Living the Milgram Experiment

The "Milgram experiment" (look it up, it’s interesting) was a series of tests done at Yale University to see how willing people are to Obey someone in authority.  In the tests, a man (who was actually an actor) was put in a booth, and the unknowing test subject was set up as a questioner.  The test subject would ask questions of the person in the booth and if the person in the booth got the questions wrong they would get shocked, with each wrong answer causing the shock to be worse than the last one.  Next to the questioner would be the authority figure.  As the test was conducted the questioner, at the urging of the person playing the authority figure would continue shocking the person in the booth even when the person in the booth begged for the test to be over due to the pain of the shocks they were receiving (the shocks were of course fake as the person in the booth is an actor, but the test subject has no knowledge of this).  At some point the actor would stop responding to indicate they were passed out, at which time the authority figure would urge more shocks because of the failure to respond to the questioning.  Our test subjects continued to shock the passed out person and then the person in the booth (our actor) let out a dramatic scream to indicate the test subject had shocked them to death.  

Surprisingly the test results show that we human beings have a tendency to listen to authority figures.  Of the 40 subjects, 26 administered the lethal dose, but all subjects in the course of the experiment at some point questioned the experiment and apparently exhibited emotional distress.  Milgram would repeat the experiment with some colleges around the world with similar results (he and his colleges even tried it in groups of people).  Basically the reason why the Germans obeyed the NAZI's is because of this psychological flaw that we have.  Now the question is, are we being told what to believe even by people who want the best for us?

I say yes.  President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and those in power have the same authority and position that many of the world’s greatest heroes and villains had.  When Obama says Republicans are bad, how many think long enough to question him?  When Trump says to ban Muslims for a time, how many cheer?  We allowed concentration camps to exist in America during WWI and WWII for those people we perceived as our enemies (German, Italian, and Japanese concentration camps to name a few).  And do you know who gave the order for those to exist, President Woodrow Wilson, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  People in authority ordered us to do things even though at the most basic level we knew it was wrong.  President Bush and our Republican and Democrat lawmakers ordered the spying on American citizens via the Patriot act.  And we blindly follow these authority figures by justifying our actions by citing things like safety, comfort and at times even greed.

Final Thought:  We have a problem.  Maybe we listen too much to authority.  On top of this, we give radicals like Trump and Hillary our tacit consent to seize property, ban our freedoms and harm individual groups simply because it is convenient.  I think we rely on them so much that we think they are indispensable.  Truth is the old boss is the same as the new boss and is the same as every other boss.  They are expendable and our politicians don't even realize that is what they were designed to be with respect to being public servants.  It is time we questioned everything and stop listening to people who tell us to throw away our morals and our ethics.

Religious/Ethics in the Workplace

Taken from an Economist Article subtitled "Cross the Boss" it looks at how displaying religious values and ethics in the workplace affects how you are treated there.  Here are the conclusions of what that study revealed as conducted by Ms. Sreedhari Desai of the University of North Carolina.

Bosses ask employees to do unscrupulous things.  Nine percent of American employees said that managers pressured them to do things that violated their beliefs (Ethics and Compliance initiative).  However, this was not the case of those employees displaying religious symbols on their desk/person, or having a virtuous quote in their emails.  In these cases the study showed that the boss was less likely to ask them to act unethically.  Even simple displays of religious symbols in the workplace impacted the managers want or desire to ask employees to do unethical things, but when symbol actually belonged to the employee, then the boss was even less likely to ask that particular individual.  Basically, if you do not want your moral compass violated by a boss, then display you faith proudly.  Both Americans and Indians (people of India for those who cannot differentiate the term from Native Americans alternative post-colonial name) were used in these studies.

Interestingly bosses who were religious were more likely to discriminate in favor of those who openly share their faith via symbols as opposed to people who displayed nothing.  As such, people who hide their faith or have none were at a disadvantage to the openly religious people in this situation.

In contrast white collar people in India did not give preference or discriminate as much compared to their American counterparts with respect to if they shared the same religion.  Instead Muslims in India were more likely to respect people displaying their Christian or Hindi symbols.  Thus this demonstrates to me that it is partly culture and religious values that impact how people are treated in the workplace.

Final Thought:  Interesting isn't it.  People will be less likely (at least in the U.S.) to pressure you to do unethical things simply by displaying your faith visually and shield you from work place pressures.  Food for thought.

Respect those older than yourself

People older than us have experience and wisdom that only we younger people can only hope to have.  I used to think differently when I was younger, but then I noticed changes in myself from year to year and began to understand.  I understood that people older than yourself should be respected because they are more knowledgeable due to life experience.  Now why is this important?

This is important because of the knowledge we can obtain from them.  Sure, they may have some facts wrong or they perceive things differently but their opinions and knowledge hold value which can be used by those younger than them.  Basically, I talked even more with the seniors in my family and took in their stories and their experiences and learned from them whatever I could.  Actually it is part of why I know even half of what I know today.  Some cultures and groups recognize this such as people of Spanish, Japanese and Chinese decent.  When they walk into a room, they will go to great the person who is the oldest in the room first and then make their way down based on age.  It is a way of paying homage to the life of those older than.  Some people even take this a step further by worshiping their ancestors in a form of ancestor worship.  They have shrines to their dead family members and pray to them for help and guidance.  

Now what if the whole world did this.  What if we remembered the people in our family for the deeds they did and the knowledge they passed on and wrote it down.  It would resemble a Bible, save for the fact that it was written based on the knowledge and life experiences of our current and past members of our family.  No, it would not be just the good deeds, but the bad deeds as well so that we remember them so they are not repeated.  A shrine to our own ancestors works too to show respect to the people who guided us in life.

Final thought:  This can lay the foundation for a more respectful and peaceful society.  No one wants to be remembered for being stupid, or even being evil.  They would rather be respected by those around them.  As such, showing respect to those older than you (obviously as long as that respect is not abused) can lead society down a more enlightened path.  We can all become Confucius, Buddha and more.  Rather than creating a faith, we can turn men and women into idols even after death in a more pronounced way where our ancestors are worshiped and mimicked like they were deities.  Will they ever replace Jesus?  Heck no, at least not in my book, but for those who don't have faith and those who need that extra motivation to be morally and ethically better, it could do wonders.

Happy July 4th

America is another year older and still one of the most successful Republics in the world.

So on this Fourth of July I would like to say thank you.

Thank you to the Founding Fathers and their families for their sacrifices.

Thank you to our Soldiers that gave the ultimate sacrifice both during the Revolution and to the Present.

Additionally, I want to thank all the inventors, entrepreneurs, businessmen, and all the dreamers that built this nation.

Thank you all for the country I grew up in and for its limitless future.

Happy 4th of July and God Bless. 

School administrations: Outmoded!?

Have you noticed that money we pay in taxes to public schools seems to not go anywhere near the teachers or the students?  It makes me question what we are paying taxes for in the first place.  We got these Superintendents in some places making in excess of $300,000 dollars a year.  I mean come on.  If you see the documentaries "Waiting for Superman" and "The Cartel" you can see why I am questioning the very existence of school administrations in the internet age.  So what would a modern school using internet technology for governance look like?

Ok, here is the hypothetical 21st school governance model.  Schools will be run by their principals and vice principals.  They are supported by secretaries who handle accounting, budgeting, human resources, and procurement.  Accounting, budgeting and procurement secretaries will work together to insure that all school supplies are stocked and maintained with money being given to teachers if necessary so that they can secure the supplies they need for their classrooms.  Human resources will handle monitoring of sick days, logging clock ins/outs, and provide for the hiring of all school personnel including teachers, and payment of janitors for jobs students cannot handle (students will clean their own classrooms so that they have a vested interest in a clean learning environment).  Students will even serve each other lunch in shifts so as to not interfere with classes with them cooking for fellow students (for children of younger ages or those who need monitoring lunch personnel will be hired by the school and paid by them just like with janitors).  Teachers will act as career/guidance counselors to students and be the primary source of discipline over students, with principals/vice principals taking over if the child is beyond the teacher's ability.  The school basically runs itself with these key members in each school (some positions being combined if it makes more economic sense and does not interfere with children's education).  

However, you may be asking, "what about our tax dollars?"  "Where and how is that monitored?"  Simple, County level government officials will collect taxes on behalf of the schools and give them the money, but the county government will have complete oversight over how that money is spent, and all school spending will be public knowledge in addition to all school personnel's salaries.  Additionally, the county government will also perform the background checks on school personnel and has the ability to veto the hiring or firing of any school official.  Not to mention, the teachers’ salaries, and the school principals vice principals and secretaries salaries will be handled by the county government, not the school itself.  The schools themselves will be able to hire out contractors to fix school buildings and equipment that is beyond that of janitors or students themselves, but the county has the right to interfere if they suspect that the school is not getting a fair deal.  Also, any leftover tax dollars that the school does not spend in a given year can go into extracurricular activities for students, additional special classes like shop class, or photography, or even special field trips.

Now, school education standards and classes will be created on a case by case basis.  The schools personnel, its principal/vice principal and secretaries, the country government and the State government will develop these standards.  At no time will teachers ever be told how to teach, but instead on what to teach. As such, what classes provided to students will be dictated by the State government, county governments will be responsible for funding these classes and adding additional subjects/classes they feel students will need to know and the equipment needed to teach them. The schools and their personnel will decide how those classes are to be taught, as the teachers who will teach the subject will be the ones developing the curriculum themselves (this includes tests and quizzes).

Conclusion:  The idea is to give the schools the autonomy they need to succeed on their own.  They only really need the teachers, the secretaries overseeing specific aspects of the school, and the principal and vice principal guiding them and ensuring everything runs smoothly.  Basically, the administration is integrated into the schools themselves by allowing them to essentially run themselves, but with appropriate over watch from county level governments.  I don't know if I am forgetting anything, but if I am, those roles can easily be taken on by the schools themselves, the county government, or even the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) if the school needs/wants to do fund raisers or provide for special events.  Schools can even gain additional revenue from showing movies in their auditoriums and other special events like school plays with students taking on roles like ticket taker and other jobs so that they can get a taste of working experience.  I am sick of these school superintendents and the school boards being nothing but paper tigers and wastes of space and money.  It is time for a change, and the aforementioned is one possibility.

Selling Debt

Did you know that banks and other institutions actually sell peoples debt?  Some of you are thinking, what the heck is this guy talking about.  Well apparently banks group bad loans together with some good ones and then sell them off to other business or people to collect the money instead.  In short, banks do not want to deal with people they know will probably never pay back their loan and then sell the debt to someone else to recoup some of their losses.  

The people who buy the debt do not buy it at its full amount, as some people can buy someone’s debt for as little as $50.  I guess the debt that banks sell are ones they made most of their money back on and the sale of that debt makes up for the remaining loss.  However, the person who owes money still owes the full amount they have to pay, but this time to the new owner of their debt.  So you get a loan from Bank of America, then they sell it to Citibank.  You now owe the full amount of what you were loaned to Citibank and not bank of America.  An issue arises where you could be still sending checks to your debts original owner, which they will gladly take, but it will still not pay down your loan as you now legally owe it to someone else.  As such people have inadvertently become delinquent on debt payments ruining their credit scores and preventing them from taking out new loans or lines of credit (I think the term Zombie loan is used to describe this situation).  The icing on the cake is that many States do not require a license for people to buy a person’s debt and thus becoming the equivalent of a loan shark.  

What can be done?  John Oliver of "Last Week Tonight" actually bought a bunch of people’s debt and forgave it.  As such, you could even potentially buy a person’s debt and then say they no longer owe anything anymore.  Another is a business that negotiates with the current debts owner and the debtor.  In this case the business agrees to buy the debt from the current owner.  From there the business now owns the debt, but rather than collecting, they charge a fee to the debtor equal to what they paid to buy the debtors debt plus an additional amount of money so that they can make a profit.

Other problems with this system are that people are not always properly notified of the transfer of ownership of their debt.  As such, the people who buy the debt typically notify their new debtors, but the original owner sometimes doesn't do so.  Therefor people discard the notification as spam mail or fraud.  You can figure out what problems occur from there.  But this can be solved if the original owner of the debt (the seller) notifies the debtor of their debts new owner.  This could help to alleviate some of the confusion people have when paying back their loans.

Final Thought:  So we got a business model and a charity model to forgive peoples debt.  We can help people in debt in a way that many probably did not think possible before.  It is amazing how selling debt, something that helped contribute to the financial crisis that ushered in President Obama can now be used to help end debt crisis for millions of individuals and businesses suffering from punishing debt.

Brexit repercussions.

Now to the impact of Britons exit from the EU.  Obviously if you watched the news then you saw that the stock market tanked.  So our 401k's, stocks and anything that relies on the stock market lost a lot of money.  So oops, British citizens just screwed a lot of people.  

With the British pound no longer supporting the Euro, Americas money just gained value.  In short, Americas Dollar can buy nearly any foreign goods on the cheap.  However, this makes American produced goods more expensive as they now will need more American money to produce.  As you can see the value of money is not fixed and can causes prices to fluctuate massively and alter the dynamics of international trade.  Something a single vote just made happen.  

Another major impact is that President Obama has stated in his reactionary speech that he will put preference on trading with the rest of the EU and its larger economic block and its trade rules rather than trade with Britain.  Economically it makes sense as the EU and its trade rules give America and other countries access to trade with 26 nations rather than Britain which is a smaller market.  

Additionally, Scotland and Northern Ireland are going to be holding their own referendums to become independent from the rest of Britain.  With more than 60% of Scotland voting to stay in the European Union it seems likely that Scotland will leave Britain behind and then rejoin the EU as an independent country.  Northern Ireland on the other hand may reunite with the rest of Ireland and thus be part of the EU once again as well or join as an independent State as well.  This leaves England and Whales as the only remaining members of Britain save a few foreign territories.  

And finally, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of Great Britain has resigned.  He pinned his leadership on the outcome of this election and he lost.  Now Great Britain, or what soon will remain of it, will get a new leader and thus world relationships will change as the men and women set to potentially take power in Britain are much more conservative and nationalistic.  It would not be surprising if Britain turns toward Russia, another country embracing its nationalism, as it seems the rest of the world is marginalizing Britain in the wake of this vote (my opinion).

Final Thought:  This is going to be interesting.  If Britain can eject themselves from the EU, then so can others.  But, at the same time it means there is a power vacuum in Europe and other nations may try to seize some power.  Also, other countries in Europe have issues with national identity which may cause countries like Belgium and Spain to break up into smaller countries as they embrace regional nationalism.  Some analysts believe that this nationalistic fervor is a reaction to Islamic nationalism.  But I disagree.  I think it is deeply rooted in age old identities that have been smoldering for years.  As to whether this leads to the EU's collapse or not cannot be determined, or it could instead lead to it solidifying instead and making it that much stronger.