Beingism: Rational Means to Emotional Ends, for the Benefit of All.

I'm an senior citizen who has lived under slightly different political variations of capitalism the entirety of my life. I'm not out to promote any other economic system, simply because I'm ignorant of what life would truly be like under another system. Therefore, I'm going to keep the premise of my argument confined only to what I know.

I had more or less a Tom Sawyer type of childhood. My father was a merchant seaman, and we moved a bit more than the average person so that we could be near the home port of whatever shipping company my he was working for at the time. When we couldn't be near dad, we move to the county to be near his dad or my mom's mom (their spouses were deceased). My first bike was assembled from parts of bicycles I had been given and found in the trash. By the time I was in the third grade, I could assemble a bike or a lawn mower without assistance. The experience cause me to develop a very high mechanical aptitude. And this aptitude resulted in me becoming a millwright-mechanist-industrial mechanic in later life. I was also a welder, but that "choice" was the result of taking a course in order to obtain a promotion.

I was also curious as to what electricity was and how it worked. Therefore I took an adult education course in basic electricity at a community college. Later I took a course in electronics. ... Read more

The Equality Trust -- The well-being and behaviour of young people get a lot of attention in the media, with a constant stream of reports on youth violence, drunkenness, antisocial behaviour, obesity, self harm, and teenage sex. A recent Unicef report, which put together 40 indicators of child well-being in rich countries, concluded that while children in Britain fared less well than in any other country, those in the United States hardly did better.

The Unicef index measured six different aspects of child well-being. Material well-being included such things as living in a home with few books, or where no adult was employed. Health and safety included items like immunization rates and deaths from accidents. Educational well-being included scores on performance tests and the proportion of children going into further education. Peer and family relationships were measured by such things as whether or not children viewed their peers as kind, and the numbers of children living in single parent and step-parent families. Behaviours and risks included smoking and drinking, how many children had sex by age 15, etc. Subjective well-being included self-rated health and other measures of how children felt about themselves.

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The Equality Trust -- One and a quarter million teenagers become pregnant each year in the rich OECD countries and about three quarters of a million go on to become teenage mothers. The differences in teen birth rates between countries are striking. In the USA the teenage birth rate is 52.1 per 1000 women aged 15-19, more than ten times higher than Japan, which has a rate of 4.6.

Babies born to teenage mothers are more likely to have low birth weight, to be born prematurely, to be at higher risk of dying in infancy and, as they grow up, to be at greater risk of educational failure, juvenile crime and becoming teenage parents themselves. Girls who give birth as teenagers are more likely to be poor and uneducated. Teenage motherhood is part of the inter-generational cycle of deprivation and social exclusion.

We have shown that teenage births are related to income inequality internationally in a study published in the American Journal of Public Health. Other researchers have shown the same association in the United States. ... Read more

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2009) -- If you think having loads of money, fetching looks, or the admiration of many will improve your life -- think again. A new study by three University of Rochester researchers demonstrates that progress on these fronts can actually make a person less happy.

"People understand that it's important to pursue goals in their lives and they believe that attaining these goals will have positive consequences. This study shows that this is not true for all goals," says author Edward Deci, professor of psychology and the Gowen Professor in the Social Sciences at the University. "Even though our culture puts a strong emphasis on attaining wealth and fame, pursuing these goals does not contribute to having a satisfying life. The things that make your life happy are growing as an individual, having loving relationships, and contributing to your community," Deci says. ... Read more

"Moral Responsibility" is a religious belief that shouldn't be applied to any practice or policy other than religious. And there should be a giant wall of separation between The Church and The State. Even the word "accountable" is unsuitable for describing the reality of the individual and his place in the scheme of things. I'd rather use the term obliged, as in the individual has a social obligation to abide by the laws of the land. Both "moral responsibility" and "accountability" are irrelevant to understanding and curing social ills. You see, if behavior is caused by the brain (no brain, no behavior), and particular behavior results from particular brain development (concert pianist=genetic endowment plus practice, practice, practice), then the brain that cause the bank robbery is no more accountable than a brain with damage is accountable for causing aggressive and assaultive behavior. However, you don't allow the dangerous brain damaged person to run amok; and equally you don't allow the person to run amok with the brain that thinks robbing banks is an acceptable option. In fact, understanding psychological causality allows one to become aware that the robber cannot freely choose not to rob banks. ... Read more

New York Times -- When capitalism seemed on the verge of collapse last fall, Kristin Halvorsen, Norway’s Socialist finance minister and a longtime free market skeptic, did more than crow.

As investors the world over sold in a panic, she bucked the tide, authorizing Norway’s $300 billion sovereign wealth fund to ramp up its stock buying program by $60 billion — or about 23 percent of Norway ’s economic output.

“The timing was not that bad,” Ms. Halvorsen said, smiling with satisfaction over the broad worldwide market rally that began in early March.

The global financial crisis has brought low the economies of just about every country on earth. But not Norway.

With a quirky contrariness as deeply etched in the national character as the fjords carved into its rugged landscape, Norway has thrived by going its own way. When others splurged, it saved. When others sought to limit the role of government, Norway strengthened its cradle-to-grave welfare state.

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The Equality Trust -- In Britain, 35% of people say they are worried about mugging, 33% are worried about being attacked, 24% of women are worried about rape, and 13% are worried that they might be the victim of racial violence. People also fear harassment. Although fear of crime doesn't always reflect actual trends in crime and violence, it is clear that some societies are much more violent than others. In the USA a child is killed by a gun every three hours and in the UK over a million violent crimes were recorded in 2005-2006.

The link between inequality and homicide rates has been shown in as many as 40 studies, and the differences are large: there are five-fold differences in murder rates between different countries related to inequality. The most important reason why violence is more common in more unequal societies is that it is often triggered by people feeling looked down, disrespected and loss of face.

We have also found that inequality is related to the Global Peace Index and to children's experiences of violence.

... Read more