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dfroza · 2 years

Text

Today’s reading from the ancient books of Proverbs and Psalms

for july 28 of 2022 with Proverbs 28 and Psalm 28, accompanied by Psalm 38 for the 38th day of Astronomical Summer, and Psalm 59 for day 209 of the year (now with the consummate book of 150 Psalms in its 2nd revolution this year)

[Proverbs 28]

The wicked run away even when no one is chasing them;

the right-living, however, stand their ground as boldly as lions.

Where there is rebellion in a land,

there are many petty and contending rulers;

But where there is a wise and intelligent leader,

peace and order endure.

A poor person who oppresses others who are poor

is like a driving rain that destroys the crops and leaves no food.

Those who turn their backs on God’s teaching applaud the wicked,

while those who observe His instruction oppose them at every turn.

Evil people are not able to understand justice,

but those who pursue the Eternal understand it completely.

It is better to be a pauper walking in integrity

than a dishonest man, even if he is rich.

Whoever follows God’s teaching is a wise child,

but the one who spends time with gluttons and drunks disgraces his parents.

Anyone who increases his wealth by charging a high rate of interest

is only collecting it for another who will deal more liberally with the poor.

The one who turns his ear from hearing God’s instruction

will find that even his prayers are detestable to God.

Whoever tries to deceive a good person into taking the path of evil

will fall into the pit he himself made,

but the truly honest shall be the heirs of all that is good.

A rich man may be wise in his own sight,

but a perceptive pauper will see right through him.

There is much glory when just men celebrate;

but when the wicked gain power, people take cover.

Whoever tries to hide his sins will not succeed,

but the one who confesses his sins and leaves them behind will find mercy.

Happy is the one who always fears the Lord,

but the person who hardens his heart to God falls into misfortune.

Like a roaring lion or a charging bear,

so is a wicked man ruling over an impoverished people.

A leader who lacks intelligence cruelly oppresses the people,

but one who hates corruption will prosper and live a long life.

A man guilty of murder is a fugitive,

fleeing to the nearest hole in the ground but not escaping death’s cold pit.

Don’t do anything to save him.

Whoever walks in honesty will be safe,

but whoever travels the crooked path will suddenly fall.

Whoever cultivates his land will have plenty of food in the harvest,

but whoever cultivates worthless ventures will have poverty in abundance.

A reliable person will not escape blessings,

but one who wants to get rich quick will not escape trouble.

Showing favoritism is not good;

some will desert the truth for a measly crust of bread.

A greedy person is in a hurry to get rich,

but he is ignorant of the loss that is about to overtake him.

A person who offers constructive criticism will, in the end, be appreciated more

than a person who engages in empty flattery.

One who robs his father or his mother

and says, “There’s nothing wrong with that! I had it coming!”

walks in the company of murderers.

When the greedy want more, they stir up trouble;

but when a person trusts in the Eternal, he’s sure to prosper.

Anyone who puts confidence only in himself is a fool,

but the person who follows wisdom will be kept safe.

Whoever gives to the poor will have what he needs,

but the one who shuts his eyes to their plight will face curse after curse.

When the wicked have the upper hand, people go into hiding;

but when they perish, the good folk will begin to increase.

The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 28 (The Voice)

[Psalm 28]

Don’t turn a deaf ear

when I call you, God.

If all I get from you is

deafening silence,

I’d be better off

in the Black Hole.

I’m letting you know what I need,

calling out for help

And lifting my arms

toward your inner sanctuary.

Don’t shove me into

the same jail cell with those crooks,

With those who are

full-time employees of evil.

They talk a good line of “peace,”

then moonlight for the Devil.

Pay them back for what they’ve done,

for how bad they’ve been.

Pay them back for their long hours

in the Devil’s workshop;

Then cap it with a huge bonus.

Because they have no idea how God works

or what he is up to,

God will smash them to smithereens

and walk away from the ruins.

Blessed be God—

he heard me praying.

He proved he’s on my side;

I’ve thrown my lot in with him.

Now I’m jumping for joy,

and shouting and singing my thanks to him.

God is all strength for his people,

ample refuge for his chosen leader;

Save your people

and bless your heritage.

Care for them;

carry them like a good shepherd.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 28 (The Message)

[Psalm 38]

A song of David for remembering.

This is one of a group of psalms known in later tradition as the penitential psalms, namely, psalms that confess sins and express confidence in God’s mercy. In this psalm a serious illness threatens the life of the worshiper.

O Eternal One, please do not scold me in Your anger;

though Your wrath is just, do not correct me in Your fury.

The arrows from Your bow have penetrated my flesh;

Your hand has come down hard on me.

Because Your anger has infected the depths of my being and stolen my health,

my flesh is ill.

My bones are no longer sound

because of all the sins I have committed.

My guilt has covered me; it’s more than I can handle;

this burden is too heavy for me to carry.

Now sores cover me—infected and putrid sores,

because of all the foolish things I have done.

I am bent down, cowering in fear, prostrate on the ground;

I spend the day in mourning, guilty tears stinging and burning my eyes.

My back aches. I’m full of fever;

my body is no longer whole, no longer well.

I am completely numb, totally spent, hopelessly crushed.

The agitation of my heart makes me groan.

O Lord, You know all my desires;

nothing escapes You; You hear my every moan.

My heart pounds against my chest; my vigor is completely drained;

my eyes were once bright, but now the brightness is all gone.

Even my friends and loved ones turn away when they see this marked man;

those closest to me are no longer close at all.

Those who want me dead lay traps upon my path;

those who desire my downfall threaten—my end is near—

they spend their days plotting against me.

Like one who is deaf, my ears do not hear.

Like one who is mute, my tongue cannot speak.

The truth is this: I am like one who cannot hear;

I cannot even protest against them.

Still I wait expectantly for You, O Eternal One—

knowing You will answer me in some way, O Lord, my True God.

I only asked, “When I stumble on the narrow path,

don’t let them boast or celebrate my failure.”

I am prepared for what may come; my time must be short;

my pain and suffering a constant companion.

I confess, “I have sinned,”

and I regret the wrong I have done.

My enemies are alive and well,

they are powerful and on the increase,

and for no reason, they hate me.

When I do good, my opponents reward me with evil;

though I pursue what is right, they stand against me.

Eternal One, do not leave me to their mercy;

my True God, don’t be far from me when they are near.

I need Your help now—not later.

O Lord, be my Rescuer.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 38 (The Voice)

[Psalm 59]

For the worship leader. A prayer of David to the tune “Do Not Destroy,” when Saul sent assassins to David’s house.

Psalm 59 was inspired by the time there was a plan to kill David that was thwarted by David’s wife, Michal, who was Saul’s own daughter. She warned her husband, lowered him out of a window, and then deceived her father’s officers into believing David was bedridden with illness (1 Samuel 19:11–17).

Rescue me! Save me, O my God, from my enemies;

set me in a safe place, far above any who come to attack me.

Rescue me from those malicious people,

and save me from blood-thirsty murderers.

They have staked out my life; they are going to ambush me!

Those brutes are aligned, ready to attack me

For no good cause, my Eternal One.

I have not crossed them.

I’ve done nothing wrong, yet they rush ahead to start the assault.

I beg You to help me; come and see for Yourself!

I plead with You, Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, True God of Israel,

to get up and punish these people;

do not let any betrayer off the hook; show no mercy to malicious evildoers!

[pause]

Treacherous souls return to the city in the evening;

they prowl about,

howling like dogs.

Watch them! Snarling, dribbling their malicious insults.

Their words cut loose from their lips like swords,

and in their backstabbing they say, “Who’s listening anyway?”

But You, O Eternal One, laugh at them;

You make fun of all the nations.

I will watch for You, for You keep me strong.

God, You are my security!

My God is one step ahead of me with His mercy;

He will show me the victory I desire over my enemies.

Don’t wipe them out, or my people may one day forget.

Instead, use Your power to scatter and bring them to ruin.

O Lord, You are our protection.

Sin pours from their mouths, cruel words from their lips.

May they be caught in their pride.

For their foul curses and lies,

devour them with Your wrath,

eat them up, leave no one alive.

Then people will surely know that the one True God rules over Jacob,

even to the far ends of the earth.

[pause]

Treacherous souls return to the city in the evening;

they prowl about,

howling like dogs.

They search through the city, scavenging for meat

as they growl and grumble in dissatisfaction.

But me? I will sing of Your strength.

I will awake with the sun to sing of Your loving mercy

Because in my most troubled hour,

You defended me. You were my shelter.

I will lift my voice to sing Your praise, O my Strength—

for You came to my defense.

O God, You have shown me Your loving mercy.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 59 (The Voice)

0 notes

bookofmariokingofmaiami · 3 years

Text

Took about a week but here we have it

CHAPTER 2 NOTES!

Sooo, chapter 2

398 IMAGES

this is gonna take a few days

Even more because we just moved so I didn't do shit for 2 days

Oh well, here's some info

No symbols = main comment/ theory about the image

[ ] = transcription of the image into text form

( ) = Small comment

{ } = side notes

□ [n°] not important

■ [n°] important

Also, I didn't say it before but the guy of the great book of mario for some reason cuts the the video in a way that the text boxes doesn't fully load before he cuts, so some sentences will - because he cut before they could finish the sentence

Well, let's go

Also Also, I'll stack some images

SUPER BOOK OF MARIO

1□ did he just call maria his "honey"? [Merlon:why, honey? Have you succeeded a clean heart?]

2□ no I don't think the heart is part of the brain, also what's that about cleansing the world? [merlon:as clean, this is the cleansing of the world, part of your brain?]

3□ your father and what? [Merlon:wh-what!? Merlumina sir?! Well, my father and]

4□ ????? What, morton? [screaming citizen:1000-1000-MASTER-1000, MORTON! NEWS B-B-B ]

5□ take your children? What children? And to where? [Merlon: wich is?!, take your children…]

6□ it's raining girls! Hallelujah it's raining girls! [Screaming citizens:About this…..girls falling from the sky!]

7□ yeah, who in the world are you? [Merlon:what? The girl fell from the sky, but you? Who in the world?]

8□ turn off the girl! [Screaming citizen:I do not know!, just, please! Set up the lift and turn it off]

9□ little princess fishing, now that's a name [merlon:little princess fishing!? Is that a princess kidnaped by count bleck?]

10□ excuse me what? Who? [Merlon:and he shakes uncontrollably, what could be the problem]

11■? sooo saffron is the name of the chef? also why did he say Aristotle? [Merlon:Aristotle, and if once in the head saffron flipsid]

12□ so princess peach is bad and hot? [Merlon:I'm sure you know the recipe for hot and bad girls alive]

13□ uhhh what? Isn't saffron the chef? [Merlon:chef and i are sure he knows the recipe for the poor saffron….]

14□ burned soup, my favorite [saffron:I only need fire to make soup burned early]

15■ EXCUSE ME THEY SELL WHAT?!? [Saffon: Some shops sell explosives, check the shelf you want to buy]

16□ that does not sound tasty [saffron: spicy soup made of sugar!]

17□ 1 seafood, 2 SPOONFULL OF FIRE [item: you have the best seafood!; clean with a spoonful of Fire! complete complete 8 hp and deal with]

18□ get what? [Saffron: get as soon as possible]

19□ why are you disappointed? [Merlon: oh...apparently it worked]

20□ and apparently she liked the soup made of fire/explosive [peach:Mmmm… I ate the best things]

21□ enable what? [Tippi: enable…..]

22□ no you're not tippi, you're merlon [merlon:Kara, merlon. And called pixl, I'm called tippi]

23□ in what way can it be successful? [Merlon:well…. This is the most successful story about Rage and poverty]

24□ I don't know [peach: de mario…..what do you think about luigi and bowser] {why did she say to non translation names?}

25□ what do you mean they can not be identified?? [Peach:Mm. I think you're right… they can not be identified]

26□ what is happening? What language is that? [Tippi:elfosado entre masgalsn…..what do we do for us?]

27■ I think this may insinuate an attack, I have to check if Qatar is part of the persian empire or not [merlon:"Qatar will cross the other…." So it's written]

28■ so merlee or bestovio (or both) are cousins of merlon [merlon:meerlee is like bestovius, and it's like the oldest….. we are cousins who have lost a lot of time]

29□ do not hesitate to do so, it I dangerous [merlon:do not hesitate, just a break…… and... it's dangerous ]

30□ yes [peach: i can't be anywhere and everyone can be saved from the world and now I am?]

31■ 1 OH SHE WANTS TO REMOVE ATMOSPHERE (either as in modd or planetary, both are evil) , 2 who the fuck is scanner? [Peach:finally, the lack of atmosphere is my fault, mine and scanner's]

32□ NO NO NO [Narrator:PEACH ATTRACTS YOU]

33□ why can't we control maria? [Narrator:NOW YOU CAN'T CONTROL MARIO, BUT ALSO THE PEACH PRINCESS]

34□ cover the city with what? [Item:you have the best senior foundation!; cover the city]

35■ wait one sec grandpa, what does the European union not know? [Merlon:this is not a secret in this city, the EU does not know…..]

36□ TRUE TRUTH! [Merlon:it can be one of the key to searching, TRUE TRUTH!]

37□ that's one way to call the bad guy plans [merlon:now, mario, prince of peach….do everything to stop the wrong plans]

38□ consult what? [Peach:come on,mario! Go, consult]

39■ HOLY SHIT THE SHADOW QUEEN IS FUCKING BACK [narrarator:when you play as princess peach, you can use your shadow in diferent ways]

40■ okey so, the shadow queen is technically here, however, it's less it controlling peach, but peach being a greater evil and controlling the shadow [narrarator: also click on down to use your shadow to get hold of your enemy] {okey, now I want to see peach using the shadows to yeet a goomba}

41□ the guy in the video read pad as pan, sooo yeah [peach description:HIDE IN TIN PAD]

42□ press the key [Thoreau description:press the key]

43□ this is the second time someone called maria a monsters, that's fair, she did help a group of gods with their plan of killing all non believers, but she was possessed sooo yeah [sign:it's on the edge of the page, tips for the monster]

44□ rate of pain drops to 0 [sign:HELLO!, HERO, pain? Try otherwise! It's pretty easy!]

45■ THE HEART OF THE FUTURE PILLAR, now that's a cool name [sign:the heart of the future pillar → , the best way to search? CONTINUE!]

46□ compliments for the persian language [narrarator: marius, who is part ofthis guide and comments on these words, complements to the persian empire]

47□ what do you mean a long term secret? [Narrator:do not risk it, but add a long-term merlee secret]

48□ uhhhh what? [Narrator:he knows that knowledge is a small reward for poor understanding]

49□ that's one chapter name [chapter 2-1?: I smoke at merlee]

50□ tippi does not like this adventure [tippi:it was not clear before. Sooo…… however, no way]

51□ the best change the door [item: you have the best change the door; key door to glass]

52□ yes, go to merlee castle [slave:go for walk! Go to merlee castle right?]

53□ Ali? What do you mean Ali? [Slave: ALI ATRACTIVE GIRL]

54□ one second hand calls peach and the next he calls her stupid [slave: do this? It's stupid, sorry….but you must be together]

55□ yeah, times does slow down while studying [narrarator:flowers slowly! This decreases during the study]

56□ did he just boo us? [Boomer: booooooo i-faq ]

57□ do you wish to explode? [Boomer:well! I push the pulse detector! Want to explode? QUEST POW!]

58□ I won't poo you [boomer:the perforation doesn't feel good...l1500 years! FAQ-POO ME!]

59□ he may be high on Crack, and also offering it to us [boomer:you have to look closer! FAQ-CRAAACK!]

60□ wait it's Christmas? [Boomer:stay awake and ask if someone has a Santa gift.] [1:if! / 2:Totally!]

61□ what test? What are thse questions? [Boomer:for some reason, it is necessary to clean the room before performing the test] [1:Totally! / 2:uh huh]

62□ oh no, anyway [boomer:when someone says "where just friends" you think "yes, anyway"] [1: and how / 2:certainly!]

63□ yeah, me neither [boomer: I do not understand why I've created all these unique questions] [1:you are right! / 2: actually, more than true! ]

64□ these questions make no sense, and I love it [boomer:you will sleep when you are awake, but when you get sick you want up] [1:that's all! / 2:always]

65□ here, Have a good mood :) Also is the sss a name or is he a snake?[boomer:have a good mood, BLAME, SSS]

66□ you can, I DESERVE [boomer:how is the mind ready, SAP BLAPPOW!, you can….. I deserve]

67■ that's the Brazilian name of Satan, wait, ARE PIXL'S DEMON'S? [Narrator: pixl boomer called Satanas, did it]

68,69,70■■■ first triple! Anyway, boomer is called satanas, I'll call him Satan for short, and he bombed a wedding [description: click 1 to go back to the bombing and 1!. The wedding. Turn, with the head head, the enemy, or the dust]

71□ so they got a house now [narrarator:unlike the animal group, mario and his company have chosen a home]

72■ woah, fish king [narrarator: "merlee must be the city" the fish of the fish kings shouted]

73□ when mario will ever be easy[narrarator:but when will mario be easy?]

74□ YEET [narrarator: hope color, our brave heroes are thrown into merlee]

75■ what is FoB? Fist of balls? Fascist of bomb? Faction of BANANAS? [Narrator:CHAPTER 2-2, FoB training]

76□ shoot the clock [item: you have the best mix startup! ; shoot the clock that prevents roadside enemies]

77□ Marco? Who is Marco? Is it Marc? Probably not [mimi:Marco did it, mimi, man's!]

78□ does maria know how to mime? I think not [mimi: you know how to mime!]

79□ the place doesn't matter, why does it not matter? [Mimi: THE PLACE DOESN'T MATTER!]

80□ what is a fucken hemnyckel? [Item:you have the best hemnyckel; key to the house at merlee headquarters]

81■ the desert I gone? [Tippi:I don't know why the desert is gone and we don't give ideas...]

82■ wait, are you talking about mimi? If so, i don't like where this is going [tippi:I think it's very tasty...what is what?]

83□ the interpretation is different, it could be romantic as in recognizing the love, or bloody as a disembodied heart sent in the mail as a threat [narrarator: "Oh, maybe...it seems" said tippi, trying to recognize his heart]

84□ even I didn't understand [narrarator: in some couples, as a broken chandelier, out hero teaches aisles]

85■ payday in a nutshell [narrarator: chapter 2-3, go to bank]

86□ don't you nya on me [mimi:NYAAAAAAH!]

87■ that's the Brazilian word for vase, also what's is this sentence? [Mimi:vazo i love everything more than anything! Did you destroy it? NYAAAAAARG]

88■ so where in the uk? Is that the one where the money is called pounds? [Mimi:vazo is worth 1.000.000 pounds!....]

89□ not sure what that means? [Mimi:so free the money now on! Or are you ready?]

90□ only now you realized how money works [tippi:red? It seems that marius is not specific to me…...ooooh money is taken]

91□ no its not cash back [tippi:it's not like money back, right? ]

92□ mony! [Mimi:currency?! Of them, no one can not use money for farmers? Mony, don't you lose it]

93□ THATS MY BROTHER'S NAME, WHY IS MY LITTLE BROTHER'S NAME HERE? [Mimi: in this way, the generator's authority can only go away from Pedro's place]

94□ a million gums? Wasn't it pounds? [Mimi:when you pay a million gums, you come to the room after him]

95■ maria has a million rights and none of them are respected [narrarator: mario already gives a million rights! EH!]

96□ SEXUAL MUSTACHE [Mimi:first, rubee for a special loan! What can I do for you?] [1: pay rube! / 2:check my status! / 3:sexual mustache! / 4:I love you!]

97■ very dead [mimi:yes, how is God? I HAVE A JOB!]

98□ I think is the result of selecting "I love you" so yeah, that's correct [mimi:yes thats not true,you know I'm thinking about rube right?]

99□ SOUTHERN MALLET! [slave:drag 100 blocks, I'm telling you right, trust, this is the most important information] [1:southern mallet / 2: definitely not]

100□ racism [slaver: I hate black an black hat! So let's work!]

101□ who is rubin? And why did he win? [Slaver:yes, it's a room generator,shooting box, energy, rubin wins! UNH!

102□ ladies and gentlemen, welcome to rubber world [slaver:the rubber world up and down! Do you want to work here?] [1:it's really something! / 2:not at all!]

103□ why does he wants us to fart? ARE WE USING FARTS TO MAKE ENERGY? WHAT DRUGS DID MIMI TAKE TO THINK OF THAT? [Slaver: a new day a new Ruby! Intact? Red live! Intact? Jump to fart! Jump to fart!]

104□ whats a professional ethic?? [Slaver:does the day work?! WOW. It's allways bad. Professional advice: take professional ethic]

105□ what? [Slave:your mother taught you to trust visitor's, right? Yes, the parents insist more]

106□ did he give peach 5963 germs? That's a lot of disease [slave:why are they used? its a secret! Spirit! See 5963, germs, thank you latter]

107□ poor man, Cant see his girlfriend no more because slavery [slave:but I do not know merlee,and now i do not see my girlfriend anymore]

108□ once again I have no idea what that means [slave: glass can accumulate faster than the market]

109□ what is this, YouTube? [Slave:the problem is: you must have an access code to subscribe and meet members]

110□ 1 I think these are dance moves, 2 CONTROLLED CORN [Slave:check all walls,check both sides! Bye! Get down! To the left! Go to! Leave a controlled corn!]

111□ 10.000 rocks, that's certainly a price [slave:rubees are not enough,lips! Visit 10000 rocks! I agre with this price]

112□ that's a lot of traffic [slaver: traffic and traffic and traffic! I'll work, no one knows]

113□ MIMI BACON? FEET? WHAT??? [Slaver:big boss hates darker than old mimi bacon! Then take your feet]

114□ serve crazy rubees, okey? [Slaver:yes, a great break in the other room, here you serve crazy rubees! Uhm]

115■ did he try to emotionally attack maria? [Slaver: very good, sit in the dark and weep when there is a baby, what is important to me]

116□ African animal species, this chapter is very racist [slaver:want to work hard? Very good, I want to cry? Very good, I do not care about me, African animal species]

117□ I think this slaver may be drunk, or high, probably both [slaver:so I do not know what caused 1….but is it simple is it alive? Is it ready?] [1:love / 2: good0

118□ ARRESTED GERBILL [Slaver:arrested, gerbil] [1:I / 2:I]

119□ C4.0.3 [slaver:i think you have to pay, C4.0.3, draw rubees gerbil]

120□ maria is a musician I guess [narrator:you have 60 songs!]

121□ whats that word? [Slaver: uh… all stars are not nitzhilx, but they are not bad]

122□ why did you need to specify that it's not wet? [Slaver: C'4.0.3 the jerjali rubees are no wet, but not clear]

123□ I don't think Maria's is a sailor [slaver:God! You're a sailor right? I called gerbils]

124□ your this slave got some girls phone number! [Slave:think about a girls phone number or what]

125■ where is the world? It's gone [sin:looks good...and has problems….the world is gone]

126□ biggest excitement! That's certainly a word [sin: why not just the biggest excitement]

127□ more of that weird language, flowerq was it? [Sin:OBDACIVANJE HA!?!!]

128■ wait wait wait, does he have like psychic powers? Not in moving stuff but as in brain messages [sin:my head told you that you are a hero, where………..good]

129□ do what at the table? [Sin:so do it at the table! After 30 seconds, the handkerchief left]

130□ iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii [sin: I! Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiviv!]

131□ why may? [Sin:may!]

132□??? [Narrator: you can use energy to drop the thin side and avoid enemies or enemies]

133□ how can you be ugly from far away but okey up close? [Narrator:and if you're somehow, you're not bad…..up close]

134■ mario is a millionaire, hooray! [Narrator: mario has 1000000 rubles]

135□ give me what? [Mimi: I WILL GIVE YOU!!!!]

136□ when you take figuring out the lore of a game series translated by Google translate as a hobby there are gonna be a lot of moments you have absolutely no idea what it means [tippi: so this little girl who came to the curse of this house… but what is it?] {Maybe mimi is cursed? Actually that makes sense,like I don't think a non-cursed person can become a spider, so my monologue about not knowing what this means is useless? Cause now I know what it means}

137■ oh, so okey, some of these slaves are from an army, and according to this guy some army veterans died here, also now he's learning a new gerbil code, hmmmm interesting backstory of random npc [I've lost veterans, I'm studying a new gerbid code…...but it's over]

138□ yeah I don't like corks either [slave: I don't like,e this cork]

139■ wait, is the Generator powered by emotions? And a sudden change in emotion crashes the system, interesting science [door?:unexpected fear should stop the generator]

140□ good fan [door:good fan: today VIP is the last payday]

141□ hairy millions, I don't think peach has that many hairs [slave:I, behind this horrible story, tell your blonde hairy millions]

142□ kangaroo? [Slave:yes, the password is 5963. I did it as kangaroo dang did it…….]

143□ spooky numbers! Oooooooooh [slave:5963…. Spooky numbers]

144■ that's a very interesting question, if you're wasting your life, does it matter WHERE you are when you're doing so [slave:when you are wasting your life, is it important where you are? ]

145□ ah yes, this safe protected by a laser is a theater [slave:thanks, this secret…. theater distance, turn it off]

146□ this is kinda normal [narrarator: mimi's mysterious servant disappears in a strange explosion]

147□ wait, we tried to save him? [Narrator:what was your real plan and why did mario and his friends try to save him?]

148□ peach ladder, okey [narrarator:after the event, the prince saw a peach ladder, "YOU were here!" He says]

149□ why did they think merlee has a problem with us? [Narrator: "Maybe if merlee is here" our hero thought he had problems with us]

150□ incorrect, it's not in front of us, where IN it [narrarator: chapter 2-4, the basement in front of us]

151□ HELP! IM BEING COMPRESSED! [Tippi:Clean heart….I think compression is stronger]

152□ huuuu what? Is merlee married to merlee? [Merlee:merlee is beautiful, mysterious!, wife at home, here she is,you are very happy to see it]

153■ are maria and merlee roommates? [Merlee:I live with you, your arrival is better]

154■ oh no, she's dying, [merlee:I'm angry and can't survive]

155■ milk roots? IS SHE SURVIVING WITH MILK THAT COMES FROM ROOTS? FOR HOW LONG WAS SHE IN THE TOILET? [Merlee:in the basement, the milk roots are my cells, I can not stay….]

156□ huuuuuuu okey [merlee: and...but if….look….what's…..wrong….I do not…..think or…..anything….in]

157□ carry what? [Merlee: yes….I cannot…..carry it...it started…...when…...there…..where many…..an….incrediblespace…..]

158□ that's certainly a name [area name:Kav merlee]

159□ certainly that's one hell of a flirt, little bee [fake merlee:i know that soon we see each other, little bee! He will do it! ♡]

160■ 1 for who? 2 gold? Wait does she own like a gold mine? If you have slaves and gold of course there's slaves mining gold somewhere [fake merlee:for him, pure gold is a pure movement of gold, and I want to mention it]

161□ if you don't want to make a deal, give up [fake merlee:so, if you are sad, signed this line here and hieghek, free and clear] [1: signature / 2:give up]

162■ okay so, the deal they're doing seems to be a house dealership, sure, it's far from darkness, wich I think means it's outside the range of the black hole evilmabop thingy, and has a big room, seems like a good deal [fake merlee:order a loan and a boom! Free donation! Far from darkness! Enhanced mega room]

163□ why is she giving us a recipe? [Fake merlee:you work hard, breadward, corn and bacon]

164□ last argument?, rejection! [Fake merlee:and how it works; your last argument! See now] [1:signature/ 2:rejection]

165□ yeah this merlee is false [merlee:good choice, good….. this is false…]

166□ I leave [merlee:do not listen to us! I leave!]

167□ uhhhh okey? [Mimi:look here! The girl tought she was a scandal merlee]

168□ what lawyer? Also who is "he" [mimi: he is a faithful clerk in count bleck, a helpful lawyer] {is count bleck the lawyer?}

169□ I don't think maria wants to make it ugly, I don't even know what "it" is [mimi:oh, you want to make it ugly right? That's good or ugly]

170■ once again, tippi just wants to leave, she does not want to be in this adventure [tippi: IM GOING!]

171■ protect my fence? IS JEFF HERE? [Merlee: please be careful! Protect your fence, completely everywhere]

172□ I think tippi may have brain damage, 1st she recently realized how money works, and now weighting only realized that mimi is gonna attack moments before the attack [tippi:they attack? Uh……...what are we doing?]

173□ mario has a million rights, and merlee wants them [merlee:I had to flee...come on with my rights, I hide, see and see]

174■ oh, I don't know what's a cornea but merlee can conquer it [merlee:if you know, I can hurt and conquer the cornea! Hurry, fast, late!]

175□ not enough graphics! [Bathroom writing: stop writing graphics! Stop, not enough!]

176■ so she has control on the fate of the day? But only in the morning [Merlee:in the morning, it's my game, control the fate of the day….]

177□ your grandmother is terrible and "i" what? [Merlee:my mother's mum is terrible and i]

178□ yes mimi is horrible [merlee: but now you are here: live! This growth is changing today! Soon, mimi was horrible….]

179□ uh okey [merlee: do not compare me like me! Everyone knows that you are mimi! ]

180□ war! [Merlee: come on, man! War! We can come back!]

181□ merlee 2 just blocked merlee 1 on Twitter, [merlee2:what are you talking about? You bastard! And block!]

182□ do not get disappointed [merlee2: do not be disappointed! Get it now! Now! War!]

183□ the worst person is possible [merlee1:she speaks to us well, we have true beauty…..and the worst person is possible]

184□ who is the manufacturer of swimming pools? [Merlee1:however! What is the manufacturer of swimming pools? You are very good!]

185□ lost in the ear? What? [Merlee2: i come, it's delicious! You are lost in the ears! I worry that breathing is very commendable]

186□ that's certainly an Insult [merlee1:COWS!]

187□ snake? What snake? Bolivia? [Merlee2:and they answered that they too…..what are you doing? We know that the snake!]

188□ I dont know, how do I live [quiz bot:third anniversary - 66….. "here's the merlee program!", how do you live]

189■ oh! If marco is Marc, so Mar is making the questions! That's neat [quiz bot:should we have to move? Marcus summarizes two questions!]

190□ insects making pants? Okey that's an unusual work force [quiz bot:oh, but not all, pants, from perhaps, insects and SAS, choose us out!]

191□ every single one of these questions are funny [1:when Is your anniversary / 2:what is the best food / 3:what is your type / 4:what I the best animal / 5:what is the best fragrance / 6:what are you entering / 7: what else do you want / 8: what is your Nickname/ 9: what to wash first / 10: what is your best function]

192■ oh, hot and cold succes? Okey so she succeeded on 2 temperatures in 2 floors [merlee2: I started with a hot and cold succes on 2 floors0

193□ absolutely no carrots [quiz bot:no, carrots, verria]

194■ quiz bot said no carrots, also merlee is a Gardner [merlee1:my ears, my work with work has been coordinated for years]

195□ wait wait wait, what's that about last race? [Merlee1:crystal specialist, the last race! Hard to see him]

196■ oh, merlee 2 aka mimi is lesbian [merlee2:I want a girl, thanks! I want you to shake!]

197□ depression? WHEN? [quizbot: now! time for the last question, mankind! Depression? When?]

198□ oh, what [quizbot: this problem can cause more trauma for the children!]

199□ operation? As in the board game or do you want to do surgery? [Fake merlee:and now, if I doubt , it's really a shame! Get ready for operation!]

200□ rah rah Rasputin America's greatest uwu bean [merlee: rah! Rah! Chi Bing trial! Release your password! But what if?…..]

201□ explain what? [Mimi:bleck failed to explain!]

202■ rah rah Rasputin 2 electric Boogaloo, the horny'ing [merlee:rah! Rah! Huss-pa you! Now you can beat me, baby! This is normal]

203□ nonononononono please no [mimi:EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETSS! I was completely naked! How do you know?]

204□ what are frozen? The farmers? [Merlee?:did you know that are frozen for 1500 years! Farmers can wait]

205□ what? [Merlee:light inasomewa, do not you? ]

206□ why did you need to specify that your grandfather isn't a clean heart? Or are you just saying he's evil [merlee:my grandfather was not a clean heart and spicy….]

207□ heart disease [merlee:there is another prophecy,heart disease can only be a heart disease]

208□ we are desperate and wise for death [merlee:here we are in a desperate, choihubiri wise to death]

209□ she does not want maria in here [merlee:no! Get off here! Here are the heroes! Clean the heart!]

210■ blek console? Is blek a video game console manufacturer? Also he made a trap for mimi? [Narrator: the blek console has created an unpleasant trap for mime, Mary and her friends]

211□ now the real adventure can finally begin [narrarator:mario, who still has 5 clean heart, knew this adventure had begun]

212■ who the hell is June fiberglass? Is it the dust hole? [Earl blek:June fiberglass…..ancestor of an ancient tribe…..his power grows]

213■ okey they're running an illegal whale selling operation, NOW we know they're evil [o'kunks:i wonder, look at the Beauty of the whales I this wonderful package!]

214□ how do you stretch a mustache? YOU DONT EVEN HAVE A MUSTACHE [o'kunks:I'll stretch my mustache, wich is worse for me, I will do it]

215□ I'm confused? What [o'kunks:deley of the collar! And take the girl! It has 1000 pages!]

216□ that's an N-word, like the guy censored it but still [earl blek:no! Come on N_ _ _ _, greve blel]

217□ rainy picnic, they just oversimplified the sentence [Dimension:then suddenly, a rainy picnic!]

218□ whats a chord? [???:green chord?]

219□ yeah it is bad [lewis:yes…..OK this is bad, even if it is bad]

220□ it's fun to see you, thats one way to say it [goomba:it's fun to see you! (I think…..seems to be better than anyone)]

221□ very rude, also web browser pog, I'm tired [lewis:so yes very annoying…….I'm looking for princess and web browser]

222□ download in mouth, thats nice I guess [goomba:I hope both are good, (download it in your mouth! Who cares about your friends!?)]

223□ atleast these goombas are educated [goomba:almost well known assistants, many are educated]

224□ it's lewis not lugi [goomba: home… wow, this unexpectedly, all the stories of the extraordinary work Lugi….]

225□ defenseless defenders, so body shields? Is luaigi {I messed up but I keeping it in} a human shield? [Goomna:we hear you are defenseless defenders! We all do!]

226■ done what? An scape? Actually yeah makes sense, he has never scaped an evil dungeon [lewis:then I have no choice! Luigi hasn't done it yet! I need my fans!]

227□ very simple [goomba:oh, you're the BEST! (Personally very simple, what a fool!)]

228□ is this fucken Garfield? Also March is the worst month confirmed [goomba:were right after you! (Monday, March is bad, we're still the same) ]

229□ 100-army-army? What does that mean? [Goomba:great luigi is a 100-army-army! (Its better than anything) ]

230□ the first one trips! Also thanks captain obvious we know it's open [goomba: hello! This door opens! You're going! (The first trips!) ]

231□ this goomba is having a stroke, don't just stand there [goomba:we are lucky to have a bad person like you! (I ……..stroke…….i) ]

232□ once again, what are we doing? [Lewis: that boi….. looks like you're right, what are we doing?]

WELL THEN I GUESS 398 NOTES WOULD REACH THE TEXT CAP BEFORE THE END OF THE FIRST SECTION WOULDN'T IT?

#funny #paper mario #book of mario #mario #bolivia #mary #barbie the bob omb #1000 infernal air sleeves #lore #part one #not even finished the first segment

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rightdominancesblog · 3 years

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SHOULD WE IMPOSE POPULATION CONTROL?

Imposing population control is one of the most debated issue nowadays. It’s not even a taboo now. To be able to come up with a better understanding about the matter, let us first define what does it mean to impose:

IMPOSE verb im·pose | \ im-ˈpōz \ imposed; imposing Collegiate Definition transitive verb 1a: to establish or apply by authority impose a tax impose new restrictions impose penalties b: to establish or bring about as if by force those limits imposed by our own inadequacies — C. H. Plimpton 2a: PLACE, SET b: to arrange (type, pages, etc.) in the proper order for printing 3: PASS OFF impose fake antiques on the public 4: to force into the company or on the attention of another impose oneself on others. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

We should not impose population control. Here’s why:

Many of the advocates of population control argue that the fewer the population the wealthier the people of the county is. That is not true. In 1979, Deng Xiaoping together with the Chinese government introduced the ‘one-child policy’. It was introduced due to the fact that the population was rapidly growing. The count was about 979 million people. 38 million members of the Communist party were told to use “patient and painstaking persuasion” to teach the population how important it was to practice family planning. Many people believed that the said policy was effective in curbing poverty rate. It was successful but not in reducing poverty. It was successful in its goal of reducing the population. After years and years of the experiment, 600 million Chinese were lifted out of poverty. Journalists loved to sensationalise the idea that the one-child policy was the key factor. However, looking at the economic history of China, they managed to open their trading system. This is what economists call as economic liberalization.

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping introduced the new economic reform. Due to this more freedom, Chinese individuals lifted themselves out of poverty. The Chinese people were able to grow their businesses and boost their entrepreneurship. After decades of the experiment, did the one-child policy really helped? ‘Yes’ is the answer for those people who are the number one factor in driving the propaganda. Unfortunately, it’s the opposite that is true. Many lonely men weren’t able to marry because most of the victims of forced abortion were female offspring. This is not even something to be proud of. This is an outright attack towards women masked as family planning. The people in the rural areas and even the cities are suffering from the shortage of manpower. Due to the ageing population, China is having a crisis of maintaining their production in the market. The truth to the matter is that most of the wealthy countries liberated their economies. They have a stable system to sustain the needs of every people.

In the United States, which is the strongest country in terms of economy and military, things are not getting good either. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion facility in the country was strategically placed on minority areas. The narrative? To help the black community get out of poverty. The truth? The goal is not to reduce poverty but to reduce the black population and the poor population. Erasing the poor from their own places is not a way to help them. It is a way to eradicate them. Many people don’t realize that they’re not actually helping, they’re getting rid of those people who are suffering. Now how do we know that the minorities were really targeted? Here’s a quote from Margaret Sanger, the founder of the nation's leading abortion supplier, Planned Parenthood: "We don't want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the negro population.". Basically this is racism. There is no reason to eradicate the population since there is no reason also to boost population growth around the world. Many people are choosing to have fewer children. In fact, the peak of population growth was decades ago already. It happened because of the fact that the child mortality rate was too high before. In the modern times, this is not applicable anymore due to the fact that life has now improved way better than any point in history.

Now, we’ll go to the climate argument. Advocates of imposed population control think that one way to reduce carbon footprint is to reduce the feet who create them. This is true, every individual is contributing to the carbon footprints being released to the atmosphere. However, what are the main reasons for this? We all know that there’s a huge production of oil and coal around the world. Oil and coal are being used in our everyday life from transportation to domestic usage. Is there an alternative for that? Sustainable technologies. If only every person is contributing to the development of sustainable technologies, the world would be a better place especially in the future. There’s no need for population control. It is not climatically necessarily to eradicate people from the earth. In fact, with proper education and clean intentions, more people would have a great impact in future developments. More architects would have a great contribution to sustainable and green architecture. As a conclusion, imposed population control is not climatically, medically, economically and ideologically necessary.

References:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of page. Website. http://xxxxx

•OZY Editors. (2018). SHOULD COUNTRIES ENFORCE POPULATION CONTROL?. https://www.ozy.com/news-and-politics/should-countries-enforce-population-control/87230/

•Novielli, C. (2021). Reproductive injustice: Eliminating minorities and the poor through abortion. https://www.liveaction.org/news/reproductive-injustice-eliminating-minorities-poor-abortion/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=44dd1c9ed5645745d2ca727527d302cd89901534-1621243914-0-AWvELROSnznRhx7lE-1iZ5wXPyRkGc2DsHiv_bczYJHyK66Hp6jpEL_dGPyxR1jnOKpxQWa5_vTGtQJTkDpLpfOmHNX7Kmb3jLszfkw0TADY24TVm-ukT04kJD8L9zeu7-0oNoSa34CWs68Gwe21WQEJuLx2WM9FNq2BfYUjj_TPC_sZxJq73JdV6tMUKpX8RpvQ1kYX01wlZcOgVo8f-HYGcUNl4r5ePH6wyYZ2ZhkYf2r1XGYHM9KfXyBzu1g7MDCJB2jnLGGyOwr0x1syQQOmwdWYiNRrm42kSv-u5NyCffRfdvSmxlswcHL5aRLwZ1q02kRhadoUnN0eIhdoFWfcTzeU-GDqQZ2Vto_CGiR_nXu2Tm9dpN2aG7-F7p3UKzifLWTXFIiTRRWAMerXCV6o19E2HHOtEB4HCDQM2MBk78EdsQYICqRct2DiSU1Ry3fnN_epPg08H9lwq6Q3skXCrakMwxU9eO6IZIm_Achg

•Worrall, S. (2015). How China’s One-Child Policy Backfired Disastrously. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/151030-china-one-child-policy-mei-fong

•Hirst, T. (2015). A brief history of China’s economic growth. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/brief-history-of-china-economic-growth/

•https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking

•Appeal to authority. (n.d.). HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH AND CLIMATE CHANGE. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/climate/

•Enouen, S.W. (2020). Research Shows Planned Parenthood Expands Targeting Minorities as it Spurns Racist Founder. https://townhall.com/columnists/susanwillkeenouen/2020/09/23/research-shows-planned-parenthood-expands-targeting-minorities-as-it-spurns-racist-founder-n2576680

•Alexander, D. (2020). 21 Sustainability Innovations That Might Just Change the World. https://interestingengineering.com/21-sustainability-innovations-that-might-just-change-the-world

•Dye, F. (2021). What are the Different Types of Sustainable Technologies?. https://www.wise-geek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-sustainable-technologies.htm

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encounterthepast · 4 years

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If you enjoy this please follow @RussInCheshire on twitter for his regular threads on UK politics.

As it’s the weekend, let’s start #TheWeekInTory with a frivolous and jolly story about our own govt deliberately starving hundreds of thousands of children...

1. In May, Boris Johnson promised “nobody will go hungry as a result of Coronavirus”

2. He then denied school meals to the 600,000 poorest children

3. So Marcus Rashford ran a campaign to get the govt to feed children, which - just think about that: he had to *campaign* for it

4. Then Boris Johnson congratulated Rashford on his campaign to overturn the cruel policies of, erm, Boris Johnson

5. And then 3 days later, Boris Johnson refused to feed those kids during school holidays

6. So this week Labour organised a parliamentary vote about it

7. And 322 Tories voted against feeding hungry children

8. Vicky Ford, the Children’s Minister (who you’ll be surprised to hear neither looks nor sounds like a ludicrous Dickensian villain) went ahead and voted against feeding children

9. Tory MP Jo Gideon voted against feeding children. Jo Gideon, in case you didn't think things could get any more unbelievable, is also the chair of "Feeding Britain", a charity that campaigns to end food poverty and hunger in the UK.

10. Tory MP Paul Scully waved away the grumbling parents of kids with grumbling tummies, and said “children have been going hungry under Labour for years”, seemingly forgetting Tories have been in power for a decade

11. Tory MP Ben Bradley, who once had to apologise for suggesting sterilising the poor, said feeding children will simply “increase their dependency”. On food. Yeah, wean the little bastards off it. It’ll do them good in the end, which will be around 3 agonising weeks.

12. At this point, pause to consider that MPs get their food and drink subsidised. A £31 meal in a parliamentary restaurant costs MPs £3.45. In 2018 this subsidy cost the taxpayer £4.4m. I can’t find any record of Tories like Ben Bradley voting against this.

13. Pressing on: Ben Bradley also said “Some parents prioritise other things ahead of their kids. Small minority, yes... but some do”. Yes, and a small minority of Tory MPs have been arrested for rape. Should we send them all to prison?

14. Also, Mark Francois voted (by proxy) to keep kids hungry. Not related to the previous item. Why would you think that?

15. Tory MP Nicky Morgan said the govt voted to starve 600,000 children cos a Labour MP called a Tory MP scum. And that’s not a scummy thing to do at all.

16. Tory MP David Simmonds said Marcus Rashford’s experience of poverty in secondary school “took place entirely under a Labour government”. Rashford was 11 when Tories came into power, making David Simmonds are rare example of an ad hominem attack on yourself

17. Simmonds then said Labour’s parliamentary vote was “all about currying favour with wealth and power and celebrity status”. He might be right – the govt managed to unify Gary Linaker and Nigel Farage in condemnation of their denial of food to kids

18. Brandan Clark-Smith (who voted to starve kids) demanded “more action to tackle the real causes of child poverty”

19. So at once, the govt cut minimum wage for furloughed people. They now get 2/3 of the money the govt says is the absolute minimum it is possible to survive on

20. And then it was revealed that low-paid workers who have to isolate due to Covid can claim £500. Yay!

21. But if they’re told to isolate by the govt’s contact tracing app, they can’t claim anything. Un-yay.

22. Long story short: the govt cannot spend £120m feeding children. But it can spend £522 on the Eat Out Scheme, which its own report said contributed “negligible amounts” to the hospitality economy, and Boris Johnson admitted drove up infection rates – especially in the North

23. Those infection rates caused the govt to move Manchester into Tier 3

24. So the Mayor of Manchester asked for a £90m support package (1/6th of the money the govt spent causing the problem in the first place)

25. The govt said no, £60m

26. The Mayor said, how about £65m?

27. The govt said no, £60m

28. The Mayor said ok, fine, we’ll take the £60m

29. And then govt offered Manchester £22m, and then went to the press and said the Mayor was "being unreasonable"

30. The negotiations were led by Robert Jenrick, who recently set up a fund for the poorest 101 towns, then awarded his town £25m even though it is the 270th poorest, and therefore not even eligible

31. £25m is £237 per person

32. Manchester gets £7.85 per person

33. Robert Jenrick gave Manchester (2.8 million people) £22m

34. Robert Jenrick gave Richard Desmond (1 person) £45m

35. The talks broke down when the govt wouldn’t spend an extra £5m

36. The govt plans to spend £7m vitally rebranding "Highways England" to "National Highways"

37. Manchester Young Conservatives tweeted “Boris has lied about helping us in the North. It’s time for him to go". Don't look - they deleted it. Suspect somebody had a word.

38. Meanwhile the govt said Manchester will get the £60m after all, and chaos continue to reign supreme

39. But that £60m is brief reprieve for the Tories of Manchester, as a govt report said Tory seats in the North of England (the so-called "Red Wall" seats) can expect to lose at least 4000 jobs *each* as a result of Brexit, even if we do get a deal. More if we don't.

40. The govt rushed to begin its first airport Coronavirus testing, a mere 211 days after mandatory airport testing was begun in South Korea

41. South Korea has had 8 deaths per million

42. The UK has had 665 deaths per million

43. More airport news, as the govt finally accepted Brexit will cause “up to 8-hour delays at passport checks” and asked the EU to allow UK citizens to queue at EU-only lanes. Like we did when we were in the EU. But we aren’t now. So tough.

44. A senior diplomat said, “Having grown up in Brussels, Boris Johnson values the ability to travel freely to the continent”. You’d think Boris Johnson would foresee this problem when he led the campaign to stop that freedom.

45. The independent reviewer of Terrorism Legislation said the UK “will be increasingly unable to cope” after Brexit, as we lose access to EU data-sharing agreements

46. And a No-Deal end to UK/EU scientific collaboration will leave London with a £3bn annual deficit

47. In the space of 38 days, the govt announced the £100bn "Operation Moonshot" to solve Covid; then cancelled it; and then re-launched it again after it was found they’d accidentally continued to pay over 200 private consultants up to £7000 a day to work on it.

48. So this week, Boris Johnson said Moonshot would continue, but it’s goals “would take time”, which is the literal opposite of what he said it would do when it first announced it, and makes the entire thing absolutely pointless

49. And now it’s been admitted that Operation Moonshot would be quietly folded into the existing £12bn Test and Trace programme, and the £100bn has vanished. Apart from the bits the Serco consultants took for doing… nothing.

50. But Boris Johnson said the Test and Trace programme was “helping a bit”, and “a bit” is the least you’d expect if you’d spent £12bn

51. And then the £12bn Test and Trace programme fell to its lowest success rate so far, identifying only 60% of at-risk people

52. Local councils, with no additional funding, are tracing 98% of cases

53. A quick sweep though other epic successes you may have missed (or deliberately blocked out): Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch declared that it should be illegal to teach about inequality

54. The Cabinet Secretary said the report into “vicious and orchestrated” bullying by Home Secretary and Dementor Priti Patel “may never see the light of day”, cos if you have a report that vindicates you, you definitely sit on it as long as possible

55. And the appeals court unanimously overturned Priti Patel’s policy of removing people from the UK without giving them access to legal process or justice because – and I’m paraphrasing the judges here – what the fuck, Patel? What the actual fuck?

56. Undeterred, she announced plans to make rough-sleeping “grounds for removal of permission to be in the UK” and "denial of legal aid". So if you’re too poor to have a home, you must pay for a lawyer or she’ll shove you in the sea

57. After an unnamed Tory MP said it “looks bad to be handing top jobs to your friend and old boss”, Charles Moore, Boris Johnson’s friend and old boss, withdrew as next BBC chair.

58. The new favourite is Richard Sharp, the - yep - friend and old boss of Rishi Sunak

59. You’ll be amazed to hear this: Richard Sharp is a major donor to the Tory party. These little coincidences keep on happening

60. The govt decided to prevent EU citizens from having physical proof of their right to live in their own home

61. Grant Shapps threatened to “seize control of Transport for London” to save it from financial ruin at the hands of Sadiq Khan, who – the bastard - achieved a mere 71% reduction in the debts caused by his noble predecessor, Boris Johnson

62. Matt Hancock, facts at his fingertips, told MPs from Yorkshire their constituents could go on holiday abroad

63. But not in the UK

64. And then that they CAN go on holiday in the UK

65. But can't leave Yorkshire

66. He then said “I'll get back to you” about the details

67. A cross-party report found “the UK’s foreign policy is adrift”, that it lacks “clarity, confidence and vision” and that Britain is “absent from the world stage”. All of which is very soothing, as we move into the govt's proclaimed goal of a post-Brexit Global Britain.

68. And we can all relax: the govt is finally supporting culture in the UK, specifically the Nevill Holt Opera, which performs private operas, and is owned by Boris Johnson’s friend (and - jaw on floor! - Tory donor) David Ross, who is worth £700m so really needs the money.

69. The Nevill Holt Opera only functions in the summer, so thank god it has been prioritised with £85,000 to “maintain operations” in October.

And now, in honour of the opera, the fat lady can sing, cos I’m off to drink myself into oblivion. Join me.

We live in interesting times.

#tory scum #tory britain #uk news #uk this week #free school meals #andy burnham #marcus rashford

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ppaction · 5 years

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What You Need to Know About the Wave of Unconstitutional Abortion Bans in the States

Attempts To Ban Access to Safe, Legal Abortion Have Soared to an All Time High

BREAKING: As this post was published, Georgia became the third state this year—after Kentucky and Mississippi—to pass a ban on abortion before many people know they are pregnant. The bill passed by one vote. Georgia is just one of 32 states to introduce abortion bans this year as part of a national strategy to outlaw safe, legal abortion.

2019 is barely one-fourth behind us, but one fact is clear: anti-abortion politicians have dropped all pretense of wanting anything less than a ban on access to safe, legal abortion.

In state after state, lawmakers have rushed this year to try to ban abortion access—at a point before most people even know they’re pregnant. These new laws run counter to long-standing Supreme Court precedents, and amount to an effort—in the wake of the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh and other Trump judicial nominees to lifetime appointments—to invite the Supreme Court to overturn or eviscerate the finding, in Roe v. Wade, that access to safe and legal abortion is a constitutional right.

Abortion is health care. But with outrageous bill after outrageous bill—from six-week bans to attacks on crucial reproductive health services such as those funded by the Title X program—politicians have signaled an aggressive new phase in their attacks on reproductive rights.

Here’s what you need to know about this expanding attack on reproductive health care.

1. Opponents of safe, legal abortion are mounting a concerted campaign

News accounts have covered the laws advancing in state legislatures one by one—but when one steps back, a troubling pattern emerges. Through March of 2019, state lawmakers in Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi banned access to abortion at six weeks. Four other states—Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee—stand poised to soon follow suit. Politicians have filed proposals for similar bans in eight other states: Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Texas, and West Virginia.

2. A “six-week ban on abortion” = a ban on abortion

The rationales offered by politicians in support of six-week bans belie a simple fact: at the six-week point in pregnancy, most people don’t even know they’re pregnant. For those with regular menstrual cycles, such a ban would stop access to safe, legal abortion a mere two weeks after a missed period. These unconstitutional laws would be awful enough if they stopped there—but they don’t. For instance, the six-week ban proposed in Georgia would subject a person to criminal liability for termination of a pregnancy—exposing a mother to the potential risk of criminal charges over a miscarriage. As a Georgia state senator who spoke out against this outrageous ban explained:

In other words, a pregnant woman who suffers a miscarriage could be subjected to criminal investigation, indictment, prosecution long before a jury is asked to determine whether she intentionally did anything to cause the loss. And if you think everything I just said was exaggeration or hyperbole, I read it directly from a Georgia court case where the implications of prosecuting women for seeking abortions was laid out in no uncertain terms.

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3. Efforts to restrict or ban abortion are spreading quickly

Here’s a startling statistic: since January 1, 2019, lawmakers have proposed more than 250 separate restrictions on abortion in state legislatures across the country.

The six-week bans moving through states are part of this wave of anti-reproductive health legislation. The rate at which such unconstitutional bans have spread this year is without precedent:

Prior to this year, six-week bans were rarely enacted, as antiabortion activists and politicians publicly focused their efforts on other restrictions, like targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws, that severely undermine access but are designed not to appear to be frontal assaults on abortion rights.

4. Low-income people and people of color are among those disproportionately affected

States where unconstitutional bans have advanced in 2019 are among those with the nation’s largest populations of people of color.

In Georgia, the nation’s eighth-largest state, nearly 10% of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino—and a full 32% identifies as Black.

In Ohio, the nation’s seventh-largest state, 13% of the population identifies as Black.

In Mississippi, 38% of people identify as Black.

Median household incomes in those states — Georgia, Mississippi, and Ohio — fall below the national average. All three of them report higher poverty rates than the nation as a whole. Georgia and Mississippi have refused the federal Medicaid expansion funds offered under the Affordable Care Act—and both states have among the nation’s highest percentages of residents living without health insurance.

People in these states often already have to travel hundreds of miles, cross state lines, and wait for weeks to get an abortion—if they can access services at all. For many women, these barriers effectively ban abortion, and women of color—who already face significant barriers to health care and attacks on their bodily autonomy—bear the brunt of it.

This in part explains why these unconstitutional bans feel so infuriating and needless: in the states attempting to enact them, maternal health outcomes rank among the nation’s worst. Mississippi has the nation’s worst infant mortality rate, and Georgia has the nation’s worst maternal mortality rate. In both states—as in the country as a whole—African-Americans face a disproportionate share of the consequences of those public-health failures.

5. The goal: Permitting every state to ban abortion

The logic behind the rush to enact these unconstitutional abortion bans is simple: with senators confirming judges with views hostile to reproductive health and rights to the federal courts—including the Supreme Court—Roe v. Wade is at risk like never before.

Trump has installed more federal appeals court judges in his first two years than any other president—and has installed as many Supreme Court justices in two years as President Obama installed in eight.

Trump promised as a candidate to choose judges who would “automatically” overturn Roe, and has worked since to keep that promise. Trump nominee Brett Kavanaugh has already acted to restrict access to abortion during his brief tenure on the Supreme Court—writing to say that courts should let a state proceed with abortion restrictions that that were ruled unconstitutional just a few short years ago.

That explains why a state like Mississippi, which courts blocked from enforcing an unconstitutional 15-week ban in 2018, would advance an even more stringent ban on safe, legal abortion a year later. Anti-abortion politicians believe that Trump’s judicial nominees may overturn Roe v. Wade—and intend to test just how far judges will let them go to restrict people’s ability to access their constitutional right.

There have been more than 250 abortion restrictions introduced in this country since January.

Pair those with the effort to undermine Title X—the nation’s only program dedicated to affordable reproductive health care—by gagging doctors from referring patients to abortion services, and the pattern is undeniable. Even as seven in 10 Americans consistently say they favor abortion access, opponents of safe, legal abortion think they can achieve a ban on abortion nationwide within the next few years.

These attacks are only the beginning. We can count on politicians to introduce unconstitutional abortion bans in other states. It’s up to us to stand united against this unprecedented effort—and to fight back.

#stop the bans #abortion bans #i stand with planned parenthood #iswpp

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nxjacbbnc-blog · 4 years

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The feeling isn't always mutual

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dani277 · 5 years

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+1 expressing an opinion. by qadirah

Speech: women in the government could reduce poverty in Uganda and address female related problems better.

So sometimes my family and I or even with the school, we go to places like Murchison falls, lake mburo, Rwenzori mountains national park, and we enjoy these breathtaking views and structures. I remember the time we visited lake mburo and I remember gazing at the tall trees and thinking hmm I wonder what it’s like up, I know it might sound silly but the reason I asked this was because, I felt the presence of a soul, the presence of nature basically. and then I remember when we arrived at the place we were staying at, as we got out of the car I felt this overwhelming energy, the type of energy you give off when you have achieved your hardest goal, the type of energy a parent give of when their child has succeeded in their academic goals. it’s a sense of satisfaction, it does not promote fear or any uncomfortable feeling. Now, let’s contrast that with when we were coming back from the trip. Well I wasn’t super excited to be back home but I was really sad about it. This is because I knew what to expect. I expected children siting on the filthy ground, I expected slums and shanty towns in places you wouldn’t imagine seeing such a thing, I expected children to be walking around with clothes that barely protect their bodies. And then I thought really? Is this the same place I wanted to spend the rest of my life. Honestly all those great things I had seen were overshadowed by the overwhelming disparity of our nation. Okay, now let’s get down to business, greetings parents my name is qadirah and I believe that the contrast above has shown you that Uganda is a beautiful yet such ugly place to live at the same time, remarkable isn’t it?. Here’s the deal I believe that Uganda experiences poverty because of the way they address it. Why you might ask? Well first of all one of the main cause of poverty in Uganda and in other developing countries in Africa, is infant and child mortality rate, according to borgenproject.org there was a reported rate of 131 deaths in 1000 children. As a result women are subjected to having more children. An example of this could be the story of Nabatanzi, the story of a 39 year old women who was abandoned by her husband leaving her to support their 38 children. Nabantanzi who lives with her children in four small houses made of cement blocks and topped with ridged iron in a village surrounded by coffee fields 50 km (31 miles) north of Kampala, talks about how her husband left her with absolutely nothing and how throughout the years, her only goal has been to take of her children and to make a living out what she has left. You might be wondering why she had so many children but this was because her doctor had originally told her that taking birth control pills would harm her far beyond expected. And she the first time she gave birth to quadruplets, the second time twins and the third time was triplet and then the cycle goes. So the fact I’m talking about it as a problem without a resolution most likely implies that she hasn’t found a solution, this is why I say more women in the government would address these problems better than what was to done, because women are empathetic. some research suggests women’s brains are more likely to signal empathy than men’s brains. A 1995 study in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology showed that women involuntarily imitate other peoples’ emotional expressions more than men—a behavior thought to reflect increased activity of “mirror neurons,” cells in the brain that activate both when someone performs an action and when he or she sees someone else perform that same action. Also the new vision newspaper stated that there have been more than 5 cases of this issue and nothing has been said. Finding resolutions to problems like this could potentially solve at least one of the main causes of poverty in Uganda. So women addressing women issues is more efficient than the other way round.

Rhetoric used: In this speech, i used ethos by explaining my experience with the Ugandan environment, which was a comparison between the good and the bad. i also talked about a woman who was experiencing problems that weren’t understandable by the government because there were very few women in government who deal with these problems.

schemes and tropes : Oxymoron -‘ i wasn’t super’

Success: i think this speech uses rhetoric correctly but uses more logos than pathos or ethos.

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egerlara1980-blog · 5 years

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squareallworthy · 6 years

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Taking UBI seriously part 6: Dolan

This is the sixth in a serious of posts looking for a serious proposal for universal basic income. Previous posts:

A Budget-Neutral Universal Basic Income by Jensen et. al.

Basic Income – Why and How in Difficult Economic Times: Financing a BI in Ireland by Healy et. al.

Andrew Yang’s proposal as part of his presidential campaign

A variety of indicators evaluated for two implementation methods for a Citizen’s Basic Income by Malcom Torry

It’s Time to Think BIG! How to Simplify the Tax Code and Provide Every American with a Basic Income Guarantee by Allan Sheahen

In this post I will be looking at a UBI proposal by Ed Dolan, an economist and Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center. He set out his plan in a series of posts on the EconoMonitor blog (part 1, part 2, part 3) . The meat of the proposal is in part 2.

tl;dr: Not a serious plan. Vague on some of the tax measures, penalties to seniors on Social Security make the plan politically untenable, and worst of all, it’s a massive transfer of wealth AWAY from the poor

Like most UBI proposals, Dolan’s idea is to replace most current welfare spending, although he would leave health care spending (Medicaid and CHIP). Unlike most proposals, though, he replaces this with a benefit that falls far short of enough to live on, which calls into question whether this should be called a basic income at all.

His plan, in brief, is this: eliminate all federal means-tested welfare, except for health care programs. Eliminate some middle class entitlements such as the mortgage interest rate deduction and the personal exemption for income taxes. Divide the money equally among all US citizens (including children). Returees get the choice of the UBI or their current Social Security benefits, but not both. The budget is below, figures in billions of dollars.

Excluding those retirees who would rather keep their current Social Security benefits, Dolan figures on 259 million recipients, for a benefit of $4452 per person.

Before I go on to what’s wrong with this, let me mention two things that Dolan got right. First, he left health care alone. Many people who propose replacing the current welfare system with UBI sweep up health care along with everything else, ignoring the fact that if you have $50,000 in medical expenses a year, a UBI of less than that is not going to leave you better off. And second, he gives the benefit equally to children and adults. Poverty is concentrated among children, so if you are trying to make a poverty-reduction program, you should prioritize children. A lot of UBI plans give children either a smaller benefit or nothing.

That said, $4452 per year isn’t nothing, but it’s not credible to call this a basic income if “basic” means “provides for basic survival needs.” Using federal poverty guidelines for 2014 found here, that's 38% of the poverty level for an individual or 75% of the poverty level for a family of four. (Lower 48 only. Guidelines for Alaska and Hawaii are higher.)

And that’s before getting into specific problems with the components of Dolan’s budget, which I will tackle in reverse order.

Most retirees and disabled people on SSI are worse off

Dolan figures that there are about .42 million retirees on Social Security and 21 million people under 65 who receive Supplemental Security Income, most due to disability. His plan is to offer them either $4452 per year or their current benefit, whichever is greater. For most of them, their current benefit is the better deal, so Dolan figures 57 million people will keep what they’re currently getting and be no worse off.

Except that they will be worse off, because of Dolan’s other cuts. They will lose all of whatever welfare they are currently receiving, as well as the provisions in the tax code that Dolan calls middle class entitlements. Every one of those 57 million is going to lose something, because Dolan would eliminate the personal exemption on income taxes. For those 57 million, Dolan’s plan means all loss and no gain.

The AARP is never going to sit still for this, so I think Dolan’s plan is dead in the water on this provision alone.

Vagueness on cuts to tax expenditures

Dolan wants to cut some federal tax expenditures for a total of $577 billion in new revenue, but he’s not clear on exactly what. He leaves out exclusion of taxes on health insurance plans, and then lists $174 billion in benefits to home owners, retirement savings exemptions at $145 billion, and deductions for charitable giving at $49 billion. The rest, which would come to $202 billion, would be a number of smaller tax measures.

But all tax expenditures, leaving out health-related ones, come to much more than $577 billion, so it’s not clear which ones Dolan is targeting. His link to a list of tax expenditures no longer works, but I believe he’s using these figures. Which of them make up the $202 billion in the miscellaneous category? The big ones would be capital gains ($76 billion), the step-up basis of capital gains at death ($66 billion), the child tax credit ($24 billion), exemption of Social Security income ($26 billion), exclusion of interest on state and local bonds ($29 billion), and deductibility of state and local taxes ($46 billion). Those come to $267 billion, and the smaller provisions would add a lot more. Since Dolan doesn’t say which ones he wants to eliminate, it’s impossible to figure who benefits from his plan and who pays.

Current welfare recipients are much worse off

Go back and look at that budget again. It takes $500 billion that currently goes to the poor and divides it up among everybody, poor, middle class, and rich alike. That means, obviously, that a lot less of that money is going to the poor.

To make up for this, Dolan adds another $653 billion and again, divides it among everybody, and again, that means most of it is not going to the poor.

If you’re trying to help poor people, don’t you think it would be a good idea to make sure they’re getting back at least the $500 billion you cut from welfare?

There are, let’s say, 50 million poor people in the US. Depending upon what you count as poverty, you get a different number, but 50 million is a nice round number and good enough for a sanity check on Dolan’s idea. At $4452 each, their share of the UBI payout is $222.6 billion.

Poor people are getting back less than half of what they lose to welfare cuts.

That’s a very rough estimate, but we can check it against data that Dolan had on hand: the report from the Cato Institute that he cited for his welfare numbers. Starting on page 11 of the report, there is a breakdown of the cost and the number of recipients for each program, which lets us calculate average welfare spending per participant. Here are the results for some of the larger programs.

Those are averages, of course, and in particular the number for TANF is not to be taken at face value because only about 25% of that goes to cash benefits. But it should raise some red flags. A thoughtful and responsible person would have done a little googling around.

Median combined SNAP and TANF cash benefits for a family of 3 in 2012 were $869 per month (source, p. 13), which is $10,428 per year. Dolan’s UBI for three people is $13,356, so substituting that for SNAP and TANF, the family is $2928 per year better off. But take away an average EITC of $2037 and school breakfast and lunch programs for two kids at $1203, and the family is now $312 worse off. And that’s before losing WIC, Head Start, Section 8, or any other program they might benefit from.

I have criticized the authors of other plans for not using a tax model to figure out who benefits and who pays, but Dolan couldn’t be bothered to run the simplest check to see if it’s even plausible that his plan works. That’s insultingly shoddy.

Having completely missed this little flaw in his plan, Dolan ends part 2 of his series with this statement:

My purpose here has simply been to show that a UBI within striking distance of the poverty level, as commonly understood, would , conceptually, be affordable without aggressively attacking the fortunes of upper income Americans and without raising anyone’s effective marginal tax rates.

Well you fucking failed at that. Ed Dolan, you are a professional economist with a PhD from Yale. I, an anonymous rando on Tumblr, have only taken one class in economics ever and that was at a second-rank state school. And yet I discredited your work with about two minutes of arithmetic.

That being the case, I feel qualified to say that you are an innumerate nitwit and I wouldn’t trust you to add up a bar tab.

Oh, and if you take away the personal exemption you are obviously raising the effective marginal tax rate for at least some people. Good grief, think about what you’re saying for a moment.

Conclusion: this is a horrible plan that completely screws the poor, and the quality of the economics program at Yale must be pretty awful if this guy is any indication.

#ubi #universal basic income #ed dolan

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talabib · 3 years

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A Self-Made Millionaire's Path To Financial Independence.

“Money is the most important thing in the world.” It’s a startling and borderline heretical claim. After all, we’re told time and again that you can’t buy happiness.

Well, sure – you can’t spend your way to Earthly bliss. But here’s the flipside: poverty is pretty sure to make you miserable. Far from being the root of all evil, money is the most important tool we have to improve our quality of life. 

If you want to look out for the people you love, you’ll need money – the more, the better. Want to spend more time with your kids? Ditto. How about creating time for leisure, reading, going to the theatre and discovering new cultures and countries through travel? You’ll have guessed the answer by now: money. 

That’s the philosophy of Kristy Shen, a self-made millionaire who retired at 31. In this post, we’ll be exploring how she did it. Expect plenty of unashamedly contrarian takes, left-field strategies and novel concepts. More to the point, expect to find a roadmap to wealth creation, debt eradication and financial independence. 

You’re more likely to make sound decisions if you follow the math rather than your passions.

In 2005, Steve Jobs gave a commencement speech at Stanford University. His advice to the students? “Follow your heart.” That feel-good mantra rippled around the world. Endorsed by the great and good, it soon came to feel commonsensical – why on Earth wouldn’t you follow your passions and do something you love?  Here’s one reason: it’s often the wrong choice. 

Take the often life-defining decision students make every year about what they’re going to study. That was just what Kristy was mulling over back in 2000. She had a shortlist of three possible majors – creative writing, accounting and computer engineering. Her heart told her to go with writing; math told her to go for engineering. Kristy followed the latter’s advice. It was a good call. 

Let’s look at that math. A four-year program in Canada costs about $40,000. Professional writers fall on a spectrum between the unpublished newbie who earns zilch and established pros like Stephen King who earn millions. The average income, however, is $17,000. In 2000, the minimum wage was $6.85 an hour or $14,248 a year. That’s what anyone without a degree could expect to earn, so subtracting that sum from $17,000 told Kristy how much a writing degree was worth: a measly $2,752. 

An accounting degree, by contrast, was worth around $24,000 more than the minimum wage. Computer engineering meanwhile netted you a whopping $40,000 more every year. 

But hold up. You can’t put a price on happiness – surely dreams are worth pursuing whatever the bottom line says, right? Well, not necessarily. After all, if you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, you’re unlikely to wake up excited about your work, especially if it calls for creativity. Passions also change over time; a 2013 study published in Science found that the dreams of nearly all of the 19,000 participants had changed significantly over the previous decade. 

And that’s why it pays to follow the math. Just ask Kristy. Today, she’s a professional writer. The reason she got there is simple: her well-paying engineering job meant she wasn’t reliant on writing to make the rent. Money, in other words, provided her with the foundation which eventually allowed her to pursue her true dream. 

Kristy’s Chinese heritage taught her that debt is a trap to be avoided at all costs. 

Did you know that on average Chinese citizens save 38 percent of their income? Americans, by contrast, squirrel away 3.9 percent of what they earn while the Japanese keep just 2.8 percent for a rainy day. So what’s going on – are the Chinese just inherently frugal? 

Not really. Even before the communists came to power in 1949, corruption was endemic in China. Combine that with the absence of official credit channels like bank loans and you had the makings of a culture which ran on favors. When folks wanted to buy something big, they had a simple choice: take on an onerous personal debt and put themselves in someone else’s power, or save up until they had enough cash to buy it outright. That’s why, historically, debt in China is understood not so much as an “IOU” but an “I own you.” 

If you’re Chinese like Kristy, that history means you’re basically programmed to avoid debt like the plague. But here’s the thing: when you crunch the numbers, it turns out that’s a pretty good attitude to adopt wherever you live. 

Take the Rule of 72, an insight first formulated by a fifteenth-century Italian mathematician called Luca Pacioli. Here’s how it works. To work out how long it takes for your investment to double, divide 72 by the return rate of your investment. So let’s say you’re getting six percent on your $1,000 investment. Seventy-two divided by six equals 12. This last number is the number of years you’ll need in order for that grand to compound into $2,000. Over time, the balance increases. The money you make makes more money.

If you’re an investor, the Rule of 72 is your friend; if you’re a debtor, it’s your worst enemy. Say you buy a $1,000 TV on credit. Typically, the interest rate will be around 20 percent. Divide 72 by 20 and you get 3.6 – that’s how long it’ll take your debt to double! After seven years, it will have almost quadrupled. 

When you put it like that, the Chinese custom of paying off personal debts during the New Year on pain of being cursed with 12 months of misfortune starts to make a lot of sense. But don’t worry – the idea here isn’t to scare you.

Consumer debt is a financial crisis which needs to be addressed immediately. 

Debt is a blood-sucking vampire. It bleeds you dry. Worse, it leaves you terrified of the sunlight, trapping you indoors in an endless cycle of work and repayment. If you want financial independence, you’ll have to put a stake through this bad boy’s heart. 

Consumer debt has the highest interest rates, so that’s where you should start. The first thing you’ll need to do is cut your expenses to the bone. It’s painful but essential. As we’ve seen, the Rule of 72 means your debts grow at an ungodly rate. If you’re saddled with a 10 or 20 percent interest rate, there’s no point trying to save or invest your hard-earned cash – there’s no getting in front of debt. Do whatever it takes, whether it’s finding a side hustle, renting out a spare room, or saying “no” to dinners out. 

Next, you’ll need to prioritize how you repay your loans by putting them in order based on interest rate, from highest to lowest. When you’re surrounded by hungry vampires, it’s always a good idea to kill the one with the biggest appetite first. That means paying the minimum monthly repayment on all your cards to avoid defaulting and throwing everything that you don’t need for essentials like rent at the nastiest bloodsucker. Paying off your smallest loan might make you feel good, but you’re not trying to massage your ego here – you’re fighting for your freedom.

The final step is refinancing your loans. Lots of credit card companies allow you to transfer balances between different cards and pay zero percent interest for a certain amount of time. That’s usually a year. If you’re sure you can use these so-called “grace periods” to pay off a loan completely, use this option. Bear in mind, however, that these companies are gambling on you failing to do so, which will allow them to jack up the interest rate and screw you. 

Remember, trying to gain financial independence while carrying around debt is like running a marathon with a backpack full of bricks – it’ll sap your strength before you’ve even run a mile. If you want to grow your assets, you need to kill that vampire!

If you want to buy happiness, spend your cash on experiences rather than stuff. 

What does cocaine have to do with shopping? Surprisingly, quite a lot. Understanding that connection holds the key to getting the most out of the money you decide to spend on luxuries. 

But before we get to that, let’s talk about the brain. When something good happens, the “pleasure chemical” dopamine surges through your mesolimbic pathway, essentially your brain’s main highway, to the nucleus accumbens – a kind of dopamine processing plant. A substance like cocaine triggers this surge – but so does splurging on a Gucci handbag. In both cases, the reward is a massive neural high. 

Here’s where it gets interesting. As a 2006 article in the journal NeuroImage demonstrated, the nucleus accumbens doesn’t just react to positive stimuli – it also reacts to the expectation of those stimuli. In other words, pleasure isn’t just about absolute dopamine levels but how much dopamine our brains expect is on the way. 

Unfortunately for cocaine addicts and shopaholics, the brain keeps ratcheting its expectation levels upwards. That’s why people need ever-larger amounts of cocaine and ever-more expensive handbags – they’re forever chasing that unrepeatable first high. 

That means you’re not going to enjoy yourself even if you’re wealthy enough to fund your shopping habits. This might sound like the preamble to an old-fashioned moral lecture about how money can’t buy happiness, but it’s really not. Truth be told, it can. It just boils down to what you’re spending it on. 

Not all spending is created equal; some kinds go further than others. When Kristy started her blog and began receiving emails from her readers, she noticed a trend. The more stuff people owned, the unhappier they were. Folks who owned less and used their money to buy experiences, by contrast, were pretty happy with their lot in life.

That’s because possessions give you an initial burst of dopamine which fades as your nucleus accumbens acclimatizes. The pleasure that comes with learning new skills or traveling doesn’t fade nearly as quickly. As long as you practice now and again, you’ll always be able to play the piano, and those holiday snaps from Rome will always take you back to that week you spent in the Eternal City with your husband. 

Buying property isn’t the failsafe investment it’s made out to be. 

Lots of folks are cautious about borrowing money, but they usually make one big exception: a mortgage. Conventional wisdom says buying a house isn’t just a rite of passage into adulthood but a wise investment in the future. After all, you can always sell at a profit, right? 

Well, no. In reality, property comes with all sorts of hidden costs. Let’s talk numbers.  According to the US Census Bureau, the average family stays in their home for 9 years. Typically, these families invest in brick and mortar in the expectation that property prices will rise. Historically, that rate rises and falls with inflation, but for simplicity’s sake, let’s assume here that prices increase by a steady 6 percent every year. 

Our family – let’s call them the Smiths – buy their house for $500,000. Add 9 times 6 percent – 9 years at 6 percent inflation – to that and you get $844,739. That leaves a tidy profit of $344,739. 

Not so fast. To buy the property, the Smiths need a title search from the land registry office. That’s $1,000. The title recording fee costs $150. The lawyer who processes those documents charges another grand. 

Then there’s insurance. Rates vary across the US, but 0.5 per cent of the house’s value is pretty common. Paid annually for 9 years, that comes to $22,500. A property tax of 1 percent per annum adds another $45,000 to the bill. Meanwhile, realtors advise setting aside at least one percent of a home’s value every year for maintenance, which is what the Smiths do. That’s another $45,000. 

Selling isn’t cheap either. A commission of 6 percent of the final sale price clocks in at $50,684. The land transfer tax is 1.2 percent, so that’s $10,137. Oh and there’s another lawyer, who also bills for $1,000. 

That brings us to $175,571 – 51 percent of the Smiths’ profit. But we haven’t talked about interest yet. Like most families, the Smiths paid a ten percent down payment in cash and borrowed the rest from their bank. Over 9 years, they have paid $162,033 in interest. 

That’s a whopping 98 percent of the sale price. And remember, we started by assuming that the value of the Smiths’ house would grow by 6 percent every year. That’s well above the actual inflation rate in the US, which is about 2 percent. In the real world, the Smiths would have lost money!

Use the “Rule of 150” to decide whether to buy a house or use your money for something else.

We crunched the numbers and saw that the cost of buying, owning and selling a house outweighed the returns in the case of a fictional American family. The moral of the story, however, isn’t that you should never buy a house – it’s that you need to work out if that’s a good call in your situation.

Ask a realtor and they’ll swear it’s all very simple. If the monthly mortgage payment equals the rent on a similar house or apartment, you’re better off buying rather than giving your money to a landlord. Look more closely, however, and you’ll find it’s a little more complicated. 

That’s where the Rule of 150 comes in. This is a tool to help you compare the true cost of owning a home with what you would be saving by not renting. Here’s how it works:

Over the first 9 years of a standard 30-year mortgage, only about 50 percent of your payments go towards the actual loan; paying off interest on that loan accounts for the other 50 percent. Now, additional ownership costs like maintenance and insurance are roughly equal to the interest on a standard mortgage during those first 9 years, so that’s another 50 percent. So to calculate your actual monthly payments, you’ll need to multiply your monthly mortgage payment by 150 percent.

That’s how much your home will actually cost per month once you’ve accounted for all your expenses. So say you’re looking at a monthly mortgage bill of $1,500. When you multiply that by 150 percent, you get your true cost – $2,250. If your Rule of 150 monthly cost is higher than your rent, it makes sense to stick it out in the rental market; if it’s lower, you might want to think about buying. 

When Kristy first considered buying a house, she was living in Toronto, Canada’s most expensive city. Prices were out of control and one-person apartments were going for a million dollars apiece. After applying the Rule of 150, she quickly realized that there was no way she was going to be able to buy her own home. 

That opened an unexpected can of worms. If she wasn’t going to blow her savings on property, what was she going to do with that nest egg?

Index investing is less risky than betting on individual companies. 

The American business guru Robert Kiyosaki once remarked that poor people buy stuff, the middle class buys houses and rich people buy investments. What he meant is that rich people put their money into things that make them more money. But you don’t have to be a multi-millionaire to follow their lead. 

Broadly speaking, there are two ways of investing. The first is to do what Wall Street whizzes do – spend a ton of cash on research and fancy algorithms to pick the best companies. The second variant is cheaper, simpler and, most importantly, less risky. 

That’s called index investing. Think of it as betting on the casino rather than individual horses. It doesn’t matter who wins the race – the house always makes money. Let’s unpack that. 

An index is a list of companies ranked by market capitalization, or the overall value of their public shares. When you invest in an index, you’re effectively betting on every one of those listed firms. Because the index contains the stock of multiple high-performing companies, a single failure won’t wipe you out. The only way you can go bust is if every name on your index simultaneously files for bankruptcy. 

That’s highly unlikely. Why? Well, index investing has an elegant built-in barometer. If a company is worth more, the index automatically picks up more shares in that company, and vice versa. If a tech giant releases a world-beating smartphone and its stock soars, the index buys more shares. If a car company runs into trouble and their stock plummets, the index dumps shares. And when a company drops in value from number 500 to number 501, it’s kicked off the index entirely. 

This is a highly intuitive way of gauging the stock market as a whole, which is why major indexes like the S&P 500 – a list of the 500 biggest companies – work like this. 

Index investing is also good for your wallet. The simplicity of the concept means there’s no need to pay for a hands-on fund manager. In the US, for example, a typical index fund charges fees of just 0.04 percent – 25 times lower than what you’d pay for an actively managed fund. The sales commission? $0. If you ever want to see your bank manager sweat, head to your local branch and ask to have your savings put into index funds!

Early retirement doesn’t depend on how much you make – it’s all about how much you save. 

Chances are you’ve idly daydreamed about early retirement. Most folks quickly shelve that idea when they take a look at their bank balance, though. If you’re not raking it in, you just can’t afford to stop working before your mid-sixties, right? 

Wrong. Your time to retirement doesn’t depend on how much you earn but how much you save. If you’re making and spending a million bucks a year, you’re entirely dependent on your job and won’t ever be able to retire. If you make $40,000 a year and spend $30,000, on the other hand, you already have a healthy savings rate of 25 percent. 

The “normal” retirement age is 65 because most people save between five and ten percent of their salaries and have investment portfolios yielding an average of six to seven percent annually. Plug those numbers into a spreadsheet and you’re looking at 40 to 45 years of work. 

The way to reduce that time is to up how much you’re saving. This does two things. Firstly, it cuts your living expenses, which in turn cuts the size of your target portfolio – the amount of cash you’ll need to retire. Secondly, it pumps more money into that portfolio. Think of it as a race: you’re moving the finish closer while also running faster. Even relatively small changes have a big impact. Boosting your savings rate from ten to 15 percent, for example, shaves 5 years off your working life! 

Still not convinced? Well, okay, let’s take a look at the case of a fictional couple we’ll call Paul and Jillian. Together, their annual earnings come to $62,175. That’s the median family income in the US. Deduct 15.2 percent for taxes and you’re left with $52,724.40. 

Now imagine Paul and Jillian decided to turbocharge their savings rate. They rent a small apartment in an affordable city, cook at home and use car-sharing services like Zipcar. All in all, they pay $40,000 to cover their costs and put $12,724.40 into their portfolio every year. 

Let’s lowball the interest rate they’re getting on that and say it’s 6 percent. Even if they never get promotions or better-paying jobs, Paul and Jillian would have a million dollars in 30 years. If they started at 24, they could retire at 54 – 11 years ahead of schedule!

Reducing the size of your target portfolio makes early retirement more manageable. 

How much do you need to save to retire early? That’s exactly what researchers asked in a landmark study published in the investment journal AAII in 1998. 

They used stock market data to simulate what would happen to a group of fictional retirees who withdrew different percentages of their portfolios every year after retirement. Would “Alan,” for example, make it over the line or run out of cash if he withdrew 10 percent of his $500,000 nest egg every year? 

Here’s the answer: Your portfolio is self-sustaining when your annual living expenses are no greater than 4 percent of its total value. Economists call that a safe withdrawal rate. This number allows you to determine the size of your target portfolio – simply multiply your annual expenses by 25. If you need $40,000 a year, you’re looking at a $1,000,000 portfolio.

That’s a lot of cash, right? Sure, but don’t let that put you off – there are also alternative strategies. Take partial financial independence. This gives you the benefits of financial independence, such as flexibility and having more free time, and it’s achievable with a smaller portfolio. 

Say you earn the US median family income of $62,175 and need $40,000 a year to cover your living costs. If you shift to part-time work and earn $28,000 after tax, you’ll have an annual shortfall of $12,000 in your budget. Multiply that number by 25 and you have your new target portfolio – $300,000. Save that amount and you can enter semi-retirement!

Then there’s geographic arbitrage. This is the idea that you can earn income in a country with a strong currency like Germany or the US and retire in a country with a weaker currency like Mexico or Thailand. When Kristy and her husband Bryce visited Vietnam, for example, they realized that you can live a luxurious life there for around $1,130 a month. 

If you’re earning the local average salary of $150 a month, that’s unaffordable; if you’re earning the average US monthly salary, however, it’s well within your reach. So what does your target portfolio look like now? Multiply $1,130 by 12, which gives you $13,560. Then multiply that by 25 and you have $339,000.

So there you have it – a ton of tricks to help launch your journey to financial independence. All you have to do now is ask yourself a simple question. What’s more important – accumulating expensive things or your freedom? Answer that honestly and your money decisions will become clear.

Getting a handle on your finances comes down to one basic principle: follow the math. That means ignoring feel-good advice like choosing to study a subject you love rather than one that will bring in a salary you can actually live on. It also means bucking social trends if they’re not right for you. Crunch the numbers and you might just discover that you’re better off investing your savings in the stock market rather than buying a house and saddling yourself with a lifetime of debt. Why? Well, if you’re growing your money while avoiding ruinous interest rates, you’re setting yourself up for financial independence. And that means you’re one step closer to the ultimate dream: early retirement. 

Action plan: Make invisible waste visible.

Consumerism promises happiness but it’s usually little more than a temporary fix. What it does generate is waste. A lot of waste. Take clothing. According to the Guardian, Americans throw away 11 million tons of clothes every year. So here’s how to eliminate waste in your own wardrobe: make it visible. Simply push all the clothes in your closet to the left, and place an empty hanger with a piece of masking tape in the middle. Everything you wear from now on goes on the right of the marked hanger after it’s been washed. Over time, this reveals how often you use different items. On the right, are the superstars of your wardrobe; in the middle, pieces you do wear but infrequently; and on the left, clothes you never take out at all – the waste. 

#A Self-Made Millionaire's Path To Financial Independence.

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bananashemmo · 7 years

Text

When We Collide (Part 38)

Pairing: Assistant!Y/N/CEO!Luke

Rating: NC-17

Masterlist: Here

Summary: He is the definition of high class smart ass, swimming in Dom Pierre Pérignon champagne and has never seen the shadow of poverty. She is underprivileged, lives in a messy dorm room on sale and struggles working as an assistant after being thrown out of college. But how will they collide when Luke makes Y/N pregnant after a drunkenly one night stand

When We Collide on Wattpad

“Welcome to Sydney. My hometown and the place I was born and raised.”

“You’re kidding, right?” You had to blink twice just to make sure Luke was telling the truth. The colorful lights coming from the small water fountains in the middle of the entrance to the mansion was eye catching.

“Don’t act like you’re surprised.” Luke blinked with his right eye and made a motion with his hand to get Patrick to help you carry your luggage.

He was stating the truth but you still couldn’t avoid feeling your jaw falling just a tiny bit.

The place was huge. Bigger than any of the three mansions Luke owned back in New York and it definitely wore a different style here. Palms were everywhere and not to mention the insane heat that was nothing compared to the cold back at home.

You looked over your shoulder just to make sure Patrick didn’t needed any help and smiled softly when he gave you a nod and walked forward.

You were almost too afraid to walk on the stones beneath you. They pretty much looked like they were made out of diamonds and because of the flashing lights they showed your reflection.

Luke seemed pretty comfortable to be home. Almost excited, he was biting down on his lip with a wide smile as he walked up the long pair of stairs.

A hand came from his front and you grabbed it politely to get the extra help it needed to get up without problems. Safe to say you could feel your knees starting to shake.

You weren’t sure if it was because of the nervousness or if it was because of the small pain from having to walk more than necessary.

Luke on the other hand seemed so comfortable. It was like he wasn’t nervous for anything but that was also a bit of a sigh of relief. You were nervous that he would grow worried about the smallest things.

The ride over here was okay. Not to mention the flight was alright and you didn’t have any aches or pain during the trip. You were only nervous once during turbulence but it was quickly over and you could snooze off again.

In fact you looked pretty tired. It had been a long day and you had arrived at night so it was right after dinner services. You and Luke, on the other hand, did eat because of the food being served at the plane.

You shook away the nervous feeling and held your breath carefully when Luke grabbed the handle and was welcomed inside.

“Welcome to the Hemmings Family.”

The instant sound of jazz music filled your eyes and faintly you could hear glasses of champagne being clinked together. Voices and chats were filling the house but you could tell it wasn’t coming from the entrance you were standing in.

You looked up at Luke not really understanding what was going on but by his expression he did neither.

“Sounds like mom and dad are having one of their social gatherings.” He spoke under his breath and took off your jacket after giving his to the butler of the mansion.

“Tonight is your parents’ 31 years anniversary. They’ve celebrated it by inviting friends and family.” The butler explained and Luke’s eyes widened.

“Oh my-,” He commented and looked down, “I totally forgot about that.”

He looked a bit bummed about the situation but then he shrugged and headed towards the large stairs that to upstairs. You weren’t sure of what to do so you did the exact same and followed him behind the many steps.

He was heading towards a special direction you could tell. He knew exactly well where he was going and as he turned on the last corner you came to a door.

“This used to be my old bedroom.” He explained and opened the two doors to let you inside.

You walked into the room and tried to scan it as much as possible. It was much smaller than you had expected but with the large balcony door by the end of it you could tell that it was bigger than expected.

With the bed in the middle and books everywhere you could tell that he still kept his style classic. It was inspired from something simple like his hometown bedroom.

He walked forward and with the help of Patrick placed your suitcases to the left side of the bed.

You weren’t sure of what to do so you headed towards the end of the bed and took a seat down onto the mattress. Just as soft as it looked like, you could feel there was at least three different sheets beside the heat.

“I’m not sure if you want to sleep in here, if you’d like I can lead you to one of the guest rooms.” He suggested but you shook your head.

“It’s okay,” You smiled and held your fingers between the sheets. “I don’t mind sharing the bed as long as you stay on your side and you don’t snore... I know you have a habit of that.”

Your comments made his eyebrows lift and you couldn’t help but giggle by his reaction.

“And how do you know I snore?” He asked a little bit serious but you could tell it was only for the act.

“Please, if it was possible you would be able to hear it on the security cameras hanging outside on your balcony to your bedroom back at home. I’m sure even the ones on the first floor are able to hear your rumbling noises because god that is one hell of a sound you make.”

He looked shocked by his words but deep down he was aware of what he was doing.

It wasn’t often he did it but when Luke did snore, it sounded like the building could crash any passed second.

You watched him head towards the balcony and grabbed the top locks of it to pull it open.

You weren’t sure of what to say but you could tell that he wanted you to join the outside so you did after jumping up from the mattress.

The balcony looked much bigger than it did from the outside. Along with a few chairs and a small table the rack all around the balcony was covered with different kinds of plants. It also twisted up the wall of the house which gave a cozy affect.

He was standing with his hands on the top of the rack that was available to touch and be seen and you stood beside him.

The view allowed just a small peek down to the beach. In fact you could hear the faint sound of the waves crashing ashore but it was almost gone because of the jazz music coming from downstairs.

The music was pretty catchy and familiar but you couldn’t recall where you’d heard it before.

“You see the man over there?” Luke asked and leaned his arm forward to point.

In the crowd of people standing with glasses of champagne around the turquoise blue pool with balloons and lights in the middle of it with fountains you spotted the guy he was pointing at.

“It’s the one and only Andrew Hemmings. The master behind the Hemm Productions and alternatively known as my father. He was the one starting everyone and the one who carried everything in his shoulders. You can kind of call him my idol if you ask me.”

You focused extra carefully and looked up at Luke to see him watch his father pretty proud.

“He must be the one planning everything tonight,” He explained and pointed at the guy standing next to his father speaking with a glass of champagne.

“That’s my brother Ben.” The guy had similarities to Luke but it couldn’t compare as to when he pointed towards another guy standing with his arm hooked around a tall brunette.

“And that’s my brother Jack with his wife Celeste. They are the managers when it comes to the Hemm productions regarding clothing lines. They produce everything from simple t-shirts to most of the dresses people are wearing for tonight. It’s kind of a family thing.”

He was so passionate about his family. The way his eyes were lightening up and it wasn’t because of the lights around you because they weren’t bright enough to do so.

He truly loved speaking about this, you could feel it fully from his heart.

“Do uh-, I mean, do they know?” You weren’t exactly sure of how to ask the question so it came out a bit hesitant.

He looked over at you at furrowed eyebrows not catching up but then softened.

“They’re aware. I explained everything to them over a Skype call to prevent any drama to happen. They’ve all been aware from the start that I wasn’t truly dating Holly but it’s for the PR. What they didn’t know on the other hand was the fact that my pregnant assistant was carrying my baby.”

You nodded your head silently and felt a lump form in your throat.

“You know how parents react when they hear how things aren’t going the path they expect their child to follow. Getting an assistant pregnant and being out of marriage? It wasn’t really in the safe hand but after explaining for a full hour they got to understand and now... I think they’re dealing the way my family does it the best.”

You took in every word and looked up at him just to make sure that he was telling the truth. It was easy to come up with something stupid just to cover it up.

You were, after all, going to live with these people on hold for the rest of your life.

Even if you didn’t want to admit it, you just wanted to blend in somehow.

“Don’t worry about them. I know just exactly well how to impress them.” He made a small wink in the eye but you weren’t sure what he was hinting at.

You didn’t even know what to ask because you could sense he would spoil it later. He went back to explaining a few people here and there but you had noticed he was missing out someone.

“What about your mom? Shouldn’t she be here as well?” You tried to spot someone looking like Luke in a female version but it was impossible.

“She should be here somewhere.” Luke scratched his small beard and looked extra carefully trying to spot his younger.

“She has been spotted.”

You looked over your shoulder by the sound of a female voice singing from your behind and Luke turned around as well with a wide smile on his face.

“Mom! Hiding in the shadows.” He commented and you followed him along back into the bedroom where she was standing with an expensive white fur over her shoulder.

“Come over here gorgeous oh my god it’s been months since I’ve seen that pretty face of yours.” It was luck she was wearing high heels because with her short height there was no way possible she would even be able to touch his cheeks.

He kissed her politely on the cheeks and afterwards gave her a welcoming hug.

“Your hair has been growing so long I almost didn’t recognize you from behind. Maybe you should order a time at Fleischman any time soon.”

“I’m rocking the new look mom. Looks amazing with a lot of hair-gel pulled back with a comb.” He replied politely, it wasn’t the first time someone had made a remark about his hair.

“And would you take a look, oh my god. She’s gloating.” Attention was drawn towards you by her and your eyes widened.

“I cannot believe I’m going to be a grandmother. May I?” She asked and before you could say yes she was caressing the top of your bump.

“I think you already are.” You smiled back not really knowing what to do, but you had to make a good impression so it was just about keeping on the track.

“When does my first granddaughter see the light of life? I mean it can’t be long from now you can almost press her out on Luke’s expensive $800,000 floor carpet.”

The leaves didn’t fall tall from the trees and you could literally shape her from Luke’s personality too.

“We’re expecting in the start of April.” You explained and she nodded her head amazed.

“Have you considered residential schools already? I’ve spoken to a member of the family who has a friend saying that one in New York is specialized in the financial order?”

“Easy, easy mum.” Luke was quick to say and stood beside you. “We haven’t really considered things like that yet. First mission is to get her born.”

“Well yes, that is very well true.” She nodded her head showing that just a little bit of wine could mess up her mind very quickly.

“It’s time for me to let go of the mother role and return it to someone else. And how I must admit I’m proud that my granddaughter will not only have one but two families in the 50 of the riches in the world.”

Your eyes widened in confuse by her words and your eyebrows furrowed in confuse, “Sorry?”

“I you know I mean you probably don’t talk about it much in Maine but you know from a rich person to another. We always think the best way forward is that money will never become a problem to cause troubles.”

“I think that’s enough for the wine mum.” Luke quickly interrupted and took the glass out of her hands to place it on the nightstand.

“Why don’t you let me and Y/N get changed quickly and we’ll come meet the family.”

“Of course, of course. I will wave myself out.” She giggled and was quick to grab the glass before Luke looked at her and disappeared out of the door.

You still didn’t understand what in the world was going on and by the look on Luke’s face you could tell something was up.

“Luke what did you say before we came? What did you say about me?” You asked and took a step forward just exactly as he took a step backwards.

“I uh-, I may or may not have told that you’re-, You’re uh-,” He was stumbling over his words not really getting anywhere.

“Lucas Robert Hemmings spit it out.” The hormones took over and you looked at him with wide eyes.

“I may or may not have told my whole family that you’re in the category of the riches people in Maine along with your family. Please don’t kill me because it all came out caused of panic!”

“You told them I was rich? Why the hell did you do that!?” You screeched, eyes wide but you it almost didn’t come as a shock to you when you thought about it.

“I panicked Y/N and I’m so sorry I did but try look at our story! Trying to explain everything would honestly take forever and saying that you were rich kind of helped on the situation we were put in. I was just trying to make a good impression on your behalf already.”

“By saying something I’m not?” You spat and crossed your arms, “What a way to go Luke! You’ve outsmarted yourself.”

“Y/N, please.”

You could tell that he was desperate both by his tone but also the way he was looking at you. You shrugged your shoulder unsure because you were still somehow very pissed at him.

“Fine. I’ll do it but just this one time.” You finally managed to say and he sighed heavy in relief.

“Good. And now that we’re at it you need to change into this dress.” He spoke and your eyebrows lifted in surprise, ready to come up with the questions again.

“Hurry.” He said fast and ignored the way you were looking at him and felt him push you in the shoulders to get towards the nearest bathroom.

You rolled your eyes deeply because of the situation but in the end, you did as you were told.

When coming into the living room and outside to the pool area so many people were there you were amazed. From what Luke had explained it wasn’t only family that had showed up but also close friends and business partners.

You didn’t have much to say when you walked around and greeted people. It was more like Luke saying something funny when he met someone, they would laugh and you would give a small wave as you walked past and by.

Only sometimes when you were asked something you opened your mouth to speak a little.

But it was hard to come up with something because mostly you had no idea what they were talking about but one thing was for sure and it was about money.

You had also been standing with his brother and wife for a while. She seemed to be the only one standing out a little bit along with you, not that she wasn’t rich because she was but she was much more lowkey and the rest of the guests for tonight.

You on the other hand only stood out because of the massive bump that was pressed into a size smaller dress than you were normally.

So much for having Luke to pick out your clothes in such a hurry.

“Oh my god Luke! Look at how grown you look! I haven’t seen you since one of the business meetings your dad held when you were around this height.”

A woman with a reddish grey hair caught your attention as you walked by with a glass of water and champagne.

You would have imagined Luke would want to roll his eyes because he had been walking around like this for almost an hour without getting the chance to stop for a second and breath.

She was standing with her hand flat down by the height of her knees and illustrated how small he once was.

It could barely compare to now with his 6′4 tall frame hovering over you.

“Mrs. Cologne. Always a pleasure to see you again.” Luke politely said and gave her a gentle handshake followed by you doing the same.

“I didn’t know you were going to a father.” She commented when she noticed your bump and you looked up at him expecting for a conversation to happen which you had been avoiding all night.

“Yes, yes I am. A little girl is ready to grow big and become a diamond inside.” Luke caressed happily on your stomach which only made you nod your head in agreement.

“A girl? A change in the Hemmings family for once. I think you could also need a girl that gets a bit of control so your mother can gain back a bit of the respect in the family.”

“I think we all know that Liz is the head master out of the whole family. The head of the family and most importantly the one in charge.” As he was speaking Luke looked over his shoulder to see his mother happily laugh with the glass of almost empty champagne.

“Liz definitely knows how to carry all of you boys in one piece.” Mrs. Cologne winked and lifted her glass in the air.

“You sure are right about that.” Luke nodded his head in agreement and lifted his glass as well, eyes glancing down at you to make sure you followed along with your water.

“Speaking of diamonds.” Mrs. Cologne started after taking her sip and looked up at Luke, “I heard the gold digging you’ve been doing. Liz showed me some pretty impressed pictures of the ones you had bought recently. I must say you’ve really stood out from normally, I thought you were into rubies.”

“Nah, I thought we needed an upgrade this time.” Luke quickly shook his head in disagreement and gave her a wink.

“Are you into diamonds too, Y/N?” Mrs. Cologne asked and you had to blink twice just to get back into the conversation.

To be honest your only attention was towards the many trays of mini food standing over by the staircase to upstairs.

“Oh yes sure! Maine’s got a lot of them, we basically collect them with shovels and such. My dad owns a company. My mother does too! She’s the boss.” The words flied out of your mouth every time you got an idea and by the tone of your voice it didn’t sound the least convincing if you asked Luke.

“Oh really?” Mrs. Cologne asked interested and you nodded your head in agreement.

“Last time in the mine was a pretty bad season, mostly coal and such but my dad has raised the states and I most probably assume we will find some good old jade.”

“Okay that’s enough.” Luke whispered under his breath and hooked his arm around yours.

“It was good to see you again, Mrs. Cologne. Maybe if I have the time we can discuss diamonds later in the weekend.” His words flied out quickly at once but Mrs. Cologne didn’t seem to mind.

“It was nice talking to you.” She took a sip of her drink again, “Good luck with everything!”

Luke finished the conversation by giving her a nervous nod and turned around to walk away with you.

You barely got a word said into the situation before he had pulled you towards the table with food much to your delight.

“What was that all about?” He asked when you were away from others and you looked up at him with wide eyes and a sandwich in your mouth.

“What?” You asked back and tried to chew so you didn’t have to speak with your mouth full.

“Coal and jade? Y/N for god sake we made a deal you weren’t supposed to speak!”

“What, let me just try to be rich for once and act like it! I didn’t even get the chance to argue with someone and afterwards shove a check in their chest just to make sure I would get my will.” You knew you were slowly teasing him but he was still too confused to catch up.

“Where do you even know what Jade is?” He asked instead and you wiggled your eyebrows.

“You don’t think I’ve been playing The Sims 3 and collected gems for simoleons?” You answered the question with a question and crossed your arms.

“Okay, fine. It doesn’t even surprise me.” He shook his head and finished his drink to place it on the empty tray of a coincidentally waiter walking past him.

“Let’s just do something that doesn’t contain speaking with anyone or such thing like that.” He explained and folded his hands together in front of his face in thought.

“I don’t want you to start talking about more fake Sims 3 adventures while speaking to my family and friends.”

“Okay.” You nodded your head in agreement and that was when an idea came to your mind when you looked into the middle of the massive room.

“Let’s dance.”

Before Luke could get a say in the suggestion you grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the dance floor. Not that it was many but it was enough to blend into the crowd and they were all swinging in pairs to the slow jazz music.

“You know I don’t dance.” He tried to say but you only made him stay quiet.

“I know you can.” You spoke and wiggled your eyebrows again.

“I’m not continuing that High School Musical pun.” He shook his head but still decided to go with the suggestion you had by letting you place your hand in his.

“So you’ve watched it?” You asked impressed and moved your head back to look up at his tall frame.

“I’m from 1996 who do you think I am Y/N. Of course I’ve watched those lame movies.... And they’re actually not lame.”

Smiling brightly by his words you looked down at the floor and was pretty impressed by his skills. He was swinging you around slowly like it wasn’t a problem that a huge stomach was separating you.

“You’re quite the dancer.” You commented and he smirked by your words.

“No, let me guess.” You were quick to react and looked at him with teasing eyes.

“You’ve taken dance classes before. Most probably when you were a small child and that has caught up until now.”

“My whole family always participates in dances or masquerade balls. Dancing have been something shared since I was a little man in a suit and to make sure we always stayed at the top we all took dances.” He explained, cheek pressed against yours to say it loud enough for you to hear.

You moved back to look up at him and see his reaction. He nodded his head just to make sure that he was right and in confirmation.

“But you know this is something different.” He whispered and moved away to swing you around.

“How come?” You asked, following his steps slowly and blinked twice.

“Because I haven’t had a dance like this before.” He gently said and swung you around one more time, your eyebrows furrowing but you were still smiling regardless of what he was meaning behind his words.

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itsfinancethings · 4 years

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As millions of Americans saw their jobs disappear over the past few months, in some cases forever, there was one consolation. They were being taken care of by an impromptu safety net, created by Congress in the early days of the pandemic, that paid an extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits on top of the often-meager weekly benefits they would normally have received.

But absent federal action, that program expires July 31, and many Americans’ desperate situations are about to become bleaker. In Arkansas, people could go from receiving $681 a week to $81 a week; in Florida and Tennessee, even the highest-paying worker will receive a maximum of $275 a week in unemployment benefits, down from the $875 they received before, if Congress does not pass an extension of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), the enhanced employment benefits that were originally part of the CARES Act. Even if lawmakers approve an extension, it will be only a temporary reprieve for the jobless, who face possibly months or years of limbo as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the country and the economy.

Megan K. Rocks, a 38-year-old single mother in Athens, Georgia, is about to see her weekly income go from $725 a week to $125. The events company where Rocks worked as a graphic designer had to cancel all of its events for the year, and Rocks’s income dried up in mid-March. The extra $600 has helped her cover her rent, car insurance and other bills, and pay her cellphone. It has meant that she can take care of her 11-year-old son in the absence of childcare instead of having to find another job immediately.

The looming expiration of these benefits has left Rocks with few options. She’s been looking for jobs she can do at home while she watches her son but hasn’t found any and is terrified about what may happen in a few weeks. “At this point, I have no idea what I’m going to do,” she says. $125 a week isn’t enough to cover her $650 rent, much less take care of things like car registration fees and school supplies for her son.

Millions of people losing their safety net at the same time will deal a major blow to an already shaky economy. Around 25 million Americans will continue to be unemployed in July, August, and September of 2020, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Until now, the extra unemployment benefits essentially helped bring these Americans earnings’ up to the average U.S. weekly wage, so millions could still buy food, pay rent, and maybe even spend on extras like school supplies or entertainment. That consumer spending helped support as many as 2.8 million jobs, reducing the unemployment rate by as much as 1.8%, according to the Joint Economic Committee. On Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau said that retail sales were up 7.5% in June from the previous month, which many economists attribute to the generosity of unemployment benefits.

Keep up to date with our daily coronavirus newsletter by clicking here.

Much of the spending happening in the economy right now can be attributed to lower-income individuals, who are more likely to immediately buy food and other essentials with the money they receive, according to Harvard researchers; they recently found that people at the bottom of the income ladder are spending nearly as much as they did before the pandemic, while high income households have dramatically curtailed spending.

Without the additional unemployment benefits, low-earner expenditures will plummet, costing the economy jobs and growth. GDP will fall by about 2.5% for the second half of the year—more than a year’s worth of economic growth, according to Congressional testimony from Jason Furman, a Harvard economist.

The human toll will be dramatic. A moratorium on evictions from rental properties that have federally backed mortgages, or that take part in federal assistance programs, expires July 25. It covered slightly more than one in four rental units in the U.S. Families are poised to lose their homes; those who were able to pay credit card debt and student loans will begin to fall behind.

Already, the effect of state and local eviction moratoriums being lifted is becoming clear. Evictions resumed June 1 in Arizona, and courts are processing 52 cases a day on average, up from the 10 to 30 a day they processed during normal times. After Wisconsin’s eviction moratorium ended, evictions shot up 17% in Milwaukee. Michigan’s eviction ban ended July 15, and the state estimates that more than 75,000 eviction cases will now be filed.

Megan K. Rocks and her son Liam at the zoo. Photo courtesy of Megan K. Rocks

Annette Alcala, 30, quickly fell behind on her bills after the restaurant where she worked in New York City’s Time Square closed in March. She says the state took three months to process her unemployment claim, during which time she struggled to pay her share of the $2,150 monthly rent on the apartment she shares with a roommate. When her benefits finally began, they included back pay she was owed, but by then, Alcala was behind on the bills. She has yet to regain her financial footing; she’s still three months behind on rent and is staring down the end of the extra $600 a week. When it ends, she’ll receive $300 a week, barely enough to cover rent, much less her student loans or credit card debt. The government says it wants her to find a new job, “but there aren’t jobs available,” she says.

The end of the extra unemployment benefits will fall hardest on people of color like Alcala, who is Latina, further widening America’s wealth gap. In June the unemployment rate for Black Americans was 15.4%, and the unemployment for Hispanics was 14.5%, compared to 10.1% for white Americans, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many of the service-sector jobs affected by the pandemic, including in restaurants, hotels, and retail stores, were held by Black Americans and Latinos. As states slow reopening plans and companies keep workers remote, demand for these jobs will remain low.

Legal advocates worry that the end of the $600 benefits will thrust families into a cycle of poverty that will be difficult to escape. Families may feel they have no choice but to take out high interest loans, which become increasingly difficult to pay back the longer that borrowers have no income. On July 7, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rescinded Obama-era provisions aimed at limiting payday and high-cost loans. Already, many people are struggling because of long delays processing unemployment benefits; Jocelyn J. Armand, advocacy director of Legal Services of Miami, says that only about 2% of her clients are receiving the unemployment benefits that they’re due. Out of Nevada’s 300,000 applications for unemployment benefits, only 100,000 have been paid, says Rhea Gertken, the directing attorney of Nevada Legal Services.

“Even during the best of times, people have a hard time making ends meet,” says Kevin De Liban, an attorney at Legal Aid Arkansas, which is dealing with an upswell of clients concerned about meeting their bills after July 31. “You take that steady job away and you take away temp supports, and they’re not going to be able to pay rent, pay utilities, or buy stuff needed to educate kids, and the usual inequities that already exist for low-income folks are going to intensify.”

While the HEROES Act, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in May, would have extended the enhanced unemployment benefits until the end of the year, Republicans have raised objections. They point to research showing that two-thirds of recipients are making more on unemployment than they did while they were working and say that unemployed workers will fail to return to work if benefits remain generous. (A June study found no evidence that higher unemployment benefits were preventing people from returning to work.)

Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow has expressed interest in a “return-to-work” bonus of $450 a week to incentivize people to find jobs, rather than an extension of unemployment benefits. Other proposals include gradually tapering the amount of extra unemployment benefits available, reducing the amount to $200 a week and sending another round of stimulus checks, or letting states cap the extra benefits to ensure they don’t exceed workers’ past wages. One thing is for sure: Republicans are unlikely to keep the $600 per week in extra benefits as its current level; Stephen Moore, a Trump economic adviser, told Yahoo that “the single most important thing we have to do going forward is stop the $600 a week.”

The surge of coronavirus infections may help Democrats win the argument that Congress must extend benefits, since so many states have had to scale back reopening plans. Though Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia told Senate Finance Committee in June that it was too early to extend benefits because “we’re seeing that things have the capacity to change quickly for the better,” it would be difficult to make that argument now. The U.S. reported a record 67,417 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

Because of the way states process benefits, the last round of additional unemployment benefits will go out the week of July 25. States are already starting to program FPUC out of their computer systems, says Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. Unless Congress acts in the next few days, there will almost certainly be a gap when people do not receive additional benefits, even if they are renewed.“There will be individual catastrophes—people’s lives will be ruined,” she says.

Joe Raedle—Getty Images A car participates in a July 16, 2020 caravan protest headed for the Coral Gables, Florida, office of Sen. Rick Scott. Caravan participants asked Scott and other Senators to support extension of unemployment benefits for laid-off Americans.

The sudden disappearance in benefits highlights the lackluster state of unemployment insurance in the country, where payouts vary drastically from state to state. In the wake of the Great Recession, many states reduced the amount of unemployment benefits available and changed how they calculated payouts, to save themselves money. “States can be as stingy as they want,” Evermore says.

Unemployed workers can receive as little as $37 a week in unemployment compensation in Indiana, and $15 a week in North Carolina, according to Department of Labor data from 2019. Americans’ ability to survive may soon be dependent on the generosity of their states; in places like Florida and Tennessee, even people who had been making top salaries are only entitled to a maximum of $275 a week, while the same person cwould get $823 a week in unemployment benefits in Massachusetts. Ironically, some of the states hardest hit by the pandemic like Florida and Nevada, which both saw tourism dry up, will see some of the biggest drop-offs in money coming in once the FPUC expires, since their state-level benefits are so low.

For many unemployed workers, the looming expiration of extra benefits is causing a reckoning; they hoped the economy would go back to normal, but now, they need a new plan. With an unemployment rate of 11.1%, they have few choices and are competing with other unemployed workers for any open job. “My hands are tied–I am scrambling to find freelance work, but everything is slow to come back,” says John Jennings, a 35-year-old bartender in Minneapolis who has worked in restaurants, film and TV production, and special events, but has yet to find a job work in any of those fields. “Places keep downsizing, which makes me wonder, what does bartending even look like after this?”

Like Jennings, many people are seeking jobs in multiple fields and chafe at the idea that they haven’t been looking for work because unemployment benefits are so generous. Sam Nelsen, a single father living in the Orlando area, had two jobs before the pandemic, as a bartender at an Italian restaurant near Disney World and as a theme park concierge and tour guide Since work dried up in March, he has applied for jobs in construction and in hospitality. But even though Disney World has partially opened, it needs fewer workers because it is keeping patrons and employees socially-distanced; just 20,000 of its 43,000 workers have been called back.

Nelsen’s rent is $1600 a month, and he doesn’t know how he will pay it or feed his kids on the $275 a week he’ll be receiving if the additional unemployment benefits expire. The extra benefits “are literally vital to survival,” he told me. “It’s tough to even think about what happens once July ends. We’re living in the center of the hospitality world, and we are not being taken care of.”

#IFTTT #Blogger

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berniesrevolution · 7 years

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NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE | EDUCATION ISSUE

Laura Fuchs has been teaching Advanced Placement U.S. government and politics at H.D. Woodson High School in Washington for six of her 10 years there. She is in her early 30s, wears her hair pulled back in a bun and has a no-nonsense way of dealing with her students. But that apparent sternness belies a genuine love of teaching and a deep well of patience, two qualities that have prepared her for teaching a college-level course at a school like Woodson.

Many students in Washington go to charter schools or to one of seven magnet high schools in the district, which admit students based on specific eligibility criteria. Woodson, serving around 600 students in the second-poorest ward in the city, is one of nine high schools in Washington with open enrollment. In 2016, it had a graduation rate of 76 percent — up from 53 percent in 2012. Last year only 1 percent of its students met math standards on national standardized tests, and 4 percent met reading standards. Woodson is among the lowest-performing schools in the city, and as at many of Washington’s public schools, 100 percent of the students receive free or subsidized lunches. “A lot of students are not at the poverty line; they’re significantly below it,” Fuchs says.

On the day I visited last fall, Fuchs’s class was learning about Social Security. Most of Fuchs’s students were already familiar with the program, but only its disability-insurance component. Many were surprised to learn that it’s also a retirement program. Next, Fuchs brought up the 1950s baby boom and discovered that some of her students didn’t realize that the country’s birthrate is lower today than it was in the past. One student chimed in jokingly: “That’s O.K., these high school students can catch them up!” Fuchs steered them back to the matter at hand. “When it comes to the A.P. exam, you need to know what Social Security is — it’s called an entitlement, which means if you qualify according to the law, you receive it,” she explained.

A.P. U.S. government, like the 38 other A.P. courses developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization, is a difficult class. Students are expected to read college-level textbooks, grasp complicated vocabulary and concepts and spend 30 minutes to an hour each night on homework. At the end of the year is an arduous final exam designed, distributed and graded by the College Board. If students score a 3 or better on a 5-point scale, they typically receive college credit. (Though the College Board does not consider a 1 or a 2 to be a failing grade, they are commonly understood to be — and students receive no credit for them.) As of last year, D.C. Public Schools required that all its high schools offer at least eight Advanced Placement classes.

Until recently, this fact alone would have been considered remarkable. A.P. classes were, for years, primarily taught in wealthier school districts. But over the last decade, the program has grown rapidly. In 2006, 1.3 million students took at least one A.P. exam; by 2016, the number had increased to 2.6 million. The total number of tests taken grew during the same time period to 4.7 million from 2.3 million. Much of this growth is due to increased federal funding for A.P. tests and concerted efforts by the College Board to reach low-income and minority students. The organization has a program called “All In,” which identifies lower-income students who might succeed in an A.P. class based on their PSAT scores — the Preliminary SAT, which the College Board also administers — and then reaches out to those students (and their teachers and advisers) to persuade them to take the courses.

From one viewpoint, the expansion has been successful. In 2005, only 6.4 percent of the nation’s high school seniors who took A.P.s were black; that figure increased to 9.5 percent in 2015. Hispanics’ participation grew to 20 percent from 13.4 percent. For low-income students, that figure doubled, to about 30 percent from about 15 percent.

But taking an A.P. class and succeeding at it are two different things. After class let out, Fuchs told me, with a note of frustration in her voice, how few of her students passed the A.P. exam at the end of the year. “I’ve got five to six kids reading on grade level, and three of those don’t show up,” she said. “The rest are significantly below grade level.” Fuchs, whose class meets for 85 minutes daily, works with her students through lunch periods and whenever she has a free moment. She took some of them canvassing out of state on weekends during the 2016 campaign to teach them about real-world politics. She buys them breakfast the morning of the A.P. exam. Many of her students are engaged and passionate. Still, she said, “for six years, the passage rate has always been completely flat.” Usually, only one or two students in her class score a 3 or higher.

Fuchs’s students are part of a broader trend. Nationally, over 70 percent of African-Americans and 57 percent of Hispanics who took an A.P. test in 2016 did not pass. (Over all, the failure rate was 42 percent.) And over the past two decades, although the percentage of students scoring between 2 and 5 remained fairly stable, the percentage of students scoring 1 has grown to 19 percent from 12 percent.

In 2016, at the nine open-enrollment neighborhood high schools in Washington, the passage rates were fairly dismal; at three schools, only one student score a 3 or above, and one had no students pass at all. This failure rate, which is rarely highlighted by the College Board — or the policy makers and legislators who also drive the A.P. expansion — raises questions that are as tangled as any about race, class and education in this country. Critics of the program see the A.P.’s expansion as a boondoggle, with scarce resources being thrown at a program that simply wasn’t designed to address the systemic problems facing public education — at a real cost to these students.

(Continue Reading)

#politics #the left #new york times #education #public education #privatization #charter schools #poverty

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labourpress · 7 years

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Jeremy Corbyn speech to Cooperative Party Conference

Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at the Cooperative Party Conference said:

***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

Thank you Gareth for that introduction, it’s a pleasure to be addressing your centenary conference.

Our movement was in its early days inspired by the actions of William Morris and Robert Owen. Owen spoke of “the union and co-operation of all for the benefit of each”. Those two words “union” and “co-operation” mean so much to our movement. They are our philosophy, and our institutions, our theory and our practice.

This is an important landmark in your history, but more importantly this is a significant moment for our future.

The energy and creativity of our movement helped us to deliver in June the biggest increase in the Labour vote since 1945.

And that helped us deliver nine more Labour and Co-operative MPs from Brighton to Glasgow, bringing the total now to 38 in Parliament - more than in either 1945 or 1997.

The strength of our movement - Labour, trade union and co-operative, and more importantly co-operating - has transformed us into a government-in-waiting.

Next May we have local elections in cities and towns across England. Let’s build on the 900 Labour and Co-operative councillors we have. Today let’s set ourselves the challenge to make it over 1,000 Labour Co-op councillors on May 3rd.

The Tories have devolved austerity to local councils and perversely areas with higher levels of poverty have been hit hardest. Councils have on average faced 40% cuts in their budgets. But in the face of this adversity councils such as Preston have responded with inspiring innovation. They brought together major local employers in their community, what academics call the anchor institutions, and Preston council worked with them to drive through a local programme of economic transformation. By changing their procurement policies, these anchor institutions were able to drive up spending in Preston by £75 million, protecting businesses and jobs.

And they’re looking at the pension fund they are part of to see where investment can support local businesses, keeping the money circulating in their city. But perhaps most relevantly to you, the council is actively seeking opportunities to create worker-led co-operatives where there are gaps in the local supply chain.

Our movement, the labour and co-operative movement, is brimming with passion, people and ideas. And our movement needs your ideas and I know our shadow cabinet values your input as well.

This afternoon you'll hear from shadow education minister Tracy Brabin, talking about our plans for a National Education Service, a vision for education in which institutions of learning co-operate rather than compete. And tomorrow our shadow International Development Secretary Kate Osamor, herself a Labour and Co-operative MP, will address you to outline our international policy based on our values of peace, justice and co-operation.

We live in a world riven by conflict, spurred on by ego and neo-imperial ambition. Never has the time been more important to restate our commitment to the UN Charter, the third clause of which states its aim “To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems”.

With the problems facing us of nuclear proliferation, climate change, the global refugee crisis, the humanitarian crises in Syria, Yemen and of the Rohingya in Myanmar - a global vision driven by our co-operative principles is more necessary than ever. Whether its Donald Trump or Kim Jong-Un - macho posturing needs to give way to calm, rational co-operation. And across the world co-operatives play such a huge role as a spur to development, empowering women, bringing communities together. And today there are over a billion people worldwide who are members of co-operatives and I am proud to say that I am one of them.

We need co-operative values at home and abroad.

Our economy is failing to deliver.

For millions of people the current system is failing to deliver secure jobs, failing to deliver secure housing, and failing to deliver rising living standards.

Yet this is the system which exploits the many for the profits of a few, that the Conservatives want to defend. They want to conserve the privilege of the few.

Philip Hammond says that Labour poses an “existential challenge to our economic model” - Yes, we do.

I am not going to sit back when their economic model is seeing:

- homelessness double

- four million children in poverty

- over a million older people not getting the care they need

Their economic model is broken. It doesn’t work for most people. Even the International Monetary Fund thinks inequality and low taxes for the richest are harming the economy.

That’s why Labour is now the new mainstream, developing a new consensus of how to run an economy for the many not the few.

This new consensus will reward the real wealth creators - that means all of us. It will genuinely value people and communities - and invest in them. It will create an economy fit for the 21st Century with a state that’s not afraid to act when something goes wrong but, more importantly, also proactive to make sure things work in the first place.

Unlike Mr Hammond and the Conservatives I don’t think it’s acceptable that chief executives get 180 times the pay of their average worker. I don’t think it’s acceptable that when hospital A&Es are closing the government can fund another tax giveaway for big business. And I don’t think it’s right that landlords can be paid £10 billion a year in housing benefit without even the requirement that the home is fit for human habitation.

The Conservatives believe everyone is motivated by the same base interests - selfishness and greed.

For all their rhetoric they don’t even begin to understand the entrepreneurial spirit they claim to champion. When I meet entrepreneurs, and those trying to start their own business, their motivations are to express their creativity, serve their community, meet people’s needs, to create an income for themselves and jobs for others.

Their inspiration is often closer to the pragmatic principles of the co-operative movement than it is to the abstract ideology of Milton Friedman.

So I say to people thinking of starting an enterprise or those struggling to run a start-up - consider the co-operative model and get the support you need from Co-operatives UK.

But conference, we have to acknowledge the obstacles to the Co-operative model. Too often people who want to change their community or start a business don’t know about the co-operative movement. And yet co-operative start-ups are more robust than other forms of business start-up - twice as likely to still be in operation five years later.

The co-operative sector in the UK is one-fifth of the size of Germany’s - under-valued and under-appreciated. A Labour government will change that.

We will promote the co-operative option and support you to double the size of the co-operative economy. This isn’t just an aspiration - John McDonnell and Rebecca Long-Bailey have set out how we will:

- bring forward legislation to create a proper legal definition for co-operative ownership

- ensure that workers have a right to own, when a company is facing change of ownership or closure

- establish regional development banks that will help deliver low cost finance to co-operatives

- support the creation of publicly owned, locally accountable energy companies and co-operatives

Because we support co-operative principles, they are Labour principles.

To build a new high-investment economy for the 21st century we must get Brexit right. That means securing full access to the Single Market and using the powers we get back from Brussels to help transform our economy.

The Tories are transparently failing Britain in the Brexit negotiations. They are making a shocking mess of Brexit. They are split down the middle, negotiating with each other instead of the EU.

With each passing day they are driving us closer to a ‘no deal’ Brexit. Let’s be clear: no deal is the worst possible deal. It would leave us with World Trade Organisation tariffs and restrictions instead of the full access to European markets we need.

The risk would be that key manufacturers leave for the European mainland taking skilled jobs with them. In sector after sector, ‘no deal’ could prove to be an economic disaster.

Theresa May’s cabinet of chaos is risking a jobs meltdown across Britain. A powerful faction of the Conservatives want a no-deal outcome because they think they can use it to turn our economy into a deregulated tax haven. We must not let them.

So when we talk about taking natural monopolies into public ownership we’re not inspired by the centralised and remote models of the 1940s and 1950s. We’re determined to create models of ownership that involve workers and consumers based on Co-operative principles, whether that’s at community, regional or national level.

Last year the profit margins at the big six energy firms hit their highest level on record, falling wholesale costs were not passed on, and since then providers like British Gas have hiked prices again by 12.5%.

Why does this happen?

Because energy is run for profit, for the interests of the few over the many.

Our shadow energy team has just returned from Denmark, a country where the grid is publicly owned and municipal and co-operative ownership dominates.

And look at what this has allowed them to achieve:

- a 30% reduction in industry use of fossil fuels

- an overall 40% CO2 reduction

- a reduction in energy consumption

- and by 2020 Denmark will get 50% of its electricity from wind.

British people are being short-changed by a system that is failing:

- failing to provide energy at an affordable rate

- failing to invest in new technology to tackle climate change

- and failing to deliver clean air.

And I want to say a word about Royal Mail, taking legal action against the will of their own staff rather than negotiating with them and their union

And look at what has happened since privatisation: The company has made £195 million in profits through the sale of assets and closed one in 10 delivery offices, running down and asset stripping the service.

They’ve paid out over £600 million in dividends to private shareholders - that’s £344 every minute since privatisation. And of course the public business was sold off on the cheap by the Lib Dem and Tory coalition.

That’s why we have committed to bringing Royal Mail into public ownership - run in the interest of the public, Royal Mail workers and service users.

I want to end my speech with a challenge to you in the Co-op Party, and to those in the wider co-operative movement - come forward with your ideas, your enthusiasm, your energy.

We have an opportunity in this period of opposition to prepare for government - a Labour government that will transform our economy to work for the many not the few. So contribute your ideas into the Labour Party.

Two areas where I think we can do something practical in the here and now. We know that co-operative start-ups are more likely to survive than conventional business start-ups so what can you as a movement do now, to engage with entrepreneurs to take up the co-operative model, working with local chambers of commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses. Let’s get Labour councils, the co-operative movement, and small business organisations working together to promote the co-operative model.

And finally, I believe that we are entering a period of unprecedented opportunity for socialist politics and co-operative principles. New technology is empowering participation, new social movements today are horizontalist rather than hierarchical, networked rather than top-down. That’s why when I ran to be Labour leader I said I wanted our party to be a movement. And today we are with well over half a million members who joined because they want to be involved and want to participate in our movement.

The top-down model of organisation, whether in politics, the media or in business, is being challenged and is breaking down.

The technology of the digital age should be empowering workers, enabling us to co-operate on a scale not possible before and yet too often it has enabled a more rapacious and exploitative form of capitalism to emerge.

Look at Uber, Deliveroo, and others. The platforms these companies use are the technologies of the future. But, too often, their business models depend not on technological advantage, but on establishing an effective monopoly in their market and using it to drive wages and conditions through the floor.

Governments have to make sure that regulation keeps pace with changing technologies.

But sensible regulation of working conditions would not only improve the lot of existing workers – and yes, despite what some firms try to claim, they are workers – it would mean that new businesses could survive in the market.

Digital platforms are opening up huge opportunities for horizontal, more democratic, forms of organisation to flourish.

Imagine an Uber run co-operatively by their drivers, collectively controlling their futures, agreeing their own pay and conditions, with profits shared or re-invested. The next Labour Government, working with you, can make that a reality.

The biggest obstacle to this is not technological but ourselves. We must have the confidence and organisational skill to make it happen. That’s why we commissioned our report on Alternative Models of Ownership. To start asking fundamental questions about who should own our economy in the digital age, and how to ensure that it’s enormous potential benefits serve the many, not the few.

Its authors recommend that co-operatives be supported by government through access to finance, through legal changes to level the playing field for cooperatives in the market, and through a better government procurement policy, so that public money is being used to support companies that serve the public good.

To prevent just the few benefiting from the “rise of the robots” the report suggests we consider higher minimum wages, a shorter working week, profit sharing schemes, or putting the ownership and control of the robots in the hands of those who work with them and come to rely on them.

We don’t have all the answers yet but are thinking radically about how we can shape the next thirty years to use the power of new technology to make our economy work for the many not the few.

Today Labour and Co-op parties are the largest in Britain with more members than all the other parties combined. We are winning the arguments … with support for public and co-operative ownership. And we are inspiring millions.

We are a movement ready to take office and ready to shape our country for the future.

Conference, thank you.

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