they can perpetuate their mission into the future. No need for Affirmative Action as applicants are already diverse and perform well based on multiple internal and external assessments of learning. Diverse faculty that seeks to reflect a highly diverse student body (that also reflects the diversity of America). Faculty come from less prestigious schools but may have more practitioner-scholar applied knowledge of how things work in real working world. A practitioner-scholar is a person who earned academic credentials while employed in industry. Practitioner-scholars can balance the practical with the theoretical. i.e. applied theory. Practitioner-Scholar Definition. Student learning assessments are significantly higher when compared to the same assessments at other schools; even those that cater to the elite.

The Purpose of Higher Education:

The School of Wealthy Elite University look negatively upon the University of Middle Class Average. They view faculty from the University of Middle Class Average as less qualified because many did not go to the same prestigious schools (some did) and had to work like their students while reaching their educational goals (i.e. empathy over the sacrifices made willingly by students to better themselves under non-ideal circumstances.), the students are seen as of lower academic value because they couldn't buy the credentials required for elite education with its inequitable societal resource demands. Exceptional performance by middle class students are intentionally minimized to support the perceived value of elite branding. They use disconfirming terminology like low, low value, bottom of barrel, costly, poor quality, waste, unemployable, etc. when discussing the common person's school, its professors, and its diverse student body. None are based in fact but more reflection of the distortion of some members in Higher Education. Support for abandoning  and dismantling pathways to inclusive educational access is relatively high among the elite faculty who make their opinions known as self-qualifying entitled representatives of the Higher Education Institution (i.e. assumptions of value). 

Depending on one's demographic and their background there could be a debate on the purpose of higher education and whom it ultimately serves. Some feel higher education should be restricted to the wealthy elite and some feel it should be more open to middle class, blue collar and a diverse America. Where you sit on that spectrum of elite to average is defining for how one sees oneself. If you feel that students of Middle Class Average should be the primary beneficiary of higher education you are likely to think a little different when compared to those who feel that higher education should be restricted to those with elite wealthy backgrounds (Attribution Theory). 

You may be be interested in reading a Pew Center Poll on Partisan Views of Higher Education and Gen Z Views of Higher Ed.

Human Capital Development, Education and National Innovation:

The world needs education to raise the plight of many as well as maintain the engines of an economy. There is a growing need to help the masses connect to higher education in a technology driven environment. Based on history of access to education the University of Middle Class Average would likely be more open and appealing to a national and global population that seeks updated skills. It is more diverse and offers practical applied knowledge that can be used anywhere by average people doing the work on a daily basis. Consider World Bank Importance of Higher Education.

When we foster technology and human capital we improve the fundamentals for growth of advanced nations. Access to higher education and applied practitioner-scholar knowledge can increase Higher Ed to industry innovation transference as well as improve access to human capital. Societies need fresh talent with new ideas that can be applied practically to their industries to make positive economic adaptations. See Education, Human Capital, Economic Growth Macro Study 

Human capital comes from education, health and innovation/technology according to the study Developing Human Capital to Support U.S. Innovation Capacity. Restricting access to education as well as the practical application of such knowledge transference to industry limits the whole nation and doesn't maximize the value of higher education to society. Using middle class ingenuity to support  broad based innovation is often better fostered through practitioner-scholar faculty that can think both theoretically and practically when compared to their theorist cousins alone.

The goal should be to improve innovative transference between scholars with practical knowledge and the industries that employ people with that knowledge (i.e. the working student). Bridge Between Academia and Industry. While both the University of Wealthy Elite and the University of Middle Class Average can contribute to national innovation and economic development it is often the benefit to the individual that can make the biggest difference to the systems of society. On this front, it is the graduates from the University of Middle Class Average that are more likely to make the broadest contributions to society through their deeper understanding of the environment and world in which they must compete (Management Innovation). 

Innovation often comes from students who engage in the process of first innovating themselves to master the unfair lessons learned by those who build barriers in our society. Our nation needs actual performance to be globally competitive and would be wise to forego the subjective nature of elite perception when judging students from the middle and working classes. Unfair, unjust, and irrelevant to the long term success of everyone. (Perhaps the students can teach the faculty how to reinvent themselves.)

Perhaps we need to innovate The University of Wealthy Elite to ensure it is maximizing its contributions to society and can do so in a financially stable manner? Unless we have an alternative understanding of the purpose of higher education I suspect it should work on the behalf of its ultimate stakeholders, "The People" (Some call them "The Little People". You know, the one's who earned their spot.). I don't know what your values are but when wealthy elitist professors bash middle class students just to protect their pompous perceptions not based in performance, I think that is a detriment to our society. It also shows what values those who receive an unfair proportion of our nations resource's think about the rest of us (We are ultimately the people who pay to maintain perceptions of elitism and restrictions of education to block those who can best put it to good use. I believe in giving people an opportunity and watching them flourish. Without a more enlightened view of our fellow Americans we will continue to pay financially and pay morally.).

Infrastructure + Human Capital (merit based fairness) + Policies Designed to Increase Innovation could = Economic Synergy.

Pacific Beach in the Afternoon: Health of Beaches

Still working on building a descent gallery of art, pictures and stuff. Its a passive fun project. You may enjoy the picture of Pacific Beach below. The EPA has information on the Health of Beaches. Compared to many other places I think they do a pretty good job on cleaning up and protecting against run off. There is some pollution that comes from Mexico, from what have read, and that is a problem for both their and our beaches. A worthwhile project for the young and environmentally conscious. Its our environment and we only get one!

You can find Pacific Beach 24 in the Wooded Pathway Gallery