So how about colleges not charging tuition upfront, but charge a “payforward”, which is a percentage of lifetime earnings (LTEP) collected through the IRS tax process; but the money is routed directly to individules alma mater.  For example, if the two colleges were free, which would you prefer:

USC or CalStateFresno?  But USC said that they would collect 5% of your gross income annually for the rest of your life, and Fresno said they would collect 3% of your lifetime earnings?  Do the calculations by figuring what your average annual income would be with a degree from USC, multiplying that by 40 years of income, and dividing that number by .05 to get your entire tuition.  Then calculate what your expected average annual income would be with a degree from Fresno and multiply that by 40 years of income, and divide that number by .03.

Example:
USC average annual income would be 130,000 x 40 = $5,200,000 x .05 = $260,000 total tuition
Fresnoaverage annual income would be 100,000 x 40 = $4,000,000 x .03 = $120,000 total tuition

But if you studied to be a teacher and your schooling did not affect your income throughout your career the calculations would look like this:
USC average annual income would be 60,000 x 40 = $2,400,000 x .05 = $120,000 total tuition
Fresnoaverage annual income would be 60,000 x 40 = $2,400,000 x .03 = $72,000 total tuition

But if you never really amount to much in life, the calculations would look like this:
USC average annual income would be 20,000 x 30 = $600,000 x .05 = $30,000 total tuition
Fresno average annual income would be 20,000 x 30 = $600,000 x .03 = $18,000 total tuition

This system would allow institutions to be compensated by their ability to actually produce productive members of society.  As well, it will allow students to get an education regardless of their parent’s ability to pay for tuition.  Additionally, all of your tax dollars that go to higher education, would be for YOUR tuition.  If you didn’t go to college, you would not have to pay anyones tuition.   The average college grad earns an average of $1,000,000 more in lifetime earnings relative to a high school grad, so is it fair that a gas station attendent pay tuition of college students in addition to already paying for k-12 education?

The next question would remain, how to determine admission requirements.   I feel there should be a matrix that calculates a scale such as the following:

GPA                Admitted students
3.7 to 4.0         50%
3.2 to 3.7         30%
3.0 to 3.2         15%
2.5 to 3.0         5%

Each “level” (2%, 3%, 5% LTEP) of college would have a Government approved admittance percentage requirement.  In addition, they would have to include a diversity chart for each Fall freshmen class, which included a list of students according to zip code.  This test would encourage universities to reach out to high schools to assist with academic resources as opposed to neglect suffering school districts (zip codes). 

With this system we could privatize all college and universities given the fact that universities could take loans from private investors and trustees to maintain schools financially until graduated students are in the work force with strong incomes to “payforward” their education.

Lastly, colleges would still have the flexibility to screen with essay review.

This would leave Government tax dollars to fund city colleges only.  The reduction of direct tax burden would free the Government funds to provide community college to all students 100% tuition free.  There would be restrictions on student drop class rate and g.p.a.’s below 2.0 according to student demand.  Overwhelming demand would mean tighter restrictions.   Community college would be a catchall for the students whose g.p.a. or college prep were not up to par and would give them another chance to prepare for a college degree.  4 year universities would have an incentive to enroll community college transfers because of them only being on campus for 2 years, yet still required to pay the schools  lifetime earnings percentage (LTEP). 

College debt hurts 30% of all Americans credit score.  By spreading the cost over a life time and not reporting to credit agencies, problem solved.

Just a thought,

Jermaine ”For President” Harris

The next generation was being called to duty in World War II. This pulled us out of the depression as a shrinking Gross Domestic Product (National Income) turned into a rapidly increasing one. Government spending on the war fueled the rising GDP. Women replaced men in the work force. After the war, women’s unwillingness to return home from the work force began the popularity of the two income household. This continued the high pace of GDP growth. The 1950’s was a great time for the U.S. economically, due to the increased income as well as the lowest inflationary pressure of any decade of that century. It was the only decade of no double digit inflation (or deflation as the 1930’s).

So the country now was comprised of two generations, the first of which were the mis-trusters, and the second were the veterans who were busy creating the third generation of this era, the baby-boomers. The massive increase in income and family manifested a sense of financial responsibility and stability. This generation was the first consumers of many new innovations and electronic household modernizations. Yet they were still conservative because they were raised by the mistrusters. In the sixties and seventies this generation of mature adults began the popular mortgage burning parties. Many families were completely paying off their mortgage loans and held their homes free and clear. Their was a sense of pride in actually holding the free and clear deed to the American dream.

The baby-boomer generation was the worst of the three generations in their narcissistic erratic persona. Their rebellion in the 60’s and 70’s began the deterioration of American Family value system. In 1970 7% of U.S. children were raised in a single parent home. In 2008, 40% of children live in single parent homes. After the free love of the 70’s, many of those who did get married begin to divorce frequently in the 1980’s.

The Hippy/yuppies of the 80’s had no mistrust of the banking system because they were too far removed from listening to elders. They had rebelled against the Government as young adults in the 70’s, broke their families apart in the 80’s and only had the American Corporation to call “daddy” by the 90’s. So when banks advertised, refinance that house that you bought with the proceeds of your parent’s free-and-clear home, they not only refinanced, but they opened a second line of credit.

See, Corporations knew that as long as the average American homeowner held 50% to 100% of paid-off equity in their home, that is the equivalent of sharing the wealth with the common folk. They viewed this high equity holding as untapped revenue. So by encouraging refinancing they could convince Americans to give up their “actual” wealth for the sake of spending to impress their narcissistic complexities.

The greater debt a society holds, the harder the work-force works. Opposed to the better the savings and investing habits a society has, the higher potential for competition for the current businesses. A corporation would rather have their key employees in debt and enslaved to the steady income, as opposed to being well capitalized to leave and start a competing firm. This is why corporations continue to grow larger and more powerful.
This is how we turned away from being a saving nation to a consumer nation as our middle class disappears. Now we are so individualistic. We don’t trust our Government; religious institutions; banking system; our corporate employers; not even our families (spouse, parents or children) to not become a burden on our pursuit of material superficial justification and false sense of self-worth.
Now we are in the middle of an economic crisis that has unemployment in double digits and people out of work for years. The Republicans fell asleep at the wheel as President Bush allowed our domestic policy steer itself into a ditch as he kept his eye on world oil conquest. So much so, that the Democrats were able to get a Black man in the office of a racist, classist, self serving country. As the Republicans and Independents woke up, they formed groups such as the Tea Party to take back the power from a perceived left wing ideology that would force rich people to pay their fair share of the benefits of the American Dream.

Yet the only thing that will create economic improvement is consumer spending. This spending is what oils our American economic machine. So instead of spending 70% of our income, as we should, we are encouraged by businesses and the government to spend 100% of our income to stimulate the economy. We are reluctant because we are not sure if our own jobs are secure. The irony is that this 100% spend mentality is what created the mess in the first place. The long term solution to not only an improved economy, but also a health household finance philosophy of living within your means and saving for the inevitable rainy day is to allow a higher natural rate (average) of unemployment while keeping unemployment insurance at an extended duration. This is the model of the mature democracy within England. The problem with this solution is the constant bleeding of jobs to foreign countries as well as the downward bidding of wages due to immigration. If we had a superior product in the U.S. produced by employees that earned a decent salary to feed their families with products made in the U.S., we could sustain.

Yet everyone is the complainant as well as the defendant. They don’t earn enough, save enough and they don’t buy U.S. enough. All the while, CEO’s union bust, employ illegal immigrants and ship jobs out to the benefit of their bonus and their shareholders who happen to be the American people.

Wow, what will the next generation be like? So far we are not educating them properly in school, and we are not instilling drive, motivation and innovation at home.
Mistrusters
Veterans
Boomer Hippy
Yuppy
Generation “X”
Generation “Hu, What?”

The freshman contract- As we begin to live for our new hormones our parents voices quickly fade as we replace them with voices of peers who accept us and give us a new sense of belonging and understanding. We sign a freshman contract that may tell us that purple hair, tattoos and Young Jeezy are cool. Talking about the blind leading the blind. This is the process of finding one’s self. A lot is riding on what contract we sign. We stand at the gates of our high school and we look in and try to “get in where we fit in”. Our parents can try to make us strong independent leaders, but God steps in and changes the game with pubescent changes.

We eventually learn a little about a few groups at school and we decide which contract to sign. Jocks, Nerds, Prepies, Cool Brainiacs… Each contract has a list of what is cool, what is not so cool and what is never cool. Ideally we’d fall into the “Farris Bueller Effect” and command respect by all groups while not being heavily influenced by any one group.  Parents should to try to prepare kids for what is to come, and be very careful while attempting to correct their childrens initial bad decisions. If asserted incorrectly, rebellion will ensue.  Parents should try to get to know their adolescents friends and their parents, and have discussions with children to help guide them without the preaching.                         

Given our self esteem, propensity to follow, the addictiveness of our personalities and biochemical responses to differing stimulus, we come out of high school more or less affected by those trial and tribulations. By the time we are in our early twenties we should hope that we are done with that phase and can now see the forest for the trees. We shall graduate from seeing the persona of social contracts to being able to view and understand the social order.

Social order is what determines the hierarchy of all of the social contracts. Now we may begin to see the potential outcomes available to each social contract. We look around at our friend and evaluate our new goals as adults and the path that we’ve taken thus far. If we are lucky, we don’t have to take a detour because we were on the right road all along. Yet this is very rare. Many have a tough time changing roads and they feel trapped by the baggage or mindset that they have formed over the past journey.

Again, parents play a vital roll when their adult children begin to open their eyes and seek the knowledge that they may have once shunned in irritated disunderstanding(unwillingness to respect). Do you remember the first time you sat at your mothers kitchen table while visiting from your first apartment and talking about life from one adult to another? This is the moment when your ears open and your relationship changes.  I looked at my mother shaking my head, and before I could get it out she said “it’s tough out there isn’t it?”

From this place you sign your second (or third) social contract. You hopefully will make a better decision on what is cool for you and your future. Hopefully you can see value in education, and see that hard swagger in a person as mostly a fake façade that covers a persons feelings of inadequacy.  You understand that a subtle swagger comes from confidence, not shame or insecurity.  You begin to live by that wisdom.

We are now becoming better equipped to choose a life mate to bare our children. We are better equipped to discern friend from foe. We are better equipped to pursue daily goals that are in perfect alignment to our long term goals. But be leery and tread carefully, you are still stupid. You still have much to learn, I’m pushing 40 and the one thing that I definitely know is that I definitely don’t know.

Continually grow. Make sure you grow strong and wise, and not grow weak and futile.

Take a listen

Blood diamond

Are your people rulers or slaves? There are two opportunities of wealth building and one inopportune option of meager existence:

1. Original asset discovery or creation.
2. Services to discovered/created original assets
3. A subset that does not create substantial wealth we will refer to as Non-Substantive Laggard deValued Employment (NSLVE), this term is to depict the opportunities of employment that feeds families and pays rents, yet rarely ensures wealth of future generations or purchases appreciating assets.

Once you discover the Original asset, you can then exploit it if you infuse intellectual capital, which is the intelligence to harness wealth from the asset. This is the Capitalistic race to the next best wave of wealth. The battle against this force of futuristic opportunity is the current wealth structure that tends to protect its market share by eliminating demand for alternative products and services. The best example of this is the oil industries resistance to alternative fuel sourcing.

William Randolph Hearst

Another example is George Hearst, a Mining engineer from Missouri who walked to California in 1850 as a part of the great gold rush to Northern California beginning in 1849. He eventually amassed wealth from mining gold. His son, William Randolph Hearst was born on April 29, 1863. The young William took control of the family newspaper business from his father in 1887, “The San Francisco Examiner”.  Back then, as today, he who controls the minds of the masses, controls the world. The formula for ultimate wealth is to first control the assets (MONEY), then for defensive purposes of longevity, control the minds of the masses (POWER). The less a population is educated, and the more they are propagandized, the easier the control becomes (RESPECT).

It is speculated that William Hearst defended his empire from competition from the Hemp industry. William Hearst was one of the nation’s largest users of paper, and he owned thousands of acres of woodlands. He supported the movement to tax marijuana out of popular use in the 1930’s. Marijuana is derived from a hemp plant, so by limiting the profitable production of hemp, he speculatively helped his paper pulp business from strong environmentally practical competition. Even though the hemp plant that is used to make paper was a different grade of hemp that is used to intoxicate smokers, the distinction was not made by the lawmakers.

Another example:
Through the production of oil, which was discovered in 1958, the city of Abu Dhabi generates 56% of the GDP of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE was formed in 1971 and is a united group of Arab nations, including Dubai. These countries have amassed wealth and as of recent years have aspired to build tourist and international business havens to parallel New York, London and Singapore.

The oil reserves translated into wealth, which is now being focused on building infrastructures. These infrastructures represent opportunities for firms to provide services and spread the wealth according to existing firms technical know how and connections to tap such demand. With the mobility and skills to generate revenue, family’s futures are secured. Architects, Engineers and scientist all receive a large portion of the infrastructure funds through offering expert knowledge. A lesser amount of funds go to the laborers who put hammer to nail.

Those who may be outside of the scope of experts or professionals may have the secondary opportunities to carve benefit by availing themselves to the status of NSLVE. If they have the proper training and experience on the lower levels of industry, they may create a life of economic sustainability. Yet, to evaluate this system with the intent to work upwards, a group must understand the process and infiltrate politically and socially by way of education and inclusion. The travesty of the historical and continual rape of the African continent should be a lesson to all world citizens whose identifying namesake carries a prefix of “African”. If there is to be one unifying posture of the Africans of the world, it should be based on this knowledge of harnessing. If not, we have learned nothing, and are doomed to a second class for eternity as our children’s resources succumb to the ill effects of double unemployment rate relative to the national average.

The power to stop a targeted group lies within Institutional racism. Where there is a systematic rejection of opportunity. I will prove that this power does not exist as an adversary of African-Americans.

The key to understanding is how these groups or institutions are established. In order to defeat your enemy, you must first identify him. Look at the things that he actually does to hold you back. Understand his perspective, where he is getting his information from, and where his true alliances are. Once you see this you’ll be in a better position to realize what he is really trying to protect.

If you find that his establishment or source of power comes from his own hard work and sacrifice, you must respect that. If you find that his group is not the only group that has amassed a decent amount of security by way of controlling assets or industries, then you’ve got to respect them as well. Are those other groups advocates, adversaries or indifferent to African-Americans? Remember we are identifying the who, why and the how.

With this thought process you start to realize that capitalism is a team sport. There is no individual that does it all alone. Immigrant groups come to this country and they concentrate in a particular geographic region or neighborhood. They discuss how to maintain their culture, assimilate into the mainstream and how to engage in enterprise to bring in capital. They may start out as workers, then owners who hire their own people. They may unionize and eventually fight for better conditions. They may pay lobbyist so their voice can be heard. They may fund additional education for their new immigrants or young children. The groups that are successful at this are successful overall. How are these groups affecting, assisting or interrupting the African-American assent?

The next thing we must look at is the African-American as a group/culture. With the new found information from above, we compare what African-Americans are doing to each other,  for each other and with each other on the street, in the home and intergenerationally. We look at if they are embracing the healthy aspects of their culture while diminishing the negative. We look at if they are playing into the stereotypes or are they actively defeating them with contrary representation.  Are the successful African-Americans doing all that they can to promote and create a path for others to follow? Are they effective in assisting others in overcoming the shortcomings of their community? Or are they exploiting, assimilating, marrying outside of their race and half-hazardly giving money to causes just to satisfy their guilt?

The point is, post civil rights, post affirmative action, and during the Obama era, if you are discriminating against yourself, you can not complain that others are treating you the same way you are treating yourself. Why get outraged when a police officer kills one black male, but say nothing when 500 are slain by other African-Americans? In America, the opportunities are only where YOU make them. If you don’t do that, you have no one to blame but yourself…but remember this is a team sport.

It may be difficult for African-Americans to get admitted to some Universities in this post affirmative action era. But we have 105 historically black universities in the United States. It may be more difficult for an African-American to obtain loans, even with the same credit score as a counterpart. But African-Americans (people in certain zip codes) historically have more volatility in their income due to being subject to relationship fluctuations, employment terminations and longer bouts of unemployment between jobs.   Which are partially caused by African-Americans reluctance to go above and beyond to do more than “just enough”, play the political game, or better yet start their own enterprise and hire their own people all while being competitive.

The industries that African-Americans dominate are ones that are driven by emotion and passion, such as the arts. Even within our successes, we find a way to assist in our self-oppression by perpetuating and glorifying the negative.  Yet in the industries that require less emotion and more focused intellect and politics such as Math, science and sales, African-Americans don’t fare as well.

Institutional racism no longer exists because African-Americans have failed to build their own institutions. No one needs to hold a man down that is unwilling to stand up.  What do you think?

Topics will be: The current economic crisis, Obamanomics, the Environment, Crime, Drugs, Education, Poverty, Discrimination and Healthcare.

Join me in figuring this mess out.
http://www.lbcc.edu/onlineapplication.cfm

At half time, we turned the TV down and the 10 year old was introduced from the back room. He appeared with a sheet of paper in his hand and he proceeded to begin a comedic monolog, sharing about 15 jokes, some where pretty funny. With the exception of one insensitive comment by Joe, the other adults were very encouraging.

I’m open to others perception, but I believe there is a cultural difference between certain sub-cultures within our society that at its most effective core, affects our networking or social interaction.

Pyramiding: For visualization sake, let’s say each person is building a pyramid. We stand on the top of our own pyramid. Our goal is to build a strong, wide and tall structure. We use the strength and height of people who are represented by bricks in our pyramid. If we only build a one dimensional flat pyramid, we may fall forward or backwards. If we build it with four corners going North, South, East and West, we may have stability. If we use tall bricks we may reach the sky quicker. Tall bricks are people with a large network or vast knowledge that we may avail ourselves of in the future.    

If we have felons, disloyal and unethical people as our foundation, it is only a matter of time when some of their crisis crumbles our pyramid simply by our association. This is why President Obama had to remove the brick of Reverend Wright from his network to avoid collapse. It is difficult to be so choosy when so many from your natural environment have shady past. We can’t disown family or childhood friends so easily. The strong friends and family should be the foundation. The ones who loved you before you were rich.  Our enemies if we so chose, should be towards the top, so as to not crumble what is dependant from above. Hence the term, “keep your friend close, and your enemies closer”.

The group that understands and practices this concept of pyramid networking, is looked at by the groups that don’t subscribe to such thought as being “fake and phony”. This feeling is accompanied by mistrust and unwillingness to participate for fear of future backstabbing, which is a legitimate threat. A good friend of mine refuses to act anyway outside of his true self. He feels as if he should not change who he is to fit anyone else’s idea. He has a very strong will and will live and die by his convictions. His personal comfort trumps any perceived social gain. If you have ever watched the new wave of reality TV shows where they have Black people interacting with whites, you’ll notice the term used by Blacks “Keep it Real” or “I’m being Real”. This implies, that “I’m not going to smile in your face and act like I like you and tell you only what you may want to hear. Instead, I’m going to tell you the truth, keep it real and I don’t give a damn if it hurts your feelings. This “attitude” is not viewed positively when trying to build a strong pyramid. Yet the Black culture would rather you know what you are going to get from each relationship.

Pyramiders believe that, “I’d rather do a fake song and dance so that if I need something from you, I’ll be in a better position to get it in the future.” This is a strong contrast between the two cultures. This difference makes Blacks appear to be unnecessarily hostile and ineffective in social and business situations. You can’t beat someone in Chess, while using the rules from checkers.

Being that I am multicultural in that I have extensive relations on both sides of this spectrum, I see that we as Black people have not advanced beyond the mistrust of our history. We have not seen the long term benefits of making ourselves uncomfortable now so that we may benefit somehow in the future. In our culture, bullshiters get called a Muthafucka.

The Black culture is generally more emotion based. Emotional reactions are stronger and more important than intellectual reactions. It is difficult to teach this to our children, but the understanding and balancing of the differences may be a step in the right direction. Some parents may be challenged in emphasizing proper speech and greeting skills in social situations in order to improve their children’s comfort in breaking through barriers.

Kings over Rooks

Stratosphering: Once we get over the Pyramiding issue, the second challenge is what I call the Stratosphering Effect. This is when you meet someone and they automatically take their first impression of you and categorize you. If this is done to you, and you feel as if this person has placed you beneath him, you may feel belittled or patronized by their superiority complex. This often occurs and is at times a miscommunication between cultures. Many of my African-American friends discuss there resentment regarding this situation. It is a difficult fight to get in there and mix it up without growing a chip on your shoulder due to this perceived Stratosphering. Yet one technique I’ve used is the understanding that superiority complexes are a disadvantage, and I can utilize that lowered expectation as an advantage in this game of Chess. Hence I don’t get offended as my friend does when he feels it is his obligation to put people in their place right there on the spot. He burns many bridges while sitting on an island.

Black people who are attempting to be multicultural need to understand that it is not a black or white thing; it is a test that everyone has to go through so that you can be placed in the right layer of one’s pyramid. If you don’t have anything to offer a relationship, then you will be discounted, rightfully so in this complex game of Chess. The problem lies in the bias nature of the test. The way we speak, and our attitude towards certain issues makes us susceptible to not being fully accepted. To complicate it even further, we often have peer pressure to not be fully accepted for the risk of getting our ghetto pass revoked, or being labeled a sell out by our natural environment. The balance I use in my mind is that it is all about the papers, dinero, duckets, the loot… your move.

I taught my children Chess at age 3

We on both sides of this coin need to understand this issue. White people are getting more and more acclimated to the differences due to the popularity of the hip-hop culture. Many are actually seeking out “Black friends”. I educate them on my culture, as I gain valuable knowledge of theirs. So when they make an insensitive comment, I let is roll off my shoulder. Check! We as Black people need to develop a better stance within these dilemmas to pass to the next generation, so they may move forward without the chip on their shoulder and get involved in a wider range of opportunities. You can’t beat someone in Chess, while using the rules from checkers…Checkmate!

Lay with dogs, you will rise with fleas.  Birds of a feather flock together.  

“Your child is just running with the wrong crowd.”  School counselors say this to the parents of all 8 kids to make the parents feel as if their child is not bad, but are influenced by “bad” kids. Yeah right.

If you think that peer pressure will influence you to make different decisions, you should be really careful in selecting your friends.  Instead of choosing friends by their looks, status or commonalities, you may want to consider looking deeper at who they are and select people who are more like who you want to be tomorrow rather than who you are today.  I’m not saying get too far out of your comfort zone, but if you are trying to move away from substance abuse, shallow or immoral activities and focus on being more financially, spiritually or intellectually successful, you may want to consider holding your friend selection to a higher standard.

You may need to cut people out of your life or at least out of your favorite 5 if they are holding your progress back.  Often time’s people unintentionally do things to sabotage your goals; you may need to dump them out of your boat before you sink.  Be careful, thoughtful and methodical with cleaning out your boat.  This transition can be very trying in the short term, yet liberating in the long run.  Friendships can be just as important as they can be debilitating.  Some people’s seasons pass and you may need to grow beyond what they have to offer.

This process is not to tell people about themselves and get under their skin. You should not practice this to spite anyone or even teach them a lesson.  Remember, you’ve chosen to no longer be their friend, this means that you no longer are obligated to teach them, help them or harm them any longer. 

 “WHAT KIND OF FRIEND AM I?” Part of self reflection is to look in the mirror and ask yourself tough questions. Instead of cutting a friendship short, you may find that you need to step up and be a better friend yourself.  Maybe you are selfish, stubborn, undependable, insensitive or needy.  Maybe you have caused just as much damage to your friendships as your friends.  From this consciousness, you are more equipped to become a better friend to others.  

Often times we have our idea of what friendship is about and we tend to give what we think should be given to a friendship.  But each friend is different, with different needs and preferences.  We have to be considerate and flexible enough to pay attention and adjust the way we show or practice our friendships on an individual basis.

I recently lost a 15 year friendship.  After months of trying to patch up our differences, including sitting down with a neutral friend and hashing out our differences, I walked away with a better understanding of his perception of me.  He also confirmed my thoughts of who he was.  With that information I was better able to come to a conclusion that this friendship was not what I needed to propel me into my future.  I also knew that my actual and perceived flaws were substantial enough to end our struggle to maintain a friendship.  Now I can rest assured that I did all within my limited power to salvage the friendship. He and I remain great people in our own right, but he can not or will not help me be better, and I am short on that skill for him as well.  Not that I place a lot of pressure on my friendships, making me better may simply be just relaxing and take a break from the stresses of life, but some people inhibit even the most simple things that make friendship worthwhile.

Friends come and go, fix self