Zodiac Times

SHARK TANK

Ella Moss — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 20:51:45 +0000

I was watching Shark Tank a few days ago. A guy from the middle of America came in with an invention for small trucks.
The invention was a useful one for truckers (I am not one of them), but required some serious investment.
The guy was adamant about producing his invention in America. He was talking about his hometown, where all the big employers have left, and unemployment and poverty are rampant. He was talking about his love for OUR country and that he dreams to contribute somehow to OUR prosperity, and to that of his hometown in particular.
The Sharks raised the issue of the costs of production in the U.S. (US) being much greater than that of overseas.
The guy countered, raising quality and trustworthiness issues with overseas production, citing some examples.
There was no doubt that the Sharks were impressed with the guy and his position. One of the Sharks actually cried remembering his dad, a factory worker, who was so proud of being a factory worker.
But none of them chose to invest in the guy’s invention out of concern that manufacturing it in the U.S. (US) would cost them more than that of overseas.
I understand their position, being a business woman myself, no matter how morally wrong that might be.
When I choose my contractors for a job, their rates are one of most important factors in my consideration. After all, I am in business to make money
Of course, the money I make are so slim (barely keeping my family above water), that I am in no position to follow my principles.
But the Sharks are. The Bush’s tax cuts, financial deregulations, and the NAFTA agreement (signed by Clinton) made them so much richer while the rest of us are so much poorer.
Yes, it’s true that the economy now is global and the labor market is in particular. Yes, Americans now compete for jobs with Chinese, Russians, Indians, etc., who can afford much lower wages. So the whatever jobs in America are left also offer lower wages (and that is how we get poorer).
As we get poorer, our government gets poorer (it’s income is our taxes). It can no longer offer comfortable retirement plans, etc., and must borrow to keep the poorest of the poor from hitting the pavement and rioting.
Talking to that guy, the Sharks cited Apple as an example of the company that manufactures offshore, yet employs 45,000 people in the U.S. thanks to great long-term planning.
But these 45,000 American employees are mainly salespeople who sell Apple products to us. As we get poorer (and we will – until the global labor market’s wages get equal everywhere, we are going to see our incomes slide), we would be able to afford iphones, Macs, ipads less and less (I cannot afford neither of them as we speak). Apple would have to then reduce its American sales force more and more, until it may get out of American market altogether. As its market shrinks, so will its production, and Apple itself will get poorer and poorer.
But that is really long term planning, and no business nowadays plans that far ahead.
Our “truck” guy is but a Don Quixote of our times. He is fighting the tsunami of changes that swept our world with the onset of the global economy.
I see Obama as such a Don Quixote as well. He is fighting the losing battle too, as he believes in compromises with the other side of the political isle to the point that he almost committed political suicide last August (remember the deficit ceiling debacle?). He seems to ignore the political reality, where Republicans are being ruled by 1 person, Grover Norquist, who is financed by the likes of brothers Koch, and the policies Republicans endorse and push are being carefully prepared and fed to them by ALEC, the group of 18 large corporations.
In such political reality, the welfare of the U.S. (US, the people) is pushed aside for the sake of winning the power and making more money for ALEC and the likes of Koch brothers (even though it is ultimately short-sighted goal).
One cannot even blame them. We all are faulty in that we want our prosperity now, counting that the future would take care of itself. This is true for Democrats like me just as much as it is true for Republicans.
Even though our money bills say “In God we trust”, we trust in money bills so much more.
It takes people with more money than their possible life span may require, like Warren Buffet, to raise above the Green God and put the welfare of their country first. But their voices are the lonely voices lost in the wilderness.
Everybody admires them and aspires after them, but no one hears them.
When Warren Buffet said that Bush’s tax cuts were intended to create the tide that lifted all boats, but in reality only all yachts were lifted, the yacht owners chose to ignore their idol.
The GOP now is months from nominating Mitt Romney, one of these yacht owners. He would surely uphold the policies that lifted his yacht. Even though his background shows more concern for the fellow Americans (like his health insurance reform in Massachusetts, for instance) then the greater majority of GOP leadership, one cannot forget that he is a Shark. He too would cry out of sympathy with a trucker and then send him away with nothing.
I’ve heard Obama talking about the same tax reform I’ve been screaming in the wilderness on these pages for years now: the reform where companies get financially rewarded for keeping jobs here and financially punished for sending them overseas. I am not counting on these reforms even if he gets to them (if he wins the election and has enough political capital to get the ball rolling), because he may compromise the life out of these reforms too – just as he did with health care, financial regulations, etc.
I think if our leaders cannot or are unwilling to take care of our country, we, the people, should start doing it ourselves. Please read New Economy, or Buy American, Stupid!

Tagged: ALEC, economy, Grover Norquist, labor market, Mitt Romney, Obama, politics, Shark Tank, taxes, Warren Buffet

THE YEAR 2012

Ella Moss — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 05:48:15 +0000

I am going to base my predictions for the year of 2012 on Sibli chart out of all other possible horoscopes of the U.S., since it appears to be most responsive to actual events.
As you may guess, 2012 is promising to be another interesting year.
Since 9/11/2001, every year has been interesting. Until then, I did not even care much about politics, economy, or even mundane astrology. Now that I am clearly part of the “99″%, my life is increasingly tied up with the socio-economic tides sweeping the planet. So now I am taking a closer look at the ominous 2012 – which, according to Maya people, signifies an end to a 5000+ years cycle of the human history.
While I have no doubt that the world is going to survive it, the world as we know it is already changing – just take the look around.
2012 is going to bring more changes, especially to the U.S., since we also have to go through presidential elections.
My money is on Obama, since his Vedic planetary cycles don’t show much change – it will continue to be difficult, unsettling and depressing for him.
Our country is bound to see more turmoil: February 2012 is going to see more “Occupy Wall Street” activity, as Uranus is going back to square off with the U.S. Venus, just as it did in September of 2011, when the movement took hold.
But there are going to be significant changes, as North Node is going over the ascendant in the Sibly chart.
In natal astrology, a Moon’s node going over ascendant or midheaven signifies drastic change in that person’s life. I don’t think it should be that much different in mundane astrology. So I wold expect significant changes for the U.S. that begin to mount as of mid-January.
A lot of it would have to do with economy, as Mars is turning retrograde on 1/24/12, slowing everything down business-wise. It will hold the world’s economy at stand-still until 4/14, when it finally goes direct.
It starts its retrograde motion in 23′ of Virgo, while sitting on the U.S.’ Neptune in 10th house of the Sibly chart. Neptune, meanwhile, is finishing going over the U.S.’ Moon, which it has been doing for most of 2011. I read it as confusion and deception at the helm of the U.S. government that is completely putting the country adrift, and the U.S.’ stand in the world comes into question once again. Quite possible, our credit rating may get downgraded again.
People are going to take to the street in greater numbers in February as Uranus squares the U.S. Venus and the Sun goes over the U.S. Moon.
Since Saturn is squaring the U.S. Pluto in the 2nd house (financial assets}, the dismal economic prospects are more than certain through out most of 2012, especially through the first half of the year.
Even though Mars goes direct in April, Venus turns retrograde on5/15/12 and until 6/27/12, when it turns direct, we find ourselves in socio-economic la-la land.
So, January – June of 2012, the business community is likely to find itself hang in limbo of uncertainties. Only as we touch the terra firma in July, we might be able to begin to assess the damage.
Meanwhile, Uranus and Pluto begin to square each other in the sky in June and keep on doing so through early October.
Since each of these planets is capable to bring a revolution on its own, 2 of them are bound to stir mankind in every corner of the world. Serious wars/ accidents/ natural phenomena are also quite possible when these 2 planets are at each other throats. Iran is going to be most affected, if one of the mundane chart I found for it is correct – since it places Iran’s Moon right under transiting Uranus and being squared by transiting Pluto.
China is also likely to be in the news because of sudden transformations, as its Sun is being opposed by Uranus and squared by Pluto at that time.
European Union, Greece and Israel don’t get a direct planetary hit, so they will pull through OK for now.
For the U.S., the Fall of 2012 brings more positive outlook and, in December, we may even begin to feel that troubles are behind us.
Of course, Pluto cruising through Capricorn until 2024 is not going to let us off the hook in 12/12. It will ensure that the world’s governments and corporations transform themselves completely by then, so it can begin to decide the human kind’s survival while moving through Aquarius.
But as far as 2012 is concerned, it is going to be one of the most tumultuous and difficult years in history, yet it does not spell the end of anything – not even the end of our troubles.

Tagged: 2012, 2012 predictions, 99%, astrological predictions, business, China, corporations, economy, European Union, financial crisis, global economy, goverment, Greece, Iran, Israel, mars, Maya, Mayan astrology, money, Neptune, Obama, Occupy Wall Street, Pluto, predictions, presidential elections, presidential elections predictions, Saturn, Sun, the U.S., Uranus, Venus, war, worry

THE MYTHOLOGY AND REALITY OF FREE ENTERPRISE

Ella Moss — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 03:54:37 +0000

Last week I took my 10 y.o. son to the “Occupy Wall Street” hang out so he could see the democracy in action.
Since I have predicted these kind of protests in my “From Middle East to Middle of America” piece in February, I was particularly interested in witnessing this protest.
Although I consider myself one of the 99% unrepresented people in the US by either politicians or the media, and “The 99%” is the subtitle of this protest, I found that none of the tiny groups gathered in this tiny square represented me either. I am neither an anarchist, nor socialist nor Ron Paul fan.
The only guy who more-or-less spoke for me there was a little known scientist / politician Harry Braun of PhoenixProjectFoundation.us.. He was interesting to me not just because of the stories he told of scientific inventions ready to change the world but stalled because The Big Corporations were against them, but because he rightfully suggested that THE ONLY WAY TO CIRCUMVENT THE BIG BUSINESS LOBBYING IS BY CALLING CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.
I believe that Big Business Lobbying is a huge part of all the wrong things that have lead to the present economic and political crisis.
This lobbying by the way is exactly why the “Free enterprise” ideology is nothing but a promotion of a dangerous myth.
In order to separate the mythology of “Free Enterprise” ideology from facts, one needs to examine history from the economics perspective.
Skipping the stone age, let’s start from slave labor based economics of the ancient Greece, Rome and the rest of the world, really, of that time.
The government regulated that economy by protecting the rights of slave owners and undermining the rights of slaves. The ancient countries and towns also had trade tariffs. Most importantly, social customs created “casts” that largely prevented poor people even if free to move up the social ladder and participate in profitable enterprise. So the enterprise was not quite free then.The economy, by the way, was of strictly “trickle down” variety, and middle class was no larger than 10% of society, where 1% were the rich and powerful, and the rest 89% were poor and poorer.
Entering the Middle Ages:
The economy was now feudal. The laborers were no longer slaves, even though they too could be bought and sold, and had no real freedom of movement within the territory and societal ladder. The middle class was still negligible, and the economy was still regulated by
a) societal customs of “casts” (i.e. the children of a tailor would be tailors, and peasants could not become aristocracy)
b) Laws that protected aristocracy and the rich and undermined the rights of everyone else
c) trade tariffs
So enterprise was not free either.
Moving on to the Industrial Age:
Breakthroughs in scientific discoveries were closely followed by technological advances, birthing industries that were as labor intensive as agriculture and required promotion of societal and migrational movement within society.
Since industries also required large financial investments, and money historically concentrated within the 1% of the rich and powerful, the same rich and powerful instituted new laws that allowed poor enough freedom to move around and enslave themselves for substandard wages to industrialists.
The many revolutions of that time, including the American one, were lead by rich and powerful (who were also the only educated people) that were able to capitalize on always present anger of the poor.
The American civil war was based on the fact that industrialized North needed laborers and could not afford slaves (who, besides being expensive, needed housing away from cities (segregation requirement) + transportation, etc.), so it needed to change the laws that favored the slave-labor based agricultural South. Everything else is a myth.
The large industries also needed the educated middle class to manage the many laborers, so education and money began to trickle down through the society, allowing for middle class growth.
While tariffs were still being implemented, the enterprise was largely unregulated, so it was at its freest stage.
Small businesses were popping up, the middle class was about 25%, but most of the wealth still belonged to the 1% of the rich and powerful that were investing into all big industries of that time (railroads, automotive business, oil, etc.).
Whenever these “Rubber Barons” encountered competition from a small business, they were either buying the small guy out or starve him out by lowering prices below cost (they were rich and they could afford it). Monopolies were easily achievable. Those industries that could not be gobbled up by 1 rich entity, resorted to fixing prices to keep the small guy at the bottom feed.
But that irked other rich people as well as now they also had difficulty entering the established industries (which were already monopolized or “fixed”), so new “Anti-monopoly and anti-trust” laws were put in place (although I still remember AT&T as a telephone monopoly).
But business went largely unregulated until the Great Depression.
This, however, did not create a happy prosperous society anywhere.
The nature of any business is to make as much profit as possible at the lowest possible cost. By the way, slaves are more expensive then laborers working for low wages. Besides being expensive outright, slaves need to be fed, clothed and housed. A free laborer must worry about all that himself and costs the lowest possible wage to the business. A business that is not regulated would not provide any health / retirement benefits if laborers have to compete for jobs. So large unemployment is good for business.
Businesses don’t care much about the future either. Their task is to maximize profits in the short run. Businesses don’t get sick or retire, they have no social conscience – they are not people. The owners of businesses may have conscience and may do charity. They may even make their business to give $ to charity if that generates good will and helps profit.
But any business is a money-making venture, pure and simple. Monopolies are good for businesses that can make it there; price fixing is profitable (many businesses continue doing this despite the regulations); cheap labor is coveted.
The more businesses are unregulated, the happier are the investors (the rich and powerful 1% of the society), and the harder it is on general population.
So during the early 20th century, the general population was living the tough life. In fact, the poor (70+%) were much, much angrier than even during the feudal times. They worked 80 hrs/ wk and barely made their ends meet for they were paid slave wages. They did not have the calming satisfaction of working the land and feeling one with nature. They felt used. So new revolutions were taking place all over: Russia, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc.
Countries that did not have full-blown revolutions, had plenty of unrest that was met with new laws favoring more equality.
The U.S. was no exception. The government had to relent and give legitimacy to unions. The Great Depression necessitated financial regulations to be put in place.
Since unions had money and bargaining power, the Big Business has finally met its match.
It was forced to pay living wages and benefits to its workers, and the middle class began to grow exponentially.
With the growth of the middle class came prosperity and much greater degree of equality.
The Big Business could not give up, however.
So
a)It made lobbying into an institution in order to persuade the government to do what it needed the government to do. For example, the oil industry needed to
1) keep other sources of energy out
2) get free ride from taxes and, on pretenses of needing the money to keep exploring oil fields, get subsidies and tax loop-holes
3) influence the international politics to keep oil countries in its pocket through war or piece, etc.
In fact, the government of every industrialized nation became mainly the promoter of the Big Business agenda.
b) The Big Business began privately funding “Think Tanks” in order to create so-called experts and promoters of ideology that suited the Big Business, and the “Conservative Movement” was born
c) The Big Business created organizations like ALEC, where 19 major corporations, like AT&T, ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, etc., meet with Republican politicians and give them the policies they would like to implement
d) The Big Business created the myth of “Liberal Left-leaning media” and began to promote its ideology via “alternative” conservative media.
I don’t remember who said at the advent of mass media that whoever controls the media he controls the world. Both, Hitler and Stalin knew and did that very well.
You would think that in the U.S. this would be difficult to implement. But people forget that media is also Big Business. So it was never liberal. Perhaps, it used to be more fair-handed by making profit through exposing popular opinion.
But since “liberal Media” myth was created, media has been scared to expose the polular opinion, and now is exposing the fringe opinion only, so the 99% of population feel left out.
Frankly, being part of this 99%, I never really cared much for either politics or economics, until it hit me in the pocket.
All uprisings begin when people feel unfairly impoverished.
Since the richer and better educated Big Business has been now winning its fight with unions through the subtle strategies outlined above, and the 99% of the population are feeling it, the uprising has began.
Like I’ve been saying, Pluto, the demolition ball of the universe, has entered Capricorn, the sign of societal law and order, government and corporations, in December of 2008, and that what it is going to transform in the next 14 years (it is there through 2023).
So the Arab Spring and “Occupy Wall Street” are the buds of bigger things to come.
And, unless we can establish the constitutional conventions or elect smart politicians in both houses + the White House (too far-fetched, right?), we are facing a really rough ride as a society.
By the way, like I said, I am not a socialist. I am an owner of small business, who is trying to hang on to my middle class status.

Tagged: ALEC, Arab Spring, AT&T, Capricorn, conservative movement, constitutional convention, ExxonMobil, free enterprise, Harry Braun, Hitler, liberal media, lobbying, middle class, monopoly, Occupy Wall Street, oil industry, Pluto, Pluto in Capricorn, protest, Ron Paul, Stalin, the 99%, think tank, trickle-down economics, unions, uprising

AMERICAN ECONOMY S.O.S.

Ella Moss — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:35:15 +0000

So it happened.
In my predictions in Financial Crisis – It’s Not Over Until It’s Over I was wrong by pinpointing 8/1/2010 as the crest of our economic troubles. The economic tsunami came exactly 1 year later.
I think it is because I have mistaken Mars for a trigger of the events. As I’ve said in my article The Moon, the trigger was the lunar eclipse that came on the darkest day of last year – the winter solstice. It fell on those sensitive degrees, marked by planetary war on American Venus that I have described in Financial Crisis article.
This lunar eclipse made things darker and bigger. Not only our economy has trembled, but the political debacle over debt-ceiling marked the crisis of our government as well.
Our country is in the free fall, just like financial markets, because our government was found to be absolutely inept.
Here I’d like to cite from an article I found on the internet today:
“Economics professor Bradford Delong, from the University of California-Berkeley, says the damage done through the six months of wrangling over the debt ceiling, which analysts note has been lifted 78 times since 1960 and 49 times under Republican presidents, was a distraction the US could ill afford.
Writing in the Australian Financial Review, Professor Delong decries the neglect of all the “useful policies that might have been debated and enacted, but were not”, citing climate change initiatives, policies to boost employment, education and healthcare financing, plus improvements to America’s “decaying infrastructure”. These policies, he believes, would help improve the economy in the long run and bring down unemployment that, according to the US Bureau of Statistics, is at a high of 9.2 per cent. Looming large also was the loss of standing as “conductor of the international economic orchestra”, Professor Delong wrote, warning that if the US can no longer be relied upon as the arbiter of global governance, then the world needs to develop “other institutions for global management” – and fast.”
Well, Chinese are already issuing warnings of dollar devaluation, acting as the financial cop of the world – the title previously reserved for the U.S. government.
We are sliding from our perch of super-power to the “also has been” super fast, and there are not enough grown-ups on the Capitol Hill to save us. I think I was overly optimistic in all my predictions. I think I should revise them as follows:
a) the U.S. is going to be marred in prolonged depression, with real unemployment (counting those who are no longer eligible for benefits) at about 30%. The wage and property deflation are going to make 90% of the population to be so poor as living hand-to-mouth. Meanwhile, groceries, gas and transit costs are going to grow at 10% – 20% inflation rates.
The economy is going to contract until 2014, when it may begin to show some growth again.
The majority of the population will remain poor for many years to come though, as policies and competition over jobs would wipe out unions and, with them, the remnants of the middle class. In other words, we are no longer going to be the consumer society, with 70% of economy depending on consumption.
b) The crime and civil unrest would become much more evident for many years to come.
c) Politics would continue to make our government more and more disfunctional
d) The good news is we are likely to stop making wars abroad
e) Europe is not likely to be spared either. Once Germany is going to find itself unable to carry the rest of the European states, European Union is likely to disintegrate back into miriad of states, and so will the euro.
f) Chinese economy will faulter as well, as dollar and euro falls, but it will survive and will take the super-power title
g)Russia, Canada, Australia, Brazil and India will fair much better, getting stronger over the next decade, while the U.S. and Europe are going to struggle to survive.
h) Africa, Afghanistan and Middle East are going to continue to be the worst places to live in, maintaining the global terror threat.
In other words, it sucks, and whatever Obama or the next administration is going to do is going to be too little too late.

Tagged: Africa, astrological predictions, astrology, Capitol Hill, China, civil unrest, crime, dollar, economy, euro, Europe, financial crisis, global economy, government, great depression, India, mars, money, Moon, Obama, Pluto in Capricorn, politics, predictions, recession, terror, unemployment, war, worry

THE ENEMIES IN OUR MIDST OR HOW TO KILL THE WORLD’S LARGEST ECONOMY

Ella Moss — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 03:02:02 +0000

I just heard on the news that the 3rd Al Queda biggie was killed, giving the U.S. the edge on that murky shapeless war on terror we have been officially waging since 2001.
While I am happy to hear these news, I think that even we were to win the 4 wars (1.this “war on terror”; 2. in Afghanistan; 3. in Iraq; 4. in Lybia), we’ve been waging since the fateful 2001 (and I am not counting the “war on drugs”), we are heading to lose our way of life.
It’s not the democracy I am worried about here, but material comfort and relative peace on the streets (outside of occasional shootings and muggings).
It appears that there has been another war waging, and it is on American economy.
It’s beginnings are murky. But I would trace it as far back as Reagan’s Administration, that first began an unofficial war on unions. Unions make labor-intensive manufacturing very expensive and eat into profits of investors.
Well, nobody likes unions (except for unions’ bosses), so what’s the big deal?
The big deal is that everybody likes the middle class.
The middle class is as essential to any economy, as an engine to a car. Without it, economy is dead.
Even if we were to end up with a few thousands of super rich dudes, while the rest of us would struggle to survive (i.e. the middle class would disappear completely), all the many billions of these super rich would not create the job growth a multi-million population requires. They would invest into emerging markets, not the dying ones.
Why would they create a factory of any kind in the U.S., where people are struggling to stretch a dollar to pay rent, bills and buy groceries and their discretional income is so tight that all they can afford is cheap Chinese goods in Walmart, when these super rich investors can build a factory in Brazil, or India, or same China, where people are eager to spend their increasing earnings?
By the way, is not it one of the main reasons, that the numbers of unemployed right now stay where they are despite us giving continuous tax breaks to these super rich?
Yes, the second attack on American economy began during the prosperous 1990s, when Clinton Administration signed away any kind of protection of American labor force, and internet was born (internet makes outsourcing a breeze).
Suddenly, American labor force had to compete with the labor force of other countries, and American people could no longer ask for wage increase, because the majority of the world’s labor force was so much cheaper and just as good.
It took about 10 years for Americans to notice that their incomes were stagnating while their bills grew. They kept waiting for their personal prosperity to come, while changing jobs, professions and investing into 401K and increasingly expensive real estate.
But Clinton Administration also approved the deregulation of financial markets.
Suddenly, the credit was so cheap and so available, that the American people have not noticed that their actual discretional income was dwindling to nothing.
Why worry, if one could still buy a McMansion, and buy even more stuff by turning the McMansion into an ATM machine?
Yes, 1990s were prosperous. The economy was booming as people were eager consumers. The problem was that everything was bought on credit rather then with actual money.
Everyone was expecting the actual income to catch up, as it used to.
But it did not, because so many jobs have either left the country or paid as much as in other (read CHEAPER) countries.
Eventually, the credit bubble had to burst, and it did in 2008.
If the federal government did not pump money into the banks that lost the money by lending it to population so indiscriminately, The economy would have simply collapse like it did in Argentina in 1990s.
Americans were saved, although suddenly they came face to face with their economic reality and realized they were so much poorer than a decade ago.
So many of them have lost their job, that those who did not no longer dared to ask for a wage increase or benefits or union perks. In fact, they started giving up their last benefits and perks just so they could keep a job.
And that is when the final attack on American economy began.
Since it was now the federal government that was pulling the economy down the road as its engine, the middle class, stalled, the enemies in our midst began to attack the federal government.
The ideas Obama put on the table were nothing short of brilliant: invest federal dollars into aging crumbling infrastructure and green economy – labor-intensive enterprises that must hire domestic labor force. Every created job would spur on 10s of other jobs, and the economy would begin humming again.
But the enemies in our midst thought otherwise. Suddenly, federal deficit began to be used as a panic-inspiring weapon of choice.
Of course, the surplus that Clinton Administration left the country with would have been a much better deal. But if credit is sparse everywhere else, how else would you come up with money needed to pump the economy?
The enemies in our midst said, “Let starve the federal government of tax income, let’s keep taxes low so the few super rich would invest their money into economy. The government is too big and lives beyond its means. Its deficit is going to bankrupt our children”.
Americans love their children, so anything threatening the kids works as a great scarecrow.
They are also badly educated (read my American Education Reform ).
So Obama’s proposals were decimated, the government began shedding its work force, unemployment came back to its pick numbers, and unions everywhere lost their power and benefits.
Now there is no one to pull our economy from the brink. Those who are employed, work at REDUCED wages, that are getting closer to the 3rd world range.
Meanwhile, every single life staple, like groceries, rent, cable bills, insurance, etc. doubled or more in price (as compared to 10 yrs ago or less). Even those who work at median salaries have less money to buy desirable but unnecessary things.
This means that businesses producing and selling anything that is not a life staple make less profit so they begin to shed their labor force.
The less there is labor force, the less income the government gets. Since deficit is now a dirty word, the government has no choice but shed its work force and cut services to the impoverished population.
Now the time came to put the final nails into the coffin of what used to be the largest world economy: refuse to raise the ceiling on federal credit.
Once the federal government loses its credit-worthiness, watch American economy collapse into THE GREATER THAN THE GREAT DEPRESSION ditch.
The idiot dream of labor-intensive manufacturers like Koch brothers would come true:
labor in America would become as cheap as in Africa.
Unfortunately, the American workers would no longer be able to afford using the toilet paper they manufacture for Koch brothers. Like their African brethren, they would have to use tree leaves to wipe their asses. So Koch brothers would eventually go broke too.
No, it is not the federal deficit that threatens the future of our children. It is our inability to discern the enemies in our midst.
As for the scary federal deficit, it was Reagan administration that first racked it up into the trillions. Then Bush administration turned the surplus into another multi-trillion dollar debt. No one screamed of deficit while republicans were in power. The congress did not attack neither of the republican presidents for taking us into expensive wars (Reagan’s Panama blitz, Nicaragua fiasco, etc.; Bush’s Afghanistan, Iraq and the amorphous war on terror).
No, I am not happy at all with Lybia war either. I just don’t think it matters much anymore.
Like I predicted in 2008, “FINANCIAL CRISIS – IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER”

Tagged: Al Queda, Bush, deficit, economy, financial crisis, global economy, great depression, India, Iraq, money, news, Obama, outsourcing, politics, predictions, Reagan, recession, taxes, unemployment, war, worry

THE MOON

Ella Moss — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 04:06:29 +0000

Today, 3/19/11, the Moon comes closest to Earth in 18 years, and, as soon as it gets dark, I am heading across the street to the park to witness the most giant Moon of my life time.
To be sure, I’ve witnessed enormous moons in Catskills during summers of 2004 – 2006. The Moon was not anywhere near its perigee at that time, so I have no idea what has caused that phenomena.
The last time the Moon was at its perigee was in 1993 – the year my eldest nephew was born. He has conjunction of the Sun, the Moon, Venus and Mercury in Cancer. Since the Moon rules Cancer, he has got a truly powerful Moon in his chart!
He is a very bright young man. He aced through the best specialized public schools in NYC and now is studying in Hunter on full scholarship.
Everyone I’ve met with Sun / Moon conjuction in Cancer has impressed me with their powerful mind. When I was teaching at Manhattan Astrology School, I came across a few students with this combination. Without fail, they all were the brightest students of mine. They seemed to soak up my teachings so immediately and fully, as if they’ve read my mind and soak up my experience in addition to my spoken words.
Both, Cancer and Moon are ruled by water, which certainly adds psychic sensitivity to these people.
But Pisces, ruled by Neptune, is by far the most psychic of all zodiac signs. Yet my Pisces students and students with the Moon and / or ascendant in Pisces were much more ordinary. Also, regular Cancer students, or the students with the Moon or ascendant in Cancer did not impress me as much.
So it is the Sun/ Moon conjuction in Cancer that produces such agile minds.
In fact, people with Sun/ Moon conjunction in any sign tend to have a much greater IQ than average. Interestingly, many years ago, there was a lengthy article in one of the astrology magazines, where the author studied charts of members of some genius club in England. All members had to have 140+ IQ to be admitted.
The author produced 13 charts for that article, while studying Mercury positions there. What struck me though, that all of them contained Sun/ Moon conjunctions in various signs.
So to me, it is the Sun/ Moon conjunction that enhances our intellect, and, in my experience, this conjunction in Cancer trumps them all.
I should quickly add, that not having such conjunction does not lower your chances for brightness.
The mother of this nephew of mine has also been the brightest in my family for many years. She has no such conjuction, and her only planet in Cancer is Jupiter. Moreover, she was born in 1967 – an unremarkable year in terms of the Moon.
Now there is an even brighter person in our family: my other nephew, Anish Giri (born June 28, 1994), who is a chess prodigy. He met his final grandmaster norm at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days when he beat Venezuelan GM Eduardo. He also became the youngest chess champion of Netherlands. On top of it, he is an excellent student and speaks 5 languages.
Yes, he is a Cancer, but with the Moon in Pisces. Like Cancer Sun/ Moon conjunction, this combination calls for extreme psychic impressionability, but it does not guarantee an exceptional IQ.
Interestingly, Vedic astrology favors full Moon charts when it comes to scoring higher intellect.
My own chart is such, and, although I never measured my IQ until a few years ago, I know that it must have been in 150+ range. I had photographic memory, was incredibly intuitive (my Moon is in Sagittarius – the sign of intuition) and managed to learn 4 years worth of middle and high-school physics in 3.5 days, scoring respectable B on the exam.
Unfortunately, the loss of almost all of my blood in 1998 robbed me of photographic memory, and then consistent lack of sleep for 3.5 yrs after giving birth to my son has taken another 20 points of my IQ. I am still bright enough to notice that I am not as smart as I used to be:)
But the point is, the Moon has a lot to do with how smart we are, much more so than Mercury – which represents the faculty of mind that is more akin to a computer. As we know, the most powerful computer would not be much of help to an idiot.
In traditional Western astrology, the quickness of the mind is measured by how fast the Moon was moving on the day of birth. Yet the Moon represents our feelings and emotions.
In Vedic astrology, the Moon represents the mind, period.
Yes, these 2 branches of astrology differ in much more ways than the what type of zodiac they use.
In Western astrology, the Moon invokes what we consider to be the soul: feelings, emotions, subconscious mind, while the Sun represents our self-identity (ego + super-ego). In Vedic, the Sun invokes the soul.
But those could be just cultural differences as in what the soul or mind/ consciousness mean to us.
What’s more interesting, that in Vedic astrology, the whole zodiac is dedicated to the Moon. Vedic astrology uses Siderial zodiac, which is based upon actual constellations of the ecliptic belt. These constellations are subdivided into 27 Moon mansions, and these 27 subdivisions represent the heart of Vedic astrology. Moreover, Vedic astrologers also like to read a chart from the position of the natal Moon.
This is so, perhaps, because emotional quotient of our lives is much more important to us then the events causing the emotions. In other words, we measure our lives not by how many breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
But it also could be that by ruling our subconscious mind, the Moon truly rules our lives.
I watch Bachelor from time to time, and I found this last season to be particularly fascinating for this reason. The Bachelor, Brad Womack, seriously fell for a single mom, who lost the father of her child to a plane crush 6 years ago. Even though she declared falling in love with Brad, she kept saying that the dead man IS the love of her life. She also admitted to sabotaging all her consequent relationships. Now we know she did the same to Brad.
I believe, consciously she may have been ready for a new man in her life. She said, she dreamt of a wedding, and she did go on The Bachelor despite being intensely private and reserved.
But subconsciously she does not want a relationship for a few reasons:
a) She is terrified of the pain of a possible heart-break (she is aware of that)
b) She is afraid to diminish the memories of her first love or even to cheat on them, perhaps, by replacing them by an actual relationship
I doubt she is aware of this second reason, but it is most likely the main reason why she sabotages her relationships.
There is possibly the 3rd reason:
c) Her great love for the dead man makes her special, and she is afraid to lose that “specialness”.
In other words, as much as she appears to be altogether, incredibly poised and coiffed, subconsciously she is a total mess, and without years of therapy, she is likely to remain single forever.
There was one scene in The Bachelor, that was especially telling to me:
Brad comes over and tries to declare his palpable love for her by saying that he is ready to be the real father to her daughter. But instead of accepting this declaration for what it was, she is grilling him on what does he know about being a father.
So no matter how she may want a relationship consciously, she is most likely to go without it for subconscious reasons.
In fact, every time we fail at something we consciously desire, we should take a good look at our subconscious needs.
As another example of subconsciousness being truly in charge of our lives, I may give you my observations of the homeless men I’ve got to know while volunteering for Coalition For The Homeless some years ago: they all thought badly of money. They called it “The devil’s issue”, “the evil”, “the plague”, etc. I realized then that they all were homeless not because of mental illness, alcoholism, or drug addiction most of them suffered from – as there are plenty of rich crazies, alcoholics and drug-addicts. These ones were poor because subconsciously they were afraid of money.
When we come out of the womb, we are already equipped with our subconscious mind, as oppose to all other mental faculties that take some time to develop.
That’s why the Moon in a natal chart is also associated with the mother (the first person we get to know), and with nurturing (the first activity we are exposed to). As we begin to grow, these psychological roots expand to include home, family, country and all we know we belong to. And all these psychological roots are ruled by the Moon.
Memories, both conscious and subconscious, are how our psychological roots grow, and, of course, the Moon rules our memories.
People like me, with Mercury in Cancer (the sign ruled by the Moon) are famous for our excellent memories.
I am, maybe, more so than others, since I remember 27 of my many past lives.
Of course, not all of these memories occurred to me naturally. While only 2 have appeared to me consciously unprompted, the rest came via deep meditation, past lives regressions, recapitulation and other techniques.
This brings me to what I think the Moon really represents: our astral bodies.
When we die, we leave only physical body behind. But our souls have other bodies: astral, casual, etc. When we re-incarnate, the astral body keeps the imprints of all our previous lives. Those memories don’t disappear. They are simply relegated to the subconscious realm, and so are relatively easy to be accessed.
But like the real Moon that is visible to us only when the Sun sets, we can see our subconsciousness when the conscious mind is temporarily shut off. This is called hypnosis. After all, as a certified hypnotherapist, I should know this. And as such, I’ve been privileged to glimpse the incredible subconscious realm.
There, our calendar age easily coexist with our babyhood, and feelings generated by a past life centuries ago are as strong as if time did not exist.
In fact, to our subconsciousness TIME DOES NOT EXIST. It only knows the present, and it cannot differentiate between events of a life long past and the present.
It is also easily malleable – just like a baby. Yet our conscious mind -the grown up in us, represented by the Sun astrologically – is powerless before it. As long anyway, as it does not venture into the vast darkness of the subconsciousness.
Until then, we may only think we know why we relate to the world the way we do. The true reasons – the memories, the feelings – are buried in the Moon’s realm.
There are many good reasons for why the luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, are given rulership to the day (conscioness / the Sun) and the night (subconsciousness / the Moon) of our being. If you were, say, a serial killer in a previous life, you would not want these memories to surface now. You might not be able to live with yourself in this life.
Each life is given to us as an opportunity to redeem ourselves, and each new identity we develop when reincarnating is, in a sense, a clean slate that allows us to start anew. While our subconsciousness keeps track of all our karmic debts, not knowing them consciously helps finding new solutions to old problems.
Interestingly, this all powerful satellite of ours, the Moon, has been slowly moving away from us. While this is totally unnoticeable in one life time, 100,000 years ago the Moon would have seem as huge at its apogee as it does now at its perigee. I can only imagine what the slow disappearance of the Moon may mean for humanity. Does it mean that in a million years from now, humans will remember all their past lives? Does it mean that our descendants then would no longer be slaves to the misconceptions of their subconsciousness? Would they lose emotions completely or simply be able to control them perfectly?
Are we going to lose the tides of the oceans and would our volcanoes go silent?
When eclipses disappear, would it mean that so would the reasons for these bad omens?
Talking about eclipses, I think I wrote The Meaning Of Solstice Eclipse too soon. Look what happened in Japan. Plus, we started THE THIRD WAR in the Middle East, and Republicans are using whatever power they have regained to kill our fledging economy completely.
Normally, such terrible powers emanate only from Solar eclipses, but this one was LUNAR. And with the Moon at its perigee, it now appears to be more sinister than ever. Not to mention, that it ties into the great grand cross of 2010, falling into 1st cardinal degree.
Perhaps, I’ve misread Mars as the trigger point of that Grand Cross. I am relatively new to mundane astrology, and so eclipses are hard for me to read yet. But, perhaps, the real trigger was this sinister lunar eclipse that fell on the darkest night of the year. Certainly, 2011 is shaping as the most unsettling year for humanity, and the solstice eclipse is the obvious harbinger of this swirling darkness all around. After all, the darkness is the realm of the Moon.

Tagged: Anish Giri, astral body, astrological predictions, astrology, astrology school, Brad Womack, Cancer, economy, global economy, Grand Cross, homeless, hypnosis, IQ, Japan, karmic debts, life, Lunar Mansions, middle east, mind, money, Moon, mother, night, Pisces, politics, power, predictions, relationships, republicans, school, soul, subconsciousness, The Bachelor, the Sun, Vedic astrology, war, worry

FROM MIDDLE EAST TO MIDDLE OF AMERICA

Ella Moss — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:17:05 +0000

I was watching a sad Russian movie yesterday about WWII and thought how truly traumatic were the first 50 years of the last century:
In 1905, there was an on-going Russian Japanese war that have lead to the first Russian revolution, and 20,000 people perished in the earth quake in India.
Then there was a Balkan war that grew into WWI, and lead to the second Russian revolution in 1917and millions upon millions people perished all over the world from war, hardship, hunger and influenza before 1920s
1920s were the tiny period of respite, and then in 1930s the decimation of humanity renewed in earnest. Where there was no war, there was Great Depression or other calamities. Europe and North America would not see peace and prosperity until 1950s.
Of course, the wars and revolutions did not disappear then. But they became localized enough and relegated mainly to the “Third World”, so those of us, born in Russia, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand in the second half of the 20th century thought of peace and prosperity as something akin to an entitlement.

Welcome to the 21st century! The 9/11 of 2001 brought in a new era of an amorphous globalized war where no one is safe anywhere, The Great Financial Crisis in “The First World” and some kind of endless economic decline.
Globalization, welcomed during prosperous 1990s, brought in wage deflation and price inflation.
This in not official news just yet, but we all feel it (except for the tiny percentage of truly rich). Middle class is being systematically outpriced into oblivion.
2011 began with uprisings in Middle-East and Middle of America. Please, don’t think that Wisconsin and Ohio protests are much different from the spark in Tunisia that inflamed the Arab world. Since it happened less then 2 months ago, you must remember that the whole thing started there after a poor street vendor in Tunisia put himself on fire after a new license requirement that made it impossible for him and his kind to eke a living any longer.
Wisconsin governor, by taking away the power of unions to bargain collectively, has put that state on Tunisia path. Unions are the last remaining stronghold of the middle class. Taking away their ability to bargain collectively makes them toothless and leads to wage decline.
But the rest of the states is not far behind.

I am not part of any union. Instead, I am a small business owner who since 2008 is struggling to pay rent!
Formerly a member of the dwindling middle class, I am now watching my pennies. I went to a store another day to buy ingredients for chicken soup (a cheaper meal alternative) and was flabbergasted that it came to whooping $13.31! (This means that each bowl of that soup came to $2). With food, transit, cable, insurance, phone and rent prices going up so fast, I am being squeezed out of comfortable living faster than I can type these words!
I am sure that all my readers feel the same pain. And the aweful truth is that it is bound to get much worse.
While the Arab world is likely now to put Islamic extremist in power (watch the price of oil to sky-rocket), I really blame the American media for the problems of the past 2 years. Why?

Well, here’s why:
The times when we used to get real news from TV were so long ago, that I am not even sure there was such a thing.
Everyday they get fluffier and fluffier. Last week, I turned on channel 7 to watch World News with Diane Sawyer and watched nothing but fluff public announcements like statistics of obesity, church going, etc.
Since when statistics qualify as news? Don’t we have world news like uprisings and stuff?

But that is not the real killer. The real killer that most of the news nowadays is about opinions, sensations and side taking. What happened to investigative journalism? It is long gone, thanks to the cost cutting. And cost cutting is what we hear day after day in the “news”. This kind of “opinion news” is what gave the power to such fringe elements in politics like Tea Party people.
But most of the people in America still think that whatever they hear on the “news” is kind of official truth.
Unfortunately, most people in America are not educated enough (read my http://underzodiacclock.com/2010/10/05/american-education-reform/) to discern the stupidity of this opinion which “the news” made so popular. So Tea Buggers got elected to Congress, and now wield the real power to cut whatever jobs we have left in this country.
PLEASE, realize that whenever they scream “Cut the cost”, it is a job somewhere that is being cut!
Everytime a job is being cut, WE ALL COLLECTIVELY BECOME POORER! A person with a job pays rent, enriching a landlord, buys groceries and lunches, enriching food makers and sellers and restauranters and waiters, keeps up appearance, enriching barbers and clothiers and buys stuff with discretional income, enriching manufacturers and importers. If the job pays enough, a job holder travels, enriching travel industry. The more job holders there are, the more jobs are generated everywhere – and vice versa.
With 9% unemployment, we cannot afford to cut costs (i.e. jobs)!
Tea buggers also want to cut so called entitlements (Social security, medicaid, medicare). What this mean to you, that you would have to pick up those costs and pay more for medical insurance and taking care of your elderly relatives.
Tea buggers don’t want to cut oil companies subsidies or big farm subsidies, and they don’t want to raise taxes on the truly rich to the level of 1990s when jobs were actually created.
In other words, they don’t want to raise revenue to help decrease deficit. They think they can reduce it by cutting jobs or at the very least cutting salaries (how else would you cut costs in the bare bones world of today?).
But that only leads to decreasing revenues (every job/ salary cut means less $ collected in taxes).
The unemployed and underpaid would then go on government rolls to collect unemployment benefits, foodstamps, etc., further burdening the remaining tax payers and financially strangling the government out of existence (which is perhaps what they ultimately want). After all, they scream for smaller government and total deregulation of business. I am still waiting on them to legislate in slave labour – as a business owner I can certainly use that!!!
What we don’t hear much on “the news” is that it is the stupid tax cuts implemented by Bush and the Republican party, as well as deregulation of business and the stupid Iraq war is what brought the American economy to its knees in the first place. But for the news to trace the problems down to their roots would be something akin investigative journalism and they don’t do it anymore.
So Americans forget the actual facts and adopt the announced opinions fed to them as facts by the media in the “news”.
So I have news for you:
There are going to be more uprisings in America. Because all uprisings start when population in general can no longer eke out a living.
CUT THE TEA PARTY!!!!

Tagged: cost cutting, deficit, Diane Sawyer, economy, entitlements, Europe, financial crisis, global economy, great depression, medicaid, medicare, middle class, Middle East uprisings, money, news, Ohio, predictions, protests, revenue, social security, taxes, tea party, unemployment, unions, uprisings, war, Wisconsin, Wisconsin protests, world news with Diane Sawyer, WWI, WWII

THE MEANING OF SOLSTICE ECLIPSE

Ella Moss — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 04:10:07 +0000

Since the times immemorial, eclipses have been considered to be the bad omen of troubling times to come.
But astrologers have been all over the place on how to read them. This is the reason why I normally don’t do eclipses.
So even though I guessed that this particular eclipse has got to be THE MAJOR EVENT IN THE SKY OF MY LIFE TIME (the last one like this happened in 1638), I waited to see what other astrologers had to say about it and watched the events unfold.
Its symbolism did not escape me though: an eclipse is a bad omen because the darkness swallowing a luminary. But this one was to be the doubly dark, occurring on the darkest night of the year.
The most interesting discussion among astrologers on this topic centered on the symbolism of the zodiacal degree this eclipse occurred in. These were Western astrologers. They used Tropical zodiac and Sabian symbols. I don’t give Sabian symbols much credence, so I looked to see what Vedic astrology has to say about the degree symbolism.
Vedic astrology uses Siderial zodiac (based on actual constellations), and it imbued each zodiacal degree with deep imaging and meaning that is uncanny in its accuracy.
So this is what I found:
It fell into nakshatra of Mula (0′ – 13’20 of siderial Sagittarius). Mula is symbolized by intertwined roots and translates from Sanscrit as “Root” or “inner core”, suggesting it being central to the web of karma. Anything occurring in Mula is very important karmically.
Mula, these 13’20 of zodiacal belt, is ruled by demonic goddess Nritti, whose name itself translates from Sanscrit as “Calamity”. Moreover, she is the daughter of Adharma (vileness) and Himsa (violence), and the mother to Mrityu (death) and Bhaya (fear).
This tells me I have to be on look out for some kind of karmic calamity that brings on violent death and strikes fear into the hearts of men.
The good thing about Nritti, though, is that all her calamities are destined to bring on the greater good.
The very degree of this lunar eclipse is falling into Gemini navamsa. Gemini and its ruler Mercury are all about communication and travel. Alas, Mercury at the time of the eclipse was retrograde! So the karmic calamities I have to look for have to be about miscommunication, travel troubles and the like.
So let see, we had
1)European blizzard that held travelers hostage at the airports and brought Western Europe to a standstill.
2)We had North American blizzard, that caused quite a few deaths, and held passengers stranded in NYC subway for more than 7 hrs.
3)We had disastrous Australian floods and
4)deadly Brazilian floods
5)We had mass murder by Safeway supermarket in Tusa (Nritti has a weird sense of humor)
did I miss anything?
Interestingly, the eclipse was best viewed from Western Europe, North America, Hawaii, some countries of the far east and New Zealand.
What greater good may come out of it? Well, English are bound to get more snow-plows for their airports, NYC will now put tire chains on its buses and ambulances, and we may finally put back sanity into our political discourses (hopefully).
I have been feeling the effect of the eclipse personally too. Perhaps, because it affected my natal Mercury, or because Mercury was retrograde during the event, my life has been plagued by plans and communications going awry ever since.
Someone, please tell me how long the effect would last!
I hope it is not going to take 2 years like a solar eclipse!
My son’s natal chart was affected much more seriously, squaring his IC/ MC axis and Mars, while falling into his 6th house. So far though, only one negative thing has occurred in his life:
He has been attending a free after-school program (the only kind I could afford) 3 days / wk. On Tuesday, he had guitar lessons and on Thursdays he had choir practice. Last week though I was called to the program director’s office, where I was told that Nick’s absence twice a week from program negatively affects their funding and that I had to choose between their program and Nick’s musical aspirations.
Of course, I had to choose the program. I must work to pay my rent. My ex’ unemployment benefits have expired this month, and he still has no job (i.e. I have no child support).
I suppose, a homeless daddy is becoming a real possibility for my son, and that could be another Nritti’s calamity for him…
Check your planets within 1 degree from 2′ of Cancer or Capricorn, and tell me your story. Let’s figure out this eclipse together.

Tagged: Arizona, Australia, blizzard, Brazil, calamity, death, Europe, floods, lunar eclipse, Mercury, Mercury retrograde, Mula, nakshatra, navamsa, Nritti, politics, Sabian symbols, Safeway, siderial zodiac, solstice, tropical zodiac, Tusa, Vedic astrology

LIBERATION

Ella Moss — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 06:16:14 +0000

The buildings blocks of human life are not DNA (that is just software). The building blocks of our lives are concepts: the concept of oneself, the concept of surrounding reality; the concept of happiness, etc.

When our concepts are wrong, so is the life that we build for ourselves, and we end up unhappy.
We may mask our unhappiness with chocolate, sex, drugs and/ or shopping – buying a temporary fix of serotonin so we don’t notice our true emotional state.
But when we refuse to see that our concepts are wrong, we get sick. Chronic illnesses are the result of chronic unhappiness.
Since most of us barricade ourselves behind the wrong concepts, most of us end up ill, and so pharmaceutical and medical industries are the major industries of the modern world.

Most of our concepts are wrong, because most of us watch TV and read newspapers.
But it is not negative news that kills us, it is the advertisement.
We all are victims of relentless marketing, because advertisement slips in the suggestions to our subconsciousness on what concepts we should acquire.
The beloved American Dream is: a wife / husband + 2.5 kids + dog / cat in a spacious McMansion with formal dining room, family room on top of living room, more bedrooms and bathrooms then one can count; manicured front lawn and a large backyard with a swimming pool, 2+ cars garage; college education and successful careers.
The suburbs are full of such families, and most of them are uniquely unhappy.

I too had a concept of happiness similar to that, except that I hate suburbs and prefer to live in a city but would love a house in a country as well.
This dream fell apart 3 years ago when I found myself physically ill because I no longer could stomach my marriage. So we’ve separated.
In fact, my concept of happiness began to destruct 5 years ago, when my husband said, “Let’s make a girl you’ve always wanted”. It’s true: since I was a little girl, I always wanted to have 2 children: first, a boy, and then a girl.
When my son was born, I wanted to wait at least 5 years before another pregnancy as he was a difficult baby and I always favored a larger age separation between children.
The timing of my husband’s offer was perfect. Yet I felt physically nauseated at the thought and knew the minute he said it that I really don’t want another child.
I underlined “really”, because that is when I began to realize that my concept of happiness did not suit me in my reality.

My life got only tougher in 2007, when, 2 months after I separated from my husband, I lost my major client and The Great Financial Crisis walked into my door.
Three years later, I am a single mom working 60+ hours / wk and on the verge of losing $300/ month of my child support and the babysitter (who is my estranged husband), because his unemployment benefits are set to expire in January. The only job he may get at this point would only cover his rent and food, so he would not be able to spare a dollar for his son. Once working, he would also be unable to pick his son from school twice a week for guitar lessons and choir practice.
That means, life for my son and I is going to get so much tougher.

As I was contemplating this while doing my X-Mass shopping, suddenly my thoughts went into completely different direction:
I started thinking of what REALLY makes me happy, and here’s list:
1) Watching TV with my son, while laying next to him on the couch
2) Dancing with my friends at my annual New Year’s Eve party (the only time I get to dance lately)
3) Talking with my friends in the park, while we watch our kids play and enjoy the beauty of the park
4) doing yoga by the lake in the summer

And then I started thinking back, collecting the very best moments in my life in my memory:
1) I was about 13 y.o. in a summer camp, when I discovered laying in the boat watching the sky. The boat would lull softly under me to the swishing of light waves, and the ever changing beauty of the sky would engross me completely
2) I was about 14 y.o. when I looked out of the window and was caught by the beauty of the falling snow so much that I ran outside and was dancing in the night with the snowflakes
3) I was 17 y.o., laying in the sweetly smelling summer field and feeling THE ONENESS with the earth, the grass, the sky….
4) I was 19 y.o., homeless, living in someone’s basement when THE LIGHT came over me and I SAW AND SPOKE TO GOD.
5) I was in my early twenties, galloping on the naked horse up the hill, when I suddenly thought, “This moment makes the whole life worth living”
6) The same thought occurred to me when in 1993 I was skiing down a sunny slope on Mount Snow, the day after I witnessed the first WTC bombing and quit my job.
7) In 1997, in the jungles of Nepal, I have encountered such a breath-taking peacefulness and beauty that, as I was sliding in the canoe next to man-eating crocodiles sunning by the shore, I could almost pet them, while Himalayan picks were hovering in the distance and the yellow flowers all around me went so well with the blue shades of the sky and the mountains….
8) The kiss I shared with my husband when our son was born
9) The first time my son was skiing the green slope
10) My son singing Santa Lucia at a concert, and strangers screaming “Bravo”, because he sang so beautifully…
Please, don’t get me wrong. I had many, many wonderful moments in my life, and many exciting adventures.
Still, if I die today, these 10 moments would be the crown glory of my life.

Meanwhile, I am killing myself making a buck so I could spend it on some thing I am told would make me or my son happy, worrying about his education, because he would need a good job in order to have his McMansion, 2.5 kids, a wife and a pet.
And no time to watch the sky, dance with the snow flakes, smell the roses…..
I was rich, and I was poor, I had 2 husbands and 3 weddings, and many, many interesting happenings in my life, but only 10 moments of pure and absolute joyful happiness.

Interestingly, most of these moments came to me when I’ve liberated myself from some concept of happiness so I could be one with naked reality.

So I am not going to stress myself of what is going to come in January once my ex’ unemployment benefits run out. I am going “to smell the roses”, making a point of noticing the beauty of each day around me, snuggling next to my son every evening and NOTICING MY HAPPINESS, instead of struggling to fit a concept of happiness and cry about what’s missing from it or MAY GO MISSING.
In fact, it is our fears of not getting something or losing something that make us miserable and cheap away at happiness that is our true Divine nature and so is always there, if only we could take time to notice… Everything else is but a concept.
I am liberating myself from concepts and fears created by them – that’s my New Year resolution.

Tagged: advertisement, American dream, economy, fears, financial crisis, God, HAPPINESS, health care, Himalaya, illness, jobs, liberation, life, Love, marriage, money, mother, New Year resolution, parenthood, real estate, recession, relationships, smelling the roses, spirituality, unemployment, worry, X-Mass, X-Mass shopping

ON TAXES, UNIONS, JOBS AND DANGEROUS POLITICS

Ella Moss — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 04:17:11 +0000

1. JOBS
What job would you prefer:
a) a job that has annual wage increase specified in the contract, over-time pay for all work done beyond 40 hours on weekdays, all benefits and pension one can live on after 10 years or so of service
b) 60+ hours per week, high stress job with no benefits, no over-time pay, no pension whatsoever and wages just above minimum specified by congress
If you said “a”, you prefer either government or a union job, if “b” (WHO ARE YOU?!) – you’re gunning for a private sector.
Since it is a buyer market, whether we talk real estate or jobs, that’s how private sector job looks like right now.
Our government is putting even more teeth into the buyer market by trying to cater to those we do not name who want less government, less unions, and, yes, less taxes. The government cuts down on hiring, and laying off as many people as possible. Our future governor Cuomo promises to cut agencies and authorities by another 20%. New York 18b panel is going to put another 1000 lawyers on the street.
Last December, a partner of a medium size law firm told me of a job interview for a associate position:
“She told me, ‘I was making $120,000 at so and so. I’ve said, ‘We do not pay above $75,000. And she took it!”
I would not be surprised, that next year he would offer $35,000 for the same job.
Now, you need at least 7 years of higher education to become a lawyer (all those student loans), and then you take on a 60+ hrs / wk high stress job. It used to be that at least salary was worth it. Not anymore.
Make no mistake, employers (me included) would really prefer slave labor. So with no competition, we would do our best to get as close to that ideal as possible.
Once “Tea buggers” are elected, we may even pass a slave law in congress.
2.Unions
We all hate unions. They make everything more expensive. Look at MTA: every year we pay more for public transportation despite lack of tangible improvements, while their workers get paid more than lawyers, have all benefits and can comfortably retire at 55 years of age. I personally may never be able to retire at all. And then they even have a nerve to strike once in a while!
Now teachers union is under fire. Just think, once you have a tenure, all you need is to show up at work – working itself is not required.
But do you know that before unions came into being, there was no tangible middle class at all? Do you realize that the U.S. became a prosperous country only when unions gained strength and created huge middle class?
When 90% of people earn subsistence wages only, they have no discretional income to buy all that producers of goods and services want them to buy. So producers cut on production and lay people off, and economy contracts even further. Take a look at how people used to live before unions: their houses hardly had closets (most people had only one or 2 dresses), the houses were much smaller and often 10 people would live in 1 room. Oh, by the way, most people in Africa or Bungladesh, or Mexico still live that way. They have no unions and lots of almost-slave labor.
Do you still want to get rid off unions?
3. TAXES
Like everyone else, I try to pay as little tax as possible. After all, it’s my money that the government takes away. The government is so wasteful, and it has no clue that I need another computer, or that I have to take my kitten to a vet.
But the grown up in me knows that taxes in a democratic society is really a money pool for services we all collectively need like:
schools, public transportation, law enforcement, firefighters, and even a helping hand when we become old and feeble or lose a job, etc.
Sometimes, of course, this money pays for something we don’t like. I don’t like wars. Some don’t like welfare.
But a strong society should have some military might (we do get attacked – 9/11 comes to mind, for instance), and a strong society should take care of its needy (or we may have riots, revolutions, or, at least, whole a lot of crime).
It tickles me that “Mama Grisly” and her brood are so against taxes and government. Alaska gets more government subsidies than any other state. What are they going to do out there once they cut our taxes: eat snow?
So the Republicans and people who drink spiked tea say that stimulus has not worked (even though their leader Bush Jr. approved it first – because they collapsed our economy). They want less taxes, less government jobs and strangle the unions out of existence. In other words, they want to create African way of living in North America (this way they would not have to import slaves, as we would have plenty of them right here).
Interestingly enough, many of them are not rich. They simply drink spiked tea and think they may become so.
They may be faithful followers of trickle-down economics. The latter was not invented by Reagan. It has been in existence until 20th century. But now the rich invest wherever they find the cheapest labor, and it is not the U.S. (yet).
The truly rich, by the way, tend to be democrats and are ready to pay taxes, because they are much better educated and they dig history and economics.
But they are spineless, and as soon as those on spiked tea yell at them, they too begin to talk cutting government (good jobs), unions (good jobs) and taxes that create those good jobs…

Tagged: Bush, economy, economy solutions, financial crisis, global economy, great depression, jobs, money, politics, taxes, trickle-down economics, unemployment, unions