The Kitchen Sink: LIMITING THE AMERICAN DREAM

The argument that people only work for rewards is a popular one with several of my friends, two of whom are millionaires. They explain to me that, if you take away the rewards (by which they mean monetary rewards), people won't work. Wealthy, middle income, or poor, they define and limit the American Dream to capitalistic ideals and that limited edition has become the political religion of our times. But I think that belief in capitalism as the one and only motivator and guide says more about those particular friends and folks like them than about the human spirit in general and actually short-changes their own humanity.

These friends have bought the simplistic myth of capitalism as a raison d'etre - I work, therefore I am. This misunderstanding or simplistic focus leads many of them to labor long and arduously at jobs they don't enjoy, and more of them fail than succeed. Hence the1%, the10%, and the 89% we see today.

By defining the American Dream as a narrow, a-moral economic system, they are liable to miss out on the true riches of the broader American Dream and the lifestyle it offers.  A good many of us define the American Dream more broadly and deeply as the freedom to be yourself and exercise your gifts for the good of yourself and your community - which includes the planet on which that community rests and by which it is supported.

The Kitchen Sink: CONSUMERISM

From my friend N.J.R.

Regarding the way things work......

Once upon a time there was a SAINTED but unsung hero who invented the shower.  Boy, it didn't take long for that one to catch on!  Soon, everybody was taking a shower, and our world was much improved.  Then, another guy came along who modified the shower head to make the spray adjustable......... Hmmmmmm....that really was an improvement and everybody got the new shower head.
 
Along comes another guy who gets the idea to sex the whole thing up by inventing a pulsing shower head.  Then, this whole thing evolved into the hot tub by putting the pulsing shower heads under water into an enlarged bath tub. Wow, that was popular too...and muy sexy. Then the conservationists got on board and the "water-saver" nozzles were invented, and that was better yet.


Well, THAT is how capitalism works....... and that is what has made America such a hugely productive economic engine.  THEN...

The Kitchen Sink: THE MOST POWERFUL AMERICAN POET

What do you think is the most powerful, most influential poem ever written in this country? Which one has changed our American culture, our economy, our relationships, influences our state of mind and behavior whether we know it, like it, or not, and continues to impact our children's lives more than we may want to acknowledge?

About Me: MY ANGELS

My grandmother was a devout Episcopalian who said Morning Prayer out of the Book of Common Prayer every morning since way before I knew her. We often had long philosophical and religious discussions as we walked the beach when I was a teenager. She would wonder aloud how I could have so many questions when, as far as she was concerned, her Book of Common Prayer and the Bible took care of all the deep matters that I was so curious about. I think it was a bit of a generation gap as well as different personalities.

Once, when she came to visit my home in later years, she offered to dry the dinner dishes I was washing. “Oh, no thank you,” I responded. “God dries my dishes.”

“Oh my!” she said. “Don’t you think God has more important things to do than dry your dishes?!”

The Kitchen Sink: CHRISTMAS 2011 - THE BIRTH OF A NEW TRADITION

As Christmas commercialism bears down upon us, popping up from behind the displays of leftover Hallowe’en candy, this item is making the rounds on email. A friend sent it to me and didn’t know who wrote it. I found it again by Google Search at Post A Day 2011/ Wordpress Challenge.  Kudo’s to whomever wrote it and thanks for the sanity. I share it here as a thoughtful way to make Christmas giving in 2011 a more personal, relevant and American experience.  Just don’t forget: Thanks-giving comes first. Enjoy:

Christmas 2011 - The Birth of a New Tradition

NOTE: NO OFFENSE: you can Insert your Country for the same gift giving New 2011 Traditional Ideas

As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods — merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor. This year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands. Yes there is!

The Kitchen Sink: A RICH FINANCIAL DIET, Part I

I am a retired social worker who loves to travel. Two thirds of the IRA that I funded at $600/month while working was wiped out by Wall Street back in 2000 something. I now live on Social Security, a small pension and the annuitization of what was left of my IRA. Fifteen percent (15%) of my modest monthly income goes for health care. I am better off than many of my fellow sliders on the slippery end of the well-under-$50K slope because I spend every dollar twice.

I love to travel and I have several tips on how to live a champagne lifestyle on a soda-pop budget. These tips require some steady income, maturity, intelligence, discipline and vigilance, but these are traits we all need to develop.

The Kitchen Sink: A RICH FINANCIAL DIET, Part II

How did you do with Part I? Those suggestions really take more thought than time, once you get to know your spending needs and put a rhythm to your finances. Now we move to my favorite part - gaming banks and airlines. Spend Every Dollar Twice.

I repeat: 19. Take advantage of credit card offers, sign-up rewards, and benefits. 

This is actually the secret that turns my soda-pop into champagne. But it takes good impulse control, planning and vigilance. As you know, the credit card industry counts on you to overuse the convenience of deferred payment that they offer in hopes that you will carry debt that earns them exorbitant interest and makes them lots of money. If you fall prey to their ploy, you can pay way more than double what your purchases cost over time. I get a kick out of exploiting the banks' and airlines' eagerness to have my business.  And they thank me for it.