Is there a solution to America’s current addiction to fear? The near-hysteria over the Christmas Day airplane attack shows how overblown our anxieties have become. A gloomy, jittery public seems willing to believe in alarmist stories, even when they amount to demagoguery. Consider the following hyperbolic or even fake sources of fear and outrage.
1. Al-Qaeda remains a potent threat to U.S. security.
2. Under proposed healthcare reform, “death panels” will have power to decide who gets treatment and who doesn’t.
3. Healthcare reform will beggar future generations.
4. The current deficit is so oversized that it will bankrupt the country.
5. Wall Street has benefited from government bailouts to the detriment of Main Street.
6. The U.S. owes so much money to foreign countries that soon the dollar will drastically decline.
7. China is rapidly overtaking the U.S. on all fronts.
You may be immune to the death panel scare, for which we have Sarah Palin to thank, her fear-inducing theme — a total fabrication — being quickly taken up by the far right and even mainstream Republicans. But the other sources of fear are far easier to fall for, despite rational arguments and solid facts that run counter to them.
1. In fact, the U.S. has greatly weakened Al-Qaeda, which has been pushed to the far hinterlands of places like remote Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen. A large number of high-level operatives have been killed. No attacks on the order of 9/11 have occurred in eight years. International sharing of intelligence is at an all-time high. The failure to prevent the Christmas Day airline attack was a wake-up call, but overall, the terror threat is manageable. With large-scale policing efforts in place of misguided wars and mass panic, the future of Al-Qaeda looks dim.
2. Death panels always were a lie, but in fact a national healthcare system will lead to some cuts in Medicare benefits and higher taxes. These are reasonable burdens to bear in the name of social justice. Far more serious and credible threats exist to the American way of life than proposed cuts in Medicare. (Sarah Palin, the author of death panels, is skilled at framing appealing lies. Her populist campaign against big government, for example, ignores the fact that her home state of Alaska receives more government money per capita than any other state; fully a third of all jobs in Alaska are government jobs.)
3. Our present healthcare system has a much greater chance – it’s almost a guarantee — to beggar future generations than any proposed reform. It’s not reform that is bankrupting us but the failure to cut soaring medical costs and the $700 billion spent annually on unnecessary tests and procedures.
4. Right-wing propaganda to the contrary, the current and foreseeable deficit is no greater, as a percentage of gross domestic product, than what the U.S. has carried in the past. The immediate postwar deficit in 1945 is an example. European countries routinely carry the same percentage deficit without undue harm. Large deficits need to be incurred during serious recessions in order to stimulate spending when the public is too afraid or unable to spend. Such incentives are part of the modern nation state. The touting of free market mechanisms has been proven wrong over and over. It may be confusing to know what to do in economic downturns; however, doing nothing is the worst choice.
5. Wall Street’s reaction to its own misbehavior has sparked outrage, and rightfully so on moral grounds. But the huge recovery of the stock market, with a 40% rise in the S&P index for 2009, also benefited Main Street. Billions of dollars of new capital entered the economy, allowing for more lending, spending, and capital investment. There are complex reasons why the economy acts the way it does, but blaming Wall Street entirely is unrealistic and divisive.
6. The dollar showed strength at the beginning of the recession but has subsequently declined. It may be that there is a long-term decline in view, but not over the short term. At present U.S. Treasury bills are selling well at low interest rates. Attempts to replace the dollar as a world currency have not been successful, just as decoupling foreign stock markets from Wall Street have not been successful. We are in a financial crisis and many trends are not favorable. But the rest of the world is in the same crisis, and everyone’s fate is intertwined with everyone else’s.
7. China is rising quickly and has the advantage of central government control. Its huge work force is expected to produce a gross domestic product that will equal the U.S. in a generation. But for now the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India, and China — taken together equal the domestic product of the U.S. We hugely dominate the world economy, and contrary to the alarmists, increasing the wealth and productivity of developing countries will benefit America, not hurt us, by offering more people who can buy our goods, travel to the U.S. and buy our currency.
As you can see, it’s more meticulous and time-consuming to learn about these complex issues than to run scared. Fear is easy to fall for. Fortunately, we now have an anti-fear administration. Whatever one may think of President Obama’s performance in office, he is certainly a level-headed thinker, whose fix-it agenda is based on a rational approach. It would be good for all of us if we followed his lead and stop being addicted to fear. The frisson of bad news creates a momentary high, but in the long run fear is our enemy, as it has always been.
Published in the San Francisco Chronicle
mieke,
Another great piece by DK. He obviously is at peace with his genius, and runs with it.
G,
I like the way Durant wove the stream/banks metaphor into his vision.
In Divine Mind there is no competition or friction or wars…The attributes of Divine Mind is found in it’s reflected nature as all harmonious-
Our history is a story as Will Durant states, that is found on the banks of peace. He eludes that true history is not to do with the conflicts…Will Durant was a genuine man who lived out from the heart of my heart…
But like K said, still much work to do…..
Peace and Love,
G-
K,
I can see what your trying to do here…it’s good and I understand…
Dr William R. Long has another approach, and wrote an essay called soft is strong.
I met a man once at Ananda Village named Trimurti. he was an excellent example of soft is strong…Just standing next to him spoke Truth to your soul….
Peace and Love,
G
The attributes of Divine mind are still distorted in their reflection, but clarity is starting to reveal itself within the reflected image. People like Dr. Chopra, DK, Adyashanti, and others scattered here and there are contributing to the clarity. It will one day reach critical mass, and the phase transition will begin anew once more.
The stream/banks metaphor speaks to me of what happens when we get out of the river/stream’s flow, and get stuck on the banks/or details.
…The blood runs from the banks, or clashes over the details distort the stream/river for a time…but the ever-renewing energies of the flowing river renews our understanding when we open to it.
Yes maybe so, but I would like to add that it would be better if we spend more time understanding our true nature and teaching that, and be taught that at an early age, so we don’t have to keep going through all this analyzing the shadow stuff….maybe that is what will unfold here in the next few years and at least prepare the next generation to actually live the very real life of the True Self….
I will continue playing the harp…until that message is more clearly understood…
Love,
G-
Better? You’re putting spirit in a box. In my experience, it does not work that way.
But you’re entitled to your own opinion.
Playing the harp could also be interpreted as- harping. Which could also be a form of spiritual melancholia.
There are many contributing to the clarity of Truth, not all are visible to the human eye, but they are equally contributing….
and for some of us we are moving into more of an intuitive dialogue-
Peace,
G-
How do you feel you are moving into a more intuitive dialogue? You’re rigid in your understanding to the point of being dogmatic.
Where’s the joy?
Here is my Vision…
We have repeated in history the all familiar cycle of overcoming evil with good. It’s become a perpetual act in delusion to a point where honest seekers even believe it’s necessity to know Good. That is completely false and always has been. Let us transcend as a human race, fully embracing the Divine Nature that is inherent in us all, and instead of generation after generation, tirelessly overcoming evil with good, let’s just get rid of evil for Good…..and as Merriam Williamson so clearly stated on the title of her book-”Return to Love”… “WE don’t need evil to be that which we already are in God” In Truth we never needed it. So called evil was a lie from the beginning and still is the lie…
That is the message that comes from my heart of hearts….May we all collectively progress to a understand fully our true Divine Nature, knowing that we are the individual embodiments of Love and harmony…We are the individual reflections in eternal relation to the Whole. Love has no opposites….
“God is Knowable”
Peace-
G-
Good post, G.
A worthwhile vision.
peace
The republican, Brown, was just projected the winner of the Massachusetts Senate seat.
I’ll give you three reasons why.
1. Escalation of the war
2. No real transparency in government as promised.
3. Jobs.
Let’s not give up yet, K-Trust…
Transparency is a big One- we have lost trust, and we need to declare what transparency really means in government.
Our focus will have no alternative then to be on understanding Natures God and the transparency of God’s Government…..
What, in the material world do we really have to loose? nothing-Let’s loose it all if we have to, and if that’s what it means to really find ourselves as A Nation under God….
G-
Giving up is an assumption on your part. It was mentioned earlier in the thread that one has to know where they are to get where they’re going.
It isn’t about winning and losing, or more or less. It’s about leaving it a bit better than I found it.
Feeling as one who “sees.”
Then
Thinking as one who walks.
Your right giving up is an assumption-
and it is about leaving it a bit better then I found it..a “whole” lot better.
Peace-
You’re going to have to get a “whole” lot more comfortable with your aloneness…
Aloneness…they may be the only real answer…
But I would miss you K…
smiles-
Who are you saying that to?
I am resting K….
peace
Who, indeed.
Nighty night
PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMO!!
Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the U.S. military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.
Brian Ross looks at the biblical verses written on firearms.
The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.
U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious “Crusade” in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.
One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as “the light of the world.” John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions “have always been there” and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them. Munson said the issue was being raised by a group that is “not Christian.” The company has said the practice began under its founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian from South Africa who was killed in a 2003 plane crash.
‘It violates the Constitution’
The company’s vision is described on its Web site: “Guided by our values, we endeavor to have our products used wherever precision aiming solutions are required to protect individual freedom.”
“We believe that America is great when its people are good,” says the Web site. “This goodness has been based on Biblical standards throughout our history, and we will strive to follow those morals.”
Spokespeople for the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps both said their services were unaware of the biblical markings. They said officials were discussing what steps, if any, to take in the wake of the ABCNews.com report. It is not known how many Trijicon sights are currently in use by the U.S. military.
The biblical references appear in the same type font and size as the model numbers on the company’s Advanced Combat Optical Guides, called the ACOG.
A photo on a Department of Defense Web site shows Iraqi soldiers being trained by U.S. troops with a rifle equipped with the bible-coded sights.
“It’s wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws,” said Michael “Mikey” Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state in the military.
‘Firearms of Jesus Christ’
“It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they’re being shot by Jesus rifles,” he said.
Weinstein, an attorney and former Air Force officer, said many members of his group who currently serve in the military have complained about the markings on the sights. He also claims they’ve told him that commanders have referred to weapons with the sights as “spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ.”
He said coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of “those who are calling this a Crusade.”
According to a government contracting watchdog group, fedspending.org, Trijicon had more than $100 million in government contracts in fiscal year 2008. The Michigan company won a $33 million Pentagon contract in July, 2009 for a new machine gun optic, according to Defense Industry Daily. The company’s earnings from the U.S. military jumped significantly after 2005, when it won a $660 million long-term contract to supply the Marine Corps with sights.
“This is probably the best example of violation of the separation of church and state in this country,” said Weinstein. “It’s literally pushing fundamentalist Christianity at the point of a gun against the people that we’re fighting. We’re emboldening an enemy.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794
Yeah, So what ??? Trijicon is a great scope and it has saved my life and the lives of my fellow marines time and time again. While at the same time ended the lives of many Al-Qaeda fighters . Great trade off if you ask me. “Shot by Jesus Rifles” Heck I think they are being shot by Allah Rifles. Either way they get to meet Allah sooner that they wanted.
It is all about the masculine in the Bible and the feminine has almost totally been abandoned except for the virgin Mary.
But the feminine knows how to ‘fight’ too.
Let’s build Labyrinths of Peace all over the world.
Simple 3 path heart labyrinths. You can make them with everything that is available in Nature and with a stick in the sand.
They are the feminine kiss to heal the earth.
Because we are a part of the earth we are healing ourselves on the go.
Here you can see me struggling with designing them, but once you get the hold of it, there is no stopping this divine passion
http://www.heartphone.org/labyrinths_in_nature.htm
Blessings to our divine Earth!
Heartphone
“It is all about the masculine in the Bible and the feminine has almost totally been abandoned except for the virgin Mary.
But the feminine knows how to ‘fight’ too.
Let’s build Labyrinths of Peace all over the world.”
Rock on, mieke!!
Yes let’s build Peace-
Thought I might share some words from Will Durant this morning,,,
May we all begin to more clearly realize that the Divine Mind and Nature of man/women, needs not fight, but allow his life to be the peace and harmony that it already is-
“Made pessimistic by the wars and politics that filled with sound and fury the pages of most historians, I found that I could recapture my sense of the worth and beauty of life by turning from the dramatic spectacles of military and political conflict to contemplate on the one hand the humane and peaceful life of the people, and on the other the contributions of exceptional men and women to the civilization and culture of their nation and the race. I determined to devote my life to recording the creative, rather than the destructive, things that men had done.”
– Will Durant
Have a good day, Mieke and K-
Peace-
G-
Supreme Court’s ‘Radical and Destructive’ Decision Hands Over Democracy to the Corporations
By Liliana Segura, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: One expert calls the Citizens United decision ‘the most radical and destructive campaign finance decision in the history of the Supreme Court.’
“The Supreme Court has just predicted the winners of the next November election,” Sen. Chuck Schumer announced this morning. “It won’t be Republicans. It won’t be Democrats. It will be Corporate America.”
Indeed, in a momentous 5 to 4 decision the New York Times called a “doctrinal earthquake,” the U.S. Supreme Court handed down an unprecedented ruling today that gives new significance to the phrase “corporate personhood.” In it, the Roberts court overturned the federal ban on corporate contributions to political campaigns, ruling that forbidding corporations from spending money to support or undermine political candidates amounts to censorship. Corporations, the court ruled, should enjoy the same First Amendment rights as individuals.
Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the Supreme Court rejects “the argument that political speech of corporations or other associations should be treated differently under the First Amendment simply because such associations are not ‘natural persons.’”
In other words, as Stephen Colbert put it last year, “Corporations are people too.”
On a conference call with reporters following the decision, critics could not overemphasize the enormity of the ruling, whose implications will be visible as early as the upcoming midterm elections. Bob Edgar, head of the watchdog group Common Cause, called it “the Superbowl of really bad decisions.” Nick Nyhart of Public Campaign called it an “immoral decision” that will make an already untenable mix of money and politics even worse.
“This is the most radical and destructive campaign finance decision in the history of the Supreme Court,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21. “With a stroke of the pen, five justices wiped out a century of American history devoted to preventing corporate corruption of our democracy.”
Writing about the ruling, Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy described it as “a revolution in the law,” one that has been in the works for years thanks to conservative activism.
“Today’s decision is a huge gift to corporations from a Supreme Court that has been radicalized by right-wing ideology, whose political agenda was made obvious in the Bush v. Gore case and whose very political decision today only makes things worse.”
Of course, corporate cash has long had a corrupting influence on our politics, but never before has it been seen as some sort of fundamental freedom.
“This court has said it’s the constitutional right of a corporation to spend as much money as it wants to influence an election,” said Wertheimer.
The potential “fear factor” for politicians when it comes to the way they vote is huge. Members of Congress, who already spend a disproportionate amount of time fundraising to stay in office, now have reason to worry that their re-election chances will be derailed by corporations whose limitless funds can be aggressively used to protect their interests.
Writing for AlterNet last month, Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, argued that President Obama might never have been elected with these new rules on the books:
Candidate Barack Obama was one sharp speaker, but he would not have been heard, and certainly would not have won, without the astonishing outpouring of donations from two million Americans. It was an unprecedented uprising-by-PayPal, overwhelming the old fat-cat sources of funding.
Well, kiss that small-donor revolution goodbye. If the Supreme Court votes as expected, progressive list serves won’t stand a chance against the resources of new ‘citizens’ such as CNOOC, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation. Maybe UBS (United Bank of Switzerland), which faces U.S. criminal prosecution and a billion-dollar fine for fraud, might be tempted to invest in a few Senate seats.”
The case before the court, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, centered around a rabidly anti-Hillary Clinton documentary produced by the right-wing group Citizens United. In a statement, Citizens United called the ruling “a tremendous victory, not only for Citizens United but for every American who desires to participate in the political process.”
Meanwhile, President Obama, whose critics on the left have accused him of being beholden to Wall Street, has called upon Congress to “develop a forceful response to this decision.”
“With its ruling today,” he said, “the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for Big Oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”
Liliana Segura is an AlterNet staff writer and editor of Rights & Liberties and World Special Coverage.
We need a New National Declaration written by the American people- and we all need to revisit the first one-
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
The rest can be seen on
http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/index.htm
Let review the meaning of a candid world—
Candid world?
“A public conditioned to act like sheep, to “support our troops” no matter what, to cower before the idea of terrorism, is a public ready to be herded. A military that’s being used to fight unwinnable wars is a military prone to return home disaffected and with scores to settle.” by: William J. Astore
http://www.truthout.org/william-j-astore-a-very-american-coup-coming-soon-a-hometown-near-you56201
Awareness-
Opinion?…Preference?
Illusion? Reality?
individuality…in relation to the whole?
Who wins in War?
In a shared life of Peace and harmony we are all winners?
Are you attempting to answer the question?
Are you attempting to ask the question….?
If all disappears tomorrow, it all disappears….
Does this frighten you?
no
No…I am not afraid anymore….are you k? Do you really feel that you are a teacher? …and I don’t manipulate anything, K,…you do….
Tsk Tsk
Polish away.
The problem your having K, is that you don’t understand the true nature of man…you mistake the illusions for the real….tsk tsk back at you—none of this really matters actually, does not in the least effect the One true being
Not in the mood to play with you today, but I will have a good day
Illusion? Reality? Individuality?
Anyone aware that Abraham Lincoln was greatly inspired by Emanuel Swedenborg…So was Helen Keller and Johnny Appleseed….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg
Reading from Swedenborg
Freedom and Slavery
When a person has been regenerated, one then for the first time comes into a state of freedom, having before been in a state of slavery. It is slavery when cupidities and falsities rule, and freedom when the affections of good and truth do so. How this is, no one ever perceives so long as one is in a state of slavery, but only when one comes into a state of freedom. When in a state of slavery, that is, when cupidities and falsities rule, we suppose ourselves to be in a state of freedom; but this is a gross falsity, for we are then carried away by the delight of the cupidities and their pleasures, that is, by the delight of our loves; and because this is done by delight, it appears to us to be freedom. All of us, while led by any love, and while following whithersoever it carries us, suppose ourselves to be free, whereas it is the diabolical spirits in whose company, and so to speak torrent, we are, that are carrying us away. This we suppose to be the greatest freedom, so much so that we believe that the loss of this state would bring us into a life most wretched, indeed into no life at all. . . . But that this impression is false has been given me to know by much experience. . . . People never come into a state of freedom until they have been regenerated, and are led by the Lord through love for what is good and true. When in this state, then for the first time can we know and perceive what freedom is, because we then know what life is, and what the true delight of life is, and what happiness is. . . . A life of freedom, or freedom, is simply and solely being led by the Lord. But as there are many things which hinder us from being able to believe that this is a life of freedom, both because we undergo temptations, which take place in order that we may be set free from the dominion of diabolical spirits; and because we know of no other delight than that of cupidities from the love of self and of the world, as well as from their having conceived a false opinion in regard to all things of the heavenly life, so that we cannot be taught by description so well as by living experiences, therefore, of the Lord’s Divine Mercy, we may adduce such experiences hereafter. (Arcana Coelestia #892)
So, this resonates for you?
When was the last time you took a walk, or threw open a window to let in some fresh air?
Yes especially this-
“People never come into a state of freedom until they have been regenerated, and are led by the Lord through love for what is good and true”
Peace
We wish you well with this.
Yes I wish you well too….
Here is a grass roots movement which has been gaining momentum since early January.
MOVE YOUR MONEY!!
This is another way we can support the President in the effort to re-regulate the “Too Big To Fail” banks, and encourage thoughtful finance reforms through Congress.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/4/move_your_money_project_urges_people
Thanks to Arianna Huffington and friends for this timely initiative of empowerment.
peace
LoL!! Got some great news this afternoon with regard to the congressional representative in our district deciding not to run in November. Which means there are now all kinds of new-progressive possibilities for able-minded representation with an eye to the future, as opposed to bringing home more tax shelters for his wealthy big business contributors- such as Amway.
Don’t let the door hit ya’ in the backside on the way out, Mr. soon-to-be-ex-congressman.
Has it been mentioned on this board that the McCain/Palin campaign headquarters was operating out of a building owned by a firm specializing in mortgage foreclosures? Didn’t think so.
Ok, back to Amway, headquartered in the state which has the nation’s highest unemployment rate…..
Russia, China, India lead the way to record sales for Alticor
By Gary Schroder
February 05, 2009, 8:45AM
ADA TOWNSHIP — Amway parent company Alticor Inc. this morning made its record-breaking, downturn-bucking year official.
The direct-selling company reported 2008 sales of $8.2 billion, a 15 percent increase over 2007.
Russia, China and India represented the largest growth markets. The privately held Ada Township company reported two-thirds of the company’s 58 affiliates recorded sales increases in 2008.
The company does not release profitability figures.
“Amway enters its 50th year in a strong position,” Chairman Steve Van Andel said. “In 2008, more consumers than ever before responded positively to the appeal of the Amway business opportunity and our outstanding product brands.”
Press File PhotoTwo women shop at Amway China Co. Ltd.’s store in Nanjing, China.
Van Andel and President Doug DeVos said the company bucked economic trends in 2008, but said 2009 promises to be more difficult.
“We’re looking to grow this year but there is some rough weather out there for the business community around the world,” Van Andel said.
The official sales figure was in line with comments to The Press by company co-founder Rich DeVos during the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital topping off ceremony.
The company, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, said it has discontinued providing breakdowns of sales by individual markets “to preserve competitive advantage.”
In 2007, Amway’s U.S. and Canadian business, previously known as Quixtar, reported sales of $1.1 billion, down slightly from 2006.
The company launched a U.S. marketing blitz last year to reacquaint people with the Amway brand and counter stereotypes. The company’s sales announcement did not disclose results of the program.
Global sales of the company’s flagship Nutrilite line of nutrition and food products topped $3 billion in 2008.
Its Artistry line of cosmetics also increased sales and market share, although the company did not provide a figure. The company said Artistry went from 12th in global cosmetics market share to ninth.
In addition to its direct sales business, Alticor operates Access Business Group, which provides contract manufacturing and packaging services; Fulton Innovations, which is developing eCoupled technology for wireless power; and Amway Hotel Corp., which owns three hotels in Grand Rapids.
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2009/02/russia_china_india_lead_the_wa.html
(WOW!!! That’s a lotta money. Let’s see how they’re gonna reinvest it in their home state)
Confidential memo shows Amway could move hundreds of West Michigan jobs to Costa Rica
By Chris Knape | The Grand Rapids Press
October 15, 2009, 5:36PM
amway-letter.jpgA confidential memo obtained by The Press shows Amway Corp. is poised to move what could be hundreds of local jobs to Costa Rica.
ADA TOWNSHIp — Amway Corp. is poised to move what could be hundreds of local jobs to Costa Rica as part of a sweeping streamlining of its global operations, according to a confidential memo obtained by The Press.
The Ada-based direct seller on Oct. 5 told employees it was moving finance functions currently handled locally to a new “enterprise process center” in Costa Rica.
Other centers are planned for central Europe and Asia that will affect operations in those regions.
“This move will have a substantial impact on current finance positions in North America, Latin America and Europe, though specific impact and numbers will not be clear for six to eight weeks,” a fact sheet provided to employees said.
The idea behind the centers appears to focus on consolidating many back-of-house functions to low-cost labor markets.
The company bills the centers as a way of standardizing processes, meeting needs with greater consistency and becoming more efficient. Transition to the new center in Costa Rica will begin in the second quarter of 2010.
The exact number of jobs that will be lost among Amway’s more than 4,000-person local workforce won’t be determined for several more weeks, said Rob Zeiger, a company spokesman.
“We’ve learned from watching other companies in Michigan and elsewhere that putting off difficult analysis can really come back to hurt everyone deeply in the long run,” he said.
A letter to employees from Chairman Steve Van Andel and President Doug DeVos said Amway is “taking proactive steps to determine what operating model will fit our business today and into the future.”
“Certainly, change is difficult and many of these transitions are difficult to absorb and understand,” the letter reads.
While the moves may not be unusual for the industry, they do run counter to Amway’s efforts to polish its brand in the United States and statements by its leaders about their commitment to the local work force.
The company, privately-held by the families of co-founders Rich DeVos and the late Jay Van Andel, reported record sales of $8.2 billion in 2008 with executives proudly proclaiming the company was profitable and on solid financial footing.
In West Michigan the company seemed a rare success — growing internationally at a time when Michigan’s auto industry was on the rocks and the state was suffering from the nation’s highest unemployment rate.
During Dick DeVos’ unsuccessful 2006 gubernatorial bid, the company repeatedly refuted critics accusing him of sending Amway jobs overseas during his stint as the firm’s chief executive officer.
“I think you have to separate there were a lot of accusations that were made that year that were factually wrong, and we had to address them,” Zeiger said.
“Where we are today is understanding what we need to do here in Michigan to stay competitive for the long runs.”
Zeiger said the company did not purposely wait to convey the news until after it wrapped up its 50th anniversary celebration.
The memo said consolidation will result in a reduction of up to 10 percent of the European region’s employees over the next three to five years.
The memo refers to other departments undertaking assessments similar to those leading to the decision to establish the Costa Rican operations.
Zeiger said the finance and European changes are the only ones Amway expects to announce this year.
The memo goes on to explain that a majority of its competitors already have “centers similar to the ones we plant to implement.”
It also says employees who lose their jobs will have several months notice and will receive severance pay, outplacement assistance, career transition assistance and company-sponsored training courses.
In recent interviews, company leaders Doug DeVos and Steve Van Andel said they were reviewing all operations, but remained committed to a substantial presence in Ada.
“The fact that we are in relatively good shape means that we should be able to do a lot of things to minimize negative impacts,” Zeiger said.
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2009/10/confidential_memo_shows_amway.html
(Hmmmm….so the jobs in Michigan have to be moved elsewhere. Interesting. This must be some sort of ‘New” business model. Maybe the next story will shed some light on the why’s, heretofores, and wherewith-alls of big business.)
Are Van Andels making move to acquire Macatawa Bank Corp.?
By Chris Knape | The Grand Rapids Press
November 16, 2009, 12:50PM
MACATAWA BANK, HOLLAND.jpgMark Copier | The Grand Rapids PressThe Macatawa Bank branch in downtown Holland. Amway heirs David and Stephen Van Andel may be making a bid to take over the beleaguered bank.Are Amway heirs David and Stephen Van Andel making a bid to take over beleaguered Macatawa Bank?
A notification published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago would seem to indicate so, though no announcement has been made by the bank or the Van Andels.
Shares of the stock are trading at twice their normal volume as of 12:45 p.m., but the share price is up only 5 cents to $1.92.
White Bay Capital, an entity controlled by David Van Andel, CEO of the Van Andel Institute and owner of nutrition company Ideasphere Inc., and Amway Chairman Stephen Van Andel are mentioned in the brief notice saying they “plan to acquire 100 percent of the voting shares of Macatawa Bank … and thereby indirectly acquire Macatawa Bank.”
Neither of the Van Andels could be reached for comment. Bank officials were not available for comment.
David Van Andel’s White Bay last year spent $20 million to buy a 9.9 percent stake in Macatawa.
Since then the bank has ousted founding Chairman Ben Smith and demoted founding CEO Philip Koning.
Shares in Macatawa have dropped below $2 in recent weeks as the bank saw its regulatory status downgraded and installed a new chairman, Grand Rapids businessman Rich Postma.
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2009/11/are_van_andels_making_move_to.html
(OH!!!!!! Well, sure they can buy a bank because they have shipped so many jobs overseas and saved money at the cost of American/local jobs…Good Christian Morals)
I disagree with #7. The pace of economic increase has not improved radically in the last 20 years. While the BRIC has shown massive growth it is offset by the huge populations those countries have and the centralized governmental control has prevented alot of that wealth to move to any way but up.
Across the rest of the world the situation is even bleaker; most of the world’s population lives in abject poverty. They have no disposable income and do not create any demand for goods. Multinational Corps routinely exploit these population to the detriment of everything. Globalization as it currently stands is a broken system because their is no overriding authority to prevent Corps from conducting the same type of colonial exploitation that was reserved for nation states. It’s no longer a colonial power subjugating developing nations; it’s Walmart and Nike and Champion. Unlike the US and Europe which adopted regulation to control how business’s treats their workers(unions and worker safety laws; fair wages and anti-disciminitory policies; also quickly eroding in the US specifically) which allowed the creation of the middle classes that drive the global economy today. With the exception of certain sectors of the population in India and China(minuscule compared to their overall population) there has not been any major increase in middle class groups anywhere in the world. Without this growth long term economic prosperity is doomed; eventually the classic marxist class war will arise again creating more economic chaos. Like the Roman’s; the haves will be toppled by the have-nots.
hurricane-
Happy to read your post this morning. Thank you.
This IS the reality we are faced with, folks. Without a middle-class the leap from the ‘exploited classes’ can’t be made, and hard work will never again be rewarded. Educating our children so they can thrive in the world becomes a pipe-dream, too (we’re already seeing that with tuition hikes driving the costs beyond most people’s means).
The ‘haves’ need to wake up…
“As if there were safety in stupidity alone…” -Thoreau
US’ Expanded Weapons Stockpiling in Israel
Wednesday 10 February 2010
by: Nora Barrows-Friedman, t r u t h o u t | Report
Sameh Habeeb, a young, independent, Palestinian journalist, lived in a modest house in the middle of Gaza City in December 2008. From his bedroom window, Habeeb reported to international news outlets exactly what he saw night after night during Israel’s lethal 22-day assault. On one occasion, Habeeb told Truthout, “the Apache helicopter gunship hovered less than 200 meters away from us. The children, my brothers and sisters, were hiding in the corners of the house, taking shelter. It was horrendous. The sky was dark; there was nothing but the sound and the red lights of the Apache, the screams of the children, and the sound of the bombings close by. The house shook like an earthquake every time there was a bombing. I thought I was going to be the next victim. We smelled the gun powder everywhere.”
Approximately 1,400 Palestinians were killed – including more than 300 children – and over 5,000 people were wounded in the 2008-2009 Israeli attacks, dubbed Operation Cast Lead, using advanced American-made weaponry. Now, a year later, Israel and the United States have agreed to a weapons stockpiling deal that will store $800 million worth of American-made arms and military equipment on Israeli soil.
According to a January 11 report in the weekly paper Defense News, the Obama administration previously mapped out a plan that would place $400 million worth of military arsenal in Israel, but that project was exactly doubled after a meeting in December between the Israeli military’s technology and logistics branch, and Rear Adm. Andy Brown, logistics director of the US Army European Command.
Included in this agreement is the caveat that Israel, after approval from the US government, would be able to access the American weapon and ammunition stockpile in case of a military “emergency.” The terms and definition of such an “emergency,” including against whom the weaponry could be used, remain unclear.
Barbara Opall-Rome reported, “[w]artime emergencies warranting Israeli use of such weaponry typically require Israel to reimburse Washington under Foreign Military Sales procedures,” but that, conveniently for Israel, “[r]eimbursement costs are funded through annual U.S. military grant aid to Israel.”
During the election campaign and over this last year in office, the Obama administration has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to what it calls “Israel’s security.”
An anonymous US defense official stated that Washington believes that “[American] economics and inflation were taking their toll on the Israel-based prepositioning,” thereby limiting – in relative terms – the procurement of weapons caches by the Israeli government, up until this point.
Missiles, armored vehicles, aerial ammunition and artillery ordnance have already been stockpiled in Israel since the US Congress began expanding their “forward basing” program in 1990. South Korea remains a US ally state enjoying a similar agreement with the US government. Opall-Rome wrote that American stockpile value in Israel began with “a starting ceiling of $100 million that quickly grew to $300 million following the 1991 war in Iraq … Under the new agreement, Israel not only gains access to more US stockpiles, but enjoys greater latitude in the categories and specific types of weaponry it can request for in-country storage.”
Raytheon, a weapons manufacturer headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, is a prime contractor for US-administered arms deals with Israel. Among Raytheon’s arsenal of unconventional weapons is the 2.2-ton GBU 28 “bunker-buster,” “mini-nuke” bomb that was used against Iraq in 1991, and swiftly dispatched to Israel during the height of the 2006 attacks against Lebanon. The weapon can blast through 100 feet of earth and 20 feet of solid concrete. Raytheon’s spokesperson refused to answer Truthout’s questions regarding its expanding relationship with Israel. His response to a query about Raytheon’s possible contribution of arsenal to this $800 million stockpiling agreement was a curt “no comment,” and he told Truthout to “ask the US government” about further details.
Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich told Truthout that there is no oversight process toward which specific weapons will be part of stockpiling deals with Israel. “There is no monitoring,” he said. He noted that these weapons stockpiling agreements send a worrisome message to the people in the region. “What’s troubling is the pullback from serious diplomatic initiatives … and the reliance on weapons to solve what are really diplomatic issues. There’s no doubt that there is some strategic consideration at work. And there is the fact that several US administrations now have failed to enforce the Arms Export Control Act. The policies are not consonant with peace,” he continued. “They’re consonant with war. ”
In the December 2009 Congressional Research Report to Congress, prepared for US representatives preceding their vote in the House to approve funding for such programs, it is pointed out that Israel was designated in 1998 as a “major non-NATO ally,” which “qualifies” the state to receive excess defense articles under Section 516 of the Foreign Assistance Act and Section 23(a) of the Arms Export Control Act.
Frida Berrigan of the US Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute in New York noted that the US State Department originally raised questions about Israel’s use of cluster bomb munitions during the 2006 Lebanon assault. Berrigan pointed out that the State Department said it was concerned about the amount of bomblets that were dropped. “But after a year of its own investigation,” Berrigan told Truthout, “the results were officially ‘inconclusive.’ A report was forwarded to the US Congress, and that’s where it ended. If Israel uses these [US-made] weapons, it is defined under ‘defense’ as far as Congress is concerned. Because under the Arms Export Controls Act, there are no set terms of activities, no definition of what ‘defense’ really means.”
Berrigan said that, although Congress routinely questions other weapons packages to allied countries, military aid to Israel is rarely, if ever, challenged. “There is a fast-track mechanism [for Israel] in place,” she added.
This move to double American weaponry and military equipment stockpiles on Israeli soil comes on the heels of Obama’s recent signing of a $30 billion, ten-year agreement for an expanded military aid package to the Israeli government. The first installment of the aid package, $2.775 billion, was signed over in December by President Obama, and was earmarked completely for Israel’s military budget instead of the prior allocation to both civilian and military infrastructure. This massive military package is over and above the annual $3.1 billion in loan guarantees to Israel that the Obama administration plans to continue.
As a part of the ten-year agreement, Israel is required to contract 75 percent of the package toward the purchase of American-made military equipment and ammunition, intended to further subsidize US weapons manufacturers. This arrangement was conceived by the Bush administration and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and was designed, Berrigan explained, to “lock in” the US-Israeli military relationship, tying the hands of the forthcoming US administration. “This benefits only the American weapons manufacturers,” she said, “and it sets the Obama administration up with a solid framework which Israel sought out and insisted on ahead of time. Once again, the United States was eager to comply.”
Meanwhile, as US-led wars in the region proliferate, this expansion of weapons stockpiles in Israel will surely be viewed as a growing threat to neighboring countries. “If we’re forward-basing [for the wars in] Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan,” former high-level CIA analyst Ray McGovern told Truthout, “the Iranians, the Russians and the Chinese will be worried. With this policy, we’re alienating so many people.”
Berrigan said that, within this context, it is important to question the strategic interest that the United States has in maintaining a close military partnership with Israel. “The relationship with Israel is not helping us win the hearts and minds of people in Iraq and Afghanistan,” she said. “People don’t believe our rhetoric. When President Obama talks about global nuclear disarmament, everyone in the Arab-Muslim world knows that Israel has nuclear weapons, and that the US has allowed Israel to have them. The Obama administration is cutting every budget but the military’s, and continuing to give billions to Israel and Egypt. That’s money that could be much better spent in Haiti, or in any neighborhood in this country. It could build real international institutions that prioritize serving the needs of the world. Even though the American public is not paying attention, the world is.”
This stockpiling agreement follows claims by Israeli military officials that Israel’s own weapons cache is nearing “dangerously low” levels – especially, they say, after the 2006 offensive against Lebanon. Reports show that, in the last 72 hours of the summer bombing campaign there, when a cease-fire was clearly imminent, Israeli Air Force pilots dropped a reported one million American-made cluster bombs over the Southern region, which continue to explode and injure Lebanese civilians in agricultural and rural village areas to this day. More recently, during the attacks on Gaza, Palestinians were subjected to wide-spread destruction of thousands of homes, apartment buildings, offices, hospitals and schools by relentless aerial bombing campaigns, utilizing conventional and unconventional weaponry from the very same distributors whose wares will be stored in Israel. Israel’s wanton use of white phosphorus during the attacks has been widely condemned by international human rights groups, as well as the use of advanced anti-personnel weaponry such as Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) bombs.
Speaking on Flashpoints Radio in June 2009, Dr. Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian physician who treated patients hit by suspected DIME weaponry in Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital during the Israeli attacks, said he witnessed the effects of this unconventional and highly-lethal technology. “We saw people who were virtually cut in two,” Dr. Gilbert reported. “We saw children torn completely apart …We saw amputations that looked like a huge ax had cut off their extremities. The DIME weapon is made from a tungsten metal alloy in a composite casting, and it’s shot by small rockets. The mechanism of the explosion is a chain reaction: it causes the metal to evaporate and dissipate. It’s made for targeted killing. We could not [categorize] them as anything else other than DIME bombs.”
Extensive research has shown that DIME bombs are also highly carcinogenic, continuing to lethally affect the victim long after the initial strike.
Israel denies its military’s use of DIME bombs against civilians in Gaza, but independent European researchers and medical eyewitnesses, such as Dr. Gilbert, insist that this weapon was indeed used indiscriminately.
At the same time as it claims a shortage of ammunition and equipment, while receiving several billions of US taxpayer dollars for its military budget, Israel is currently preparing the launch of what officials are calling the “Iron Dome” system, reportedly capable of intercepting short-range artillery shells and homemade rockets along the northern border with Lebanon and the southern borders with the occupied Gaza strip. According to Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the system will be integrated into the Israeli military by this summer. That project is reported to cost at least $215 million.
Habeeb of Gaza, however, remains extremely worried about this new era of weapons proliferation plans between Israel and the US. “Israel already has enough weapons to destroy the whole world,” he said. “As a Palestinian, I thought Obama would send us the results of his change, which was peace. Instead, we get missiles.”
LoL! Yes he did