The Good Bye State

Government Regulations: Do not pass go, do not go to work!  
But Do collect your $200.

I grew up south of the Mason Dixon line and for years, behind closed doors we were taught History and that History usually had a local panache to it, like when we discussed when the King Will Return which was basically a coded euphemism for the South will Rise Again (I’ll fill you in on this one soon, and don’t worry there is a bunny hopping around here somewhere).  So while I thought I was well versed in the grand scheme of things (we still await his return) I found that I was a bit lacking in the local particulars.  For example, by some stroke of luck, which can only be interpreted as the gods playing an evil joke on the unsuspecting, I ended up in the Western Provinces of New Jersey and didn’t have a clue it was the first peach capital of the states (oh Georgia, don’t listen), before the blight set in.  Now, I’m pretty sure that the historic reference to the peach blight had more to do with a natural pest than a bureaucratic miasma, but I’ll have to check on that one.

This of course leads one to a history of New Jersey, from a contemporary point of view.  When I was very, very young my family would, twice a year, travel from Virginia to Long Island and, no matter how many times my father looked at the map, or no matter how many times he turned it around and looked at it from a different direction (he worked for the Federal Government), we had to travel through New Jersey and…, hold our noses.  Back then all of those very, very rich oil magnates had sent their dirty laundry to hang in spots that bordered interstate 95 just north of Perth Amboy and just south of, well of Canada, while they stayed home (read; up wind) in Manhattan, or even farther up wind like in Newport or Martha’s Vineyard (one of those island states).  It was my first exposure to the ‘garden state’ so I could only wonder what it would smell like if we ever passed during harvest season instead of the fertilizing period.  Many years later I would travel around this wonderful country of ours (more stories coming on this topic) and invariably I would run into transplants, from New Jersey.  The first ten or twelve times I ran into a displaced Jerseyian it didn’t really raise any flags, but now that I’ve been sitting here in the garden of all political tax brackets I am beginning to see the problem.  Most people cannot afford to live here once they have moved beyond those prime income years.  It is kind of like living in an amusement park.  After a while you cannot afford the popcorn anymore.

Don’t worry I am not digressing, yet.  Right now the countries attention is focusing on the run away Democrats in Wisconsin (or is that Demon-crats).  Just like that we get a birds eye view of the great American system in action.  The voters turned out, the voters picked what the VOTERS wanted and then what happens?  The Democrats run away like a bunch of spoiled children who won’t take their medicine.  AND THEY GET PAID FOR IT.  Sorry, I got emotional.  We’re in a recession, I have no work and I see how those in the government (is it still called a government in Wisconsin?) go on leave, with pay.   Now, I live in New Jersey near the home of the commissary general of George Washington.  That commissary general was Colonel Charles Stewart and his home can also be called Union Farm or Landsdown. 

There is another historic landmark nearby known as the Solitude house.  This house served as the homestead of five generations of the Taylor Iron and Steel Company president.  The iron works was one of the largest munitions factories during colonial days.  I had no idea, but when I do walk the dog up on the Columbia trail we pass the original damn which channeled (still does) the water for the original mill.  The house was so well known that John Penn, the last Royal Governor of Pennsylvania, as well as his Attorney General, Benjamin Chew, vacationed there, as prisoners of George Washington's Board of War under the watchful eye of patriot Robert Taylor (who also happened to be the president of the iron works at the time).  That lucky industrialist had access to business, pleasure and politics without having to leave the house. 

Now stick with me, there is a correlation coming and it runs something like this:  In the old days, to keep the governor from voting you put him under house arrest and sent him to the next state so he wouldn’t raise any rabble.  In the new age, to keep the governor from voting, the legislature packs their bags and travels to…, the next state.  Of course they still continue to raise that forsaken rabble stuff.

Now, don’t get me wrong, it is nice that the government buildings in Madison are now being used for flash mob parties by those a little two bored with the winter chill, but after a while one has to wonder what all this activity will do to the heating bill.  And who will pay for it, after all, those that work there are on holiday.

Saverio Monachino's writing style has been termed by some as 'Kurt Vonnegut meets Mark Twain'.  Saverio describes it as 'comic fiction noir'. Regardless of the terms used, he is attempting is to use humor to open the door to serious discussion.  You can find Saverio Monachino on www.comicfictionnoir.com.

Want something serious, follow Saverio on http://mytraumaticbraininjury.blogspot.com/

Back on the Meds

Doctor’s Orders

Yes, it’s true.  I’m back on the medications, and I’ve been spending a little time in anger management classes as well.  In fact once you’re in the institution, the management training comes at no extra charge.

But I got out, on one condition, well actually several conditions and the new Lindsay Lohan autographed electric anklet is one of them.  The other ‘conditions’ cover a few small problem areas I have like posting angry diatribes on the web, or sinking into remorse as I contemplate philosophical issues relating to spending money.  Not that these things are illegal, they just aren’t healthy for a person with my, delicate, condition.  So now I’ve sworn off ridiculing the overpriced field of higher education as it seems to have fallen into the televangelist realm of realism and….ohhhh!  That hurt.  The orderly with the electric switch has now sent the anklet into kill mode. 

I may have forgotten to mention, one of the conditions of release includes a stay at home orderly with a very big remote control switch that he uses to keep my electric current flowing when needed, or when not needed, his opinion.  So, I will no longer write about college education or the problem we have as a lemming society who buys what we are told to buy and…, ohhhh!!!!  It was the orderly again.  And the insurance company doesn’t cover this expense, can you believe it.  OHHHH!!!  Wow, I guess he enjoys his work, he’s smiling.

Okay, let me start over.  Today I will write about traveling, might as well, the orderly and I are now going to take the dog for a walk.  I like this, I have the dog on a leash, she has the leash in her mouth and so drags me where she wants to go, and the orderly follows behind with switch in hand, making sure, metaphorically, I go where he wants too.  Now I don’t know if the smile he is wearing means he is happy with my progress or he is about to… OHHHH!

I am a good, good boy.  I will not write about people with more money, power or influence than I have.  Lesson learned.  Now I will write about walking the dog in the neighborhood and communing with nature, even if the people driving by have thrown trash out their.. .  Ohhh that smarts.  And I like looking at all of the new cars as they drive by, and I wave and wish that I too could buy a new car, if I pass rehabilitation 101 (the orderly). 

The dog likes having company on our stroll and she has learned how to get the orderly to pull the switch whenever she is ready for another biscuit.  It was kind of like Pavlov in reverse.   She wants, he sends the electric current, I pull a dog biscuit out of my pocket.  It only took about three tries before I realized that I was not supposed to actually eat the biscuit, just pass it along to the dog.  The only problem with the entire training session was simple, we ran out of dog cookies very fast so I got to experience the current many times before the others would believe me.  Then I had to run home as fast as I could and get some more, and it basically became a repeatable process.  I ran home and collected some goodies, I ran back to the team and upon command distributed the catch (to both dog and orderly), then I ran home and found more items to bring to the feast.  When my wife got home, and the orderly passed the electric dispensing baton to her, well, then the current did flow when she found nothing left for dinner in the house.

Saverio Monachino's writing style has been termed by some as 'Kurt Vonnegut meets Mark Twain'.  Saverio describes it as 'comic fiction noir'. Regardless of the terms used, he is attempting is to use humor to open the door to serious discussion.  You can find Saverio Monachino on www.comicfictionnoir.com.

Addicted to Materialism

Is there a Difference between Objectivism and Materialism

Every morning I ponder some the ramifications of actions based upon the Objectivism of the day.  For example, man as a rational creature has reason to guide him as an individual and thus his means of survival.  This of course is the third principle of the philosophy of Ayn Rand.  But if man is rational, and reason depends upon an individual’s choice well…, there lies the rub as it leads into principle four, ethics.  And of course this brings one to the conundrum of Man being an end to himself and not a means to the end of others.

So why is it when I go to the store I find particular items no longer in stock, or with a particular label, always priced much more than the unlabeled item next to it?  As individual as the Rand philosophy is, it cannot hide from the fact that we, as a species are part of the whole.  So if Objectivism tells us that …, rather than depict the situation as one of man living for his own sake, not sacrificing himself to others…, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life, we need to think of…, the lemmings. 

While materialism can make one happy in a short term physical embrace might arouse passion, does it also bring individuality into play?  The laws of philosophy must, at some point, bring the laws of nature into play.  We are always under the pressure of evolution.  To stay stagnant brings the species as a whole, not the individual of the day, to a standstill.  And once there, extinction is the next step.  And to help bring us to a standstill is to embrace individual happiness, and to be an end solely to oneself.  On a larger scale, groups tend to band together not knowing that it is the mixing of the gene pool which leads to selection of the positive traits needed in the evolutionary process. 

Diversity is important, as is individuality, yet when I go to a store it is easy to see how materialistic intents tend to group the species, and as the lemmings, push the group toward the cliff.  This concept is evident when moving off the tack of materialism and onto social partitioning as well, just ask all of those of ‘Noble’ bearing in Europe, who also bear the trait of hemophilia.  If Man is so individualistic why does he suffer from the inability to make a rational decision?  And this brings one to the question of Materialism.

We all must hold our breath and await the outcome of the changes in Tunisia and Egypt and all the possibilities underway in so many other non representative organizations, yet what do we see headlined in the news?  “The Price of GAS will….”

How can Man be individualistic if we, as a species, are constantly led to the trough on a leash? 

Perhaps Objectivism needs to be modified so that the different hierarchies of the species are each outlaid with a set of rules which better fit the reality of the situation.  For example, the external world exists, independent of man’s consciousness, independent of any observer’s knowledge, beliefs, feelings, desires or fears AND if you have a lot of money you can exist however you want within it.

There is definitely a big gap between the poor and the rich, but there is also a big gap between those that can think independently and those that need the group to show the way.  It is this rather large part of the species as a whole on which the small, wealthy part maintains in dominance.

If Objectivism preaches that man is living for his own sake, then who will help those in need?

Even though Saverio Monachino's writing style has been termed by some as 'Kurt Vonnegut meets Mark Twain' and Saverio describes it as 'comic fiction noir' there is no comic touch to this particular blog. But he is attempting is to open the door to serious discussion.  You can find Saverio Monachino on www.comicfictionnoir.com.

Educators came out of the closet and declared themselves…, Capitalists.

What exactly does ‘not-for-profit’ mean?

Another month goes by and alas, another check is sent to the University. 

“So what,” my neighbor who has no children says, “You have money in the bank.”

“Yes, that is true,"  I respond as my dog rolls in the snow at our fee, “I was saving it for retirement, and the vet bills.  The dog had her checkup last week and..., well it did set me back a ways.”

“Okay, I see your point but you have social security too you know”. 

“Well yes..., I do have that.”

“So, you see, you’re all set.”

And therein lies the rub.  “All set for what?

“For retirement.”

I do a quick calculation.  “Let’s see, I live in New Jersey and each month I have to pay a lot of property tax, plus I’ll never have paid off the house by the time I’m sixty five, so basically the rent will be due.  And then there is that bit with medical expenses.  How much do you think we will pay each month for that when we retire?”

“Oh, hell aren’t you on a company plan.”

“Well I might be…, if I worked,” the dog listened to this last remark and tilted her head to one side.

“Oh yeah that’s right you don’t.   So how are your medical expenses these days?”  I suppose he wanted to change the subject, and I went along with it.

“Well, not as bad as when I first got out of the hospital.”

“Good, means you’re getting better.”

"The accident was three years ago, the medical expenses are not so bad now because, well because I’m not in the hospital, and I weaned myself off the medications and stopped physical therapy."

“Off medication, and stopped therapy?"  The dog and the neighbor both looked at me with a similar, quizzical expression.
“Cannot afford either of them.”

“Don’t you have insurance?”

“My wife does, in a sense..., I think, but every time I go to the doctor, or the physical therapist I have to pay out of my pocket, and the medicine was over 300 dollars a month.  Haven’t worked in three years, I cannot afford that one.  And the insurance company, well they might chip in but I think I have to use up all of my life savings before they do.  Is this something new with the insurance coverage these days?   They wont pay any money until my life savings are gone."

“Oh, kind of like the University ′eh…,” I’m not sure if it was the dog or my neighbor who asked that as they were both now down on all fours rolling around in the snow.

And while they rolled we were back, back at square one. 

Doesn’t the government have a program or something to help pay for college?

Oh, yes they do, unfortunately for us my wife makes a smidgen more than minimum wage, so we don’t qualify.  And since the accident, and my not getting back to work, well, we subsist on her earnings, and spend our savings to make rent.  We do live in NJ and rent here is very, very bad.  And..., we are not connected to any well know, powerful figure like a Hillary or a Barack.

“If the University costs so much why don’t you ask them for help?”  Is a question everyone throws at me.

I did, in fact I begged them for help, basically down on my knees.

And

And they told me to fill out the paperwork

And

When they saw that I had saved some money they smiled…, and held out their hand.

"And so, why don’t you take your daughter out of school?" 
This is the really big question and it is also where they have you by the cajones.  They know you will send your children to college (or University, or Graduate School) and it becomes like going to the doctor.  You will pay, even if they overcharge because there is nothing else you can do.  There is no government regulation putting a limit on it, and there is no clever industrialist minded group of intellectuals who will open a qualified school, and ask for less money than they can swindle out of a family.  It takes a strong, strong politician to try to argue against these absurd pricing structures, but the only people with enough backbone to fight this encroachment into our financial liberties are all those capitalists..., who work in the University.

Oh yes, the system, via the federal government, has some money for very, very poor people.  But for those who are on the edge, who have no work, but who have at one point in their lives swore off credit card double dipping and saved some money but are now out of work, for those people there is no answer.  Oh yes, there is, I forgot, one can get a job flipping burgers at dairy queen, except I would have to stand in line behind the teenagers for a job interview, and TBI survivors have to stand at the end of the line. 

So, let us look at those Capitalists embedded in the ‘not-for-profit’ university.  How much money does each school have in its war chest, also known as the endowment fund?  Boy that money could be invested in low risk, municipal bonds, couldn't it? And that muni investment would help create jobs and work in the good ol’ USA.  But all I read is that the money is overseas, looking to capitalize, like capitalists do, on low wage employees building whatever the fashionista of the day wants, for pennies.  If they did invest locally, in tax free municpal bonds, then that tax free interest income could be used to…, pay the tuition costs of its students.  Many colleges have over 1 Billion in these endowments.  At a tax free five percent return they would bring in over 50,000,000 dollars.  This is enough money to cover the total overpriced tuition, room and board for over 10,000 students.  Not bad.

Then there is the salary thing.  For a person out of work, taking all of his accumulated money, the money NOT spent over the years on a moment by moment impulse, to pay for his children’s college education so that said children will not have a payment the size of a home mortgage when they leave those hallowed grounds, what does this out of work person think of the salary structure at these ‘public, not-for-profit’ organizations?  Before answering that..., let’s take a look at the issue.

At a public university in one of the smallest states in the union the president of the school makes over 800,000 dollars.  Not bad, if you are a capitalist wealth-at-all-costs monger working in a for-profit organization geared to make money at the expense of the common man.  Hey…, wait a minute.  This sounds just like…, and this is why there is no difference between for-profits and not-for- profits.  The item du jour, whether it be handbags or diplomas, have no guarantees.  Oh sorry, the handbags do have a money back guarantee, the diplomas don’t.

Simple solution number one, which is coming from a conservative, value conscious proletariat who is a meddling in the middle-of-the-road sort of opinionated, poor louse: Cut the damn salary in half.  Even if you just take the president’s salary of the afore mentioned university and cut it in half, say down to a meager 400,000 dollars a year without reducing all the damn benefits that go with it, like his children’s tuition for free (another 200,000 or so per child) and without stealing support from the federal government, one could reduce the service-charge (read: yearly college costs) by 25% for over 40 students.  Wow! And what if you managed to get a few of those VP salaries cut down a bit too, hell you might be able to reduce college tuition dramatically for quite a few people, non?

            The comedian Jim Gaffigan says, “Don’t worry, there is a bunny.”  But in this case, there isn’t a bunny.  There are only greedy people, tied to a greedy organization called colleges who, like those in the medical field, will bring about the slow death of any semblance of a middle class in the USA.

Saverio Monachino's writing style has been termed by some as 'Kurt Vonnegut meets Mark Twain'.  Saverio describes it as 'comic fiction noir'. Regardless of the terms used, he is attempting is to use humor to open the door to serious discussion.  You can find Saverio Monachino on www.comicfictionnoir.com.